DIY Candy Platter

I'm NO cook. I don't pretend to be a cook. But, I did manage to make a serving platter for Christmas cookies! If I can do it I'm sure you can too.

For starters you will need:

Some sort of tray to put in oven, then put some parchment paper over it. We didn't have any but I used freezer paper with the slick side up to lay candy on. You will also need peppermint candies. We had been to a few Christmas parades so we we just used what the kids had gotten. And since it was our first try I wasn't sure how many to use.

TIP 1: I would have a pattern in mind so you have an idea of how many pieces of candy you need.

I did not have a plan and just set them in a circle. Then I didn't have enough to make a big enough platter so I took a candy cane off the tree. And to my surprise, IT WORKED! But I had to fill in the spaces so my platter was not very cute. Lesson learned for next time.

 

Put in the oven at 350 degree's.

 

 

You will want to keep an eye on it. It will only take about 8 minutes or so. They just need to melt enough to stick together.

If you will notice these next two pictures you can see the bottom where it started to run and not look as pretty.

Tip 2: If you leave them in there too long they will get too thin and start to bubble and run. YES, this is from experience.

 

Let it cool for about 20 minutes.

If you touch it and it's still hot or sticky LEAVE IT ALONE.

You want it to be completely cooled and hardened or it will break or stick to the paper.

 

Then carefully lift it off the paper. This picture shows the back side. 

 

This next picture shows how thin and brittle it can be. I think it is this thin because I left mine too long. I believe if you take it out when it first melts it should be thicker. Remember, I let mine go too long and it started to bubble and run.

Then just put your treats on top and serve. I carried mine on a plate with the paper and when I got to where I was going I just slid the whole thing off the paper and took the plate and paper with me. I did this because I was afraid I piled too many cookies on the platter and didn't want it to break in transit. I, again, think if I had taken it out earlier it would have been better and I wouldn't have had to worry about that.

Hope you enjoyed!
C~C



My walls are scribble pads for little hands

My 2 year old, Ruger, decided to draw a line on a few of my walls today. We just moved into this house 2 weeks ago so you can imagine how freaked out I was....

 

I hope you can see the marks. I know they are a little hard to see on the red walls. And the one that shows a long strip of Cardinals paper is where he did almost the entire wall.

 

 

NOW WHAT?

 

I got a washcloth and a box of Baking Soda. I wet the washcloth and poured a little on it. I wasn't sure how much to use or what it should look like but it was clumpy so I rubbed the washcloth together. I tried it on a little spot and it worked but seemed sort of hard so I added more water and more baking soda all over the cloth.

I then scrubbed the line. You will have to put some effort into it......

 

 LOOK IT WORKED!

 

 

Then I realized if you do it against the "grain" so to say it worked a LOT easier. So for instance, if you have a straight line up and down, then scrub it from side to side. This actually made it where I didn't have to put as much effort into it, but still had to push. About like washing your car....

 

 

And now another spot.....

You can see in the next how it's coming off.

                                                                                                                                             One line GONE!

 

 

 

Then I saw some spots where shoes or furniture had hit and left scuff marks so I thought....what the heck!

 

IT WORKED!!!!

 

 

 

After I did the beige walls I re wet the washcloth and put more baking soda on it.

 

 

  

 

 I went on to the red walls. The first was a straight line. I scrubbed it up and down at first (mainly because I had already forgot my side to side trick) and that WAS NOT GOOD! It left a white line in the paint. I went on to do the rest of the red walls and was a little nervous thinking I was going to rub white marks in all of them, but when I did the "going against the grain" trick it didn't seem to rub off the paint.

 

 

 

 

 

I also had a spot in the closet door. It came off a little easier!  

 

 

And WHALA......IT WORKED!!!!! I might add after the walls dried I did have to go back with the damp cloth and wipe the white residue off.

 

I should probably also mention that some of the red paint came off on my rag. It didn't do any damage to the walls (except the one spot where I rubbed it straight up and down...picture above). But you do NOT want to wipe the rag on anything until after you rinse it out. Yes...I learned that from experience....I thought I'd hit a few spots on the doors where there were some icky sticky spots....but it came right off after I washed the cloth out.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed today's experience.....I don't like to clean but I'm glad I figured out a way to get those crayons off before Rod got home!

 

C~C

 

 

P.S. I'm really sorry the pictures are not very good. I'm still trying to figure the camera and lighting out. I hope I never have to clean crayon off walls again but if I do I'll try to get better pictures!