How to Paint Sugar Cookies, an alternative to icing and piping

I have seen on Pinterest painted sugar cookies and cakes. Since, I love painting and baking, I thought this would be a fun alternative to piping, flooding, icing and all the tips and bags and mess. We are throwing a baby shower to celebrate my baby nephew on the way, so these are for the shower.  I drew some mod designs first to try to meet my SIL's contemporary, mod, retro style.

You will need:
iced sugar cookies (or fondant covered)
food coloring
paint brushes
water
plate
paper towels

1. I baked the sugar cookies... if you are new to my blog... I am addicted to this recipe... and for something a little different, I substituted almond extract for vanilla - they are sooo good.  This dough recipe is awesome.  Easy to make, doesn't need to be chilled, keeps its' shape and tastes so good.

2. I thinly rolled out fondant and covered the cookies.  Lightly paint water onto the fondant and it will stick to the cookies. You can ice them too, whichever you prefer. You get a batch of blank edible canvases!  I have let the kids decorate cookies with edible marker pens, read about that here.  But today, we paint with food coloring!

3. I have seen in the craft store, edible paints and dyes, but all you really need is food coloring. Any kind. I happen to have Wilton gel food dyes and love them. I used water to dilute the gel, but read you could use vodka or some alcohol base that will dry quickly. The water worked fine.

4. I have a plastic paint pallette, (but a plate would be fine too), place small amounts of the food coloring into the wells. Use water to wet the brush and it is like painting with water colors! 

5. I drew some designs on paper first, so I had a plan. 

Important tips: Have a plan. Don't be nervous, and have fun, take your time and be creative.

I hope this is helpful to you, inspires you to try something new. Next time, I am letting my kids paint on them!

Nursery Wall Gallery with a Woodland Feel... A DIY for the baby!

We have a 3 bedroom home, so baby number 4 is bunking with the hubby and myself in his nursery nook in the Master bedroom.  It could have been my nesting hormones taking over or just my need to decorate, but I wanted to have a nursery wall gallery for our sweet little blessing!  Since I was bunking in the hospital at week 32 for our little man... I had to save this for a summer project... consider it my summer project series... I bounce from one to another... leaving some unfinished until I get the fire under my tail to continue... Thank God my husband is patient and feeds my creative soul!

First... I laid out my frames to get an idea of how I wanted to hang things and took a picture of it for reference... some are from Goodwill, the lacey wooden cutouts were clearance from Michaels... the "organic" wooden frames, museum white frame (I will spray paint that), and J are from Hobby Lobby.

Second, I started putting holes in the wall and hanging up pictures... I have to admit, I am a little nervous about placing holes in the wall, but you have to take an attitude that spackle and paint can fix it and to just get going... that doesn't mean be hasty, but just take a deep breath and place the nail and hook.

Third... I started to move things around and hole, schmole... the finished product looks great and there are so many pictures you don't know where my first sets of holes are... so it's a win, win.  Honestly there are some great tutorials on Pinterest on creating wall galleries... I am happy with ours.  Some art I made myself, some I found on ETSY, and the owls are from a garage sale!

This owl is one of my favorites and it was my Mother in Law's... she used the frame for graduation photos of my husband and siblings in their old house... who would have known this sweet print was behind it.  I LOVED the owl print! It is super special... first of all, I just love the image. To me, it represents a momma looking after its youngling (heart be still, I love it so much) and it second... I have a special family member that LOVES owls, plus my Mom-in-law gave it to me. Triple whammy special. Isn't it cool, kinda retro special too!

I still have some spray painting and art and pics to fill, but I am happy with it!  Overall cost is inexpensive too because you print out quotes, make your art and get frames inexpensively anywhere.

Just part of my summer projects... so happy to have something on the wall in our little nursery nook!

Painted Crib: Part 2... working on some details

 The characters for the woodland scene started to come alive. The best advice I can give you is to not be afraid.  It is just paint, if you don't like it... start over, try again, but practice makes perfect and paint is forgiving. I went slow, take your time...

Not everyone feels comfortable painting... no problem... decoupage, stencil, wall decals, stickers... find something you love and run with it.  I was so happy with how it came out, but not at first, so give yourself time. Practice first if that makes you feel more comfortable.  Start with something easy- but it is do able.

Reupholster Cane Barrel Chair: Part 1 Tutorial

Part of my Summer Project series... I have a lot going on... closets, organizing, decorating, and spending time with the kids.

This chair is one of a pair that broke the bank at $8.00.

We are going to say good bye to that plush camel velour...

found a spot to start with taking the piping off...

some prying and pulling and got the back and bottom off

poor guy is naked...

I just took off the velour, then primed it

a couple of coats of black... in part 2, I will put the new fabric down. Can't wait to see how they turn out.

Painted Crib: Part 1, how to transform a $20 crib into a $3600 masterpiece...

This beautiful crib can be yours with the bargain price of $3600... I love the handpainted details... so I started shopping online, craigslist that is...

this one had a lot of character for the bargain price of $20.  I love the details on this one, and had a project in mind.  I needed the flat, solid sides... 

I am painting this one gray with a Restoration Hardware finished look, so the gray primer is a good choice.

My husband like the gray primer color... but I have bigger plans.

I added moulding to frame the interior and painted it white, then started to sketch a scene... 

Father's Day Cupcakes... make them special!

Of course, Pinterest inspired... hey, any excuse to start baking and we are on it... found this pin... and we were off...

It is so fun when your kiddos can express themselves  in words.

 You need just a little bit of fondant, roll it out, cut in strips and create long rectangles.

Fold the rectangles into collars...

Cut out tie shapes and use one for a template.

And there you go.  All you have to do is decorate them.

My 3 year old got into the action too.

So colorful and fun.  We would have had more ties and collars, but my kids have a sweet tooth... but you get the idea. In a Pinterest world, everything looks perfect... in my mommy world- this is perfect. Enjoy!

Making Fairy Gardens: Upcycling broken clay pots... Pinterest Inspired

The other night, the entire family was in the car on the way to ice cream... "Stop!" I said, and my husband backed up the car.  I had this "pin" in the back of my mind that was perfect for my boys... these are the pieces we found in our neighbors "treasure" by the curb.  My son, J, says... "Mommy, did you hit the jackpot?" YEP!

here are the pieces we found...

This was inspired by a few pins found on pinterest... we created this one trying to "copy" and then the boys got creative...

I found that filling the pots with sopping wet soil was the easiest rather than filling with soil and sprinkling to get wet... but really that is the fun of it.  just keep adding pieces and soil and see what you get... the steps are easy to make, take long rectangular pieces and press into the soil.

The boys like breaking up pieces for steps...

we added some sedum and plan on adding other details, but for now... this is what we have.

The best part was being creative and creating with my boys.