Sites of the week

We don’t get out to the movies much anymore. Arranging for a babysitter and paying some astronomical amount to see a bad TV show retread isn’t high on my to-do list. However, there has been some serious buzz about some of the movies out this winter. While we were in San Diego, my mom bribed us with movies passes in exchange for alone time with Ellie. You would have thought we were jurors on a double murder trial as long as we deliberated over which movie to see. We settled on “No Country For Old Men” and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Another finalist was Tim Burton’s “Sweeney Todd,” a film I wouldn’t mind catching while it’s still in the theaters. But it is from Burton’s 1989 franchise rejuvenating “Batman” film that Jack Nicholson uttered the catchy phrase I used for my title today. I remember enjoying the movie, and I am sure I would enjoy it if I watched it again. However, it still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth because it spiraled out of control, and eventually spawned the debacles that were “Batman Forever” and “Batman & Robin.”

Around the same time (19 years ago!!) I spent a tremendous amount of time avoiding homework while tapping the buttons on my Nintendo gaming system. I had a barrage of games and was deft at them all. Most red-blooded males can still recall the “99 lives” code to Contra (quiz your husbands, and post if they know what I’m talking about.) Eventually, the Nintendo wore out and I had to move on, much like I moved on from those Batman movies.

Alas in 2005, Batman was resuscitated thanks to Christian Bale’s performance as Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins.” I love every second of this movie and have watched it countless times. I find it fascinating that Nolan essentially went back to the drawing board, ignoring the fact that any previous Batman movies even existed. He takes another swing at the franchise with “The Dark Knight” later this year.

So while Batman has been revamped, the Nintendo has been completely re-born. Yes my friends, I speak of the Nintendo Wii.

(pause for spotlight and a chorus of ‘aaaahhhhhh’)

When I first started seeing commercials, and otherwise hearing about the Wii, I had no interest. I already had a PS2 collecting dust (in Jen’s stamp room no less) so there wasn’t a burning desire to drop a few hundy on another paperweight. But it took just one night in Wii-land for Jen and I; hook, line & sinker. We had so much fun, Jen was as enthused about it as I was - I knew we had to get one.

Being the lunatic that I am, it was less than a week later that I tracked one down and we now have it proudly installed in our living room. We had friends over tonight, and those that didn’t already have a system themselves vow to have one within days. Wii-itis is spreading, and it is borderline ridiculous.

We won’t be seeing Sweeney Todd until it hits Blockbuster. We have a permanent date night waiting for us in our living room. I could continue to sing the praises of this miracle of molded circuits, but I’d rather get my Wii-ness on. See you in Mario’s Galaxy.

I hope everyone is enjoying the new year so far!! It seemed like a blinked and 2007 was gone. Crazy how how time flies!! Well, with the new year brings new sketches that I hope you will have lots of fun creating with. This is the first of many to be seen here each Saturday. You might recognize this layout from THIS CARD that I did earlier in the week. I was going to save it for today, but then I asked Amy Sheffer {January’s Guest Designer!!} if she would like to make a sample and she was all over it.

You can see more samples from the lovely and talented Carole Burrage, Shannan Teubner and Susan Liles. Tony will be here tomorrow with a rant or a rave of his own. Next week will bring you lots of MFT and Verve sneak peeks, as MFT has a release on the 9th and Verve has a release on the 10th. You can imagine what a busy little bee I have been!!!

**When uploading to SCS, be sure to put SFYTT in your keywords**

Isn’t Amy’s sample GORGEOUS!!!?!!!

I liked the card that I posted yesterday, so I used it as my inspiration for this card. I used the same set, but switched up the colors and layout. Tony’s grandma asked me to make a card for her pastor, who is retiring from their church, and his wife. I wanted something elegant, but not too terribly feminine. Although this card contains feminine elements, I think the muted colors play more to the elegance of it. Any second thoughts on this?
I used rounded corners, the scalloped punches and scissors to coincide with the swirls on the blooms. There are straight corners, as not to make it a total “fluffy” card. {Sorry, couldn’t think of a good term to throw in there}. The designer paper is from SU! and the stamps are from PaperTrey. As a final touch, I paper pierced the bottom edge of the card. I’m pretty sure if someone took my paper piercer and round scallop punch away from me that I might melt. I am constantly reaching for them. Do you find yourself addicted to any tool or technique. It’s almost like I know that I might be using it too much, but I like the way it looks so I keep doing it. I guess it’s just part of my somewhat addictive personality, which I claim for my dependence on stamping to begin with. LOL!
Anyways…

TGIF!! I’ll see ya here tomorrow for a Sketch For You To Try. Amy Sheffer is doing a sample…YAY!!! Readers beware…Tony is blogging on Sunday.

Dimensions: Standard
Stamps: PaperTrey
Paper: River Rock, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Very Vanilla; DP from SU!
Ink: River Rock, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive
Other: Ribbon, Glue Dots, Decorative Scissors, Punches, Brads, Cropodile

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