DIY

Do It Yourself Projects

More Fabric Boxes

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A few weeks ago I posted about the bunnies I was obsessed with and couldn’t stop making.  I ended up with 8 wabbits.  There would have been more but I needed to get Easter gifts to North Dakota.  And sometimes it takes a few extra days to get to the great white tundra.  And I needed to make something for 13 year-old Riley.  A bunny would not work for him.

Riley’s a Chicago Bears fan and I’ve already made him a name pillow in their colors plus Bears valances for his bedroom, so I made him a storage box with that theme.  And I put his name on it.  I used the sew4home.com tutorial for fabric boxes that I had used for my office but left off the rick rack and handles.  Didn’t want it to look girly!

Box for Riley

Name
The sewing machine has a program for letters.

Then I crammed everything in a little USPS box and sent them off to North Dakota!

Bunnies in a box
Bye-bye Bunnies!

Alan and Lauri said that Piper loved the bunnies and named them Chocolate and Strawberry.

That left the other five grandkids.

The box for Riley turned out pretty good, so I made one for Justin–he’s a Gator’s Fan.

Box for Justin

Next I made a fabric box for Courtney following the same instructions from back at Christmas when I made one for Piper .  I still have name fabric for Addison and Kendall, just waiting for a reason to put them together.  Both boxes are super easy to make.  I whipped both of these up in one afternoon.

Box for Courtney

Bunnies and boxes
Boxes and bunnies ready for a trip to Tampa

Addison really liked her bunnies. 

Addy's bunnies

Both Courtney and Justin were thrilled with their fabric boxes.  Justin put a bunch of yu-gi-oh cards in his and headed out the door.  Busy guy. 

Courtney

Bunnies in a box
And she found something to store!

We also celebrated Kendall’s 6th birthday on Easter.  She got a Pottery Barn doll house and all the accessories.  I think her favorite gift though was a pair of glasses from her Great Grandma Shirley.  You just never know!

Kendall

kathryn
Looks like Kathryn liked them, too.
Carrottop
Poor Carrottop discarded with the rest of the gifts!

 

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Office Cup Cake

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Cup…Cake

Mug Cake Finale

Mug cakes are not new things. However, over the years, many have lost the simplicity of being able to make a cake in a mug at the office. Too many ingredients, and some are even a packaged deal (yuck!). I’ll use the excuse for making a chocolate treat that it’ll help by being even a little healthy, and keep you from strangling your supervisor. When I worked in an office I would’ve died for one of these at 3:00 in the afternoon! Every office I’ve ever worked at has been like an internment in a walk-in cooler! Fresh-hot-chocolate cake – YES !!! These days, there are as many recipes for these as there are stars in the sky, but one’s too complicated, one’s not sweet enough, one’s got an oily taste,…after a few tries, I thought about two things ; what’s my favorite chocolate cake, and what’s in an office fridge. First answer : Mayonnaise Cake. As a child my Mom would make this uber moist chocolate cake for my birthday every year. The secret? Mayo…it has all the eggs, oil, and salt, vinegar and other binders all in one package. Second question: What’s in the average office fridge? Coffee cream, milk, mayo, mustard, a bowl of misc condiment packets, some butter substitute crap, week old fried rice, hockey-puck bagels, and whatever the office Vegan brought in for lunch (no one would dare touch). Reminiscent of a bachelor pad fridge,…if he was schizophrenic. No, there are NEVER leftover donuts…EVER. 
OK, now let’s look over those mug-cake recipes of the flops…yes, I can rebuild it – make it better – 

Office Cup Cake

Note: Feel free to make up the dry ingredients at home and toss in a tiny Zip-Loc, with the instructions and list of wet additions written on the label.

Step 1:

1/4 Cup Flour
2 Tbl Cocoa Powder, unsweetened dutch process 
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
2-1/2 Tbl Sugar (if you like it ‘sweet’ make it 3 full Tbl Sugar)
1 Tbl Mayo (you can use Vegenaise) – That’s about the same amount in one of those cafeteria squeeze packs. Convenient, no?
1/4 Cup Milk (I think you could probably use some slightly watered down coffee cream too – no fake stuff though)
Get the dry into your coffee mug and mix. 

Mug Cake Step 1
Step 2:

Add in the wet and mix until it’s like cake batter.

Mug Cake Step 2
Step 3:

Pop it in the microwave for 1:15 or 1:30 depending on your oven. Keep an eye on it the first time. It should raise up, but look a bit undone on the top – that’s ok. That cup’s nuclear! It’ll continue to cook. Make sure you’ve got something to set it on, lest you melt your mouse pad! 
Your 3:00 slup is over !! How long did it all take? Well, less time than the guy 3 cubicles down takes for a smoke-break! 

Mug Cake Step 3
Now, if you really want to be the office darling, break out that jar of Nutella that’s hiding in your desk drawer – I know it’s there! Before you nuke your mug, put a dollop of Nutella in the middle of the batter. You don’t have to mash it, it’ll be there warm and yummy, melty goodness, with the cooked cake all around it. Like a Lava Cake only with N U T E L L A !!!!
Yes, I did just make your day better – you’re welcome. Now get back to work!

Mug Cake Finale
Michelle Beal
http://badzoot.com