the glittered nest

Little Clothespin Dolls

You will love Elyse's litte clothespin doll kits for your little girls and her friends.  I just received these today and I just love them.   I wanted to share the link so you can go and order some too for Christmas! Not only are these adorable but the packaging is even cuter.  Elyse gives every one of her little creations their very own name so you feel your little doll is special.

Tinkered Treasures

 

(These two pictures are from Elyse's blog)

I don't know who will have more fun making these...me or my eight year olds!

You will love the little booklet that comes with the kits. 

 
 
  I can't wait to show you the little dolls my girls make.

 
 Happy Holiday Crafting!
 

Snowflake Sugar Cookies

We are working on some special sugar cookies for the teacher's luncheon this week and wanted to share some tricks I have learned.

 
I have tried several sugar cookie recipes and this one I have found to be the best!

This is a large recipe to make four separate batches of cookies.  This is great for the holidays if you want to make four types of cookies with one dough.

Martha Stewart's Sugar Cookie Recipe:

• 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 5 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, vanilla, and salt; mix on medium speed until combined. With mixer on low speed, add flour in 2 batches, mixing just until incorporated.
2. Divide dough into 4 equal portions. Place each on a piece of plastic wrap; flatten into disks. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours or up to 1 week.

Royal Icing:

Makes 2 1/3 cups

• 1 box confectioners' sugar (1 pound)
• 5 tablespoons meringue powder, or 2 large egg whites

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar and meringue powder. Mixing on low speed, add a scant 1/2 cup water. For a thinner consistency, usually used for flooding, add more water. A thicker consistency is generally used for outlining and adding details. Mix until icing holds a ribbonlike trail on the surface of the mixture for 5 seconds when you raise the paddle.

I like to add half of a teaspoon of Almond extract to the icing so it has a nice smooth flavor and not so sugary.

Some tricks I have learned for decorating the cookies:

First, when you make the icing, you must make one that is thick enough for outlining the cookie.  The other must be thin enough to flood the inside.

Wait a couple of minutes for it to dry and then add some water to the rest of your icing to thin it a bit.  I like to put mine in a sqeeze bottle to flood a large area quick.

Then take a small stick to spread the icing.

Wait about 15 minutes before you add the final touches!  Here is a little goodie box I made up for a friend.

 
  
 Sugar cookies, macarons, chocolate peppermint bark and a little miniature bear from Michaels!

I think half of a gift is how it is presented.  I tied this one with butter tulle and a fabric rose.  Have a happy holiday season everyone!
 
 Here's my happy little helper:

 

Cinnamon Buttercream filled Macarons

 
These delicious macarons are filled with cinnamon buttercream.  My daughter thought to add the raspberries and chocolate.  Wow!  Talk about rich and outrageous!  We are working on different flavored macarons for our Thanksgiving/Christmas treats that we will box up and give to our friends. 

Buttercream recipe:(adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes)

3 sticks of butter(room temperature)

4 cups of sifted powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract(Madagascar vanilla)

1 TBL cinnamon

Whip the butter on medium high for 3 minutes until pale and light. 

Reduce speed to medium.  Add confectioner's sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. After every two additions raise speed to high and beat 10 seconds to aerate frosting, then return to medium.  This process should take about 5 minutes.  Frosting will be pale and fluffy. 

Macaron Recipe:macaron

Add vanilla and cinnamon, and beat until frosting is smooth.  Frosting can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 10 days in an airtight container.  Before using, bring to room temperature and beat for 5 minutes.

You know what she is thinking?  You guessed it..."I wonder if mom will let me eat all of them"!

Homemade Playdough Gift

Homemade playdough is a great gift to give and a great craft for antsy kiddos at Thanksgiving time. Getting the meal ready and watching the kids can be really stressful with lots of family activity going on.  Break out the playdough...I guarantee even the teenagers will join in. 

 
 
  
  
All you need is:

3 cups of water

3 cups of flour

3 Tbl of oil

6 tsp of cream of tarter

1.5 cups of salt

food coloring

Mix it all in a big pot until it starts to come together and look like a big ball. Turn out onto cling wrap.  Let it cool for several minutes and then play away!

Let your children help make it so they feel they have helped with this special gift.

To wrap mine I used parchment paper and red and white baker's twine.  The little flower is made from two mini cupcake liners and a button.  You could easily add a cookie cutter.  Don't forget to attach the recipe!

 

Paper Mache' Holiday House

 The first house of our Christmas village was constructed today by my daughter Abby.  These houses are so fun to paint and add glitter too.  You can find them at Hobby Lobby for only 4.00.

You can't tell in this picture but we added battery operated lights inside and it lights up.  The top comes off and you can even use this as a gift box. 
  We used German Glass Glitter for the roof and miniture ornaments for the front of the house.

 The glass glitter was purchased online at castleintheair.biz.  They have great double sided crepe paper too.  We also used Martha Stewart's glitter from Michaels.  She has some of the most beautiful colors. 

Right now the little house sits amongst turkeys and pumpkins but will soon be surrounded by snow and trees. Happy Holidays!  This is a great project to do with your kids at any age!  It took us an hour to make this little creation.

 
 

Whimsical Tree

I wanted to post some more pictures of the tree we decorated for our booth.  At first it was on the table sitting atop a cake pedestal until a strong wing came along...oops...my girls said.."mom that was a bad idea!"  That's ok, we'll make it work next time.  My friend Val suggested using plaster of paris in the bucket to weigh it down.  Anyway, here it is.

  Materials used: two branches from my back yard, reindeer moss, little nests, white cotton roses and three hand sewn birds.

 

  Here are some sweet nests you can buy from chasing-fireflies.com for the holidays.  

 

  
 
I made a larger one that hangs in my girls' bathroom:

I think these would be fun to make for Christmas gifts for families with little kiddos!  Maybe that will be the next project!  Have a great week.