Smashed Peas and Carrots

Friday, January 28, 2011

Pie Crust Cookies {For Your Sweetheart}


Hi, I'm Maggie and I love me some cookies.  Oh, you too?  Awesome.  Then let's be friends.  

So, friends today I am going to share with you one of the easiest cookies known to man.  And probably one of the most fattening too as pie crust is used to make them.  Pie. Crust. You heard me right folks.  That means lots of butter...or lard if you like yours that way.  Either way they are both no good for my waistline but darn it they make these cookies (and pie) oh-so-yummy.  


I like the simplicity of sprinkling my pie crust cookies with cinnamon and sugar (especially for a little V-Day love) but a close second is to bake them up plain and then make a pie crust cookie sandwich with jam in the middle, raspberry jam is at the top of our list of favs.  If you so desire, you could even use nutella.  Ah gah!  So good.  Just sayin'.


Pie Crust Cookies

1 box of packaged pie crusts (or one recipe for a double pie crust, here's a good one!)
3 tbsp butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Roll out both of your pie crusts and brush the top with melted butter.  Mix the cinnamon and sugar together in a small bowl and sprinkle on top of the melted butter.  Cut out in cookie shapes of your choice.   Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 425 for 8-9 minutes or until golden brown.  


Make your pie crusts...or in my case, roll out your pre-packaged crusts, hehe!



Brush those babies nice and generously with the melted butter.

Aww yeah, glisten baby, glisten!



Then in a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon and sugar...



Liberally sprinkle it ALL. OVER.  Use it all up.  Maybe even make more.  Cinnamon sugar is awesome if you didn't know.  Awesome.



Then since Valentine's Day is right around the corner, find your handy dandy Heart cookie cutters and cut out some hearts. 

Ahhh, sweetness!



Place your cut outs on a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 425 degrees for about 8-9 minutes or until just turning golden brown...



Then, stare down the oven in hopes that the cookies will be done that much faster...

Nope.  It still takes 8-9 minutes.

I don't think they've harnessed all their energy for good yet.



When they are done they will look awesome, just like this.

They will also taste awesome.  

{This last part is important to note.}



Cute!  Little baby hearts.

This one is for Eloise :-)



Now Valentine's Day really will be the sweetest day of all!

{Awwww!}

Sweeeeeet!

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Thursday, January 27, 2011

Twisted Sisters Jewelry Giveaway...Winner!!


Alright folks, we have a winner!!

The lucky owner of a $25 gift certificate is....Number 104!!


And who is Lucky #104 you ask?  It's Jena!!!


Jena, please email me your snail mail info so Twisted Sisters can contact you about your gift certificate!!  

Happy Shopping!!


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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Studio Organization...The Other Cabinet

Bwhahaha!  I laugh every time I type or say the word 'studio' for my craft/sewing/work space.  I think it makes it seem oh-so-fancy but really it's not.  It's just my subtle takeover of our formal dining room that we use twice a year!  I was actually planning on taking our 4th bedroom and making it my craft room but then I realized how much I truly can get done during the day if I can actually be in the midst of the chaos of our 3 kids.  If my room were upstairs I don't think I'd get up there as much or if I holed myself up there my kids would be wreaking havoc below and so all and all it's much nicer trapsing into the space I have now since it's on the main floor and right off the kitchen!!  (y'all trapse, don't ya?)

Anyways, I wanted to post more of my work space organization since so many of you had questions about what I put where and well, I think pictures of things are just so much nicer than me blah-blah-blee-blabbing to you...right?


So, here is a look at my other cabinet...yes, I have TWO...and I love them!  The glass doors are truly heaven sent, I cannot say it enough!

The green magazine holders (bought at Ikea along with the cabinets) at the top are where I store manuals for my sewing machine, serger, etc and important receipts...tell me you save receipts too?  Those all go into one, the other three holders are split up to hold patterns that I have created and and/or traced out onto butcher or freezer paper as well as smaller applique patterns and instructions for said patterns.  Annnd deep breath, whoa that was one long run-on sentence!  If the pattern fits I will place it in a large ziploc bag first just to keep all the smaller pieces together...I'm talking to you dress patterns with your many bodice pieces!



This shelf holds my Macaroni Love Story by Heather Ross that my beloved bought me for Christmas **swoon** (over him and the Macaroni!)  Can you believe he did that all on his own?  Unfortunately the Mac Love is not being printed anymore as it was a limited edition via Spoonflower...boo hoo!

I also have a pile of Ikea fabrics that I bought on super sale at the beginning of the year.  I'll just say Dana made me do it...she makes the bestest things out of their yellow stripe-y fabric, plus I love a good pun now and again (she MADE me do it, get it? *snort*)   



This shelf holds much of the vintage trim I use for many of the girlie onesies in my Etsy shop.  I also love using mason jars to hold my stock of covered buttons and empty spools of thread as well as my supply of safety pins and vintage metal buttons :-)



I use these CD baskets to hold store bought patterns and many of the cute vintage patterns I have found sloshing my way through thrift stores.  On a side note, you can find some great old patterns at your local thrift store if you can spend a little bit of time weeding through the piles of sometimes very yucky ones they have and usually they sell them for as little as 25 cents!  I love that many of them have handwritten notes on them in that classic old cursive handwriting style just like my grandma had!



I bought these glass candy jars at Walmart of all places, I think they were 5 dollars a piece.  They are perfect for showcasing all the bright colors of ric rac and bias tape I keep on hand.  They kinda look like candy, don't they?!!  



Speaking of ric rac, I wanted to show you how I keep my yards and yards of ric rac under control.  



I bought these wooden sticks in the wood crafts section of Hobby Lobby, they are like short paint stirrers if you will.  



They are the perfect size to fit in my glass candy jars too...



You can wrap 10 yards (yes 10!) around these babies and they are still not bulky!  
**These would also organize your other trim and/or ribbon stash nicely too :-)



Then not only do they help me keep my ric rac organized and untangled, they also help make it look so pretty sitting on a shelf...easy peasy craft room decor!



Ya gotta love these jars for those little packages of bias trim too...



Pretty, colorful and ORGANIZED...

Love it!

Okay, so that was Craft Cabinet #2.  
What did you think?  
Questions...comments?  
Just leave them below and I'll do my best to help you out...what are friends for!!


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Monday, January 24, 2011

A First for the Babe.


We got ourselves into this mess this weekend.
It was fun.
I think she liked it.
There were lots of little hands ready and waiting to help feed Eloise her first rice cereal.
There was lots of 'my turn'...'me, pick me mom'...and 'I want to do it too'.
I think the older siblings may have been the hardest part, hah.
Good helpers they are.


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Friday, January 21, 2011

Thrift Store Fun Finds

I was able to get out and do some thrifting last week!  
Come take a peek at what I bought...


Delicious vintage baking dishes!!    

Soooo pretty!



I found this sweet little round bowl...



And then this lovely bread pan made it's way into my heart (and cart!)...



Can't you just see a loaf of cinnamon bread baking in this little beauty!



I also found this pie plate which has already been used a few times, ahthankyouverymuch!



And I can't forget this pretty vintage sheet set that is calling to be made into some pretty dresses...



And lastly, I found this rockin' shoe sizer for a whopping 49 cents!!  

How awesome is this find!!  

Cause it's only slightly annoying to go out to buy shoes for your kids only to find out when you bring them home that they have grown a size bigger without even telling you!! 

Now I will never be caught shoe shopping for the little tikes without their current foot size again!!

{It's the little things I tell ya!}

Happy Friday Friends!!

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Thursday, January 20, 2011

Twisted Sisters Jewelry Giveaway


Check it...check it... check it ouuuuut!

Today, I have an awesomely awesome giveaway for y'all!


I received one of these lovelies this past Christmas...


Handmade from the amazing shop, Twisted Sisters.  

I just love me some necklaces personalized with my children's names (and birthstones too!), don't you?  Your children's names and birthstones on your said necklace of course!

To learn more about Twisted Sisters jewelry and their sweet giveaway click HERE!!  It's a good one!!

{the perfect early gift for Valentine's Day, don't ya think!!}


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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Embroidered Love Notes

I wanted to show you a few of the fun little Love Notes I made last year (hah, 2010 is soooo last year!)  I saw a similar idea from Flamingo Toes recently via One Pretty Thing the other day and it reminded me that I meant to post this but for some reason never did!!  It's weird how similarly we made ours even though we don't even know each other, we must have some crazy blog vibin' going on!  :-)  

I just love the look of an embroidered Love Note, so sweet yet so old-fashioned...and great wall art too!  
I saw the original idea for these from Katie.cupcake but changed mine up a bit because there was no way in heck that I was going to hand-embroider these suckers...I don't know how she did it, I would have gone mad just doing the horizontal lines.  I used my sewing machine and just hand embroidered the hand-written aspect of the note and then I placed my notes in a simple embroidery hoop as the frame cause I love the vintage-y look they add to them!  I made this one for the hubs for our anniversary last October...


I like that it's a mathematical equation, I'm nerdy like that.  

'him + me = us' and then the 'two of us + our 3 kids = our newly expanded family

I also love little embroidered hearts so I think that the little red heart at the bottom makes this even more of a sweet homemade anniversary gift from me to him!


I made this one for my dear sweet hubby for Christmas last year.  He loves the Pixies so embroidering one of their song titles for this note was a no-brainer.  It was the perfect gift for him.  

If you need some awesome poster-size wall art you should check out what Candace does with this song title in her Etsy shop here.  Very Cool!

I have also made a few other notes that I don't have pictures of...boo hoo!  I like to make them for wedding gifts or anniversary gifts for good friends of ours.  I have even stitched up a few with birth stats, those turned out pretty cool too.

Here is just a quick run-down of how I make mine...

Embroidered Love Notes

white, cream or linen fabric
turquoise blue thread
hot pink thread
black or dark brown embroidery floss (you will use 3 strands)
embroidery needle
sewing machine
disappearing ink pen
ruler
embroidery hoop


First, I draw out my love note with a disappearing ink pen.  I usually make mine 5 x 7 inches so it can be centered nicely when framed in a larger embroidery hoop but it's totally up to you.  I make my lines 1/2 inch apart. 



Then, I start by putting the blue thread in my sewing machine and stitching all the horizontal lines first, I stitch the border of the page second.  This is a great lesson in practicing to straight line stitching too!!

Then I do the pink vertical line at the left of the page last.  This way it stands out a little bit more.  



Then, take your disappearing ink pen and write out whatever you'd like to say.  The shorter and more sweet the better in my opinion.  

Then grab 3 strands (of the 6) of embroidery floss and an embroidery needle and have fun stitching it up while you watch Glee..the most awesome show ev-ah...which by the way is on tonight 
{my PSA from me to you ;-) }



I love how this fabric puckered a bit on the machine...it looks all wrinkly doesn't it?



This one may change if we ever have a fourth baby but for now I love how it sorta rhymes at the end...:-)



I found two packs of 6 large embroidery hoops at a thrift store a while back for only $1.99 each!  What a steal.  I and am slowly dwindling my stash...I love using them as frames!

I left both of these uncut on the hoops...do you think I should cut them to fit?  I kinda like the look of it...or do I?  

Happy Tuesday Peeps!

{Have you entered the Jimmy Dean D-Lights giveaway for a $100 VISA gift card yet?  
If not, click here now!!}

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