Happy Halloween!

And to celebrate, a recipe to help use up all that leftover candy.  Or at least some of it ;)  These things are the easiest treats to make ever.  And I do mean ever!  And one of the other perks is that they are relatively customizable.  You can adjust the candy on top to reflect whatever holiday is approaching; I first tried these at a friend's house at Christmas time, with red and green M&Ms on top.  And it doesn't really matter if the chocolates are Hugs or Kisses, either.  However you adjust them, it's a nice easy treat which satisfies both salty and sweet tastes.

Pretzel Kiss Treats 

(Feel free to provide a cuter name if you've got one)

Ingredients & Supplies:

• Mini pretzels (you can use the mini twist or round pretzels, but I like the square ones - aesthetics!)
• Chocolate drop-type candies (Hugs or Kisses)
• Candy for topping - most variations of this recipe call for M&Ms, which make it very easy to color coordinate with holidays or parties.  For this batch, I used what M&Ms calls their "Candy Corn M&Ms" - white chocolate candies with candy corn colored shells.  The white chocolate goes very well with the white chocolate Hugs, I think.  I've seen variations that use other candies though - like this one using candy corn.
• Cookie sheet
• Oven
• Foil or parchment or wax paper (optional)

Directions

1.     Preheat oven.  It honestly doesn't matter to what temperature.  Looking up directions online, I've seen anywhere from 170 degrees F to 400 degrees F.  The oven just needs to be hot.  I personally made this batch after baking a batch of muffins.  I just finished the muffins, turned off the oven, then made these using the warm oven.

2.     Line baking sheet with foil or parchment/wax paper.   If you forget this step, it's not critical, but it does make it easier to remove from the tray.

3.     Arrange pretzels on tray in a single layer.  Unwrap Hugs and place one on each pretzel. 

4.     Put baking sheet in oven for about 3 minutes, just until chocolate start to get soft.  You can tell because the chocolate will start to look shiny. I've seen it noted too, that the older the chocolate, the longer it will take.  Still won't take too long, even with older chocolate - no more than 5 minutes, so keep an eye on it.

5.     Take baking sheet out of oven and smoosh down each Hug very gently with a candy.   You want to move pretty quickly, so that the chocolate doesn't start to cool and harden before they all get their top piece smooshed in.

6.     Let cool.  Putting them in the refrigerator when they've started to set does help speed up the cooling.  Just 10-20 minutes in the fridge, and they'll be nice and firmly set.  Transfer to serving bowl or an airtight container (or just eat them straight away!).  Store them in an airtight container, though.  Supposedly they'll last up to 2 weeks, but that's only if they aren't eaten first!

 

Notes and References

• Several versions of the recipe point out that the Hugs will melt faster than the Kisses, which makes sense because of the white chocolate.  Parrot Head Momma on Food.com suggests that if you're making these with both Hugs and Kisses, do each batch on a separate tray - Hugs, then Kisses (or vice versa, it doesn't really matter).  Then you won't have one melting faster than the other.  Good tip!
• Nancy's Kitchen has another variation, using nuts on the top instead of M&Ms.  
• Along the lines of the chocolate and nuts, Glorious Treats has a mini-turtle version of the treat - use Rolo candies (chocolate and caramel) instead of the Kisses or Hugs, and then top with pecan halves.  Looks delicious!
• The Hershey Kisses website has a similar treat, using marshmallows - mini s'mores!

Inspired!

So, I have discovered Pinterest.  If you haven't discovered it yet, it's like crack for crafters and picture junkies.  The idea is that you are creating pin boards of the pictures, jokes, links, inspirations, ideas, etc. that you've found online (or you can upload pictures of your own) and keeping them sorted, like a virtual set of inspiration pin boards.  And you can search for subject, follow other people's boards, all sorts of ways to find new ideas.  It's addictive!!!  You have been warned!!!  

Yes, there are lots of quirky crafts, and kids party ideas, and shabby chic home decorating pins, but there are lots of photo ideas, craft projects, recipes, etc. that I've found useful.  It's a great way to feel creative and still sit on your butt in front of the computer - which may or may not be a good thing, depending on the day and what else you have to do :)

This post is sharing a few of the ideas that I've found on Pinterest and have already put into action in the Real World.

First up: Cute Coasters

Take boring coasters, and give 'em some life!  I am notorious for having a mug of hot beverage (usually tea) or a glass of water while I'm about the house, so like having coasters to protect my furniture surfaces.  These coasters I liked to put in the craft room.  I'll keep the more uniform, adult looking ones downstairs for when guests come :)

I found some ugly (in my opinion) coasters on clearance at Michael's.  Perfect, since they're being recovered anyway, right?  I gave them a quite coat of paint, so that the design wouldn't show through the lighter colored ribbons.  The inspiration pieces I saw on Pinterest used washi tape, Japanese patterned masking tape.  Gotta love Japanese office supplies - always so cute!!  I used scrap-booking ribbon instead as (a) I had it in my stash, and (b) it would've been a bit cheaper anyway.  Worked just as well.  Then Mod Podge everything in place, and several coats on top the ribbons too.  You want everything securely attached.  I also gave them several coats of clear spray paint, to help make them moisture resistant.  Then, a square of felt hot-glued on the back, and they're ready to go! Some of the example projects used those little round sticky felt 'feet' instead of a square of felt for the back of the coasters, but I have plenty of felt in my stash from other projects, so I used what I had.

Below you can see the before pictures (well, mid-process - already spray painted) and after pictures.  I'm planning on making a few more with the ribbon I have in stash, to match some other seasons (if you couldn't tell, the middle completed one has bunnies and springtime colors on it).  I know I've some fall-time and Christmas ribbons, so those are in the works definitely :)

 

Next up:  Tiered Tray

This is actually officially a Cupcake Stand, and supposedly designed for serving deserts.  There are a lot of variations of this one out there, but it all boils down to stacking and gluing pieces together and decorating as you want.  There I've seen ones all in glass, or using stove eye covers as the stands, and with different heights of candlesticks too.  And it's interesting to see all the variations in painting and trims!

The one I've done here uses 4 plates from Target (3 on clearance!) and 3 candlesticks from Dollar Tree.  So, the whole thing was under 10 bucks.  I don't have a better before picture than the one below, however.  The candlesticks were all clear glass, and the plates were 3 black ones and one red.  There are two each of round and square plates, just for patterning.  That's also why mine is 4 plates tall!  I painted everything with black satin spray paint, even the black plates, so that they all match in finish (the plates were too shiny on their own).  Then, I glued the individual tiers together - superglue and hot glue both (yes, to make them nice and secure).  I also added another coat of paint at this point, to mask the bead of hot glue under the plates.  It's less noticeable once it's the same color as everything else.  If you're making a cake stand , you'd stop at this step (candlestick and one plate) and then decorate as you wanted - paint, beaded edging, patterns, whatever.

Next was attaching the layers together as one piece.  I used chalk to mark out the centers, so that the tiers would line up correctly, then superglued everything together.  The chalk wiped away easily when it was all dry.  And here it is, all completed!  The layers of plates are 8 in round, 8 in square, 10 in round, 10 in square.  I offset the square plates by 45 degrees, too, for even more visual interest.  I think I like that phrase,  a reason for my projects to look as they do - "I meant it - visual interest!"  :)

I know it's supposed to be used for serving food, but I'm using it in my craft room instead.  It's now a catch-all for small supplies on my craft desk - pins, rubber bands, etc.  I love it!


Last one for today:  Menu Planner

I'm trying to be more grown up and efficient now that I'm approaching 30, and planning our meals is one step in that.  And before you say anything else, yes, I know that I'm probably fooling myself about being grown up; and yes, I know that everyone else probably feels like they're still trying to be adult and grown-up too, no matter what the age.  But if this helps me keep an eye on my kitchen supplies and, for example, prevents bell peppers from being forgotten in my fridge and becoming science experiments, then who cares what the reason is!

printables.  This one was nice and simple.  12 inch frame, 12 inch piece of scrapbook paper (from stash, to match the blues in the kitchen) and lots of stickers, also from stash.  I measured out the lines so that things were evenly spaced, but that was the hardest part of the whole thing! 

The glass on the frame acts as a dry erase board.  You write on the glass with an average dry erase marker, and just erase when planning next week!  I'm trying to get into the habit of planning my meals on Sunday night, so that Monday after yoga I can swing by the commissary on the way home and pick up any supplies I'll need that week.  Just gotta make it a habit now!

Two hats and a scarf

I know it's sounds like a kid's book, or song lyrics, but really that title's about my recently finished projects!  I've been much more inspired to knit, now that the weather is consistently under 100 (and even under 90 semi-regularly recently!  Woohoo, fall may be in sight!!)  So here is what I've produced in my recent bout of needle-related productivity:

Kool-HAAS

I love Jared Flood's patterns!  Nice, clean lines, classic without being fussy.  Love 'em!!  I'm anxiously awaiting cooler weather when I can actually wear hats again, so that I can give this one a go.  Oh, and the color of the hat is a lot closer to the picture below on the right - the fluorescent lighting in the left picture gave a clearer view of the cables, but kinda washed out the color  :\

I actually started this pattern back before we moved, teaching a good friend how to knit cables.  It got set aside for a while, though, between the move and the horrendous summer heat, so I've just finally finished it up.  I know this looks like it'd be a hard first cable pattern, but the pattern itself is very repetitive, and only 4 lines, so it actually worked pretty well!  It's a little fiddly at first, with the twisted stitches, but it becomes very easy to follow once you get a few rows done and you can see the path of the traveling lattice.

The yarn was an acrylic, Vanna's Choice by Lion Brand.  Less stiff'n'scratchy than Red Heart; less shiny and more muted than Caron Simply Soft; still acrylic, so washable, durable and inexpensive.  I'd use it again, definitely.  This time it was the choice of the friend I was teaching - she provided the yarn for both of us.  It was a little heavier than the yarn that the pattern called for, but my head it also a little bigger than what would be comfortable with the dimensions of the pattern's finished project.  So, little bigger yarn yields a little bigger hat, with no extra shaping needed to calculate.

And for the record, it's actually the "Koolhaas Hat," but I just seem to always hear it in the Hans-and-Frans voice from SNL (you know, the Schwarzenegger-esque voiced, "We will PAHMP you up!" guys).  Thus Kool-HAAS, the emphasis of course being on the second syllable.

My project is raveled here.

Lacy Hat

This yarn has been lurking in my stash for this project.  The colorway is called Fire Agate, but it makes me think of Christmas, so I have been wanting to make a winter accessories set using it.  Now that the hat is done, I've just under 3 skeins left of the yarn, so I plan on making a little pair on fingerless mitts and a scarf of whatever is left over after that.

The hat is an interesting pattern, and I don't know how crazy I am about it, but I like it enough that it's not worth a frogging.  You have the edging, a set of the lace repeats, a garter stitch section with decreases, another set of the lace, then garter stitch and shaping at the crown.  I'm more one for all-over lace patterns, so it's that garter section in the middle that I'm not sure of.  Still, the yarn's busy enough in both color and texture that it's not glaringly obvious and odd.  Like I said, I'm not crazy about it, but it's not bad.  If I truly hated it, it'd be ripped out and reworked in another pattern!  In summary, I guess, I like it, but it's not one I'd use again.

 

The yarn is Jewel Box, a yarn that has been discontinued by Caron, so good luck finding it.  I found it on clearance at Michael's when it was first being discontinued (like I said, it's been lurking in my stash for a while).  It's a chenille yarn, so it works up very soft, but I've no idea how durable it will be.  Hopefully, there won't be much of the Dreaded W that happens with some chenille yarns ('worming' for non-fiber folk).  Still, I'll be wearing this set in December only, as I am a strict traditionalist, and the Christmas season is confined to the one month between Thanksgiving and the actual holiday.  No Christmas in September for me!!  So, even if it does worm eventually, I think I should still get a few good seasons out of it.

The pattern is available on the Coats & Clark website.  My project is raveled here.

One Row Lacy Scarf

The opposite of the above project, this is from some very new yarn!  The yarn was Berroco Suede, a free ball of yarn from one of the shops on the Yarn Crawl a few weeks ago.  I looked at that yarn, and all I could think was 'casual one-skein scarf' and this project was born.  And knowing exactly what I wanted with a new yarn, led to a bit of Cast-on-itis, and ta-da!  New scarf!

The project is great!  It's a one row pattern, so very easy and mindless, despite being lace.  And it goes along quickly, as you're using bigger needles than usual.  And to ice the cake, it's free online!  Would definitely use this pattern again, as it would definitely be different with a different texture of yarn.

 

As I mentioned, the yarn itself is Berroco Suede.  I don't know if it really feels like suede, as I wasn't working a large flat piece - the laciness of the scarf kinda diminished that effect.  Still, it's soft and drapes beautifully, and I'm very pleased with it.  It is a little 'catchy,' though - one of those yarns that has enough soft texture to it that it snags and catches on every little uneven bit on your hands and needles.  For me, it's not a yarn I would use during the winter, as my hands are usually completely dried out and catch on everything during that season.  Still, if my hands are in better condition, it's a nice yarn to work with and I wouldn't mind using it again.

 

My project is raveled here.

Clock craftiness!

So now, being in a house instead of an apartment, we have more rooms to play with for decorating.  Granted that's taking a while, but small steps.  First, curtains, then smaller accent pieces, then actually making the place look 'adult,' or at least less collegiate.  In doing so, I have realized we have a drastic shortage of clocks in this house.  I'm one of those people who needs to know what time it is, so clocks are important.  I learned that they rank after curtains in importance on my Essential Decorating To-Do list, so I had to start looking for some nice ones for the house.  And of course, also some creative ones, which brings up this post.  One of the things I love about this house is having space for a whole craft room.  And of course, a craft room can't have a boring clock!

In doing all this looking around, I was torn between this idea, with the embroidery hoop and buttons, (which is a good idea for a craft room, isn't it?) and this one, with the sushi (which is just plain fun).  I eventually went with the sushi one, as, believe it or not, I actually have these erasers!

And how might I have a set of erasers found typically in 100 Yen stores?  When Anne visited Tokyo a few years ago, this was one of the souvenirs that she brought back for me.  They have been languishing on my craft desk waiting for something to do.  They are waaaay too cute for simply erasing, aren't they?  But what exactly to do with them was the challenge.  This clock was the perfect solution!

So, in addition to the cute erasers, I needed scrapbook paper, number stickers (you can see one of the fonts I was debating there below) and a clock I could easily dismantle.  I found a basic one at Target for about 4 bucks (it's the cheapest wall clock they had).  The stickers and the paper I had in my stash.  The blue paper is in the same color family as my curtains in that room, as well as being a nice contrast to the colors of the sushi.  I was very pleased with it :)  I eventually decided on black numbers (not in the picture below) to match the hands and frame of the clock.

The plastic front of the clock just popped off, once I removed two screws on the back of the clock.  I took off the clock hands too - another simple removal, just one screw.

Next step was cutting the scrapbook paper to fit the clock face and adding the number stickers. If you're lucky enough to have a clock face that comes out, you can use that to trace out your scrapbook paper circle.  Mine was already glued in place on the clock, so I had to estimate a little.  Ended up with a circle that's probably not quite as neat and even as it could be, but it'll never be noticed from a galloping horse - a common standard in my crafting projects. ;)  Marking out the numbers, however, was easier.  Use the original clock face as your starting point, and mark out the points on the circle for your numbers.  Add stickers at your time points, leaving space for your erasers.

I glued the paper face in place with some Mod Podge (decoupage glue, for those non-crafty types) and added a few coats over the paper to help seal in the number stickers.  Don't want them peeling up, after all!  You can see the shininess from the glue in the picture below.  Make sure when you're gluing the paper and numbers in, that your numbers line up with how the clock will hang - check the back of the clock!  I had to reposition my numbers once or twice, as I had lined up 2 o'clock with the straight-up position.  So, unless you really want that extra bit of quirkiness, check before you let your glue dry!  I'm so glad I caught it!!

Once the Mod Podge was all dry, I hot-glued the erasers in place.  If you have more or fewer erasers, you can position them where you want.  I had 4, so they are at the quarter-hour marks.  To make the erasers fit under the plastic clock front, I did have to trim a little off the underside of each piece.  An exacto-knife worked just fine, no fancy equipment needed - these are just soft erasers, after all.  Check with your erasers and your clock, to ensure that you can still reassemble the clock after the erasers are in place.  I also added a bit of hot glue on the erasers that come apart (the three sushi at 12, 3 and 6 are all 2-piece erasers and can separate).  Just a little extra security keeping everything in place.

Let everything dry completely, then reassemble the clock!  And you are done!

One extra step I did have to take, and you might have to as well, is that the hands on the clock needed to be trimmed a little.  They were so long, they would have caught on the 3-D erasers, instead of passing over them as they swung by.  My clock hands were simple light plastic, so regular scissors did the job.  I trimmed the hands into little points, to make it a bit more decorative, but you can cut them however you want.  Just make sure that you still keep the relative lengths appropriate - hour hand short, minute hand long :)

Ta-da! All done!  Isn't it the cutest!?  And here it is, at home on my craft room wall :)

A few beading projects

Inspired by some links I've found on Pinterest, actually!  I've got a whole board of jewelry inspirations.  There are lots of good jewelry inspiration ideas floating about on Pinterest, and as our heat wave continues on, I've been more into beading and general crafting than knitting - much cooler to work with, at least temperature-wise!  So, I'm being creative using another outlet, and hoping that Fall comes soon :)

First up is a necklace inspired by an Anthropologie piece, the Spinet necklace.  Anthropologie often has such adorable or striking pieces, but such prices!!  Much easier to make on your own!  This one used chain from Michael's, and a string of yellow and cream stones, also from Michael's, and a clasp and accent bead from my own stash, nothing too complex.  The necklace portion is 16 inches, then the chain drops down as a pendant.  I used the accent bead, as I only had 6 of the stone beads.  That left either extra beads, or oddly spaced stones on the 'pendant' portion of the necklace if I used 4 there, with 2 stones on the drops.  I played around a lot with the spacing of the stones and so forth, before diving into my stash and coming out with the brass accent bead - same metal as the chain, same size as the stones, works out nicely.  And I liked the dragonfly accent too, so I'm very pleased with my final result.

 

Another piece is a casual button bracelet.  I liked the monochromatic ones from the original website, Milomade, but found some black and white buttons to use in my first attempt.  This was a completely WalMart craft, actually.  They have blank link bracelets, and bags of assorted, color coordinated buttons.  Perfect supplies to get you started.  All you need now is the eye pins to attach the buttons to the bracelet.

I started with attaching the eye pins to the buttons, then laying them out in a pattern I liked.  The pattern I ended up with is alternating black and white buttons, and alternating styles of buttons within each color.  Black A, White 1, Black B, White 2, Black A, White 3, and so on.  It gives it an artfully random look - not perfectly matched, but not totally reach-in-the-bag-blindly type random.  I like it  :)

If you look at the above picture on the right, you can see how I attached the buttons.  The eye pin is looped through one of the buttons, then the eye of the eye pin attaches it to the bracelet link.  I spaced my buttons on this bracelet to be one per link - 23 altogether.  If you're working with a smaller linked chain, you might want to adjust the spacing of your buttons so it doesn't get too crowded.  This one worked out nicely for 1-per-link.

I've worn this one a couple of times already now, and really like it.  I've enough black and white and grey in my wardrobe that this works nicely as a casual match-almost-all sort of piece.  I've already picked up buttons for another in fall time colors of navy and gold and rust and green.  Thinking a copper chain with that one, but we'll see what looks good :)

Happy Roald Dahl Day!

Every year, Sept 13 is Roald Dahl Day!  Sept 13 is (was) his birthday, so makes for a fitting day to celebrate.  In the UK, they plan all sorts of things!  Some areas even have a whole Roald Dahl Month of activities!  Fun!

My favorite Roald Dahl book was by far Matilda.  Probably a combination of the independent, intelligent female protagonist who loved books, combined with an inner desire to have telekinetic abilities (ranks up there with my desire to have my own dragon... some things I still haven't outgrown!).  Probably why the Roald Dahl books have lasted so long - who ever outgrows the desire to see outrageously appropriate bad things happen to bad people, and good things happen to good ones?

Fun foods!

In celebration of my birthday this week, I'm sharing some foods I've attempted as some 'Happy Birthday to Me' fun!

The first is my birthday cupcake itself.  I was inspired by the web-famous Cookie Monster Cupcake.  I realize that my Cookie Monster looks a lot more melted than the inspiration piece, but I'm still happy with him.  I didn't use 'decorator's icing,' which makes the difference.  I made cream cheese icing instead, to go with the carrot cupcakes.  Tastes delicious, but doesn't hold peaks as well as the icing typically used on decorative cakes.  But, for whatever reason, I just don't like that icing.  Too rich, too sweet.  Looks beautiful, but I just don't like the taste, a waste of calories.  Oh well.  I think I can deal with melted Cookie Monsters if it means I like the taste of the finished cupcake!  I could have used white candies for the eyes, though, instead of icing.  Would have made them a little rounder, neater.  But seeing as only Zach and I saw them, I'm not worried.

And yes, I am almost 30, and made Cookie Monster cupcakes for my own birthday.  Any problems?  :)

 

And for a main dish (or lunchtime snack, whatever), here are Mini Corn Dogs!  I've seen this recipe posted a bunch of different places, and have wanted to give them a try.  These are delicious, and oh-so-easy!  Only a few ingredients: corn muffin mix, some hotdogs, and whatever corn dog toppings you like!  I used Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix, my go-to corn bread mix, and it worked beautifully.  Yum!  

I did find that it yields a few more corn dog muffins than the box says it will yield in muffins.  Makes sense, as the meat does take up some space in the muffin cup, you can squeeze a few more corn dog muffins out of each box of mix.  Does mean that you have to adjust accordingly with the hot dogs you prepare, though - just something to note.  The hot dog part can be hot dogs cut into pieces (I found that cutting them into 3rds fit perfectly in the muffin cups) or Vienna sausage if you like that better.  Just press them into the muffin cups once some batter is in the cup and bake as usual for the mix.  

As for toppings, I like to sprinkle a bit of cheese on top, and serve them with ketchup.  But then, I'm a hot dog purist and don't go for many toppings on my hot dogs.  You can add whatever you want - mustard, onion, whatever toppings you like.  When adding cheese, I added it just a few minutes before the muffins were done, just enough time to melt.  

This was my first time making these, but I definitely know I'll be making these again! They made a good lunch, too.  Two or three of the muffins fit perfectly in my little lunch box, add some fruit, and there you go!  A nice change from sandwiches or casserole leftovers for my lunch at work :)