Martha's (Not As) Beautiful Cookies

Here they are, the cookies I thought I'd make for a little dinner party we had for my husband's team:
I thought hers were beautiful! But then, I was surprised and super crazy happy that I liked mine even better!

I made the sugar cookie dough. Refrigerated it over night. Rolled it out the next day. Cut perfect circles. Let my kids cut out awesome bad-guys and hearts with what was leftover.




I made the icing. (I will never buy meringue powder again.) And I sat down to decorate. Maybe I made the icing too thick? I was afraid to add water and ruin the whole thing. It was workable, so I just went with it. But, my cookies didn't look beautiful, they looked like spider webs! Not what I had in mind. For all this effort, I wasn't happy with spider webs. Grrr. Inspired by my children's free-motion decorating, I decided to try something on my own. And I was happy! Why didn't Martha do this in the first place? It's much prettier :)

I used squirty bottles (totally worth the small investment)


drew a line to border the outside of the cookie, then flooded the inside and used a toothpick to cover the space.

Swirl time.

Drag up, then drag down.



Drag side to side.

Viola. Worth the effort.

Birthday Party Check List on Scribd

I've created a free download which is available to you at this link:
birthday party check list which looks like this: Birthday Party to Do List
I've been having lots of fun personalizing ice cream spoons for folks on Etsy, and wanted to make a little freebie to go along with it. Hopefully some other folks will get some use out of it too.

I printed out my pages and cut them down. To finish them I just ran a zig zag stitch up the side and added a few little stamps. I was thinking if you don't have any decorative stamps at home, you could let your little one do a few thumb stamps and make some cute faces in them and it would be even better.



I created a few more free downloads with links on the left toolbar.
Enjoy!

Smash Tape

I love it. I walked into Archivers today and saw it on a table, and snatched it up.
I was wrapping up some little presents for friends, and taped my tissue paper shut with it. If I were a scrapbooker, I think I would use it to tape a picture (very messily) onto a page.
I saw a pretty cool tute recently on making your own decorative tape at Annekata. There are a few out there now, but I think this was the first one. So you can try to make it yourself. But I was thinking, by the time I go out and buy packaging tape and spend the time to make it, I could have bought a roll like the one pictured above for $3. Also, I bought some recently from Martha Stewart's JoAnn line. I am so excited about it!
I've also cut think gauge wire into strips and covered it with the decorative tape on both sides, cut the ends with pinking shears and made some really cute twist ties. Will have to update later with a picture because I don't have one right now, and can't seem to find one online. C'est la vie!
For now, go out and buy some cool tape! There's Martha's line, there is a TON on Etsy like this pretty stuff. If you think of any new projects, let me know!

Kids Messenger Bag

Squeeeel! I am very excited. I was at my favorite kids toy/clothes store in St. Louis yesterday, City Sprouts, and I saw some amazing bags like this one by Bakker which is a French company. They are awesome and beautiful and expensive. I made one!!! It doesn't have the GORGEOUS hardware that the Bakker bags do or the elaborate pockets. But it took me one day to complete with only an idea in my head and tools in my hands, and that feels pretty good. Margot is napping, but I can't wait to put it across her little body and take some pictures when she's up.

Living with Punks: SYS~Bookworm Skirt

Living with Punks: SYS~Bookworm Skirt: "I’m so excited to finally start this series!  My mind has been overflowing with ideas and I know all the bloggers I have lined up are eager ..."

Must. make. this. now.