"Lines Across": January 2012

Monday, January 30, 2012

The Cure for the Common Monday #25

Welcome!

I still haven't quite gotten back into the swing of things this new year. I have been working on a lot of great projects, mostly centered around a huge room makeover for my 2 year old son's room. I just haven't taken pictures and posted them yet.

Stop back by later this week and next week for an exciting giveaway from Cutting Edge Stencils, before and after pictures of my son's room, plus a few other tutorials for things I made for his room.

With the Superbowl coming up, I have been reminded of this cute football onesie tutorial I posted in the fall. It looks so cute in the end, and it is actually very easy to make. I hand-stitched it and it took about an hour.

Buttons:

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"><img src="http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h379/linesacrossmyface/featuredbuttonsmmmmaaaallll.jpg" /></a>

Features

1. Fabric-covered lamp shade from How to Nest for Less

2. Decorating in black and white from A Mother and a Daughter

3. Simple Valentine's Bookmarks from Vixen Made

4. Anthropologie knock-off vase from The Turquoise Piano (That gorgeous flower is made of PLASTIC SPOONS?! - I have to try this!)

5. A smoothie that increases brainpower from Natural Mother's Network

6. How to make your own canvas wall art from Nokoikonomia

Everyone is welcome to join this link party. Share something crafty or creative. Share a recipe or a household tip. There are three simple rules.

1. Follow Lines Across My Face (I also will be sharing some of my favorites throughout the week through Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest).
2. Post the Cure for the Common Monday button somewhere on your blog (or link back to Lines Across My Face).
3. Visit and comment on at least one link for every post you share.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Shortbread Valentine's Day Cookies

I love these shortbread sugar cookies. They are very rich and delicious and they taste like fancy cookies from a special bakery or a cookie bouquet. I make them every Christmas, and often for other special occasions, like Valentine's Day.

Shortbread Cookies

(One batch makes about 3 dozen cookies)

Preheat the oven to 400

Butter - 2 cups
Flour - 4.5 cups
Confectioners Sugar - 1 cup
Vanilla Extract - 1 teaspoon
Almond Extract - 1 teaspoon
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon

Mix butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and almond in a large bowl. Combine salt and flour in a separate bowl. Gradually add the flour/salt to the other ingredients.

The dough is very thick. If you melted the butter (which I would definitely recommend), you might want to refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes so that it will be easier to roll and cut. I made three large balls with the dough before I put it in the fridge.

Roll the dough and cut out your shapes. Because there aren't any eggs in the dough, the cookies will keep the exact shape after they are baked. These cookies are great for making interesting shapes.

Bake the cookies at 400 for 10-12 minutes. They barely change color and if they start to brown very much then you have cooked them too long.

Royal Icing

I always add royal icing to the tops of these cookies. This kind of icing hardens into a candy shell and adds a fun texture and look to the cookies. There is a way to make this icing with egg whites, but you can also use Meringue Powder (I get it at Michael's), which is so much easier.

Confectioners Sugar - 2 cups
Warm Water - 3 to 6 tablespoons
Meringue Powder - 1.5 tablespoons
Vanilla Extract OR Almond Extract - 1/4 teaspoon

*Because this icing dries quickly, make sure that you always keep it covered*

Mix 2 cups of powdered sugar in a bowl with the meringue powder. Add the extract, then one tablespoon at a time, add warm water. Mix well as you add the water. Keep adding water until the icing is the consistency of a thick liquid. Even though you are using 2 cups of powdered sugar, you will end up with less than a cup of icing. This amount covers about 3 dozen cookies. I add food coloring to the icing for fun and sugar sprinkles to the icing before it dries.

{If you want to add the white icing lines across the cookies, you can just use a plastic ziplock bag. Put some icing in the corner of the bag. Cut a VERY small hole in the corner of the bag. Squeeze the icing onto the cookies.}

The Cure for the Common Monday #24

Welcome!

I am excited to see what you all have been up to this week. I have been painting and redoing my 2 year old son's room. It has been a lot of work, but I am loving the results!

Features:

1. Turn wine bottles into drinking glasses with this tutorial from Scissors and Steam. This is one of the most interesting tutorials I've seen in a long time. You have to check it out. It is a little crazy, but I would love to try it. Hmm... maybe I shouldn't.

2. Pinterest Inspired Bathroom Makeover from Spruce Your Nest

3. Splatter Paint Table from Life as a Thrifter

4. Cupcake Cake Balls from The Kurtz Corner

5. Crochet and Braid Scarf from One Dog Woof

6. Marble Run from So Here's My Life

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Why I Love Florida in the Winter

Living in Florida certainly has its drawbacks. It is hot and humid all the time. This Christmas, which was unusually warm, I wore jeans and a short-sleeved shirt and I was a little bit hot.

However, lately the days have all been so gorgeous. Sometimes it gets cold, but usually it is perfect jeans and a light sweater weather. We spend all day outside. I love it. We even run around barefoot.

We have picnics outside.

My parents got this awesome outdoor slide and "fort" as we call it for Benjamin and Lyla for Christmas (Step2 Naturally Playful Woodland Climber). They love it! It was also ridiculously easy to assemble, and I did the whole thing by myself with no problems. It even has 2 rock walls (one tall and one short) on both sides.

Benjamin loves to push Lyla around in the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe, and Lyla could ride around in it all day. I just love sitting back and watching them entertain each other.

We had an older version that my aunt had gotten at a yard sale, and then Grant's family got this new one for Benjamin for his birthday. It was actually very difficult to assemble. I love it though, because it has a little foot piece that covers the bottom so that babies can ride in it without falling out. They both also want me to push them up and down the little hill in the back yard.

Grant loves to read outside.

"Where did Benjamin go" and "Please Mommy cut my bangs"

Sunday, January 15, 2012

The Cure for the Common Monday #23

Welcome to the Cure for the Common Monday

We took a longer break than I expected over the holidays. I'm very excited to get back into the swing of things and see what you all have been working on lately.

There are three simple rules.

1. Follow Lines Across My Face (I also will be sharing some of my favorites throughout the week through Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest).
2. Post the Cure for the Common Monday button somewhere on your blog (or link back to Lines Across My Face).
3. Visit and comment on at least one link for every post you share.

A Crazy Ride and Some Goals for the New Year

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. We have had so much fun, but things have also been a little crazy. I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted. Starting next week, everything here at Lines Across will be back to normal. I am very excited about a lot of new projects and tutorials I want to share with you all.

Christmas was crazy enough. My whole family came down and we had a blast. We spent the week after Christmas going to Sea World almost every day. Sea World is incredible, but more on that later. Then, my cousin Stacey planned a ski trip for us in West Virginia. So my brother Jared and I drove up there together. I was so worried about getting hurt because this was my first time skiing. However, Jared ended out spraining his shoulder and doing something to his back about 30 minutes into the first day of skiing. We spent a very strange day together in the West Virginia emergency room. Skiing was so much fun and I was so glad to get to spend time with my cousins, especially my cousin Daniel who recently got back from Iraq. I think it was the first time I had seen real snow in about 9 years. (That's what you get when you move from Texas to California to Florida).

Whether it was the time in the ER waiting room, all of the hours on the road, or the cold weather, I came home sick. I barely remember the next few days because I mostly just slept. I started feeling a lot better, but then yesterday I woke up to a migraine. It was awful. I called Grant at work and asked him to come home.

Today I feel much better and my mind has been swimming with ideas and projects I can't wait to start.

Here are a few things I am planning:

1. Turn Benjamin's room into a little boy room/play room

2. Figure out some new hairstyles for Lyla and make more pretty things for her hair

3. Build a little wooden play house

4. Share some of my paintings with you and paint more

5. Learn to use a sewing machine (aka my mom's old machine she doesn't remember how to use)

Does anyone else seem to get sick over the holidays? Is there anything in particular you would like for me to share with you all this year? I look forward to seeing what you all have been up to tonight/tomorrow at the first link party of the new year.