{ Kade in the Kitchen: Buffalo Chicken Garbage Bread }

Many moons ago (well, perhaps not that many—just a few months ago, actually…but it feels like many) I happened across a recipe for something called Buffalo Chicken Garbage Bread. Because the name was so awful, I was intrigued. Little did I know, it’d fast become one of my favorite dishes!

It turns out it’s named that because you literally just dump a bunch of ingredients onto bread dough before rolling it up and baking it. In this case, the ingredients make a deliciously cheesy buffalo chicken bread. Now, I shall preface this by saying that I don’t really like buffalo wings—or any wings in general—because I don’t like chicken on the bone or with skin on it, nor do I like spicy sauces. So, this proved to be a great alternative for me because it didn’t require chicken on a bone, nor with skin, and I can control the level of sauce spiciness myself.

First, I’ll give you the basic recipe & instructions, but then I’ll give you some variations and a step-by-step tutorial. Without further adieu, here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts, chopped into cubes (the breasts need to be medium to large in size; you’ll want 2-4 cups, depending upon how chicken-laden you want the dish)

1 Tube of Refrigerated Pizza Dough (regular crust thickness; avoid using generic store brand, as it does make a difference here)

1/3 C Blue Cheese Dressing, plus extra for dipping (I prefer Marzetti’s Ultimate Blue Cheese Dressing that’s found in the produce area refrigerator)

1/2 C Wing Sauce, divided (I use extra mild, but get whatever spice level you want)

2 C Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

1 C Cheddar Cheese, grated

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Take the dough tube out of the fridge and leave it on a counter, as you’ll want it to come more to room temperature before working with it.

2) Cook the cubed chicken in a large skillet until completely done. Drain, if necessary.

3) When the chicken is completely cooked, add 1/4 C of the wing sauce to the skillet and coat the chicken with it thoroughly. Let cook for 1-2 minutes, long enough for the chicken to start to absorb the sauce a little.

4) While the chicken is cooking, lightly flour your work space. Then, open the refrigerated dough tube and unroll it over the floured area.

5) Using your hands, carefully stretch the dough to be a large rectangle. Having your dough less chilled helps with this. If you find that the dough immediately snaps back to its original shape, it’s too cold to work with. Allow it to warm slightly at room temperature, then try again. In stretching it, you don’t want the dough to be paper thin, but you don’t want it to be really thick either. One trick to helping stretch the dough is to lift a section of the dough along one edge and (using both hands) carefully wave the dough up and down. Repeat around all edges. Close any holes that form.

6) Once the dough is in a rectangle, use the back of a large spoon to spread the blue cheese dressing over the entire surface, right up to the outer edges. Leave about 1/2” of one long end of the dough uncoated so that when you roll the dough, the uncoated edge will adhere to the roll itself and seal it shut. (See picture below for more info.) If you are using a thicker dressing, it may require more than 1/3 C.

7) Pour the remaining 1/4 C of wing sauce over top of the blue cheese. Spread it around evenly as well, right up to the edges (except for your uncoated seal edge).

8) Spoon the coated cooked chicken evenly over top of the sauce. Again, take the chicken to the edges. If you don’t, you’ll have end pieces that are primarily just bread without filling.

9) Evenly sprinkle a layer of each of the cheeses over top of the chicken.

10) Starting at the long end that is coated up to the very edge, carefully roll the dough. Be sure to evenly roll the bread as you move along to the uncoated edge. Once you reach the uncoated edge, fold the edge over top and lightly press it to seal it. Also, fold the dough carefully over both ends of the loaf so that they’re covered.

11) Gently (and swiftly) lift the loaf onto a baking sheet. (Grease the baking sheet if it’s not a non-stick pan.) Re-shape the loaf as necessary. If any holes have torn during the movement, try to close them as best you can, but it’s fine if a couple of small ones exist. Not a lot of filling will escape from them during baking.

12) Place the pan into the pre-heated oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the top of the bread has started to brown. Let cool slightly before serving. Serve it with extra dressing on the side for dipping.

Variations:

-If you want more cheddar than mozzarella, just swap the amounts. Be warned that cheddar is a lot more oily, so the loaf ends up much more greasy. But it’s oh-so-delicious.

-Doc & I add about a cup or so of chopped onion to the chicken while it’s cooking. Depending upon your personal tastes, mushrooms or even crumbled bacon could be a tasty addition.

-Not a fan of blue cheese? Switch it out for ranch dressing instead. Or, make the loaf with blue cheese & serve it with ranch dressing for dipping. That’s a particularly tasty combo.

And now, the pictorial tutorial…

When I took these pictures, it was my second batch of Garbage Bread in as many days. No, we’re not THAT big of pigs; I just happened to make a loaf for the neighbors the night before. So, I had pre-cooked the chicken that we used in our own loaf at the same time I cooked the chicken for the neighbor’s loaf & forgot to take pictures while doing so. However, I’m sure you can picture a skillet of cubed chicken cooking, so we’ll just go with what we’ve got…

1) Lightly flour your work area. Make sure you do an area large enough to allow for the large dough rectangle. You do NOT want that sucker sticking to the counter, especially when you go to roll it.

 

2) Unroll the dough. If it tears, piece it together. And then slam it with the palm of your clenched fist to make sure it goes together again. It works. (What also might work is gently massaging it back together, but that’s not how I operate—plus, punching it also serves as an additional outlet for stress release. Dinner AND a centered chi—what’s not to love about that?!)

3) Shape the dough into a rectangle that’s not too thin.

4) Put the dressing onto the dough. I have found that it’s easier to spread the dressing if you do it before pouring on the wing sauce.

5) Use the back of the spoon to spread it around. Don’t try to use a knife. It’s too difficult. And it makes it too easy to cut into the dough accidentally, at which point it’s not so easy to pound it with your fist—after all, who wants to pummel their palm into blue cheese dressing? Not this guy.

6) Spread the dressing all over and right up to the very edge of three of the four sides. You will note that on the right side of the pictured dough there’s about a 1/2”-1” strip left uncovered in dressing. That’s the part that’s going to seal the loaf shut once you roll it up. (Assuming you’re rolling from left to right. Reverse as necessary.)

7) Pour the wing sauce on top of the dressing. It almost looks like a Picasso…almost.

8) Swirl the wing sauce all over, aside from your one edge for sealing.

9) Evenly sprinkle the cooked chicken (and any other toppings) over the wing sauce. Again, take it to the outer edges.

10) Sprinkle the two layers of cheese over that. In this particular batch, we used more cheddar and less mozzarella. (If it weren’t for the fact the base is uncooked dough, I could just go to town and devour the whole thing at this point. But I resist. Because I’m strong like that.)

11) Evenly roll the loaf onto itself, making sure you go in the direction where your uncoated dough edge will be able to seal the loaf. Also, seal the two ends. (I love this step! It means you’re ever-so-close to a plate of deliciousness!)

12) Draw upon every bit of inner strength and faith; say 10 Hail Mary’s; call on the heavens above, or Mother Nature, or Buddha, or Chuck Norris, or Jack Bauer, or whoever it is that can bring you the superhuman abilities required to successfully transfer the loaf from the counter onto the baking sheet. You have to do this in one quick movement, so have your pan right next to the loaf and facing the correct direction BEFORE picking up the loaf. Support the underneath side of the loaf as much as you can.

You may end up wearing dressing and wing sauce in this step. And that’s OK. Take one for the team. Just get that loaf moved over with as minimal damage as possible. (Repair any major holes, but don’t fret over the little ones. In this picture, you can see a couple of spots where the chicken pieces started to poke through the thin spots of the dough. It’s not the end of the world.) And, yes, I could’ve used a beautiful, shiny baking sheet here. But I didn’t. Because I don’t have any. OK, well, I do, but not any that I use. That’s why they’re still beautiful and shiny. My ol’ reliables are beat down and crazy looking. The others just sit there and look pretty.

 

13) And then put your beat-down, reliable pan with it’s unbaked lump of awesomeness into the oven and try not to hyperventilate while waiting for it to be baked. Now would be a good time to remove the dressing and wing sauce from your arms. Oh, you don’t have any on you? That’s fine. No need to judge me. I’m not judging you. (OK, I secretly am, but we’ll pretend like I’m not.)

14) Once it’s browned sufficiently, take it out of the oven. And behold it. Just take a moment to behold the beauty in front of you. It’s so glorious.

Also, you’ll note here that I somehow managed to take the before and after picture at almost the exact same distance and angle. That was not remotely intentional. Hoped for, yes, but not intentional. I suck at taking pictures—let alone consistent ones. So, this was just a nice little surprise in the process.

Now, trust me—I get it. You just want to inhale the whole loaf immediately. Please don’t. It will be VERY hot. Instead, give it a moment to rest. Use this time to set the table for your family. Or, if you’re making this whole thing for yourself, use this time to grab a fork, knife, and napkin. No need to dirty a plate. While you’re at it, don’t forget to grab the dressing to have on the side for dipping. I don’t know what it is about dipping sauces, but I love them. Doc makes fun of me, but if there’s an opportunity to have a dipping sauce (or, even better, a variety of delicious dipping sauce options), I’m all for it. This is one such opportunity.

One final tip—if you’re the one cutting slices for everyone, cut it such that you end up with the center section. It’s so amazingly gooey and wonderful, with less bread to get in the way of the good stuff. (I personally cut it in the middle, slice off a couple of pieces, and then push the ends back together. It helps keep it from cooling too quickly before you have a chance to go for seconds.)

This is supposed to serve 10. I don’t know who those 10 people are, but Doc said they must be miniature people with anorexia. This loaf serves exactly two grown men with a little bet leftover. Translated: family of four people who aren’t afraid to eat a healthy portion. It is good with salad on the side, as admittedly it is a really decadent dish.

If you make this and come up with any other variations or tips, please share them in the comments section below—I’m all for maximizing the amazingness of any food item!

{ Elevated Guest Experience Series: The Background }

I previously mentioned that I’d be sharing some posts in a series I’m titling our Elevated Guest Experience. Prior to really delving into it all, however, let me back up to even explain the background behind the title of the series. And there is significant history behind it, so bear with me while I explain every little detail…

For years, we have prided ourselves on making sure our guests feel well taken care of when they’re in our home. I worked very hard to try to think of everything and make each stay as pleasant as possible. Friends joke about us needing to add comment cards to complete the experience, or they’ll complain we didn’t turn down their bed. Aside from that, it’s a pretty complete five-star experience. Or so we thought…

This past summer, Doc & I headed out west to see friends and family. One of our first stops was in Denver, where we stayed with a friend of Doc’s & his lovely wife. We’ll call them Jason & Lynn because…well, those are their names. That’s why.

As mostly irrelevant (yet fun) background, Doc & Jason went to optometry school together in Florida and have remained close friends ever since. Jason married Lynn a few years ago. Shortly after their wedding, we met up with them in Miami. We fell in love with her as soon as we met her. She is absolutely delightful.

Whenever we stay in Miami, we’re fortunate to have a five-star suite at a hotel where one of Doc’s friends is a financial analyst (or something like that) and it is truly an experience I wish every single person could have at least once in their lifetime. While at the hotel, I try to take in as much as possible and aim to pick up on little tricks they do that make our stays more pleasant. For example, they know that I love cookies & milk, so there will be a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and a carafe of milk waiting for me upon arrival and each day thereafter. Doc likes fresh fruit, so there are plates of that. Jason loves mojitos, so there are make-your-own-mojito trays left in Jason & Lynn’s room when they join us. It’s just little touches like that which really make the stay memorable.

Side jaunt: especially memorable is the last stay in Miami, when Doc & Jason had a continuing education conference to attend. Lynn & I did not have such boredom to attend to, so we just relaxed, shopped, ate, and lived it up. (And, of course, we sent Doc & Jason text pics along the way. Not to rub it in or anything that we were having a great time while they were stuck in cold meeting rooms with cheap hotel food…)

My personal favorite of that particular trip was having breakfast in bed with Lynn. We got up and went down to my favorite little French café a couple of blocks from the hotel to get breakfast, stopped at Starbuck’s to get drinks, and then we piled back into mine & Doc’s huge bed to pig out on deliciousness while watching the boats go by below. (Our room had a large curved window that went around almost three full sides of the room, so we had a fantastic view. It was made better by having a plate of ricotta pancakes with berries in my lap.)

Anyway, back on track, last year Jason & Lynn came to the Glorious Christmas Party and we gave them what we thought was our five-star guest experience. But then we went to visit them this past July.

When we walked in the door to the guest room they were putting us in, it happened. And there was no hiding it. Doc later said that he’d never seen such a look upon my face…but that he’d also never seen someone out do me before either. Yes. That’s right. That oh-so-delightful Lynn became my arch nemesis in that very second. From that moment forward, it was game on. Well, after I pulled my deflated self back together that is…

Over the next few days that we were in Denver, I contemplated, I pondered, I may have even cried a little, but by day three, I had a plan & I could not wait to get back home to test out my ideas. But first, we had the rest of our trip to do. So, I used Amazon to start getting various elements shipped to the house so that I had a head start upon our return. I told Doc that I needed him to not question me, but to just support and love me as I embarked upon creating an elevated guest experience. (And thus, the title of this series.) He looked at me oddly, but agreed to just love and support, no matter how crazy I got. He knew how deeply affected I’d been by this, so he was wise enough to also know to just stand back and not get in my way while I tried to recover from the trauma.

You see, Lynn took guest treatment to a whole new level. Whereas we had provided all of the toiletries in our guest bathroom & each night I placed water bottles by each side of the bed, she streamlined the experience a bit more and also spread it into the bedroom itself. Instead of the towels stacked on the bathroom counter, for instance, she had a giant basket in the bedroom filled with bath towels, wash cloths, and—wait for it—snacks and drinks. That’s where she got me. She totally got me, in fact. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of that, but I hadn’t. So, I set out to outdo her and her Pinterest ingenuity. Curse you, Pinterest, and your great ideas! Curse you! (OK, not really, Pinterest. I take it back. I was just going for dramatic effect there, but I really do love you oh-so-much. Please don’t leave me out in the dark…pretty please. I promise I’ll do better.)

It took some doing, but I have finally gotten it all together and have tested it out a couple of times. While in beta mode, I have learned a few more things and now I’m ready to share them all with you. In the next blog post, I’ll be covering the ideas for the guest bedroom itself. I’ll go over some obvious and not-so-obvious ways you can really help elevate your guests’ experience while staying in your home—and then we’ll move on to the guest bathroom. Stay tuned…

{ Quick Tip: Sealing Envelopes without Licking }

Doc was so sweet and threw me a surprise birthday party last night! It was so fantastic and as if spending time with a bunch of friends and family wasn’t enough, I got some very generous gifts, too. So, I wrote my thank you notes and was just sealing the envelopes when I realized that my usual way of sealing envelopes may not be something everyone is aware of. Thus, I’m here to share it in hopes that it makes someone else’s life a little better.

I, like most people, truly hate licking envelopes. Lord only knows what floats around in the factories in which they’re manufactured and stored, let alone what is encountered during shipment. It’s not like they’re in air-tight containers. Anyway, my point is that I hate licking them. So, this is what I use to seal them instead:

It’s just a basic glue runner that I bought at Marshall’s. I bought a pack of four of them, but found that I loved them so much that I went back and bought several more packages. The Marshall’s nearest me seems to carry them on an ongoing basis, but I’m sure they originated at some of the craft stores—they’re probably in the scrapbooking section. That would be my guess. But, the great thing about them is that the width of the glue is approximately the same as the width of the envelope seal area. So, I just take the glue runner and go around the envelope’s lick line and then seal it. It holds the envelope shut tighter than it normally would be, plus you didn’t have to lick a thing! And they’re cheap. Does it get any better than that combo?!

I highly recommend seeing if you can find something similar before doing your Christmas cards in order to save yourself from contracting some horrible disease that requires tongue amputation. Not that I’m dramatic or anything…

{ Developing a Personal Brand }

If you’ve stumbled across this post in your search to develop a personal brand as part of furthering your career or job search, I apologize. This is not that kind of personal brand. Instead, we’re talking about developing a personal crafting brand. And I’m not talking about a logo here. Most people hear “brand” and assume that means “logo”. Incorrect. This is about consistency with the look, the feel—you know, the brand image—of what you share with friends & family. To have this make a little more sense, I shall first back up a step.

Doc and I have been together for what’s coming up on five years now. For about four of those years, we’ve had a brand. Through my marketing work and my own companies, it has become engrained in me that maintaining a consistent brand is key to solid brand recognition. At first, branding seemed like a pain to me. As part of a new branding kick-off with my FT job a few years ago, for example, we were given an 87-page book of branding guidelines. At times, I wondered if we were even allowed to breathe through our nostrils instead of our mouths while working on a branded piece, as it just seemed like a book of insane strictness. And, actually, it really was. It was overkill. But, what I took from it was that while branding can be taken to the extreme, it can also be a helpful simplification tool if done correctly. Having almost all of the decisions made in advance frees you up to focus upon the message of whatever project it is you’re working on. You know what fonts you’re going to use, what placement to work within, what colors can be included, etc., so that’s not a concern.

In that same spirit, about four years ago I combined that concept with the more simplified version of a style sheet (something heavily covered in a lot of my comm classes back in college…that’s right, college finally did pay off for me) and I used it to come up with an idea when it came to gift wrap.

What I found was that I was buying a lot of rolls of wrapping paper, different colors of tissue paper and ribbons, random gift bags, etc., and then I’d end up with a lot of leftover stuff that may or may not get used again at some point if a similar occasion came up for a person with a similar taste. So, I decided to break it down to a more simple plan. I had to slowly introduce the concept of a personal brand to Doc, who did not take too well to it at first and thought I was 100% insane. (It’s quite the opposite now; more on that in a second.)

I thought about how I wanted our friends to feel when getting a gift from us, about what style matches our personalities, and about what is universal for everything from birthdays to Christmas to housewarmings to career success celebrations. At roughly the same time, I was falling in love with kraft paper. And that’s when it hit me—the only gift wrap we need is kraft paper & from there, we can embellish it…within our brand guidelines, of course!  So, with that as the base, I set out to determine what else we could consistently use for all of the aforementioned types of events. It started with old fashioned striped twine in a variety of colors (think: old mercantile store style), then grew to include ribbons, silhouette stamps in white ink, and a few more fun designs here and there. It’s worked perfectly. In fact, it’s now to the point that when someone is opening gifts, they immediately know which one is from us, as there’s now that brand recognition, so to speak.

And it’s made my life a lot simpler in the process. I only have to store the one roll of wrapping paper.It’s fantastic! Plus, it’s also inexpensive—last time we needed to buy more, we just got a roll of it from Lowe’s Home Improvement. They offer it as a floor protector; little do they know, it works great to wrap gifts, too!

Oh, and as far as Doc is concerned—he absolutely loves the brand now! Just this past weekend, I had him along with me while I picked up some supplies at the craft store. I normally do not take him with me, as he ruins all the fun (i.e., “Do you really need that?”, “Don’t you already have ten of those?”, “Where are you going to store that?”, “Are you done yet?”), but on that particular day he was alongside me. I picked up a package of patterned gift bags that were a great price & a fantastic pattern. For gift bags, I now typically only buy solid-color kraft colored ones or white ones, then add decoration from there. So, when I picked the patterned ones up and had them in my hand, he said that I couldn’t get them because…and this made me so proud when he said it…they were not on-brand & that would not work for him.

It’s actually not the first time he’s had to keep me in check, but I’m very proud of the brand monster I’ve created. It’s fantastic!

So, as we head into this gift-giving season, think about using this as an opportunity to create your own personal brand. It may not be that you use it for all of your gifts—maybe it’s just something you come up with to use when wrapping crafts you make yourself. But, have some fun with it and create a look and feel that is totally you! You’ll be surprised at how much easier it makes life when it comes to wrapping—and at how much people enjoy seeing something that comes branded from you!

Here are several examples of ways in which we’ve used our brand:

{ Elevated Guest Experience Series: Refillable Toiletries }

At our home, probably much like your own, we already have a lot going on to get ready for the holidays! With guests coming (including my mom for 10 days—hooray!!!!), our annual Glorious Christmas Party to host, and a large house to decorate—including adding & making the decorations for what will be our 11th Christmas tree, woot woot!!—there’s just a lot happening. In fact, just a few minutes ago I was battling it out with our housekeeper over the schedule to get the oven cleaned, floors waxed, windows washed, etc. You know—all the extra crap you have to do to make it look like you’re actually on top of it the whole year, when in reality your oven is rarely clean, your floors don’t always shine, and your windows have plenty of spots. But, at Christmas, everything is…well, glorious!

Anyway, as part of all the preparations, I’ve decided to do a series of posts related to entertaining and hosting in general. This is the first in that series, which I’m calling the “Elevated Guest Experience”. I’ll be sharing very easy and (perhaps, most importantly) inexpensive ways for you to create a five-star experience for your own guests, regardless of if you have a dedicated guest space or if your guests just sleep on your couch. Either way, you can always provide guests with an elevated experience using just a little bit of extra effort!

Doc & I love to host and to entertain friends and family. It’s always so nice for them to have taken the time to come visit us. So, we work very hard to make sure that those staying with us feel like they’re being taken care of and don’t have to worry about a thing while they’re here. We try to think of everything for them—and then some. We’ve been very fortunate to stay in some luxurious hotels and I’ve tried to incorporate some of the things I’ve observed happening there into what our guests experience when they stay with us. It just makes for a much more fun experience and I know it’s what we ourselves appreciate when we stay with others, too. Here, I want to discuss the toiletry situation.

So, I have this thing about staying in other people’s homes: I hate using their half-used toiletries! It can be some of the nicest product you’d ever imagine, but I feel so weird squeezing shampoo out of the same bottle I know they themselves (or 100 other guests) have used. Don’t ask me why. It just is. My simple solution, of course, is just to travel with my own shampoo and body wash. But what about when guests stay with us? Do we just put out mini toiletries we’ve collected along the way? Short answer: no.

Having said that, I do travel quite a bit and have to admit I find myself taking the soaps and mini shampoo bottles from the hotel bathroom whenever I leave. I feel like a mini-toiletry hoarder. But, here’s the thing—I don’t like mini toiletries when it comes to the guest bath. Heck, I don’t typically even use the hotel ones myself (yes, I’m a product snob). So, why I take them after a hotel stay is beyond me. It’s like my little perk for paying for the room, I guess. At any rate, mini toiletries are not what I want to put out for guests. Especially because it’s a bit tacky to have a Hilton-branded shampoo bottle sitting in the shower at home. Guests know full well we aren’t a Hilton and there’s no big ol’ Hilton logo on the front of our house, so why would there be Hilton toiletries in the guest bathroom?!

To solve this, I keep full-sized toiletry bottles in the shower. My trick is that I have back-up bottles stored underneath the sink. After guests leave, I use the back-up bottles to refill the bottles in the shower so that each guest doesn’t feel as if they’re dealing with a half-used product. However, once I got my Cameo, one of the first things I knew I wanted to change was the full-sized bottles themselves. You see, the labels on the bottles didn’t match the bathroom. And that annoyed me greatly. (I know. I need help.) So, after a great deal of searching, I came across some frosted pump bottles (at Target, of all places!) that fit the bill perfectly.

I used my Cameo to cut vinyl labels for the bottles, making all of it coordinate nicely, regardless of what color the bathroom walls or towels may be. This is how they turned out:

Now, what’s funny here is that when I filled the bottles, I reversed the shampoo & conditioner and didn’t even realize it until my sister came to stay with us and pointed it out. So, that’s been changed since taking this picture.

It works beautifully, looks coordinated, and best of all—there’s no half-used bottle for guests to use. In fact, with these bottles, they can clearly see that they’re full. My neurotic self thinks that’s fantastic.

So, a couple of possibilities when you’re looking at your guests’ experience:

1) Forget the mini toiletries. Put full-sized bottles in the shower, refilled after each guest leaves using back-up bottles of the same product. Even if you just use the bottle the product came in instead of putting it in non-branded pump bottles, that alone will make a world of difference. And all for about $5. (I just buy Tresemme products at Target for the guest bath refills.) That’s it—$5!

And, if you have a bunch of mini toiletry bottles already and you don’t want them wasted, you could always use them as the refill for the bottle as it gets emptied until you’ve used them all up. Unless it’s a different color toiletry (i.e., pouring green shampoo into a bottle of white shampoo), nobody’s going to know the difference.

2) Spend a few more dollars to find or make labeled pump dispensers. (Remember to avoid anything with metal so that you don’t have to deal with rust.) My three bottles? Yeah, they cost a total of $12. Love that!

This is a very inexpensive & simple solution that will help your guests leave your home feeling like a million bucks!

{ Tutorial: Burlap Bubble Wreaths }

First off, I must make what I fear is going to be one of many apologies for the delay between entries. It has been an absolutely insane couple of weeks!

For those who don’t know me personally & who just happen across this blog, I currently work a FT job in marketing, have a wholesale business featuring dog apparel & accessories, and I have recently launched my Krafty Kade brand with retail space in a local boutique. Life can get a little hectic at times, so it seems that I’m always dropping the ball on something. (In this case, the blog.) Last week, I was out-of-town for team meetings for my FT job, which really threw off my production schedule for the launch of Krafty Kade’s retail space (which happened two days ago). Anything in-between is a blur. But, I’ve gotten in lots of crafting in order to have products in the retail space, so now I’m trying to get blog entries written that cover some of those really fun (and VERY doable!) projects. First up: the burlap bubble wreath. Something that looks like this…

Stay with me here. If you only knew just how easy this really is, you would not feel remotely intimidated. So, come with me through a detailed pictorial tutorial that will leave you with a fantastic wreath that looks so much more impressive than it ought to. And, the best part is that it requires zero unique tools. Just some readily available supplies. So, we’ll start with those…

Supplies

You’re going to need:

1) 6” wide burlap ribbon: about 10 yards if you’re doing a 12” wreath; 20 yards if you’re doing an 18-20” wreath. I think mine is a 20” wreath, based upon my rough measurements. What you see in the picture of the finished wreath at the top of this post is 15 yards of plain burlap, with five yards of chevron-printed burlap. The supplies picture above only includes two rolls of five yards. More on that little mistake later, but it ultimately led to the chevron-printed burlap coming into play.

Burlap ribbon is easily found at Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, etc. If you buy it at Hobby Lobby and aren’t in a rush to get this project done, wait until they put ribbon and notions on sale (usually about every-other-week) so you can get it all for 50% off. Or, pick up a roll at Michael’s & use the 40% off coupon, go back the next day & do the same, etc., until you’ve got as much as you need without paying full price. You can do this for cheap.

2) a wreath frame: select one in the size of your choosing; just remember to buy enough burlap ribbon to accommodate whatever size you decide upon. A 20” wreath is about as large as I’d go for a front door, if that gives you some perspective. Wreath frames are found in the Floral departments, typically, and are a couple of dollars. They’re green metal frames comprised of four circles (giving you three open rows) attached together using equally spaced crossbars.

3) any embellishments (bows, ornaments, flowers, pinecone clusters, etc.) you may want to include. I went with one large burlap flower that had sparkly stuff (technical term, of course) in the middle of it. It was on a pick and I ultimately just used the pick to attach it to the frame—no glue required!

Step 1:

Tie the burlap ribbon onto the wreath frame. Do it such that the tail of the knot points towards what will be the back of the wreath. That way, it won’t ever stick out amongst the forward-facing bubbles. In other words, the exact opposite of this:

I tied this, photographed it, and then realized I tied it on reverse from what I’d ultimately want. But, I forgot to re-photograph it the other way. (You’ll notice the curve of the wreath frame. You want the concaved side to be the back.)

Step 2:

Create your first bubble. What you’re doing is gathering small bunches of the burlap and pulling it through the wreath frame in alternate rows. You don’t have to do any tying or knotting for each bubble. As long as you alternate which row of the wreath frame you’re feeding each bubble through, they will stay just fine. I think the most logical and easiest method is to go in order from top to bottom row when putting in the bubbles. That way, it makes sure there’s even coverage. This is what I mean about gathering the burlap into a bubble (also note that in this picture the knot tail is going the correct direction)--

As you can see, it’s not hard. Just grab a bunch of the burlap. Some people choose to twist the base of the bubble gathering before feeding it through the wreath frame. I tried it both ways and didn’t see a difference. I don’t think one holds any tighter than the other, so do it whichever way you prefer.

Step 3:

Feed the gathered bubble through the frame.

Here, I fed it through the wreath frame’s middle row. It doesn’t really matter which row you start in—just remember that you’re alternating each bubble to be fed through different rows each time.

Important note: This is the point at which you need to decide how poufy you want your wreath to be. The bigger you make this first bubble (i.e., how much burlap you pull through), the puffier your overall wreath will be. Each bubble needs to be about the same height to maintain a uniform look, so decide now upon what that height will be. (I think this is about 3-4” high.) Also, keep in mind that the puffier the bubbles, the more burlap ribbon you’ll need.

Step 4:

Feed the next bubble through the wreath frame, using a different row. Here, I fed the second bubble through the outer row:

Another important note: To keep the back of the wreath mostly flat and to keep the bubbles in place best, make sure you are pulling each bubble tight after pulling it through. This will require you to hold onto the previously placed bubble (so that you don’t undo it) while you pull through the new bubble. The end of the ribbon that’s connected to the previous bubble is what you’ll pull tight so that the ribbon is right up against the underneath side of the wreath frame. Like this:

This will take a little bit of practice, but it’s not hard.

As you go along, it will ultimately look like this underneath:

Step 5:

Continue feeding bubbles through the wreath frame in the alternating rows. Be sure to keep pushing the bubbles together as you go along so that they’re in compactly. You will also want to fluff the bubbles a little as you go along so that you can make sure you’re sufficiently covering the wreath frame. You don’t want any of it showing from the front.  It should very quickly start to resemble something like this:

When you get to the end of a roll of the burlap ribbon, knot it onto the wreath frame, like this:

Again, make sure the tail of the knot is pointed towards the back of the wreath frame, like this:

Then, tie the new roll onto the wreath frame & continue just as you have been, ensuring that the bubbles cover up the knots you’ve just tied.

This is what mine looked like after two five-yard rolls:

And that’s when I started to panic. It was apparent that each roll did about one-fourth of the overall wreath, obviously meaning that I would need four rolls. The problem was that I bought three rolls of a darker burlap and five rolls of a lighter color of burlap. I was using the darker burlap to this point and knew it would look insane if I did one-fourth of it in a lighter burlap. I also knew that I was not about to do another two-hour round trip drive back to Hobby Lobby just to get one roll of darker burlap. And I didn’t want to undo all the work I’d just done. So, I kept pondering my options as I worked towards this point:

And then I knew it was decision time. As I slightly perspired over the stress of it all, it dawned on me that I had also bought a couple of rolls of chevron-print burlap ribbon, which I’d intended to use for another purpose. But, sacrifices must be made. And that’s how it ended up like this:

In the end, I decided I really liked having that chevron accent section. I also got positive feedback about it when I took it to the Krafty Kade retail space today. Several people commented on how much they liked the combination of the two, so it turned out to be a good mistake in the end.

Step 6:

Affix your embellishment(s). I don’t have a picture of how I did this, but it’s going to vary anyway depending upon what type of embellishment you go with. You may need to use florist’s wire to attach the object, or maybe hot glue will be best. For me, I just twisted the end of the flower pick through the rows of the wreath frame and it holds it in place perfectly. (Plus, I positioned it such that it covers the knot from the end of the chevron-print burlap and the knot from the beginning of the first roll of burlap.)

In case you’re wondering, the back of the wreath looks like this:

That’s it!  Oh, I guess I did miss one step—hang it wherever your heart desires! I think I’m going to try making some smaller ones next time and may do a trio of them on one wall, each positioned at different heights, hung by wide ribbon. That could look cool. Or, at least it does in my head anyway. Reality could be a whole other story.

I can’t give you a good estimate on how much time this takes to make, but if you’re not stopping every five seconds to take a million pictures in hopes one of them turns out good enough to be used in a blog post, I imagine it’s a pretty speedy process (i.e., 15-30 minutes, depending upon how distracted you get & the size of the wreath). The other great thing about this particular project is that it’s one you can easily walk away from and get back to later, if need be. You don’t need to do it all in one sitting.

At any rate, that is how to make a super-easy burlap bubble wreath. If you make one yourself, please come back and share pictures and any pointers you picked up along the way that I may have overlooked!

{ Crafting Equipment }

I once thought golf was an expensive hobby. And then I started crafting.

I am often asked how I make a given craft item. And, after explaining the process, the response is usually, “And why wouldn’t you have that kind of a machine?” I’ve just come to assume that everyone has crafting machinery tucked away in their homes, ready to crank out some fantastic something-or-other at any given second. But, apparently not.

I’m also asked quite often (in fact, twice today alone) by those looking to buy their own as to what particular machines I have. Hopefully this post will answer that and highlight the key machines I rely upon in my Krafty Kade endeavors.

How It All Started

Admittedly, I went about acquiring my crafting equipment a bit haphazardly. Sure, I read reviews and studied features, but I really didn’t know what I needed or wanted for the long-term. I just started buying what people seemed to mention most or that sounded the coolest. Fortunately for me, with one minor exception, I think I made some pretty good choices in the pieces I’ve acquired in the past nine months or so since beginning down the crafting road. You know…the road paved with fabric scraps and glitter.

The one minor exception would be that I wish I’d bought a sewing machine/embroidery machine combo, rather than the two as separate machines. I didn’t realize this was even an option until after buying both separately, but it would’ve saved a lot of money and space. You live and learn though, I reckon, and I do love both of the machines.

In fact, we’ll start off by discussing the sewing machine itself, as that was the first thing I bought.

The Sewing Machine

Don’t ask me why, but I really wanted a sewing machine. I can’t stitch a button onto a shirt for the life of me, but somehow having a sewing machine made sense. I may have had a bit too much time on my hands, as in 2012 I’d taken off the last two weeks of the year from my full-time job to just relax. And, when I have time on my hands, it’s usually spent coming up with something to fill said time. In this case, that something ended up being a Brother CS6000i sewing machine. It’s a very good sewing machine for beginners or the occasional hobbyist. I got mine for a great price off of Amazon.com.

I read the manual from cover-to-cover and then just started sewing. That led to a slight obsession with fabric. And by “slight”, I mean “major”. Oh, how I love me some fabric! Alas, I digress…

The Embroidery Machine

I love monograms. Reese Witherspoon summed it up perfectly when she said, “…My rule is that if it’s not moving, monogram it!” And what better way to monogram than to embroider? Sure, I had no clue what I was doing, but I got the embroidery machine anyway. And I’m very happy that I did. I’ve realllllly enjoyed that thing.

What’s crazy about that is that up until very recently, I wasn’t even very good at using it. But, I still had fun with it. Then I decided to spend a little money on a guide book that walked me through some basics I’d not previously read. So, that was enlightening--and it made all the difference in the world. I just made some monogrammed pillowcases a couple of days ago and the final product was just fantastic compared to previous items I’ve slapped monograms onto.

For me, the Brother PE-500 is the way to go when you’re starting out at embroidering. Sure, I’d love an embroidery hoop larger than 4” x 4”, but doing that can jump greatly in price reallllllly quickly.  So, I figure that a 4” x 4” will do most of what I would want (monogram linens, apparel, etc.) and if there’s an occasional item that I want to have a larger monogram, I’ll just take it to a local embroidery shop. For as rarely as that would be, the cost would be worth it rather than spending a whole lot more up front on a machine with larger capabilities. I was able to get a brand-new, sealed one off of e-bay for a better price than I found anywhere else. And believe me—I looked.

The Vinyl Cutting Machine

While I do think that vinyl wall quotes are overdone in many cases, the concept itself is one I like. And I like being able to do smaller vinyl labels on things around the house. Thus, it made perfect sense to get a vinyl cutter. In my case, I got a Silhouette Cameo. After some digging, I found a bundle deal on Amazon.com that was pretty good, all things considered.

What I wasn’t expecting is to love the Cameo as much as I do. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t buy it thinking I would hate it, but I just didn’t realize how much I’d absolutely adore it. We do occasionally have our spats, me and that machine, but for the most part we get along splendidly. If there is one machine I’d recommend to an aspiring crafter or one wanting to step up their game, it would be the Cameo. With it, I’ve cut fabric monograms; heat transfer vinyl designs for t-shirts & bags; vinyl cut-outs for water bottles and household items; and, it’s also done permanent vinyl cut-outs for artwork. Additionally, I have both a pen and a marker adapter for it, so it can sketch using almost any marker or gel pen I have around. It’s created some great greeting cards that way.

Oh, and what it does for gift wrap is amazing. I can easily cut monograms or some personally significant emblem for the gift recipient using contact paper (yes, as in shelf-liner!) and transfer that to a blank kraft paper bag or kraft wrapping paper. It looks so sharp and really makes for a personalized gift from beginning to end.

The Heat Press

I was having such a great time cutting heat transfer vinyl using my Cameo, but it wasn’t looking as professional as I wanted it to look once I ironed it onto an item. Solution: the PowerPress 15” x 15” Sublimation T-Shirt Heat Press. Again, Amazon.com saved the day with having the best deal. That heat press is pretty fantastic, I have to say.

Case in point: Last weekend, Doc (the name by which I shall call my partner of almost five years, as he didn’t sign up to be included in a blog & so I’d like him to be able to retain some anonymity) asked me to make him a couple of t-shirts. The t-shirts were each to have one of two car company logos, as he has an obsession with cars & currently owns a vehicle from each of these two car brands, which shall remain anonymous so that I don’t get sued for what I did next…

I went online and Googled the respective car company logos. I found a couple of good options, saved those to my computer, and then used my Cameo software to trace said logos. By trace, I mean that the software literally creates a trace line around whatever design you’re tracing. That trace line is then used as the cutting guide for the Cameo. In this case, it traced the logos and then I cut them out of heat transfer vinyl (HTV). I popped over to Michael’s and grabbed a couple of blank t-shirts (on sale for $3 each) before coming back home to take the cut logos and affix them using the heat press. If I’d had the t-shirts on-hand already, it would’ve gone even faster, but I still can’t complain—for less than $10 (counting materials and fuel), I produced two high-quality shirts that look like they each cost at least twice that much.

I’ve used the heat press to affix HTV to burlap, baby clothes, maternity tops, t-shirts, and even to socks. It is a glorious machine that takes about 10 minutes to heat up and then it’s game on!

The Inkjet Printer

There’s nothing particularly impressive about my inkjet printer, but I do want to make note that it’s actually a good idea to have one just for crafting. You can get inkjet printers for really cheap when you hit sales or look on Craigslist. As in, for $20-$40, you could have an inkjet printer for crafting. That way, if it gets messed up, it isn’t the end of the world and doesn’t impact your day-to-day printing needs. So, I keep my laserjet printer and one inkjet printer just for day-to-day and work stuff; my other inkjet is specifically for crafting use. It happens to print very nicely onto burlap, in particular. (I’ll cover that process in another post, as it’s really quite fun & fascinating!)

The one I use for crafting is the Brother MFC-J430W version. However, I would actually recommend going with a top-loading style instead. Plus, top-loading ones are typically cheaper. I got mine for a pretty good price (perhaps a little higher than what you’d normally want to pay for a crafting printer, but it wasn’t originally purchased for use as a crafting printer) at OfficeMax during a sale they were having.

The Lamination Machine

This is a very recent addition to the machine line-up, but it’s one I’m really having some fun with. I ended up getting a Scotch Thermal Laminator (TL901) from, you guessed it—Amazon.com. Even with the additional cost of the laminating sheets, it was still a fantastic deal considering that my local OfficeMax charges $1.99 for each laminated sheet. After just 15 or so sheets, the machine has paid for itself. Anything after that is just the cost of the laminating supplies. Not too shabby, I’d say!

The Etching Equipment

I’ve already covered the etching equipment extensively, particularly in { Glass Etching: Part 2 }, so I won’t go into it much here. But, the main piece of equipment that was purchased for this was the Air Eraser from Harbor Freight. It runs alongside the Porter-Cable Air Compressor that I bought Doc last year.

Miscellaneous Stuff

In addition to the electronic machines, I do have a manual Sizzix die cutter that I bought before finding out about the Cameo. Fortunately, I got an amazing deal on the Sizzix through buying a barely-used one through Craigslist. It came with the dies that I was really wanting at the time—the shipping tag-shaped ones so that I could create fun gift tags. I can now do that with the Cameo, but it’s still easier to just use the Sizzix if I’m in a rush and just need a standard-size gift tag.

Additionally, I have a couple of other free-standing die cutters for circles and such. Those are also really helpful, as some materials just should not (or cannot) go into the Cameo. For example, I was working today on making decoupage ornaments using sewing patterns. The pattern paper is way too thin to stick to the Cameo mat without tearing it once I’d try to pull it back off. However, I wanted the paper cut into 2.5” circles for easier layering. So, I pulled out my little hand-held 2.5” circle die cut and used that instead. Worked like a charm.

Planning to Buy?

Of course, almost none of this operates on its own directly out of the box. With each machine comes a significant investment in materials and software. That’s the unfortunate reality. In fact, I think I spent more on supplies for the embroidery machine, for example, than I did on the actual machine itself. It just adds up really quickly. So, if you’re looking to buy a particular machine, don’t forget to budget at least 50-75% of the machine’s cost for additional supplies and materials to get you started. You may have to spend more than that in the long run, but that’s a good place to start estimating budget at least. (Though with the heat press, for example, additional supplies are minimal. I bought a t-square to help with alignment, and a lamp to keep next to the heat press so that the surface area is illuminated when I’m trying to align everything under a 320-degree heat platen…)

To the person looking to buy crafting equipment, I’d suggest doing the exact opposite of what I did. I’d recommend stepping back for a minute to look at what it is you ultimately want to do, what you have time to do, what you have space to do, and what you can afford to do. For me, I wanted to do it all—and I pretty much can now. But, there’s certainly been a price to pay in terms of both monetary cost and storage space. So, definitely be sure to factor all of that in—and then enjoy whatever it is that you buy, as that’s the whole point!

{ Kade in the Kitchen: Brown Sugar-Glazed Brussels Sprouts w/Bacon & Onion }

I don’t know why Brussels sprouts get such a bad rap. I mean, come on. They’re delicious! And, before you turn your nose up and say that they’re awful, disgusting little things that should be avoided at all cost, I say to you: bacon.

That’s right. Delicious, crispy, greasy bacon. Added right on in to the little Brussels sprouts that you’ll hardly even notice because you’re eating bacon. And, let’s face it: all is right in the world when there’s bacon within reach.

This recipe has it all—sweet, sour, and savory. And it couldn’t be easier to make!

First, I need to give credit to two bloggers who posted recipes from which my recipe ultimately derived. Each had elements that were great, but they weren’t quite what I had on-hand. Brussels sprouts are currently out of season, so the recipe with fresh ones didn’t quite work—but I did have a couple of bags of frozen ones on-hand. Plus, I have to avoid cooking with garlic during the week, as Doc will only eat garlicky foods after he sees his last patient on Saturday so that it’s out of his system by Monday when he has to again be right in front of someone’s face. It’s very considerate of him, but also annoying at times when it comes to making dishes that would be great with a little garlic enhancement. Alas, I digress.

Meanwhile, the recipe with frozen ones called for maple extract and shallots. I had neither. But, I do love me a good Vidalia onion. And that I also had.

I followed the basic instructions each had (both very similar), but came up with a time-saver solution that will produce more consistent results when it comes to the bacon itself. (And, again, it’s all about the bacon, right?)  I doubled these recipes to feed eight as a side dish, but even that wasn’t enough. They were gone before I knew it. There was one left in the bowl and I was going to eat it myself, but one of the dinner guests walked over and said he’d take care of it—and he didn’t want to waste time finding a fork, so he just grabbed it with his fingers. That’s how good this is. So, if you’re a Brussels sprouts-loving people in your household, plan accordingly & consider doubling this doubled version.

Ingredients:

8 slices of bacon, regular cut

2 Tbsp. salted butter

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 medium-large Vidalia onion, chopped thinly

2-12 oz. bags of frozen Brussels sprouts (still frozen—not thawed)

4-6 Tbsp. light brown sugar (4 Tbsp. is enough; 6 Tbsp. is glorious)

2-3 Tbsp. water (use less water if you use less brown sugar)

salt & pepper to taste (but honestly, I didn’t even bother with either)

Steps:

1) Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil (makes for easier clean-up). Place bacon strips flat onto the baking sheet, then put into an unheated oven. Turn oven on to 400 degrees. (Yes, you’re heating the oven after the food is already in it. Trust me on this.) After 17-20 minutes from the time you put the baking sheet in the oven, you should have perfectly crisped bacon. Keep an eye on it to not overcook it. Once cooked, drain bacon on paper towels, then break (or chop) it into small pieces.

2) While the bacon is baking, melt butter and oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion. Cook the onion at least until it’s tender; longer if you want crispier onion. Once it’s to your liking, remove the onion from the skillet and put it in a bowl; cover the bowl to keep as much heat in as possible. (Be sure to leave as much oil/butter in the skillet as possible when removing the onion. If there’s hardly any left, melt 1 Tbsp. of butter in the skillet before moving on to the next step.)

3) To the same greased skillet, add the frozen Brussels sprouts. Cover with a lid and cook for about 10 minutes, or until desired tenderness has been achieved. You’ll want to stir them occasionally so they don’t burn. If your skillet is too large for a lid (like the cast iron skillet I used), or just doesn’t have a lid, use a baking sheet as the lid. It’s important to have that lid on in order to keep the moisture inside the pan so that the Brussels sprouts steam. If they start to get black or overcooked, turn down the heat. They will get slightly browned, but you don’t want burnt.

4) After the Brussels sprouts are cooked to your liking, sprinkle the brown sugar over the top of them and then sprinkle the water over that. It will start to sizzle and evaporate very quickly, so be sure to immediately stir the Brussels sprouts to get them coated. Once they’re coated and the water has evaporated, taste a sprout to see if it’s sweet enough for you. If not, repeat with a little more brown sugar and a little more water until the glaze is to your liking.

5) Once the Brussels sprouts are coated to perfection, add the bacon pieces and cooked onion to the skillet. Stir all of it together and let it cook for about a minute—long enough to make sure the onion and bacon gets warmed and also coated with the brown sugar deliciousness. Add salt and/or pepper, if so desired. Serve immediately.

You should end up with something like this:

You’re welcome.

{ Glass Etching: Part 2 }

Harbor Freight Air Eraser Review/Tutorial

In { Glass Etching: Part 1 }, I mentioned that while initially researching glass etching, I had questions about whether or not the Harbor Freight Air Eraser works. (11/12/13 Update: Be sure to read the updated review of that particular tool at the end of this post.) In this post, I’ll review that, but you will also find out about the whole air eraser process in general, plus you’ll get to see the crazy contraption we created in lieu of a blasting box. But, first, I must back up to the beginning for those who haven’t heard of any of this before now…

Until just a couple of weeks ago, I was only familiar with the idea of glass etching using etching cream.  As it turns out, there’s a much more effective way to do so and it doesn’t require you to spend thousands of dollars on professional equipment!  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not going to be cheap if you’re starting from scratch, but there are ways to minimize the damage to the wallet & I’ll share with you how I was able to get going with this for about $60 total.

So, there’s a method of glass etching called sandblasting.  Within that concept, there are two primary methods home hobbyists use to etch. The most basic of those methods is through using what’s called an Air Eraser. (Just the name of it made it sound fun to me! I imagined I was going to be buying some kind of magic eraser that floated around in the air…) The Air Eraser is commonly purchased at Harbor Freight and is very reasonably priced.

This is what the Air Eraser looks like:

It utilizes the same concept as air brushing, but instead of paint, it’s abrasive that is being sprayed out of it at an incredibly high speed. 

The second primary sandblasting method involves a blasting box (which already has the air hose and sprayer built into it) and glass beads. This type of sandblasting supposedly gets a quicker, more consistent result than air erasing, but for my purposes, it's not worth spending the extra money at this point to go the glass bead route. So, I'm just going to focus here on the air eraser.

These are the main components required to use the air eraser:

1. Parts from the Air Eraser Kit:

• Air Eraser Tool
• Air Hose
  • Potentially an Adapter for the Air Hose

2. An Air Compressor

3. Abrasive (Aluminum Oxide is the only abrasive that can be used in the Air Eraser)

4. Safety Equipment

• Eye protection
• Face mask
• Gloves

5. Blasting Box

 

The condensed version of the process is that you’re going to hook one end of the air hose to an air compressor, while the other end is attached to the air eraser tool. The tool’s storage cup thingy (the technical term, of course) is filled with abrasive. Meanwhile, inside a blasting box (a lidded box in which you place the item to be etched; the box has arm holes through which your gloved hands will go), you’ll etch your item by holding the air tool like a pencil and then spraying from it onto the item being etched (within the stenciled area, of course). The force of the abrasive scratches away at the glass to create a very sharp looking etched surface.

 

This is a much more detailed step-by-step of each component and the overall process:

The Air Eraser Tool

The air eraser tool is very simple in terms of operation. The cap of the little container attached on the top needs to be opened and then filled with the abrasive. I recommend filling it over a garbage can, collection bowl, piece of paper, etc.—because if it spills, it’s a pain to get all of the graininess cleaned up. Then, securely attach the lid. My first air eraser turned out to not be made correctly, so even with the lid tightened down, abrasive would spray out from underneath the lid, making it completely unusable. I exchanged it for another and the second one works great. It’s absolutely key that the lid be secure, as the air pressure will escape otherwise & that reduces (or even eliminates) the ability to etch.  The air eraser is screwed onto one end of the air hose.

The Air Hose

The air hose is pretty straightforward, but there’s one key item missing from the air eraser tool kit at Harbor Freight: an adapter that allows it to connect to standard air compressor plugs. The air hose has a 1/4” end piece & it does not attach to the typical air compressor without an extra adapter. The good news is that the adapter is readily found at Lowe’s (probably at Home Depot, too) and only costs $1.50.  Of course, you’ll want to attach the adapter using wrenches to ensure a tight seal. The air hose can then be attached to the air compressor.

The Air Compressor

The air compressor is kind of a tricky deal. When you read the kit’s packaging, it basically says that you need an 11+ gallon air compressor. Ours is six gallons and that size is listed as being not recommended for use. But, here’s the thing: I’m not etching as a full-time deal. I just need 65 psi of air in short intervals. So, as it turns out, the 6-gallon air compressor works just fine.

As an example, to etch the letter “K” onto a 3.5” glass ornament, it took just under 60 seconds of air usage. When I got to my third ornament, the air compressor turned on to refill, but it was on for a very short amount of time, resulting in very little motor usage. So, I’m not too worried about burning the thing up by using it briefly and intermittently. You’re welcome to spend $300+ on larger air compressors, but you can get away with the smaller size, too. I wouldn’t necessarily go any smaller than six gallons, but that size will work just fine.

You do want to set the air pressure according to the tool’s instructions. In this case, the kit said 65 psi, so that’s what I used.

Abrasive

The abrasive is important to pay attention to, as the wrong kind/size can easily clog up the air eraser tool. Aluminum oxide is the only abrasive that can be used in this particular tool and a small sample is included. As mentioned above, additional abrasive is available at a pretty good price. You may be able to find it cheaper elsewhere, but I didn’t think $10 for two lbs. was too bad. (Keep in mind that it doesn’t use a ton of abrasive if you’re just doing small items. If you plan on etching half the world’s surface, you may want to do some research to get a better price for abrasive.)

There are tutorials out there that can teach you how to alter the air eraser tool such that baking soda (which is a fraction of the cost of aluminum oxide) will work as the abrasive. I, however, do not want to mess with the tool, as I know I’ll just break it somehow, so I’ll pay a few extra bucks for aluminum oxide and call it a day.  Other people have adapted their tools to accept glass beads (again, not for me), but there are also more advanced tools specifically built for the use of glass beads as the abrasive. Again, this review is just looking at the use of the basic air eraser tool without any modifications.

Safety Equipment

It cannot be overstated as to how important safety gear is when it comes to using this tool. You are not only risking your vision, but your lungs, too, what with breathing in all of that abrasive. It’s definitely not healthy. The kit comes with one dinky face mask, but I’d recommend getting more (and better) masks and a pair of protective glasses or goggles, too. Plus, you’re going to want protective gloves. Blasting boxes (more on that in a sec) often have built-in gloves, but if you’re making your own, you’ll want to buy some that pretty much cover your arms. Harbor Freight has some sandblasting gloves for really cheap—much cheaper than I could find anywhere else. The thing about the gloves is that it’s not necessarily a safety factor on those when it comes to the air eraser (which is much less violent than I imagine more professional sandblasting tools to be), though it definitely helps protect the fingers closest to the spraying abrasive. Instead, the gloves help keep your arms from becoming coated in the abrasive—and that stuff gets EVERYWHERE and sticks!

One other thing—though it’s not really a safety thing, I would also recommend wearing an apron to try to protect your clothing from the abrasive grains. Sure, by the time you get all of this on, you’ll look certifiably insane, but better to be safe than sorry. Speaking of looking insane, while I had already commandeered our gym for my tool assembly area, I decided to utilize the mirror wall while there…

And that’s even before I put the gloves on! (Notice the cute little air compressor filling up in the background.)

Blasting Box

So, here’s the thing—I’m cheap. I somehow usually manage to spend a lot of money overall, but I aim to be as frugal as possible for each individual item. That goal was no different for this project and the necessary blasting box. Blasting boxes serve to really protect you from flying abrasive and to keep the mess contained. There are several options out there, including some good $99 countertop options I saw at Harbor Freight. (While I keep mentioning Harbor Freight, I should point out that am in no way being endorsed by them. Going back to the thing about me being cheap…yeah, Harbor Freight’s prices are right up my alley!)  However, particularly not knowing if this whole etching thing would even work, I preemptively built my own using a 27-quart lidded plastic storage tub I got at Target for $7. It may scream “ghetto!”, but it works beautifully. Here’s a pic of it alongside my other air eraser stuff—aside from the compressor, of course:

On the front of it are two arms holes; on the side is a small hole through which to feed the air tube. Here, it’s pictured on the left because I’m a leftie, but obviously you could just drill on the other side for those of you not in your right brain. (You see what I did there? I make myself chuckle…)

While you don’t want the holes to be so small that your arms or the air hose don’t easily fit through, you also don’t want there to be too much space for the abrasive to escape. But, I view etching as an outside project anyway, so that helps in terms of not destroying the house even if abrasive escapes. I did my etching on the back patio & that kept most of the disaster outside. The rest of it seemed to stay mostly collected in the box itself.

The only thing I think I’m going to change to my version of the blasting box is to affix a push-button LED light on the inside of the box to help with visibility. I found myself taking the lid off repeatedly to make sure I was etching the whole surface. It’s not the end of the world to do that, but again, just make sure you have protective eyewear and a face mask on, and that you’re outside if you’re going to start spraying the abrasive outside of a lidded box.

The Costs

This is how my costs broke down to get started with this particular project, not counting the cost for the compressor since we already had one of those:

• Air Eraser Kit: $26
• 2-lb Bottle of Aluminum Oxide: $10
• Air Hose Adapter: $1.50
• Protective Goggles: $3
• Pkg of Face Masks: $5
• Gloves: $6
• Plastic Storage Tub: $7

Total, it was about $60 to get started. While that certainly is more than a bottle of etching cream, I think the end results from using the air eraser well justify the additional cost and make the etched items something you can be proud to give as gifts or display in your home.

Etching with the Air Eraser

This is the fun part—going crazy with a spray gun, essentially. OK, so don’t go too crazy, but do try to at least enjoy the process. At this point, I’ll assume you’ve followed the same steps as those found in { Glass Etching: Part 1 }, stopping just short of spreading etching cream, since we’re obviously not doing that with this method. One added thing you’ll have done is to cover all of the exposed surface of the un-etched piece (except for the area you want to etch, of course) with painter’s tape. I went ahead and got wide painter’s tape so that it took less time for this step. But, you’ll want to tape along the edge of the stencil, and then all around the rest of the surface so that it’s protected from the flying abrasive. If you were to slip even for a second with that thing spraying, you could easily create an etched spot where you don’t want one.

Now, using the air eraser tool like a pencil held at an angle about 1/8”-1/2” away from the surface you’re etching, start spraying the glass. You may need to tinker around with your air eraser tool to get the right of abrasive spraying out. Refer to the owner’s manual for info on what to do there. But, note that in order for it to work, you won’t see this huge cloud of sand hurtling out of the tool and onto the glass. It’s much more subtle than that. At first, I thought that I’d managed to get another broken tool after exchanging my first out due to the air escape problem. But, it turns out that it was working and I just wasn’t holding the tool correctly.

You’ll spray the area you want to etch and it will turn a light white color, almost like there’s a layer of dust on it. That means it’s working. One easy way to test it is to stop spraying and rub your finger over the surface (making sure to not lift up the stencil, of course) that looks dusty. If the light white doesn’t rub off like dust, then it’s etched and you’re good to continue. Work to etch the entire stencil area, paying close attention to the edges, and try to do it evenly so that it looks uniform. If you see some spots that still have a shine to it compared to the area around it, spray those spots and they should dull to the same degree of etching.

An easy way to make sure you haven’t missed any area is to simply turn the item around and hold it up to the light. In the case of a glass Christmas ornament, you’d then be looking through the back of the ornament and would see the stencil outline, but everything inside the stencil outline would be an even white color. If you notice clear spots, simply spray over them to get them etched. It’s as easy as that.

I found that the only annoying thing in the final part of the process is that my fingers started cramping from how I held the air eraser. I’m going to keep playing around with it to see if maybe I’m just holding it wrong, but that was my only gripe. That and the fact I ran out of stenciled items to etch, as I wanted to keep going!  Oh, that reminds me—be sure to periodically check your abrasive supply and refill as necessary. If you find that you’re no longer seeing any etching activity, first check the storage cup thingy to make sure there’s still abrasive there. If there is, but you’re still not seeing results, your nozzle may be clogged. Refer to the owner’s manual for info on taking care of that, but it’s an easy fix.

And that, friends, is how to use the Harbor Freight air eraser tool to etch your glass projects! Next up: more glass etching fun. (Yes, there’s even more to know! But, I promise what I’ve got to share is much less tedious than the technicalities listed in this post and results in an even cooler etched item!)

11/12/13 UPDATE: After a tremendously short run with my second HF Air Eraser (i.e., two days), it died. So, I bought a third one, only to find that it had the same problem as my first one—the abrasive container cup did not seal correctly, rendering the tool useless. It was at that point that I gave up on the Harbor Freight Air Eraser and bought a quality tool instead. It has already been worth every single extra penny. I went with the Paasche brand instead. Specifically, I got this one from Amazon.

It was considerably more money (about $90, with Prime shipping), but right out of the box I knew I was in for a different experience. Even though it’s practically identical to the HF version, the quality of the materials is significantly greater. And the best part: it actually works! In fact, it almost works too well. Whereas with the HF AE (when I had the one working anyway), I would find myself going over an area repeatedly to make sure it was evenly etched. With the Paasche tool, I followed the same process…and promptly cut right through the glass ornament I was etching! It’s a very powerful tool and gets the job done.

My advice: spare yourself the headache and skip the HF Air Eraser; spend the extra money to get a tool that does the job.