the.amanda.sewell

4:20 AM -- Wake up, get showered and dressed, make sure I have my phone, IPOD, etc and all the stuff I need for my trip packed. Kiss my family goodbye while they sleep. 5:15 AM - Drive to gas station and fill up tank and get a 40 oz. cup of mountain dew. 5:30 AM - Leave Phoenix on the I-10 10:30 AM - Get on the 215 in California as per Mapquest directions. Drive about 30 miles and it becomes the 15 -- directions said it would become the 91W but apparently not. Backtracked back on the 15 until I came to 91W -- drove on that in mild traffic until I came to the right exits. 12:30 PM - Arrived at the site in Southern California. 2:20 PM - My Make and Take time -- here are Emily, Joy and Taylor showing girls how to use the bind it all. It is really cool. We used the bind it all to bind our rosters together -- it is the cutest book of addresses I have had in a long time *grins* SoCal stamp mania was a blast. I got to meet a whole bunch of people that I had only previously known

Happy Friday! Wasn't Greys awesome last night? I cannot wait till next weeks 2 hour dealio!!! WAY COOL! Mer and Der -- they just can't break up! Oh, and Alex and Addison -- um, hello, why was he such a jerk! I really, really, REALLY want them to hook up! Oh, and I cannot wait until Callie blows about George and Izzie. I really think that George belongs with Izzie, but isn't that how is goes sometimes -- you don't realize how deeply you care for your best friend until after you have made another commitment. I also watched October Road Season finale after. It was the most calm finale I have ever seen. Like, basically, I am NOT dying to see the next episode right away. I think that is a bad thing. I like that show though -- the characters are interesting, it just needs something more . . . . anyway, enough TV talk . . . on to the good stuff! So guess where I am headed tomorrow -- yep, Southern California - Long Beach to be specific to go to Southern California

Sometimes I start stamping and I get in a rut -- like I feel like playing with the same set and using all of the stamps from it. Well yesterday, I pulled out "And Everything Nice" and I had this desire to make not just one -- but two cards. I made one using soft subtle colors and one using bold brights. The cards did not turn out amazingly spectacular, but they are at least nice enough to send to someone. I was really supposed to be working on my card swaps for So Cal Stamp Mania -- but I just felt unmotivated, so maybe tonight after everyone is in bed. We shall see. The first card is watercolored in using my LuminArte twinkling H2O's. I really love them. It shimmers so much. The colors used were: Ballet Blue, Pixie Pink, Green Galore, Basic Black and Whisper White. I made this card intending to use the Levi tag challenge ( TLC113 ) -- but then I decided I wanted to use this longer sentiment and so I made it an EXTRA large Levi tab! The second card I made uses co

This is a super easy version of turkey pot pie. I cooked a turkey and had leftovers and this is how I used them up. I found that one of my pie shells was sticking and would not come out of the pan, so I took it out and rolled it between two sheets of wax paper, then laid it on top and pressed the edges with a fork and poked some vent holes on top. M and the kids thought it was delicious! Super easy too!!! Quick and Easy Turkey Pot Pie INGREDIENTS : 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie shells 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup 2 cups cooked, chopped turkey meat 1 (10 ounce) can mixed vegetables, drained (Veg-All -- or one with potatoes) 1/3 cup milk DIRECTIONS : 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Place one pie crust in an ungreased pie dish. 2. In a medium bowl, mix the mushroom soup and milk. Stir in the turkey meat and mixed vegetables. Pour the mixture into the pie crust in the dish. Top with the other pie crust, and seal the crust edges by crimping with a wet

I got this great tri-fold card in the mail this week from Debbi Rippentrop! Thanks Debbi so much for the RAK! It really did put a smile on my face and I just love what you did with the resist and the glossy paper and the faux stitching -- WOW! What a great card!!! I am so glad that I joined the splitcoast blogger RAK club . Seriously, if you are a blogger and you have not joined it, go check it out -- link is on my sidebar. It makes it not so annoying to check my mail and just see bills, junk, junk, junk, bill . . . and then a card -- it always makes me eager to open it and see who sent it! I truly treasure this wonderful mail!!! I also got another wonderful package from my favorite dirty dozen girl - Jody . . . (texasjodylynn) but it was something she posted on splitcoaststampers for the dirty dozen gallery showcase -- so I cannot post it here -- but it was AWESOME and if you want to see it, all you have to do is contribute to SCS and you will gain access to the gallery! Hope y

I had the chance to volunteer at this event, and I participated in some classes for free because I volunteered. It was a good experience. Tiring, but really fun. THURSDAY On Thursday night, I arrived at about 6:20 pm, and checked in at the volunteer station and then headed to the ballroom to work at the crop. At this crop, it was no ordinary crop, it was an album crop, and each of the pages was sponsored by a different company and therefore had a different teacher to guide you through the creation of it. Because I was not participating in the actual crop, but just there to volunteer, I decided to make it my goal to learn one thing. I spent the evening helping girls out with their pages when they missed something, handing out door prizes and displaying the pages in the book so that all could see (aka, being Vanna). It was great fun. I learned a really cool way to make scalloped chipboard circles turn into chipboard hearts. You just cut into the center of the chipboard at two pla

4/23 - ALL MONOADHESIVE HAS BEEN SHIPPED!!! LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU GET YOURS SO I MAKE SURE EVERYONE THAT ORDERED HAS. Thank-you! PAID($8.10) Kristin -- 3 boxes (SHIPPED) PAID($8.10) Rose -- 3 boxes (SHIPPED) PAID($8.10) Melissa C -- 3 boxes (SHIPPED) PAID($8.10) Crystal -- 4 boxes (SHIPPED) PAID($8.10) Leslie B -- 2 boxes (SHIPPED) PAID($8.10) Dawn B -- 3 boxes (SHIPPED) PAID($8.10) Erica P -- 4 boxes (SHIPPED) ($8.10) Jessica H - 4 boxes (SHIPPED) PAID($8.10) Karen G -- 3 boxes (SHIPPED) PAID($8.10) Patti C -- 5 boxes (SHIPPING 4/23 or 4/24) PAID($8.10) Dorothy W -- 5 boxes (SHIPPED) PAID($8.10) Emily A -- 4 boxes (SHIPPED) PAID($8.10) Paige G -- 4 boxes (SHIPPED) ($8.10) Robyn K -- 5 boxes (SHIPPING 4/23 or 4/24) PAID($8.10) Jen M -- 5 boxes (SHIPPING - PACKAGED) PAID($8.10) Wendy B -- 3 boxes (SHIPPED) PAID($12.35) Tracy T -- 4 boxes Jody -- 8 boxes (SHIPPED) PAID($10.50)

J was up all night with the stomach flu I think. He has been vomiting hourly and his tummy is doing waves right before he vomits. Poor little thing. I am just trying to keep him feeling okay today. Have I mentioned recently how much I love love love my steamer! What a lifesaver that has been. Vomit and carpets sure don't mix well . . . Tonight I will be helping out with the creating keepsakes crop in Mesa. It will be interesting because I am more of a cardmaker than a scrapper and this will be my first crop I have ever been to. I will report and let you all know how it goes. Tomorrow (Friday) -- I have my monthly ward gathering for Scrapbooking and projects at my house, so I will be home. It will be a nice rest. Then Saturday I will be back working at Creating Keepsakes all day -- I work 8-12 and then have 12-6 off and then work the send off crop that night. Should be fun! Anyway, all that said, I will be scarce. I will try to post at least one project today . . . but

Sorry I have been missing in action. I have been spending a lot of time with my family and been working on things for a couple of card calls, which unfortunately I cannot post, but not to worry, I will soon be posting some fun cards again. I took a whole week off from my blog to relax and renew. This weekend I am headed to Mesa to the Creating Keepsakes convention to help out. I am really excited, it is a lot of fun. I will post some updates from that event also. DINNER - Okay, so really, M is driving out to the lot that we are looking at purchasing tonight to get an idea on how long the commute will take tonight, so the kids and I will probably eat pizza or mac and cheese -- but I couldn't let you guys eat that, so I offer you what we ate for dinner last night. This recipe was found on allrecipes when I was looking for something different to do with a salmon fillet that I had in the freezer. It is definitely different, but M and I both agree we would gladly make it again. S

UPDATE : We both really liked this. M and I ate second helpings. The only thing M thought would be better is to add more chicken to tone down the flavor a bit, so I think next time I make it I will use 4 boneless breasts. It was not too spicy and tasted SO much better than Taco Bell chicken burritos! We served it on flour tortillas with sour cream, tomatoes and cheese. I found this one on allrecipes.com -- it sounds super easy and I am in the mood for burritos. Now I just need to head to the store to pick up some fresh tortillas and some sour cream. Let me know what you think . . . as always . . . Salsa Chicken Burrito Filling INGREDIENTS : 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves 1 (4 ounce) can tomato sauce 1/4 cup salsa 1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix 1 teaspoon ground cumin 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 teaspoon chili powder hot sauce to taste DIRECTIONS : 1. Place chicken breasts and tomato sauce in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, then add

Sorry I am so late in posting this today . . . I am dealing with carpet guys coming in, and cabinetry guys and door guys and sometime soon, paint guys -- basically, we are trying to get all the stuff done on this house that was supposed to be fixed or done at the year mark. Can you say HECTIC??? I almost have all the furniture moved back in my bedroom now though, and then I need to put away laundry, clean up and pick up the house and the kids want to go to the library today . . . PHEW! I am exhausted just thinking about it. It was a slow mail week for me . . . apart from a Paper Wishes catalog, I got one RAK card that is just SO pretty. I hope you will like it as much as I do. It is from Jill (CTRMom3 on splitcoast) and it really brightened my week. I was doing a lot of mailing out last week, and running around trying to get stuff done and it was super awesome to have this beauty in my mailbox. Thanks Jill! I love the sentiment Jill used on this card (so much I own it already) a

I decided not to go over the top this year with Easter, because I think that my kids are already too spoiled. I got them each one $5 toy and I bought a big bag of peanut butter M&M's and separated it into plastic eggs for them to do an egg hunt. Then we dyed some easter eggs to eat for breakfast and just hung out together for the rest of the day. The egg dyeing was a lot more fun this year because my kids participated more and it was less just my hubby and I doing it and way more the kids being really hands on. It was a fun, relaxing day. I am glad I did it this way. We had a lot of fun being together and my kids were not too hyper.

We woke up early this morning so that we could take the kids to the Easter egg hunt. It was organized by age -- our goal was to get there by 9:30 for the 2 year old hunt. We got there late, so I let J do the three year old hunt and that was funny because he was clearly younger than everyone. He had fun though, and managed to pick up about 10 eggs and 3 suckers, and a little toy deer -- which he was super excited about. It was fun trying to get him to run and get the eggs. He was kind of slower than the rest of the kids -- but he had a blast. I was a little shocked that after about 5 times of the announcer reminding parents that the hunt was for the kids and parents were to only participate by taking pictures, etc -- there were SO many parents that sacrificed their integrity for $1 worth of plastic eggs and candy. Really they just made it less fun for everyone and I thought it was rude. Anyway, mini rant over. I think from now on though, I will stick to egg hunts in our own backy

Okay, this set indeed needed some dusting off, I have not used it since I got it about 2 years ago. YIKES! Anyway, I tried to use some trendier for now types of stamps with it and such to make it more modern and I was really impressed with the results of my efforts. Sorry I am posting this so late today -- but as you know, time just seems to keep moving even when I would like it to stop for a bit so I can catch up on things. I used my "starburst stains" on two of the three cards. I am really liking them. They are the ones I got at the Rubber Stamp Spring Fling I went to in Mesa -- if you have no clue about them, scroll down a few posts and find out more. They are really just gorgeous and I want to get more, but I am on spending restriction because we are working on buying a new house! Ooooh, I forgot I had not told you about that yet . . . we are waiting for them to release the lot we want and then hopefully if all goes well, we will get it and start building our new

WOW, that is like the longest post title I have ever done. Spring has spring here in AZ. The trees are blossoming and the weather is just gorgeous. So today it is 85 degrees, and I don't want something casserole like -- so we are having pierogies. I decided I would just tell you how I prepare my dinner and if you want, you can copy my menu plan -- so not really a recipe per se -- but a yummy dinner for sure. Oh, and Jen , my friend, is dreaming of spring, so here are some pictures of my gorgeous tree in bloom! It is so fun to go outside and look at it! Stuff you need: 1 box of pierogies, seasoning salt, bacon (2-3 pieces), cooking spray or butter, sour cream, shredded cheese, romaine lettuce, 2-3 roma tomatoes, garlic croutons, english cucumber, white cake mix, strawberries, sugar, whipped cream, salad dressing PIEROGIES: I have a box of cheese and potato pierogies. I got these ones at Target -- and I have never tried this brand before, so I am excited. They were cheaper t

I got a really cute card from my sister in law the other day, saying thank you for her baby gift. The card was by American Greetings and was just a little notecard but I just loved the card. It was cute and I thought I could totally duplicate it but using stamps. SO, early yesterday morning, I worked on two cards -- one using a floral set (Springtime Stems) and the other, an Easter theme, using an egg (Inkadinkado). I was totally happy with the results. Tell me what you think? The first card is the one from my sister in law. The second one uses an egg stamp that I got from The Creative Quest -- it is by Inkadinkadoo! I really like it. The paper used on that card (stripes) is by American Crafts. The vanilla card uses the SU set Springtime Stems. The paper used on that one is EK Success - Inspirables - Simply Seasonal Collection. I just loved the way the SU colors really worked with both of these papers. I used stickles on both of my cards to mimic the glittery ef

I always get so many cool and wonderful things in the mail, and so I decided to make Monday my day to display all sorts of wonderful things that have made me smile when I have opened the mailbox in the past week. I got a wonderful package from my BFF Carrie who was my college roomie and now works for Cosmo Cricket! She said she would send some samples, but she spoiled me rotten! I am so so thankful and excited. She sent me a papercrafting kit in Dutch Girl, and Halfway Cafe. She sent 3 packs of buck naked stuff . . . alphas, buttons and more, and some lacing cards which are the coolest things ever. Oh, and two rolls of 6 yards of love, vintage palette and nursery palette. YAY! That same day I got another package of stuff -- JenMarie was kind enough to send me some gorgeous beaded pens and a really cute card! It really brightened my day and I totally appreciated it. You so did not even have to do that! What a sweetie!!! I have never actually done the microbeaded pens because I