Ugh!! Nothing but Problems

So I have had nothing but problems with this blog, so my sweet daughter created a new one for and copied all of my old posts over to it. 

So come see me here http://mycraftsandcritters.blogspot.com/ now. And make sure to bookmark it so that you can visit often. 0 Your Thoughts?

Posted by Hi I am Christy at 9:15 PM

Scooby Snacks

So our big guy Wyatt is allergic to pretty much all grains so we have to be very careful with what we give him, especially snacks.  He is on a special dog food and we can always tell when he gets in to Maggie's food cause his tummy gets lots of  little sores all over.  He already has lupus so we try to be careful with him and baby him more then we should.

Here's a picture of the big baby just in case you forgot how cute he is :)

When we were in Oregon I came across these snacks

I was so happy because they came in several different flavors and there are no grains in them, they are made in the USA and certified organic by the State of Washington.  So they make Wyatt happy and Mom happy (and Maggie too).  And the other day I found them on sale at Petco for less then $5.00 a box so I stocked up and now he is a super happy boy.

And I have the cutest layout that I want to do using the paw prints on the box.

Thanks foe stopping by...
C 0 Your Thoughts?

Posted by Hi I am Christy at 7:00 AM

Alice Springs Chicken.

I love Outback Restaurant and my favorite dish there is their Alice Springs Chicken.  So I was thrilled to find the recipe on this great blog Creating Post it notes. 

Of course it has been hotter then heck the last few days so using the oven was out of the question.  So hubby and I made it all on the BBQ.  We used a cast iron frying pan over coals for the bacon and mushrooms and the gas grill for the chicken.  It worked out pretty good even though it was still pretty warm outside and it was better then heating up the kitchen with the oven.

OMG!!  This recipe is fabulous and tastes pretty darn close to Outback.  So I am thrilled to have it  And will be one that I make again and again.  Although next time we are going to fillet the chicken breasts so that the mushrooms and bacon stay on a little better.

Here is a picture of the finished product.  It's not as pretty as Outback but oh so good!!!

Along with a green salad it was a great dinner.

Thanks for stopping by...
C 2 Your Thoughts?

Posted by Hi I am Christy at 7:01 AM

Family Camping Scrapbook

So we just had our 2nd Annual Campfest family camping weekend and it was a blast.  But before hand I decided that the kids needed a scrapbook that I could add pages to every year for them.  Since there are 6 kids and they are all couples I decide one book for each couple and I decided to do it in a 9x9 album.

Hubby volunteered to help with the design and layouts.  This turned out to be harder that I thought because we have a million pictures and it was hard not to use all of them.  But I knew if we were going to get these done in time I needed to keep it simple.  So I came up with categories.  Family and Friends, Food, Games and Special events.   And printed out the pictures in 2x4 sizes.  This is what we came up with and I just am so happy with the way they came out.  The title page is designed with Cricut's Old West cartridge which is fast becoming my favorite.  We also had t-shirts made with this design and I will post pictures later.  The shirts are adorable and we did them in blue so everyone would be happy with the color.

And the best part about this is one day I was at Michael's trying to figure out how much paper and what paper I would need to make 3 albums and I came across these great camping paper pads and they were on sale for 40% off.  So I snatched up the last 3 that they had and they were perfect.  They not only had camping paper but also borders, vellum sayings, die cuts and were a nice quality.  

And because the 9x9 albums were so hard to find and I ended up ordering them online at Ritz cameras, I also bought a bunch of refills so that I can keep adding pages for everyone.

So what do you think?  Any suggestions for next years pages?

Thanks for stopping by...

C

2 Your Thoughts?

Posted by Hi I am Christy at 7:10 AM

Dutch Oven Cooking

My wonderful hubby has been practicing with his Dutch oven for our family camping trip and all I can say is YUMMY!!

He makes a wonderful Breakfast casserole that is so good and very simple at the same time. It includes frozen hashbrowns, cubed ham, cheddar & swiss cheese and eggs.  Goes perfectly with biscuits.
Here are some pictures.

And the Finished Product!!!

He has really been having fun trying out new recipes in the dutch oven.  The cobblers he makes are to die for, especially hot with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream.  My waistline isn't liking it too much but the rest of me is loving it :)

Thanks for stopping by...
C 1 Your Thoughts?

Posted by Hi I am Christy at 7:23 AM

Gary Allan Concert

So we are lucky enough to live in an area that has this great little Events Center that hosts big name concerts pretty often and last night was no exception.  We there for the Gary Allan concert and the place was packed and rocking away.

He did a great show and sang all of my favorites!!!  The one thing I will say is that he isn't a engaging concert giver.  He doesn't talk alot and or really interact with the audience.  I am not sure if it was because of the venue or if he is just naturally that way in concert.  And the sound was a little screwed up at the beginning so it was hard to understand some of the songs.

But once they got that figured out, it was a great concert.

And Hey check out last 2 pictures to see who showed up at the end of the concert.

ISN'T HE THE CUTEST THING!!!  At the end of the show when they came back out to an encore this guy came with them.  He wasn't a bit afraid of the noise or crowd and minded so well.

He was down on the main stage for a while and then Gary had him climb up on this area and he stayed there until the show was over.  When he came out he was so happy to see Gary and just was the cutest thing!!  Being a dog lover, that sealed the deal and this was one of the best concerts I've been too.

Thanks for stopping by...

C

1 Your Thoughts?

Posted by Hi I am Christy at 7:20 AM

Shopping Again....

Whoo Yooo!!!  I found a Pink ATG gun at Michael's!!  And I used a 40% off coupon.   So far for the little amount that I've used it, I like it.  I am a little nervous about using when I am scrapping only because the adhesive is permanent.  I am more of a temporary type gal cause I change my mind alot when I am scrapping.  But it will work great for card making. And even though it's big, it turned out to be really easy to use and to load the adhesive.  Here is the SKU #156893, this was a big help when I called my Michael's looking for it.

And of course I couldn't let that 50% off coupon for the this past Sunday and Monday pass by.  So yesterday Hubby went with me and I picked up these 2 border punches.  He was so cute cause he won't stand next me in the check out line and when he was done paying, he just walked out the door instead of waiting for me.  He didn't want them to know we were together and not let us use 2 coupons.

Anyhoo, I love the daisy chain punch and I thought the jewel one would make very pretty cards.  I haven't trued the Recollection brand punches yet so I am curious how good they work.

Also yesterday I ordered two more border punches from Scrapbookingwarehouse.com.  They had the EK Success border punches on sale for $8.49.  I also ordered 2 bottles of Glimmer mist.  I keep hearing so much about it that I decided since it was on sale I would order a couple of bottles and give it a try.

And the last thing I have to share this morning is this book.  I picked it up last Thursday and finished it over the weekend.  This is the real story of the Tuohy family and why they did what they did for Michal Oher.  I love the movie "The Blind Side" and watch every chance I get so I was excited when I saw this book come out.  This is a everyday couple who have passed wonderful values down to their kids.  They don't just talk about fixing things they do it without a single word of bragging.  It was a wonderful book and I highly recommend it.  It reminds it that it only takes small steps to make someone else life a little bit better.  Check it out, it's a great book.

Well that it's for this morning.  I haven't had time for much, we are getting ready for our big family camping trip coming up.  I will check ina gain real soon.

Thanks for stopping by...

C

3 Your Thoughts?

Posted by Hi I am Christy at 7:30 AM

Cookie Jars

When I was growing up my Mom had this ugly cookie jar that sat on her counter.  It was a dark brown dog standing up holding a sign that said "Cookies" and it had a lite blue hat on.  I have such good memories of that cookie jar because it was always full of my Mom's homemade cookies.  My Dad wasn't much for store bought cookies so my Mom baked alot so that he had stuff for his lunch everyday.  And I can remember that my brother and I would always try to sneak cookies when Mom wasn't around.  But the darn lid on that cookie jar always gave us away and sure enough we would get in trouble for sneaking cookies.

My parents have moved out of the house that I grow up in and I am not sure what happened to that ugly cookie jar.  I am hoping that my Mom still has it somewhere. I might just have to call and ask but I am afraid of the answer I might get...

So in the meantime I went out this weekend and bought my very own cookie jar. I found this one at Pier One (fast becoming my favorite store).  I don't like alot of things on my counters but a cookie jar brings back great memories for me that I decided that I could make room.

So here is my new cookie jar.  I had to bake a double batch of cookies just to fill it up and rearrange things on the counter.  I made sure that it was right next to the coffee pot.   I love the little chalk board on the front where I can let my husband know what type of cookie he is getting.

Kinda funny the little things that bring us comfort in life.  Like a cookie jar.  What childhood comforts do you have in your home?

Thanks for stopping by.

C 3 Your Thoughts?

Posted by Hi I am Christy at 7:23 AM

Nothing like Vacation Shopping....

So I'll admit it out loud - I love to shop and what I love even more then shopping is VACATION SHOPPING.  You know why?  Because I don't feel half  as guilty shopping on vacation as I do in just day to day shopping.   Don't know why.  And lucky for me, I have a hubby who doesn't mind at all and in fact when we are vacation he urges me even more to pick up things that I see and really like....

Like this guy.  In the scrapbook store that I found in Oregon there is a gal who does tole paining classes.  Now I couldn't this even if I tried and believe me I have but I love toled painted things.  They just feel very country to me.  And of course anyone who knows me knows that Fall is my absolute favorite time of year.  So I picked him up for the front door this fall.

And since were already in the scrapbook store I had to pick up some new goodies for scrapping.  What I loved about this store was that I found papers that I hadn't seen before.  Which was all the more reason to stock up.  :)

Perfect for the vacation pages that I plan on doing!!

These will come in handy for our Annual Pumpkin Dinner album.

Couldn't resist this cute cupcake paper even if I just use it for cards.

This paper is from Goose Berry Patch and I love their stuff.  They have such a country feel to their stuff.  I really like all the little saying on this paper and can cut each one out for different layouts or cards.

And here it is...... My new Pendleton Wool Blanket.  I have already curled up under just to see how it feels.  So cozy!!!

And I have saved the best find for last.........

Now just in case you don't know what this is, it's called a Flower Frog.  You would put in in a vase or container and the stick your flowers in it for an arrangement.  But it works so much better as a card holder for me. 

I didn't make this card but just using it as an example.   I have searched and searched for a flower frog.  And I am always so jealous when I see them on other people's blogs.  So now for only $5.00 I have my very own.  Although they were some really nice antiquey ones in this store for about a little more then double what I paid for this guy but I couldn't see buying them since it's only going to be holding cards.

So all in all I am very happy with my Vacation shopping.  And can't wait to do it again on our next vacation.

Thanks for stopping by...

C

1 Your Thoughts?

Posted by Hi I am Christy at 7:00 AM

Vacation Time...

I haven't been around lately because DH and I went on vacation to Oregon.  We actually went to Baker City, OR to see the Oregon Trail museum.  It was pretty interesting and we actually got to stand in some of the last wagon tracks.  There are only 300 miles of these tracks left - kinda sad when you think about the fact that such an important part of our history will someday just fade back into the earth.


It was so nice to get out of the cold grey days of Northern Calif for a week and we saw some beautiful scenery while we were driving.  We also headed up to Pendleton, OR where I bought a Pendleton blanket at the factory - I am in heaven.  Although I did have to laugh because my youngest had no idea what a Pendleton blanket was or how great they are.


And I found something that I have been trying to find for a long time in an antique store in Baker City, which I will share with you tomorrow along with all the other goodies that I found in a scrapbook store next to the antique shop.


But for now I thought I would show some of the beautiful country in Oregon.

I just love visiting Oregon and always hate to leave :(

Hey what do you think of the updates to my blog?  Kendall came down the other night and helped me fix a few things and added the cool reading list for me.  It's just little things but they sure made a big difference to me.

Thanks for stopping by...

C

2 Your Thoughts?

Posted by Hi I am Christy at 7:30 AM

I am still here....

Just extremely busy.  Good thing I don't have kids still living at home I would really have no time.

I did find alittle bit of time to make a girlfriend a Birthday card and get that in the mail to her.  Her favorite colors are purple and green so I tired to use those as much as possible to cheer her up.  She has been unemployed since May.

I thought it came out pretty cute for a rush job.

Thanks for stopping by...

C

1 Your Thoughts?

Posted by Hi I am Christy at 7:28 AM