My NEW Cricut Expression!!!

OMG!!! I finally got it!!! My new Cricut Expression!!!

The hub's was listening after all. Every time I see one of these beautiful machines on sale I tell him and it took awhile but he did it!!! He got it for me!!! He planned on getting it for me for Mother's Day but he got a smokin' deal on it and what do ya know. I GOT IT!!!!! YaHOOOO!!!!!!!!  I just had to share and show you the first things I made with it.

I made these mustaches for Gus' pirate party and they are so dang cute!!! Doesn't he look like the guy from Monopoly?!?! Ha ha!!

I used my Gypsy cuz I'm addicted to it and I love it!!

Made this awhile back on a 6 x 12 mat cuz I had a small Cricut. Than as soon as I got this all registered on Cricut.com, I just went in a changed the mat size. Easy Peasy!!! Hooked the sucker up and away we went!!

So much fun I can't stand it!!! I told Chris that the Cricut might just have to stay out on the table for a bit and he said "Yeah, I figured it'd be out for a couple weeks."  :)

Robotz!!!

Hi all!
I haven't had much to blog about lately so I thought I'd post my youngest boy's 1st b-day party. I got this idea from my sisters friend Krissy. I was at a scrapbooking event and she was making invites for her son and I thought they were so cute I decided to do Robotz for Colton. Krissy was kind enough to mail me all the stuff she made. I changed the banner just a bit and made some 3D Robotz and the cupcake toppers with my Cricut.

Colton loved his cupcakes!!

Gus' Art Work

Isn't this amazing?! Clearly my son is an artist right?!?! I just fell in love with it when he brought it home from preschool. I had to do something with it. So, I framed it and hung it up in his bedroom and it couldn't have matched better if I tried to do it myself

I think he SOARED!!!

Here's another one of his masterpieces but I need to get another frame

to put it in. I'll keep you posted on how this one turns out.

Chicken Piccata Pasta

This was our valentines dinner and boy was it good. It's a Pampered Chef recipe and I love it not only because it's delicious, but I can make it dairy free for my youngest boy. It comes together quick and has easy to find ingredients.

Chicken Piccata Pasta

Ingredients:
1 1/4 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1 1/2 Tbs Lemon Pepper Rub
3 cans (14.5 oz each) chicken broth (about 6 cups)
1/2 medium onion chopped
12 oz uncooked angel hair pasta
1 lemon
2 oz cream cheese, softened (I used dairy free cream cheese)
1 can (14 oz) quartered artichoke hearts in water, drained
1/4 cup capers, drained and rinsed
Chopped fresh parsley and grated fresh Parmesan cheese (optional) (I did not use)

Directions:
1: Cut chicken into 1 in pieces. Combine chicken, 1 Tbs olive oil and Rub in mixing bowl; toss to coat. Heat remaining oil in skillet over medium-high heat 1-3 minutes or until shimmering. Add chicken to skillet; cook and stir 10 min or until chicken is golden brown and centers are no longer pink. Remove chicken from skillet; set aside.

2: Meanwhile, pour broth into microwave safe bowl; (I used my Micro-Cooker from PC) microwave, covered, on HIGH 8-10 minutes or until broth comes to a boil. Add onions to skillet; cook 10-20 seconds or until onion is fragrant. Carefully add broth and pasta to skillet; cook, uncovered, 7-8 min or until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally.

3: Zest lemon to measure 1 Tbs. Juice lemon to measure 2 Tbs. Add zest, juice and cream cheese to skillet; stir until cream cheese is fully incorporated. Add chicken and artichokes to skillet. Cook, covered, 1-2 min or until heated through. Remove skillet from heat; stir in capers. Garnish with parsley and Parmesan cheese, if desired.

I was out of the Lemon Pepper Rub so I used their Citrus Basil Rub instead and increased the lemon juice to 3 Tbs. You can just use salt and pepper if you'd rather or any seasoning you want ☺


*Bold items indicate exclusive Pampered Chef items but you do not need to use them*

Pirate Birthday Invites!!

OMG!!! These turned out so fricken cute if I do say so myself!!! I wasn't going to post these until after the party when I post everything else I'm making for it but I had to.

These are Gus' 5th birthday invites. He wants a pirate birthday if you couldn't tell. These were so fun to make and easier than I thought. I did a few test runs with white paper and soaking it in tea but that was an epic fail. Then I remembered I had some brown paper leftover form my wedding invites and just used Distress Ink and dang it if I didn't SOAR!!!! 

First I made the invites on my computer with my Print Master program and printed them 2 to a page. Then trimmed them down to the size I wanted

I used my corner cutter on the edges

Then I roughed up the edges with my scissors cuz I'm too cheap to buy a distress tool  :)

And finally used the pumice stone Distress Ink around the edges. It looks like I burnt the edges huh. LOVE IT!! Gus is pretty happy with them too. Fun Times!!

I'll be putting all the other fun stuff I make for this party so come back and check it out.

Valentines!!!

OK so I strongly dislike Valentines Day BUT..... I have 2 wonderful boy's that deserve a valentine from their mother so this is what I did.

Cute & Fun I must say. I had left over gift bags from a birthday party and I filled them with Mike & Ike's, made a simple tag and tied it on with embroidery thread. So easy and fast. And yes FUN!!!

My take on a good thing

Pesto pasta with chicken sausage and roasted brussel sprouts

http://pinterest.com/pin/224194887669867269/

This was such a yummy dinner and it was the first time trying brusssel sprouts for me and the hubs. Loved them BTW!!! I didn't have any chicken sausage but I did have mild Italian sausage links that I cooked up and used instead. I also couldn't find the orecchiette pasta at my trusty Winco so I got shell pasta instead thinking the shape would hold the pesto just a good. We hogged out on this and so did the kids!! Gus didn't like the brussel sprouts, he said they taste like broccoli. Colton loved them though. You'll have to try it!

Pesto pasta with chicken sausage and roasted brussel sprouts

Ingredients:

• 1 lb fresh brussel sprouts, ends trimmed and any yellowed/browned outer leaves removed, then sliced in half
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly-ground black pepper
• 1 lb (16 oz.) orecchiette (or any pasta)
• 4 chicken sausage links (I used spicy Italian), sliced into 1/4″ thick coins
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup pesto
• Parmesan cheese, for serving

Method:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix together brussel sprouts, 2 Tbsp. olive oil, salt and pepper. Gently stir until well-combined.
Prepare a baking sheet with aluminum foil, then spread the brussel sprouts on it evenly. Roast for about 20-30 minutes, stirring once partway through, or until they are crispy on the outside and cooked on the inside. (My batch of tiny sprouts only took about 12 minutes to cook.) Remove from oven and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, turning occasionally, until nearly-browned, about 6-8 minutes. Add the garlic, and continue cooking for another 1-2 minutes until the garlic is fragrant and the sausage is browned.
Cook the pasta according to the package directions. (I begin heating my water while preparing the brussel sprouts, and added the pasta to the boiling water just after beginning to cook the sausage.) Once the pasta is cooked, drain the water (reserving 1/4 cup pasta water), and then toss together the pasta, pesto, cooked sausage and garlic, and brussel sprouts. Add in some of the reserved pasta water if needed for extra moisture.
Serve warm, and sprinkle with freshly-grated Parmesan cheese.

Crispy Potato Roast

http://pinterest.com/pin/145241156702529072/

This was super delish too. It's like scalloped potatoes with out the fatty sauce. The crispy edges were a nice touch. I might add garlic to it next time  :)

Crispy Potato RoastServes 8

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled
4 shallots, thickly sliced lengthwise
Coarse salt
1/2 to 1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes (optional)
8 sprigs thyme

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, combine butter and oil. Brush bottom of a round 9-inch baking dish with some butter mixture. With a sharp knife or mandolin, slice potatoes very thinly crosswise.

2. Arrange potato slices vertically in dish. Wedge shallots throughout. Sprinkle with salt and red-pepper flakes (if using); brush with remaining butter mixture. Bake 1 1/4 hours. Add thyme and bake until potatoes are cooked through with a crisp top, about 35 minutes more.

♦I got both of these off Pinterest and have put a link to my pins below the pics♦

Bean dip to die for

My mom would freak show on me if she was alive to see me post one of her recipes. But it's one of her best and I just had to share!

Bean Dip

This is actually the small version of my mom's bean dip if you can believe that. It weighs in at about 8-10 lbs and I'm not joking, so make it for a bunch of people.

Ingredients

1 large can on refried beans

1 large bottle of hot sauce

10-13 shakes of Tabasco

lots & lots of grated cheddar cheese

2 8oz pkg cream cheese softened

1/2 cup sour cream

6-8 Tbs mayo

1/2 tsp garlic powder

3 large avocados

3 Tbs lemon juice

1-2 Tbs minced onions

3 can sliced olives

lots & lots more grated cheddar cheese

4-6 roma tomatoes

Mix beans, hot sauce, & Tabasco together and spread on bottom of large dish with at least 2 inch sides. My mom never measured so I can't even tell you how much cheese goes on next.

Just put enough cheese on top of the beans so you can't see any of the beans through the cheese. You are going to want to press the cheese down a bit and make sure you tuck it into the sides somewhat if that makes sence.

Next, mix the cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, & garlic powder in a stand mixer or a hand mixer and spread on top of cheese

This part is tricky cuz the cream cheese mixture sticks to the grated cheese so I plop some down like this and then use a spreader to spread it around.

Once it's all spread out, I take a spatula and scrap the edges down and pull to the center to smooth out

Now you'll need to cut the avocados in half, remove the seed and scoop out the flesh into a mixing bowl. Add lemon juice and minced onions and mix until smooth. (1 Tbs lemon juice for every avocado)

Spread avocado mixture on top of cream cheese mixture and spread out in the same way, using the spatula to scrap edges down and pulling to the center to smooth

Now comes the fun part!! Garnishing!! De-seed the tomatoes and chop. Drain the olives and yep you guessed it, grate more cheese (my mom's recipe called for 2 lbs of cheese but that was for the larger version and this is the small one so maybe 3/4 lb total)

I do this part different every time because I can never remember how I did it last time. After I finished I wish I would've switched the tomato and cheese part at the edges just because I think it would've looked better but oh well. And, no I didn't try to make it look like a football. I have noticed that the tomato part doesn't get eaten as much as the rest so I use more olives and cheese. Have fun with this and put the cheese, olives, & tomatos on as you wish.

No Mess Finger Painting

It's craft day again in the Ferguson house.  I got this idea off Pinterest and had to try it. Gus loved it and Colton was to into his snack to give it much attention.

I put 2 finger paint colors in a Ziploc bag and taped them to the counter. The one I saw on Pinterest taped hers to a dark table so she put a white piece of paper under the bag before taping it to the table but I didn't need to do that here.

Gus just smashed the colors around, mixing them up to make more colors.

We started drawing things in them with our fingers for more fun. We'll definitely be doing this again!

Here's the link to my Pinterest board:

http://pinterest.com/pin/224194887669872332/

I got my craft on

I did a couple of LO's I thought I'd share with you. This first one is in my SMASH book.

I love my Smash book!! I use it more for a scrapbook than a journal. I like it cuz it's small so I can SMASH stuff in it fast while kiddos are napping.

This next one is from Halloween 2009. I got behind on my scrapbooking when my second son was born.

This is by far my favorite LO so far. I watched a video by Shimelle Laine on youtube and loved her LO. Sketch to Scrapbook Page (29.06.11)  It totally inspired me to do this.

All the paper and stickers are from Creative Memories and the punch is from Friskers. I also used Distress Ink around the edges of all the paper and photos.