Blueberry Lemon Cookies

I have quite the sweet tooth. As does my boyfriend, brother, dad and mom. So typically, when I come across recipes like this, I expect them to be devoured. And, as usual, I was correct. However, my mom and I like to change recipes to make them a little healthier, and sometimes it makes things amazing and other times they are horrible and inedible. And, as my dad is diabetic, one of the main things I reduce is typically oil or butter.

This recipe calls for 1 cup butter. Meaning 2 sticks. Meaning Paula Dean levels of butter. And I just refuse to believe that a cookie really needs that much fat in it. So, being typical me, I cut it in half.  And seeing as there is only one left from the 36 I made this morning, i'd say it was a success. While I have not made the original, and I also cut out the cream cheese (i'm not a fan), the texture was much more cakey. The recipe calls for 3 cups a flower and to my 1/2 cup of butter and 1 egg, it was bound to happen. But they were not too lemoney or overly sweet and would make the perfect coffee cookie or tea cookie. The recipe was very easy to follow and absolutely delicious. I will be making them again soon in the VERY near future. :)

Lemon-Blueberry Cookies

Glitter Galore

I was surfing pinterest a few days ago and came across this picture... and I fell instantly in love.

There was no source page attached, only the picture. I'd heard that you could mix glitter in Emler's glue and it would dry clear but because of my love for mogepodge, I thought i'd give it a try with that instead. I got a bottle of $1.30 glitter and my mogepodge and sponge brushes out.

Mixing glitter with mogepodge isn't the easiest thing, its thick and clumpy and difficult to spread and after I put it on it looked horrible. But, I trust the stuff and decided to give it some time to dry. Luckily it turned out amazingly. Not quite as nicely as the picture above but pretty close! The glitter does come off pretty easily, but seeing as I only move it for sleepovers, not a big deal and it is very cute. And keeps my brother from stealing it.

Monogram Craze

I am beyond normal obsessed with things monogrammed. If it were up to me, everything I own would be monogrammed... just a few things

Bathing suit top- Thank you Marley Lilly

Cute PFG for my fishing days, thank you Kudzu (my new favorite embroiderer)

and of course my new body pillow cover from my amazing boyfriend

You might notice there is also a huge monogram in the background... that was one of my latest projects. I love vinyl decals and would put them on everything, but seeing as I don't have the printer or the paper or the want to spend $30 for a sticker that big, I took my $2 bottle of acrylic blue paint and my love for circle script and went to work.


Using this template, I just drew out my monogram a few times on a piece of paper until I was satisfied.

I used a pencil to then trace it out behind my bed (I know it isn't perfect, believe me) and started painting. I used sponge brushes as they made it easier to make a good line on the thicker parts and a small brush for the smaller parts of the letters. I'd say i'm pretty proud of it. And I also added a new monogram to my collection :)

Cork Board to Chalk Board

So the other day I came cross this cute thing on Pinterest, a Chalkboard Circle. I currently have a cork board with post-its as a calendar, however with this Georgia heat, they tend to fly and be not efficient at all. I thought it was a cool idea but for $68 I thought I could make it. Turns out, I can. However, no circles and its just not as cute. But I spent only about $8, so considering I saved at least $60 (before shipping) i'd say it turned out pretty well! Heres my step-by-step on my new chalkboard month.

Materials
1.) Chalkboard spray paint (I don't recommend but this is what i used) or regular paint (I've heard much better things about it, but hey I was lazy with a coupon4
2.) Painters tape- my mother swears by the green frog kind, so we had this laying around the house.
3.) Chalk $1 at Michaels
4.) Acrylic Paint + brushes in case you screw up, as I did. About $4 for both.

First, my boyfriend and I tried to make the circles with a syrophome circle (HORRIBLE IDEA, but maybe not with the real paint. BAAAD with spray) and it turned out horrible. it drips all over the place and just doesnt dry perfect or go on easily. (sorry, no pictures. it was that bad).

So, what we actually did is take the painters tape and measure out squares, 7 wide and 5 tall for 7 days and 5 weeks and then a box on the top for the month.



We then began the first attempt at spraying the wall... FAIL. majorly. it dripped, I tried to not let it bother me. We left for about 4 hours and came back and it was dry and the horrible spray paint smell was also gone. After peeling off the tape we were left with quite a mess. SO.. being the innovator I am, I knew I had some blue acrylic left from painting my monogram (another post) and decided to try to make a border and paint in-between to fix the mess. Amazing idea.

So I took more painters tape (ended up using an entire roll) and made a 2 inch border starting where it looked bad around the edges. I painted it the blue and it turned out quite well.

After the border, I did painters tape horizontally across each row to paint over where the spray sprayed outside the lines. Worked amazing.

I did the same vertically and pulled it all of.

Added the things im doing this week (also made sure it would erase) and now i have a great chalk board to replace my cork board!