DIY coffee stencil

Husband Alex usually makes lattes for us on Saturday mornings, so here's my secret plan to spruce his up. He's out of town at the moment, so I have plenty of time to practice dusting cocoa properly. Right now it sort of looks like this says "I blob you."

I drew the design on a piece of paper, then laid a plastic lid on top. (This one is from a deli container I saved.) With an X-acto knife, I cut through the plastic, tracing along the design underneath. A tip: you'll never be able to cut the shapes out in one pass. Make many cuts on top of each other until you break through.

Lay the stencil on top of your mug and sprinkle with cinnamon or cocoa. Dust the powder through a sieve or strainer to make a very fine layer.

Since cutting your own stencil is a bit of a pain, you could also get some from Amazon or CoffeeStencil.com. And if you totally dig stenciling, don't neglect your cakes and cupcakes!