Sugar Cookies

These are the best sugar cookies you will ever make yourself. The secret is using powdered sugar and not granulated. People are always surprised at how good they are. One friend even told me she ate the ones meant for her kids.

Sugar Cookies
1 cup margarine
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt.

1. Cream softened butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Mix flour, soda, cream of tarter and salt together in a bowl then add to cream mix.
2. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill overnight.
3. Roll dough on floured surface. Cut cookies with cookie cutters.
4. Bake 400 degrees 6-8 minutes (It was always exactly 8 minutes for me). Remove and place on cooling rack.

Here's a few tips I learned:
-Don't be afraid to use a lot of flour for the floured surface. I even kept putting flour on top of the dough to prevent the rolling pin from sticking. The cookies still turned out well with the extra flour used.
-I have an ultra thin spatula to pick up the cut out dough shapes which helped a lot.
-After you're done with the first round of cutting out cookies, brush the flour off the best you can, roll the dough together and roll it out again same as before--lots of flour on the bottom and add flour as needed on the top.
-As soon as you pull the cookies out of the oven take them off the pan--they won't squish together like other cookies will and if you let it cool a bit before taking them off they start sticking to the sheet.

Frosting:
1 stick margarine, softened
1-3 tablespoons milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lb powdered sugar
pinch of salt

Mix margarine, vanilla, powdered sugar and salt. Add milk a little bit at a time until smooth, medium-thick texture—you don’t want it runny.

Felt Flowers 3

Here's how to make these cute flowers.
You'll need:
Felt
Button
Hot glue
Clip

First, cut out 6 pieces: 4 big, 1 medium, 1 small (the bottom one)--notice this one is shaped differently. You'll know the sizes you like.

Next with the 4 big pieces follow this tutorial until you have this:

Add the middle with hot glue:

Add the small piece with hot glue:

Add the button with hot glue:

 

 I took a scrap piece of felt and glued it on the back, two lines of glue on opposite sides

You will be able to put in the clip like this:

 Now you have your flower!

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake

I have to share this because ever since last year when I tried it, it has become my new favorite milkshake. I ordered a pumpkin milkshake from an ice cream place recently and I was so disappointed because it wasn't nearly as good as this one. It is from LDS Living and it is amazing! Find it here, 3rd recipe down. I don't use the graham crackers.

Taking Notes Adult Skirt

After making this skirt for Brynn it was time to make one for myself. Here is a link to the tutorial. It turned out so cute and I love the fabric I found. It is classy yet kind of original I think. I love the deep mustard yellow with the so dark brown that you could probably pull off a black top too.

Oh and I should mention the top I've had for a while (pic below is 4 years ago) but the buttons are too small for the holes and they pop out all the time! You can see them open in the pic below on my tummy. Solution: I added hooks to keep it together! I also ran the hooks up to my high chest so I didn't have to wear an undershirt then pined the ties up to cover the hooks that showed and sewed it down. Wa la...an awesome outfit!

$1 Shirt

 

 When I saw this I knew I had to try it. A dollar DI Men's XL shirt into this...I had nothing to lose trying it! I followed the tutorial exactly. At the end I wasn't a fan of the neckline so I added two rows of sheering:












 I liked that with this neckline, I didn't have to wear an undershirt. My favorite part of her design was how she gathered the side. It looks cute (ignore the thread I hadn't cut yet):

 

For a buck and a new shirt it isn't too shabby!

Shirt, Skirt and Headband Flower

I saw this skirt and had to make it. It is an awesome tutorial! I wanted to buy fabric just like the one they had but I saw this one with black dots and I fell in love with it! I think it turned out well. I used a black zipper and thread to add a little pop. I made it a little big for her so she could grow into it.
The shirt I made my own pattern but it is super hard to get her arms through, so I'm not going to post a tutorial on it. I will try adding a side zipper and see if that works because the shirt turned out so cute!
I will post a tutorial on the flower soon.

sdfs

Sheered Dress

I love how sheering looks and I had to make a dress with it. Here is the final outcome and steps for how to make your own!

What you need:
 ~1 yard fabric
Thread
Elastic thread
Bias Tape
1 large button
Trim (Optional)

1. Cut out pattern pieces.
Pattern Page 1
Pattern Page 2

I have included a pattern for 18 months. You can size it up or down. Or make one yourself by using a shirt that fits them. I made my bodice pattern by following this great tutorial--scroll down a little. You have to make one change. Add some length to the bottom part of the bodice. So, you are making 4 sides longer like this:

Also, cut out a skirt portion: 34"x16". If you are making your own pattern use my equation in this post to figure out how long to cut width (part around waist). Look under "How to measure cut of fabric around waist."

2.Put bodice front and back, right sides together. Match up shoulders and side seams, sew them up.

3. Take one sleeve at a time fold it in half, so right sides are together, sew up seam.

Iron up the edge of sleeve (the part that doesn't attach to bodice) to get rid of unfinished edge. If you want to add trim watch this short video:

 Don't forget to top stitch:

4. Sew a gathering thread across top part of sleeve (that attaches to bodice) and pull until it is same size as arm hole in bodice:

Sew sleeve into bodice. Make sure right sides are together!

Now you have this:

5. On bodice back make a 3" cut right down the middle and cut off edge to round it off (this affects the look, so make sure you do it). At this point, I put the bodice over my little girl's head to make sure it fit, maybe you want to do the same. You can look at it and see if you think it will fit over you little girl's head. If not, cut until it will fit.

6. Attach bias tape all around neck line and around the cut you just made. Watch this:

7. Sew your button (I used a fabric button) on one side of back. Sew a piece of bias tape or fabric or trim on other side to fit around button. I used the trim I had. I sewed it to itself first (second pic), then sewed it onto the dress. I thought it made it look classy.

8. For skirt, sew up side seam. Finish off bottom hem. I added trim to this part. Watch video for sleeve trim if you need to see it again. Don't forget to top stitch!

9. Now for the sheering...it is sooooooo easy! Don't be afraid! Replace bobbin thread with elastic thread. Just hand wrap elastic thread around bobbin so it sits on there nicely, not tight, not loose. Normal thread on top.

Now, you are going to sew 10-12 rows (whatever your preference I did 12 for the black and white dress, 10 for purple seen below) around the the top of skirt portion of dress. Watch the video:

As I said in the video, back stitch at the beginning and end of every row, never cutting thread. You can cut it if you want to but you will waste more thread. Not cutting the thread is so much easier!

If you want to add trim to the middle, like I did, add it now. You can just baste it on.

10. Sew together bodice and skirt. Make sure right sides are together.

11. If you want to embellish with a flower like I did, I did a basting stitch on the flat side of the trim, pulled it into circles, and sewed it together, adding a blingy button in the middle. I sewed it onto the dress and added a little fabric glue to get it to lay just how I wanted it.

Now you are done! You will see in the purple dress I added a ruffle instead of the flower. I didn't like it as much so I didn't include instructions. It was hard to do and added complexity. Maybe I did it a wrong way.

Also, the black and white dress is for 18 months and my daughter is only about 13 months in the picture (that's why the dress is a little big--wanted her to grow into it). The purple dress is 12 months (that's why it fits so much better).