the.amanda.sewell

Happy New Year! Hooray for 2008 ! I cannot believe how fast this year went by. And I cannot believe that I actually accomplished my goal this past year to get published. Here is to another year of accomplishing my goals. Hope this year brings you all the happiness and health and stamps you deserve. I think my first goal that I think I want to accomplish this year is to keep up on the laundry in my house. The second is to get healthy -- increase my water consumption! I made some cupcakes this afternoon! Yummy chocolate cupcakes - butter recipe so ultra rich and super moist and yummy. I also made my first real buttercream frosting with egg whites, sugar, corn syrup and lots of butter. I am really proud of myself because it turned out fluffy and fun! I added a bit of vanilla for flavoring and some blue food coloring for a nice celebratory theme color. I think they turned out cute! It had been a long time since I had had a chance to decorate some cupcakes. The only thing th

CONFESSION -- I admit it, I am stuck on sewing. I have an addiction and I am hoping that eventually I will be able to conquer it, but it is just so easy and the results are a lot of fun! My good old Singer machine has found a permanent home on my stamping desk . . . there I confessed (Jody would be so proud *giggles*)! Now I can tell you my other news. I have been invited to be a guest designer for the months of Dec/Jan for Hanna Stamps . I absolutely love their stamps! Hanna is such a sassy and cute character to play with. The new set for this month, which will be released Jan 4th, 2008 (FRIDAY) is amazingly adorable and you are SO going to want them!!! Yep, so make sure you are saving your pennies. You can see more previews of this set on the Hanna Stamps Design team blogs . Hope you like today's preview! Check back tomorrow for more fun Hanna antics . . . my favorite parts of this card are the kiss prints stamped on the patterned paper (I stamped off onto another shee

Tis the season for soups! I bet it is more freezing where you are than the barely freezing AZ temperatures that we are suffering here -- but seriously, 50 degrees and I am freezing my butt off. Add to that the heat in my house is not working, and the warmest I have been feeling is about 67 degrees inside, which is still chilly! Soup has been sounding really yummy!!! I made this the other day and thought I would share it this week with you! Hope you are having a wonderful Boxing Day and spending quality time with your family and that Santa was good to you! Happy Holidays! Italian Sausage Soup INGREDIENTS 1 pound Italian sausage (I used turkey sausage) 1 clove garlic, minced 2 (14 ounce) cans beef broth (I used chicken) 1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes 1 cup sliced carrots 1 (14.5 ounce) can great Northern beans, undrained 2 small zucchini, cubed 2 cups spinach - packed, rinsed and torn 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/4 teaspoon salt DIRECTIONS 1. In a stockpo

I am finally all done with wrapping presents. I need to do some holiday baking but all in all I am feeling pretty much ready for Christmas. I did not get all my Christmas cards stamped and off yet, but I figure I can wait and mail them off the day after Christmas and no one will mind a bit. We are staying home for the holidays also which will allow me time to catch up on my stamping and playing. So today I drove by the model homes in my development and I saw that our sales agent was working today, and I thought I should make something for the agent who sold us our new house - I kind of felt bad that he had to work so close to Christmas! So I wanted to come up with a quick project! I had seen some nugget boxes that my friend Nicki made with acetate sheets and I thought it I would make the tall version and fill it with wrapped truffle nuggets. This box uses one sheet of 8.5 x 11 acetate and one sheet of 12x12 paper (including wrapping the nuggets). I put a bottom piece in patte

I have been wanting to make these for days!!! I saw them on the family fun website and fell in love with them. I think they turned out cute. I used airheads for the scarves. I would use red ones next time, but I only had blue and green on hand. We made funfetti cupcakes and iced them with whipped white frosting (from a can). I only made a dozen and I followed what some people had said and put a candy cane in the center to hold it together and hold it in the cupcake. The faces and buttons were done with betty crocker decorating icing. Noses were pieces of Dots candy. Here is the link to the site that had these: Snowman Cupcakes

We decorated my DD's old bedroom in Disney Princesses and so in this new house, she wants to keep having a Princess room. We have looked for the perfect Disney Princess Piggy Bank, but have yet to find one where the doll looks pretty in the face like the actual Disney Princesses, or that matches her room, or that has it's stopper in the bottom not missing. Anyway, I decided to make her one and when I was at The Dollar Tree the other day, I saw the Tootsie Roll banks and thought it would be perfect. The paper was some scraps that were in my drawer of scraps. The lavender lace piece was stamped with an SU set about a year ago, and had just been sitting there. I stitched the pieces together (my second time sewing on a project) and it worked well. The E for DD's first name, was a chipboard letter that I altered. In hindsight I don't think I would have sponged the edges and I may go back and make the white dots more crisp using my signo gel pen. We will see. I punche

I made this a few days ago, but I thought I would share her today. I have a few more colored images that I need to turn into cards. This one was inkspired by the tent topper cards that were made for SC134. I wanted something that would be quick and easy to duplicate and besides the coloring -- this card is perfect. I bought a few Bellas and they have been waiting for me to ink them up and since I was stamping off some images for someone from the Bellaholics Yahoo group, I decided to play with some images myself. Bella is colored using prismacolor pencils and other colored pencils and gamsol. The bow and the berries were colored in using a red gelly roll pen. I also added polka dots to Bella's dress with this pen. Ribbon is from Hobby Lobby. I just fell in love with it when I saw it and had to have it. Paper is by The Paper Patch - Small Kelly Green Plaid. Sentiment is by Elzybells (Amuse distributes these). I was really excited that this sentiment fit so perfectly in the

Last night the one and only couple that we know in our ward at church brought us a plate of cookies (a gorgeous assortment with recipes). I was so excited that I felt inspired to make a thank you card to thank them for being so kind. I did the sketch challenge ! This was my first time sewing on a card. I tried first with a ProvoCraft Sew Mini machine that was given to me but for some reason I could not figure it out and it would not work, so I grabbed my big machine and got to it. I *almost* sewed a straight line. The other random accent I added was little squares with white brads in two of the corners. Oh and I added some diamond stickles on the pink flowers to make them sparkle and pretty! The striped paper is by SEI (Garden Rows) and the green background paper which almost looks like it was stamped with SU Linen stamp, is actually a printed paper called Paisley Green Solid by Making Memories. The ribbons were from my collection -- I think the coral/pink color came from a shar

I woke up all sniffly and coughing this morning. A cold has finally caught me. It makes sense because our weather has been so cold at night lately and my body is not used to that at all. Anyway, after a couple glasses of Theraflu Cough and Cold, I was back in business. Today I decided to bake cookies and as a second thought, make some fudge. Usually my fudge turns out all crazy and it is not so chewy and perfect like store bought fudge, but I found the most amazing recipe that was super easy (well except for the stirring, my arm got sore) AND it tastes so darn good. Shall I share???? Microwave Mint Fudge 1 1/2 c. Sugar 1 can (5 oz.) evaporated milk 1/4 c. butter 5 c. mini marshmallows 1 pkg chocolate chips 1 packet (1 oz.) pre melted baking chocolate 1/2 c. chopped nuts 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 tsp peppermint extract DIRECTIONS: In a 2 qt. microwave safe bowl, combine sugar, milk and butter. Microwave on high until mixture comes to a full rolling boil, stirring after 2.5 minutes

Have you missed me? Just like you I have been caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season -- I have managed to stamp and color some images, but have I made them into cards yet -- nope! One night really soon I plan to sit down and do that -- it's just that by the time I get to the end of the day I am pooped and just fall into bed and sleep as soon as the kids are asleep. Seriously, it is kind of embarrassing really, that I am going to bed at like 9 pm! Sheesh! I have had to catch up on my shows online lately because I have been too tired to watch. Anyway, today I decided to test out some cupcakes -- I am going to a Christmas Party and Hayride Caroling Event this weekend at a farm, and I am supposed to bring a dessert, and I thought cupcakes would be perfect! I mean, when aren't cupcakes perfect??? So today, I made Hot Cocoa Cupcakes and tomorrow I plan to try some spice ones. Now for the faker method -- I used chocolate fudge cupcake mix and marshmallow cream by Kra

So the past couple days I have been stamping and coloring images. I am kind of in the groove with coloring right now for some reason, so I am going with it. A good friend of mine, Kristin, designed a line of stamps for Starvingartistamps called Artful Inkables. They are absolutely adorable. Seriously if you don't have any -- go order some now. Anyway, when I saw her a few months ago, she generously gave me some of her stamps, and so I decided to put them to use now that I am moved in. SC 131 -- This first card is a cute fishy one. I used some of the sketch challenge layouts for all of these cards I made recently. This one is hard to see (my new stamp room needs better lighting so my photos look better - the colors on these do actually match in real life, I swear), but the turquoise panel is cuttlebugged and the water has some stickles on it. It looks cool in person. I colored the image using my prismacolor pencils and gamsol. Paper is by KI Memories - Surprise Hoopla. S

Last night we put our Christmas tree up. I put up the tree while M was still at work so we could decorate it when he got home. We had dinner and then we set up M's computer with a Christmas radio channel playing (since I cannot find any Christmas CD's so far -- they are still packed far far away), and started to decorate. The kids were hilarious with their decorating. They would put all the silver snowflakes on one branch and then all the jingle bells on another branch -- oh and only on the very bottom of the tree. DH and I had to remedy the tree a little once they were done. It was funny! After we had the tree up we did a photo session to have some fun family pictures (and because I *might* be a little obsessed with taking pictures.) I love the two pictures at the top -- my kids look so grown up them - kind of freaked me out! I can't believe Christmas is so soon. I am working on some fun elf gifts for a couple sweet people and I am trying to get most of our

So lately I have been noticing that a lot of the traffic to my blog has been to the tutorial on how to make the pinecone balls that I put together about a year ago. SO, due to the increase in popularity, I thought I would get rid of some of my extra supplies on hand (because I made some already this year again and my fingers are sore enough) -- I have decided to giveaway a kit that contains enough supplies to make three balls. It features some great papers and ribbon and will be similar to the ones you may have seen at orientaltrading.com . I know it is not a huge giveaway, but I thought it would be fun! To enter, tell me what your favorite Christmas tradition is in the comments section of this post. I will draw a random winner on December 1st , so enter today!!! UPDATED: We have a WINNER -- Post number 44 was chosen using the random number generator and the winner is *drum roll please* Rosella said... WOW! I'd love to make some of these beautiful pinecones! I think my fa

So my house has been officially broken in . . . while BIL & SIL were here, they brought their little not so potty trained puppy and he peed and pooped a couple times on the new carpet. I had been doing so well with keeping my puppy from going on it too . . . *sigh* Then J and his cousin decided to color on the walls in blue crayon and pencil. So my living room/dining room now has those all over it. Today was a rough day! My sweet children decided to color on my upstairs hallway walls with black sharpie, and my DD decided to tell me that her brother did it. Her brother was the only one to get in trouble because I did not notice until I was doing the primer that DD wrote her name on one of the chairs so basically I knew she lied to me at that moment and my heart sank. It is the first time she has ever lied to me *cries* The primer seemed to cover it well. Now I just need to get a small roller to put the paint over top of it again . . . . hopefully it turns out well.

This is just the yummiest recipe. We just had it for dinner tonight and it is great!!! Tastes like thanksgiving in a bowl! Enjoy!!! Thanksgiving-Leftovers Shepherd's Pie Serves 4 to 6 * 3 cups cooked stuffing * 1 cup cranberry sauce, plus more for topping (optional) * 1 pound sliced cooked Roast Turkey With Sage * 10 ounces glazed carrots, (or another leftover vegetable) (I used green beans and corn) * 4 to 6 tablespoons gravy (I just poured about a 1/2 cup of gravy over the top, maybe more) * 3 to 4 cups mashed potatoes Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 13 x 9-inch baking dish, mound stuffing on bottom; layer with cranberry sauce, turkey, and carrots. Drizzle with gravy; spread potatoes over surface to sides of dish. Top with more cranberry sauce, if desired. 2. Bake until heated through and potatoes are golden, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool slightly

I have so much to be thankful for this year. I have been so blessed. I have a wonderful hubby and two wonderful children and we all recently moved into our dream house. I am spoiled absolutely rotten and feel loved. I have amazing friends, amazing blog readers/friends, who make me feel like I am at least kind of good at this whole stamping thing and inkspire me all the time to be better. I am thankful for all the amazing things I have given to me, as well as the little challenges that help me to be a better person. So, in case you all had not noticed, I like to cook and bake. I think it is fun! However, after completing thanksgiving dinner, I think I might be in need of a little break. I thought I would share with you some of the food I cooked and recipes to go with it, so plan on bookmarking this post! *grins* Our Thanksgiving menu: ** Breakfast : Cold cereal, orange slices, melon slices, orange yogurt cake Orange Yogurt Cake Orange-Yogurt Cake Ingredients Makes one 8-in

So I got a private message in my box the other day on SCS, and then a couple days later, another one came and I was informed that I had been elfed twice and I needed to send my address and choose 2 other people per elfing to elf as well. I still am working on who to choose . . . there are so many cool people who are so awesome on SCS . . . here is the thread if you are interested in gifting a couple of your friends this holiday season. Also, apparently they have a second thank you thread that everyone has been posting on here . Anyway, I wanted to show you what two very generous people did for me . . . I was so surprised by the amount of generosity it made me teary. I feel so loved by my stamping friends and I just want to thank the two sweet elves publicly for how awesome they made me feel and how they both went over the top in surprising me. ELF #1 (We'll fictitiously call this one Jody - lol) sent me: a cute handmade altered lunch tin with an Elzybells stamp inside, a big