the.amanda.sewell

I thought I would take some time today to tell you about the Rubber Stamp Spring Fling I went to on Saturday. I had a wonderful time and I was only there for about 1.5 hours. I was inkspired by some of the displays I saw, and I even took pictures so that I could show you. I also learned a couple of new background techniques, and a new Twinkling H2O technique. You can look forward to seeing those sometime later this week. The first thing that piqued my interest and that I actually ended up buying was a package of Starburst Stains . You can get them on this site: www.lindystampgang.com Basically, you can do color washes with them, or you can pounce them on your page to create interesting starbursts, or just gently touch them to the page to get a cool stippled look. It takes a couple times of doing it to "get it" right, but once you know how hard or not hard to pounce them -- what fun!!! Oooh and they all have this marvelous glittery sheen, similar to pearl ex, but req...

So I decided that I have a lot of floral sets and guess what? I am not using them. I really need to because there was a reason I bought them. So, in an effort to use them more often, each Friday I am going to feature a floral set and a card, maybe two, that I have made with that set. I am really hoping this will help me use them more often and it will inspire you to use your floral sets too! Here are the cards I made for this week. I will probably only make one each time on a regular basis, but this week I made a set of three simple notecards. I was playing with ribbon on them to decide which one I liked the best. And because this is my very first week of doing this -- I want to give away a prize. This prize is a good one too! It is a MAKING MEMORIES Photo Cube Kit. It contains 47 pieces including 3 chipboard cubes, 24 patterned papers, 19 rub ons and a yard of ribbon. It is really cool!!! Okay, so here is what you have to do to win this. I want you to make a card using ...

ETA: Thanks to Bobbie and Linda P for letting me know that I was missing my potatoes -- hehehe! FIXED! I learned from a friend that in shepherds pie, you are supposed to use lamb. Makes sense, but my mom always used ground beef. I modified my shepherds pie and I use ground turkey. It is really simple, but tastes yummy and M always eats LOTS of it! Super Simple Turkey Shepherds Pie Ingredients: 1 lb ground turkey (or more if you prefer) 1 large can of green beans (you can buy the french cut ones or regular) 1-2 cans of cream of mushroom soup (dependent on how much meat you use) 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 stick of butter shredded cheddar cheese 5-6 potatoes (enough to cover the top of the whole dish -- spread out -- if you like more, use more -- we love the potatoes so we always do lots) Directions: Cook turkey in frying pan (scrambled) until it is no longer pink. Mix in soup and blend well. Pour into 9x13 inch pan. Drain and pour can of green beans over the meat mix. Meanwhile, b...

For the past couple of days I have been working hard on a project that started out simple and has ended up taking me a long time. This Thursday for my church, they are having a dinner for the women -- and I was put in charge of making the favors. I decided to make 2468 boxes, but a little smaller than half of a sheet of 8.5x11. I was to make 60 of them. I thought, no problem, it will go fast -- but it ended up taking me forever. They turned out really cute, but I think next time if I was doing a favor for a group this large, I would go with cello bags and toppers or something. The boxes contain Hershey's Kisses. The paper is by My Minds Eye in their Wild Asparagus Collection and this design is called blue vine. I was going for an elegant look. Isn't it pretty paper? It was double sided and early on, I decided the boxes would look better if I covered the top somehow, so I punched an oval using my giga scalloped oval and folded it in half over the top of the box and it ...

It's HERE!!!!!!! Yay! I came home and there was a note from FedEx on my door saying they left it in my backyard! SO, I have it inside now and it is just a matter of packaging it up and emailing you your postage due totals so I can send this stuff on its way. I will keep you posted on progress. My kids are napping right now so when they are done -- I might have time to venture to the post office before dinner . . . we shall see . . . I hope to have it packaged up and totals emailed by tomorrow or Wednesday. Thanks for participating in this monoadhesive share. Currently I do not have plans to host another share for this product in the near future -- but you can often find shares like this on splitcoaststampers (link on sidebar).

I still have not gotten that big box of mono yet . . . but it was shipping directly from TOMBO and should arrive within 10 business days of ordering, which according to my calculations mean it should either arrive Monday or Tuesday at the latest . . . I still need money from the following people: Jessica H ($47.76) , Amy I ($119.40) - Paid $100 -- still owes $19.40 I am keeping track on here still so that I make sure it all gets collected. I will send out emails as soon as the product arrives to let you know on shipping costs. Also, when it gets here I will take a picture so you all can see that it is indeed coming . . . I am so eager for it to arrive -- I am on my very last refill . . . Hope you are having a good weekend everyone!

I was up WAY too late last night. Sometimes I just get stamping and lose track of time, and then I look and it is 3:30 am *sigh* -- I am so tired. But, on the plus side, I am now all caught up on the challenges I wanted to do on Splitcoast! So, here we are again, back to me posting lots and lots. Are you excited that you get two posts today on Grey's day? I just decided I made too many cards last night and I don't want you to have to wait to see them, so I am going to upload them all in this post *giddies* SC115/CC104 -- I finally caught up on all the challenges I had opened windows for and had not done yet. This one turned out prettier than I expected it would. I love how the ribbon was done on the sample card -- so I tried it with this brown polka dot ribbon and it looks cute and is SO easy to do. Plan to use that more often in my card making. The prima flowers were an afterthought because I noticed that one of the bottles I had had the exact same colors as the challen...

All new Grey's Anatomy tonight. I *might* be a little bit excited. I was surfing on the abc.com website and I found this awesome quiz to find out which GA star you are most like. SO, because I want to know which one you guys are . . . I urge you to take the quiz and leave your results as a comment on this post! http://abc.go.com/primetime/greysanatomy/quiz/greysdiagnosis/index Me, I am . . . most like Callie *smiles* So I have been catching up on all the challenges I have missed on SCS when I was in my little stamping slump, and yesterday I worked on LSC106 - The Bold and the Beautiful. Can I just say this was not really a tough challenge for me because I actually do really like the bold bright family. No really, I do. It was just fun to play with them. They always make me think of spring/summer! I made this card using twinkling H2O's because basically I am obsessed with them *grins* I don't know how I missed this trend when it was popular. I remember reading abo...

Yesterday at The Creative Quest -- my local rubber stamp store that I like (in Glendale) - they had a 1o card class -- where you pay a dollar a card and can stamp as many as you would like. The cards were easter and spring cards. I decided on two that I wanted to do, and went to work. Unfortunately, I don't remember who made each of the stamps -- but if you want to search, and let me know, I will update. The first card has the most adorable bunny on it. The brown layer is a textured cardstock and the sentiment "Happy Chocolate Day" was stamped in brown colorbox ink. The bunnies were stamped in staz on black and colored using twinkling H2O's (I had never done this before). It is just gorgeous in real life. Then the little pink flowers (which are plastic) are attached using a brad. I modified my card from the original in the store a bit because I decided I would like it this way instead. The second card was this pretty bunny. He was stamped in a brown ink (simi...

This recipe was inspired by me looking in a mirror and realizing that swimsuit season is not that far away and we actually have plans to make a couple trips to the beach in California this summer. SO, I need to lose some weight. I decided it could not hurt for me to detox a bit and so I decided to do the cabbage soup diet for one week, starting today, and ending next Wednesday. I will let you know how it goes. This particular recipe came from allrecipes.com, and is called: Cabbage Fat Burning Soup INGREDIENTS: 5 carrots, chopped 3 onions, chopped 2 (16 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, with liquid 1 large head cabbage, chopped (I used preshredded cabbage from the grocery store) 1 (1 ounce) envelope dry onion soup mix 1 (15 ounce) can cut green beans, drained (I used frozen) 2 quarts tomato juice 2 green bell peppers, diced 10 stalks celery, chopped 1 (14 ounce) can beef broth (I used chicken broth as we don't eat beef) DIRECTIONS: Place carrots, onions, tomatoes, ca...

So, I have been working on this baby book for my darling daughter all last week, and I thought I should take some time to share some of the pages with you all. Some of them are not quite finished (aka, I feel like they are missing something -- ideas please) and some I am content with. It was SO hard for me to do these and I have more to do . . . I just *stink* at it. Anyway, enough whining -- here are the pages. Please be gentle!

Hello! I know, I know, I am a little bit late posting today, but it is tough getting back into the swing of things. Seriously, I have found myself to be so slow at stamping since I took a break. Today I got some good mail! I got a Stampendous stamp called Melanie from a friend named Carolina. I sent her some envelopes (invitation size) a couple weeks ago and she thanked me by sending me this cute stamp! I was so excited!!! So, I got right to work and decided to upload the card I made with my new stamp today instead of what I had planned -- but you can see that tomorrow (don't worry!) The card is really simple, but basically, I just stamped the image on watercolor paper. I watercolored the image using my watercolor wonder crayons and a blender pen. I used my silver leafing pen to color in the metal desk and chair elements. I used the leafing pen on the edges on the black scalloped oval as well. Then I used some swirly rub ons on the white paper and a strip of black and wh...

Sorry I have been MIA. I have been working on a baby book for my DD and it has been consuming all of my time because I am mildly a perfectionist and not super great at scrap-booking. This is just a little post to check in, let you know that I am still alive and that I will be posting all new stuff every day next week. Also, I wanted to direct your attention to some lovely blog candy that my friend Teresa is giving away on her blog Inkfully Yours . All you have to do is tell her your favorite patterned paper -- how easy is that? Go do it!!! Finally, I am still waiting on monoadhesive moolah from the following people: Leslie B ($23.88) (PAID- PAYPAL) Nicki ($95.52) Jessica H ($47.76) Amy I ($119.40) - Paid $100 -- still owes $19.40 Robyn K ($59.70) Tracy T ($47.76) (PAID) Jen M ($59.70) (PAID) Please get this money in to me ASAP! Let me know in the comments section of this post when I shall expect it, or the status -- if it has been sent out. Thanks!!!

SHARE IS CLOSED -- THE PEOPLE WITH A BLANK BESIDE THEIR NAMES NEED TO EMAIL ME YOUR TOTAL BOXES AND THEN WHEN I HAVE EVERYONES FUNDS I WILL PLACE THE ORDER! Thanks! I am running out of monoadhesive, and in order to get the best deal, I need to order lots, so I am opening a monoadhesive refill share. Each refill will only cost $1.99 each and will be sold in multiples of 6 (1 box). Thus the cost of 1 box will be $11.94 . Please when you order, tell me how many boxes you would like. When you place your order of boxes, payment will be due in order to hold your place in the share. Once the order is placed, it will take as much as 10 days to get to me from the manufacturer. In order to get such a good rate, I need to order 432 units (or 72 boxes), so there is no deadline as I need to make it to that number, however, space will run out quickly, so please contact me as soon as possible to reserve your spot. I would like to order in two weeks (by March 23rd) at the latest, sooner if we c...

Oi! Times flies when you are busy busy busy! Okay, I finally finished the prizes for my last blog contest - you know, the one where I had you all guess my middle name sometime back in *embarrassed* February. EEK! Inside of these coaster boxes are the following: Two rolls of American Craft Ribbon One Roll of ribbon by Michael's on wooden Ribbon spool One bag of brads, eyelets, paperclips One Prima assortment (including leaves and flowers) One bag of punches (scalloped ovals and corners - assorted colors and sizes.) One bag of fibers (hemp, wire, funky yarn, rick rack) One stamp, One sheet of puffy stickers, Two paper bag books -- just choose how to tie together and decorate, starbursts. Congratulations again to the winners of these: Jeri and JenMarie. I will get these out today! So watch for them early next week! Thanks for your patience. I am so sorry for not getting these out sooner . . . but I hope that they are cool enough that you will think they were worth the wait. I j...

I have spent the last couple of days playing with my mother in law and her mom and dad (my kids great grandparents). It was lots of fun. I know my kids won't have lots of chances to be with them because they are really old. In the evenings I have made attempts at stamping, but I have been blocked -- I find myself sitting staring out the window into the blackness. Do you ever get blocked and what do you do that helps you out of it? My friend Kristin suggested I stamp just for me, and not think about it so much. Also, she suggested new rubber. So, I went rummaging through my stamps to find something I have not used so much. I came across SU "Happy Harmony" set and "Crosshatch" background (which was brand spanking new - never been used). I decided to combine them. As for color choice -- I had played with some alcohol inks last night -- some turned out pretty and some, wow, right into the trash they went. The colors used here are denim and eggplant of the T...

This was so yummy and so easy, although DH said he would prefer no mushrooms next time, but (and this is an important but) -- he ate them all so they could not have been that bad to him. Me, I like mushrooms. YUM! Chicken and Dressing Casserole 1 (2 1/2 to 3 lb) chicken, stewed and de-boned (I used boneless skinless breasts here -- about 4, cubed) 1/2 c. butter (melted) 1 (12 oz.) package of stuffing mix (we used chicken) 1 can sliced mushrooms, drained 1 c. sour cream 1 1/2 c. chicken broth, divided 1 can cream of chicken soup DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine stuffing mix and butter, mix well. Spread 3/4 of stuffing mixture in bottom of greased 13x9x2 casserole dish. Lay pieces of chicken on top of stuffing. Add mushrooms on top of that. In a medium bowl combine sour cream, cream of chicken soup and one cup of chicken broth. Spoon over chicken, dressing and mushrooms in pan. Add remaining 1/4 of stuffing mix on top of this. Drizzle with remaining 1/2 cup ch...

Okay, I have been completely a slacker. I totally neglected you and for that, I am SORRY! Lots going on around here. I just found out my mom has multiple clots in her legs from her pelvis to her knee. I am super worried about that, so if you are the praying type, pray for my mommy. I have been working on a new adventure for Fridays on my blog. It is going to be called "Fabulous Floral Fridays" and each Friday I will feature a stamp set or stamp that is a floral and at least one card I have made with it. I am really excited about this. This will begin next Friday, so if you have lots of floral sets, plan to dig them out and let's get stamping together!!! I bought a carpet steamer today from Sears. It is a Hoover and it seems like it will work well. I am working on getting the pee out of my carpets because Dobby is mostly trained but he occasionally will pee in one of his frequent peed on spots, and I need to fix that situation. Plus, I needed some retail therapy ...

Can you believe it it March 1st already??? Okay, since it is Thursday again, but we have a re-run tonight instead of a brand spankin' new Grey's Anatomy, I thought I would discuss with you, what I recently read about a spin-off show. First things first, I know my husband will be excited about this because he loves Kate Walsh (aka Addison Montgomery). Apparently, she will star in her own new show, a spin-off of Grey's "Grey's Anatomy stars fuming over spin-off" So, what I want to hear from you all, is, do you think this is a good idea? Would you watch this show? Do you like her character enough? Are you afraid of her taking other cast members with her (aka McSteamy)? What do you think? Only one more week till the show we all know and love "Grey's Anatomy."