Monthly Archives: October 2012

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge – Seeing Spots!

Posted on October 29, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

Hello and Happy last Monday of October! First I want to give a quick moment of thought to all our friends dealing with Sandy on the East Coast! I have been glued to the TV watching it all the updates this past weekend.

It is another fun challenge over at Fantabulous Circut! This week’s theme is seeing spots! I decided to steer away from a Halloween themed project and make a card for someone special in our life. It is her birthday this month and she lives in the mountains in Colorado. They actually have foxes, deer, elk and bears visit them everyday! She works from home and has a chance to really enjoy her woodland friends. I tease her that she is the modern-day Snow White. I decided to make this card with the help of my girls. This is exactly how she will spend her birthday and will love her woodland friend “Birthday Bash”. I made sure to incorporate the polka dots all through the project. Nothing screams birthday bash than polka-dots!

The card was a 8.5×11 inch card stock folded in half and I added the green polka-dot paper I found in the $ bin at Target.

The stump was cut from page 61 of Create a Critter. I embossed it with Cuttlebug folder Distressed Stripes and added stickles to the leaf. Also note that I cut 3 layers and added a demenitional to each layer of the stump for height and layering.

For the deer, bear, and fox I cut them from Create a Critter at 2.75 inches each. (I did have to cut the fox with Cricut Craft Room so I could hide the mouth). I added 1/8 inch polka-dot ribbon around the neck of the bear and deer. I cut party hats from Celebrations at 1.5 inches and used some Stickles on the hat to add some bling. I added some black Glossy Accents to the feet, noses and eyes of these cute critters as well.

For the cake, I pulled out my Sweet Treats cartridge, page 40, and cut it at 3 inches. I wrapped the candle in the 1/8 inch ribbon and added stickles. To add the height to it, I had to double up the Pop Dots as I was laying out the page. The sentiment is from My Pink Stamper’s Spectacular Sayings stamp set and I used Close to My Heart Chocolate stamp ink. Please note I also cut 3 base layers and added dimensional in between for height and layering.

The balloons are my favorite part of this project. I cut then out from Celebrations at 1.25 and 1.5 inches. I used Papertreyink Bitty Dots (2008) collection! I am finding I love Papertrey Ink products a lot! I finished them with adding Baker’s Twine from the Twinery.

Now don’t forget to head over and check out all the creativity that the design team has cookn’ and LINK up a fun polka-dot inspired project!

Thanks for sharing a piece of “polka-dots rock” pie with me!

10 Comments

Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Celebrations Cricut Cartridge, Cricut Cartridge: Create A Critter Cricut Cartridge, Cricut Cartridge: Sweet Treats Cricut Cartridge, FCCB(Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog) Design Team Projects, My Pink Stamper - Spectacular Sayings and tagged Circut Challenge ideas, create a cirtter cards, fun birthday cards for animal lovers, homemade cards, paper crafting polka dots, paper crafting woodland animals, polka dot cards, sweet birthday card ideas for kids. Bookmark the permalink.

Easy as Pie Halloween Card Makin’ with the Kiddos!

Posted on October 26, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

* Please take a moment and head over to My Cricut Craft Room and check out the challenge I entered in to be on their Design Team. Cast you vote by leaving a comment on the BEST project you think there is.

Well it is now officially fall in Southern California. . . the Santa Ana wind (East Winds) and heat showed up! It is a howlin’ out there right now and it makes me cringe worrying about fire bugs. I live in an area near the hills and if we see a fire there, we could face potential fire hazard issues.

When the wind is howling like this, no one wants to go outside for the fear of flying debris or blowing away, so it is indoor project time with the kiddos. What we decided to do is make Halloween cards for family using the kiddos feet and hands. The feet are ghosts and the hands are cats. Each girl stamped their foot or hand on a 8.5×11 piece of card stock that I cut in half. We used plain old craft paint and had wipes handy, handy, handy! Once they dried the girls added eyes and the embellishments of googly eyes, Primas, green Skittles (kitty eyes) and bling on their own using GLUE DOTS! Love those things, especially with kiddos. NO MESS!

Then folding a piece of 8.5×11 card stock in half I glued down the craft the girls did to the front with an ATG. Inside the card, I stamped it with a Halloween salutation from Close To my Heart’s Perfect Fit- Halloween!

See! Easy as pie! Now we are just popping them in the mail today so they will make it to their destinations before Halloween!

Thanks for sharing a piece of “easy as pie Halloween cards” with me!

4 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged easy halloween cards to do with your kids, feet ghosts, fun halloween crafts ideas for kids, halloween card for grandparent, Halloween cards, hand cats, kid halloween craft. Bookmark the permalink.

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog #134 Boo Spectacular

Posted on October 22, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

Happy Monday everyone! It is almost BOO day and I have to say I have been having a blast making Halloween and Fall themed projects and love jumping at a chance to participate in anything that involves crafting those themes. If that is you too, then does Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog have a treat for you! The fantabulous Design Team has brewed you up some amazing creative potions that just can’t be missed! Head over, check it out, link up and join the Boo Spectacular party! Just be sure to make a project that has at least one Cricut cut and has black and orange in the project!

For this project I decided to make another yarn wreath using the colors black and orange. The wreaths are super easy technically to make, just time consuming. A great “couch potato” project. All you do is get a 12 inch foam wreath form Michale’s or Jo-Anns and being wrapping the wreath with yarn using colors and patterns of your desired choice.

Once the wreath was done, I began making my embellishments. Using Cricut Craft Room so I could manipulate the images, I began with the witch. I used Mini Monsters page 41. I hid her face so I could use Peachy Keen Dolly Dumplings for her face. I cut her and all her layers at roughly 4 inches. I used some pastels from Stampin’ Up for her cheeks and Gelly Rolls for her freckles and eyes. I added some Glossy Accents to her eyes and shoes. I added some polka dot orange ribbon and purple tulle around her hat and more polka dot orange ribbon and purple bling to her dress.

For the banner, I used the basic circle cut from Mini Monograms at 1 and 1.5 inches. I stamped each orange circle with Halloween sentiments from Close to My Heart, Perfect Fit Halloween stamp set using black in from Stampin’ UP. I embossed the black circles with Cuttlebug’s Spots and Dots folder. I threaded orange baker’s twine from Twinery and glued down with my ATG gun. I finished the witch by nesting her using hot glue onto some sparkling black and purple tulle that I made into a flower and pinned into the foam wreath.

For the scaredy cat, using Paper Doll Dress Up page 49. Using Cricut Craft Room, I hid her face, cut her at roughly 4 inches and then distressed her with some white stamp ink. I used Peachy Keen’s Everyday Character with white stamping ink from Close to My Heart. I used green Stickles for her eyes and black Glossy Accents for her nose. I tied a 1/8 inch ribbon around her neck.

For the moon, I used Mini Monograms circle cut at 4.25 inches. I embossed with Cuttlebugs Spots and Dots and dusted with Ranger Perfect Pearls Biscotti to add shimmer.

For the bat, I used Create a Critter 2 and cut it out at 2.75 inches and fastened a wire spring to the back of it and stuck the other end into the foam wreath securely.

I finished the wreath by adding a 2 inch orange and black bow for the wreath to hang from.

Now don’t forget to head over to FCCB and check out the spooky goodies and link up!

Thanks for sharing a piece of “spooooky Halloween fun with FCCB” pie with me

Linking Up To:

Exploring Cricut

Decorate to Celebrate- Halloween Part 2

Everyday is an Occassion

Craft-O-Maniac

Pink Cricut- Link Up-Tuesdays

14 Comments

Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Create a Critter 2, Cricut Cartridge: Mini Monograms Cricut Cartridge, Cricut Cartridge: Mini Monsters Cricut Cartridge, Cricut Cartridge: Paper Dolls Cricut Cartridge, Cuttlebug Folders, FCCB(Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog) Design Team Projects, Peachy Keen Stamps and tagged Cricut Challenges, cute Halloween crafts, Halloween crafts, Halloween crafts with bats, Halloween crafts with cats, Halloween crafts with CircutHalloween yarn wreaths, Halloween crafts with witches, Halloween decorations, Halloween wreaths made with Circut, holiday wreaths. Bookmark the permalink.

Fallin’ into Bucket Lists

Posted on October 19, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

We have started a tradition of making a banner of things we want to do with our kiddos each summer and crossing them off as we do them. The kids were so sad I took down our “Summer of Fun” banner that I thought we should make a “fall bucket list”. When I told my oldest, who is four and half, what I was thinking, she asked me what a bucket list is? Before I could answer her, she exclaimed, “I know, it is a list in a bucket!”. I laughed so hard and realized she may be on to something. So our Family Fall Bucket List was born!

I decided that I wanted to take a stab at making paper straws to use for the base of each item. I researched how to make paper straws and kind of came up with my own way that seem to really work well and I was having more success in having them come out more even and sticking together than some of the ways I tried while researching. I still don’t have it master , but in time and making about 500 more, I will be a pro:-)

In making the straws, I used some fall/Halloween 12×12 scrapbook paper, a 1/4 inch dowel, and some quick dry adhesive. I added the adhesive to the back of the page and then I center the dowel and began to roll the paper. I was sure to push the dowel around so the adhesive would not glue it to the inside of the paper as I rolled.

Once fully rolled, I wiped off any access adhesive on the dowel and started another. After I let each paper tube dry completely, I cut off the edges and then cut them down to the sizes I wanted. I found if you are wanting to make the same sized straws, you can get two out of each paper tube. If you want the tube to be thinner, just cut down the paper before making a straw.

For the leaves, I cut out 2 inch and 2 1/2 inch leaves from page 61 of Doodle Charms using the blackout feature. I then distressed each leaf with stamping ink and then labeled them using ProMarkers. I then ran them trough the Cuttlebug with the Musical Flourish embossing folder. I then added some Elmer’s Craft Bond- Clear Dual Tip around the edges and then dusted with fine glitter.

For the pumpkins, I used Stretch Your Imagination page 44. I cut the fat pumpkins at 2 1/4 inches and the skinny pumpkins at 3 inches, 2 3/4 inches, and 2 1/2 inches. I then distressed the edges, ran just the bodies of the pumpkins through the Cuttlebug using Distressed Stripes folder, and finished with Firefly Stickles.

For the sign, I used Mini Monograms cut at 3 inches, 3 1/2 inches, and 3 1 /4 inches. I ran the back and front cuts through the Cuttlebug using Distressed Stripes folder and embellished it with buttons and bakers twine, from Twinery.

I used hot glue to attach each item to the straws, placed some paper crinkle in a bucket I found at Target and then added each item

Thank you for sharing a piece of “fallin’ into bucket lists” with me!

Linking Up To:

Everyday is an Occasion

Pink Cricut – Link Up Tuesday

Paper Issues

2 Comments

Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Doodlecharms, Cricut Cartridge: Mini Monograms Cricut Cartridge, Cricut Cartridge: Stretch Your Imagination, Cuttlebug Folders and tagged Fall Bucket List, fall crafts, fall paper crafts, fall paper crafts using Cricut, fun fall decoration ideas, fun things to do in fall with kids, making a fall activity list, making paper straws, paper crafting staws, paper straw tutuorial, things you can make using paper straws. Bookmark the permalink.

Boo To You Party Invite!

Posted on October 15, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

I can’t believe it is the middle of October already! I love Halloween and that is a great excuse to throw a party. Last year I went a little over board with our party and at one point I think we had a total of 73 guests milling all around our house and backyard! NOT KIDDING! I remember telling my husband right after closing the door to the last guest, “NEVER AGAIN!” Don’t get me wrong, the party was a HUGE success and I have had many of last year’s guest recently asked me if there was a “save the date” for this year’s party. However, I am only insane once and decided to scale WAY back on the invite list to a few very close friends and their kids.

I wish I could say I came up with this idea on my own, but not so much:-) Thankfully I “blog pal” around with some amazingly talented ladies and this idea came from Ribbons and Glue. When I saw her project, I just knew I wanted to do something like it and when I started thinking about party invites, I thought how cool it would be to make a party invite that is very personal and can be used as Halloween decor for years to come.

In another project I saw from Ribbons and Glue, she had these little ghosts that she found at Target. I loved them the minute I saw them, but I have a thing for ghosts and snowmen so that was not too far of a stretch for me to HAVE TO find those. Sadly, I could not find them right away until last week when we were in the $ bin area at Target and my oldest spotted the LAST box of them! WOOT! WOOT! Those were scooped up in a NY minute and the project stated to take shape!

I found some scrap wood the hubs was tossing out and sanded it down, painted it black and then did a layer of white/orange at the same time to give it a “candy corn” feel with craft paint. I let it dry and then sanded it down again to distress it.

Using Simply Charmed, I cut the “font” BOO at 3 1/2 inches. I ran it through my Cuttlebug Spots and Dots. The ribbon I used was from the Celebrate It line from Micheal’s and the little purple bling I picked up there too. Using twine from the Twinery, I made a “spider web” behind each “O” just fastening twine with tape. I added a little black gem to the middle to appear as a spider.

The paper is from a Holiday stack from Cloud Nine Designs. I added additional ribbon to balance out the block. I then glued the paper over the ribbon using Zip Dry. I also used the same paper and glued it to the back of the block where I then added another removable paper piece with the details of the party information on it (sorry no pictures of that… did not want to risk having 73 people showing up on my doorstep:-))

As for the little table scatter ghosts, I wrote the names of all the members in the family with a fine tip Sharpie and added bows to the girls. I used glue dots and added googly eyes (totally scrap-lifted that from Holly- I am really not craft stalking her, I promise! However, if you have not seen her blog, I highly recommend it! Her blog has inspired me greatly and actually has lit a fire of creativity in me when I felt like I was losing my creative mojo) and then used medium sized glue dots and added the ghosts to the “BOO”. I then used pop dots to the BOO.

So far the invites have been a hit and they love that it is something that can be used for years to come and it was so personal.

Thanks for sharing a piece of “not your everyday ghoulish invite” pie with me.

Linking Up To:

Everyday is an Occasion-Sunday Funday

Paper Issues – Halloween Harvest

Craft-O-Maniac

Decorate To Celebrate

Really Reasonable Ribbon – Halloween Ribbon

My Sheri Crafts- Halloween

Pink Cricut Link It Up Tuesday

Pink by Design – Fall or Halloween

12 Comments

Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Simply Charmed Cricut Cartridge, Cuttlebug Folders, Pie's Parties and tagged Halloween crafts, Halloween crafts using cricut, Halloween crafts using table scatter, Halloween crafts using wood blocks, Halloween decorations, halloween party ideas, Halloween party invite ideas. Bookmark the permalink.

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog #133 Down on the Farm

Posted on October 15, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

Happy Monday everyone! Just in case any one may have “a bad case of the Mondays” (line reference from the movie Office Space), this week’s challenge over at FCCB should perk you up! The challenge is to make a project using a farm animal. Since it is fall and many are heading to their local farms to gather pumpkins how perfect is this theme! Head over and link up some farmin’ fun.

For this project I found a mirror picture frame on clearance at Target for only $4.98! I was thrilled and turned it into a chalkboard wall hanging. I used chalkboard spray paint and painted the mirror (after I sanded down the mirror so the paint would stick). I then took out the glass from the 4×6 picture frames and cut down some paper from the Stampin’ Up Design paper series Domestic Goddess (which I used for the whole project and isn’t that paper just perfect!), and adhered it straight to the photo insert with my ATG.

Using my Cricut Cartridge, Country Life, I cut out the hens at 2 1/4 inches from page 43 and 44 only using the main cut and layer 1 and 2 in shift position. I then added some cream burlap twine around each hen’s neck, added some buttons and stamped a sentiment from Closet to My Heart stamp set, It’s Your Day using a silver ink I found in the Michael’s $ bin . . . bad idea (had to try to fix with silver Sharpie- once again Sharpie saves the day!). Sometimes the $ bin can come back and haunt you. 🙂 I used Pop Dots and my ATG on the hens and used Glue Dots mini and medium sizes for the buttons.

For the banner, I cut it out from Country Life as well at 1 3/4 inches. I wrote the lettering with a silver Sharpie and ran some burlap twine through it and added the buttons at each end using Glue Dots mini size. I adhered the banner with Pop Dots.

I love how this project turned out regardless of my stamp ink issues. The colors and patterns are fun and I feel I turned a boring picture frame into a functional and fantablous gift for my sister-in-law.

Don’t forget to mosey on over to FCCB’s challenge and see what the rest of the amazing DT has in store for you and link up a fun project!

Thanks for sharing a piece of “down on the farm with Cricut” pie with me.

2 Comments

Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Country Life, FCCB(Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog) Design Team Projects and tagged do it yourself chalkboard ideas, do it yourself chalkboard picture frames. Bookmark the permalink.

What Happens When Crafting Hands You Lemons!

Posted on October 14, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they’re yours. But, if it just sits in your living room, messes up our stuff, eats your food, uses your phone, takes your money, and does not appear to realize that you had set them free… You either married it or gave birth to it.

Last weekend I headed off to the local craft fair that is held at the fair grounds each October. I do this every year and this is where I find some fun and special goodies for Christmas gifts and MOST of all great ideas on things to make.

One of the things that caught our eye was a sign with a play on the famous saying. We howled at the sign and my friend really had a liking to it, but it was not quite something that would look cute in her home. So here is my version of that idea and I think she is going to love it. I like that I made it have a very classical and elegant feel, so it will draw a person in to read it expecting it to be inspirational and sappy and then POW not at all what your were expecting with a side of chuckles!

I found this wood box structure at Michael’s and it is 12×12. I then painted layers using craft paint colors of brown and buttermilk. Using Cricut Craft Room and the Wild Card font, I made a stencil of this saying…I then ROYALLY messed up with the execution the original idea and had a huge mess of paper, Mod Podge and paint and had to pull apart the big mess and sand for quite some time. Once that was over and I slept on what in the heck I was gong to do.

I decided to cut the saying with a light brown vinyl and transfer it onto the project using transfer tape. OH THE PAIN of taking out all the nested portions to the letters. YUCK! Then I had to face the reality that the lettering was too light for the project and instead of scraping off all the vinyl and cutting it out with black vinyl (like I should have and ALMOST did), I traced each letter over with black Sharpie!

Once that nightmare was over, I played around with several embellishments and decided to pull out Flower Shoppe and cut some scalloped flowers out in 2,3 4 inches sizes. I added some pearls and ribbon.

I used some pretty scrapbook paper from K&Company Designer Paper series and framed the outside boarders using Zip Dry paper glue! That stuff is awesome!

I guess you could say I originally made this project into a batch of lemons and somehow managed to salvage it into a solid glass of lemonade!

Thanks for sharing a piece of “never give up on your lemon moments, just add some sleep and heart to squeeze out some sweet lemonade” pie with me!

Linking Up TO:

Everyday is an Occasion-Sunday Fundays

Craft-O-Matic

5 Comments

Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Flower Shoppe, Cricut Cartridge: Wild Card Cricut Cartridge, Cricut Craft Room and tagged DIY fun and elegant signs using Cricut Craft Room, DIY if you love someone signs, home decor ideas using Cricut, home decore ideas using vinyl, how do you recover from doing mod podge wrong, How to distress soemting. Bookmark the permalink.

Best Witches!

Posted on October 9, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

Today I committed to get in the craft studio and get some stuff done that I had on the board before I allow Pinterest to over inspire me and I end up with twenty projects piled up half done!

Before I get into the details of how and why, I want to note that you may be seeing an” up in my game” with my photography. My fellow design team member over at FCCB and newly found blog buddy, Holly, from Ribbons and Glue has been such a wonderful cheerleader and inspiration. One of the things that I have really noted about her blog is her photography. Granted her projects could be posed atop a trash can and no one would ever notice. However, her attention to detail, lighting and props really adds additional WOW factor. So if you see that some of my newbie staging looks somewhat familiar, yes I am gleaning from the MASTER and will settle in my own style soon enough.

Now on to the project! This is a little hat I picked up at Michael’s a few months ago with my sweet neighbor in mind. I wanted to make her a Halloween goody for her home. Yes, I know that a few months ago would mean August, but Halloween comes out before the Fourth of July fireworks cool down.

I painted the hat with black craft paint (about three coats). As the third coat was drying I dusted the whole hat with black glitter. It added some pops of bling! Then I used some mini orange feather boa around the brim. Note: this stuff gets everywhere! It is way worse than glitter!

Then with Flower Shoppe Cricut Cartridge I cut out 3 scalloped flowers at 5,6,7 inches and made the flowers (first time ever making these flowers and I have the hot glue burns to prove that!). I used buttons for the flower buttons. I the made the little sentiment sign using My Pink Stamper’s Spooky Puns stamp set, Story Book Cricut Cartrige cut at 1.5,1.75 and 2 inches and embossed with Cuttlebug’s Musical Flourish. Attaching to a cut down skewer.

Linking Up To:

Pink Cricut – Link it Up Tuesday

Decorate to Celebrate – Halloween

Sunday Fun Day Link Party

My Crafting Channel – Halloween

Die Cuttin’ Divas – Fall Colors

Paper Issues – Halloween Harvest

Paper Playtime #85

Little Scrap Pieces: Fun Fridays

Joyful Stamper: Inspire Me Fridays

Simply Create: Linky Party

Simply Crafts: Halloween

CraftyMess- Anything Goes

Cardz TV: Buttons and Boos

Thanks for sharing a piece of “keeping on task and leaning new things” pie with me!

30 Comments

Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Flower Shoppe, Cricut Cartridge: Storybook Cricut Cartridge, Cuttlebug Folders, My Pink Stamper Spooky Puns and tagged center pieces for halloween, crafting halloween decorations, diy table decor for halloween, Halloween decorations, Halloween paper crafts, halloween witch hat, Halloween witch hats. Bookmark the permalink.

Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Subs!

Posted on October 8, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

Sometimes you just need a quick meal, one you can make in no time flat that meets my three musts:

E. Easy = Exactly what it means.

A. Available = Ingredients you can access easily and are available anywhere

T. Tasty = Again, exactly what it means.

My kids love this meal and it is one of those quick meals that shakes up just opening up a box of Hamburger Helper!

This meal could be an easy pair with leftover grilled or roasted chicken.

All you do is grill up two chicken breasts with a little garlic seasoning and salt and pepper. Slice it up into small pieces.
Steam up about 2 -3 cups of fresh or frozen broccoli.
Line a cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper and place hoggie rolls on cookie sheet. Begin to fill sandwiches by adding a layer of chicken, then broccoli, spoon desired amount of pre-made Alfredo Sauce (I find the brand from Trader Joe’s, but your local grocery store will have several brands to choose from) and then layer the top with mozzarella or provolone.
Bake at 350 for about 10-15 minutes (or until the cheese has melted and slightly browned and the alfredo sauce has heated through)

5 Comments

Posted in Pie's Recipes and tagged chicken alfredo subs, easy chicken meal ideas. recipes made with alfredo sauce, easy kid friendly meals, easy weeknight meals, italian sandwiches, quick and easy meals, sandwich ideas. Bookmark the permalink.

31 Days to Boo-Day Countdown Candy Jar!

Posted on October 2, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

As most of you know I am a mommy to little girls ages three and four! Now that fall has started so has the endless questions of, “when is Halloween?” and “When is Santa coming?”. So I decided to make something fun to help them count down the days till Halloween by making a little jar filled with the correct number of candies to do the 31-day countdown. We are on day two and they are thrilled every afternoon to get their little taste of what is to come at the end of the month!

In celebration of owning my Cricut for 2 years, I decided to use one of my fav carts and the VERY FIRST EVER cart I used, Simply Charmed! It will ever be close to my heart because of that!