Stromboli!

I will go ahead and admit it. Stromboli might be one of my all time favorite foods.
I got a great response on my recipe last time around, and when I thought of what I was making for dinner, I decided to start snapping pictures and blog away!
Extra bonus, this is a REALLY simple meal. I serve it with just a side of spaghetti sauce.

FACT: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A STROMBOLI AND A CALZONE IS THAT A CALZONE HAS RICOTTA CHEESE!

So, here we go!!!
I'm going to give a basic list of ingredients, and then I'll tell you what I used.

Pizza crust-I just use the Pillsbury

Veggies
Meat
Cheese
Italian seasoning
Egg wash

Now, here's the fun thing about stromboli. Basically, you can put ANYTHING you want in here! These are only my suggestions, and I mix it up every time I make this. Feel free to have fun with it!

VEGGIES!

For my veggies, I used green peppers, onions, black olives and LOTS of garlic. You can never really have enough garlic, right?

MEAT!

I used pastrami, salami, ham and pepperoni.

CHEESE!

If you don't have Tillamook cheese where you live, then I truly feel sorry for you. It's amazing.
I used an Italian blend cheese and some parmesan. I have used just shredded mozzarella before, and that's amazing as well!

Ok, time to get to the basics!
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Spray a baking sheet and spread out your dough. Stretch it pretty far to the edges, this will all have to be used to wrap everything up.
Start layering all of your meat, cheese and veggies in the middle. You don't want it to spread too far to the edge.

Sprinkle with your italian seasoning.
Start wrapping it up! You just need to put all of the edges to the middle to wrap it neatly. Pinch the ends together so that stuff doesn't fall out!

Brush the top with egg wash. This will just make it nice and brown when you bake it. Sprinkle with some more italian seasoning.

Now it's ready for the oven!!!
Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.


Like I said, I like having it with some spaghetti sauce to dip it in!

I hope you guys try this. I think I'll come back later to share some crafts!

Etsy Favorites: Pt. 2

I got a great response on my last Etsy post. I really want to thank you all for commenting on my posts, and I truly do read every one of them!

First up, someone had mentioned in the blog the mass-produced stuff on Etsy. Of course, it's out there. I hate seeing things like that as well. I can only think though, that for every awful 'Made in China' mass produced store, there's a store that truly has handmade things for people. For anyone that has had a bad experience with Etsy or these mass produced stores, I'm so sorry. I just want everyone to know how great Etsy really can be!

And so, this is another Etsy favorites post!!!
These are some of my favorite items that I have purchased on Etsy, and a quick review of the items. :)

First up, my harmonica necklace.
I bought this for my Bob Dylan concert. Yes, this is a WORKING harmonica! Personally, I love this necklace! I wear it all the time.

Found from this seller.

These are my favorite earrings, EVER. I do love buying jewelry on Etsy! haha! These, however, are extra special. These earrings are mood earrings. Yes, they actually work and they do actually change color! They're AWESOME! I also have a ring and the pair of sprinkle earrings from the same seller. They're all SUPER awesome.

Found from this seller.

I found this seller through another blog I follow. They did a review of the products, and the scents just smelled so great that I had to try them out. I bought soap and lotion to begin with, and then later bought some lip balm. If you ever need a new and wonderful smell in your life, get this stuff! The sellers are SUPER awesome to work with. The soap here has a layer on one side of granules to exfoliate your skin. I'm not a soap girl at all, I've always preferred body wash, but this stuff is GREAT!

Found from this seller.

And, my very favorite thing I've ever bought on Etsy: our wedding rings.
Yes, we've all seen the wedding posts on Etsy, and we've always read blogs about Etsy weddings. Mine wasn't completely an Etsy wedding, but I found some great stuff, like my veil on Etsy. This, however, was a woman who went above and beyond to help us out.
When Seth and I were looking for wedding rings, we wanted something that would match the band around my engagement ring, but there was a problem, my ring is an antique. It makes the ring very endearing and just very vintage looking, but doesn't make for an easy time to order rings. We planned the wedding in a matter of weeks, so we didn't have much time to find rings, and it was our #1 priority. After searching online and NEVER finding a ring that matched my engagement ring, low and behold, Etsy had the PERFECT ring. I will now go into the detail of how amazing this seller is about going WAY above and beyond for us.
For starters, I knew my ring size, but Seth didn't know his. Yes, we could have very easily gone to a jewelry store, but the seller insisted that for $1 she would send me a sizer. It got here quickly enough to measure his finger and then send off our sizes to the seller. We wanted mine to be just a plain band, and we wanted Seth's to be the same ring, just thicker. She told us that she could just solder a few rings together for Seth to make it wider.
We ordered our rings with a couple weeks to the wedding, and very scared that the rings wouldn't come in time because they were coming from Canada and we all know how international shipping can be! But, with only days left until we left for Vegas, the little envelope showed up in the mail.
This seller worked so well with me, and to just set things aside to help out a nervous bride, she was amazing. She let me know of everything that was going on in every step of making our rings.

Found from this seller.

Dealing with these sellers has inspired me on Etsy. They have set an example of how to provide wonderful service and products to their customers. The woman who helped me with our rings has probably been my biggest influence. I believe that bending over backwards for a customer is the perfect way to do things. She provided me with a quality, custom item, and did it all in rush order, all for an INCREDIBLY reasonable price.
These are the people that keep me coming back to Etsy. And I hope that you all have wonderful experiences like that too that keep you going back to Etsy. If you ever lose faith in it, I just ask that you search a little harder. You will find that perfect seller to help you out. :)
And, I did promise that I would buy an item from someone that didn't have any sales. Want to know what I bought?! It was the bat!

I love him! I think I'm going to put him in my office. And the bat isn't available anymore, but don't worry, because the seller has some awesome stuff in her shop! Check it out here!

EDIT: Check out this wonderful shop! Yes, I have ordered from them before. They make these ADORABLE cup cozies, and their newest Valentine ones (which are SUPER cute!) are on sale and all proceeds are going to The American Red Cross to help out the tsunami victims in Japan.
Etsy, you need more sellers like this, the ones that keep the rest of us going and inspired! These are the people that *I* would want to buy from. Don't you agree?

Etsy Favorites

Anyone else out there as addicted to Etsy as I am? I thought I would share some of my very favorites that I've found lately!


Found here.
This is all jewelry made from real four leaf clovers. How awesome is that?!


Found here.
I just love reusable coffee sleeves. This is one I just might HAVE to have! Extra bonus, it's my newest swap partner on Craftster!


Found here.
Could this ring be any cuter?!


Found here.
She makes the cutest little plush! How adorable is this bat?! ::Note to self:MUST. BUY. BAT!::::


Found here.
Ok, this shirt I actually do own. For the record, I have it in orange, and it's my new favorite shirt. It fits SO WELL and it's so incredibly soft!!!

I decided to do an Etsy post for a few reasons.
#1. I believe everyone should spend some time just window shopping around Etsy. The amount of talent on the site is really just unbelievable.
#2. I have so much respect for every one of those artists. I love people that make and buy handmade. It's really amazing to just be able to go to a website and pick out a gift for someone and know that there's love put into it and that it's unique.
#3. I TOTALLY forgot until today, I just had my 1 year Etsy anniversary!
I want to thank everyone that follows my blog, and for all of the blogs I follow, because it's people like you that give me the inspiration. I've so enjoyed this past year on Etsy. For any of you just starting out, just wait, it'll take off! I remember it took me months to make my first sale, and now I'm doing custom orders on a regular basis. I enjoy it so much. I love that people have come to my store for something special and that I can provide a unique gift for them. This whole experience has been wonderful!
And so, I just decided, that today, in celebration of my Etsy anniversary, I will go buy an item on Etsy that will be a sellers first sale, because we all know how great the feeling is when you get your first sale. :)
I hope that I have inspired some of you out there like you all have inspired me!!!

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

I'm so stuffed right now from dinner. I thought I would share the recipe with you!

I've never been much of a cook, to be honest. When I moved in with Seth I really started cooking. I felt it was kind of my duty. haha. The more I cooked, the more I enjoyed it! I've really been making some wonderful things. I've learned that the crock-pot is my friend and that I can buy a huge thing of chicken and have it every night of the week and none of it would taste the same. There's just wonderful things about chicken!
So, here's one of my specialties. It's SUPER easy, and Seth and I LOVE it. Extra bonus is that it really makes great leftovers too! I got this recipe a few years ago, but didn't start making it a lot until recently. It's also very much approved by my friend Jackie!


Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

You will need:
About 2 cups of boneless skinless chicken breasts (I buy really big chicken breasts, so I usually just use 2, but use more if they're smaller.)
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz. container of sour cream
3/4 cup chicken flavor stuffing
2 Tbs. poppy seeds
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. black pepper
3/4 cup crushed Ritz crackers (I usually just use 1 sleeve of Ritz and then crush those)
1/2 stick of butter-melted

What to do:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and cook. I find that I can cut them up nicely and then stick them in a pot of water with a few bouillon cubes. I cook this for just a little bit, until they're no longer pink in the middle. If you cut them into bite sized pieces before cooking them, it definitely cooks quicker! I've also used just chicken broth to cook it in as well.
3. Mix together soup, sour cream, poppy seeds, garlic powder and pepper.
4. Mix in stuffing.
5. Add chicken. I used to cool off the chicken first, but it's going right into the oven, so you shouldn't have to do that.
6. Pour entire mixture into casserole dish. There's no need to spray the pan.
7. Sprinkle crushed crackers and then pour the melted butter.
8. Cover with foil and cook at 350 for 30-35 minutes.
9. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
10. ENJOY!

I would LOVE to know if anyone tries this recipe! It's definitely a favorite in my household.

How do you like the idea of me posting recipes? I have some other fun ones, would you guys like me to post some more? Let me know!

Busy!

I really wanted to get a new post in and just share a few things.
First and foremost, WELCOME to all my new followers! It's great to have you here!

#1. I swear I'm not abandoning you!!! Since going back to work, things are more busy than I expected them to be. I really am enjoying it though! I have a giant office (I'll post pictures as I decorate!) and everyone there is SUPER nice! All in all, so far, it's a really wonderful job!

#2. I've been working on swap stuff! I can't show any of it yet, but I'm seriously TOTALLY excited to show it off SOON!

#3. Since getting my first paycheck, I was at Joann's and they had Ott Lite's on sale. I swear, I have been wanting an Ott Lite for so long, and when I was there and I saw the 40% off sign, it was MINE! Also, I love this and I'm now seriously considering getting one for my office. This one has a craft caddy with it, which is perfect for my pens and pencils, little Ginghers and my row counter. Oh, and don't forget Coraline! She fits perfectly in there!
So, if you've been contemplating an Ott Lite, DO IT! There's TONS of sales on them all the time, and it's definitely worth it.


#4. Mug rugs. I'm officially obsessed. I want to find as many fat quarters as possible and make a trillion of these. So for this one, I finally broke into my Elvis fabric that I've been hoarding. My mom sent me 2 different kinds of Elvis fabrics a LONG time ago, and they've been sitting in my craft closet ever since, just waiting for that perfect project. Now, I still have tons of the fabric (suggestions are welcome!) and I think I might make at least 1 mug rug out of it and put it in my store. What do you guys think?
I had to use the bigger print for the back, but I seriously love this!



#5. I've REALLY enjoyed dressing up for work lately. I've been wearing my pj's for far too long, and dressing up in business attire and skirts just makes me feel good about myself! I've really loved it! Another thing I love is finding fun and different ways to do my hair. When I found this pattern on Craftster, I knew I had to make myself some headbands! I whipped these guys up last night in no time. I will definitely be putting them on some headbands for myself. They're also small enough that you could put them on a baby headband! Aren't they adorable?!


And that's all for now! I will definitely be back to share some more stuff very soon, but I thought that would be enough for 1 post. haha

Mug Rug

I discovered these recently on Craftster. Since I've been drinking a lot of tea lately (and I've ALWAYS drank a lot of coffee) then it only seemed natural that I would NEED one!

I wasn't sure how I was going to get one, but finally, yesterday, I sat down and did it! It was SUPER quick to make, and it is perfect for small pieces of fabric. I think this one I might bring to work to keep in my office. Isn't it the perfect size to keep a mug and a muffin?! I love it!



And of course it has cupcakes on it. lol! I'm definitely going to make more. Maybe I'll keep a few in my office! I have some Elvis fabric laying around for a while and I think it'll be PERFECT for a mug rug!

Also, I've been on the lookout for some stuff lately, and I thought I would post about it on my blog in case anyone can help me out! I am willing to pay or swap for this!
Basically, I need a very wide bracelet, about 2 and a half inches wide. I need it to cover my tattoo for work, so I'm looking for a lot, all different colors and stuff to keep it fun! Does anyone have an ideas or can anyone help me out and make me one?
Leave a comment if you can!
I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Frankenstein

I've been CRAZY busy lately! This weekend I'm just making a list of everything that I need to do, and it's a long list! I need to go shopping for my mom and my niece for their birthdays which I'm really excited about. I'll probably go to a tea shop for my mom, and I've been wanting to go there anyway, so it's a nice bonus. haha. And I need to mail out my giveaway because I bet that Nessa is getting impatient by now! I haven't forgotten about you Nessa, it'll be mailed out this weekend! :)

And, this is one of the swaps that I've been involved in! I also signed up for the next round because this one was so much fun! I had an AMAZING partner who made me a Frankenstein!

And look, there's a Bride of Frankenstein pin on him that I can take off! She's totally going onto my coat!


And, that's all for now! I can't share anything that I've been working on because I've just been working on swap stuff. I'll be excited to share all the zombie goodness with you though!