CHRISTMAS SUGAR COOKIES |

MERRY (almost) CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! 

i hope you all are just about ready to celebrate the greatest day of the year, and that the stress isn't too high. i am basically finished my christmas shopping and it's all wrapped and placed nicely under the tree. i, for some strange reason, really enjoy wrapping presents and making everything look pretty and festive. it's kind of soothing, and it also helps get into the Christmas spirit, a bit. 

i have recently been baking a lot of sugar cookies, because i wanted to give some to the people i work with... and i wanted to share with you guys the final photo of my little edible creations. 

last year, i had to make about 167 snowflake sugar cookies for a wedding.. which was insane, and really stressful. especially because i am NOT  professional on any definition of the word. but let's just say... after about 100 of these bad boys, i started to get the hang of it.. and a bruised hand from the icing bag... hahaha. long story short - i decided to make some again this year, with Christmas trees (which i've never made before). and i have to admit that i actually liked the way they turned out. i have to say that these cookies are actually much easier to do than you'd think. and with doing the 167 sugar cookies for the wedding last christmas, i needed a recipe that was quick.. this is just the perfect recipe. 

SWEET SUGAR BELLE'S SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE:

1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter - softened 

1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1 egg

2 - 3 teaspoons of any flavouring of your choice (vanilla or almond extract are amazing)

2 1/2 - 2 3/4 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

cream together the softened butter and the confectioner's sugar. crack egg into separate bowl, and add the flavouring. add to butter/sugar mixture and mix until egg is thoroughly incorporated. in a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt. whisk together. add little by little into the butter/sugar/egg mixture. mix gently until the dough when touched, has some give, but doesn't stick to your finger. this dough does not need to be refrigerated (yay!)

roll out dough to a 1/4 inch thick (sprinkle with flour as needed). cut your shapes out, and place onto parchement paper on a baking sheet. bake at 400 degrees for 7-8 minutes. 

ROYAL ICING RECIPE: 

1 bag of icing sugar

1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon of meringue powder

about 3/4 cup warm water 

mix items all together with a whisk attachment until stiff peaks form. separate into different mixing bowls for the different colours you will need. this icing keeps in the fridge for a month. 

VISIT sweetsugarbelle.com FOR ALL ICING RECIPE/HOW TO'S < she is amazing at cookie decorating... just call her the Queen of cookies. 

I hope everyone has an amazing Christmas, and i'll talk to you all soon. xoxoxo 

CHRISTMAS DECORATING | bedroom

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!  

this is my first post in a really, really long time. Since it is December, i figured it would only be appropriate to do a christmas-themed post of some sort. i have been extremely excited for the holidays, so i decided to decorate my room this year. if anyone needed some decorating ideas, then here is how i decorated my bedroom ...... let's get to it ! 

small pinecone artificial christmas tree $9.00 - Superstore, little ball ornaments $6.00 - Superstore, red telephone booth $49.99 - Homesense

as i have posted before, my bedroom is "London" themed, so i already have a lot of red throughout, which was perfect for Christmas decorating. the little tree i picked out from my grocery store had a little red pot to hold it, and little pinecones attached to the branches. it was the cutest little tree i could find, and the perfect size to fit on my dresser. as for the telephone booth... it was one of those impulse buys... but i don't regret it for a second. i'm in love with how it looks. 

"London" snow globe $14.99 - Homesense

another impulse buy... and i bought 2 of these. one had the buildings of parliament/big ben, and this one had the London Eye. I couldn't decide which one i wanted, and plus they each play a Christmas carol when you wind them up - both different. i will most likely use these as book ends after Christmas is over, because they are too beautiful to put away. and can i just say how OBSESSED i am with Homesense?! it is the most amazing place to find goodies like these. i tend to do all of my Christmas shopping there, because they have the best knick-knacks. anyways, i love the way this snow globe looks on my dresser, just so winter-y and beautiful. 

Mr. Fox and Mrs. Fox $17.99 each - Hudson Bay Company

okay... HOW CUTE ARE THESE?! i have been crazy over fox themed items lately, and when i first saw this.. it was literally "love at first sight". My dad actually bought these for me and surprised me with them. it was so sweet,  i have the best dad ever. the Christmas theme i am trying to go for in my room is kind of a "wood-land" type feel. i love home-made looking decor, i think it adds a lot of character to a space. i just tried researching these on the "hudson's bay" website, but i unfortunately couldn't find them. they are by the brand "gluckenstein home". 

Snowflake Fairy Lights $4.99 - IKEA

I picked these up last week at IKEA. I was looking for some regular fairy lights, but they didn't seem to have too much of a selection at that time. but i found these adorable LED lights instead. they had an option of a series of snowflake hanging lights- $24.99 or these single string snowflake lights for $4.99. i opted for the single strand this time. they are battery operated, and you have to the option to switch them on and off as you please. i really like that feature, instead of having to plug/unplug all of the time. they look really pretty in dimmed lighting. it pulls the whole look together.

tartan and white knit pillow $12.99 each - Superstore/Loblaws, London comforter/Pillows - Homesense $80.00, Day bed- IKEA (not in stock anymore). 

as well all know, tartan has made a huge come-back for the holiday season. i wanted to find tartan pillows so badly, but i couldn't seem to find them anywhere, but as soon as the holiday season hit, so did all of the tartan pillows. they had a vast selection of colours/styles. these i will keep on my bed, even when Christmas is over, i really fancy the look of them. they look so home-y, and once again it looks really good with the wood-land christmas theme i have going on. 

silver side table $149.99 - Homesense, "Tis the Season" candle $22.00 - bath and body works

i bought this side table a couple days ago from Homesense, after eyeing it down for the past couple months. i am in the midst of de-cluttering my room as i will be renovating/moving into our basement bedroom... well once my sister moves out of it.... alas, i have big plans. but this table just looks so clean, and opens up the space i have a little bit. obviously, i won't be getting rid of it once christmas goes, but it all adds to the wood-land feel. i love the look of silver with red. it seems to be a bit more of a balanced colour combination, because red is so powerful/dark and silver tones/cools that aspect down. 

obviously, candles are a MUST around the christmas season/any day of the year. one of my favourite scents that Bath and Body Works came out with this year is the "Tis the Season" scent. it's spicey, like apples/cinnamon/christmas trees, ect. it is an amazing winter scent, and is exactly what you'd think Christmas would smell like. 

anyways guys, that is it for my Christmas themed bedroom. i hope you liked what i showed you today. Obviously you guys don't need to go to extremes or spend a lot of money on something like decorating a room. there are a lot of amazing DIY christmas projects you can do to jazz up or room/space. or you don't even have to decorate at all! but i just found some fun in making my room look festive. adding a mini fake christmas tree and some lights can transform your space instantly, and put you right into the holiday spirit. 

i will be posting a lot more Christmas theme-d posts, especially some baking ones for you guys. so keep your eyes peeled! <3