Updating a Mirror

I stumbled into a little decorating project by accident this weekend. 

I was trying to clean some double-sided tape off of a mirror in anticipation of hanging it up in the newly-painted entranceway (post to come about that, I promise!) 

This is the mirror before. 

Just an everyday mirror, from Lowe's I think.  I'm not sure what the frame is made of; I don't think it's real wood though.

The tape goes all around the outside edge and is a leftover from Christmas decorating (2 years ago).  I was just using regular nail polish remover to get rid of the sticky residue. 

It was quickly apparent that the tape wasn't coming off but some of the finish on the frame was. I wasn't happy about that at first, but when I rubbed a little harder along the edge and the original frame colour came through I thought it gave the frame a sort of oil rubbed bronze look.  So I kept going.

I would wipe some polish remover along the edge, wait a minute, and then rub it again until I got to where I wanted it. The whole thing took about 20 minutes to do.  It now has more depth and dimension. 

This shot is a good example of the before and after.

Here it is hanging in the hall. 

I'm not sure the detail comes through from this far back.

And unfortunately I still need to find something

to remove that darned tape on the outside edges.

What's better than a happy accident?  A happy decorating accident that costs you nothing!

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I'm linking up here this week!



Turtles for the Tails

A couple of months ago I entered a giveaway on Making Lemonade for any item of your choice from Chesapeake Ribbons.  Margie from Chesapeake Ribbons makes belts, headbands, dog collars, key fobs, and more.

And I won!   

I really liked her turtle belt/key fob pattern 

and I was hoping she could make a dog collar with it.

Chesapeake Ribbons

The ribbon has blue, green & pink in it, and since my dogs are such girlie-girls I asked if she could make it with pink webbing behind.  Of course she could!  I also ordered an extra one because Lord knows the pouty faces there would be if only one dog got a new collar. 

In less than two weeks the collars arrived. 

And look how cute they are! 

The dogs were pretty excited. 

Chloe's tail just about flew off, she was wagging so hard. 

To her, collar=I'm going outside!

Sasha just wanted to know what was in the package. 

Tom laughs because I'm always buying new collars for the dogs - long before they wear out - but he had to admit that these were pretty fantastic. 

I like the break-away buckle and how sturdy the construction is.

Not to mention that adorable turtle.

(You've probably noticed that turtles are kind of my thing.)

We had a fashion show right away. 

It was an effort getting Sasha to stay still, not to mention

get her face and the collar in the same shot. 

  

Chloe was our usual perfect (yet bored ) model,

"Hurry up and take the picture, I'm falling asleeee....oh is that a cookie?"

  

And now we have our official Turtles and Tails mascots.

(Get it? Turtles AND Tails.) 

Well, if you want to get technical one mascot is more

a Turtle and Stub, but we won't tell her that.

Thank you so much to Margie at Chesapeake Ribbons for the awesome design and for the excellent customer service, and thank you to Carrie for holding the giveaway and connecting me with Margie. 

I'm thinking maybe matching leashes next. 

Whatta ya say, Margie?

Valentine's-Themed Chocolate Covered Pretzels

I've got to admit that I've never been a big celebrator of Valentine's Day.  I'm all for chocolate, but not the cards and flowers and hearts and pink and whatnot.  I'm just not that girlie I guess.  Case in point: What I want for Valentine's Day? Private obedience training for the little dog. That's how you win my heart.

However, it's a co-worker's birthday this week (Happy Birthday Sue!) and I thought I'd make her a treat that ties in with Valentine's Day.

You only need three ingredients for this - pretzel rods, candy melts, and nonpareils (or any other topping that suits you).  I bought the melts and nonpareils at the bulk store for just a couple of dollars, and the pretzels were about 3 dollars for an entire bag.

You'll start be melting the chocolate in a double-boiler to keep it from burning.  The chocolate stays soft for quite a while so you have lots of time to work with it. I had read about melting it in the microwave but all I ended up with was half blackened, half melted pink discs and a house that smelled like burnt marshmallows. 

Dip a rod into the melted chocolate - about halfway up - and spin it around to get an even coating.  You then should wait a minute or two to let it cool a bit before adding the nonpareils.  You can roll it directly into the nonpareils if you want a heavy coating, but I just held the rod over the bowl and sprinkled them by hand until I got the coverage I was looking for.

Here is my tester.  Looking good!

You will then need to set them down somewhere to cool.  Our solution (thank you Tom) was to hang them over the edge of a dinner plate with a coffee mug sitting on the undipped end to weigh it down.

I ran out of nonpareils with two rods left to go so I improvised with crushed honey-roasted peanuts.  Not as pretty but they still taste good.  I also tried rice krispies (they looked like mini clubs) and chocolate chips (too heavy, wouldn't stick). 

Here are my finished pretzels.  Pretty, hunh?  And the mix of sweet and salty is always a winner.

 

  

I bought some long cellophane gift bags and put two pretzels in each, tied up with some pink and white ribbon. 

  

I'm loving these so much!  Considering how easy they are to make I think I might whip some up the next time I need to bring a snack or a dessert to a get-together.

Did you try out any new Valentine's recipes this weekend?  Try to burn the microwave up melting chocolate?  Was that just me?

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Linking up here this week!