Single Serving Cake

This could either be a good thing or a bad thing depending on who you are. The ability to make a single serving cake does prevent you from eating too much of an entire cake, but it could also mean dessert every night. Your choice :)

This can also be adapted to please anyone and everyone. Hubs loves a good yellow cake with no frosting, which is perfect because I love double frosting! Tonight I made him plain yellow, but I threw some chocolate chips in mine. You could add fruit, frosting, a different flavor cake mix, powdered sugar, caramel sauce.... you get my drift?

Here's all you need per cake:
1/2 cup cake mix
1/3 cup water
1 tsp vegetable oil
Any additional toppings, frostings, fruit, etc.

Mix all of your ingredients into a microwavable bowl and pop it in the microwave for 90 seconds. Only cook one cake at a time. Let it sit for a minute or two afterwards. You might need to microwave it for an additional 10-15 seconds depending on what you included. The addition of chocolate chips caused my cake to need 10 more seconds.

Let it cool for a minute and then dig in!

Oh, what is that?? IT'S A FOOD PHOTO THAT ISN'T EMBARRASSING!! YAY FOR A NEW CAMERA!!

Etched Glass House Warming Gift

My good friend, Amanda, moved into the most stunning townhouse ever. No really. Ever. She’s fun, trendy, fashionable, and an out-going person. We both share a love for wine and pasta, so my idea for a house warming gift was pretty easy to come up with. I had never used a glass etching product, but I saw the idea here. This project would be an absolute breeze for anyone who owns a Cricut machine, which I don’t. Because of this lack in crafty machinery, I opted to make my own template with an exacto knife and contact paper. You can also buy pre-made templates used for these type projects, but I’m too picky and they’re kind of a rip-off. When you etch glass, it’s forever. It won’t wash off, fade, or allow for corrections of woopsies. It will also eat your skin off, so please be careful. I won’t say use gloves and safety goggles while doing this project, because I didn’t, but you should really be careful. This project is NOT for the munchkins.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Something you want to etch - I picked up this awesomely huge and beautiful hurricane thing from Marshalls. It was a great deal, and it’s very sturdy. I dropped it during this process, and it didn’t break. It was also very, very thick and could probably withstand being dropped, but I wouldn’t know about that. 
• Contact Paper/Vinyl and your printed design or pre-made template
• Tiny and very sharp exacto knife
• Etching product – I used Armour Etch from Michaels. It’s sold in small bottles, but I was told they carry larger bottles in the back. Didn’t want to ask why. 
• Small foam paint brush

Let’s get to work!
• Print out your design onto a sheet of paper. I decided on a block font that I blew up to a size appropriate for my hurricane. I’d recommend a block font to you as well. Cutting through the contact paper is not easy, so a script font would be a nightmare to deal with.
• Cut a piece of contact paper from the roll that is a good bit larger than your letter template. You’ll only be creating a negative space to be filled with the etching product, so you want to give yourself a plenty of room to apply the product. Like this:

• Tape your letter to your contact paper so that you can trace around it with your exacto knife. The process is a pain, especially with letters that have multiple pieces, like the inside of the “B”. Because I’m so type A, I ended up cutting the inside pieces of the “B” separately so that they would match exactly. Once your letter is cut, remove the inside of the letter. You will be left with a template like the one above.
• Remove the back to the contact paper and place your stencil on the item you’ll etch. Make sure that the edges that will come in contact with the etching product are sealed well (no air bubbles, debris underneath, etc). Those can lead to the woopsies I mentioned before. A credit card can come in handy when applying vinyl or contact paper.
• Spread the etching product onto your template in the desired areas with the foam brush. Like this:

• It’s a pretty thick product, but it can still run a little. You’ll want to prop your item on either side if you’re using a round object like this. Make sure to really put this stuff on thick and as evenly as possible.
• Now, this next part will depend on what you’re etching. This was super thick, probably 1/4 of an inch or so. The etching product says to leave it on for 45 seconds and then rinse with water. I did that, and nothing happened. AT ALL. So I upped the next round to 15 minutes. It worked slightly, but it definitely wasn’t pronounced enough. So then I left it on for 45 minutes. I was GOING to win this battle. That finally worked. So it stayed on about an hour total. If you’re using a thin wine glass, it won’t take that long. If you’re using Pyrex, it will take around the same time.
• Be gentle when washing off the product. If you decide more etching paste time is needed, you’ll want to make sure that the integrity of your stencil edges is maintained. If you do decide to go another round, make sure to dry the surface really well and push your edges back down.
• Then, ta-dahh! The oatmeal has nothing to do with this project other than to give you perspective as to how big this container was.
  

• I then filled the hurricane with lots of goodies from Trader Joes. I found the dish cloths at Marshalls as well and just wrapped the wine bottle up in them. I tied it off with some twine stuff, and that’s all she wrote!
Feel free to post any questions you have about the project.

Welcome!!

I have decided to convert my previous blog, Yummy Noms, to a more all encompassing blog. I find myself doing more in my basement these days than in my kitchen. Thanks to countless inspiring blogs and Pinterest, I’ve found a new hobby to love crafting and rehabing furniture. Like the title says, these are champagne designs on a beer budget. I hope you enjoy!

Nicole