In Case of Emergency, Break Glass

I found this idea on pinterest, and I thought it was super funny & cute, so I decided to make it for my best friend for Christmas.

Materials needed: shadowbox frame made with glass (I bought this one), clear contact paper, Armour Etch cream, sponge brush, an X-ACTO knife, print out in font of your choice that reads "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY BREAK GLASS", & lots of M&Ms (I bought one of those large re-sealable bags and used about half).

I used an 8x8 frame which turned out to be a perfect size. Make sure when you print out the template you print it so it fits well on the frame size you choose. I would also recommend using a very simple font. The more swoopy-ness there is, the harder this project will be!

Step 1: Tape the template on one side of the glass so you can read the saying on the opposite side of the glass.

Step 2: Put contact paper on the side of the glass without the template. It is VERY important that in the step you make sure there are little to no air bubbles in the contact paper. If there are a few air bubbles around the outside (not near the lettering) it should be okay, but try to avoid at all costs.

Step 3: Once the contact paper is smoothed down, you can begin carving the letters out of it. Using an XACTO knife, trace the letters and remove the contact paper where the letter should be. On letters like "A" or "R" be careful to keep contact paper where the hole in the letter should be. Letters with cut outs are definitely the hardest!

Step 4: Once all the letters are cut out, set up a station where you will apply the etching cream. Etching cream is highly acidic and can cause serious skin irritation, so take necessary precautions during application. I used plastic gloves, but was careful enough to not need them. 

Step 5: Once your station is set up, use the sponge brush to dab on the etching cream. Do not smooth it, just blot it on. I applied just enough etching cream so that it was opaque. 

Step 6: Review the directions on the etching cream bottle to be sure about the time you should leave the etching cream on. I left mine on for about 15 minutes to be safe. I do not think you need to leave it on for that long, but it doesn't hurt to do so. After washing off the etching cream with warm water, you can peel off all the remaining contact paper. The last thing you need to do is reassemble the frame and fill it with M&Ms!

Voila! It's somewhat difficult to read the etched message in certain lighting, but I think overall this project was a success! The gift recipient loved it.

Happy Shadowbox Etching!

Thanksgiving cupcakes

Okay, I know this is a craft blog, but these were just too fun not to share. My boyfriend's aunt asked that we bring a dessert to Thanksgiving, so, inevitably, I began searching for an idea on Pinterest. I am really not much of a baker because I have never been a huge fan of sweets, so cupcakes with some simple decorations seemed like a perfect fun Thanksgiving treat.

I started with baking some boxed regular angel food cake cupcakes. I frosted them with chocolate, but I am sure these would turn out just as cute with another color frosting. 

For the last step, you need candy corn (I used 6 pieces per cupcake and made 2 dozen cupcakes) and something to use for the eyes. I used mini M&Ms (they only had the holiday colors when I was making these), but you could use something like these if you want them to look more real.

Happy Baking :)

P.S. Hi Molly.

Desserts in a Jar

What do you get for someone who has everything or enough money to buy whatever they want? This is the issue I was facing when I decided to create these desserts in a jar. They are a nice thoughtful, simple gift for someone who enjoys baking. I made these as a retirement gift for my boyfriend's aunt.

I found a bunch of different recipes on various websites and I picked the ones that sounded the yummiest. (Please excuse my dirty kitchen in the background of my photos!)

I ended up making the following 4 recipes:

• Cranberry Hootycreeks
• M&M Cookies
• Chocolate Chunk Cookies
• Sand Art Brownies

I used a funnel to get all of the sugar, flour, etc. in the jars. In order to make them look pretty, you have to strategically layer each ingredient. Alternate between ingredients with contrasting colors. All ingredients are meant to fit in regular sized mason jars. Basically the idea behind these is that all of the dry ingredients are included in the jar, they would just need the wet ingredients to complete the recipe. In most cases that is butter, eggs, milk, vanilla.....all things most people would already have around the house. The complete recipes should be attached to the jar. I included all of the tags I used for mine below. 

Ingredients (layered in this order!): 

1 1/8 cup sifted all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

I got this recipe & tags here.

Ingredients (layered in this order):

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup M&Ms

2 cups sifted flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp baking powder

I got this recipe & tags here.

Ingredients (in this order):

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chunks or chocolate chips (per your preference)
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped

I got the recipe here. For this one I made my own tag.

Ingredients (in this order):

2/3 tsp salt

1 1/8 cup sifted flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

2/3 cup brown sugar, packed

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

I got the recipe for this one here. I made this tag myself, also. 

I chose the same type of nut for all 3 recipes so that I didn't have to spend a ton of money on ingredients. Here is what each jar looked like before I did all the decorating. You can see all the layers, which really looks cool!

For the decorations, I used a lot of stuff I already had in my crafting collection. I did go to Hobby Lobby and buy 1/2 yard of white fabric to put over the tops of all the jars. Much more economic than buying a bunch of different fabric types. I also bought the yellow and white/red string from Hobby Lobby. The red/green/white/blue ribbon is actually from the Dollar Tree, along with the blue bow that I put on top of the Chocolate Chunk jar. I used card-stock and scrapbooking paper for all of the tags.

Since these ended up being pretty heavy, I used one of those cardboard half boxes that come in the bottom of large packs of soda from Costco. I cut it in half and folded up one of the sides so all the jars fit snug. 

The gift recipient loved the gift...she said the Cranberry Hootycreeks were her favorite. :)

Happy crafting!