Burning Down the House

We had a scary moment this morning. No, our house did not burn down, but...

We were having school upstairs this morning and Bobbi asked if she could bake her clay creations in the toaster oven. I don't know what I was thinking, but I said sure. She did everything just right. She set the timer to what she usually sets it to, but then she left it and no one thought about it again. The timer did its thing and the oven went off. However, later (much later), I passed near the stairs and smelled something. It was not a wood burning smell, but more of an electrical smoke smell. I followed my nose. I felt just like our cat. Upon arriving downstairs and in the kitchen I knew for sure something was burning, but I couldn't quite figure out what it was. I sniffed my way around. The whole house had smoke in it by now. For a split second I thought I might have to call 911. Maybe the attic was on fire and the smoke was seeping into the house. I thought about running back to the attic when I turned to see the toaster oven billowing smoke from the front. I knew what it was. The creations were crispy critters. I saw them before they went in. They were quite lovely. One was a Christmas tree. Another was a candy cane. There was a bell and a small football also. The others I can't remember. I opened every door we have to help the smoke exit. It was very smokey. I turned on fans. Then I put the creations on the porch. I think it is safe to say they won't be bothered. It has been a few hours since the incident and the house still smells of this horrible smoke. Lysol doesn't even cut it. I'll leave the windows open and see if that helps. I don't know what went wrong. Maybe the clay was too thin to be cooked for that long. I don't know. We will watch the creations cook from now on.