Sites of the week

Congrats to the SFYTT participant and winner of the $30 Verve Stamps gift certificate…
CHRIS BLASGRAVE!!

Chris, just send me an email {link under my pic} and I will get that code to you

Happy First Saturday of the Month! I hope everyone is having a fun holiday weekend! We are laying low here, which is just fine with me! I would love to go see some fireworks, but they aren’t even starting until 9:30 and that’s just not do-able with our bed time routines this year.

Given that this is the first Saturday of the month, I get to introduce the new DESIGNER OF THE MONTH…YAY!! Drumroll for the super talented…SANDRA MacLEAN!

Here’s a little bit about Sandra in her own words…
Hi, my name is Sandra MacLean and I’m sooooo excited to be this month’s guest designer!! By day I work for a huge grocery distributor as a CAD technician, and when I get home I’m mum to a spunky 5 year old little girl and wife to my very understanding man. I am a New Zealand born, Australian raised, citizen of the USA! My husband and I actually met in a VW restoration website and we’v'e been married for almost 10 years! Three years ago, I didn’t have any interest in stamping until a friend suggested I check out SCS. That’s when I discovered a whole side of stamping I had never seen before and I was hooked! I have always been able to color, but the card making process is still new to me. Every stamping session is a battle on which paper to choose and what layout will work the best (that’s why I’m always using Jen’s sketches for my cards - it’s one less decision to make!)The day I can make a card in under 3 hours will be a day to celebrate! LOL

Here’s this week’s sketch…

Four years ago today, I was at my neighborhood Albertson’s as pregnant as they come. Some guy in the parking lot walks by and says, “Man, you are HUGE!” Even though he was right, he was so lucky I could not run after him! A few days later, on my dad’s birthday {July 7} I was admitted to Labor & Delivery. Ellie ended up being born the next day, because she wasn’t about to have to share her birthday apparently! I’ll show you her birthday card next week, but for today I am going to share my dad’s birthday card, using MFT’s, Grow Love Plant a Tree set {which is one of my fave paper piecing sets!!}…

My Favorite Things will be releasing a bunch {and I mean whole lot!} of new stamps this Wednesday. Sneak peeks have started and starting on Monday you will be seeing a few peeks from me, too.

Here’s Sandra’s sample {I envy her coloring skills!}…

Want more great sketch samples? Check out what all the SFYTT sisters have come up with…
Susan Liles
Amy Rohl
Amy Sheffer {taking a break this week}
Leigh O’Brien {taking a break this week}
Megan Lock
Amber Hight
Sony Christoph
Jodi Collins
Kelly Lunceford {taking a break this week}
Jenn Diercks {taking a break this week} she’s got a super cute card for you to see!!

Come play with us! Just add your creation to the link below When uploading to online galleries, please use the keyword “SFYTT”

Thanks for playing!

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!