Amanda Rose blog

Sooo...I MADE A KIMONO ROBE.

Remember back in April went I set out to MAKE A KIMONO-STYLE ROBE by the end of April?  
You kind of followed my journey when I posted my OUT TO SEWs // 1, 2, and 3.

Well, I finished just this past weekend.

It's kind of sad story.  It was supposed to go on for the four consecutive Saturdays in April, but on the third Saturday, our sewing instructor (who I absolutely adore) got sick.  Class resumed on April 27th, but that would mean the "finishing" of the robe would spill over into May.  Then, that first Saturday of May got cancelled because poor Pat was sick again.  When the class finally got together for our last session this past May 11th Saturday, we found out Pat had a severe asthma attack, was in a coma and on a resperator.  8|  I just can't believe it.  I hope the news on her comes back good soon.  It would be a nice deviation from all the saddness that seems to happen one after the other this past year.

Anyway, that Pat: she taught me everything I currently know about sewing.  Most importantly, she made me feel comfortable sitting in front of my sewing machine.  I now have the confidence I need to embark on other sewing adventures.  ...and my robe?  It's pretty sweet, even with it's many imperfections.  I love it.  

Get well soon, Pat!
I am so very grateful for the sewing skills she taught me, my new spring robe, and how my one little word {MAKE} manifested itself last month.

See March's here and here.
See February's here and here.
See January's here and here.

my DIY flowers in my hair

sharpies + Easter eggs

Today is Good Friday for all who celebrate, and I'm coming to you today with my 'goods' from last night's egg decorating extravaganza.  My cousin, Claudia is with us for the Easter weekend, and when she comes, we get crafty.

Okay, people, I thought I had hit the DIY jackpot!  I had the idea to Mister Huey's mist a hardboiled egg, and sort of monogram them with a colorful marbled-misty look.  Why hadn't anyone pinned this!, I thought.  It's easy. It's fun. It'll be so pretty.  All sounded great...in theory.

Sadly, the idea flopped:

The mist did not stick properly. It was wet and all over the place.  Even with dry-time, it didn't adhere to the shell.  Yeah.  So that's why nobody pinned it.

On to Plan B! ...

...and some interesting creations were made...  

You know me and my polka dots. ;)

When you're a cat-mama, I instagrammed, you want to drawn your babies everywhere.

Claude did an awesome job of springin' up her egg and her nails.

I kept looking for ways I could use the letter stickers.
This thing: ~ reminded me of eyebrows. 

...and an asterisk* for a flower in her hair

This 'dietician' egg was my mom's bright idea. (deep sigh)
My sister is studying to be a dietician and was literally upstairs locked in her room studying, so to honor her and 'include' her we made a dietician egg:
one that would say, "STOP! Eggs are high in cholesterol."

My mom insisted we sign it "-Dietician".

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Then, of course, you have your
Pop Culture easter eggs:

Taylor Swift and 1D eggs.  Carefully and beautiful sharpied by the Claude-myster.

AND...

...last, but not least,
my personal favorite egg of the night...

I used the two cracks as eye-sockets.

Season III Finale Sunday. OMG. OMG.

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I have to say that these are prob not the BEST Easter eggies I've ever made, but still it was a lot of fun.  Also, the scene reminded me of back in mid-October when Claude was over and we were doing the same thing in the same spot, but with acrylic paint and pumpkins.

In fact, the whole thing was highly reminiscent of pumpkin painting.  Isn't that funny? It seems every 6 months we humans need to habitually play with our food.  I love that.

Have a happy Friday, readers & peepers!

I'm doing March's edition of 'Day in the Life' today.
Come back soom to see how that pans out in the near future.

See past Easter egg creations here(2011) and here(2010).

olw for March // MAKE YOURSELF SMILE

This is my monthly intention for March.

Self-explanatory, really, and the fact alone that it's March has me smiling.

With this month is:
the end of Daylight Savings,
Spring,
a cousin's Sweet 16 party,
Easter Break,
...lots of happy things lined up.

I've also enlisted in this month's 30 Days of Lists, that I blogged about here.

I just want to smile. I want to try to NOT let external circumstances dictate my smiling and happiness. I will be MAKING smiles happen on my face. 

Let's see how this month goes.

Happy March!

my one little word for 2013

February's intention

January's intention

T.G.I.F.

Oversized Flower Brooch DIY

I have been watching a lot of Sex and the City, people, and Carrie inspired me to craft yesterday afternoon.

I find that I like wearing pieces that are borderline ridiculous, so I plan to wear this puppy on Thursday for Valentine's Day...and maybe again out for drinks with my girlfriends on Saturday.

 

Past flower brooches can be found here and here.
(I like making them, and I love wearing them.)

♥ ♥ ♥

What are your Valentine's plans?

Share share share!

heart sweater diy

When stores don't sell what you want, MAKE what you want.

That's what I did with a little fabric paint and an old F21 sweater.

my Vine video on the project

above^^
I styled it tucked into high-waisted jeans...
...until my zipper popped right after these pics were taken.
(Haa haa!  Winter weight!) 

Have fun!

If you heartify your sweater, tell everybody Amanda Rose sent you. ;)

for more of my outfits, go here

for more of my super-simple diys, go here

olw for February // MAKE IT PAST* THIS.

*thanks for all the help yesterday, instagram buddies
(past, not passed...haa haa!)

This is my monthly intention for February.   Now that the enchantment that comes with the first few weeks of a new year is fading, it has really started to sink in: I'm without him. 

After six years with Tomas, and a couple weeks since 'breaking up', I feel like we are broken up. That's actually the first time I've used that phrase.  I haven't officially said we're broken up outloud. I guess I still haven't. Haa haa!  (You see why I need this month for mourning?)

I've never done this before, so excuse me if it's all coming out weird.  I've crushed on guys, who didn't crush back, and sure, that hurt a bit.  I've fallen for guys who sorta fell back, and when it didn't amount to a relationship, felt full-fledged heartbreak.  I'm no stranger to heartbreak, but I've never been through this before.  

I've been with Tomas for six years, and he's been my constant. He's been my phone calls, my cuddle buddy, the one I share news with first, and...well...'the one' in general.  
He's been my one. 

...and we didn't work out.

Now what do I do?

It's been hitting me really hard since my grandmother left. I'm just starting to wrap my head around it and I find myself going, "Am I single?  I'm alone again, aren't I?"  I am without an other.

I miss him terribly.  I love him very much, but it was me who ended it. ? ? ? Yeah. It was me who thought it wasn't fair to him for we to be 'us'.  He's been wanting so much more from me for such a long time and I...can't.  So, on top of feeling alone, I feel guilty, and it's placed me in a FUNK. 

I'm allowing myself to mourn this month.

I'm going to grant myself the space, the time, and the silence to heal.  

I'm going through a break-up and it feels like a death, but I want to MAKE IT PAST THIS.

Thanks for understanding.

Happy love month!

xOxO,

olw for January // MAKE JANUARY AWESOME...

Hi! Welcome back to reality: 2013 edition.

Ugh. So school is back in session as of yesterday morning and I'm prepared for the flow of freezing, exhaustion, burn-out, and stress. Teacher Life, yo!  It was the first day back to school after Christmas Break last year that I had my nervous breakdown.  Haa haa! Yep...I had to call out sick the next day, and the hour-long bubble bath sessions began.

To combat some of the poop that January brings, I'm entering this January weilding my one little word repeating to myself:

  I placed it right on top of my dresser, where my face is every day.  

I predict it'll change as the year goes on, but for now THIS IS THE GOAL. 

I've got a few stategically planned ways to make this happen,
which I will share with you at a later date.

-  -  -  -  -  -  -

Have a sweet Thursday.

red & gold glitter circles

I made them.

Last Saturday.

With my sweet cousin.

That's all I have to say about that.

They're cute, but I think they were more successful in star form last year.

Hope your weekend's weekendy.

 

THE WALKING DEAD cut t-shirt DIY

Happy October!

It's October!
...and because this is so,
I bring to you a super easy peasy
DIY that I completed in 15 minutes
Saturday morning in between tons
and layers and oodles of teacher work.

a cut t-shirt DIY!
(make sure you
spy it all the way the end)

Here 'tis: 

to make the collar and sleeves, I followed THiS.

to make the fringe, I followed THiS.

for the skull inspiration, I spied THiS.

Happy October 1st and Halloween season!

DIY Photoshoot Backdrop

If you've spied my pinterest, then maybe you would have seen my pin board photoshoot*ideas. 
I have loaded my brain with those pinned images aiming to conduct my own photoshoot when the right opportunity arose.

Well, we know how that turned out.

This is the post to show you how we made the DIY backdrop...

(FIRST) we duck taped 9 posterboards together and made a square 3x3 posterboard 'wall'.

(SECOND) we layed the posterboard 'wall' down outside, lining the edges and corners with newspaper.

(THiRD) we got the materials to paper-mache light pink and magenta bands of streamers on the 3x3 posterboard 'wall': wallpaper paste, water, paintbrushes.  By doing paper mache, the posterboard  'wall' would be reinforced.

(FOURTH) Claudia and I sat on our butts and painted the 'wall' with glue, then layed 5 rows of magenta streamer across, and then 5 rows of light pink streamer across.  *We needed to be careful because the streamer paper was very delicate.  It kept ripping, but when it did, we'd just place another piece of the same color over it. 

t

(FiFTH) we kept repeating (FOURTH) until the 'wall' is done, and fully glued & papered.

'

Then, you're (DONE) and you need to let it dry.  On the hot NY summer day, it dried in a little over an hour.  Keep in mind we only did one layer of glue/paper.

Once it dried, we hung it on our fence outside, got pretty and (SNAPPED PICS).

*CONFETTi SOLD SEPARATElY. ;)

Enjoy!

xOxO,