Glamulet Special Valentine DIY Charms

Todays’ Make It Monday is a Sugar Cookie..basic, but delicious! It’s sweet, but not too sweet, and light, rolls perfectly, bakes nicely, stays soft, freezes well, decorates great,…and of course it’s pretty simple to make! Here’s what you will need:3 cups flour1 TSP baking powder1 cup unsalted butter1 cup sugar1 large egg
1 TSP vanilla extract
**I’m generally able to make 18-30 cookies per batch of dough. However this varies with each person depending on the thickness of the dough they are using and the size of the cookie cutter. About a half hour before I start, I pull out my butter and egg and let them sit on the counter. You don’t want to over soften your butter. If you forget do not stick it in the microwave. Just chop it up in several little pieces before starting.
Instructions:
1: In a separate mixing bowl whisk together flour and baking powder.
2: In the bowl of a kitchen mixer, beat together unsalted butter and sugar. Once mixed well, add in egg. Mix again, then add in vanilla.
3: Slowly add in flour mixture. Mix until dough forms and begins to clump together. If your dough is still crumbly, keep mixing! My dough starts out crumbly and then comes together to form a really nice dough. 4: Gather up dough and knead it with hands until it’s nice and smooth. Roll it into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap, and place in fridge to chill. I like to let min chill about 20 minutes. You will want it to be kind of firm but not hard. If it’s too hard…just leave it out on the counter for just a little bit until it softens up. Then you can work it a little bit to soften it back up. Even if it’s rock hard it will come back to a nice workable dough.
5: Preheat your oven to 350 and line a large cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper. Another option is to use the silicone baking mats made especially for this.
6: Roll out the dough. I like to do so in between a lightly flour dusted sheet of parchment paper (on bottom) and wax paper (on top). The purpose of the papers is it keeps the dough very smooth, leaving no marks from the rolling pin. The reason why I use one of each is I like the flexibility of the wax paper on top and I like the parchment paper on bottom because it’s heavier and if I am cutting a difficult shape I can bake right on the paper that it was cut on after removing excess dough. The wax paper can wrinkle and leave marks on the dough. When I first lay my ball of dough down I use my hands and push it flat just a bit, then lay my wax paper over, so my rolling pin can then roll it out smooth. 7: Once my dough is rolled out I use my cookie cutters to cut out the shapes. If the cookies are sticking in the cutter you can lightly dust it with flour to help. For the most part the cookies will stay right in the dough where you cut them. Once your done cutting all the cookies, tear away the excess dough. Then you can gently lift the cookies by pulling up the edge of the parchment paper and gently transferring the cookie from the paper to your lined baking sheet with my hand. 8: Once cut out and laid on a cookie sheet place the cookie sheet in the freezer for about 2-4 minutes depending on the size. This really helps the cookies keep their shape. Once they have chilled for a few pop them in the oven. Baking times really really depend on size of cookie. These cookies were about 2.5 inches and baked perfectly at 7 minutes. Simply turn your oven light on and start the timer for six minutes. Check them then and add a minute or two as needed. I like my cookies to be really soft so I pull them if I notice any bit of golden on the bottom. 9: After removing them from the oven I let them sit on the warm pan for a minute or two. This gives them a minute to firm up and bakes just a bit more. Then I carefully grab the edges of the parchment paper and slide them off, parchment paper and all, onto wire cooling racks. It helps so much to pull them off still on the parchment paper. Using a spatula often squishes them, or even breaks them.
10: Once the cookies are cool, you can stack them or decorate them as you want.
Tips:
Bake similar sized cookies together. If you have a tiny cookie and a large cookie the smaller one is sure to over bake.
Less flour is better. With this process there is really no need to go crazy on flour, just dust your parchment paper/wax paper lightly and your good to go.
If you have a cutter that’s sticking especially due to small parts, rub a little bit of flour on it.
If your in a time pinch, you can let the dough chill in the freezer for about 5 minutes.
New dough is best. Try to cut out as many as you can each time you roll the dough out.
Store cookies in an airtight container, and decorate within a week.
To freeze cookies simply stack in an airtight container and freeze for up to a month.
3 cups flour
1 TSP baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 TSP vanilla extract
In a separate bowl whisk together flour and baking powder.
Beat together unsalted butter and sugar. Once mixed well, add in egg. Mix again, then add in vanilla. I like to use my Kitchen aid and dough hook.
Slowly add in flour mixture about a cup at a time. Mix until dough forms and begins to clump together.
Gather up dough and knead it with hands until it’s nice and smooth. Roll it into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap, and place in fridge to chill. I like to let min chill about 20-40 minutes. You will want it to be kind of firm but not hard. If it’s too hard…just leave it out on the counter for just a little bit until it softens up. Then you can work it a little bit to soften it back up.
Bake at 350, time will depend on cookies size and thickness. Normally between 7-11 minutes.
Do you have a recipe or craft that you want featured on Make It Monday? Contact me at [email protected]!

The kids love after school snack cakes…they really love when the holidays roll around and there are holiday themed cakes. Tastykake has some pretty delicious & fun holiday cakes.
We started with an abandoned industrial site and reused the buildings as foundation material for our new bakery. This avoided clearing a forest and reduced construction waste.
We then built our bakery with several features that earned it LEED Silver Certification. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and it is awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED is a rating system for green buildings.
The boys enjoyed trying out their valentines snack cakes, and are already asking for more!
You can find Tastykake at Walgreens, CVS, Family Dollar and more!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

My husband is an avid watch collector…but tends to have a particular style. I heard about JORD Wood Watches last year and was very curious about them…he didn’t seem too interested when I mentioned it so I left it alone. But the more I looked at JORD and the quality and craftsmanship that goes into each watch, I knew I just had to check them out. I knew it would make the perfect stocking stuffer gift!
I picked the 94A series just because he doesn’t have any square faces and I thought it looked fresh and would be a unique addition to his collection. I choose the darker wood tone, the Natural Dark Sandalwood, because I knew he would prefer that over a lighter wood. I also liked the two tone face rather than going with a solid silver or color.
The natural dark sandalwood 94A series wood watch is hand finished and pretreated with tung oils. While it’s not waterproof (hello, wood) it is splash-proof which is great! I don’t have to worry about the face getting scratched up either because it has a scratch resistant mineral glass face. I like that it displays the date in a small window along with the hour/minute/seconds. It sounds like a simple thing, but having the date on your wrist really helps out when your day’s tend to run together.
Other Features Include:
double locking fold-over clasp
tuning fork type: quartz crystal
frequency: 32,768 Hz
accuracy: +/- 20 seconds /mo
battery: silver oxide SR626SW (equiv)
drive system: 2-pole stepping motor
This watch is anything but cheap feeling or looking. My hubby loves to wear it out because he gets a lot of, “Is that a wood watch? Wow that’s nice!” I wish I would have gone with my gut and checked them out last year like I wanted to. Now we are both kinda in love…I want to get him one from each series and maybe surprise myself with one…or two. Sometimes buying a watch for you spouse, father, brother can be a little daunting with all the options out there. But a watch is a great holiday gift for loved ones, it’s something useful, yet these are unique & whimsical. Below I have 3 tips to help in your search of the perfect gift.
Tips For Buying The Perfect Watch
Set a budget and stick to it. Some quality watches can cost as much as a car, so before you start shopping you need to know where you and your budget stand. That’s one thing I love about JORD Wood Watches, they are affordable quality watches that will wow.
Think Comfort. A man’s watch is his accessory and one that he wears day in and day out so it needs to be something that he would be comfortable wearing and not have to constantly fidget with it. My husband wears his to work as well as play so comfort is number one. You want to have it sized just right so it’s not too big and sliding around, yet not too tight and digging into his wrist. JORD makes this easy, as they offer sizing for the watch you choose. My husband was shocked when he tried it on and it fit perfectly…he didn’t know I had it sized before it even shipped!
What Style Does He Like? This one can be hard. There are so many options when it comes to watches. If you’ve purchased one with him before you might have a good idea of what he would like or not like. I know my husband does not like plastic bands or gold…and tends to lean towards darker colors when it comes to wood. So that saves a little time when looking. When I choose his JORD Wood Watch, I went for the darker tone band & silver face with a hint of color.
Now with any watch, you’re going to have to keep it clean. You can’t just take a cloth to this one, so here is how you clean & store your JORD Wood Watch to keep it looking and working its best:
Lemon or orange oil extract is best for cleaning the natural wood. When storing this timepiece, avoid extremely hot, cold, and excessively dry/humid environments.
Ready to shop? They offer free shipping & $10 sizing so there’s no reason not to! Just click the image below to be whisked away into the whimsical word of JORD Wood Watches!
Luxury Wood Watch
Ready to Win? One (1) lucky My Sparkling Life Reader is going to win $129 E-gift certificate to purchase their own JORD Wood Watch!! This giveaway is open to residents of the US who are 18+ until 11:59 PM EST Dec 6, 2015. a Rafflecopter giveaway
The Fine Print: Entering this giveaway means that you accept both my rules & disclosure. I will notify winner via e-mail and they will have 48 hours to reply before I am forced to redraw winners. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Each household is only eligible to win this prize via blog reviews and giveaways once. Only one entrant per mailing address per giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you will not be eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification. Many will enter, few will win! Please allow 8-12 weeks for delivery of prizing. My Sparkling Life is not responsible for any lost or misdirected packages. Prizing provided and shipped by JORD. In the rare occasion that a prize does not arrive (which has happened), please notify me.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Disclosure of Material Connection: This travel was #Hosted which means The company who sponsored it compensated me via all expenses paid trip, cash payment, gift, or something else of value to write it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
One of my favorite interviews to do is with the Directors & Producers of the Movie…it’s even better when one of them is also a writer! That’s just what we got to do earlier this month when we got to sit down with Director Lee Unkrich, Writer and Co-Director Adrian Molina & Producer Darla K. Anderson from Pixar’s COCO.
While we only got to screen about 25 minutes of the movie, we were all anxious to have our many questions answered.
Q. When you first presented the idea, what was the reaction like?
“Well, I first pitched it the beginnings of this idea back in September of 2011. It was a film that I had been developing before Toy Story 3 happened and then another new original idea and then this notion of doing a story set against the Dia De Los Muertos and immediately John sparked to the Dia De Los Muertos idea. This first story that we developed was completely different than what we ended up doing with Coco but John just was really excited about the notion of setting a story in this world. It felt unique to him. It was different than anything we’d done at the studio and so he wanted us to forge ahead and develop that idea.” – LU
It was a working title, but they liked that there is a certain mystery to it, you go into theaters and don’t quite know what it means.
We find out early on that COCO is Miguel’s great-grandmother and the keeper of stories & memories.
“COCO earns and deserves having the movie named after her” – LU
Q. What was more challenging for you in the storytelling and what was so easy for you?
“I’d say the challenge is creating a story it’s like a rubrics cube and the moment you’ve got one piece in place and it’s feeling good and then you need to incorporate this whole new element and it’s like oh, I don’t wanna move that but I have to in order to fit this stuff in. So it’s always for us, it’s always a process of creation and revision, creation and revision and sometimes the hardest part are really great ideas that you put in early on that you fall in love with and then maybe the story gets to a place where that idea no longer can exist in the same place that it started in and so as storytellers we kind of have to have courage to let stuff go that we really love to make room for new stuff. But every so often I think the happy accidents, not accidents but the happy moments are every so often you let something go and you redistribute the pieces and then you find a new place for it and so you know, it’s years and years of creating these films and exploring a lot of different options so that we can have a set of scenes that is really tested and gets a great response but it’s just the work of creating and, you know, shining the flashlight into the darkness and saying what are we gonna find.” – AM
The very origination came from a love of Mexico and a real kind of affinity for the people and the culture.
Q. I know you went to many trips to Mexico to research and I’m sure you learned a lot about the Mexican culture. What was surprising that you learned about the culture and how has making this film change how you see Mexico?
“I thought I had an understanding of what Dia De Los Muertos is all about and once we started travelling down there and meeting with all of the experts that we worked with I was surprised to how differently it’s celebrated in all different parts of Mexico. Not even different parts of Mexico but within small regions from town to town you’ll find very different traditions and that was a big surprise to me.” – LU
Well it’s definitely about family, almost first and foremost the idea of family and tradition is gonna be infused in the film but it’s also very much a film about following your passions and making choices in life and pursuing dreams versus, you know, just saying what your family wants for you or what they think is best for you and I think that’s something that a lot of people can relate to.” – AM
Disney & Pixar’s COCO will hit theaters November 22nd, 2017