Category Archives: Pie’s Do It Yourself Projects

Did Someone say Pickles?

Posted on September 10, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

Yes, you heard right . . . Pickles! My aunt introduced me to a cool method of making the BEST and I do mean the BEST pickles I have ever had without all the hassle of canning. DZ Pickles is the name and easy and delish is their game!

Today I headed over to the local farmer’s market and rounded me up about 4 lbs of cucumbers and a bunch of fresh dill. I then skinned a whole blossom of garlic (around 12 cloves) and added dried red HOT peppers (the type you get in Kung Pao). I arranged everything in a plastic “gallonish” container, poured the DZ Pickle brine in and then topped with water. It will need to sit on my counter for about 8 days- tightening the lid every other day or so.

After the 8 days are up they are ready to go into the fridge and eat! Yummo! They are crisp, spicy and flavorful!

Some fun news: This past Wednesday, while I was at the zoo with a dear friend and out kiddos, we shared the Santa Barbara Zoo train and “ant hill” (an artificial hill that is covered with Astroturf that kids can slide down) with none other than Mel Gibson and his adorable little girl! I know… regardless of all the tabloid nonsense, I love his movies and was a tad star struck. But being from Southern California, I see and have interacted with my share of Hollywood celebs, but he was a neat person to run into.

I am almost done with my “big” Cricut project. I have one more thing to do and I should be posting pictures tomorrow sometime.

Thank you for coming and sharing a piece of life’s pickled pie today! 🙂

1 Comment

Posted in Pie's Do It Yourself Projects, Pie's Recipes, Pie's Tips and Tricks, Uncategorized and tagged canning, celebirty sitings, chili peppers, Cricut, cucumbers, dill, DZ Pickles, easy canning ideas, Mel Gibson, pickling, Santa Barbara Zoo. Bookmark the permalink.

Did Somebody Say Pizza!

Posted on September 2, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

Even though I set my timer, I got a little distracted with the kids and let the pizza stay in the oven a tad bit longer than I would of liked. It was still excellent

Every Friday I have been making pizza for our family dinner for the past few years. Today, I stayed home since the kiddos are suffering from the fist cold of the season and did not get a chance to head to Trader Joe’s and get their pre-made pizza dough (super easy and cheap way to go when making home-made pizza). I do have the Cusinart Elite 16- cup food processor that has the ability to make dough, so I decided to give making pizza dough a whirl. . . BEST IDEA EVER!

I added a little twist to a recipe I found on About.com (http://southernfood.about.com/od/yeastbreads/r/r90430rev.htm) . I added an ingredient to the dough base that is something I find as my “go-to” ingredient. It is a spice/herb mixture that I found at Costco a year or so ago (which they now have discontinued! I now buy direct from the manufacture – yeah it is that good). It is called Jonny’s Garlic Spread(http://www.johnnysfinefoods.com/Great-Caesar-Garlic-Spread-Seasoning–18oz_p_7.html) . I use it as a base for dressings, italian sauces, rubs for meats (excellent on tri-tip) and now in pizza dough!

It was a big hit tonight, even the dog managed to sneak a piece off the counter while I was clearing the table (pizza is the only thing she will take from the counter at least she has per priorities straight). The best part was my house smelling like a restaurant in Little Italy while the pizza was baking. The garlic spread really added a wonderful essence via taste and smell!

It was super easy to roll out! I loved working with this dough!

Ingredients:

1 envelope active dry yeast
1 cup warm water, 110° F.
1 teaspoons sugar
2 1/4 tsp (for rolling out) and 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
5 teaspoons of Johnny’s Garlic Spread

Preparation:

Put warm water in a cup; sprinkle yeast over water and stir in sugar; let stand for about 10 minutes, or until it begins to bubble.

Combine 2 1/4 cups flour, sugar, garlic seasoning and salt in a mixer or food processor that has the “dough” capabilities, if not you will have to go old school and mix and knead on your own ; pour in oil and yeast mixture and mix until a ball is formed.

Place in a large bowl greased with shortening or butter; turn dough over to coat the dough well.

Cover with towel and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

Dough should double in bulk. Punch down the dough and shape to fit a lightly greased pizza pan which as been sprinkled lightly with cornmeal. Keep dough slightly thick around the edges. Fill with favorite filling and toppings and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes at 425°

2 Comments

Posted in Pie's Do It Yourself Projects, Pie's Recipes, Pie's Tips and Tricks and tagged Cusinart Elite Food Processor, easy pizza recipes, home-made pizza, ideas for dinner, Johnny's Garlic Spread, new twists on pizza dough, pizza, Trader Joe's. Bookmark the permalink.

Just Some Fun Cards!

Posted on August 29, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

My in-laws came in for a surprise visit, but I have a few minutes to post a few cards I made before my unexpected but to the joys of my children guest came. Have a great rest of the week. And to those of you that may be on the East Coast, I am sending warm and supportive thoughts to you all!

Thank you for coming and have a quick piece of life’s pie with me.

Recipe:

Cricut Cartridge – Potpourri Bonus sheet with the Ice Cream Cone setting at 3.75 inches for both shadow and image. I cut out the image twice for different paper for the cone and the scoop of ice cream.

Paper: Brazzil Pearl Shimmer, Brazzil Chocolate, Die Cuts with a View Summer Stacker, an old piece of scrap (pink and white checker paper have no idea who manufactured it.)

Ribbon Celebrations Michael’s Brand, Strawberry Cupcake Pink Baker’s Twin from My Craft Spot.

Button – Random button I had in my stash (acrylic clear flower)

Cuttlebug Folder – Flower Blossoms

Glossy Enamel – White

Sentiment – My Pink Stamper

Ink – Stampin’ Up- Early Espresso

Stickles: Bubble Gum

Recipe:

Cricut Cartridge – Rock Princess – Cupcake set at 3.75

Paper: Brazzil Pearl Shimmer, Brazzil Pinkini, Anna Griffin Peyton Collection (Zebra Print and striped paper)

Ribbon Celebrations Michael’s Brand for both Wild Animal Print and the hot pink glitter ribbon used behind the cupcake for dots.

Cuttlebug Folder -Happy Birthday

Sentiment – My Pink Stamper

Ink – Stampin’ Up- Early Espresso

Stickles: Bubble Gum – for cherry

MPS- Card Donation/Service Project

Posted on August 25, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

My Pink Stamper just placed a call for card donations for an amazing cause. Today while my little ones were sleeping I made a fun card to send along as well. This card donation comes close to home since I have a friend that is my age and has a 2-year-old little girl and a 3-year-old little boy who was diagnosed with breast cancer so advanced it moved into her liver a few months ago. It was a miscarriage that brought the finding of her cancer. The diagnosis is very grim, but she is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. She was handed back-to-back heartbreak, yet she is fighting for her life in a manner not many would think any person could. The level of grace, self-sacrifice, dignity and strength she has floors me and all those around her. She has an amazing strength in the Lord and He is there delivering blessings of joy every day. It is one of the most astonishing things I have ever seen.

I decided to do an Ice Cream theme since it brings smiles to everyone AND from my understanding, most that under go treatment have a fondness for the treat since it is a soothing blessing to an upset stomach and a mouth full of sores that goes with that process.

While making this card, I thought of my friend greatly and thought that there will be a woman receiving this very card that more than likely is just like my friend. Those that battle breast cancer are the most amazing women I have ever met and I was honored to be able to participate in this service project.

Thank you for coming by and having a piece of more of the serious slice of life’s pie with me today.

Recipe:

Paper: Brazzil Very Berry Swiss Dots, Brazzil Pinkini, Brazzil Chocolate, Die Cuts with a View Summer Stacker, an old piece of scrap (pink and white checker paper have no idea who manufactured it.)

Ribbon Celebrations Michael’s Brand, Strawberry Cupcake Pink Baker’s Twin from My Craft Spot.

Button – Random button I had in my stash (acrylic clear flower)

Cuttlebug Folder -Flower Blossoms

Glossy Enamel – White

Sentiment – My Pink Stamper

Ink – Stampin’ Up- Early Espresso

8 Comments

Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Potpourri Basket Cricut Cartrdige, Pie's Craftiness, Pie's Cricut, Pie's Do It Yourself Projects and tagged Breast Cancer Projects, cards, Cards for Breast Cancer, Charity, Cricut, Cuttlebug, Die Cuts with a View, DIY, Do It Yourself, friendship, God, love, My Pink Stamper, people you admire, Strength. Bookmark the permalink.

MPS Blog Hop Challenge! Wildly Sweet Pinky Pirates!

Posted on August 14, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

My Pink Stamper announced a Blog Hop challenge this past Friday during her fun Pinkalicious Blog Hop. This was the first Blog Hop featuring the new MPS Design Team! I have to say I had a great time hopping along it Friday night! The talent is just amazing and very well-rounded in technique demonstrations and ideas!

I was actually excited about this challenge since it was a two-fold motivation of getting a kick-start on a pending project and participating in a challenge. Believe it or not I had EVERYTHING to start this project on hand so I got cracking on this Friday night!

I recently volunteered to make banners and cupcake toppers for a daughter of a dear friend’s third birthday. She gave me a theme and creative licence to run with whatever I wanted to do. Once I saw the challenge posted by MPS, the light bulb started to glow! I got to follow the challenge and combined my favorite color scheme (pink, black and “bling”) my favorite technique of incorporating animal print (I LOVE ANIMAL PRINT!) , my favorite Cricut project of creating birthday swag and one of my top fav Cricut Cartridges, Rock Princess – the creative possibilities that cartridge holds is unbelievable.

I just finished the project with two weeks to spare and in the nick of time to meet the MPS deadline. The project was a bit larger than I anticipated, but I think it will be the perfect proverbial cherry on top for the birthday party!

Thank you for stopping by and sharing a piece of life’s pie with me! 🙂

Recipe (for the banner details, I used Design Studio and it was very complex in demotions and it would take two blog pages to break down, so if you want the exact info, I do have that information, please feel free to contact me directly or leave me a comment.):

Cricut Cartridge: Rock Princess, Mini Monograms (scallops and cupcake topper base; see cupcake topper base and layers) and Celebrations ( set at 5.5 for banner; find on page ).
Cupcake Topper: Scallop from Mini Monograms set at 2 inches for base. The next layer set at 1 3/4 inches.

– Princess Rock Image: Skull Font was set at one and 1/4 inches.

– Princess Rock plain cupcake image with cross-bones was from the image that cuts both cupcake and cross-bones. I had to change-up the paper and the font size from each other so there was a bit of waste in that step. The pink cupcake was set at 1 inch and the cross-bones were set at 3/4 inch. I then layered them using a pop dot to elevate the cupcake from the cross-bones.

Paper: Recollections, Michael’s Open Stock embossed and textured paper (Pinkini, Ballet and Very Berry and Shimmer Cream). Silver Glitter Cardstock from clearance rack at Target ( I used this behind the # 3 on the banner and cupcake “dots”).
Ribbon: All Celebrations (Michael’s brand) Hot pink and black 1/2 inch zebra print ( bow for banner),one and 1/2 inch hot pink zebra print (treading for banner), 1/8 inch black satin ribbon (bow for cupcake topper).
Accent Pen: Uni-Ball Signo- White (used for dots on scallops and smile on cupcake face)
Stickles Diamond (used as an accent on cupcakes on both banner and cupcake toppers and to outline the # 3 on the cupcake toppers).
Wilton Lollipop Sticks, Pack of 50 at 4 inches – Michael’s
Pop Dots: I used these to add dimension to cupcake toppers under the second layer and I added these to the 3rd layer to the banner.
Hot Glue Gun: I used a hot glue gun to attach lollipop stick to topper and to attach the small bow on the cupcake topper with the # 3 on it.

* Please note that I cut off legs and arms of the “cupcake man image” on the one on the banner as well as the one for the cupcake topper.

Again, thanks for stopping by and having ~~a piece of life’s pie~~ pirate cupcakes with me! 🙂

11 Comments

Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Celebrations Cricut Cartridge, Cricut Cartridge: Mini Monograms Cricut Cartridge, Cricut Cartridge: Rock Princess Cricut Cartridge, Pie's Craftiness, Pie's Cricut, Pie's Do It Yourself Projects, Pie's Parties and tagged animal print themed crafts, banners, birthday banners, Cricut, Cricut Cartridge: Celebrations Cricut Cartridge, Cricut Cartridge: Rock Princess Cricut Cartridge, cupcake toppers, DIY, Do it yourself birthday party decorations, girl pirate cupcake toppes, girl pirate theme, Michael's, Mini Monograms, My Pink Stamer, My Pink Stamper Pinkalicious Blog Hop, pirate cupcake topers. Bookmark the permalink.

Trying out My New Cartridge: Wild Cards

Posted on August 12, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

I just got Cricut’s Wild Cards in the mail and I tested it out on making a quick card for some friends that just bought their first home. I have to say that I really like this cartridge! It has a ton of options to customize a piece of you into each creation! It is worth checking it out.

Recipe:

Cricut Cartridge: Wild Cards set at 7. I first made the envelope on “fit to page” and then made the card based on that size.

Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Cotton Blossoms and open stock embossed paper from Michael’s (shrubs)

Stickles

Brads – Making Memories

Sentiment: My Pink Stamper

Ink: Stampin’ Up Early Espresso

Stamps and Stickles are for More than Cards and Scrapping!

Posted on August 10, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

Stampin' Up Tart and Tangy "Cherry" stamp accents on walls

The hubs and I are building a ~~playhouse~~ ridiculously over- the- top playhouse for our two little girls. It has been a fun summer project and we should hopefully be done with it by next weekend – just in time for my youngest second birthday.

The theme of the interior is a cupcake and cherry theme with a small vintage twist that meets a Pottery Barn Kids feel. I wanted to add some character to the walls and one of the ideas I just executed was bringing my Stampin’ Up and Stickles into this project.

Once we are done with the house, I will be sure to post the progress pics!

Thanks for stopping by for a piece of pie! 🙂