the.amanda.sewell

H a p p y H a l l o w e e n !!! It is my turn again for the Hanna Stamps weekly challenge -- as usual, I decided to do a sketch, this time inkspired by a gorgeous card made by LorriHeiling , but I also added the additional challenge of using paper piecing (like Lorri did) on your main image. In fact, she took it a step further and did the painting with paper technique, where you basically paper piece the whole image. Feel like a real challenge, go try that! The sketch is a very simple layout, so it leaves a lot of possibility open to you! Hope you have a chance to play with my sketch and upload on SCS this week (remember to use the keyword: HSC41)! For this card I used my most recent JoAnn's discovery -- silver and gold thread (in this case gold) to stitch around the edges of the image panel and the exterior panel. It just adds a little subtle sparkle. (see close up picture) I love the stuff. They also had copper. It is priced a little higher than the normal SULKY thread

Today was the day they allow parents to watch through the window at ballet class. I stayed the whole time so I could see what she is being taught. It was fun and good to see the teacher was correcting them from time to time and was super encouraging and awesome with them. YAY! Of course I took a couple pictures to share -- these were from at the beginning when they were doing barre work. In the first one, she is struggling to get her feet into 5th position . . . it wasn't just her -- ballet is confusing stuff. The other two, I love her posture! She loves ballet!!! I have been saying I wanted to do this for days, but tonight we actually did it. Susan Ciminelli was on Martha Stewart about a week ago talking about fall skin care (and my skin is insane with all the hormones right now.) Her suggestion was a pumpkin masque using pumpkin puree and whole milk yogurt (which I happened to have on hand) so E and I did a masque last night. She thought it was pretty funny! After

Halloween is getting SO close! YAY! Are you ready yet? I have mostly laid out costume stuff . . . but I know I will forget something!!! I have people from the warranty company at my home today and tomorrow fixing stuff (like cracks on the exterior of the house, etc) so I am stuck here till at least noon today, so I thought I would take some time to update the blog. So, a long time ago when my friend Jaime lived lots closer to me, I made cupcake boxes ( similar to the ones to hold 4 cupcakes by Wilton in size ) and said I would post how I did it to show Jaime -- well *embarrassing flash forward to now* I still have not posted the simple directions. *sigh* That is SO how it goes. I am so forgetful, but hey, here I have remembered, hope these will work for you to take goodies to a neighbor or friend this Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas. I think I am going to take one of these with some chocolate spiders to one of my friends who looked after my kids for me the other day while I

I was blurfing and came across Monika's blog, where she made this marvelous mini card with a sewing machine stitched spider web -- well, we all know how I love stitching on cards, so of course, I had to try it. It turned out to be surprisingly harder than I thought it would be, but the results are just awesome! I ended up using a white colored pencil to gently make a thin line to guide me on the curvy line parts. This worked SUPER well. Of course, I figured that out on my third time. Also, Monika said she hand turned the sewing machine wheel to have greater control and I would also recommend this!!! I made this into a recipe card tag and made some Pumpkin Spiced Gingersnap Truffles (recipe from Oct. Better Homes & Gardens) to go along with it to give away. We went to a Halloween party last night and I thought they would make the perfect hostess gift in a cute little bag Hope she liked them. Pumpkin Spiced Gingersnap Truffles 1 1/4 c. semi sweet chocolate pieces 1/4 tsp

Happy Monday! Can you believe Halloween is this week already? I am SO excited! Since we live in a half developed neighborhood and a cul de sac, I think we are going to go to our church activity on Halloween night. Should be fun! Seriously, time around the holidays just seems to fly by. It is cool because I have never been pregnant this time of year and the weeks are just zooming by and soon I will have my new little guy here to cuddle. Make sure you take lots of pictures of your costumes this year, because I always do and I think this year I am going to do a costume roundup post, where you can submit your costume pictures for us all to enjoy! I think that sounds fun! I saw these fun boxes on Splitcoast and had to make my own. In the original, Jeni used swirls on the acetate, but I thought my Papertrey Ink spiders would be perfect to have crawling all over the eyeballs. I also used some smaller sized eyeball chocolate that I found at my dollar store. Such an easy project, a

I have been feeling so inkspired by all the crafty things I see around me. This idea is CASED from Crafts & Things p 25 (October 2008) and I think it will make the perfect centerpiece for a Halloween Party. I changed a couple things to make it easier to make AND you will not believe the smokin' hot deal I got on these roses -- they were $1.19 each, and then I bought them when Michaels was having their buy one, get one for 1 cent sale, so I got a dozen for $6 (the girl at the checkout had issues and missed some - only rang up 10). I used regular black glitter (that was for sure the messiest part of this arrangement), and adhered it to the flowers using watered down modge podge. I think I would have used a more fine glitter if I were to repeat this project. I used Kelly's Non-toxic glass stain (609 - Orange), which I found in the stained glass section of Michaels. I used a sponge brush to dab it all over a clear vase ($1.99 at Michaels), and then I let it dry overnight.

Okay, so seriously, sometimes I make dumb decisions, and going to Disneyland at 8 months pregnant is totally one of them, I could barely walk after the two days, but I really, REALLY wanted to go while they have the Haunted Mansion all decked out for Halloween with Nightmare Before Christmas stuff, and I am SO glad I did, despite the huge and gross cankles I now have. It is not to be missed. It was WAY less scary than the haunted mansion normally is AND it is just fun and happy! I seriously was like a little kid inside -- all giddy and excited. YAY! Be sure to use fast passes if you go though as the standby line up was a little long. With the fast passes though, it goes super speedy and you are in, in no time! I *may* take too many pictures. ENJOY! Before we left for this trip, I asked the kids what they wanted to do while we were there. E said she wanted to go see the princesses. J said he wanted to go on Star Tours. I said I wanted to go on Buzz Lightyear Astro