My friend over at TheCottageMarket linked to the cutest pinata cookies at SheKnows and I really wanted to give them a try.
I just used my own sugar cookie recipe and since I waited until the night before family day at school I had to make do with an egg-shaped cookie cutter instead of a burro-shaped one. (I do have a Dala horse cutter that would have looked really cute but it is solid and I would not have been able to flip it over.)
We are just finishing up Fiesta here in San Antonio and we go through a lot of cascarones in April, but since
cascarones are fun any time of year I thought the egg-shape would be perfect!
So, they turned out a bit more round than I planned and my colors didn't turn out quite like I wanted - I haven't used food coloring in ages and used a bit too much, but they were still a hit - I mean they have m&m's inside - what more could you want!!
My changes from the original recipe were that I used a different dough (a lot of people seemed really unhappy with the recipe listed plus I prefer butter to oil), a different cutter shape, and I rolled the dough in a cylinder shape in some parchment paper before freezing.
Yes, they did take a long time to make, but not really any longer than any other cut-out and decorated cookie I have ever made. And the leftover cookie didn't go to waste. My children have almost finished every bite!
I wish I had before pictures, but, of course, I don't! So you will just have to imagine a cluttered piano top and a lonely metal piece floating on the wall.
The day before my grandmother's house was torn down my mom and I manged to salvage a few things - pink! shutters, some windows and moldings, and a few other odds and ends. With the help of a friend I finally got around to using some of those features to make my place just a bit more homey!
The weathered shutters add a fabulous pop of pink and fill the space on a rather tall (for my house) wall. We centered the little kitchen window under the metal scroll and added one of my favorite ceiling tin hearts so there would be a bit of "me," too! The oil lamp and candy dish are from my other grandmother and the picture that needs matting and re-framing is of her parents.
This super cool lamp is an early bday gift from my husband. I found it at Tuesday Morning and was so excited - Don't you love it when you don't know what you are looking for but find it anyway!! I don't know if you can tell that it is covered with tons of little weathered mirrors. And it has fabulous light so my little one can read her piano music!
These little tables are underneath each shutter and will hopefully soon be undergoing a transformation to cottage white (and maybe a bit of mosaic on the horizontal surfaces).
. . . to something a bit simpler, bolder, and "teen-ager-y" Slightly off-white walls and squares in her school colors.
Oops! I still have to do something about those super pink baskets!
Well, we didn't make all the kid stuff go away!
Condensed version of all the steps!
I think this is the most important! I cut and taped poster board squares to the wall in a way that I thought looked balanced and not too busy. The squares were too small the first time (top photo) and looked "too cute-sy" so even though I didn't want to - I cut more and bigger squares and re-did it (bottom photo)!
For the next step I called my husband in to help! I penciled around the corners of the squares so I knew where I wanted them to be and then my sweetie used a level and drew the squares all perfect (and square!) for me - I hate measuring!
I managed to tape around the lines pretty evenly - I learned to tape slightly on the outside of the pencil marks.
After having the paint bleed and look awful I read online about taping, then paint the original wall color over the tape, letting it dry, and then painting the new color. This worked amazingly well! I only had a few places that I touched up with a tiny artist brush.
I did all of the red first - it took 4-5 coats!
Then the black. The taping was a bit trickier - I had to cut the tape and make sure it was perfectly straight where it met the red. And I had to paint over the tape in 2 different colors (original wall and red) to make sure there was no black bleeding onto the red or the white. The black paint was only 1 1/2 coats and went on super fast.
Done! Now I just need to find the time for new curtains and bedding . . .
And the best part - I did this in 3 days while she was away at cheer camp (I used an oscillating fan to help it dry faster) - she was totally surprised AND loved it!
I'm adding more colors ready-made, but also listing an option for design your own!
And since they are now available in whatever colors you would like - wedding colors, school and team colors, or favorite colors, they are perfect for many different occasions.
I love the coastal/beach theme colors of this one!
Yes, I know I just made a new autumn wreath last year, but I found these fabulous flowers - zebra and cheetah - so cool!! - and just had to make something with them! (And wreaths are pretty much what I can make - my flower arrangements never turn out quite right!)
I started with my summer wreath that literally melted apart it was so hot this year - notice all the old hot glue - and fern and flowers that coordinated with the big ones that I love! The wreath at least was free, but even purchasing everything on a half-price day the flowers and foliage were around $30 (the animal prints are regularly $7 each - yikes!) Oh, I found everything at Michael's - the animal prints are from the "safari floral stem collection."
I really wanted the animal print flowers to go all the way around like my sunflower wreath, but they were quite pricey and since I went on the last day of the sale, they were down to these five. I used the same steps as on my other autumn wreath - main foliage, big flowers, more foliage, and then the smaller flowers. (I didn't use the cream colored ones.) Normally I just pull all of the flowers off and glue them directly to the wreath, but this wreath is on its last legs, so I cut the stem 3-5" on each flower so that I would have plenty of room to adjust them and make them do what I wanted.
I just couldn't wait and put it on my door tonight - sorry about the flash!
I'm so excited that they are finally finished - Homecoming seems early this year and I was so stressing about getting them done just right! They are for my oldest and her "big sis." These mum are both larger than my first one - about 40" long with 36" streamers and the mum flower is 6" across and 8" across with the backing. I think they are a really nice size without getting in the way too much.
And I have to share - When I was trying my youngest daughter's mum on her she asked - "And why am I wearing this again?" My husband (not a Texas native) thought this was too funny and rolled his eyes when I told her it was because she was a Texas girl and that's what she's supposed to do at Homecoming! I loved the mums I had at Homecoming (back when the flowers were real!) and I hope my girls love these just as much!
I put these together just like the smaller mum - I just added more embellishments.
I made some military braids (I looked at several sets of instructions and practiced quite a bit - I also had to adjust the ribbons more tightly after I finished, but they turned out just as nicely as the ones in the stores and as long as you are careful not to crease the ribbon the adjusting goes quite smoothly.) I also made some diamondback style braids that my daughter really liked. (Again, it just took a bit of practice after looking at instructions.) You can also buy the military braids at a craft shop if you'd like.
Before I got started attaching everything I made up some ribbons with footballs, bells, and megaphones. (I punched out some star shapes from glitter paper and attached them to the megaphones.) I wasn't quite sure how to finish the ends of the braids, so I stapled and then used hot glue and ribbon to cover the staples. I glued the ribbon and charm on the front and then wrapped and glued the ribbon that I tied everything with around the back.
I laid the flowers and ribbons out to see what I had and decide what all I was going to use. I used zebra ribbon, school spirit ribbon, 2 different braids, name ribbon, homecoming ribbon, gold star chain, gold cheer chain, curly ribbon with megaphones, bells, footballs, and skinny gold sequin ribbon. Using 36" lengths, I began the streamer circles by attaching 9 (#9) ribbons (4/5 red and 4/5 black) to the fronts. My daughter felt they needed to be fuller, so I added 7 (#9) more ribbons (3/4 red and 3/4 black) ending up with 16 lengths on each circle. I also added 8 (#3) ribbons (4 red/4 black) to each.
I almost forgot - I found the cutest little lion head pens, ripped the heads off, and glued them to the center of the flowers. They weren't quite big enough all on their own, so I added a little embellishment to teach of them! I used different color accents since the bases are different colors (one is more red, one more black) and so they would each be unique.
I don't have a picture, but I then laid out all of the "fancy" ribbons and chains on top of the streamer base so that the colors and chains were balanced, not exactly symmetrical, but spread out so that one side of the mum didn't have too much red or too much black, etc. You can get an idea of how this looks by checking out my other mum post.
I used the homecoming ribbon for the center, attached the zebra and school spirit ribbons more-or-less evenly on the sides and then also placed a braid and gold chain on either side. I attached the braids, chains, and skinny ribbons on top of the fatter ribbons.
If you look at both mums you can see that one is more black and one is more red, but they are both balanced. I made sure everything was stapled down, glued the flower on top of the streamers (a lot of glue), and glued a plain circle to the very back to cover the staples.
I have tons of photos of the completed ones!
I angled the bottom of the ribbons just a bit to give it a more finished look. Close-ups of the military braid and zebra striped ribbon. I found the star garland in the Christmas section at a craft store.
Sequin ribbon, cheerleader chain, and megaphone charm.
Close-up of the diamondback braid and a bit of the black velvet sparkly ribbon adorned with shimmery gold and white bows. Mum #2! Cheerleader chain and military braid.
Happy Homecoming!
This is how I dreamed my kitchen could look - like the gorgeous kitchen in the 2009 Coastal Living Idea Cottage.
I knew the honeycomb tile wouldn't be in my budget so I thought I'd try several colors of subway tiles (which I've always loved!).
I still have a long way to go, but here is my kitchen wall so far!
And I do have a stainless venthood just waiting...
I used 3 shades of white and off-white to replicate the various tones in the tile that I love. I laid out several rows at a time and then placed them row by row on the wall.
I chose dal subway tiles arctic white, almond, and biscuit in a matte finish.
I have moldings to finish (as similar as I can get to the ones in the idea cottage) and outlets to change out before I do more and I have to work up the nerve to try out a tile saw but I'm really excited to see that it is looking just like I hoped!
