Making things...

Today I could be cleaning my apartment, etc, but instead I'm making things. Christmas things. Stay tuned for pretties!

Easy Afternoon Project: Restyled Dresser

So, about this dresser...it was free from a friend, and hey I'm a poor graduate student so free furniture is fantastic. Apparently this dresser just keeps getting passed from grad student to grad student. Anyway, it ranked pretty high up on the garish scale with a weird green top and pink and orange stripes all over it. 

Before:

The end result now ranks much much lower on the scale, but I'm not really convinced it has made it to 'cute' yet. That would require a total paint job I think :) Anyway, the top is recovered in fabric and we got rid of all that awful pink and orange-ness. It's not so bad now...

After:

Monochromatic Holiday Cards

I made these cards today, I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. As usual, inspired by Christmas things seen on Pinterest. If you haven't jumped on the pin-ALL-the-things bandwagon, you're missing a lot of recipes, crafts, holiday things, etc. Anyway...I'm not sure who these cards are going to, but I wanted to play around with stamping in all one color. What do you think?

-Taylor

Holiday Baking: Lemon Pie Cookies

These cookies are amazing. They taste exactly like lemon pie and they're best fresh out of the oven. Enjoy the recipe. 

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

1 tsp lemon extract

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 powdered sugar

1. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add in vanilla, lemon extract, and egg. Stir in all dry ingredients. Scrape sides of the bowl and mix again. Chill dough for two hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Shape dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Roll into powdered sugar. Place on greased baking sheets and bake for 9-11 minutes, or until cookies are no longer shiny. Cool 3 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack. 

Holiday Baking~Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/8 tsp salt

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cookie sheets with non-stick baking spray. Beat butter for 30 seconds, until smooth. Add brown sugar, spice, and salt. Gradually beat in flour.

2. Shape dough into 1 inch balls (no bigger!). Place balls 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Coat a cookie stamp with non-stick spray and then dust in white granulated sugar. Stamp each ball, flattening it. 

3. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Do not look for brownness, if they are brown they will be overbaked and very hard. This is shortbread, so they dough is already fairly firm. Test by touching a cookie for firmness. It should still be mostly firm,slightly soft, but not soft like raw cookie dough.

I found the original recipe on Better Homes & Gardens, but my recipe has some slight modifications. Find the original here. These cookies freeze really well, so I'm excited to just take them out and serve when my family visits for the holidays.

Christmas Cards-Out of the Box.

I love making Christmas cards but I wanted to stretch myself a little bit this time. These cards are a bit unusual, but I hope they inspire you to try something new with your holiday cards.

 Use a paper arrow for a Christmas tree!

Make a glitter tree on top of a transparency.

 A Tropical Christmas. 

DIY Paper Christmas Tree

 My Christmas tree this year is pretty unusual. Last year my tree was black and silver and green, the year before was Star Trek themed I believe. But this year, I had a feeling if I put up a real tree, every day would be 6 month old kitten vs. Christmas tree and the cat would win. That being said, I still wanted something....So, I made a cat-proof tree. I love how it turned out. See the pics and instructions below if you've got a pet that is the mortal enemy of any holiday decorations!

1. You will need to cut 10 circles (or whatever shape you like) in green patterned papers. I used my Cricut, but you could easily cut by hand. The bottom row is 10 inches, and the remaining circles are 9 inches.

2. Cut a large rectangle for the tree trunk and a star for the topper (my star is 7 inches). 

3. Highlight your topper by running a glue stick along the edges and dipping in glitter.

4. Adhere to the wall with a tape, sticky-tack, etc. 

5. Pile the presents underneath!