I Mustache You if You'd Like Some Cake

My son loves mustaches. I have absolutely no idea why, but he does and now everywhere I go, I seem to spot them. I asked him if he wanted a truck cake or a mustache cake for his third birthday and he said a mustache cake. He's quite funny for a toddler. Anyhow, I saw this one on Pinterest and decided to make it. It was super easy.

I only used one 8"round cake pan and then put the rest of the batter in mini loaf pans. No muffin pan at the moment, otherwise I would have done cupcakes. I was on a time crunch and screech...made a box cake. I did however make homemade chocolate buttercream icing, which everyone thought was delicious. I thought some individual mustaches on the mini loaves would be cute. I added a little too much cream to the chocolate chips, but they didn't turn out too bad. I meant to leave some buttercream plain, because I thought the chocolate would show up much better on white icing, but I forgot. O well. Next time. 

Since I'm a bit anal, I used a template to cut out the mustache, so it would be even. Thank god I did, because my first template was lopsided. I traced the cake pan, then folded the circle in half and in half again so the mustache would be even. Although maybe I should have centered it on the tray. My son didn't seem to care and no one but me noticed. 

How to Make an Old Sweater Look New Again

I bought a sweater last year and within a few washes it looked like it was 10 years old. I still wear it, but lately I've been thinking that I see nicer stuff at Goodwill. At least that was the case until I was introduced to the sweater shaver. I did one side and you can see the huge difference it made. I've been doing all my sweaters, wool socks, the lining in my jacket. Maybe slightly obsessed, but it just works so darn good.

DIY Cork Letter

I made this cork letter a while ago and it was so easy. I only needed three things: cardboard, a hot glue gun and of course corks. Technically four, I used a pencil. I traced the letter on the cardboard, cut it out - ok, five things, I used scissors, and started gluing. Okay, okay, I lined the corks up to make sure it was going to look alright. That's it. It was so simple. I gave this to my friend for Christmas with some DIY chalk wine glasses and she loved it. Sorry for the crappy photo. This is a during.

Oven Dried Tomatoes

I made this a while back and just haven't posted about them yet. Not only did the house smell great, but they were awesome. I used a few pints of grape tomatoes that I got on sale. I've done this with grape and cherry and they both turn out great. You cut the tomatoes in half and put face up on a cookie sheet. I added fresh garlic, basil, salt, pepper, and oregano. I poured olive oil on top and baked at 250 degrees, for about 2 - 2 1/2 hours. You can add them to your favorite pasta dish or put them in the blender and they become the base for pizza. The pizza sauce is soooo good. (I'll post my homemade pizza recipe later.) My two year old son is "helping" me type this. Sorry for any errors.

Christmas Tree Photo

I saw a tip on how to take a good photo of your Christmas tree on Pinterest (I'm addicted.) and I think it turned out pretty good.

Coffee Bar

I saw this at Gilly's in Virginia Beach. How cool. The drawer pulls are spoons.

Super Easy Meatless Fajitas

Easy veggie fajitas with homemade guacamole and homemade salsa. I grilled some onions and peppers and added some cumin and chili pepper. For the guacamole I just added avocado, onions, lime juice, cilantro, and salt. For the salsa I used fresh tomatoes, onions, red bell pepper and cilantro. No hot stuff for me, I've got a wimpy palette. I made limeade with lime juice, lemon juice, water and a pinch of stevia and served it over ice. More on drinks later. Enjoy!