the.amanda.sewell

I am so sorry! I have been a terrible blogger this month! And right on the cusp of 100K visits *sigh* I did manage to get some time in for stamping Wednesday. I made three cards and I thought I would share them with you -- I should have been cleaning, but we will call it a break. I promise to be better next month -- seriously, I blinked and this month just flew on by. I have been cleaning up a storm the past week in an effort to get out house listed. I only have my office/stamp room (*dreading that*) and our master bedroom/bathroom -- so not so bad. Everything else is fairly clean. I wanted to be done by today, but such is life. Painters are coming on Monday to finish painting the house and do some touch ups. Scrapbook night for my church is tonight and at my house, so I need to make sure I have stuff ready for that, like goodies and such, so some things are just going to have to wait. Thanks for listening to my stress vent *smiles* I just feel so overwhelmed and I want to

I took a much needed BREAK yesterday and did nothing but tidy up my office. It is the room in my house that everything gets dropped into, but because it was so untidy, everything was getting dropped wherever in my house -- making it all messy. That will be a project for later today, but my drop room is clean now. I woke up at 4 am -- my baby boy was coughing and sounded bad, so I medicated him and cuddled him and let him sleep. Then, since I was already awake and could not go back to sleep, I decided to stamp. I made my own color challenge, as I was using some scrap designer paper that I want to get used up: Ballet Blue, Green Galore, and Pale Plum This first card was working with some images that I already had on hand. I have been trying to use up all the pre-stamped images I have lying around so that I am all ready for the new catalog -- which I might add is only DAYS away. The layout for this card came from blog surfing -- Jovi had this great snoopy card and I thought it mig

Just wanted to check in. I actually have not stamped at all this week. I have been busy working on centerpieces and table decor for a dinner at my church. Tonight is the big event, so I will set up, take some pictures and then post them for you to see tonight and tomorrow I plan to relax, do laundry (because everyday is laundry day at my house) and then stamp! See you tomorrow.

I finally got published! I am so excited. You will find a card that I made published in July/August - The Rubber Stamper - it is the light blue alcohol ink one with butterflies. I am so excited to see my name in print. I am also excited because there are so many other awesome SCS girls in that magazine -- YAY! That was the most exciting thing my mailbox could have possibly held today! No new RAK's this week -- but I did send out about a dozen or so RAK's -- so check your mailbox, one could be coming to you!!! I have accomplished one of my major goals for this year. I intend to keep submitting and see if I can get another piece published, but I am super content that I DID IT!

ALL YEAR CHEER -- I still cannot believe they are retiring the all year cheer sets. A week ago for the technique lovers challenge on SCS, I learned how to make an origami shirt . . . so I decided to use that for my Father's Day card. I used some SU designer paper. The colors are Brocade blue, Barely banana, and chocolate chip. I was going to use close to cocoa, but I found that the SU paper was not quite the right color to match perfectly, so I went with the darker brown that the dots in the argyle matched too. I stamped the background panel with SU Print Pattern background stamp (using chocolate chip ink). Sentiment is from All Year Cheer. Brads were added to jazz it up a little bit. The tie matches really well in real life and it is just a pop dot underneath the top part of the ribbon wrapped around. It was super simple to make and I think it looks good. I am pleased with my first origami shirt card. M really liked it too! I let the kids draw pictures inside of it fo

My friend found out that she is pregnant (a few months along now) and last weekend she babysat my children so that we could go sign the contract for our new house. It was super awesome of her to do that and she will never know how much we appreciate it. We figure if we had to pay a teen it would have cost us at least $30. Gift card ($30) is from motherhood maternity and a belly bar (think nutrition bar with stuff for preggo people). I made this card to go along with it. I hope she likes it! Paper is by Sandylion Sticker Designs. Ribbons are SU, retired, rose grosgrain. Image was purchased at Michaels for $1 and sentiment is from SU "Swell News." Layout is by Cambria - her tri-fold card and you can find the full directions here .

I decided to revisit the color challenge in my creating of this card. I really struggled and was not pleased with my previous results, but am pleased with this card! Anyway, background is stamped with French script. Sentiment is by Stampabilities. Flourishes are rub ons by American Crafts (and they match perfectly in real life). White strip is by Doodlebug Designs -- they are called "Paper Frills" and I found them at my local scrap store last time I was in there and thought they looked like something cool I could use. Stitching was done on a whim at the end and I think it adds something cool to the card. What do you think? Better than my other color challenge card for sure!!!

I left J downstairs out cold on the couch. He was really tired when we got home today and I have been working, but listening for him -- well apparently he is very quiet because he came upstairs and had a surprise for me. He drew a picture and put on some of my lipstick! I just laughed and ran for the camera! I am sad that he chose that lipstick to do it with . . . but I think it is just too cute and funny and I am so glad I got some pictures!!!

and sometimes, you've lost it. Clearly, I am speaking of mojo here and clearly mine is LOST! I am not sure why, but these cards belong in card misfit land . . . they just did not turn out how I wanted them to at all . . . not bin worthy (aka, not complete trash) but also not my favorite (with the exception of the tile one, it is okay). AUTUMN LEAF PRINTS -- This card was made for TLC120 -- which was making tiles. There were a few ways to do this. Here are my tiles. I did them on a diagonal using my scoring blade on my paper trimmer. I added white gel pen along them (grouting if you will) to make them pop because they got dark in color when I put the alcohol inks over the top. Simple layout, but I think it turned out rich looking. It is also cool because I used cranberry crisp paper, so not only did I use a retiring set, but retiring paper too! The only thing I would have liked to do differently is add crystal effects of something to make the tiles more glossy -- the glossy p

My OH MY! It's a hot one today. We have been busy busy too! I took the kids to story time at the library and then we went to the splash park again. They love it there and who am I to deprive them since it is free. We only stayed for about half an hour before the heat was too intense. Then we returned some jeans for my DH from Old Navy and headed home. J fell asleep in the car and is still crashed out on my couch. E is watching her princess movie from the library, so that gave me a couple seconds to check in. With the heat so intense, I often find it so hard to feel like cooking/eating/moving at all -- so the recipe today is for a salad I made earlier this week, that we found on allrecipes.com, that the kids just love and it is perfect for hot sunny, I don't want to cook kind of days! Get your DH to grill up some chicken to go with it and it's a perfect little summer meal. Ambrosia Salad INGREDIENTS: 2 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained 1 (15 ounce) can pineap

REASON TO SMILE -- WOW! There are so many fabulous cards in Sarah's gallery -- but this one , which was square rather than the standard shape I outputted, was so simple and darling. As you know, I have been using my Penny Black stamps all the time lately, and with the catalog retiring so soon, I have decided to use only my retiring stamps for a bit -- one last *hurrah*, if you will. This set was a hostess set for SU! It was a level one and I have barely used it at all since owning it. I found this great paper I had from Hobby Lobby - by My Mind's Eye. It was so summery and vibrant. I carefully matched some SU papers (Taken With Teal, Pumpkin Pie, Green Galore) to the colors in it and then got to work stamping. THe butterfly is cut out and then popped up using pop dots. Also, some of the larger flowers on it are stickled. The buttons just seemed to work as the body. I paper pierced around the edge just to add something. Must go now, laundry is calling my name (ugh, I

Little kid soccer was totally fun to watch. Seriously, it was a miracle if all the kids stayed on the field and even followed the ball at all . . . E made a new friend on her team and they spent a lot of time holding hands and giggling. They even had to be in goal together. It was hilarious! I think our team lost their first game, but I have no idea really because it was just too funny and I laughed most of the time. It was super early in the morning to be up and at the park -- since the game was at 8 am -- M is the coach, we had to be there for 7:45 -- which meant leaving home at 7:20 am on a Saturday *cries* It was worth it though to watch this action! E is in the pink shorts and I even managed to catch one picture where she was actually trying to kick the ball. *giggles*

I TOTALLY need a weekend. *Sigh* But alas, this weekend will be filled with stressful stuff like signing a contract to buy a new house and doing laundry and cleaning up a bit because we are having some guests over, and preparing a yummy dessert for said guests. So last night we had bunches of fun! We went to a parents meeting for E's soccer league (our first time playing ever) and they were asking for a parent to volunteer as coach or else they would just have to refund our money -- well, M volunteered so that E could play, so he is now a coach of 3,4, and 5 year old boys and girls soccer. LOL! It is too funny to watch them. They all lack skills so much and are so emotional and such. Should be a fun six weeks. I promise to post some action shots at a later date. I meant to stamp last night but after soccer and dinner out, I fell right asleep. So I got up early and stamped a bit. Here are the results from yesterday afternoon and early this morning: FS16 -- This layout was

Ahhh Grumpabella! Apparently she is under the weather so her grumpiness is acceptable . . . this time *grin* -- I loved this sketch, but I was having trouble with it the other direction, so I decided to turn it on its side and I am so glad I did. Paper (DCWV - as seen before on a cow card a few posts back) - was purchased at JoAnns. In fact, I was there today and considered getting some more of it because I really love how well it matches with the SU! colors. Get Well Soon sentiment was created using my Karen Foster Snap Stamps - (Small Casual) -- and I think I might just have to go get the size smaller of the snap stamps because I just love them!!! Background is stamped tone on tone with ballet blue (using the SU! Crosshatch background which is retiring). Primas were sponged with a bit of ballet blue ink to make them match more perfectly. Bella was watercolored using ink pads and my aquapainter.

Summer is here in full swing. We have been grilling a lot lately because the weather is gorgeous in the evening (nevermind the 101 degrees during the day) . . . so I decided to browse for some fun grilling recipes and test them out. Here are two that we have had recently and I plan to remake tonight: Rosemary Ranch Kabobs INGREDIENTS: 1/2 cup olive oil 1/2 cup ranch dressing 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon white vinegar 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste 1 tablespoon white sugar, or to taste (optional) 5 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes DIRECTIONS: 1. In a medium bowl, stir together the olive oil, ranch dressing, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary, salt, lemon juice, white vinegar, pepper, and sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes. Place chicken in the bowl, and stir to coat with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 2. Preheat the grill for medium

Summer is here in full swing. We have been grilling a lot lately because the weather is gorgeous in the evening (nevermind the 101 degrees during the day) . . . so I decided to browse for some fun grilling recipes and test them out. Here are two that we have had recently and I plan to remake tonight: Rosemary Ranch Kabobs INGREDIENTS: 1/2 cup olive oil 1/2 cup ranch dressing 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon white vinegar 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste 1 tablespoon white sugar, or to taste (optional) 5 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes DIRECTIONS: 1. In a medium bowl, stir together the olive oil, ranch dressing, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary, salt, lemon juice, white vinegar, pepper, and sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes. Place chicken in the bowl, and stir to coat with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 2. Preheat the grill for medium

I have had a long day! I started it off running errands and picking up drain cleaner, shower cleaner, and some other stuff we needed. My intention was to clean the bathrooms -- but I started to do a load of laundry and realized how much of a back log of clean laundry there was that was not getting put away that I went to the source, my closet, and realized it was not getting put away because the closet was a mess. SO, flash forward a few hours -- I gutted my closet onto the bed and I am slowly hanging things up and reorganizing and making it all nice and pretty -- but there is still a ton of crap on my bed. M will freak when he sees how messy it is -- but I decided there was no chance of getting it all finished before he gets home, so I took a break and stamped a card instead. *evil grin* I stamped and colored some chickens and a cow (Penny Black) on a sample rectangle I had left of my Prism Papers sample that I got months ago. I was trying to find some paper that matched it and I

I got the most gorgeous card in my mailbox today! I was so excited. It has some pretty flowers and the background paper is to die for. I seriously love it. It looks like someone did the pencil over technique on it. Very cool! I need to know who this paper is from!!! Ooooh, and I have a major *love* for the white ribbon with white dots -- it gives me shivers it is just so beautiful!! This pretty little card is from Jennifer L in Townsend, MA (doodlepie-99 on SCS). She sent me a cute little note sending "inky hugs" and she is a blogger too. I had never been over to her blog before, but it is great! You can check it out as soon as you are done reading this post -- Doodleblog . I have another card that I need to post -- but alas, I put it on my desk so I could upload it today and naturally, it has disappeared -- so I guess that one will have to wait till next week. *sigh* The life of a messy crafter!

I had some more fun playing with my Penny Black stamps that I got. I absolutely adored this little cow with balloons and I thought it just had so many uses (birthday, thank you, congratulations, get well soon) that I just had to have her. This image was so easy to color. I just added a little pink to her nose, ears and udder, and then colored the balloons using my ink pad and an aquapainter until I got the color I wanted for them. I tried to match the paper as well as I could. I just loved this background paper! I tried a bunch of different ribbons to work on this card. I wanted some black gingham, but AMAZINGLY, I was out of it, so I was going to go with black rick rack until I came across this ribbon that I got from Jody and thought it would be perfect. Thanks Jody! I used my scallop edged scissors on the edge of the green to make it look all pretty and then I was trying to decide where to put the sentiment. I tried a little tag on the side, but it hung all wonky doodles beca

I don't normally post on Saturday -- but I had to show you some of the work I made yesterday. I worked on two cards and they turned out fun! WATERCOLOR MINIS/ AUTUMN LEAF PRINTS: This puppy card is my entry into CC116 on Splitcoast. I got this adorable Penny Black puppy in the mail today (and 6 other stamps -- shhhh- don't tell). I did some retail therapy the other day and it arrived! WOOHOO! I stamped the background with SU "Watercolor Minis" (retiring) using timber brown staz on ink on the chocolate chip card stock. I like the timber brown as it is just a touch darker than the chocolate chip. It is hard to see in this picture because I took this shot at night -- I will probably re-upload in the morning when I have better light. Everything else on the card is pretty self explanatory. The tab I punched and stamped with "hello" from Autumn Leaf Prints (*is sad that it is retiring*) Buttons are adhered using craft glue (fast drying super hold kind).

So last night I was stamping, with the intentions of doing some cards for today (Fabulous Floral Fridays), and then I wasn't really stamping at all -- I found myself sorting through all my SU sets and putting the retired ones into a pile to be ebayed or saved on a shelf because I just can't quite let them go yet. Well, after I got them all sorted, I decided that it would be fun to stamp with the retired ones (or rather, soon to be) since there were so many that I just know I am going to miss so much. All I can say is SU better have one freaking AMAZING catalog to replace this one . . . so anyway, I started to stamp and just let it flow, no restrictions and I came up with four cards, which all surprisingly involve flowers in some way, so I thought I would use them all in today's post as a farewell to some pretty awesome sets. No challenge today. I hope you enjoy them! BLOOMING WITH HAPPINESS -- This set is just too pretty! I am sad to see it going. I started off this