The bio

My name is Amanda Formaro. But you knew that, since you visited amandaformaro.com. I’m the mother of four wonderful children, one of which is now legally an adult. I am very happily married to my high school sweetheart, and we live in the wonderful midwest state of Wisconsin.

I love to cook, bake and make crafts. I worked full time in finance until my third child was three months old. At that time I 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.

So, back in 1997, I got on the internet. 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, though I still work as their Chief Editor. I write newsletters for several websites owned by Internet Brands and have worked as an editor and webmaster for several websites in the past.

I worked as the craft expert for Disney’s Kaboose.com, and created fun kid’s crafts for from 2005-2010. I have been published by many online magazines, including SheKnows.com and Family.com. I have been seen in print in Parents Magazine, Redbook, Mixing Bowl magazine and several others. I also have a craft blog where I love to share my creations for kids and adults called Crafts by Amanda.

My love of cooking and baking grew out of creativity really. I didn’t do much outside of baking cake mixes and making boring dinners each night until around 2005.I now bake almost everything from scratch and haven’t bought a prepackaged cookie in a long time. I love trying new recipes and baking treats for my family. I give a lot of credit to the Tuesdays with Dorie baking group as well as to Dorie Greenspan herself. Participating in the group brought me out of my comfort zone and challenged me to try new recipes, different methods, and even flavors I wasn’t sure about. I enjoyed it immensely!

That’s probably what spawned the idea for my third site, The Secret Recipe Club. I had an idea and wow did it blossom quickly! I started running it from my food blog, but within a short few months it grew enough that it needed its own website. It’s a lot of fun and allows me and all the other members to branch out and try something new.
My hope is that I am successful in sharing my love for food and its preparation through my cooking blog. I hope that I am able to inspire those who enjoy project via the tutorials on my craft blog. I also hope that I will always be able to do this for a living. If you don’t love what you do, well.. ’nuff said.

My other gigs: