Happy Mother's Day

M - O - T - H - E - R 

"M" is for the million things she gave me,
"O" means only that she's growing old,
"T" is for the tears she shed to save me,
"H" is for her heart of purest gold;
"E" is for her eyes, with love-light shining,
"R" means right, and right she'll always be,
Put them all together, they spell 
"MOTHER,"
A word that means the world to me.
Howard Johnson (c. 1915)

Wishing my mom, sister, and all the other moms & grandmas out there a very Happy Mother's Day!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Happy National Scrapbook Day

Hello and Happy National Scrapbook (Crafting) Day!

For my family, we will be spending the day with our cousin Hannah who is having her first communion. However, when the festivities wind down, I will be joining in on the National Scrapbook Day Ustream Hop. If you want to have 12 hours of crafting fun with some wonderful designing ladies and hilarious crafty chatters, then come join in on the event!

Here's the schedule and Ustream links to the 12-hour Ustream Hop on National Scrapbook Day, Saturday, May 7, 2011: 

     1)  9 am to 12 noon Pacific, Laura of Following the Paper Trail.

           The Ustream link is:  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/followingthepapertrail

       2)  12 noon to 3 pm Pacific, Gina of My Scrap Room.

           The Ustream link is:  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/my-scrap-room

      3)  3 pm to 6 pm Pacific, Roxi and Yolie of Your Paper Pantry

           The Ustream link is:  http://www.ustream.tv/user/yourpaperpantry

      4)  6 pm to 9 pm Pacific, Kathryn of The Scrap Beach

           The Ustream link is:  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/live-on-the-scrap-beach

To figure out your time zone to the Pacific (PST), West Coast of the USA zone, click this link: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

Have a wonderful crafty day!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Special Blog Team Member ~ Catie

I would like to introduce to everyone our special blog team design member Catie (aka. Catie Bug). This 8-year old little cutie is my lovely niece who is a craft addict like her mom and auntie. This is definitely a trait she inherited from our side of the family!

As her proud aunt, I have nothing but good things to say about her. Besides her crafting talent, Catie loves to dance and takes Jazz and Ballet classes. She loves dancing so much that she makes up routines for everyone to see her do a "one girl show". Her love of dance has branched out into cheerleading, which she is proud to dance and cheer for her favorite team (GO VIKINGS!).

A few week's ago Catie joined me in the kitchen to try out my new Sizziz BigKick. Forgetting that she is now a "big girl", she instantly pushed me out of the way and said "I can do it all by myself". Grabbing the Hello Kitty die, a few scrap pieces of paper, a star handheld punch, and her favorite glue (Tombow), she created this card for her mom.

I wanted to try out the machine too, but realized that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Before I knew it, she pulled out the Cupcake die, more scraps of paper, and was creating this card for her oma & opa. Unfortunately for them, she liked the card to much that she hasn't given it to them yet!

While I had a chance to use the machine, she used the negative from her Hello Kitty die to create a cat card to give to her dad.

Catie is already working on some more projects, so I promised I would do another feature of her "artwork" on the blog in the next week or so.

Thanks for stopping by the blog and taking a look at Catie's creations!
Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Recipe Friday: Berry Cheesecake Parfait

The stores are starting to bring out all the summer fruits including berries. So what is better than a great summer time berry dessert recipe to start out the barbecue season just right!

Berry Cheesecake Parfait

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (8 oz.)PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1-1/2 cups cold milk

1 pkg. (3.4 oz.)JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding

1-1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, divided

24 NILLA Wafers, coarsely chopped

1-1/2 cups mixed berries (blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries)

Directions:

• Beat cream cheese in medium bowl with mixer until creamy.
• Gradually beat in milk.
• Add dry pudding mix; mix well.
• Whisk in 1 cup COOL WHIP.
• Layer half each of the wafers, berries and pudding mixture in 8 parfait glasses. Repeat layers.
• Top with remaining COOL WHIP.

** variation ~ instead of NILLA wafers, use cubes of angel food or pound cake**

Enjoy!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Thank You ~ iLoveToCreate

Last week I took part in the "Let's Create Live" event sponsored by iLoveToCreate which was a blast! The event included live demos and chats with Kathy Cano-Murillo (a.k.a. Crafty Chica), Jen Hadfield of TaterTots and Jello, Jennifer Perkins of Naughty Secretary Club, Lead Fiskateer Angela Daniels, Traci Bautista of treiC Designs, and Tiffany Windsor of Cool2Craft!

During the live event, viewers could watch, chat, and have opportunities to win awesome prizes. I was the lucky winner of the Tulip surprise glitter pack for answering the question "what prime time TV show recently had a baby shower and created onesies using Tulip, Scribbles, and Aleene's products?". The answer was "Grey's Anatomy".

The prize package arrived at my door today and including all of this:

Thank you iLoveToCreate for the wonderful package of goodies! My sister, niece, and I will be making a lot of creations which we will post to our blog to share.

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Cinco de Mayo ~ Santa Fe Chicken Casserole

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!

I made this recipe for my mom and sister a few weeks back for a ladies lunch and we all agree that it tasted yummy. For those that prefer a spicier meal, have the hot sauce handy on the side to shake it on.

Ingredients:

3 cups shredded cooked chicken breasts

1 can (15 oz.)black beans, rinsed

1 can (14.5 oz.) no-salt-added diced tomatoes, drained

2 green onions, sliced

1 tub (10 oz.)PHILADELPHIA Santa Fe Blend Cooking Creme, divided

4 flour tortillas (6 inch)

3/4 cup KRAFT Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese, divided

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375ºF.
2. Combine first 4 ingredients in large bowl. Add ¾ cup cooking creme; mix lightly.
3. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the chicken mixture into 9-inch pie plate; top with 1 tortilla.
4. Place one third of the remaining chicken mixture and  ¼ cup shredded cheese; top with second tortilla.
5. Place one third of the remaining chicken mixture and ¼ cup shredded cheese; top with third tortilla.
6. Place final one third of remaining chicken mixture and  ¼ cup shredded cheese; top with fourth tortilla.
7. Top with remaining cooking creme and shredded cheese; cover loosely with aluminum foil.
8. Bake 20 min. or until heated through; uncover. Bake 5 min. or until cheese is golden brown.

Have a wonder Cinco De Mayo!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Teacher Appreciation Gift ~ more flower pots

On Monday, I posted a little how-to on making flower pens with flower pot holders for that special teacher. Today, I am just showing you a few more of the finished pots that I have made.

Purple with Ribbon:

Orange with Ribbon:

Pink with Gems:

Orange with Gems:

Pink Twine:

Grouping of Flower Pots:

I am really having a fun time putting these together that a few will probably be sold in the craft fair that the Creativity Bugs are taking part of in June.

Happy Crafting!
Creativity Bug ~ Sue