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A Little of this and a Little of That . . .

Posted on March 2, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

I have been in project mode in my craft “portal” – I call it portal because when I enter into my craft studio, it sucks me in and takes me hours for find my way out.   I am making all the favors, decorations and such for my almost and very excited four-year old little girl’s Hello Kitty themed birthday party.  To keep the hubs happy while I am locked away in my craft portal, I kept the yummy treats at hand.  For some reason I was back-logged on bananas so I had to put them to use before they spoiled.  I made Banana Chocolate Cupcakes that were a huge hit here and at the hubs work.   I also came up with a Chocolate Chip Banana Bread that my Saturday night dinner guest nearly fought over for left-overs being part of their doggie bags.

Recipe:

  • Banana Chocolate Cupcakes:
  • Cupcake:
  • 3/4 soften butter
  • 2 cups of brown sugar
  • 3 large bananas
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tsp of vanilla
  • 3 cups of flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda
  • 3/4 cup of buttermilk (you can use regular milk if not on hand.. it adds more depth of flavor)

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs on at a time, add bananas and vanilla.  Combine all dry ingredients and then mix into wet alternating buttermilk. Scoop into cupcake pan (use cupcake wrappers) and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the toothpick comes clean at 350.

Frosting:

  • 2 – 8oz packages of cream cheese at room temp
  • 1/2 cup butter soften
  • 1/2 cup baking cocoa
  • 4 cups of powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp of vanilla.

Cream cream cheese and butter, add cocoa until mixed well, add powder sugar and vanilla until creamy. Place in a piping bag and chill.  Pull out about 10 minutes before frosting.  Using a large tip, frost cupcakes once cooled and sprinkle mini-chocolate chips for finishing touches.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread:

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 pound butter
  • 2 extra-large eggs
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk or regular milk
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 3 large bananas
  • 1 1/2 cups of milk chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs on at a time, add bananas and vanilla.  Combine all dry ingredients and then mix into wet alternating buttermilk. Mix chocolate chips into batter just until well mixed.  Pour into a bread pan and bake for about 45-60 minutes or until the toothpick comes clean at 350.

I also had to come up with an autograph book for our nearing trip to Disneyland!  For a special treat we are going to have breakfast with the characters and I have been told that it would be a good idea to have an autograph book for the kids to have Mickey and Cinderella and the gang to sign.  I found the books in the $ bin at Michael’s and dressed it up with using a Disney themed cardstock I found for .60.  Using my Martha Stewart “rope punch”and then used some ribbon I had on hand to dress it up a bit.  I made two of these.

Lastly, I am craft mom at my little one’s co-op preschool and I saw this concept in Disney’s Family Fun magazine this month and decided to tweak it to the needs of our class and subject manner.  The both mom and kid had a blast with the craft.  It was fun to conceptualize as well!  

Recipe:

Mini water bottle

Drill hole on top and add a ribbon

Using a funnel, layer activated carbon (get it at any pet store) 3 table spoons

fun fish tank pebbles 3 table spoons

3 -5 table spoons of potting soil

Add a sprig of fresh herbs with root in tack (we used lemon thyme)

long stick to make a hole in the dirt and add the herb.  add water and keep moist. Watch grow!

Also big Cricut news!  I am now a proud owner of a Cricut Imagine!  I found it on Ebay saying it was broken.  I researched the issue it said it had and it seemed to have an “update” fix.  Frankly, I think it was someone who had no idea what a Cricut Imagine was and was selling it from one of those storage unit auction situations.  I felt rather confident that it really did work and I could remedy the issues with a call into Provo Craft and an online update.   I won it for $124 including shipping. 

It came this week and I was very worried when I saw the condition of the box and how poorly it was packaged.  The machine was hanging outside of the box!  I took pictures of the packaging and then proceeded to unleash my possible “BIG” ebay bidding mishap.  Guess what!  It worked right when I plugged it in! It is still working!  Nothing was wrong with it at all! So I got an Imagine for $124!  YEAH! 

Thanks for sharing a piece of “this is one LONG blog post that is all over the map” pie with me! 🙂

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Ruff Day!

Posted on December 1, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

My husband’s brother and his wife had a doggie named Molly.  She was about 3 years old and had her last day of chasing squirrels and protecting her “pack” that consisted of humans, a dog, a pig, a few goats, a donkey, and some barn cats that dwelled on a 5 acre homestead this past Sunday. Sadly, it appears her last moments were doing what she did best, and that was protecting.  It was a sad day for the family and even me.  She was a funny dog with a lot of sass and vinegar… something I can identify with. 

I made this card for my brother and sister-in-law to express our sympathy for their loss, since we are dog lovers too, we could not even imagine what it would be like to loose our 5 year old pound puppy, Sadie.

I am certian that Ms. Molly is running to her heart’s delight in doggie heaven, since all dogs get to go to heaven. 

Thanks for coming and sharing a piece of ” loving and remembering a good dog” pie with me.

Recipe:

Cricut Cartridge:  Creat A Critter cut at 4 inches

Paper: Used from my scrap bin

Cuttlebug: Embossing Folder

Ribbon: My Craft Spot – Baker’s Twin

Ink:

  • Stampin’ Up pastels for the edging around the dog’s features
  • Uniball Signo White Gel Pen – for stitching an eyes
  • Stampin Up Early Espresso Stamp Pad – for sentiment inside card

Stamps: My Pink Stamper

Glossy Accests fro the nose and eyes

Pop Dots

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Quick and Easy Comfort Food: Ravioli Lasagna

Posted on December 1, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

 

While in the midst of doing a million Christmas crafty-craft projects I am going to take a moment to post a quick and easy comfort food family favorite I came up with this year.  Everyone loves lasagna and everyone loves ravioli, what do you get when you meld the concept of lasagna with ravioli?  A wonderful surprise twists two very classic dishes!   This dish literally takes about 15 minutes to throw together and about 40 minutes in the oven and it tastes like you cooked all day If you would like to freeze it, skip placing it in the oven and just freeze it.  Pop in the oven for about hour covered (pull cover off the last 15 minutes).  This is a great dish to make for a meal to bring for a new baby etc…

Ingredients:

  • Package of ground turkey, ground beef or Italian sausage
  • 3 9-10 oz packages of per-made ravioli (you usually can find them in the refrigerator section – Costco also carries them) I mix it up and add one cheese base ravioli and then a spinach based ravioli for the other two
  • 1 container of ricotta
  • 1 jar of your favorite marinara
  • 2.5 cups of mozzarella cheese
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Spray olive oil

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 425.
  2. Brown meat and while browning meat, bring a large pot of water to a boil.
  3. Add salt and pepper to taste to browning meat.
  4. Once meat is browned and water has reached a boil, toss in the three packages of ravioli into the water and boil for about 3 to 4 minutes (if you toss in frozen boil for about 6 minutes) They don’t need to be fully cooked through, you want them to be very firm and they will finish cooking in the oven. 
  5. While the ravioli is boiling add jar of marinara and bring to a simmer.
  6. Once sauce is at a simmer (which should be within a minute or so) add the entire contents of the ricotta to the sauce and blend well.  Keep stove on low to medium and let simmer until ravioli is done
  7. Strain ravioli carefully so they don’t break and begin the layering process.
  8. Spray a deep baking dish with non-stick olive oil spray (Pam or veggie spray oil).
  9. Start layering with the first layer being the ravioli, then sauce, cheese and then ravioli.  Do this until all the ravioli and sauce is gone.  Top with cheese and place in the oven for about 35-40 minutes.

Serves about 8-10 servings.  Serve with a fresh salad and garlic bread.

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A Little Crafty Polling in Exchange for a Giveaway!

Posted on November 14, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

Happy Monday All!

So, I am putting together my Christmas Wish List and I have a few questions on two different paper crafting products!  I will have a fun giveaway for paper crafting staples just in time for your Christmas projects ( Holiday themed Stickles, and the November Stamp of the Month “Cherish the Day” from Close to my Heart) for those that are willing to take the time to participate.  Please only answer the poll questions if you are a user of one or both of products. If you wish to refer a friend that has knowledge of these products to this poll, I would greatly appreciate it.  More information is great consumer power! 🙂

Check out what the giveaway stamp of December looks like

  Please leave a comment, blog-link and/or email that you participated in the polling.  Your comments will not link to your polling, so your poll answers will be anonymous. 🙂 I will close on Friday and I will announce the winner on Saturday. 

Thanks for sharing a piece of “knowledge is power” pie with me!

Zutter Bind it All

Cricut Imagine

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Yay for Mr. Butterball!

Posted on November 4, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

I have a little bit, OK who am I kidding, a ton of sass in my personality, so I had a friend post this on my Facebook page, and thought I need to share this on the ‘ol blog… Thanksgiving is my absolute fav holiday, so I have to stand behind Mr. Butterball on this one! Happy November everyone!

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Halloween!

Posted on November 2, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

Halloween Tree

Well it is over… Halloween that is.  The kids are coming down from the sugar and party high which makes for some challenging moments and there were times yesterday I was convinced they were trying out a few new little monster costumes. 

 The party was a huge success.  We ended up having  all but 3 families show up but a few “last-minute invites” took their place, so I had a total of about 20 kids and 40-ish adults here.  It was a little overwhelming at times trying to keep cold beverages in everyone’s hands (it was 80 degrees and I was the requested margarita maker – I can make  a mean margarita!) while trying to catch up with friends and remembering to change my youngest diaper.    The best feedback was my oldest telling me that she can’t wait until next year, so we can do it again!

Trick or Treating was my favorite thing we did.  My kids really have the hang of it this year and marched, sometimes bravely, to doors and melted everyone’s heart out of more candy than they should have been given with “please”, “thank you” and “Happy Halloween”.  That made this mommy very happy!

I am super sorry that I don’t have more detailed pictures of my projects and a ton of them are missing.  It was just a bit crazy to get it all documented.  I did have a kids craft table where they got to decorate little fash lights that came with batteries I picked up at Home Depot to take with them for Halloween night. That was a big hit with both kids and parents. 

Thanks for coming and sharing a piece of “Life’s is a Party” pie with me!

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Easy as Pie Trick or Treat Bag!

Posted on October 29, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

I am taking a quick break  from party prep!  Here is one of my Halloween projects I just wrapped up.  I made this for a dear friend’s daughter.  I mixed the paint I used with glow in the dark paint, which I tested and it really glows in the dark!  I was unsure it was going to work, so I was pleasantly surprised!  This was a pretty easy bag to make, only took about an hour or so. It was all no sew since I picked up the bag at Michael’s for $1.50 and then me and the glue gun had a hot date (literally)!  I promised my girls they will have one next year! 🙂 

Now back to the pre-party madness!  I will post pictures on Monday of the fun event and the fruit of all the hard work these past weeks… one hiccup today though!  I rented white child chairs and paid for them in advance to have this weekend and when I went to pick them up they only had green!  It really does not go with my ghost theme, but I will make due, especially since they were so apologetic and refunded me all the money for their mistake.  

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My Pinkalicious Blog Hop Challenge: Wildly Sweet Notebook

Posted on September 12, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

Last Friday My Pink Stamper had her monthly My Pinkalicious Blog Hop.  The theme was “school” that could not be a card or scrapbook page.  The ideas and creativity that came along that blog hop was AMAZING!  I have listed at least seven projects I want to do. 

In spirit of the challenge, MPS presented a similar theme for the challenge.  I just had my first chance to make my project last night since my “big” project just wrapped up yesterday.  I have been following the submissions and the creativity and ideas are equally inspiring.  There is a few “crayon wreaths” that I just adore and will make for a couple of teachers this year.

For this challenge, I decided to make my teenage neighbor, who is our baby sitter, a composition book with a my usual “sweet wild” theme. Yes… I know… If I were a contestant on Project Runway and Michael Kors or Nina Garcia were judging me they would be yawning on my same old theme… but I can’t help it, I LOVE animal print and cupcakes!   Since she is in High School, I assume she can use this for all the note taking that comes with the territory of being a high schooler.  I embossed the “cupcake” with the Cuttlebug Number’s folder to give it a more “school time theme”. 

Thanks for coming and sharing a piece of “blog hoppin’ challenge” pie with me.

Recipe:

Cartridge:  Rock Princess – Cupcake shadow and top cut at 4 inches.

Cuttlebug Folder: Numbers

Paper Punch:  Martha Stewart’s Ribbon Punch

Paper:  For base it was 9.5 inches long and 7.5 wide (I cut two sheets one for the front and one for the back). For the bottom front I cut 3 inch long and 7.5 wide and then punched and weaved ribbon through it.  For the spine it was 2.5 wide and 9.5 long.

  • Anna Griffin, Peyton Collection
  • Brazzil: Pinkini
  • Recollections: Mat Black cardstock.

Ribbon:

  • Celebrations: 2 inch black and white zebra stripe.
  • Celebrations: 1/2 inch black satin

Stamps:  My Pink Stamper’s Font-a-licious (I lined up upper and lower case letters and used the long and skinny “Rock Block” to form the name.

Stamp Ink:  Stampin’ Up Classic Black

Button:

Black Glossy Enamel for confetti on cupcake

ATG Gun

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Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Rock Princess Cricut Cartridge, Cuttlebug Folders, Pie's Challenges, Pie's Craftiness, Pie's Cricut, Pie's Do It Yourself Projects, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

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! 🙂

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Card Making and Cooking; When Two Perfect Worlds Collide!

Posted on June 23, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

This week is VBS for my three-year old! While volunteering in the classrooms,  I volunteered to bring a dish for one of the nights for the volunteers.  Last night was my night and I made a recipe that I more or less made up with a little help from our local Trader Joe’s. 

Since the dish would appear non- descript, I decided to make a fun “calling card” for the dish.  Apparently the dish was a huge hit, and was gobbled up in no time flat.  So if you are looking for a fun and yummy dish to take to your next potluck, here is an idea!

 

Chili Corndog Bake

Ingredients:

  • 1 Box of cornbread mix (follow the directions of the box to make)
  • 2 packages of hotdogs (16 dogs) * I used turkey dogs
  • 1 cups of shredded mild cheddar cheese
  • 2 cups of mozzarella cheese.  You can substitute  jack cheese.  I like mine super cheesy that melts smooth and creamy so I use mozzarella.
  • 3 cans of chili with beans of your choice. * I used turkey chili with beans.
  • Diced red onions (optional)
  • Diced jalapeno for garnish (optional)

 

Directions:

  • Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
  • Grease a large casserole dish or aluminum throw-away bake and serve dish with oil spray.
  • Empty contents of chili cans into the dish.
  • Cut hot dogs in threes length wise and dice into small pieces and place in dish.
  • Add 2 cups of shredded mozzarella or  jack cheese to dish.
  • Combine all ingredients and spread evenly.
  • Sprinkle top with 1 1/2 cup of shredded mild cheddar cheese.
  • Follow the directions on cornbread box and make cornbread in a seperate bowl.
  • Spread cornbread evenly onto chili mixture.
  • Place in oven and bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean.

 

Card: 

  • Base: I cut a piece of white cardstock down to 12 inches wide and 8 inches long and scored it to fold in half (new measurements 6×4)
  • Paper: I cut down a piece of design paper from Die Cuts with a View, Summer Stacker to 6×2 2 1/2.
  • Cricut cartridges: Simply Charmed (Shadow setting on hotdog and hot dog bun and mustard set at 3 inches)
  • Cricut cartridges: Schoolbooks Plantain.  Typed in the words “chili corndog bake” at 1 inch setting.
  • Stamps: Peachy Keen Big Eyes Boy
  • Stamp Ink: Stampin’ Up Classic Black
  • Ribbon: Used some scrap I had.
  • I attached the hot dog with dimensional.

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Plantain Cricut Cartridge, Cricut Cartridge: Simply Charmed Cricut Cartridge, Pie's Craftiness, Pie's Cricut, Pie's Recipes, Pie's Tips and Tricks, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.
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