Amanda Rose Zampelli | the blog

Easter eggs w/ Fancy Tats™ metallic tattoos

For those of you who don't know -- I work for the company me & my BIG ideas (mambi for short). When someone in the company e-mailed us images of Easter eggs decorated in metallic tattoos, it was a given that I was going to try it myself using mambi's new Fancy Tats™ Metallic Tattoos. I pretty much died over the end result.

Supplies needed:

• cooled hard boiled eggs
• a cup of warm water
• Fancy Tats™ metallic tattoos
• scissors
• towel

Once you've hard-boiled the eggs and cooled them in a refrigerator over night, they are ready to get fancy. Here are some helpful tips I discovered while working on this project: 

1. Soak the whole egg in water before applying your desired Fancy Tat™. This allows for easy application and repositioning if needed.
2. Peel the protective film off the tattoo and soak the entire tattoo before applying as well. By soaking the tattoo, it will contour better to the curved surface of the egg.
3. Smaller tattoos work best. If you could cut a large tattoo into smaller pieces and apply each piece separately, it will result in a smoother application.
4. Once you peel back the tattoo from the egg, smooth the edges and any bubbles with a wet fingertip.
5. It's a good idea to work on this project - start to finish - over a towel, to soak up all the drips.

There was a lot of trial and error, with a few tattoos lost in the making of these eggs.  However, once I got the hang of the medium and how to work the water on eggshell with the tatts, I was able to make them look good. Like, really good. I can't get over how LUX they look!

Decorating eggs is an Easter tradition I've done since childhood.
You can see past eggs decorated HERE (2013) and HERE (2010).

Hey June, don't make it bad // Take a sad song and make it better

Yesterday, on the first day of June, my sister and I made a day trip to Williamsburg, Brooklyn to attend Smorgasburg.  I was able to wear only a sundress, as the sun was incessantly shining and the weather was upward of 80 degrees.  We ate Blue Marble Salted Caramel Ice Cream, and I think I've found a new favorite.

It was a lovely afternoon, and since June is the first month of my favorite three of the year (...July & August, too) I look forward to feeling more relaxed and less anxious; feeling more in the moment.  I'm looking forward to Hey June -- taking a sad song and making it better. ♥ Happy Monday!

snippets / may 2014

• National Scrapbook Day had me spring-cleaning my craftroom...and Little Couple all day

• #redballoonsforRyan was a hashtag commemorating little Ryan Cruz Saldana 

• mom's new Mother's Day planters basking in the backyard Mother's Day sun

• an all-dressed up night out to NYC for Natalie's 30th birthday

• nature's confetti on a foggy morning's walk/jog

• Ness and I taking a new route to our trail and scaling the incline 

• Tomas was in town for a week, and he and Rita became instant friends at Danielle's BBQ

• a happy dinner visit from Ryan and Claudia

• holding hands on Austn Street for the first date night I've had in...umm...a long time

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a bit about snippets:

Blogger Manda Townsend posts snippets of her life every now and then, and after seeing her ode to snippets post, I commented that I would join her this year in 'snippetting'. :)  

I plan to post snippets of my month at the end of every month. I can't believe we're already at the end of May. (see snippets of January|February|March|April)

Mother's Day 5.11.14

Last week's Mother's Day was beautiful. My sister and I woke up early, signed our cards, and put mom's presents on display. We got her a bunch of stuff from a beauty supply store, a Chia herb garden, and some new planters.  We spent the morning outside in the backyard.  I fed squirrels; I observed  a snail.  It was so warm that I changed into one of my only strapless shirts.  Nothing short of a miracle. ♥ Mom started planting her herbs.  She put flowers from work in one of her new planters.  Her and I took a trip to Home Depot to look for impatients - her favorite flowers.  I stopped in a shop next to Home Depot and found some sweet midi sundresses for $4 each. I bought four.  I took the cats back outside in the evening, and had a no fuss dinner of leftovers.

That was it: calm and warm.  This year there's nothing else I could've asked for. I just wanted to record it.

get outside & breathe.

Taking one day at a time. Soaking up as much of the sun as possible. Lots of breathing. Repeat, repeat repeat lately. It's all been good: the sun, the weather, the almost-there summer...

My walk/jogs that have been mostly walks the past few weeks were upgraded to mostly jogging - with bits of running (body's now ready for it. Hooray!).

My cats are my heart and my children. I love them, and they so love me back. (Speaking of, did you see this?! Crazy!)

Plus, an awesomely beautiful Mother's Day spent gifting and planting and getting outside and finding a bunch of $4 sundresses...priceless for the soul.

Hoping a lot of your May's been made up of those two! ♥ 

The above stamps came in a digitial kit along with fun others from here.

snippets / april 2014

• restarted walk/jog/runs to Alley Pond Park with my sister this month

• that time my friend, Danielle, looked like Strega Nona in New York City

• my cousin Marisa's low-key, intimate bridal shower at Il Mulino

• getting to see my wonderful para, Wanda, at her mother's 83rd Birthday house party - equipped with Dominican dancing and food

• a little Easter egg coloring therapy

• cousin + me + sister, Easter afternoon, at the dining table 

• cardinal telling everyone it's Spring

• two kitty boops on their 4th birthday inviting their squirrel buddy to their party

• excitement over my bare arm situation (finally!) the last weekend of April

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a bit about snippets:

Blogger Manda Townsend posts snippets of her life every now and then, and after seeing her ode to snippets post, I commented that I would join her this year in 'snippetting'. :)  

I plan to post snippets of my month at the end of every month.
(see snippets of January|February|March)

At the bottom of each one of my snippets posts, you'll also find a link to a page entitled "Reflections on my Monthly Goals". You can go to that page here.

my (new??) morning walk routine

If you've been a reader of my blog for a while, then you know morning walks are NOT a new routine for me.  I've been neighborhood walk/jog/running for years now, and even wrote a poem and a little list of 'essentials' about the activity.

However, this winter was brutal (for me).  During winter months, I can't even walk to my car without distress from the cold, let alone go for an actual neighborhood stroll.  Not to mention that this winter, the snow seemed like it was forever on the ground. BOO x10.

So these past few mornings -- with the flowers in full bloom, and the sun finally feeling like sun (not just looking like it), and it being sooo long since I intentionally walked, and not having to layer under my Northface coat -- my walks have felt 'new' to me...felt fresh and foreign and exciting.

Remember this?! Oh, you like this.

...and I'll be keeping it up as long as I can. ♥ 

floral walk

It finally looks (and feels) like spring 'round these parts. It took about 3-weeks longer than last year, but it's here, it's glorious and let's keep calm and carry on to my favoritiest of all: summer.

Have a happy Sunday. ♥

a HIS&HERS Saturday 2000 miles apart

Tomas is still living in Texas.  If you can recall, he moved there back in August.  I visited in September.  He came home for a few days in December...and has been back in Texas since.

His Saturday, March 29th, was spent at the Mugbug Bash. Its Dallas/Fort Worth's celebration of everything 'spring' with live music and crawfish.  He sent me videos of sunhsine and sleevelessness. He sent me videos of inebriated cowboys and people swaying back and forth on a big lawn to the live music in the air. He sent me the above photo.  A styrofoam container of crawfish|potato|corn and a cold beer on a wooden picnic table in the sunshine.  

Do you know how I wish I could've been there?

I say this all the time -- but really: WHEN are teleportation machines going to be a 'thing'?! 

My Saturday looked a little different:

My Saturday, March 29th, was spent at Best Market. It's where dad and I can find the best deal on fruit. Go ahead. You can yawn. In the photo above, I captured dad claiming the world record for the longest time it took a human being to choose a hunk of provolone cheese.  My Saturday, folks.  Not to mention the downpour of rain.

2000 miles apart. Two very different Saturdays. Just where we both are at the moment.

Happy April, everybody! Thank goodness we got here! ...and and don't forget! It's April Fool's, so look out for all your favorite blogger's fake pregnancies! It happened last year here & here! Haa haa!

office orchid

I just wanted to check in today and write that my new mini office orchid makes me happy. If I were participating in #100HappyDays that's trending right now, I suppose this would be my first submission. I picked it out on Sunday from my local Stop&Shop and it has been the MVP of the past two work days.

Its pressence calms me down.  It gives me the perfectly timed few-second breaks in between all the eye-straining computer design. I'm usually shifting its position throughout the day.  It starts off in the early morning hugging my iMac screen, then sits sweetly on the window sill once the sun comes out. Midday, I turn it. I doesn't bother me. It waits patiently for my attention.

Its a Just Add Ice orchid and should be easy to keep alive. Place a single ice cube in the pot once a week. No direct sunlight.  (I hope I don't mess it up.) We shall see. ♥ 

Any other tips for this new mini-orchid mama?