Sites of the week

YAY!!!…I finally got to do a sketch challenge on SCS again!! I used to be a challenge junkie, but these days I find myself hardly ever doing them. I guess I am still a bit of a junkie, because I always look at what they are first thing. It’s just a matter of when…or if, I get around to it. Last night I got around to doing this week’s sketch challenge {SC157}. I thought I grabbed Rose Red and Garden Green as the two main colors to work with, but it turns out that I accidentally mixed up some of my papers and that I really grabbed Purely Pomegranate and Garden Green. To tell you the truth, I think I like this better! I used my SU! Paisley background stamp to give some texture to the base of the card and the green panel. The main image panel is stamped with PaperTrey’s Spiral Bouquet, which is where the sentiment is from, as well. The flourishes on top and bottom of the sentiment are from PaperTrey’s Square Borders and Corners set. Of course I had to add a little bling to the card, which you can see in the center of the flowers.
Ellie is back in school today and Tony and I have a fun day of cleaning ahead of us. We worked our way through the vacation laundry and unpacking most of the stuff already. So, today is going to be a bit of a beating, but I know that I will be enjoying a nice clean house when all is said and done. I hope you all are having more fun than me!
I’ll be back tomorrow with some more stampin’ stuff, then on Saturday I have a new Sketch For You To Try. On Sunday, Tony is back here blogging about yada yada yada. I’m gonna guess it’s not going to be about the Sooners performance last night. {yikes!!}

The last few weeks have been filled with fun, family and friends. As you may have read in earlier posts, I have gotten a chance to catch up with friends that live far away now. These are some of my favorite memories of this holiday season. As busy of a season as it has been, we have not seen some of our local friends. Tony and I are always saying that we need to get together with the local friends more often and it’s amazing that we can blink and all of a sudden 2 months has flown by without seeing them. Last night we went to a friend’s house for dinner and so the kiddos could exchange gifts. It was a really nice evening. On Saturday we are hosting a little get together of all of Tony’s {and my} Sooner friends. Hopefully this will kick off a little tradition of getting together with all the kiddos and having some food and fun together. I am making some YUM-O ham and cheese sandwiches for this. Tony’s cousin Diane {waving HI to Diane} makes these on Christmas Eve and they are to die for! Here’s the recipe…

Mini Ham and Cheese Rolls {from epicurious.com}:

2 packages party or dinner rolls {I use the King’s Hawaiian rolls}
1/2 lb boiled ham
1/2 lb baby Swiss cheese
2 tablespoons minced onion flakes
1 tablespoons yellow mustard
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 stick of melted margarine {or butter}

Make sandwiches (adding ham and cheese to each split roll). Keep rolls on an aluminum baking sheet.

In a bowl, mix onion flakes, mustard, poppy seeds, and margarine together. Drizzle mixture over sandwiches.

Cover trays with tin foil. Bake at 325°F for 20 minutes. When cheese has melted remove rolls from tray and serve warm.

Let me know if you try these and what you think!!!

Of course, I can’t leave you without a stamped creation! So in honor of time spent with friends {and the new SU! catty going live}, here is another card using the Time Well Spent set.

Dimensions: Standard
Stamps: Time Well Spent, Paisley {SU!}
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery {SU!}
Ink: Basic Black, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Pretty In Pink, Garden Green {SU!}
Other: Primas, Brad, Glue Dots, Crystal Effects, Corner Rounder Punch, Paper Piercer & Template, Bling

Happy 2008 everyone!! I hope everyone had a spectacular New Year’s Eve. Ours was so incredibly exciting. It included me making a simple dinner, then screwing up a few treats that I was making. Then it was time for a little R&R before bath and bedtime for lil’ Ellie. After that we were wild and crazy cruising the internet, watching a little tv and stamping. Whew…I can’t believe I made it through the night!! LOL!! Yes, I have had more “interesting” nights ringing in the new year, but this one was just fine for this year. I’ve left the wild nights in the past and traded them in for some good ol’ family time for now.

Without further adieu, I want to welcome a super duper talented stamper as January’s Guest Designer…

AMY SHEFFER!!! aka PickleTree from SCS.

You can see all the ***AMAZING***work that she did for iheart2stamp HERE {or by clicking on the Guest Designer link up top}. Be sure to leave a comment here to say HELLO to Amy!

***ETA***
I forgot to add her pic when I originally posted, but here it is…