Monday Mailer

Time for another Monday Mailer. I had fun making this one and it went in the mail this morning! I used the new Circle Circus stamp set along with the little whale from Pun Fun. The color combo is Bashful Blue with the new Crushed Curry. I put Crystal Effects on some of the "bubbles" and sprinkled Chunky Glitter on them. The whale is paper pieced from Bashful Blue Patterns DSP.

SU Deal of the Week #3

Fire Square Rhinestone Brads #109112 regularly $10.95 on sale through 9:50am July 20th, 2009 for $6.99 per package!!! These are a great addition to any greeting card, scrapbook page or gift.

Contact me to place an order!

Sharon

SU Product Guide

I don't know if you are aware that Stampin' Up has a Product Price Guide where you can find products in a specific price range for easy shopping. It's the perfect place to go to when you are shopping for a gift for a special occasion. It's broken down into products under:

• $10.00


• $25.00


• $50.00


• $100.00

What's even better is that within each price range, it's broken down further into categories such as:

• Stamps
• Vinyl art
• Paper Products
• Ink-cetera
• Accessories
• Tools
• Storage

Check it out HERE.

Frozen Snickers Bar

I wanted to share this low-cal frozen dessert .... perfect for these hot summer days. I wish I could make this for my son. It was a family joke - we used to call him Snicker Boy! When I was pregnant, I craved snickers!! He liked snickers but his favorite candy bar was Butterfingers.

Frozen Snicker Bar

8 x 8 pan
1 lg. Fat Free light cool whip
1 - 8 oz. Fat Free vanilla Yogurt
1 Jello sugar Free Choc. pudding (dry)
1/3 cup reduced fat crunchy Peanut butter
1/3 cup grape nut cereal

Mix all ingredients together and freeze

Cut into 16 bars = 1 pt. or 8 bars - 2 pts.

Yum!!!

Busy Day & a Monday Mailer for you

After being a “vegetable” all week (veggin’ ya know??), I made a full day of it today!  Started out this a.m. playing mahjong …. and actually won a couple of dollars!!  After leaving my friends house, I headed into Mooresville to meet my sister and my mom to go to a movie.  We went to see My Sister’s Keeper – a real tear jerker.  I actually preferred to book to the movie, but the movie was still good.  The two little girls deserve an Academy for their acting.  Marianne had not read the book and I heard her over there just sobbing.  If you get a chance, go see it!  After the movie, we did a little shopping …. high dollar stuff!  We went to the Dollar Store!!  Then we headed on over to Donato’s Pizza for dinner.  If you have a Donato’s in your area, their pizza is really good.  I love their thin crust. 

So, here’s the card I got this week from my Monday Mailer partner.  She, like me, hadn’t gotten her new Stampin’ Up goodies so had to make do with what she had.  It’s still a cute (and very bright) card – don’t you agree?  She used the new Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp.  The cupcake and flower are die cuts. 

Monday Mailer

I’ve been waiting all week to share the Monday Mailer I sent to my partner this week.  I wanted to let her receive it first. 

Anyhoo … you know, I love Michelle Zindorf’s work and try every so often to duplicate her cards.  This is the one I did this week:

The colors I used were:  Bashful Blue & Bermuda Bay for the mountains; Old Olive & Crushed Curry for the ground and the little tree.  I stamped the flowers with black ink and used my white gel pen to highlight them.  The cardstock is Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry.  I’m pretty proud of this card!!

Stampingly, Sharon

In Color Combos

I’m starting to play around with the new in colors and find, like many others, I need to tone them down a bit!!  If you’re wondering what other Stampin’ Up colors will match with the new colors, here’s a helpful chart for you.

 

So, what do you think?  Need your shades?? 

To make your own “go together” colors, visit this site and pick your SU color combos.   It’s fun!  I’ve also added this site to my sidebar so you can check it any time you want!

Now, go CREATE!!

Stamp Classes

I’ll be doing a few classes at Stampers Alley in July and August.  We’ll be making various shaped cards.  I’ve been having fun creating different cards for this.  Here are the ones I will be doing July 25.  If you’re in the area, come join us!!

This is a mini backpack!  It opens up and you can put some small items inside.

This is a refreshing glass of lemonade!

This teacup actually has a teabag inside!

This goes on your water bottle to hold your drink mix!

Water Aerobics

I've been trying to get my exercise in. Sometimes when it's so hot outside, it's really hard. Who am I kidding? It's always hard for me to want to exercise??? The past couple of weeks, at least once a week, instead of going to the "Y", I've been going up to our neighborhood pool and trying to exercise in the water instead. At least by walking in the pool, you stay cool!

Water aerobics is refreshing, easy on the joints and fun! For people with arthritis or other medical issues, exercising in water is a great way to exercise your body with little impact on your joints but still works your heart and major muscle groups. This is also a great way to exercise if you are dealing with low back pain or a pregnancy. Water buoyancy helps give you the support that reduces the stress of carrying your weight. Another benefit of water aerobics is that you will be less likely to get injured, or to be achy and sore the next day after exercising. That is certainly on the plus side. Water aerobics focuses on your cardiovascular fitness but most of the exercise routines can help you improve your balance, strength and flexibility. For those of you who have arthritis, exercising in water is a gentle way to move your joints and muscles. The warm water can help to decrease your stiffness and pain. If you are suffering from osteoporosis, water aerobics can also help build muscle mass and improve your balance and coordination, which can, in turn, help reduce the risk of falls. It’s amazing what you can do in water but can’t even attempt on land. The classes in water aerobics that I take sometimes at the "Y" supply floating devices so that you can concentrate on the exercise instead of staying afloat.

Secondly, what is water aerobics? How many of you have done an exercise video, perhaps Jane Fonda, Richard Simmons or Kathy Smith? Simply said, water aerobics is like doing an exercise video, but in the water. During your water aerobic class your instructor will usually combine several techniques from land aerobics such as walking/running backward and forward, cross-country skiing, jumping jacks, while including arm movements in the routine.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, gives this definition of water aerobics: “Water aerobics or ‘waterobics’ is the performance of aerobic exercise in shallow water such as a swimming pool. In some areas it is known as AquaFit or ‘aqua aerobics’, and is a type of resistance training.”

Check out how many more calories you burn by walking or jogging in water. Amazing, isn’t it? These numbers are for a 30-minute workout. Most water aerobic classes are 45 to 60 minutes.

Land walking: 135 calories
Deep-water walking; 264 calories
Jogging on land: 240 calories
Deep-water jogging: 340 calories

The Mayo Clinic states that if you do one hour of water aerobics you will burn the following calories, based on your weight.

160 pounds ~ 292 calories
200 pounds ~ 364 calories
240 pounds ~ 436 calories

What are some of the health benefits from exercising in water? You will get aerobic benefits from water aerobics. You can burn 400 or more calories in a one-hour class. If you work out three times a week, you will achieve maximum fitness gains, which are listed below.

• Strength and toning. Moving in water requires 12 to 14 times more muscle resistance than land exercise.
• Flexibility and range of motion. It's easier to move your joints in water.
• Cardiovascular. Aerobic activity stimulates HDL (good cholesterol), while deep breathing increases the oxygen your body absorbs.
• Circulation. Warm water helps to increase blood flow.
• Weight loss. You'll burn more calories in water due to resistance. Walking for a half hour burns 135 calories on land or 264 calories through deep water.
• Endurance. You can exercise longer in water without getting overheated or tired. On top of the fitness gains look at the health benefits – better circulation, good cholesterol and weight loss (Woo! Hoo!).

Fajitas

I made fajitas yesterday and they were so yummy AND so easy! I just have to share with you.

1 1/2-2 lb beef flank steak, cut into thin strips *
1 can (10 oz) Rotel
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded & chopped
1 T minced fresh cilantro or parsley
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1 each medium sweet red pepper & green pepper, julienned
8-10 flour tortillas
Sour cream, salsa, shredded cheddar, optional

1. Place beef in slow cooker. In a bowl, combine everything else except the last 3 ingredients. Pour over beef. Cover & cook on low for 7-8 hours. Stir in red & green peppers**. Cook 1 hour longer or until beef & peppers are tender. Thicken juices if desired.
2. Using a slotted spoon, place about 1/2 cup beef mixture down the center of each tortilla; fold sides over filling. Serve with sour cream, cheese & salsa!

* I used a skirt steak & didn't cut it - just put the whole thing in the crock pot frozen & shredded it after cooking.

** Sonny doesn't like cooked green peppers (and I didn't have red peppers) so I threw them in at the end - while I was setting the table & fixing the drinks just to warm them up.

I didn't have fresh garlic - just used the minced in the bottle that I keep on hand.

Also didn't have fresh cilantro or parsley - used dried parsley.

It was really good & soooo easy!! Put it in the crock pot about 11; played all day and it was all ready when we were hungry around 7 pm!!