Advent Putterings.

Crafting, baking, crafting, baking, crafting.  That's how I spend my time these days.  That being said, let me also say that there have been many successes...as well as many failures.  My two most recent projects were: 

1. Making Peppermint Bark

2. Re-upholstering two chairs I found at Salvation Army

Can you guess which one of these was a failure?  

WRONG. 

It was the Peppermint Bark.  

(beautiful beginnings...) 

 I've made Peppermint Bark thousands of times.  It's easy.  All it is is melting chocolate and then putting it on wax paper with crushed candy canes.  How can you mess that up?  That's what I thought.  I mean, I'd just re-upholstered a chair.  Forgive me if I thought I was invincible.  Turns out, it's very difficult to make Peppermint Bark without a double-boiler.  Steeped in hubris, I thought "I'll just pull the old melt-the-chocolate-in-a-bowl-in-a-pot-of-water trick!"  Easy.  Two hardened pounds of chocolate and six burned fingers later, I was mad Googling how to fix my mess-up.  (Apparently adding 1tsp. of warm water and then mixing ferociously softens the chocolate.  It worked...somewhat.  I think my right bicep has grown in size after all the mixing.)   The chocolate was still too thick after about thirty minutes of stirring, but I slopped it on the baking sheets (Some jerk posted online also that if you don't have wax paper that non-stick baking pans will work fine.  This is a lie.) and covered the mess with the damn candy canes.  

Granted, it doesn't taste awful even if it looks like a car crash.  It's just too thick and an all around disappointing experience.  (Luckily, Alex loves it, and because it's now useless as Christmas presents, I'm just letting him eat it all.  Thanks, best husband ever.)  

But as for my re-upholstering, I am very pleased with how it is turning out for my very first effort!  (Thanks, Mom Burch, for the coolest new fabric!)  Here's a sneak peek: 

B.C. 

A.D.