Cheap Chic Home

Candle Conversation Ribbons

2012-02-13T18:06:00.001-05:00

Hey girlfriends--how are you? I have so many things going on, I don't know if I'm coming or going on my projects. Fortunately, I don't have a lot of personal things happening, so I'm getting a lot done, including cleaning the house. One thing I really need to do is schedule (regularly) a donation pickup day once a month. Do you do that, or do you just haul your stuff up to Goodwill or something? Right now, I have a wholelottastuff hanging out on my foyer.

I had another project ready to go, but thought I'd wish you all a Happy V-Day with this simple how to.

Candle Conversation Ribbons

Supplies needed:

Any size pillar candle
Ribbon--I used about 1/2" wide
Candy hearts
Glue gun

Measure ribbon by placing it around the candle with extra for bow tying.
Run a bead of glue (I started in the middle and worked outward), start placing hearts. Don't run glue bead too long or too thin as it will harden before you get the hearts on
Wait briefly for glue to dry
Tie prettily on candle in one, two, or more rows.

So easy and fun to make! Note: For 3" pillars, I used fourteen candy hearts. The larger pillar also has fourteen, I made it for the 3", but used it on the 4". (Keep ribbons a-way from flames!)

You may get carried away and have to make them in multiples!

Coming soon, this question answered: "Why is Kim staining clothespins?"

Linking with these Sweethearts!

Valentine Whispers

2012-02-11T08:10:00.001-05:00

Hi All! Do you have all of your Valentine plans squared away? I really don't, unless you count what you will see today. I had to tell Darling Husband he was not allowed to eat these till I took photos. I also for some treats for my girls, but didn't find anything suitable that wasn't in a huge bag. Well, I did see small heart boxes of chocolate, but Fun-Sized Chick isn't really big on chocolate. (Maybe she was switched at birth, just sayin'!)

I would like you to say "Hello" to my "Valentine Whispers." For whatever reason, I decided I needed to make lace cookies (go figure), anyway, I have never made them before. I found this recipe at Two Peas and Their Pod. I had all of the ingredients on hand except for the old-fashioned oats, so those were easy to come by. I am calling these "whispers," because they were, indeed like eating a whisper of a cookie--so delicate--thin, crispy, the flavors both blended and resonated independently really well. They baked out so thin that I could see the counter top through them, too. Looking back at the Two Peas photo, it looked like theirs weren't as thin, they also look like a nicer round shape. (Maybe I baked mine too long?) Anyway, these are an easy, impressive recipe. I would make them when I wanted to make a grand statement without a lot of work. Intrigued? Here's the recipe:

Lace Cookies

(Free Printable Recipe)

Yield: 20 sandwich cookies

Cook Time: 8-10 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ounces dark chocolate, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375^o F. Line two baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and oats. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, cream, cory syrup, and vanilla. Mix with the beater blade until smooth. Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Mix to combine.
4. Drop about 3/4 of a teaspoon of batter onto prepared baking sheets. Try to make the cookies all the same size. Place only 12 cookies on each sheet because the cookies will spread in the oven.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes. Carefully transfer cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.
6. Find 2 cookies that are about the same size. Spread one cookie with melted chocolate. Place other cookie on top. Repeat with remaining cookies.

Recipe from The Essence of Chocolate

I followed this recipe to a "tee" and would just recommend you keep an eye on them while baking. I found the bottom rack of my oven cooked them too quickly, so I did one tray at a time on the upper rack. Do keep them about 3/4 teas. for dropping as they disperse. I used melted chocolate chips to spread in the middle and I can't believe I'm typing this, but they are almost better without the chocolate.

Now, onto the crafty portion of my post...

Custom Waxed Paper Wrap

I found this idea at MarthaStewart.com HERE and Pinned it to my Valentine's Day Board. I think this would work well for many holidays--think holly at Christmas, bats at Halloween. You make this custom wrap just like you did when you were a child with those colorful fall leaves.

Cut two sheets of waxed paper the same size, in whatever dimensions you choose.
Cut out desired shape (hearts, in this case) from tissue paper. Martha's directions suggested using a punch, but I was unable to get my punch to work whether the tissue paper was single or folded into layers, so I free-handed my hearts.
Place hearts in between your pieces of waxed paper. With iron set on medium and no steam, use paper towels or a pressing cloth and iron over waxed paper until the layers have melted together.
Use the sheet to wrap up your baked goods--so easy!

Notes: I used tissue paper that was formerly used, the waxed paper had some ripples in it after I ironed it, but it all turned out just fine in the end.

This is a stack of my lace Valentine Whispers wrapped up. You could also buy a package of pre-made cookies or bars and wrap them to look especially exclusive.

Will you be whispering to anyone special next week?

Other Valentine-related posts you may be interested in:

Rice Krispie Hearts

Heart "Stockings"

Heart Tassel

Joining these talented ladies:

Ten Tips to a Better Blog

2012-02-09T09:10:00.003-05:00

Greetings, dear friends. I've had this post in draft for awhile, because I didn't want anyone to think I was haranguing them. However, you know and I know, that you've most likely seen all of these (what I'm calling) blunders here. I'm not even sure the post title is the best--maybe Ten Reasons Why I Don't Read Your Blog, Ten Ways to Receive More Comments??? So, the idea is not to hold myself up as a smarty pants, since I've probably been guilty of most, if not all, of them, (maybe even in this very post!) but ponder over some points you/I may want to consider. Okay, these are my bug-a-boos. They are in no particular order.

Ten Tips to a Better Blog

Dos:

Make sure you blog doesn't take too long to load.
Check that photos are large enough to see details. If a photo of an entire room or table scape is about the size of four postage stamps, it's probably too small. Go for the gusto--if it's a great shot, give it all you've got (My max. width is 610px, do you know what yours is?).
Evaulate if the font is big enough to be seen clearly. Consider 14 px or so. (Check THIS chart.) Small fonts cause eye strain. (I know I'm getting up there in age, but for whatever reason, my eyes can see the distance of a computer screen perfectly.) But who wants eye strain?
Make sure the font is not overly light.
Show off a good "After" photo first or early in the post, so I can anxiously await the how-tos.
Foster commenting. Since Blogger messed with threaded comments, some blogs will not allow comments. (See instructions below*)
Neaten up those sidebars. To the best of your ability, center the buttons and gadgets. You can center a button by placing the coding between <center> and </center>

Don'ts

Bother with an overly cutesy font. I'm not against "cute," but again, it just makes text more difficult to read. Please save the creativity for your projects. The most readable font has little "feet."
Center all of your text, or at least reconsider doing it. This may work well at times, but if one or two words are consistently left alone on their own line, please think about left justifying.
Use bad grammar. Okay, I'm no grammarian, and I almost never remember the proper place to use lie vs. lay. I'm sure I leave participles dangling frequently. We all make typos. I'm talking about blatant nails-on-chalkboard bad. If you know you are not strong on grammar, enlist a buddy to proofread for you.
Make up words. For instance: "This is a rufflelump. Is that even a word?" Please take a moment to open a new tab and check to see if "rufflelump" is a word. If you're going to make up a word, own it.

After I made my list up all nice and neat, I added another tip, so there are really eleven, but I liked the sound of "ten" so much better. Maybe I need to add a twelfth and say "12. Truth in Post Titles!" At least it will help to keep me humble. Maybe.

What would you add?

Edited to add (already!): The HUGE annoyances of word verification and music. I originally didn't include them because so much has been said against them already. Although, apparently not enough!

* To change your comments go Design -->Settings -->Comments The 3rd option can be switched to Pop-Up window. Good luck!

CD Clock Faces

2012-02-06T15:52:00.002-05:00

Hey all, did you enjoy your Super Bowl parties last night? What did you do? Did anyone make a great dip or even grill outside? (We've had beautiful weather.) We stayed home and Darling Husband and Fun-Sized Chick noshed on guacamole and watched the game, while Artsy Chick spent hours decorating cupcakes for one of her good friends--what that girl can do with frosting and sprinkles is just amazing. Me? I worked on the baby quilt I'm making for Healthy Chick's baby (a.k.a. our first grandchild!). Well, I did peak in at the half-time show--I do enjoy her singing, what can I say? (Sorry, I'm not putting her name on my blog.)

I'm not as irresponsible today, and am getting my post up at a reasonable time. Speaking of time - ha, I kill me! I again went into my Pinterest file (I'm probably going to hang out there for awhile, since I've been doing a lot of miscellaneous things at home that aren't at blog-stage, yet. Maybe I should take requests: Is there anything you'd love to see here?) and pulled out this craft. Who doesn't love old clock faces? It seems like they have such a story to tell. I haven't seen them much in antique stores, have you?

Isn't this a great collection? Well, maybe, you've been fooled! The blogger at White Life has provided some clock face photos that we can download and print out to use by gluing them on to your ------> old CDs! (I used spray adhesive.)

See? Here's the secret! The clock face that has the red border fits perfectly onto the CDs, the other clock faces are a little bit bigger. I generally end up with a collection of old rehearsal CDs that I hang on to way too long--this way I could keep adding to my clock face collection, by recycling them with these cool photos. Yes, you could attach them to cardboard or cardstock, as well, but that's no fun!

They look pretty realistic, except for maybe my bad cutting skills. For the record, I could not, could not, find my circle cutter, and I usually always put that back in the same spot. Argh. I suppose you could add clock works and actually get one functioning for you, too.

I think I'm going to put them in my hutch, it's just so much easier to get photos in the dining room.

Black and white photos always makes things look older, don't you think?

* * * * *

I'm freaking out a little bit because my daughter's baby shower is going to be here. While that isn't a problem, getting this house to look "cutesy" is more challenging, hence the "freaking out." I have some ideas that I'll share sooner or later (I know, please don't groan too much, I'll try to keep it to one post.), I know it's hard to switch from home decor.

Coffee Filter Rose Wreath

2012-02-03T21:06:00.002-05:00

Hey everybody--boy, is my posting week ever messed up--I don't remember the last time I posted this late. I guess it's the "new me," kinda reckless. Since my last project was so time consuming, I figured I go over to Pinterest and see what craft project from which I might have to choose (I may never attempt to be original again, who knows?).

Coffee filter wreaths have been around for some time. I've always liked them, but figured I wouldn't be able to get them to "work" at my home. Until I found some dyed beauties. I'll show you mine first, then the inspirations, and, finally, a "how to."

I've had two of these basket wreaths in my attic for years. Well, they aren't doing anyone any good up there, so I had the Chicks get them down for me and revamped this one (it was greens and baskets before, I added the roses only). The inspiration wreaths:

via Lovely Crafty Home

via Jones Design Company

Don't you just love how we can all do the same craft and come up with different results? Because I like the dusty colors, I started with the natural coffee filters.

Mix up water and paint, then dip your filters in--you can stack and do several at a time. Since the filters were dark, I found the brighter colors were perfect. If you want to try with white filters, you could muddy the colors by adding brown.

Set your wet filters all over the kitchen till they dry. (It only takes about one-half hour do get mostly dry.)

Here are brief directions on how to make the roses.

Stack three filters, fold into quarters
Cut the bottom corner off with scallop; cut additional scallops on the top of the filters.
Unfold the centers and twist each one in the middle.
Begin placing each twisted center about half-way down on end of masking tape.
Cut the remaining "rings" of the filters on one side.
Start scrunching next to the previously taped on twisted centers
Continue down the length of tape. When completed,
Roll tape, beginning at twisted centers to other end of tape.

You'll get one of these! Keep going and you'll get lots more!

It took about two hours to make these, I don't know about you, but I find this kind of thing relaxing and did part of them while the TV was on. (The directions for the smaller green ones are shown on Jones Design Company.)

These were attached with floral wire. Some were wrapped around the top of the masking tape, some had wire poked through the middle, some had a piece of tape holding the wire on. It would be mucho easier to hot glue these to a wreath form!

Here's the whole buffet--um, with my notes.

So are you a coffee-filter-wreath kinda girl?

French Settee Completed

2012-02-01T16:41:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone! I've been MIA for a couple of days, did you miss me? I missed you! It was a decision to keep plowing ahead with my loveseat/settee or interrupt that for a different project. I decided to continue working on the settee and have this to show for it...

Yay! Let's just soak it in for a moment, shall we? I soft-focused it, so it would look ethereal, well, maybe that's stretching it...

Craigslist Listing

Inspiration

Now that it's done, we can take a look at the process, starting with my "before and after" photos:

You can see it started out black. I actually liked it in black, but decided to brighten it up. I think it's going to go in my master bedroom, so the lighter color makes more sense, anyway. After all of the upholstery was taken off, it got a coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP) in Olde Ochre (the same that was used on my dresser redo). For the record, after painting the dresser and this settee, I have just shy of 1/2 quart left of my paint. This settee took more paint than you might think, too, because the cane took quite a bit.

Then the caning got several of these patches, maybe five or six, using cane I had from a previous project. I got the idea from another blogger, although, I don't remember who. It's not the exact width, but it's close. (I think I went a bit cross-eyed, trying to figure the ins-and-outs of the weaving!) Had I realized there was that much patching, I may have ordered cane sheets (it is quite inexpensive). Although, it may have been really distressing (and not in a good way) seeing the entire loveseat pulled apart--you know what I mean--where the project looks overwhelming? I tried using wood glue, but am not overly happy with it, I think I'll give E3000 a try.

The next thing I worked on was the two separate seat cushions. I used the same toile picture and centered it on the cushion. If you've ever made these before, you know they're time consuming.

After the paint dried and the cushions were underway, I distressed the piece. You know me, I'm a "madcap" distresser, so just lightly hit some of the edges. It worked well in my favor, since I didn't have to overly worry about covering the cane 100% with the paint, so it looked lightly distressed. It got a coat of clear wax, the cane got a light coat, too.

Onto the easiest, most fun part of the project--upholstering the fabric on. This is where some of you will ~~think I'm nuts~~ diverge from my opinion, I go old-school and use tacks. Yes, tacks. (The needle nose pliers are from removing all of the #!@% staples.) I used most of the old stuffing and added batting to fluff and freshen the seat base and cushions.

In an effort not to leave steps out, the above photo shows an extra piece of foam that I sewed an extra flap of fabric on at the base of the seat with which to cover it. When completed, I didn't like the "sharp" edge, seen in the picture, below, so I took it out and replaced it with rolled batting.

Here are the tacks, they are easy to put in and easy to take out, plus, you get more control being able to hold the fabric.

Here you'll see more tacks on the armrest. The other arrow is pointing to double welt that will get glued, with fabric glue, over the tacks. The double welt method I used can be found at Much To Do With Nothing. You could also use gimp if you want something premade.

(photo from modhomeec.com)

Here's the armrest with the welt glued on.

Distressing and some of the seat double welt.

More of the seat double welt and the rolled batting edge.

Ahh, how satisfying! The settee was found on Craigslist, the toile was from Old Time Pottery.

Me, attempting to ham-it-up. Phew, that was a time consuming project!

Guest Post Winter Front Porch by Balsam Hill

2012-01-28T08:54:00.000-05:00

Hi all! Jessica Phan from Balsam Hill is sitting in for me at my keyboard today. She's here to share a few tips on enhancing your outdoor space during the winter.

* * * * *

Making an Impression: Inexpensive Tips to Help Decorate your Winter Front Porch

Now that the holidays are over, it's time to think about decorating the front porch for the rest of winter. Transitioning your décor from Christmas to something that will last throughout the winter is easy, even when you have a tight budget. Here are some ideas.

Paint your door in a bright color.
Sometimes, all you need is a splash of color to change the look of your home and improve your mood. A brightly colored door makes a porch look inviting and cozy. Use a glossy exterior paint in red, blue or green and top it off with a polyurethane coat to make it last longer. Since you will only be painting the door and not the whole porch, there's no need to buy a full gallon of paint. A quart should be enough to cover everything. Let the paint dry completely (at least 24 hours) before putting up any accessory.
Spruce up your front steps with a bright, inexpensive doormat.
Doormats come in different colors, patterns and textures. Visit your local department store for a low-priced but stylish doormat that coordinates with the other colors on your front porch. Make sure to get one that will withstand the frigid season and the coming and going of visitors. If you want a mat that you can use through the seasons, look for something made from more durable materials, although this may be more expensive.
Scour flea markets for bargain furniture pieces.
To make your front porch more welcoming, look for cozy furniture pieces such as benches and swings. These pieces make a charming addition to a space; just throw in a couple of cushions or a handmade quilt and you're all set. Hunt for great furniture bargains at flea markets and thrift stores. Craigslist is also a great source of secondhand furniture that you can upcycle using basic DIY know-how.

If you purchased a piece that is chipped on some areas, fill the gaps with wood filler before sanding it down for a smooth finish. If you want a distressed look, skip the primer and go straight to painting. Wait for the paint to dry completely and then sand the edges to give your furniture a shabby chic appeal.
Update your lighting.
Good lighting is essential in any front porch design, even more so if you're decorating for winter. Breathe new life to your lighting by adding small details. Update old brass hardware by giving it a fresh coat of paint. You can also add ribbons and fresh evergreen on outdoor lights to give them winter flair. Tuck pine sprigs or boxwood branches behind a wall sconce and insert clusters of berries for a pop of color.
Add visual interest with colorful planters and other containers.
Flowers and shrubs instantly add a gorgeous curb appeal to homes. Display them in planters and window boxes to bring life to your front porch. Dwarf evergreens look elegant on sleek planters. Choose plants of different heights, sizes and color to create varied points of interest.
Accessorize with what you already have.
You probably have plenty of home accessories sitting in the basement or attic. Winter is the perfect time to showcase them ñ don't wait for another year to bring them out. You don't need to purchase new decorations every year just to achieve the homey look that you want. Use old baskets, glass vases, throw pillows and colorful blankets to embellish your front porch. If you still have the wreath and garland you used for the holidays, leave them on your door and make a few tweaks as needed.
Add a winter scent to your décor.
The sense of smell is just as powerful as the other senses, yet we often miss to include it in our decorating plans. Cinnamon, berries, and evergreen all smell of winter and perfect as front porch embellishments. Insert a couple of cinnamon sticks on your door wreath to delight your guests.

As the seasons roll around, you only need to make minor adjustments to your outdoor home décor. Make the design transition from holidays to winter an easy one by using only a few key elements on your decorating plan. This helps you enjoy the seasons and your decorating efforts much longer.

Jessica Phan is a designer for Balsamhill.com a purveyor of high-end artificial Christmas Trees. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area is perfect for her because she has a wide range of interests, including Art & Design, Fashion, Photography, Painting and Thrift Store Shopping.

* * * * *

Thanks, Jessica. I liked the tip about adding cinnamon sticks to the front door.

Note: I was not compensated in any way for this post other than taking a "day off."

Bartering and Progress

2012-01-27T09:35:00.001-05:00

Hey there! So far, my choir retreat has been, so good. It's always beyond invigorating to get with a large (over four hundred!) group of singers. Since I'm predisposed, this post is going to be a bit brief, but you'll still get to see some pretty cool stuff. First, I want to introduce (if you don't already know her), Janlynn, from her blog Janlynn Sew More!

She does a professional job on all of the items she sews. Here she is modeling a coat she made to go with her boots. It came in a pre-cut kit that she found for $2! (She didn't know I was pulling this photo, I couldn't resist with the dog all mugging for the camera.)

Janlynn and I have been bloggy friends for quite some time. She asked me to do some work on her blog for her, such as a header and some other tweaks. In exchange, she offered to make something for me. I requested she make a garment bag. Little did I know I was sending her off on a wild-goose-chase to find the nylon fabric from which they are made. She did not disappoint, and found the perfect fabric with one of my favorite colors for the binding.

Didn't she do a fantastic job? In addition to the garment bag, she made a smaller drawstring bag and a beautiful, personalized (she embroiders, too) zipper bag with a tassel. Boy, oh, boy, did I get a great deal! Because I wanted it for my choir outfit, I figured this would be the perfect day to do this post, since the first time I will be using it is tonight. I'm pretty sure I'll be the envy of all the ladies there! (For the record, there are 100 altos and 129 sopranos--that's a lot of envying!)

And, because I know you are all waiting to see how my loveseat is going, I'll show you a couple of in-progress photos. Is it killin' ya? It's killin' me!

That's it for today, have a wonderful weekend! I'm crossing my fingers that I get my loveseat D.O.N.E!

How To Display Your Photo When Leaving Comments

2012-01-25T10:23:00.001-05:00

Come close, closer. Have I got a "secret" for you. You know how many of the blogs are on WordPress and when you leave a comment you sometimes show up as a blank profile or a quilt square?

Who is this person? All you need to do to get your picture to show up is go over to Gravatar and sign up for a globally recognized avatar. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Trust me, it is! You'll see their home page: Just click on Get your Gravatar today >>

You can go from this:

To this:

Ahh, much better! Happy commenting!

I'm busily working on my loveseat. As a matter of fact, by the time you read this, I will have given it a coat of paint (or two). Yesterday I removed the upholstery, boy, that's my least favorite job. Tomorrow and Friday I will be involved in a choir retreat, but I hope to have a post for you Friday, anyway. The loveseat reveal will be next week--Lord willing! Take care and have a good rest of the week!

Tiny DIY Trophies

2012-01-23T12:51:00.002-05:00

Happy Monday! Did you all have a relaxing weekend? A productive one? A stressful one? Here at the CC Homestead, I sewed an awful lot, but don't have anything to show you. Yet. But, in the world of serendipitous blogging--you know the one--where you see something like the really cool old-school silver trophies and think they would be fun to own, and, yet, realize that you're not sure if you want to invest in one. Then, you are innocently perusing the party isle at Walmart and get an idea. Yes, you read that right.

In the party isle, you will find a four-pack for $1 of these tiny trophies (approx. 2" tall) in a shiny gold. A little spray paint later and you have a darling miniature collection.

For whatever reason, these took a long time to dry. I don't know if it was because I didn't have spray paint specifically for plastic, or they just got a heavier coat of paint, by the virtue of the fact they are so small. I tried both matte and shiny silver paint. The shiny won--hands down.

You may even decide you want to redo your entire hutch (which has been woefully neglected since Christmas, anyway).

What do you think a tiny collection of trophies would inspire you to do? Maybe hold a contest for some fairies or gnomes?

Or award yourself a trophy for being so thriftily clever?

I've got a pretty full week ahead of me. I'm hoping I'll have at least a decent sneak peek of what I've been working on soon. I thought I'd get the entire project done this weekend, to which we could all laugh hysterically!

Ramsign Winner

2012-01-21T09:43:00.000-05:00

The winner is.............. Anita from Going a Little Coastal. Congratulations, Anita!

Ramsign Giveaway - Last Day!

2012-01-20T15:46:00.000-05:00

Reminder! If you haven't entered my RAMSIGN Giveaway, now's the time!!! The winner will be announced tomorrow.

Click over HERE to leave your comment and be entered.

Coffee Sack Baskets

2012-01-19T16:10:00.003-05:00

Hey Girlies! Did you think I'd leave you hanging in the kitchen in my last post? What a nice segue from kitchen to coffee--come on in with your coffee or soda, and sit awhile! Some time ago, I won this genuine coffee sack from Marty at A Stroll Thru Life (Hi, Marty!). My top repurposing choices ended up being between a tote bag and another burlap basket. (A pillow just seemed too scratchy.) It seemed as if it was calling out to be a basket--"Hellooo, make me into a basket...!"

No, wait a minute...make that two baskets! And, here it is (!) turned into "basket" planters for my faux-liage. The size was based on the print of the bag and is very similar to my original, although a little bit narrower. Below, if you remember, is what it looked like to start with. Since I didn't want a "basket" that tall, I did some creative cutting on the yellow lines.

Heh, heh, you'll see have have another piece left, which, hopefully will be coming to a blog post near you! I followed the instructions from my Burlap Basket Tutorial. I used a spare piece of burlap I had for the bottoms. The smaller one (about 18" around) has a cuff on the top that is folded outward. The top of the larger one was banded on the inside and hemmed. It got two "belt loops," since I didn't want to cover the printing, with only one strand of jute strung through and tied in a simple bow.

Isn't it nice how they snuggle right in, even though this area is a little more formal?

For some reason, I had to work a little harder to get this basket together. I'm not sure if it's because I had a stiffer innerfacing, or did not take the sack apart. I figured I'd be sewing it together, anyway, so left it like that. If I did it again, or if you make one, I'd take it apart at the seam before you start. (I remember thinking unladylike thoughts at one point.)

Gah, this is so cute! I thought the picture was of a swan, cough, cough, however, I believe it's actually a stylized coffee bean. That's what I'm sticking with.

So versatile--it also works as a floor planter. Isn't it fun to take humble, functional items and transform them into home decor?

Homemade Marshmallows

2012-01-17T09:47:00.002-05:00

Hey friends! I made marshmallows--yes, I did! And, they turned out, too! This was not the post I had intended on putting up today, I cut apart my coffee sack, but the project isn't completed, yet, so hang in there, if you want to get out of my kitchen! I had seen this recipe awhile ago, and for some reason decided that with the long weekend, I needed (as if one needs to make marshmallows) to give it a go. The recipe is from Smitten Kitchen.

The part of the recipe I was concerned about, was the part that involved a candy thermometer. While I know my way around the kitchen, I seem not to have good luck using a thermometer. I decided to buy a new one--actually, I couldn't find my old one--but, I think that one was a hand-me-down. I was determined to buy a "good" one, but all's Walmart had was a cheapy. I bought it, anyway.

(Note: I "inherited" my mixer from my mom, when she moved into her condo. Yea!)

Everything went super smoothly (no pun intended). The large picture (above, right) shows the sugar mixing and the egg whites already beaten in the corner. The top left photo is after everything is mixed together and ready to be poured into the pan. At this point, Deb said she ran into extreme stickiness and cautioned not to touch the batter or use a spatula to get the remaining marshmallow goo out of the mixer bowl. I did not have that problem and everything went into my 9x13 pan without a hitch. They turn out more spongy and less elastic than store bought marshmallows. (For step by step photos, head over to Smitten Kitchen.)

These turned out so well and they just amuse and entertain me by the very fact I was actually able to pull the recipe off. Okay, now what might one do with them? Give a jar to your sweetie pie for Valentine's Day? I think these would be oh-so-great with a half jar cocoa mix and the other half homemade 'mallows.

Heidi's Cottage - Pinterest

Packed in a s'more kit--Ooo, maybe I should try making graham crackers, next.

I'm always up for dipping something into melted chocolate. How 'bout you?

What would a gift be without some tags? You can see I used my tag punch on red cardstock and some vintage newspaper scrapbook paper. Then, I cut the heart out of the newspaper print to let the red peek through.

Fluffy Marshmallow Recipe
from Smitten Kitchen
(free printable copy here)

About 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
3 1/2 envelopes (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1 cup cold water, divided
2 cups granulated sugar (cane sugar worked just fine)
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites or reconstituted powdered egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla (alternately: 1/2 of a scraped vanilla bean, 2 teaspoons almond or mint extract or maybe even some food coloring for tinting)

Oil bottom and sides of a 13- by 9- by 2-inch rectangular metal baking pan (I used glass) and dust bottom and sides with confectioners’ sugar.

In bowl of a standing electric mixer or in a large bowl sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold cold water, and let stand to soften.

In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, second 1/2 cup of cold water, and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to moderate and boil mixture, without stirring, until a candy or digital thermometer registers 240°F, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour sugar mixture over gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.

With standing or a hand-held electric mixer beat mixture on high speed until white, thick, and nearly tripled in volume, about six minutes if using standing mixer or about 10 minutes if using hand-held mixer. (Some reviewers felt this took even longer with a hand mixer, but still eventually whipped up nicely.)

In separate medium bowl with cleaned beaters beat egg whites (or reconstituted powdered whites) until they just hold stiff peaks. Beat whites and vanilla (or your choice of flavoring) into sugar mixture until just combined. Pour mixture into baking pan and don’t fret if you don’t get it all out (learning from my mess of a first round). Sift 1/4 cup confectioners sugar evenly over top. Chill marshmallow, uncovered, until firm, at least three hours, and up to one day.

Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert pan onto a large cutting board. Lifting up one corner of inverted pan, with fingers loosen marshmallow and ease onto cutting board. With a large knife trim edges of marshmallow and cut marshmallow into roughly one-inch cubes. (An oiled pizza cutter works well here too.) Sift remaining confectioners’ sugar back into your now-empty baking pan, and roll the marshmallows through it, on all six sides, before shaking off the excess and packing them away.

Do ahead: Marshmallows keep in an airtight container at cool room temperature one week.

No. Explanation. Necessary!

When Pinterest Goes Viral

2012-01-14T14:12:00.000-05:00

How are you today? Are you all "Pinners?" Don't you just love Pinterest? All of the Pinning and inspiration...and more Pinning and Inspiration... Have you ever had it go viral on you? I may be overstating "viral," I suppose, since you probably need to get, like, 1,000,000 views on YouTube to be considered viral. Let me tell you about my viral story. (Both photos here have been "Posterized" on Picasa.)

click photo to be taken to Pin board

Six-Foot Chick has this black and white, chocolate/vanilla, wedding cake bookmarked in Tumblr. I saw it and thought is was Cool. Very Cool. So, I did what any "Pinner" would do. I Pinned it! Do you know it's been repinned over 1,000 times? It just keeps getting exponentially bigger. My email Inbox has been filled and refilled with repins and "likes."

click photo to be taken to post

Next, you all knoooowwww about this. My t-shirt quilt which made my No. 1 post of 2011. It, alone, is responsible for over 52,000 Cheap Chic Home hits. I realize that may not be a lot for some blogs, but it's a lot for me!

So, that's my own personal viral story. It continues to boggle my mind. Do you have a mind-boggling Pinterest story to share?

Dresser Reveal

2012-01-12T17:03:00.006-05:00

Hey everyone! Did you think I was "pulling your leg" on completing my dresser? I wanted to post it yesterday, but I was literally watching the paint dry waiting to start waxing it. It was also an overcast day, anyway, so I knew I wouldn't get good shots. Well, what a difference a day makes!

Yum, just scrumptious! It was painted with ASCP* in Old Ochre and given two coats of her clear wax, only. (The ASCP appeal, for me, is lack of prep--you don't know how tempted I was to take my paint brush and start on my kitchen cabinets!)

And, since we all love a good before and after, let's take a moment to Ooo and Ahh(!) over the transformation. I originally had left the base of the dresser in the natural wood, too--I kind of wanted to keep the tie-in with the ladder shelf on the other side of the room, but it made the piece look too bottom heavy--so I opted to paint it.

When the replacement drawer pulls were purchased, I decided to go with a bronze wash instead of black. I'm glad I did as it gives them a softer look. (You know, the devil's in the details!) One more note: If you do a project like this, keep the old hardware until you get the new installed. I needed to reuse the screws on the top drawer, since they were longer from the extra wood depth.

Thank you for indulging me in a couple of more beauty shots...

(Note to self: Check for miscellaneous photo invaders, i.e., hampers.) This dresser has certainly been transported into the right decade--it looks fantastic in the room.

*(Edited to add:) ASCP is Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.

Don't forget my RAMSIGN Giveaway, going on now!

Joining these parties:

Ramsign Giveaway

2012-01-11T12:58:00.000-05:00

Hi Friends! Guess what I have in store for you today? That's right, a giveaway! You've probably seen RAMSIGN before, they are a small Danish company that is specializes in manufacturing and selling classic enamel signs (house signs and house numbers) based upon original designs and techniques.

The winner may choose any house number sign (not name signs or address plaques) with 1-5 digits of any size and design. That's a $69-$99 value! Here are some examples of what you could be affixing to your home, soon!

What are you waiting for?! Leave a comment on this post for your chance to win!

Giveaway will run through Midnight Friday, January 20. The winner will be selected via Random.org, and will be announced Saturday, January 21. RAMSIGN ships worldwide. You must be 18 years of age to qualify. Good luck!

How To Organize Link Party Buttons

2012-01-09T08:12:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone, happy Monday! I was hoping to have started painting the dresser in Strapping Lad's room, but I haven't gotten to that yet. We just got all of the Christmas decor put into the attic yesterday. Phew, it's always so fun to have it come out, but nice to get it put back, too. We were able to pick up a Craigslist daybed for Artsy Chick this weekend. Does anyone in the Tampa Bay area want to purchase bunk beds? The children's old ones are on CL right now.

* * * * *

I'm doing this post by popular request. Well, I don't know how popular, exactly, but every once and awhile, someone will ask me about how I get my linked blog buttons into neat, small squares. Quite some time ago, I wrote a post on resizing buttons, which is the exact principle we'll be using today. I'll just get more specific on how to get them all lined up and pretty for you. Disclaimer: I am by no means a coding expert and there are undoubtedly other ways to accomplish this--this is just the method I use.

The problem starts when we have a Great Blog Post (they're all great, right?) that we want to link up to a host blog's link party. We go over to the hosting blog and like a good party guest, copy and paste their blog button to the end of our Great Blog Post. So when you do that, you get something that looks like the patchwork, below:

After you've slaved over, and taken a ridiculous amount of photographs for, your Great Blog Post, this doesn't look all that attractive. So. How do you fix it??? Let's look at all of the html coding for the above buttons:

<a href="http://firefliesandjellybeans.blogspot.com/search/label/Show%20Off%20Your%20Stuff%20Party" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fvxHkFmRuww/TjYS_3oztzI/AAAAAAAAAjA/H6n_MRE4xhs/s200/Show+off+your+Stuff+party+button.JPG" width="125" /></a>

<center><a href="http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad357/NoMinimalist/houseart-2.jpg" /></a></center><a border="0" href="http://frommyfrontporchtoyours.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa363/fromyfrontporchtoyours/blog%20button/BlogButtonHorizontal.jpg" /></a>

<center><a href="http://southernlovely.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q37/schoenfelds/showandshare.jpg" /></a></center>
<a href="http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Beyond The Picket Fence" border="0" src="http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq266/bec8257/button2.jpg" /></a>

Don't freak out!

Make these changes, instead. The green highlight is what you will ADD, the red is what you will DELETE:

<a href="http://firefliesandjellybeans.blogspot.com/search/label/Show%20Off%20Your%20Stuff%20Party" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank">&lt&img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fvxHkFmRuww/TjYS_3oztzI/AAAAAAAAAjA/H6n_MRE4xhs/s200/Show+off+your+Stuff+party+button.JPG" width="75" /></a>

<center> <a href="http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com/" ><img border="0" src="http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad357/NoMinimalist/houseart-2.jpg" height="75" width="75" /></a></center>
<a border="0" href="http://frommyfrontporchtoyours.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa363/fromyfrontporchtoyours/blog%20button/BlogButtonHorizontal.jpg" height="75" width="75" /></a>

<center><a href="http://southernlovely.blogspot.com/" target=_blank><img border="0" src="http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q37/schoenfelds/showandshare.jpg" height="75" width="75" /></a></center>
<a href="http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/%20" target="_blank"><img alt="Beyond The Picket Fence" border="0" src="http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq266/bec8257/button2.jpg" height="75" width="75"/></a>

You should now have small, uniform blog buttons. (Note: The target=_blank opens a new tab for that particular blog and doesn't have anything to do with the tiles themselves, humor me and add it anyway because it benefits both you and your readers. For more info click the link.) What you have done is removed all of the host's centering instructions and changed the image size to 75 pixels square. Sometimes the host will have their own width and height specified already, in that case, just change them each to 75. There are a couple more things you need to do. Make sure all of your returns or breaks have been removed, so your html looks like one big uninterrupted block of text. Your buttons will look all lined up like below:

Now to get them all centered, add a <center> at the very beginning and a </center> at the very end. Your coding will look like this:

<center><a href="http://firefliesandjellybeans.blogspot.com/search/label/Show%20Off%20Your%20Stuff%20Party" target="blank"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fvxHkFmRuww/TjYS_3oztzI/AAAAAAAAAjA/H6n_MRE4xhs/s200/Show+off+your+Stuff+party+button.JPG" width="75" /></a><a href="http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img height="75" src="http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad357/NoMinimalist/houseart-2.jpg" width="75" /></a><a href="http://frommyfrontporchtoyours.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img height="75" src="http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa363/fromyfrontporchtoyours/blog%20button/BlogButtonHorizontal.jpg" width="75" /></a><a href="http://southernlovely.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img height="75" src="http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q37/schoenfelds/showandshare.jpg" width="75" /></a><a href="http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Beyond The Picket Fence" height="75" src="http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq266/bec8257/button2.jpg" width="75" /></a></center>

If you are very observant, you will see I deleted some other coding, let's not worry about that now, it shouldn't affect you one way or the other. Your final blog buttons should now look like this! (Occasionally, I will get extra returns before these small blocks appear--I think I am now, as a matter of fact--that is a Blogger issue that I think can be corrected if you edit is something other than the Blogger format.)

What I do, instead of making these adjustments every single time I link, I copy and paste from my Parties page. You could also do the same thing by making a Party page for yourself, or putting them in your sidebar, or copying and pasting your parties from one post to the next. Good luck and please let me know when you do this and I'll come over and take a look.

* * * * *

I'm considering doing a couple other New Year-New Blog Look posts, we'll all have to stayed tuned to see if that happens or not. Regardless, I think I'm going to paint that dresser in time for the text post, so do, indeed stay tuned!

I'll be linking here:

Book Page Art Inspiration

2012-01-06T09:31:00.001-05:00

Hey friends! I've had a cold this week, so have been feeling sorry for myself. How are you doing? Fortunately, I've had this inspirational post planned so I can take another day a little bit "easier." (Ha, ha, like any of us has time to do that!) Anyway, I've been wanting to share with you a sampling of Strapping Lad's girlfriend's art. (She needs her own blog name and Artsy Chick's already taken, hmm. Today, let's refer to her as Ellie) Ellie just graduated in December and the seniors had their artwork displayed in their school's gallery. She works with mixed media and part of the media is book pages and maps, so even though most of us aren't bona fide artists, we can still be inspired, right?

Grandpa (10" W x 1 1/2" H)

Detail of Grandpa--Origami book pages, fibers, using an embroidery hoop as a frame.

Elegance (5" W x 12" H)

Origami book page flowers, fibers.

Untitled (Approx. 15” H x 24" L x 6” D)

Book page flowers in a crate, straight pins, fibers

Grandma (12" W x 3" H)

Great Grandma (12" W x 3" H)

"Spokes" are sisal.

Mapping (2' H x 4' W)

The flowers are origami map pieces

This is just a sampling of Ellie's work. I didn't ask her, but I would assume she would be delighted to make a commissioned piece.

Reception night
(L-R Artsy Chick, Strapping Lad, Ellie, Six Foot Chick)

Graduation Day
(Strapping Lad had his wisdom teeth pulled earlier in the week, so he is still swollen. Poor him.)

All art photos are from Ellie's website, as well as, other of her pieces. I hope you enjoyed seeing Ellie's creations. You've seen some of her other work, previously, on the frame post. She's been a part of our family for several years, now, and rounds us out quite well. And, we can't quite believe she's graduated from college already! Yikes, where does the time go?

Earbud Pouch

2012-01-04T08:48:00.002-05:00

What do you do when you don't have/take the time to whip up some Christmas gifts for, well, Christmas? You decide since you have time after Christmas (that and Six-Foot Chick had my car all day one day last week), make them, then. I made these for my girls and Strapping Lad's girlfriend.

Awhile ago, I saw this idea and Pinned it. It's from Erin's Dog Under My Desk blog. She has a download-able pdf and a step-by-step tutorial that was a breeze to follow.

Erin used really cute, spunky fabric. I used what I had around (not exactly teenager-appealing, but not too bad), which included:

Scraps of my home dec fabric (except for the red print) which was probably not as "friendly" as, say, quilting fabric, since it is stiffer;
Batting (again, could have been thinner), I also gave felt a try instead of batting, but that wasn't pliable enough;
for the Lining, I used plain muslin;
Zippers were what I could find lurking around which were two of both black and brown and one used off-white. The zippers drove what fabrics I chose. (Some of my top stitching turned out wonky from the weight of the fabric and some bulk from resewing and not the best trimming--trust me, I'm not losing sleep over it!)

One funny thing that happened, well it wasn't at the time, was I made oval pouches at first. How did that happen? Welllll, my laptop doesn't send to our house printer, so I pulled up the pdf in Adobe at 100% and traced it. The tracing was oval-ish, which I knew in the beginning. I kept going. It didn't even click till after I finished the third pouch that I didn't want oval! I turned them back inside out and restitched the oval to a circle (which is why the tabs that the split ring is attached to are shorter than Erin's). I guess I was so excited that I was making darling little earbud pouches, it took awhile to dawn on me that they looked more like eggs than dots! And, oh yeah, total cost: About $3 for the split rings.

I think these are as cute as all get-out and would make them again as gifts. Erin also has a cell phone sleeve tutorial that I'm eying...

Remember this cute cupcake apron I made for Fun-Sized Chick? She was delighted with it, as in running around the house with glee, delighted. Those are the kind of reactions one lives for!

Looking Ahead

2012-01-02T11:02:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year, Friends! I did a "looking ahead" post last year and saw many things come to fruition. It was a big personal year, too, with two of the Chicks graduating (one from HS, one from college, plus a wedding, and we had an honorary "Chick" graduate in December--photos coming soon), not to mention all of the projects, which get documented right HERE where you're sitting all comfy in front of your computer screen.

I decided to once again peer into the crystal ball of the future to see what we might have to look forward to this year.

Most likely plenty of sewing and fabric projects--> What I know "for sure" is I will be making a

friend's window treatments soon, and want to work on
a baby quilt. I'd also like to make myself
a tote and one to
giveaway. I need to decide what to do with the
coffee sack I won from, Marty at A Stroll Thru Life, too, at the moment I'm leaning towards
another basket or a tote. I have
two furniture reupholsters that I'd like to get to. Remember the
bargain settee and my
~~ripped up~~ deconstructed chair?

Gosh, that list didn't seem too bad until I bullet-pointed it all (okay, I was a bit fast-and-loose with the bullets).

(hmm, maybe I'll fix the dangling drawer pull, too.)

Furniture --> Well, I could put the chair and settee from the previous list here. Two of the Chicks and I made a trip to Robyn Story Designs during the Christmas break and purchased a quart of ASCP, so the dresser in the guest room will be painted, maybe as soon as later this week.

(I, for one, am tired of looking at this "before" photo!)

Projects--> Artsy Chick and Fun-Sized Chick both want bedroom updates.

Technical--> Darling Husband gave me the go ahead to get a new camera (for Christmas). I need to decide what kind to get and learn how to use it. Do you all have any tips, or favorite camera models? The only model name I can remember is the Canon Rebel, 'cause who doesn't want to be a "rebel" now and again?

Blog Design--> How do yo all feel about the WordPress vs. the Blogger trend going on now? Do you have a preference of one over the other? Does a blog on WordPress look more professional to you? Do you care? I have been asking some of you who've made the change how you did it--it's such a big-fat public decision. I'm considering switching over, for me it's an issue of sitting down and doing it and figuring out all of the particulars. I don't know about you, but taking the time is a big factor for me.

To Ponder--> Will bird motifs for spring remain strong, as well as, nests and eggs? Will book page projects remain popular...? What is the fate of chevrons???

And this all starts this week!

New Year's Candy Tower ~ Repost

2011-12-31T12:56:00.000-05:00

This was first posted on December 22, 2009. I thought it would be fun to bring it back for this New Year.

This project all started here:

A generous mom from Fun-Size Chick's class made this super duper candy tower for the class to share at Halloween time. Fun Size insisted that we get a picture of it, because she wanted to make one at home!

Instead of the class-sized one, we opted for an individual candy tower. I found styrofoam supplies at the dollar store (I ended up buying three packs each for two of my girls.) The styrofoam is just a down payment to all the of the candy you'll be buying! ~ Smile! ~

We used toothpicks to fasten the stryrofoam pieces and a low-temp glue gun to apply all the yumminess. (For littler ones, a craft glue should work fine.)

I wasn't sure exactly when I was going to let the girls (Artsy Chick got in on the candy action!) actually eat them. Then one of the girls dubbed them New Year's Candy Towers. The name has stuck at our house. I couldn't resist and purchased the toppers that look like fireworks.

Obviously these could be made for any occasion. We could have purchased all red and green wrapper candy, coming up -- and I hate to say this, but I've already seen it (eek!) pink and red {heart} day candy.

I could see this as an alternative birthday party cake, too!

Happy New Year!

My Favorite Projects of 2011

2011-12-29T09:50:00.000-05:00

Welcome to more of the year in review! I really wanted to include some of my personal favorites, even though they didn't land in the top-viewed posts. 'Cause we all have pet projects, right?

My Favorite Thrift Find (okay, this doesn't count as a project, per se, but it's an integral part of a project!):

$15 Feather duvet (Part of Guest Room, this could also go under favorite fabric project as I still adore the bird fabric.)

Favorite Craft Projects (I couldn't choose just one):

Santa Bunting

Pottery Barn Dominoes also included in most-viewed on my last post.

Favorite "Recipe":

Rice Krispie Hearts

Favorite Series (I know these didn't get a lot of comments, but, of course, they were a labor of love):

Wedding DIY

Favorite Sewing Project:

Scrappy Runner

And, finally, Favorite "Buzz" Projects, which featured my new Paris stencil:

Table Runner

Lazy Susan

Thank you so much for indulging me, I hope I've brought you plenty of ideas and inspiration, as well as, aspirations. I'm looking forward to what the new year may bring.

* * * * *

Tomorrow, Six-Foot Chick and I are, once again, singing in the Disney Epcot Candlelight Processional concert (it's the last night, so if you're going to attend--hurry!). Marlee Matlin is the narrator this year.

P.S. I posted this post TWICE. The original draft was 12/27, so it posted it BEFORE MY LAST POST. ARG! I completely deleted it and copied and pasted it to today. Blogger is also doing other strange things to me today.

2011 In Review

2011-12-27T21:04:00.004-05:00

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my year in review post, where does the time go? Here's the top viewed posts, as well as, my thanks to referring sites. I appreciate you so much for hanging out here!

* * * * * * *

~ Far ~ And ~ Away, thanks to Pinterest is:

1. T-Shirt Quilt

2. Roman Shade Reveal

3. White and Paper Roses

4. Burlap Basket Tutorial

5. Pottery Barn Dominoes

Cheap Chic Home top referrals:

And thank you to the lovely ladies whose blogs are the top referrals:

Savvy Southern Style

A Stroll Thru Life

Celebrating here:

Peppermint Tray and Chocolate Cherry Cookies

2011-12-26T11:03:00.002-05:00

Welcome back, post-Christmas friends and blog surfers! I trust you had a wonderful day and maybe are even still fortunate enough to be celebrating with family. I thought I'd share this with you, as I had to try it almostimmediately when I saw it on my FB page. Since then, I've seen it show up on Pinterest, too. Have you? Plus, it's so quick and easy, there's no reason you couldn't put one of these together for goodies on New Year's eve or day. Or, if you're like me, for your own entertainment. Yeah, I'm cheap and easy like that.

See the minty tray my cookies are sitting on? It started with a bag of 9 oz. starlight mints...

...Placed on a parchment lined cookie sheet and baked in a 350^o oven for about 10 min. (I started checking it after 5 min., just in case) and got this really cool tray. The way my tray turned out the edges are a little flatter from melting outward more. It measures about 8 inches at the widest points. This is so cool, I can't wait to break it and eat it--I know that's not the point--I guess I just like the idea of breaking something before I eat it! To see more ideas, check out Tutto Bella's post. (It looks like her's were pooled out more, so she must have left them in the oven longer.)

Part II : The Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookie recipe portion of the post that I'd like to share with you. This is an old recipe that I'm sure a lot of you have. I haven't made them for a few years and since I was pretty ambivalent* about the whole cookie-thing this year, decided to be a bit different.
*Which doesn't mean there were any fewer cookies around!

Baked Chocolate Covered Cherries

(printable version)

Chocolate Cookie Dough
1/2 c. margarine or butter (1 stick)
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teas. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
1/4 teas. salt
1/4 teas. baking soda
***
maraschino cherries, drained, reserve juice

Mix dough ingredients together, excluding cherries, to make soft dough. Shape dough into 1" balls. Place 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Push cherry half way into each ball.

Fudge Topping
1 c. chocolate chips
1/2 c. sweetened condensed milk (1/2 can)
1/4 teas. salt
1 - 1 1/2 teas. cherry juice

Prepare topping: Melt chocolate chips and condensed milk, stir constantly. Remove from heat. Add remaining ingredients. Stir until smooth.

Spread fudge topping over cherry (about 1 teas.) Bake at 350^o for 8-10 min. Yield 36-48 cookies.

Notes: This makes plenty of the fudge topping, so no need to be skimpy (although adding too much will make it spill off the cookie). I prefer to keep the dough balls close to 1" so there is a smaller cookie to fudge-y cherry combination.