A Fabulous YUM!

Okay, so I recently purchased a new slow cooker on Amazon. 

 This Hamilton Beach Beauty right here...

I love it, cause total cook time can be up to 14 hours.  So if a recipe is only 8 hours on low, once that 8 hours is up, this happy camper automatically switches to warm for up to 6 additional hours.  Now, I'll be honest, I don't have a lot of 14 hour days, BUT, I cook a lot of stuff that is only 6 hours on low, and I am still at work, so I love that it switches to warm and keeps it that way until I am home.  Okay, enough of a commercial for the cooker already (but did I mention it is a 7 qt??) 

 Pinterest has a plethora of slow cooker recipes.  You can totally get lost for hours pinning recipes!  I am a big chicken fan (did I mention hubby works for Foster Farms?)  So I am always looking for recipes that include chicken.  I tried this guy when I was sick, cause helloooo...Chicken Noodle soup when your sick??  Yes please!  

Here is the recipe

Okay, so I have a husband that will eat pretty much anything, a teen who will at least try anything, and a 6th grader that really doesn't like anything...Out of the 4 of us, 3 absolutely loved it...I would seriously eat it everyday, it is that good!  The 6th grader said he preferred canned soup...sigh.  Whatever. I totally scored with the teen though, he was like, "Mom, you are really cooking some good stuff lately"  Why thank you son...and Pinterest.

Love Birds...

Okay...so I saw this on Pinterest and really fell in love with it...

Here is the fab tutorial

So...I thought, "Hey, how hard can this be"  Well, I "glanced" at the instructions and got to work.  I was NOT a fan when I was done.  Notice though, that I said I glanced at the tutorial.  Plus, newbie crafter that I am, I was like, "What the heck is bakers twine?? I'm so not gonna search for that, I can find something else to use"  Ummm, yea...NO!  So I trashed the first one, and started again.  I was incredibly blessed that the song I wanted was one of the three they had on the site!!  I was making it for my parents, so how lucky was that??!!  I started again, and this time I outlined the tree when I was done with a thick black sharpie, so when I cut it, it had more of the outline/3D effect I wanted.  Also, I was browsing the $1 section of Target (one of my most fave places to be) and I kid you not, sitting on top of some "Frozen" stickers was this cardboard owl with "Bakers Twine" wrapped around it...all by its little lonesome, AND 50% off...so .50 cents...yes please!!!  Sometimes I seriously get that lucky!  So anywho...I was pretty happy with how it turned out.  I didn't love all the empty space on the side though, so I just added a small tag with the date they were married.  

Here it is...I hate that the lighting sucked and doesn't show how white it really is, but oh well...

Here is a close up of the hearts and the tag...I wish my printing looked like the one on Pinterest!

I was pretty happy with it, and more importantly, so was my mom.  Let me know if you decide to try this...would love to see how it turns out for you!

So Many Crafts and Recipes, So Little Time...

Ok, so I love checking out all these amazing crafts and recipes on Pinterest...but I hate wondering..."is this gonna really turn out like that if I do it?"  or, "Is that really gonna taste as good as it looks?"  I know I can't be the only one thinking these things...so I've decided to post the "Original" finds from Pinterest, and the "Christie" by product of said finds...will they be a FAB find, or a Not so Fab FAIL??  Come check out the blog and see for yourself.  ;)  Those of you who are my friends on Facebook or Instagram already know I am slightly obsessed with the Mason Jar (or ANY jar for that matter) crafts right now, so that seems a logical place to start.  This photo is the one on Pinterest that I saw and thought, "ok, that can't be that hard, even I can do that..."

Click Here to visit Beauty and Bedlam for an awesome tutorial!

Now, here are the ones I made.  I really enjoyed making them, and think they turned out GREAT, and so did my mom, cause I made her one too! (Of course, she is my mom, so she has to say it's great right??)

Alright, so not too shabby, I would def call this one a FAB find...and if you have a birthday soon, look out...I have been saving jars...Muhahahahahaha.

The cost is not much at all...I got a roll of twine and so far, 4 jars, and I still have twine left...I did buy 2 jars, cause well, I'm impatient, and when I found I liked the craft and how they turned out, I wanted to keep going...plus it was a 3 day weekend, and I was sick...what else was I gonna do!!  I had the ribbon and the metal word already from scrapbooking stuff, and picked up the flower embellishments at Hobby Lobby on clearance for like $3.  Let me know what you think, and I would love to see what you create!!