Pot holder

I made this pot holder with just scraps of fabric I had. To get this bird template, just google bird template and like 10 bird templates will come up. There are many other cute ones, I just like this one.

I lined the pocket part so that it would be soft to put your hand inside it (and cute of course!)

So, you might have noticed one of the things on my to do list was tile the back splash in my kitchen. I finally got around to doing it last week and here are my results.

This is the before picture.

To ensure the tiles will be evenly spaced I recommend using spacers. You can buy them for whatever size you need.

I used a tile adhesive to get the tiles placed where I wanted them before I applied the grout. Sorry, no pictures for the grouting process. I took some but they didn't turn out very good.

Here is the final picture! I am done. You might notice I still need to put one of the electrical outlets on. I have not done that because when I tried I blew a spark or something and now the light won't turn on. So, I have to get an electrician out to fix it. Which is a bummer because it turned my house project that was suppose to be only $91.00 (and it was) into a house project that cost $156.00

The bomb chocolate cake!

I just made this chocolate cake for the first time tonight.  It turned out incredible.  I think Enrique has eaten half of it already.  Poor guy, now he feels a little sick.  Not a good idea to eat half of a cake.  Anyway, I strongly suggest you give this recipe a try.  It was simple, easy and delicious!

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients                                                                                            

1 (18.25 ounce) package dark chocolate cake mix

1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix

1 (16 ounce) container sour cream

3 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup coffee flavored liqueur

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, eggs, oil and coffee liqueur. Beat until ingredients are well blended. Fold in chocolate chips. Batter will be thick. Spoon into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until cake springs back when lightly tapped. Cool 10 minutes in pan, then turn out and cool completely on wire rack.

Ganache topping:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

*Alterations:

I didn't have any coffee flavored liqueur so I thought I would just buy some.  Not so fast, it turns out that stuff costs like $20 a bottle.  So, I decided to improvise with something else.  I used 1/2 cup of chocolate milk instead with a tablespoon of vanilla.  I also used light sour cream.  It turned out just as good.