Let’s talk about the drowned card first.

Sad little card, right? It started out as a cute card for one set of kids to give Mike, but it ended up in the pool. I’m thinking it got set down while pictures were being taken of an adorable little girl, and the summer breeze blew it into the water. And it is a water card, after all.

Stephee tried to dry it out, but when she was heating the inside, some stray ink from the grid paper on my stamping table transferred to the front of the card. It’s actually kind of a cool look, and I’m going to see if I can salvage it. But here’s the “redone” version –

I used Teeny Tiny Wishes and Wetlands. I wanted to use new In Colors, so I stamped in Delightful Dijon and Tip Top Taupe. The middle layer is Bermuda Bay, embossed with the Zig Zag embossing folder.

For the background, I scribbled on a clear block with Bermuda Bay, Marina Mist and Tip Top Taupe Stampin’ Write Markers, then spritzed with water and stamped on Whisper White card stock. I wanted to speed up the drying process (Food Network Star was coming on), so I heated it a little, which caused it to warp. I know I could have turned it over and heated more to flatten it, but I really wanted to see who got thrown off this week. I’ll add a few more dimensionals and it will be fine. (This poor card is doomed.)

And now for the scratch vs. box cake mix. (This has nothing to do with stamping, and there aren’t any more projects, so you can run now while you still can!)

Many, many years ago, when I was young, one of Mom’s friends gave her the recipe for a Wacky Cake. It’s so easy, basically fool-proof, and there is very little mess. You mix, bake and serve the cake from the same pan. I was 10, I think, when Mom got the recipe, and it was my “go to” cake whenever I wanted to bake something. Instead of baking powder, it used baking soda and vinegar to rise, so it was fun to watch it blow up as you mixed.

Lately, I’ve seen the “Wacky Cake” (also called “Crazy Cake”) and variations all over Facebook. This recipe doesn’t have eggs or milk, so it’s good for people with allergies, and it’s vegan. I think my mom was the first to alter the recipe. She took out the chocolate and added cinnamon, nutmeg, (maybe…Dad doesn’t like nutmeg, so maybe she used something else), and maybe allspice. It turned into the best spice cake ever. I had the recipe on a page on my blog when I used another host, but it seems to be gone.  Sad. I’ll try to find it and repost.

I had a party last Monday, and since I already had two chocolate items, I decided to make a Lemon Wacky Cake. The chocolate cake is great without any icing, but lemon? I needed a lemon icing. The one I found was a no cook icing – just mix together butter (I used a fake, dairy free, vegan butter, aka “margarine.” Apologies to those who can’t have soy.), confectioner’s sugar, and lemon juice and zest. I decided to make cupcakes instead of a cake, and everyone who ate them thought they were great.

As usual, though, I had a lot of icing left, so I made another Lemon Wacky Cake for dinner Sunday to use it up. Mom was bringing her yummy strawberry pies, so I thought lemon would be a nice companion. And, again, everyone said it was good – although Mom’s pies disappeared and I still have cake left.

Here’s the thing. I guess I’ve been eating too many box-mix cakes, because the cake with only “ingredients from the kitchen” tastes “off” to me. I’m missing the chemicals and “added ingredients,” I suppose. But, of course, it’s much healthier – at least, as healthy as a cake can be! My grandmother made the absolute best boxed cakes, by the way. She added an extra egg, 1/4 cup of oil, and used milk instead of water. This was back before Duncan Hines changed their directions to add oil and the extra egg. My grandmother could have made a lot of money if she had shared her secret with Duncan.

I guess the moral of the story is – one of these days, I might know as much as my mom and my grandmothers. I doubt it, but maybe…

Thanks for stopping by Blabbering Stamping with Buffy. Have a wonderful day!