the.amanda.sewell

I am having so much fun playing with this set -- the tropical nature of the set, lends itself to bright summery fun colors and it has been serving to cheer me up lately!  The card says "Happy Birthday" on the inside (also from the same set, in the same font).  Layout was from this weeks sketch challenge over at Splitcoaststampers .   Stamps :   Tropical Birthday (Skipping Stones Design)   Paper :  Check Him Out - Just Dreamy (My Minds Eye), Green Polka Dots - Penny Lane (My Minds Eye), Pumpkin Pie (SU!), Solar White Classic Crest (Neenah), Taken With Teal (SU!)   Ink :  Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)   Accessories:  Copic ciao markers (Imagination International Inc.), teal paper flowers (Prima Marketing, Inc.), Painterly Petals Hydrangeas (Prima Marketing, Inc.), white candy dots (Pebbles Inc.), sewing machine (Singer), white thread (Sulky), 1 3/8 and 1 1/4 circle punch (SU!), red grosgrain ribbon (SU!), Spots & Dots cuttlebug ...

FINALLY -- I managed to get a little bit of time in the stamp office before the baby's due date . . . and this is what I came up with. I colored this image while looking at a tropical sunset picture, and then found colors of paper to match.  It's a little bright, but at the same time, it just works. Speaking of tropical vacations, if you are like me and stuck at home for a little while, pop into Bath & Body Works!  The other day I picked up the most YUMMY smelling tarts (all pineapple-y and fruity goodness) -- they totally will make your house smell glorious and make you smile!!!  Stamps :   Tropical Birthday (Skipping Stones Design)   Paper:  Classic Yellowgreen (Prism), Desert Coral Medium (Prism), Tawny Medium (Prism), Orcid Opulence (SU!), Solar White Classic Crest (Neenah)   Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)   Accessories:  Circle nestabilities (Spellbinders), copic ciao markers and blender (Imagination International ...

I am delayed with posting my card for this sketch . . . seriously being pregnant, appointments, and sick kids have been getting the best of me, but it was such an awesome sketch, I knew I had to make time to play with it! Have you ever tried this stamping "technique" before?  I stamped my images on my designer paper, in a similar color to some of the images already on the paper.  Easy -- and looks SUPERB!  This was such a quick and simple card, and really would adapt to many different sentiments! I cannot believe how fast February has flown by . . . already we are saying thank yous and goodbye to this months guest sketch artist - Belinda Chang (who has the most gorgeous blog ever which you SO need to visit!)  Some good news though -- starting next week the design team will be working with some awesome sketches by Jami Bova (Srgt. Stamper). As always, please go see what the design team has come up with for this sketch (links on the right sidebar un...

I thought this field trip could be a fun daddy/son bonding time, so M scheduled the day off, and went with the group as a parent volunteer.  He ended up driving himself and J, so that there would be more room on the buses and so that if I went into labor or whatever, he could leave if they needed to.  On the way, one of the buses got a flat tire, so they had to transfer all the kids from that bus to the other bus -- crazy!  They got to the museum about a half hour late . . . and M and J had time for a photo shoot before they arrived: When they arrived, M was assigned one other boy to keep watch of while they were there.  That seems like not a lot, but remember, these are kindergarten age boys running amok in a dinosaur museum . . . M said he had to keep up with them, like get one boy to go over where the other one was a lot.  M said they were only at the museum for like 1.5 hours and then they loaded up again and headed to the park to have lunch. J and his clas...

Yep, it's true, not only will we soon be the parents of 4 children (EEK, that makes me feel ANCIENT), but M and I are both now officially in our 30's! Hooray! I had a small party (M picked some families that he wanted to invite over) and we had them over to play games, eat food and just hang out.  I totally got busy and neglected to take lots of pictures, but here is my cute hubby . . . all old and grown up!  *smiles*   Hope all your wishes come true!!! Happy 30th Birthday Michael!!!

If you are one of my friends on facebook, you have no doubt seen posts where I am crocheting Baby M's blanket . . . well, it is finally finished! YAY!!! I have made this same pattern for each of my children (E has pink, J has red, Baby E has pale green). I think it is SO cute! I love the little hood on it. I used Caron Simply Soft Eco yarn in Lilac Bud for the blanket, and then edges are done with Caron Simply Soft white. Anyway, I am excited for her to arrive and I hope she likes cuddling up in it like the others have. I am sort of sad I won't be making any more of these for my kids since we are done at 4 kids. Hmmm, how much would you pay for a hand made crocheted blanket? Maybe I can keep making them and just sell them . . . would you buy this?

nestabilities that is . . . I created this card a few weeks ago. Clean and simple card really! Just punched, stitched and a little bit of dimension! I used no stamps on this card at all! CRAZY! Paper : Textured Red (Hobby Lobby), Solar White Classic Crest (Neenah Papers), Scarlets Letter - Fare thee Well (Basic Grey) Accessories: Beetle Black Paper Frills (Doodlebug Design Inc.), oval punches (SU!), sewing machine (Singer), white thread (Sulky), black organdy ribbon (SU!), black rhinestones (Kaiser Scrapbook), "love" rub-on - Family Dreams Collection (One Heart, One Mind), heart nestabilities (Spellbinders)

Sorry I am so late in getting this post up today . . . but I am sure you will all let me off the hook -- I mean, after all, it is my birthday! I wish I could say the reason is because I slept in, or was finishing some AMAZING novel, but really, it was because I was getting kids ready for school, writing apology notes with a child to teach a lesson to them, reading a book, and getting babies ready for naps, searching frantically for my cord for my camera to upload. BUSY household this morning - but I am so thankful for all the fun I get to have with my cute family! I'm 31 today . . . YUCK! Today's sketch was a fun, happy, easy one for me. I had stampers block all day yesterday and just could not produce ANYTHING, and then this card came to me late last night! I fudged a bit on the bottom, not completely enclosing my sentiment box inside the box with all the shoes, purses, etc, but it just looked happier that way! Hope you like how it turned out. Go try this sketch, I know...

Since last year I was in the hospital having my gallbladder removed on my DD's birthday, I felt like I really wanted to make this birthday special for E. She totally deserved a party with friends, and all kinds of fun, etc. Here are the plans/ideas we used for her Hannah Montana Party: Activities: Hoedown Throwdown - This Hannah Montana dance is a great one for both boys and girls should you be hosting a co-ed birthday with this theme. Follow this online step-by-step guide hosted by Miley Cyrus in order to learn those funky moves from the movie! You could even have a dance contest or combine it with a musical "freeze" game. Hannah Montana Spotlight World Tour for Wii - pretty self explanatory -- they danced and sung along. It was cuteness! Freeze Dance - to Hannah Montana Music. For some reason kids just LOVE this game! We glittered them all up during this time with some spray on body glitter/hair glitter! They looked so sparkly and pretty! Hot Potato - we used E...

I cannot believe I am the mom of a 7 year old! That I have had the joy of playing and being with this sweet special spirit for that long!!! E is such an awesome and obedient little girl! She truly is the kind of child that makes a parent feel like they are doing a good job. She is intelligent, extremely social, and likes to have fun! I just adore my sweet baby princess. Wow, has she ever grown!!! And so quickly . . . HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS! I LOVE YOU FOREVER!!!

Hello! Happy Tuesday! New month, new sketch designer! This month Skipping Stones has asked Belinda to create the sketches. I hope you will take a minute or two to check out her blog! I am hoping I will have a chance to play with all the fun sketches before my due date arrives. I think I have about a month left to go before Baby M makes her debut! The sketch this week was a stretch for me as a stamper. I am a girl who likes symmetry. I like balance and as hard as I tried, the offset nature of the background kept freaking my eyes out! I also challenged myself first by trying to use different colored inks on the main image. I decided I wanted a fresh spring look. The butterflies and sentiment on this card are from the newly released set Dandelion Dreams . Overall I think my card this week turned out "springy" looking. I hope you will try this sketch and see what you can come up with! Stamps : Dandelion Dreams (Skipping Stones Design) Paper : Gemstones - G...