A Piece of Life's Pie

Who needs and Ice Cream Cone when you have Hot Coco Cones!

Posted on December 23, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

Back in early November I decided that I was not going to make my shortbread chocolate dipped cookies for my Christmas goodies I pass out. Instead I thought of the hot coco cones I saw at a local Harvest Craft fair back in October and thought I would take a stab at doing that.

I forgot to purchase one at the fair to break down and see how it was done and the quantity they used. Luckily My Pink Stamper did a whole tutorial on making these since she saw the same idea at a craft fair she was at… how random!

I made over 5 dozen of these using a tag from Winter Frolic cut at 1 3/4 inches. I used some christmas paper that I had in my stash from a million years ago (I am totally on this kick to be out with the old before I buy another sheet of paper). I used Stickles for the scarf. For the stamping I used Close to My Heart and Stampin’ Up Inks and My Pink Stamper’s Winter Treats and Sayings and Christmas Wishes stamp set.

The past week I have been passing these out and everyone is LOVING them! I think I just found my new Christmas goodie tradition and it something that the kids love to help with!

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Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Winter Frolic Cricut Cartridge, Gift Ideas, My Pink Stamper - Christmas Wishes, My Pink Stamper Winter Treats and Sayings, Pie's Craftiness, Pie's Cricut, Pie's Do It Yourself Projects, Pie's Tips and Tricks and tagged chrismas goodie bags, Coco cones, cricut creations, do it yourself christmas goodies, how to make hot coco cones, My Pink Stamper. Bookmark the permalink.

Bringing a Little Glitz to a Favorite Bible Story

Posted on December 21, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

I made this for a Christmas present for someone (can’t say who, just in case they read this blog). I finished it late last night. This has been a project 3 years in the making. I saw this idea (at least the glittering of the animals for Christmas tree ornaments) on Martha Stewart’s show back in December of 2008. I ordered the set from her vendor she was showcasing and started on this project. . . . I only was able to glitter 2 sets of animals and then came down with Hyperemisis (extreme morning sickness where I needed home IVs to stay hydrated for weeks) with my second child. Then we bought a house that was a fixer 4 weeks after she was born.

In reorganizing and getting a dream craftroom set up (will be showcasing that in a few weeks) I found this unfinished project and decided to finish it, but with a new twist. Make a wreath out of it.

I had a heck of a time finding a big enough wreath to fit everything and I wanted a rustic year-round wreath so I stuck with grapevine. I welded the two 18 inch wreaths I found at Michael’s with zip ties and then glittered the components. WHAT A MESS! My hard floors will ever resemble a disco ball! I then hot glued the animals in pairs and then found some wooden letters to add the word “Promise” on the Ark – that was not part of the kit.

I then set the glitter with hair spray ( a trick I found via Martha Stewart’s latest magazine). I used crinkle ribbon I got via My Craft Spot (the best ribbon ever!) to tie the animals on to the wreath and for embelishments. I reinforced all the wooden components with hot glue.

It was a fun project, but I think I will not take on such a big glitter job in a long while. The whole time I was doing this I was bummed that Beacon has not put that amazing glittering adhesive on the market that I saw showcased via My Pink Stamper! That will be the next must have in the supply closet!

Thanks for coming and sharing a piece of “my craft room looks like Tinker Bell resides there” pie with me!

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Posted in Pie's Craftiness, Pie's Do It Yourself Projects, Pie's Tips and Tricks and tagged Becon Adhesives, crinkle ribbon, glitter, glittering craf idea, grapevine weath craft idea, holiday gift ideas, Martha Stewart Crafts, My Craft Spot, My Pink Stamper videos, Noah's Ark craft idea, using hair spray for sealing glitter, Wreath making. Bookmark the permalink.

My Stab at a Crayon Wreath

Posted on December 13, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

‘Tis the season for making homemade Christmas gifts. This past fall I saw these done and decided that I wanted to do this for my daughter’s teacher. She is a pre-k teacher that is just amazing. I adore her and will be sad to say goodbye this year. She has a time during her class where she does neat science experiments for the kiddos and when the experiment is done she always says, “That’s science friends!”. I wanted to incorporate that into the project as well.

It was a bit more labor intensive than I expected and what I used was a wire wreath and flipped it over and placed a glass bowl in the middle to line up the crayons perfectly. I then hot glued the crayons to the wire . . . that was a bit tricky, but I figured it out.

I have one more to make and I will take pics along the way to the steps I did so you can see how it was done and the recipe next week.

Thanks for sharing a bit of “spreading the Christmas cheer” pie with me.

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Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Celebrations Cricut Cartridge, Cricut Cartridge: Simply Charmed Cricut Cartridge, Cuttlebug Folders, My Pink Stamper - Font-abulous, Pie's Craftiness, Pie's Cricut, Pie's Do It Yourself Projects, Pie's Tips and Tricks and tagged chrstmas ideas for teachers, crafting with crayons, Crayon Wreaths, Cricut Design Studio, criuct projects, Die Cute with A View, do it yourself christmas ideas for teachers, My Pink Stamper Font-aboulous stamp set, Stickles. Bookmark the permalink.

Taking Time for a Dear Friend!

Posted on December 8, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

I am in deep with Christmas project mode and I got a call from a friend that needed some help for making some last-minute thank you tags for a party she is throwing this week. It is going to be a very special and elegant party so I did a few samples for her and this is what we came up with. Thankfully they are done and in the safety of her hands and I am back onto Christmas crafty crazy!

Thanks for coming hand sharing a piece of “keeping your friends priority” pie with me.

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recipe:

Cricut Cartridge: Storybook cut at 2 inches. The card base was cut to business card size of 2 inches high and 3.5 inches long.

Cuttlebug – Embossing Folder Musical Flourish

Paper- belive it or not all scrap! Yay!

Stamp: My Pink Stamper – Everyday Life

Ink: Stampin’ Up Classic Black

Ribbon: Celebrate It wire red 1 inch

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Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Storybook Cricut Cartridge, Cuttlebug Folders, Gift Ideas, My Pink Stamper - Every Day Life, Pie's Craftiness, Pie's Cricut, Pie's Do It Yourself Projects, Pie's Parties and tagged crafting, cricut thank you tag ideas, elegant thank you cards, friendship, goodie bag ideas, My Pink Stamper, tag ideas. Bookmark the permalink.

Candy Canes and Caroling!

Posted on December 8, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

My oldest is in a co-op preschool where we are going to go caroling at a little coffee shop next Tuesday. I offered making the 4 – dozen candy cane Holiday salutations for the kiddos to pass out.

Thanks for coming and sharing a piece of “jingle all the way” pie with me!

Recipe:

Cricut Cartridge: Winter Frolic cut at 1 3/4

Paper: scrap I had on hand – I am trying to use all my scrap from the year.

Ribbon scrap I had on hand

Stamp: My Pink Stamper’s – Christmas Wishes

Ink: Stampin’ Up Early Espresso

Stickles – X-mas Red

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Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Winter Frolic Cricut Cartridge, My Pink Stamper - Christmas Wishes and tagged candy cane craft ideas, goodie ideas for christmas carloing, My Pink Stamper, preschool christmas goodie idea, winter frolic cricut cartridge. Bookmark the permalink.

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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Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Create A Critter Cricut Cartridge, Cuttlebug Folders, My Pink Stamper - Every Day Life, Pie's Craftiness, Pie's Cricut, Uncategorized and tagged all dogs go to heaven, cards for dog lovers, crafting with animals in mind, dog lovers, dog sympathy cards, man's best friend, My Pink Stamper, stampin up pastels. Bookmark the permalink.

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:

Preheat oven to 425.
Brown meat and while browning meat, bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Add salt and pepper to taste to browning meat.
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.
While the ravioli is boiling add jar of marinara and bring to a simmer.
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
Strain ravioli carefully so they don’t break and begin the layering process.
Spray a deep baking dish with non-stick olive oil spray (Pam or veggie spray oil).
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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Posted in Pie's Recipes, Pie's Tips and Tricks, Uncategorized and tagged comfort food, easy comfort food, ideas for meals to take to friends, lasagna recipes, quick meals, ravioli recipes, yummy food. Bookmark the permalink.

A Quick Pre-Game Day Card and Post!

Posted on November 23, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

It is almost game day here at Camp Pie. Thanksgiving is one of my fav holidays! Since I love to cook, I find this holiday is my personal Superbowl. The house is already stating to fill with the aroma of sweet and savory things! We don’t have a lot of family close by, but I cook like we do so friends that pop in over the long weekend will have plenty to eat!

This weekend will be filled with heading off to the mall at midnight Thanksgiving to see what Gymboree has to offer on deals and just get out with the “crazies”, getting Christmas out and re-organizing the house!

Here was a project I did before I transitioned into Turkey Day Bowl! It was a thank you card for a pre-turkey day dinner we were invited to.

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Thanks for having a piece of “tingling with Turkey Day fever” pie with me.

Recipe:

Cricut Cartridge: Wild Card – both card and envelope cut at 5 inches.

Paper: Die Cuts with a View – Cotton Stacker and Recollections for white sentiment holder

Ink: Martha Stewart Craft Ink pens

Stamp – My Pink Stamper

Ribbon – Crinkle Ribbon Vanilla Bean – My Craft Spot

Additional Embellishments – Perfect Peals – Bistro set (added around sentiment for a more distressed look)

2 Comments

Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Wild Card Cricut Cartridge, My Pink Stamper - Every Day Life, Pie's Craftiness, Pie's Cricut, Pie's Do It Yourself Projects and tagged card makikng, crafting, family, quick cards using Cricut Cartridge, thank you cards, thanksgiving, ways to use Ranger Perfect Pearls. Bookmark the permalink.

Turkey Day Cupcakes!

Posted on November 19, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

Hello everyone! I had so much fun today making these with my kiddos. We made the cupcakes and the toppers!

Thanks for coming and sharing a piece of “early Turkey Day” pie with me.

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Recipe:

Cartridge: Mini Monograms for circle cut at 1 3/4, 2 3/4 and 2 1/4

Cuttlebug: Distressed Stripes

Paper: Die Cuts with a View – Harvest Gatherings, Recollections cardstock

Glossy Accents

Ink: chocolate – Close to my Heart

Stickles

Wilton lollipop sticks – 4 inches

1 Comment

Posted in Cricut Cartridge: Mini Monograms Cricut Cartridge, Cuttlebug Folders, Pie's Craftiness, Pie's Cricut, Pie's Do It Yourself Projects, Pie's Parties, Pie's Recipes, Pie's Tips and Tricks and tagged Cricut cupcake toppers, cupcake toppers for Thanksgiving, cupcakes, holiday crafts, Kid friendly do it yourself projects, pumpkin cupcakes, Thanksgiving Cupcake Toppers. Bookmark the permalink.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Posted on November 19, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

Happy Saturday before Turkey Day! I am heading off to our first Thanksgiving meal of the season today! I am super excited that I am cooking this year on the big day! However, today I am going to make pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes to bring to the dinner along with a bottle of wine.

Now on to the winner of my poll I conducted this week. I used Random.org and numbered the names of the participants and wallah… the winner is Missy from Quick Chick Designs! I could not embed the widget into this blog… totally frustrating. If you know how please let me know! I think you are going to LOVE the stamp set ( I am going bananas for it) and the holiday themed Stickles. The neat thing about the stamp set is that it is compatible with the Cricut Cartridge, Art Philosophy. I will contact you to for you mailing address!

As for my decision, I decided to go with the Cinch (it is on sale at Jo-Ann’s for 40% off)…the Imagine, is a given.. of course I will get it! 🙂 Thank you for all your feedback. It really helped! I would have never knew about the Cinch and I was put to ease about the ink consumption for the Imagine.

Last week I participated in my first Close to My Heart card workshop. It was super fun and the ladies I met there where a stitch. They had me laughing more than creating! It was a great time. Here are a few cards we made.

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Thanks for having a peice of “winner, winner, chicken dinner” pie with me!