Featured Freebies for the Week of February 28

Here are this week's featured freebies found on blogs, websites, and sent to us by friends.

A cute mouse from Sew Many Cards

Beccy's Place with an index list of all her free digitals

Limited Runs Digi posted an adorable cow

The Sherlocks Home digi stamp of Bedtime for Mattie

Pink Gem Designs posted a giraffe digi called Ginni with Flowers

St. Patrick's Day Printable from Anna and Blue Paperie

Do you have any freebies to share? Leave a link in the comment section below or send us an email.

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

A Basket Filled with Goodies

In less than two weeks, the Antioch Jr. Women's League is having comedy night and I have volunteered to make a basket filled with CreativityBugs goodies for an auction following the event.

To start things off right, I decided the basket needed a cute bud vase with candy flowers to add some cheer

Then I tucked in a few handmade note cards to spread some sunshine

Who couldn't use a notepad with attached pen to tuck away in a purse for quick note taking

A basket is not complete without a few pampering items, so I thought these decorated candles would look great on a bedside table or around the tub

As an added surprise, a fabric favor bag filled with nail polish and files

I do hope that the auction is a huge success!

If you like any of the items shown here, check out the Creativity Bugs Etsy shop where many of the same products can be purchased.

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Looking for a Challenge - ScrapFIT

I just found out about a great new challenge blog called ScrapFIT. Here are the details:

• ScrapFIT’s challenges are issued on the 1st and 15th of each month.
• You have until the last day of each month to add your layout to each challenges using Mr. Linky! 
• They have 2 fabulous prizes each month from either sponsors or from ScrapFIT itself! 
• ScrapFIT will select the winners of both challenges at the end of the month! 
• If you participate in both challenges you have double the chance of being a winner!

You still have time to get into this month's challenges Kick the Winter Blues and Dream a Little Dream.

Have a great day!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Rainbow Cupcakes

As soon as I saw these cupcakes on the Family Fun website, I just knew I had to share the directions with everyone. They can be made as a St. Patty's Day treat or would be cute for a kids birthday party.

Ingredients:

• white cake mix (prepare batter according to package)
• food coloring
• cupcake liners
• whip cream or frosting

Prepare your favorite white cake mix and divide batter into 6 small bowls. Dye each bowl of batter a rainbow color using the chart below.

RAINBOW COLOR	DROPS OF FOOD COLORING
Purple	9 red and 6 blue drops
Blue	12 drops
Green	12 drops
Yellow	12 drops
Orange	12 yellow and 4 red drops
Red	18 drops

Line 16 muffin pan wells with cupcake liners. Starting with the purple batter, evenly distribute amongst each baking cup. Follow with blue, green, yellow, orange, and finally red. Spread batter with the back of the spoon to cover the color underneath.

Bake following directions on the back of the cake mix box.

When cupcakes are cool, remove from cupcake liners, and frost. 

Enjoy!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Recipe Friday: Slow Cooker Beef Tips

Slow Cooker Beef Tips

Ingredients:

1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
4 lbs beef or sirloin tips
1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 (4 oz) cans mushrooms, drained
1 (10.5 oz) can of beef broth
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp ketchup
1/4 cup water
3 tblsp flour

Directions:

• Combine flour, salt, and pepper. Toss in bowl with beef tips.
• Add beef to crockpot followed by onions and mushrooms.
• Combine broth, worcestershire, and ketchup. Pour over beef and vegetables; stir well
• Cover crockpot and cook on low setting for 7-8 hours
• Make a paste from 1/4 cup water and 3 tablespoons flour
• Add paste to crockpot and stir well
• Turn crockpot setting to high and cook for an additional hour

Beef tips can be served over rice, noodles, or dumplings.

Enjoy!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Baby Card

My baby cousin and his wife are going to be proud parents to little boy very soon. This weekend is the baby shower, which gave me an opportunity to get out my baby papers to create a card for the occassion.

I didn't want to make the traditional card, so I decided to play with a few folds and came up with this accordian pleated card filled with tags.

The front has a cute little giraffe

And the inside has 3 tags with nursery rhymes about Jack (the name they chose for the baby) and one tag with a message to the expect parents

I can't wait to give this card along with the gift on Sunday.

Creativity Bug ~ Sue



Featured Freebies for the Week of Feb 21st

It's Monday and time for featured freebies. These are free digital items found from blogs, websites, or shared by friends to make papercrafting fun and affordable.

This week's freebies include:

Patches of Pink with links to an adorable heart dino

Tip Junkie with a link to a printable affirmation gift set

Yolanda's Image Make Share with a link to a 1956 Ford Fairlane printable

Spyder's Corner with a link to a rocket printable

The Sherlocks Home with a link to Cassidy spring cleaning printable

Little Scraps of Heaven designs with a link to a shooting star digi

If you have any links to freebies you would like to share, send an email or leave a comment below.

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Recipe Friday: Beef Tostadas

It's time to get out the slower cooker to enjoy the Mexican flavors of Beef Tostadas.

Ingredients

1-1/2 pounds boneless beef round steak
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup lime juice
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
12 packaged tostada or hard taco shells
3/4 cup fat-free refried beans
1-1/2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce
1 cup reduced-fat shredded Mexican-blend cheese
3/4 cup salsa

Directions

1. Sprinkle steak with salt and pepper. Place 3 tablespoons of the lime juice, the garlic, jalapeño, onion, chili powder, cumin and cayenne in a slow cooker. Place beef on top and cook on HIGH for 6 hours or LOW for 8 hours.

2. Remove beef to a cutting board and when cool enough to handle, shred with fingers or using two forks. Place shredded beef in a large bowl.

3. Strain remaining liquid in slow cooker over a bowl or measuring cup, discarding solids. Add strained liquid and remaining 1 tablespoon lime juice to beef in bowl and stir to combine. Cover; keep warm.

4. Warm tostada shells in oven according to package directions. While tostadas are baking, heat refried beans in microwave for 1-1/2 minutes on HIGH, stirring halfway through until warm and spreadable.

5. Spread each tostada with 1 tablespoon refried beans. Place 1/3 cup beef over beans and divide lettuce equally among tostadas. Top each with 1 heaping tablespoon cheese and 1 tablespoon salsa.

Recipe courtesy of Parents magazine.

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

De-Clutter Your Biz!

Are you an Etsy, Ebay, or small business owner that needs help with growing your business? Consider signing up for De-Cluttter Your Biz! a six week free program offered by IndieBizChicks starting Feb 21st.

Your six lessons will help you learn how to:

•Prioritize Your Projects
•Focus On What's Bring You Success - And Get Rid Of The Stuff That Is Weighing You Down
•Put Some Energy Into Your Marketing
•Create New Goals For Long-Term Success
•And MORE!!!

As a participant, you will receive a new workbook each week, starting February 21 and lasting through April 2.

Sign up now at IndieBizChicks to jumpstart you business.

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Featured Freebies for the week of Feb 14th

Who doesn't like a few freebies to make creating papercrafting projects a little less expensive?! Every Monday, the blog will feature freebie finds from other blogs, sites, and crafting friends with direct links.

This week's freebies include:

Tip Junkie with links to free valentine card and 100 day of school printables

Beccy's Place with links to a free digi printable of Little Haley and Little Liz

Pop "N" Stick with links to several free owl printables

Making our Mark with link to a frog printable

MelJens Design with a link to a printable happy birthday sentiment

Little Claire Designs with a link to a free digi stamp of Lydia goes shopping

Patches of Pink with a link to a little girl printable

If you know of any other great freebies, feel free to send us an email or share the link in the comments section.

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wishing you a very Happy Valentine's Day! Spend this special day with the one you love the most!

Creativity Bugs ~ Sandy and Sue

Sausage Dip Recipe

Okay, here is it, the first official post by me, the missing sister. Or am I the missing link? Who's to say. I work in computers every day. I lead up a QA team, you would think I would have some tech saavy, but alas, I have none. Most days when it comes to explaining anything technical regarding the actual computer itself, I have to ask people to speak to me like I am a 6 year old. Use small words and draw pictures. Then there is this whole rambling "thing".

Anywho... my BFF turned me on to this awesome and super duper easy dip. I thought all of you would love to try. 3 ingredients, no lie, plus you can half it or double it. Easy peasy!

Jimmy dean sausage dip recipe:

2 bricks cream cheese
1 Jimmy Deans HOT sausage
2 cans Rotele original

Cook sausage in frying pan, breaking into small crumbles – drain grease
Warm cream cheese til smooth in micro
Drain the juice from the Rotele cans

Mix all together. Serve warm with tortilla chips. If in crock pot, low setting, and watch that it doesn’t start to burn on the sides.

Enjoy! First post to blog. Off my To-Do list. As Monica and Ross used to say on Friends, CHECK.

Creatitvity Bug ~ Sandy

Your Help is Needed

On Tuesday, Etsy had a wonderful all day symposium that I was able to watch via Livestream.  They had a half dozen great speakers and keynote speakers that talked about how to get an Etsy shop running properly, obtaining customers & sales, making Etsy team connections, and interacting more with the crafting community.

Based on everything that I learned, there will definitely be a lot of changes happening within the next few weeks both at the CreativityBugs Etsy shop and on the Creativity Bug blog. It will take some time to implement them, but the changes will be well worth the time spent.

During one of the breakout sessions, I made a number of old & new friends via online chat and they were gracious enough to give me a few critiques on the Creativity Bug blog that I really have taken to heart.

Blog Opinions:

Who are you?? – Sue, the blog is really formal in speak and we know that you are a super friendly & funny person.  Posts don’t reflect that person.  Don’t you want people to know that you have a habit of getting glue all over yourself,  that you walk around with glitter on your face (even in stores), like to put stickers on your dog for decorations, and all the fun things you do with your niece?

Suggestion - The blog say’s that it is two sisters, but I only see one making posts. Would love to hear more things from both sisters.

CreativityBugs really?? – The blog used to show challenge items and completed projects, but lately it is promoting other sites or contests. I want to see more of your creative side again!

Aren’t you on a design team? – Sue, there was a post earlier on the blog about you being a design team member. Where is the blinkie and what have you been creating?? Would love to see the stuff or at least links to the completed projects.

More consistency please! – Sue, I found my blog to have more followers when I am consistent with my posts. Maybe you want to put yourself on a schedule to make a minimum of 4 posts a week with only 1 post about promoting other sites, 1 post about contests, and leaving all the other posts to your creative projects and things you sell on Etsy. I see that you only have 22 followers and have been blogging for almost 2 years, you should have more than 200 followers by now.

Wow, this was an eye opener in some areas and other areas I knew changes had to be made. So, devoted followers I ask you to take the time and really review this blog with a keen eye and send me an email at creativebugs2-blog@yahoo.com  letting Sandy and I both know what you think. What do you like or dislike? What do you want to see more of? How do you think we can become a better blog site? If you have checked out our Etsy shop, what would you like to see more of? What can we do better? Don’t worry about offending or upsetting us in any way!  We really want to make a go of both this blog and our Etsy business and need constructive criticism to put us on track.

Thank you for being with us through all the ups and downs!

Creativitity Bug ~ Sue

TU's Radical BNR - February 9th

Come check out TU's Radical BNR currated by FoggyMorningSundries on Etsy. There are 16 items being featured including:

FoggyMorningSundries "I love you" scented soap

 Msformaldehyde's hand painted buttefly barettes and pins

Headstrong Headwear designer Libunnyfoofoo's handmade bow of white satin ribbon with black fleur de lis pattern

And the Creativity Bugs' Creme Brule scented candle with butterflies

The BNR is just underway with lots of wonderful products for everyone to enjoy!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

CraftySteals - Share the Love

Our friends at CraftySteals are offering a special "share the love" promotion with an opportunity to win a great prize.

All you have to do is tell your friends about CraftySteals by inviting them to become a CrafytySteals FB fan, follower of the blog or twitter, or sign up for email alerts. Then follow this link and post a comment of how many friends you invited to "share the love".

Good Luck!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Helpful Tip - Cleaning Stamps

As many of you know, baby wipes are a crafters best friend. They help keep your work surface clean, hands free of glue, glitter & ink, and are great for wiping stamp ink from rubber & acrylic stamps.

But did you know that adding 1/4 cup of rubbing alcohol to a new container of wipes will remove ink and other things easier? Thanks scrapadabadoo for the tip!

Once you are done cleaning your stamps, store them rubber/acrylic side down on a soft surface and in a single layer to prevent damaging, clogging or compressing the design.

Have fun crafting with stamps!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Super Bowl Party Food

Are you gearing up for tomorrow's Super Bowl? Since my beloved Bears are not playing, I am crafting instead of watching the game. Irregardless, I thought I would share a few recipes for tomorrow's game or to save for another get together.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened 
• 1/2 cup ranch salad dressing
• 1/2 cup any flavor Frank's® RedHot® Sauce
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese or shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 cans (9.75 oz. each) Swanson® White Premium Chunk Chicken Breast in Water, drained OR 2 cups shredded cooked chicken

Preparation:

• Heat oven to 350 F. Place cream cheese into deep baking dish. Stir until smooth.
• Mix in salad dressing, Frank's® RedHot Sauce® and cheese. Stir in chicken.
• Bake 20 minutes or until mixture is heated through; stir. Garnish as desired. Serve with crackers or vegetables.

Bacon Cheeseburger Puff Rolls

Ingredients:  

• 1 pound ground beef (ground chuck recommended)
• 6 slices bacon, chopped
• 1 cup diced sweet onion (about 1 medium onion)
• 1/2 cup diced sweet red bell pepper
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed between palms
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 2 green onions (scallions), thin-sliced with green tops included
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 sheets (17.3-ounce box) puff pastry, thawed
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (or your favorite)
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten with a fork

 Preparation:  

• Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a jellyroll pan with a Silpat baking liner or parchment paper.
• Place ground beef, bacon, and sweet onion in a large, deep skillet and saute until bacon has rendered its fat and onions are translucent. Break up the ground beef as you saute. Drain well. 
• Add red bell pepper and garlic to the ground beef. Saute an additional 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in oregano, basil, green onions, and ketchup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let cool to room temperature. 
• Place one sheet of puff pastry between two sheets of plastic wrap and gently roll out to a rectangle about 12 inches by 10 inches. Remove the top piece of plastic wrap. Spread half of the ground beef mixture on puff pastry, leaving 1 inch clear on each of the four sides. Sprinkle with half of the Cheddar cheese. 
• Use the bottom piece of the plastic wrap to help you roll the puff pastry and filling lengthwise into a log. Use the egg white as glue to seal the roll. Gently press both ends closed. Using the plastic wrap, lift the roll onto the prepared jellyroll pan and place seam-side down. Repeat process with the remaining sheet of puff pastry. 
• Brush the tops of the bacon cheeseburger puff rolls with egg white and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Let rest for 10 minutes, then slice each roll on the diagonal into 4 pieces to serve.

No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups peanut butter - divided use  
• 3/4 cup butter or margarine 
• 2 cups powdered sugar 
• 3 cups graham cracker crumbs  
• 2 cups (12 ounce package) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Morsels - divided use

Preparations: 

• Beat 1 1/4 cups peanut butter and butter in large mixer bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in 1 cup powdered sugar. With hands or wooden spoon, work in remaining powdered sugar, graham cracker crumbs and 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
• Press evenly into greased 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Smooth top with spatula.
• Melt remaining peanut butter and remaining chocolate chips in medium, heavy-duty saucepan over lowest possible heat, stirring constantly, until smooth.
• Spread over graham cracker crust in pan.
• Chill for at least 1 hour or until chocolate is firm; cut into bars. Store in refrigerator.

Enjoy!!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

TU's Amazing BNR treasury

I was going to start out this post saying that TU is featuring one of our cards on their BNR treasury, but am excited to say that it SOLD! Oh happy day! This is our first Etsy sale and it feels good to know that someone likes one our cards so much that they bought it. It is such a Sally Field's moment for me.

Anyway, I still want to shout out to everyone that TU is featuring what they call an Amazing BNR today. There are 16 items that are selling out fast including Sun Shine Designs beautiful herringbone earrings and ShaeJus lotion bars. When one item sells, it is replaced with another item from another Etsy shop.

Come take a peak!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Blizzard 2011 ~ Midwest

After shoveling myself out the front door, I took a few pictures of the storm that hit last night here in Illinois. There is still more snow coming and they said we had about 20 inches fall so far. With the high winds and the drifts, the snow at the end of the driveway is 4.5 feet high. Guess I am keeping my 5 feet 2 inch self inside.

The snow is still falling, so I will be taking more pictures for that great "scrapbooking" moment. What else am I to do for the next few days but craft from the comfort of my home.

I hope that everyone is safe and sound from this storm and all the other horrible weather happening around the globe.

Creativity Bug ~ Sue