I'm Lovin' It! ~Easter Cut-Out Cookies

Welcome to the Party!! I'm Lovin' It is a party I host at the end of each week to celebrate things that makes us happy....things we are loving! Please share anything from a new(or old) product, to a recipe, a picture you took, a project, or even your children or family.....really anything that you would like to share that you are loving right now!!

First I have a bit of business to address........

• You may want to pop over here to see if you were the winner of The Rusted Chain Giveaway {hint, there's a little something for everyone!}
  

• Did you see who was the guest poster here on TidyMom yesterday? Stephanie of Somewhat Simple posted a few great projects you can see here and I will be guest posting on her AMAZING blog today(friday)!!.......so when you're finished here, hop over to Somewhat Simple and say hello to me over there and take a look around while you're there!!

This week I am loving the Easter/Spring cookies I made!

I used my Butter Cookie recipe and decorated with Royal Icing and sprinkles.

I owe some BIG thanks to Bridget for all of her wonderful tips on Royal Icing!.....
if you've never decorated cookies with royal icing, or would just like some tips from a pro.....Bridget has a few fantastic posts .....

Royal Icing 101 and Royal Icing 102

See that cute green egg with the yellow hearts?

Learned how to do that snazy trick from Sweetopia here

you'll never guess how easy that was!

and I think these little chickies are my favorites!!

Bake it Pretty has an awesome video on how to roll out cookie dough!
see the video here.

I'm not very steady with my piping .......but click the picture below to see my cookies from last year!

This was my first attempt at royal icing......not bad, but I think I've improved some!

Over the weekend I got together with a few friends to show them how easy it is to decorated cupcakes!! - didn't they do a fabulous job?.....You can see more pictures on Angie's blog. - I'm going to warn you though, she shows you how messy I am when I decorate! LOL

Check out these great parties that I linked this post to:
Bake at 350, Strut Your Stuff, Strut Your Stuff Easter/Spring, Ultimate Recipe Swap,

This post sponsored by:

want to see your ad here? contact me

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Now it’s your turn, let us know what you’re lovin' this week! If you have something to share with us on your blog, add your link below. Just please be sure to:

1. Add the permalink to the specific blog post, not your general blog address in the MckLinky form below (need help with finding the permalink? click here to see a great post Darcy wrote on this!)
   
2. Include in your blog entry a link back to this post so that your readers can come and see what everyone else is loving today and have an opportunity to contribute! You can use the code below to add the banner to your posts or blog if you'd like.
   
3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what makes a party fun!! You don't want to come to a party and have no one talk to you!!
   
4. Let me know if you have any questions, problems or need help!
   

MckLinky will stay open until April 4, 2010 11pm CST.

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Blog Swap with Somewhat Simple!

I am so happy to be swapping blogs with

Stephanie of Somewhat Simple!

If you do not know about her blog, you are seriously missing out. Her blog is full of amazing craft projects, tutorials, a weekly Strut Your Stuff link party, Freaky Friday (blog swaps), yummy recipes and so much more!

I will be at her place tomorrow,
while she shares a fun project with you here today.

After you read what she has for you, go check out the rest of her incredible blog, and hop over to visit me there tomorrow!

I am so excited to be here on Tidy Mom today! I'll be honest though, typing this post has me feeling a bit guilty that my own home is less than "tidy" right now! My name is Stephanie and I am the creator of the site Somewhat Simple.

I have 2 tutorials for you today because I love how they look together, but you can certainly split them up if you'd like! This is the picture arrangement I have above my bed:

(Big frame is 24x24 & other frames are 12x12)

Couple Collage

I have hardly any pictures hanging on the wall of me and my husband together- all our frames are occupied with pictures of the kiddos (they are much cuter than we are!) but this project displays the awesome places we have been, the fun stuff we have done, and the great memories we have made together! Here is what I did:

I bought this frame at a thrift shop for a couple bucks:

I took it apart, painted it black, then sanded the edges:

Then I gathered pictures- lots and lots of pictures (72 to be exact!)

I uploaded them to Picnik.com and had fun making them all black & white then making a collage.

Picnik has premade templates for collages- I used 3 different templates that hold 8 photos each.

I made 9 total collages and sized them to be 8.25 inches square, which happened to fit my square frame PERFECTLY! No cutting or overlapping needed!.

Then I just printed them out on my computer! Here are the finished collages:

Next I laid (or is it layed?) the collages out and taped them together on the backsides like so:

Lastly, I put them in my frame and showed my husband, of course. He was proud of me!

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Framed Vinyl Initial
If you like an easy "no-brainer", this is for you!

(K, I am just now proof-reading that tutorial and I am so embarrassed about those spelling errors! Not embarrassed enough to fix it, but embarrassed enough to admit I do know how to spell "perimeter", and "ack" was supposed to be "back". Sorry ladies!)

So that's it! If you need your own initials, just ask!

Please consider yourselves personally invited to visit me at Somewhat Simple. I share craft ideas, decor projects, recipes and more. Today I am hosting a great giveaway with a fun link party where you can all join in on the fun.

Cheryl, thanks so much for having me today! I love this site of yours, but I would love it even more if you came to my house and worked your magic! Have a great day!!!

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Thanks Steph! I LOVE these projects!! I use Picnik.com all the time, and never thought to do something like that! And the initials are awesome! No one would ever guess how simple they are to make!!

Be sure to head over to Somewhat Simple.....
Thursday is the day for her Strut Your Stuff link party! Don't miss it!

You can visit again on Friday for my post over there!

This post sponsored by: