My name is Amanda Formaro, proud mother to four wonderful children, married to my high school sweetheart and living in the Midwest state of Wisconsin. I love to cook, bake and be creative. I worked full time in finance until my third child was three months old then quit to stay home and raise my kids. As much as I loved being a mom, graham crackers and diapers just weren’t enough and my creative mind was going stir crazy.
My Internet Story
Back in 1997, I got on the Internet when it was still pretty young and AOL and GeoCities were the prominent names; Google and Facebook weren’t even around yet. A month later I created a website called FamilyCorner.com. I developed it over the years, teaching myself HTML, networking with other webmasters and growing it into a profitable business. I sold that site in November of 2007 and began blogging six months later.
Throughout the years I’ve shared my creativity through other companies and sites. I worked as the craft expert for Disney’s Kaboose.com (AKA Spoonful.com), and created fun kid’s crafts for them from 2005-2010, and later for Spoonful as well. I have been published by many online magazines, including SheKnows.com and Family.com. You may have seen my work in Parents Magazine, Redbook, Mixing Bowl magazine, The Chicago Tribune and several others. I also worked as a designer for DecoArt and several other brands. I’ve worked for and with numerous companies and sites, such as General Mills, Yahoo, Kix Cereal, I Love to Create, and many more.
My Books
More recently I’ve published a series of 5 craft books for kids, called The Mania Series. Those books include:
- Duct Tape Mania
- Rubber Band Mania
- Paper Fun Mania
- Button Mania: Buttons, Bottlecaps, and Beyond!
- Star Wars Mania
My Branded Craft Kits
I developed some super fun kid’s craft kits through S&S Worldwide. I’m very excited to share those, they include:
- Ladybug Pack
- Foil Pack
- Monster, Alien and Robot Pack
I also have a food blog where I love to share my recipe creations called Amanda’s Cookin’ and I own a large craft library site called Fun Family Crafts.
My Studio
Something exciting happened in 2015. After 18 years of working from my home I decided to branch out and rent a space specifically to work in. And so Amanda’s Creative Studio was born. Now each day I get up and go to work again, like I did so many years ago. My studio has been a labor of love and I will continue to share projects as I work from this beautiful space!
The Staff
When I started this craft blog in late September of 2008, I had no idea what it would grow into. Now I’m proud to say that my daughter has joined me in running this business and I have a slew of help as well as contributors that make this site so great.
Kristen Formaro, Editorial Manager
Kristen is my 23-year old daughter and the Editorial Manager for Amanda’s Cookin’ and Crafts by Amanda. She handles all content for both of websites, plus she now helps me with developing new content for them both as well. She loves to create fun, cute food like her Unicorn Freakshakes and her Cookie Monster and Elmo Cookies. After several conversations with her about her old job, I knew she HAD to come work for me. She joined the team in January of 2017 and hasn’t looked back!
Kristen and I plan to start a Facebook Live weekly show and will be cooking and crafting on a regular basis. If you would liked to be notified via text message whenever we go live, simply send a text to 40404 with the message “follow textamanda” and we will text you! We are enjoying this journey together and I’m excited for what the future holds.
Taylor Strickland, Social Media Strategist
About a year ago my son’s long time girlfriend, Taylor joined my team as a part time employee. She is currently a college student with a double major (crazy smart girl!), one of those is social media. She is an important part of the marketing efforts of this business and enjoys her job immensely. I look forward to having her around for a lot longer than a year!
My hope is that I am successful in sharing my love for creating via this blog. I love to hear from all of you and hope you will continue to comment on my posts and share your thoughts!
My Contact Info
Email – amanda@craftsbyamanda.com
Twitter – @amandaformaro
Facebook – Crafts by Amanda Facebook Page
Facebook – Amanda’s Cookin’ Facebook Page
I hope you enjoy Crafts by Amanda and will either follow the blog, or subscribe by email. I would love to share with you what’s cookin’ at my house and what I’m creating in my studio!
