This Week's Work In Progress...

Now that I'm able to get up & around a bit, I can finally start working on 'larger' projects. Cue me dragging out this antique mirror to work on.

Yes, the veneer on the front is messed up, but the 'bones' of the piece are too pretty to let the mirror die a slow death in somebody's attic. (If you have removed antique veneer before, you know what a pain in the butt it is. I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess.)

And now I'm off to start the slow process of lifting off the veneer...wood chisel, iron, & relevant accessories in tow!

Cake Batter Chex Mix? Oh C'mon, You Know You Want Some!

Also known as 'puppy chow', 'cake batter buddies', 'muddy buddies', etc. Hey, I don't know why it has so many names, but it apparently does. Anyway, I made some of this earlier today, & considering that it was mostly just things that happened to be chillin' in my pantry, it was pretty dern easy.

Wanna make it? You're going to need the following things:

1 box of Corn Chex (I used the 'big' box.)
1 bag of white chocolate (You can use almond bark, but I like chocolate.)
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of heavy cream (I'll be honest, I used way, way more than one tablespoon, but I blame that on the fact that I am Southern & cream is never put to use in the 'recommended' quantities.)
1 cup of powered sugar
2 cups of yellow or white cake mix (Not the batter!! The dry mix.)

Ready? Here we go:

Throw your white chocolate chips, butter, & heavy cream in a bowl. 

Pop said bowl into the microwave & do 20-30 seconds at a time. Watch carefully, because nothing is more awful than having to throw out burnt chocolate. Love the chocolate, pay attention to the chocolate. I beg of you...

When it all starts to melt together, it will happen fast. I think I threw this back in the microwave another 25 seconds & it was totally melted & ready to go.

You can also melt this down using a double boiler...but seeing as I have no double boiler in my life, I have no photos or opinions of making in it one. 

In a different bowl , throw in your Chex cereal. 

Slowly pour in your chocolate mix & stir it all like it is going out of style. You need to coat everything. I'd say to coat things evenly, but I am *so* not able to actually do that in my kitchen. Hey, I never said I was perfect...

Put your cake mix & powered sugar together in a bowl. Mixing them together so that they're  not just cake mix with powdered sugar on top is probably a good idea. I spent like...30 seconds mixing them with one another.

Know that bowl of chocolate coated Chex you've got just hanging out waiting on you to give it some love? Go get it. Dump, fold, drop, or any other version of 'add' your cake mix & sugar mixture on all that chocolate-y goodness.

I guess you could technically stir it all together, but I took the easy way out-I put it all in a Tupperware bowl, snapped a top on (tightly!), & shook it like I was at the Chex Shaking Olympics. No, I have no photos of myself shaking the Tupperware, you're just gonna have to trust me on this one.

And then.....you get this:

Store these bad boys in an air tight container, and nom whenever you're in the mood for some cake tasting goodness.

What To Do, What To Do...

So I made my last old window into a cute art type thing to hang in my extra bedroom. (Don't know what I'm talking about? Here is that story.) Anyway...I've got another window sitting in my garage, see?

Please ignore the old door behind the window. That is not the door that will be my headboard, it is a totally different door that is going to get some love sometime soon.

Since I'm not going to keep it, I'm trying to decide whether I just want to stencil something on the glass panes, if I want to straight out paint the panes, or if I want to ModPodge something on to it. I mean yeah, doing something custom for somebody is always fun, but at the moment I haven't had anybody that needs a super awesome window that Ginger spiffed up just for them in a while.

Hmmm...I'm currently stumped. 

Autumn Bunting...

Since I have acquired so much twine, & so much burlap type material, making some 'fall' or 'autumn' bunting seemed like a no brainer. 

I even made it without injuring myself! Woohoo, you go Ginger!

Now I just need to hang this up...but I think I'm going to wait & not try to climb anything with a giant cast on. It seems like a recipe for tumbling onto the floor in a very ungraceful way. 

Ding! My house smells like a Christmas tree...

Alright, all of my pinecones (save for a couple tiny ones that hid from me) have been through their little baking trip.

I lined a cookie sheet with tin foil, because really, you don't want sap all over your cookie sheet, do you? No, you don't.

I left some space in between them because I'm weird like that.

I preheated the over to 300 degrees & popped these little guys in there for 20 minutes.

And then....ding! All done! They've all opened all the way up, even the tiny ones.

Let them cool a while, ok? Having an 'I got burnt by a pinecone after I baked it story' probably won't impress most of your friends. You just saved a few bucks by not having to go to the store and buy these. Easy peasy. 

Your house smelling like a giant Christmas tree is a nice bonus, at least it was for me.

Pine cones, assemble! Prepare to be put in the oven!

I've got a box of pine cones that have come into my life...and I need to make sure there are no creepy crawly things on them, & that the sap is less....sappy.

To the oven I go. I shall report back once I am done baking these little buggers.

DIY Halloween Art!

Ok y'all, tomorrow is October 1. That means I can officially (without feeling like I'm a weirdo) do Halloween-type things! I'm still on bed rest, but I wanted to start on some Halloween-ish type art to get me in a more bewitching mood, so making something on PicMonkey to print out & put in little frames seemed like a good way to go. 

(I kinda fell in love with this font. By kinda I mean a bunch. You're gonna have to deal with my love of this font for a while, but at least I'm warning you in advance.)

Here's what I've ended up with at the moment. I don't know if I want to make a third one or not. Probably not...

You're probably wondering why you're staring at a bunch of boots....

There is an actual reason, I swear. I will be honest, I have tons of boots. (Sorry y'all, I wasn't taking pictures of all of them, somebody from the Hoarders show on tv could possibly show up if I did that. Ok not really, but you get the idea.) I love them. So much love for boots that I can't really put it into words.

Notice how all of them are standing up, even the tall ones? That doesn't happen automatically, & boots that are all bent over & taking up double the amount of space in my closet make me sad. I've been to places like Bed, Bath, & Beyond looking for boot holder uppers, & those dern things are expensive. Like, around $10 per pair expensive. I'm sorry, but that's just not happening.

I went to the place where all random problems are solved-Pinterest & started my quest for finding something that would make my boots stand up without having to pay $10 per pair to make it happen. And then.....the magic of a manila folder was introduced into my life. 

Holy crap, rolling up a manila file folder & then zipping it into my boots not only worked, but it didn't cost me a penny. (I'm one of those people with hundreds of file folders at all times.) Free beats $10 a pair any day of the week. I probably spent a good hour rolling up folders & stuffing them inside my boots, & I was so proud of this Pinterest experiment gone right that I had to post it.

For those of you without boots...just pretend that you think this is cool, ok?

Facebook: www.facebook.com/gingermadethat 
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/missgingerlee 
Blog: www.gingermadethat.blogspot.com
Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/missgingerlee 

When Ginger makes homemade Febreze...

I have a confession to make. I am one of those people that has an odd love of Febreze & Febreze type things. (Hey, washing 106 inch curtains on a regular basis gets kinda tedious, ok?) Anyway, I've seen all the 'make your own Febreze OMG!' type posts on Pinterest, so I decided that I may as well try it out and see if it works. 

Ready to get started? Awesome. Grab your empty ( or almost empty in my case) Febreze bottle & fill it about halfway with warm water.

Then grab some vinegar. Pop a tablespoon of this bad boy in the Febreze bottle. (Yes, there are versions that use baking soda, but I'm more of a vinegar type of girl.) Now shake the Febreze bottle **with the cap on** like it is going out of style.

Now go get some fabric softener. Any kind of fabric softener, but one that you are rather fond of fragrance-wise is probably a good idea. Put in 2 tablespoons (or 3, if you're using a rather thin version) of your fabric softener.

Got all of that put together? Alright, go fill the rest of your Febreze bottle with warm water, put the top back on your Febreze bottle, & shake like your life depends on it. Ok not really, but shake it until everything is evenly distributed. I shook for about a minute & a half, because I wanted to make sure I'd done all I could for this little experiment to work.

I waited about an hour or so & used my homemade Febreze concoction on the couch. Yep, this formula worked perfectly (and no, no vinegar smell for those that may have been wondering). It smelled just like the fabric softener, but once that dissipated all that was left being has neutral, clean smelling couch-ness. 

I will never pay for 'real' Febreze again. Yay for experiments that actually work!!