Sites of the week

I have LOTS of stamped projects sitting on my desk, but none that I can show until next week…ahhhh! I can only say that I think that it will be worth the wait. Until then I just have a little of this and a little of that.

First, if you are interested in winning a $30 VERVE STAMPS gift certificate, be sure to check out this past week’s SFYTT post HERE.

IMPRESS RUBBER STAMPS is holding a fun contest with a sweet prize HERE.

TCP Tuesday is being hosted by none other than the {in}famous Alma HERE. Break out those colored pencils!!

I’ve found a couple of fun sites to peruse and I would love to share them with you…

Bake at 350
Attempting Creative
Joy’s Hope
Tatertots and Jello

I found these as I was looking for cookies and cupcake recipes and just kept clicking along…you know how that goes!!

Last week I got to cooking some sweets. I did {another} trial run of some royal iced cookies. The cookies turned out great, but my icing skills need some serious work. Oh, if I could only make my cookies like the Bake at 350 chick!!! I just have to think that when I started stamping, those projects kinda sucked, too! Practice, practice {eat the practice} and more practice! I did make some DE-LISH Neopolitan Cupcakes…

I found THIS recipe and modified it by using strawberry cake mix and then topped it with Vanilla icing. There are tons of possible flavor combos with this recipe! I think I may have to experiment and personally take responsibility of ruining all of Tony’s co-worker’s diets since I won’t keep these in my house!

In addition to cooking yummies for the big kids in this house, I have been making my own baby food, too. I got a new blender {the Ninja} and love how it works for baby food. Even though I could just mash up an avocado, I put it the Ninja and froze them for Nic’s food cubes . I thought this looked “interesting” enough to share…

Anyone else make their own baby food? I did this with Ellie, too. I really enjoy doing it and I’d love hear of any stories, ideas or helpful sites, etc.

I took some pictures of the kiddos recently, too. Here are a few of my favorites…

The look on Nic’s face makes me giggle…

Finally, here are a couple of solo pics of my babies…

Ellie, who celebrates her 4th birthday next week…

Whenever I am out and about with Nic I get the comments:
1. “Look at those cheeks!”
2. “Well, he sure hasn’t missed a meal has he!?” {BTW…I think this is kinda rude to say to someone that you don’t know! ~Especially since he is no where near being fat or even a real big baby.}
3. Ohhhhh…those eyes!
4. He’s so…pretty! LOL!

Before I dive into the VERVE BLOG HOP, I want to announce last week’s winner of the PixiePetals gift certificate…

Congrats to GARDENIA!!!
Gardenia, email me {link over there on the left} and I will get you your $10 gift certificate to the fabby Pixie Petals shoppe!

Did you check out all the Verve-y goodness on the Verve blog the last few days or at the Release Party last night? I doubt you missed it but just in case you are hopping away now, so there is more to come! You should have hopped along from Julee’s blog and when you hop along outta here, you will head on over to Charmaine’s blog {I’ll link her later in this post, too}.

In the essence of multi-tasking, this is the Verve Blog Hop and my SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY post. And, guess what??? Participants of this week’s sketch will be entered to win a $30 VERVE GIFT CARD!!! Hello!! How wonderful is that {in my humble opinion}!?!? So here’s the sketch…

I just realized that I forgot the skinny horizontal panel under the main image panel…oops and oh, well. This is still my favoritest {yep, it’s a word!} Verve card ever {again, a humble opinion of mine}. This card uses a combo of October Afternoon Fly A Kite movie with the new Verve release, Blue Skies…

Be sure to check out all the new releases {and DEALS through July 5, too} on the Verve site HERE.

I want to give a huge THANK YOU to Julee for donating such a generous gift certificate to one of this week’s sketch participants!! Somebody will be doing some serious happy shopping about this time next week!!

Another big THANK YOU goes out to Andrea Ewen, this month’s Designer of the Month! She came up with this beauty for the sketch…

For you blog hoppers, bounce on over to Charmaine’s blog, but don’t forget to check out what all the SFYTT Sisters have in store for you {a lot of them are featuring Verve Stamps on their blogs, too}…

Susan Liles
Amy Rohl
Amy Sheffer
Leigh O’Brien
Megan Lock
Amber Hight
Sony Christoph
Jodi Collins
Kelly Lunceford
Jenn Diercks

If you want a chance to win the $30 Verve Gift Certificate, just play along with the SFYTT this week and link your project below no later than 6pm on Friday {July 2nd}. If you do not have a blog, please leave a comment with a link to your project in the comments section.

PS-One lucky commenter along the hop will win the entire Verve release. Comments entered before 8PM on Monday, June 28 will be entered to win.

Good luck and happy stamping…

Have you seen? Have you heard? BRAND SPANKIN’ NEW VERVE STAMPS are arriving soon…as in TOMORROW NIGHT! Over on the Verve blog there are lots of cards featuring the new sets and if you leave a comment on the sneak peek posts, you are entered to win some Verve-y goodness. Speaking of Verve-y goodness, you might just want to check out the SFYTT this coming Saturday! **wink wink wink** {yep, a triple wink!!}
As for now, I have a couple of cards to show you. This first one uses the set, ALWAYS ON MY MIND…

Do you just love that font? When I first got this set I just looked at the sentiments and fell in love with the font {which is used throughout this release}.

Here’s another peek at what’s being released. This is from the set, Blue Skies…

Detail shot…

I thought these sentiments worked well together. Back when I worked outside the home, there were several times that a co-worker was out for a period of time due to illness, surgery or loss and I thought that pairing these sentiments would make this card appropriate for times like those. The gave the butterfly a little burst of color to make this a little more “happy.”

More info about the release…

Release Party is Friday night starting at 9 EST in the VERVE FORUM on SCS

More great samples on the VERVE blog

Blog Hop on Saturday…YAY!! **Don’t forget my wink wink wink from earlier in this post**

Great challenges with great prizes on the VERVE FORUM on SCS

Happy TCP Tuesday! This week’s challenge is an inspiration challenge and it is brought to you by Hipster Hostess with the Mostess, Toni. Check out this picture for your inspiration…

I just want to run my fingers over these tiles. They remind me of a beach resort, so I had to pull out some fun summer stamps. For this card I used FUN IN THE SUN…

I cut the 1.25″ squares out various green and blue green papers to re-create the feel of the inspiration picture. I then cut out the other layers with Nesties and popped them up on dimensional glue dots, creating this groovy card…if I do say so myself.

You can find all the deets on how to play along on Toni’s blog. There’s a chance to win some serious Cat Cash, so give it a go!

Weight Loss Update…
I’m down 23 pounds since the last week of March. Go me! LOL! I get asked a lot how I have done it and I’m going to let you in on all my secrets. Oh yea, I have none. It’s all about eating right and exercising. I eat really good during the week and on Saturday if I want to indulge in a hamburger, sweet potato chips and an Oreo shake from Twisted Root…I will! I don’t think of it as a reward, but rather I think that while I am not on a diet, this is a treat. I try to eat 6 small meals a day during the week. I have a MAJOR sweet tooth, so I have to make sure that is kept under control. I will have Crystal Light or a Diet Dr. Pepper to curb those cravings…calorie free and they last a long time {longer than a cookie, at least}.
As for exercise, I do a lot of it. I work out 6x over the course of 5 days. On Tuesdays, I am there 2 times. Crazy, I know, but I enjoy it and Ellie loves going to the daycare area and playing with all the other kiddos. I do cardio everyday whether it’s on the elliptical or in an aerobic class. I also do weight training 4-5 times per week. My cardio on the elliptical is what has really helped me. I do 6 minutes intervals for 30 minutes. What I have done is chosen MY level 1, 2 and 3 {11, 13 and 15 on the machine}. I do level 1 for 1 minute, level 2 for 2 minutes and level 3 for 3 minutes and then repeat for a total of 30 minutes. Other days I will do 2 minutes of each level for 30 minutes. It makes getting through 30+ minutes on the elliptical more “do-abe” because it’s just 6 minutes at a time. I figure it takes longer to change a diaper sometimes {you know what times I am talking about!}. Basically, I get my heart rate up and then bring down {repeat, repeat, repeat}. I also take a few class that combine cardio and weight lifting to mix it up a little.
So all in all, no tricks just eating right and working my hiney {still quite large} off.

Happy Saturday Y’all! I’ve got a lot going on here today, so enjoy the ride that is this post! First off, let’s announce the winner of the Skipping Stones Design stamps…

#4 JEN with THIS ENTRY.

–>Jen, email me with you info {link under my pic on the left}

Moving on to the next item of business…This week’s SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY…

Here’s my sample using Verve Stamps {don’t forget Verve, MFT and TCP all have 10% off EVERYTHING this weekend and proceeds will be donated to SFYTT Sister Susan Liles} and fun items from PIXIEPETALS on Etsy {see below for giveaway info!!}…

Detail shot of the AWESOME crocheted paper and flower, ribbon and buttons…

PixiePetals is generously giving away a $10 GIFT CERTIFICATE to her Etsy Shoppe to one lucky participant of this week’s SFYTT. Just be sure to upload your creation to the inlinkz below by Friday the 25th at noon CST. I will randomly draw a number {most likely Tony will do it, actually} and announce the winner next Saturday.

In addition this sweet prize, she is also offering all readers a 10% discount in the Etsy store! Happy Shopping!

Designer of the Month, Andrea Ewen, created this beauty also using Verve Stamps…

Want more samples? Check out what the SFYTT Sisters came up with for this sketch…
Susan Liles {taking a breather this week}
Amy Rohl
Amy Sheffer
Leigh O’Brien
Megan Lock
Amber Hight
Sony Christoph
Jodi Collins
Kelly Lunceford
Jenn Diercks

Come play along with us! Just link your creation to the inlinkz just below. If you do not have a blog, you may add a link to an online gallery in the comments section and I will count that as an entry to win. Have fun, happy stamping and good luck!