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Monday, June 29, 2009

Simple Table Treasure


A recent treasure hunting trip to our local Goodwill Thrift Store, produced an exciting find. This little pedestaled, wooden table had so much potential. And right in my price range. Home with me, it came!










The glass top was easily removed to reveal the wood. I sanded the whole table with fine sandpaper, to prepare it for painting. A coat of spray primer paint in black, followed. Then several thin coats of spray paint in black eggshell finish completed the job.





Once dry, I brought the table in, cleaned the glass top, and
made a display on the table top. I had purchased a 12x12 scrapbook paper of a vintage map to use as the mat. Then layered on vintage looking travel mementoes including a ticket stub, train schedule, trunk card, postcard, and even a pressed flower from our recent trip to California. Carefully settling the glass top back in place, I stepped back to view my project vision come true! This nice conversation piece table now resides in our family room, and makes me smile everytime I see it. I will be able to easily remove the glass and change out the display at any time, too.











Goodwill is a great place to find 'junk' that is just waiting to be made over into a Simple Treasure. Enjoy hunting and creating!






Simply Special Chocolate Cake







Who doesn't LOVE chocolate cake? And cheesecake too?! Surprise Cake has a bit of both! So easy to make...here's how: Stir up a chocolate cake from any mix, following the package directions.



In a separate bowl, cream together: 8 oz. cream cheese, softened (I used low fat,) 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 egg.



Fill greased cake pans with 2/3 of the cake batter (I used 2 round ones to make 2 one layer cakes...a nice way to have one cake for home, and one to share with a friend). Spoon the cream cheese mixture over the batter in a random way, for a pretty pattern. Then spoon the remainder of the cake batter over the cheese filling. Bake at 350 til the top springs back when poked and a toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean.



After a bit of cooling and removing from cake pan onto a pretty plate, serve slightly warm with a shake of powdered sugar over the cake and plate. Also great with a dollop of whipped cream. Must refrigerate remaining cake.



This cake was so easy, makes a pretty presentation, and is so so good. Very moist and not sickeningly sweet. Simply delicious! Enjoy.