Bridesmaid (and Bride) Cookies

My mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and I hosted a bridal luncheon for Justin's cousin this weekend. My ma-in-law did all of the work, but I decided to contribute by making a bridesmaid's dress cookie I'd seen on Pinterest and thought it would make a great favor for the guests!
The bride's colors were silver and white, so I had to figure out how to make silver work.

I wish I had taken pictures of the first few steps, but I was covered in flour! So, maybe next time.

Step 1: Make cookie dough. I used this recipe.

Step 2: Using cardstock, make a cutout of the dress shape. (I couldn't find the shape I wanted...)

Step 3: Using the template, roll out and cut dough with a paring knife. I know... tedious. But they were worth it. The cookie recipe link has pictures of her using this same technique. I cut out 36 cookies, and it took two batches of the recipe.

Step 4: Bake! Take them out as soon as you see ANY brown on the edges!
***I made 1/2 of the cookies a few days beforehand and froze them in an airtight container. Let them thaw in their container before icing.

Step 5: Make royal icing. I used DOUBLE this recipe. Using a flower tip, make the flowers on wax paper. I put a little edible pearl in each flower since the middle wasn't too pretty. I also had some extra white, so I decided to make a special cookie just for the bride. I outlined it in white with a scallop at the bottom and then flooded it.

Step 6: I added a few drops of Americolor Super Black to the remaining icing. It looked UGLY! It was like a gray/purple. But, as my husband says, "It's what the 'customer' wants." And, luckily, looked much better once it became silver. 

Step 7: Ice the outline around each cookie using a #4 tip. Reserve the icing left in your piping bag for tomorrow. Put it in a ziploc bag.

Step 8: Add a teaspoon of water to the remaining icing. Stir. Repeat until your icing has the consistency you want for flooding. (If you pull your spoon through it, you want it to fill back in in about 2-3 seconds. Let it sit, covered, for 15 minutes. Then pull your spatula through it to pop the air bubbles.

Step 9: Flood the middle. Fill it very full! I use a small squeeze bottle for this. And a toothpick to make sure the icing touches the sides and the boo-boos in the outline. Let dry overnight.

Step 10: Here's how to get the gray to be silver! Mix some silver luster dust (found in your baking aisle at the craft store) with some lemon extract until it's the sparkle you want. Then, brush it on each cookie with a small pastry brush (looks like a thin paint brush, also in baking aisle at craft store).

Step 11: Use your icing from the piping bag to attach the flowers to the middle of your cookie. The flowers should peel right off!

Step 12: Let dry a few hours, and package them!

They were a big hit! My father-in-law requested an extra dozen, so they must have been good! 

Halloween Party on a Budget

Leah is the only grandchild on both sides, so she is our family's only trick-or-treater. So, we have had family over each Halloween to see our cutie all dressed up!

This year she was Minnie Mouse, inspired by not only her love of Minnie but also the sequined ears her Mimi and G brought back from Disney World. My mom and I  (mostly my mom) made her outfit. Isn't she cute?

This year, I was looking to throw a party that was fun and festive, but also budget-friendly.

A few weeks back, Leah and I went to Dollar Tree and got some serving pieces and decorations. My mother-in-law handed down some of her awesome decor including the spider web tablecloth and hanging black spider webs.

I made a banner for the entryway using my trusty Cricut.

I also made a festive Halloween menu:

Ghoul-ash (a tradition my mom started years ago)

Mummy dogs (Pinterest find)

 

Pumpkin Cheese Ball (Food Network Magazine)

Spiderweb and Candy Corn Cupcakes (Country Living Magazine)

We had a great time! Here's one more picture of Minnie with the Minnie Mouse pumpkin I carved for her.



Panda Cake

I made this cake for a former co-worker's daughter, who also happened to be one of my former students! So, I was happy to go all out.
It was orignally supposed to be pandas with bamboo, but the birthday girl loves purple, so I got some creative license. Here is how it turned out.

Not bad for my first big cake! And, the birthday girl liked it. That's what matters. :)

Activities Advent Calendar

We have holiday traditions- decorate the tree together, watch Home Alone and Home Alone 2, go to Christmas Eve service and eat a  delicious dinner at Guadalajara, etc. However, this year, I thought I'd use some Pinterest inspiration to make one of those cute advent calendars that can last for years! I think it will be a fun tradition for Leah as she grows up.

So I looked through the ideas for activities on Pinterest and wrote down the ones that we could do. Then I wrote them out on a numbered list (1-24). Keep in mind when doing this what day of the week things will fall on. For instance, I know we are more likely to do some bigger things on Saturdays. Also, my mom always signs us up to decorate a gingerbread house at the church, so I made sure that was on the right day.

Keep your activities general- Instead of "Watch Home Alone," I put "Watch a movie." Instead of "Make a handprint wreath," I put "Make a Christmas craft." You get it. Also, a few things are repeated.
Here is my list:
1-Decorate the tree
2-Set up the Nativity scene
3-Decorate the inside of our house
4-Read a Christmas book as a family
5-Invite the neighbors over for dinner
6-Make gifts for grandparents
7- Read or tell the Christmas Bible Story
8-Make a gingerbread house
9-Make breakfast together
10-Make a Christmas craft
11-Make marshmallows
12-Go on a family outing
13-Read a Christmas book as a family
14-Make neighbor gifts
15-Deliver neighbor gifts
16-Put old toys in a sack to donate
17-Wrap presents
18-Watch a movie together
19-Write a letter to Santa
20-Make a birthday card for Jesus
21-Go look at Christmas lights
22-Read or tell the Christmas Bible story
23-Watch a movie together
24-Go to church and eat a yummy dinner

Here are my activities cards.

I cut 24 3"x1" pieces of cardstock in 3 different colors. Then I used a white scrapbooking marker to write the activities. I then cut 24 2.5"x .75" pieces of coordinating paper for the tops. Next, I used a tiny bit of glue to attach them. I used my NEW Purple Cow laminator (bought for $20 at Costco!) to laminate the cards.


For the board, you will need:
1 piece of 24"x 12" plywood
24 mini clothespins
spray paint in a coordinating color
bottle of acrylic paint in coordinating color
small embellishments
a spool of coordinating ribbon
hot glue gun (I also used mini glue dots and spray adhesive)
Modge Podge (I used matte finish)

1. Paint the board with the acrylic paint (you can use spray paint, but I had ivory paint on hand). Make sure you paint the edges.
2. Glue the ribbon to the edges of your board. I used spray adhesive on the front and hot glue on the back.
3. Spray paint your clothespins. Don't worry about the back, but make sure to get every visible surface.
4. For the numbers, I used my Cricut to cut .75" circles. You could make any small shape. Then, I used my white marker to write the numbers. I laminated these also. I attached them with a glue dot.
5. Once all of your pieces are dry, place the clothespins (with cards) on the board until you are happy with their placement. I used hot glue to attach them to the board.
6. Modge Podge your embellishments in desired places.

Here is the finished product!

I am planning to attach it to the wall with Command strips. It is very light. However, you could attach ribbon to the back also to hang it on a nail.

I am excited to try it out! Come on December!

Elmo Party

Although Leah's 2nd birthday party was right smack in the middle of "busy season" for teachers (State Testing Time!), I had to handmake some of the cute things at her party. Sadly, I was unable to make the fondant decor. But I bought it from 1StopParty on Etsy, and she did a great job. The cake was made by a local bakery. They added the polka dot trim. I added the fondant decor to the cake, and Leah was ecstatic.

I also did not make the invitation. But, luckily for me, my bestie is in the card making business. She made this, and it was just what I had envisioned!!
Check out her website or her Etsy shop!

front

back

And my ma-in-law, Lori, made this precious party hat. Could it be any cuter????

But, the name of my blog is Handmade by Allison, so what did I make?? I bought a Cricut cartridge and got to work on the favors and a banner. It took many nights of work to finish, but it was all worth it in the end.
(Sorry my pics of the banner are awful! You can still get the idea though.)

Wreaths for All Seasons!

I made a ribbon wreath last year. It took quite a bit of ribbon and a few burn marks on my fingers, but it turned out really cute! Here are the directions.
This blogger has all kinds of cute wreaths, including a place to buy one now. This wreath is so versatile, because you can make one for every season/holiday you want! I especially loved her Valentine's Day one. So here is what it looked like when I finished:

Very recently, I made a new wreath for my best friend for her birthday. I was inspired by some pics on Pinterest, but ultimately, I went my own way. This wreath is the kind you put on your door anytime or all the time of the year.
I bought a wreath at Michael's that was already beautiful just by itself. All I had to do was add a few flowers to pep it up a little. Next, I painted a wooden letter with a creamy color and attached it to the wreath with a coordinating ribbon. Then I hot glued some house numbers from Home Depot. Be careful gluing these! They get hot really quickly! I made a huge mess too!

I think it turned out nicely!

Without the house numbers, it could look like this:

I'm not a big wreath person myself. After I made my Valentine's ribbon wreath last year and it became a home to lots of junebugs, it kinda scared me off. But I can find a good excuse to make them for other people! :)

Reaching New Heights- with a toddler stool!

I made a stool for Leah to use in our kitchen. For washing hands, but also more recently for helping in the kitchen. She can now make her own sandwich (with help of course!) and likes to stir the cheese in her macaroni. "Stir, stir, stir!" she says.
I bought a plain stool off of Amazon. It was not cheap, but it was very quality. I wanted a two step stool, but you can find all kinds out there. Probably even at Hobby Lobby.
I spray painted it with primer and then hot pink. Then cut out "Leah" with my Cricut "Life's a Beach" cartridge onto brown vinyl. Then I used some extra vinyl polka dot stickers from Leah's bathroom decor. I bought these from Sunshine Decals on Etsy. Once I had placed them, I used Modge Podge to seal the letters. I had fully planned on using a clear spray paint to seal it even better, but I used it right away. After using it for about 8 months already, it's safe to say that layer of paint may not be necessary! Yay! Here is the finished product:




Hours of Toddler Fun

I saw this colored rice on Pinterest, and it sounded like a great idea. It was super easy to make. Find it here.

 

One bag of rice, one box of food coloring, a large Rubbermaid container, funnels, scoops and spoons, etc.= hours of toddler enjoyment. I was nervous at first of the possiblility of mess, but I set a few ground rules that my two year old can understand and even recite.

1. Rice stays in the box.

2. If rice spills, help clean up.

Also, I spread out a towel on the hard floor and set the box on top. Then my daughter goes on the towel too. If there is a spill, she helps pick up what spilled on the floor, and I fold up the towel and carefully sift it back into the rice box. The first time she played with it, I put it on the kitchen table. Big mistake!! If it spills, it goes everywhere!!!

Darling daughter is pretty good at it now, but every once in awhile we have a time-out for not helping pick up. Then the rice goes away for the rest of the day. :(

Just remember spills are inevitable, but kiddo's enjoyment and learning are worth it!





Daddy showed her how to play. :)