A Piece of Life's Pie

A Fun Challenge Card for a Special Green Thumb

Posted on February 22, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

I think I am liking this idea of participating in a weekly challenge since it MAKES me break away from what I have already cookin’ to just craft from my heart without it being under the confines of a “must do”project (even though I love crafting no matter what – right now I am up to my elbows in Hello Kitty party makin’ stuff for my almost 4-year-old).

Here is what I came up for the Challenge Me Monday #99 challenge from Fantabulous Cricut and the for the first time to participate in Die Cuttin’ Diva’s Challenge # 54 . I made this with someone in mind that will fit perfectly to who they are and what they have a true passion in doing . . . gardening! She is the type of person that can literally slap a piece off a piece of a plant in the ground and then step on it and walk away and it grows like nothing anyone has ever seen. She possesses the sixth sense of being a true green thumb. I can’t wait to give her this card, because everything that she plants blooms right where it was planted!

Thanks for sharing a piece of ” having fun with my crafty thumb for a green thumb” pie with me!

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Recipe:

Cricut Cartridge: Walk in My Garden – Wheelbarrow cut at 2 inches – Garden tools cut at 1 1/2 inches.

Cuttlebug: Distressed Stripes

Paper: Die Cut with a View mini stacker – Harvest – Recollections Red and white cardstock

Ribbon Rosetts- (pre-made)

Baker’s Twine: Stampin’ Up

Glossy Accents (Clear and Black)

Stamps: My Pink Stamper – Everyday Life

Ink – Close to My Heart – Holiday Red

24 Comments

Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Walk In My Garden Criuct Cartridge, Cuttlebug Folders, Gift Ideas, My Pink Stamper - Every Day Life, Pie's Challenges, Pie's Craftiness, Pie's Cricut, Pie's Do It Yourself Projects and tagged Cricut crafting, gardeing cards, ideas for gardening cards, making cards for green thumbs, My Pink Stamper, paper crafting, Stampin Up, using rosetts for crafting. Bookmark the permalink.

My First Monday Fantabulous Cricut Challenge – Fun with Puns

Posted on February 16, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

I found this blog, Fantabulous Cricut this past weekend and was actually challenged by this week’s challenge of making a card using a pun. I usually don’t gravitate towards using puns in my card making, so this posed a bit of a fun challenge. I had certain peeps in mind for this card and began to build a concept. I printed out the pun on card stock in a font that would most suit as a stamp at 14 pt Bradley font and for the word “hare” at 16 pt Bradley font.

This card is for two people who have been through the ringer with loss, illness and very surprising news these past few months. I hope this brings a smile to their faces when they open this card!

Thanks for coming and sharing a piece of “puny” pie with me.

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Recipe:

Cricut Cartridge:

Love You A Latte – teacup cut at 3.5 – teabag cut at 7 inches (the shadow cut)

Create A Critter – Rabbit cut at 2.5

Paper:

Recollections – Berry Collection

Recollections – Red, and pink, white

Papertreyink- Spring Moss

Ink: White Gel Pen for stitching, Stampin’ Up Early Espresso for edging, Close to My Heart – Holiday Red for sentiment.

Sentiment – My Pink Stamper – Itty-bitty-licious

Glitter – Recollections Chunky Glitter – raspberry

Glossy Accents for nose and cheeks

Baker’s Twine – Berries and Cream from My Craft Spot

10 Comments

Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Create A Critter Cricut Cartridge, Cricut Cartridge: Love You a Latte Cricut Cartridge, My Pink Stamper - Itty-Bitty-licious, Pie's Challenges, Pie's Cricut and tagged card making, cards using puns, Crafting challenges, Cricut, do it yourself projects, fun with puns cards, get well cards using puns, My Craft Spot, My Pink Stamper, Projects using chunky glitter. Bookmark the permalink.

My Pink Stamper’s Pink-alicious Blog Hop Challenge!

Posted on February 12, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

I was not sure I was going to be able to participate in My Pink Stamper’s Blog Hop Challenge this go-around since I am still nursing the war wounds of having the stomach flu for the second time in 6 -weeks! Yikes!

But today, I wanted to take it easy and decided to work on my Valentine’s Day project stuff and came up with this card times four for some special moms I am getting to know in my daughter’s co-op preschool using the challenge details of using multiple My Pink Stamper Stamps, a Cricut cut out, the color pink ribbon, a circle and the color red.

All these moms share something special in common! They are expecting! There are 19 of us and four are expecting! I decided to do a semi-Valentine meets word collage for a perggers mommy card. I am doing something else for all those that decided not to drink the water, but I wanted to do something a little more special for these ladies.

Some have had horrible morning sickness, some have worries from what they experienced in their last pregnancies and ALL already have small children to tend to. Since I could write a book about all the above, I have a special place in my heart for these ladies and if and when I can get a chance to show them I care, I will . . . hence the card.

Thanks for sharing a piece of “remembering what it was like being pregnant and showing a little extra love to those that are on Valentine’s Day” pie with me.

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Recipe:

Cricut Cartridges:

Everyday Pop Up – Maternity cut at 4 inches

Plantin SchoolBook – Heart cut at 3 1/4 inches

Cuttlebug:

Swiss Dots

Swirls

Paper:

Recollections – Red, pastel pink, white, black

Ribbon: Celebrate it 1/8 inch pink satin

Stamps: My Pink Stamper’s: Spectacular Sayings, Itty-Bitty-licious, Everyday Life, Christmas Wishes

Ink: Stampin’ Up Classic Black and Close to my HeartHolidayRed

Gem: for the ring bling and for my circle

Stickles -Xmas Red for the shoes!

6 Comments

Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Everyday Pop-Up Cards, Cricut Cartridge: Plantain Cricut Cartridge, Cuttlebug Folders, My Pink Stamper - Christmas Wishes, My Pink Stamper - Every Day Life, My Pink Stamper - Itty-Bitty-licious, My Pink Stamper - Spectacular Sayings, Pie's Challenges, Pie's Do It Yourself Projects. Bookmark the permalink.

A QUICK and I mean QUICK Valentine Idea Afterglow!

Posted on February 9, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

So I am still on a huge high from having a wonderful spot on the CREAT Blog today! My husband is a bit worried he may not be able to sleep tonight since I am beaming from all the excitement. So to organize some of that excitement I decided to make a quick video! NOOOOOO! Not another one! I promise not so much of the gabby gift that I have this time!

I found this idea via Pinterest and loved it!

Thanks for sharing a piece of “too excited to do anything productive today, so why not produce a video” pie with me!

2 Comments

Posted in A Piece of Pie YouTube Videos, Cricut Cartridge: Walk In My Garden Criuct Cartridge, Gift Ideas and tagged craft ideas for tootsie pops, crafting with kids in mind, Creat blog, creating with cricut, Cricut, Northridge publishing blog, valentine gift idea, valentine ideas for kids, valentine ideas using a tootsie pop, valentine ideas using your cricut. Bookmark the permalink.

Drum Roll Please. . . A Piece of Pie has been Published!

Posted on February 3, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

With six months of waiting I finally got to get the first issue off the shelf at my local Michael’s last night. It was a bit surreal standing in the corner of my Michael’s flipping through the February issue of Cricut magazine and there it was! I felt like Martha Stewart for one hot minute. . . without her enormous empire and bank account!

Back to the reality of laundry, housecleaning, and taking care of the two best things I ever made! Still it was super fun to be known other than “just a mom that lives in sweats and t-shirts” for a minute.

I think it is neat that my kids are seeing me shoot for dreams and challenges and achieving success within my scope of reality. I hope that these are examples that will resonate with them as they mature into amazing young women, that it is OK to put yourself and your talent out there no matter where you are in life and sometimes the payoff is very rewarding and self-fulfilling.

Thanks for sharing a piece of “15 minutes of Cricut crafting fame” pie with me!

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Posted in Pie's Awards, Pie's Craftiness, Pie's Cricut and tagged achieving success, banners, crafting, Cricut, Cricut Magazine, laundry, Martha Stewart, Michael's, northridge publishing, paper crafting, published work, success, young women. Bookmark the permalink.

A Piece of Pie Video: Valentine Gift Box

Posted on January 28, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

Ok y’all, time come to belly up to the craft table for another helping of A Piece of Pie Video! First I must thank you for being my lab rats with me learning this whole video thing, especially the editing. I will have to admit, I was a bit LONG winded in the introduction, so if you are needing escape that and get on with the actual tutorial, you can fast forward to about the 6 minute mark.. . . but you may miss out on all the sassy subtitles! 🙂

Thank you for coming and sharing a piece of “progress in the video making” pie with me!

5 Comments

Posted in A Piece of Pie YouTube Videos, Cricut Cartridge: Simply Charmed Cricut Cartridge, Cuttlebug Folders, Gift Ideas, My Pink Stamper - Christmas Wishes, Pie's Cricut, Pie's Do It Yourself Projects and tagged Adele, do it yourself videos, gift boxes, How to use a crip-a-dile, projects for valentine's day using Simply Charmed, valentine gift boxes, Video making. Bookmark the permalink.

Hugs and Kisses Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on January 26, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

In the spirit of it almost being Valentine’s Day, I decided to start testing some recipe ideas for my little one’s school Valentine’s party. Since her request was something pink, I thought about making pink chocolate chip cookies and I tried a recipe sponsored by Betty Crocker’s sugar cookie recipe and I did not like them. I thought of shortbread cookies and that they may be a good option since the recipe did not need to be modified for not having eggs in them, which will compromise the color of the cookies due to the yoke.

I pulled up my favorite recipe by Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa, and did some modifications. I guess if you change three things to a orignial recipe, it can be called your own, according to the Culinary Art Institute. So here it is! They turned out WONDERFUL and super cute! Exactly what I wanted!

Recipe: (I stared the items I changed from the original recipe)

Ingredients

3/4 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 drops of Pink food coloring or 2-3 drops of red food coloring – depending on the color pink you want. *
1 1/2 cup sugar *
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-2 tablespoons of milk (to add a tad bit of moisture back into the batter once the flour has been added)*
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips *

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter, vanilla, and food coloring. Mix until correct color is achieved. Add 1 cup of sugar until they are just combined. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low-speed until the dough starts to come together then add chocolate chips just until they are mixed through. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 30 minutes. This is also good to make ahead of time and pull out each disk at a time.

Roll the dough 1/2-inch thick and cut with any shape cookie cutter. Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet or use parchment paper. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Thanks for coming and sharing a piece of “think pink” pie with me!

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Posted in Pie's Do It Yourself Projects, Pie's Recipes and tagged Barefoot Contessa, cookie recipes, Ina Garten, Pink Chocolate Chip Cookies, shortbread cookie recipes, valentine's day recipes. Bookmark the permalink.

A Piece of Pie Video: Hello Kitty Tootsie Pops

Posted on January 20, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

Yes, I am going to make you endure my SECOND ever made video! This time I did have fun with some new music I discovered, thanks to Pandora radio!

Even though my little one’s birthday is not until March, I am in project mode to get as much done for her little party as I can, so while I was coming up with ideas, I threw together this video and I hope it comes in handy for someone out there in cyber crafty land!

Thanks for coming and sharing a piece of “NOT ANOTHER A PIECE OF PIE VIDEO” pie with me! 🙂

8 Comments

Posted in A Piece of Pie YouTube Videos, Pie's Craftiness, Pie's Do It Yourself Projects, Pie's Parties, Pie's Tips and Tricks. Bookmark the permalink.

In Recovery Mode!

Posted on January 19, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

The holidays were a whirl wind! I figured I logged about 40 hours in my craft room during the month of December! That meant late, late nights after the kids went to bed. Now I am in a bit of recovery mode from post holiday illnesses that took the family by storm and just getting my house back in order and us on a routine.

I did manage to sneak in to my craft room to make a couple of birthday cards and a Valentine banner. This weekend I plan on finishing up my craft space and starting a huge project of making scrapbooks for all the moms in my daughter’s co-op preschool. Just shoot me for being over ambitions now! 🙂

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The banner was made out of felt and I picked up some ribbon and the heart string at Micheal’s

The card was made out of a new cart I just got called Life’s a Party! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the cart. The paper was from “open stock” at Michael’s and I embossed it with circles and spots Cuttlebug embossing folder. The sentiment is from My Pink Stamper, of course!

Thanks for coming and having a piece of “recovering” pie with me!

2 Comments

Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Life's a Party, Cuttlebug Folders, Gift Ideas, My Pink Stamper - Every Day Life, Pie's Cricut, Pie's Do It Yourself Projects and tagged alien birthday cards, boy birthday cards, boy cards using Life's a Party, Cricut, Cuttlebug, Do It Yourself, no sew banners, space themed cards, valentine banners. Bookmark the permalink.

I Have Been Doing a lot of Pie Making!

Posted on January 5, 2012 by apieceoflifespie

. . . well at least a lot of crafting. Outside of the already posted holiday projects I was up to my ears in crafting over the holidays. Since then we have been batteling the stomach flu, colds and trying to get Christmas and my winter “spring” cleaning done.

Santa was good to me this year! I got a ton of craft store gift cards and The Cinch. I am still holding off on the Imagine, just becasue part of my Christmas/Birthday present from they hubs was re-doing my craft room. So all things in moderation and I LOVE how my craft room is truning out! Deciding to re-do my craft room in the full swing of all the projects was a bit nutty, but if you knew me, you would get that I have a VERY high energy level that does not know how to stop until my body stops me:-).

I am on the hunt for the Hello Kitty Cricut Cart that has been retired so I can do my almost 4 year old’s bithday stuff, if you know of a place I can find it, that is not going to cost a million dollars, please let me know. I have been looking on Ebay and they are going for about $80-$100.

So on to my projects and thanks for coming and sharing a piece of “wow no wonder I am a wee bit Christmas Cheered Out” pie with me!

Project 1: Idea came from My Pink Stamper’s 12 Days of Christmas.

Project 2: Another idea from My Pink Stamper’s 12 Days of Christmas for the lady that does my hair. She lives in the “Christmas Candy Cane Lane” neigborhood and has the Charlie Brown themed house. She sits out with friends and family almost every night greeting the hundreds of people checking out the lights and I thought this would keep those sheer cutting hands warm.

Project 3: I made these cards for my nephews who were getting gift cards. They liked them!

Project 4: I made these pack of cards for all the ladies in our family. I ended up making 3 in each set which came to 21 cards! I did this kind of last minute. I used My Pink Stamper’s Sweetest Cupcake Stampset I won from a Blog Hop Challenge back in August. I also used Once Upon A Princess Cartridge for the cupcake. All the ladies LOVED them!

Project 5: I made this for a sweet friend that got married on December 9th. It was a very small and close wedding at the beautiful Ojai Valley Inn, Ojai, CA. I was one of the very few that were invited to the quiet and yet elegant event – I also made some tags for this event I posted about earlier this month. I used a new stamp set I got from Close to my Heart, Cherish the Day! The cartrige I used was Storybook – Thank You setting.

Project 6: My girls and I made this for my father-in-law’s birthday that was in early December. He loves old cars, so we had fun doing some new tricks using Peachy Keen faces and Everyday Paper Dolls Cricut Cartridge.

[Project 7: Christmas cards for some bloggging buddies I have formed this year. I used a Christmas stack from Papertreyink, Christmas stamp set from My Pink Stamper and the ortament came from Simply Charmed.