A Blog Called Wanda - Photography, Paper Crafting, and Life from Northern California!

Happy (Good) Friday! Mr. Rabbit is ready for Easter!

Hello and Happy Friday! Happy GOOD Friday! Easter weekend is upon us! I have time to squeeze in one more Easter card today! Hope you had an awesome week and I'm wishing you a lovely Easter with your family and friends. Easter came so fast this year! I don't prefer it when Easter is in March – it seems like it just happens too fast! Well, ready or not it's here! And then on Monday it's already April!! Spring crafting continues!

My card for today features a wonderful new stamp set from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous release just in time for Spring this year. I have seen soooo many great cards and projects people have made with the new set!! The new stamp set is called Mr. Rabbit and it's the sweetest vintage bunny wearing a suit (of course), and the stamp set comes with different accent elements. I got out all my Tim Holtz supplies and created a vintage style Easter card in pretty blues…. My finished card is an A2 kraft card base, layered with plaid, and blue, and then cream. I added tons of stuff to this card, as I love to do!!

I started my card by stamping the bunny image in brown ink three times! I stamped him once on the cream rectangle panel, then twice more on scrap paper. I fussy cut out one bunny, and then fussy cut out his suit lapels and his bow tie. I colored the bunny image with Copic Markers and added glitter to his ears. The reason I stamped him on the cream rectangle first is so that the whiskers would show. I was worried I wouldn't be able to fussy cut them perfectly!

I die cut out an oval using the Tim Holtz Vintage Labels Dies and stamped Happy Easter in brown ink.

I stamped two Easter eggs in brown ink and colored them with Copic Markers. I also used a generous amount of glitter to make them look like sugared eggs! SOOO fun!

The flowers are from a Tim Holtz ephemera pack and I loved the blue tones for this card!! All the pieces are inked around the edges with Distress Ink!! I also added glitter to the flowers (you know me!)

I hand dyed some crinkle ribbon using different colors of Distress Inks. I wrapped the ribbon around the bottom of my card when assembling, and tied a pretty bow!!

The most fun part I think is that I made him a REAL flower boutonniere! Ha! I have Baby's Breath flowers all around my house right now as part of my Easter decorations. I snipped off a few tiny flowers and made him a flower spray for his suit jacket!! Hee hee. I wrapped a tiny strip of blue paper around the stems to hold them in place. They will dry out and look vintage!!

Okay, I think that's all the elements! Now, for my assembly process…. I stamped the polka dots in the background on my cream panel (the polka dot stamp is part of the new stamp set). I used foam tape to adhere the rabbit onto the card. Then I glued on his coat lapels and bow tie. I tucked the flowers under the rabbit and I placed the eggs near the bow. The sentiment is also attached with foam tape at the top of the card. I glued on his boutonniere and added a few sparkly blue gems.

Here's a close up of my layers. The plaid paper is from a (many) years old paper pack in my stash….

Happy Good Friday. The most important day. I took this photo the other day in front of our church because the clouds were spectacular! I feel like this photo conveys the mood and importance of this somber day.

Thanks for stopping by today! Thanks for your support and kindness. Again, wishing you and your family a lovely Easter!! XOXO

March 29, 2024
Mini cloche project for Easter!

Hi friends! Hopping in today with a quick project to share! I gotta get all these Easter things shared!! Just a few more days. Hope you are having a great week! When I made my pop up bunny cards the other day, I had some Anna Griffin supplies left over on my desk and I got an idea! Let's make a home decoration! I used a pretty mini cloche that I have had (empty) in my craft room for a while. I put in some stickers, added some glitter and a bow, and there we have it! Done! It came out so pretty and I will put it away with the Easter decorations for every year. I am kind of obsessed with cloches and the cool ideas that people have for how to decorate them. So this project was right up my alley. I will be looking at my crafting supplies a bit differently now! Ha. Wishing you well…today and every day.

Here are some photos of my finished project…

I die cut a cross from gold paper and put it inside next to the bunny and flowers. I added a bright spring green bauble to the top using a bit of hot glue.

I added some hand dyed blue ribbon to the bottom to match the blue ribbon around the bunny's neck. It's very sweet!

That's it for me for today! I'll be back on Friday with one last Easter card! I hope you'll hop back then! Have a fantastic day! Would you consider supporting my blog content by clicking on the links below?! XOXO

THANK YOU FOR SHOPPING VIA MY AFFILIATE LINKS – IT HELPS SO MUCH!!

March 27, 2024
Super fun Spring Cross Stitch Project! I stitched a project bag!

Hello there my friends! Happy Monday! Oh man, we had such a nice weekend!! Friday we went to the big Sewing/Crafting Show here in Sacramento and it was really fun to walk around a craft show (I reallllly miss Stamp Shows!). I bough some cute felt patterns and an embroidery book and it was great to hang with the crafty crowd. Yesterday was literally the most gorgeous spring day and church for Palm Sunday was good. I’m in the mindset for Holy Week for sure. Last night our church hosted the band For King & Country and it was AMAZING!! We got a fantastic concert, a Q&A session, and a preview of their new movie that comes out next month.

Now, it’s a new week and we have lots of crafty goodness to get to! I’ll be sharing a lot this week. Today I’m sharing a super duper fun cross stitch project that I finished recently. It’s very cool, very pretty, and very easy! A great project to get back into cross stitching if you’re thinking about it. I absolutely love it! It’s a project bag (plaid/gingham of course) that I cross stitched a pattern onto! Yeah! FUN. And now I can proudly carry it around with me and use it. It makes me smile. I’ll show you the project and then kind of talk about it as we go through the photos today. Supplies are all listed at the bottom of my post!

Here is a shot of the finished bag! The bag size is approx 13″ x 10″ and it has a gusset at the bottom, so it holds a lot of items. Easily holds a full size pattern, a hoop, threads, scissors, etc. The bag is rigid and very nice quality. I chose my own color of bag and also switched up the colors in the pattern. You could use any colors – to make it your own style.

I experimented with different thread counts – and ended up using DMC floss – all SIX strands. I also stitched over two on those big chunky stitching holes. It was SO easy to stitch in this big size and scale! The only slightly awkward part was stitching inside a bag! But it really went quickly.

Here’s a close up of the stitches and the holes in the ‘fabric’ of the bag. Using six strands of floss really makes it pop!!

Here is a photo of the pattern. As you see, I used an aqua bag and also changed up almost all of the colors. I like the original one, and I also like my customized one too.

Love these cute little Spring lambs!!

If you look at the pattern, you’ll see that I changed some things around here and there…. Don’t be afraid to make your piece your own! The bag has a nice big zipper to secure your goodies inside.

And a three inch gusset in the bottom…. I will be using this for a cross stitch project bag, but really you could use it for travel, or anything else!

This project has many variations! CLICK HERE to see all the different project bag colors! CLICK HERE to see all the different bag patterns! I already bought the orange bag and the Autumn Pattern and the red bag and the Flag Pattern. I think I may actually end up doing all of them! I absolutely adore this project and I hope you make one too! You can get everything at my favorite online Cross Stitching Shop!

Have a great Easter week!! I’ll be back a few times with some final projects for the holiday!! Happy crafting, friends! XOXO

THANK YOU FOR SHOPPING VIA MY AFFILIATE LINKS – IT HELPS SO MUCH!!

If you enjoy my content – consider buying me a coffee! Thank you!

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies used for today’s project! (Affiliate Links Used)

March 25, 2024
Bunny Pop Up Easel cards for Easter 2024!

Hi creative and crafty friends! Happy weekend! I hope you have a fun weekend planned! Yesterday we went to the Sewing Expo here in Sacramento and enjoyed a day out and about. It was mostly sewing and quilting things but I generally just enjoy being around crafting so it was nice. Tomorrow night we're going to a concert at church, and then it will be one week until Easter! Our weather turned a bit and it's cloudy and rainy again, but hey, that's spring around here!!

Today's post has a TON of pictures! I made four cards and I'm sharing lots of pictures of all four cards because each one is similar, and yet very different. And we know I love the details! I recently bought the Bunny Easel Dies set from Anna Griffin and it makes the most perfect Easter cards! I loooooooved making them! I usually buy my Anna Griffin items from HSN or direct from her website. As far as I know, everything is still available (for next year….)

I made a quick little video of the cards too – if you want to take a look – here's the link!

Each finished card folds into an A7 envelope (5"x7") and I chose pastel pink envelopes which looks so nice!! The main die that does the folding part is a very long die, so you will need the extra long cutting plates for your die cutting machine. After I die cut the bases, I went to town mixing and matching colors and embellishments…. I also used some other Anna Griffin Dies/Embossing Folders to make the crosses. All the flowers and sentiments are from AG also.

I used loads of papers from my scrapbook paper stash! I used pretty florals and ginghams of course. I used metallic paper and also cream cardstock for the bunnies. Really just mixed and matched without too much effort or analysis.

I combined pearl embellishments and ribbons from my stash too! I'm trying to use everything! LOLZ. (Are you in that same boat??!)

Each card is sooooo different! They all fold up and then the bottom tucks into the labels so it stands up straight for display!

I embellished the bottom part of each card too. I splattered on gold paint everywhere!! And clear diamond Stickles… and and and…. Hee hee.

I love these 3D flower embellishments and added glitter to most of them…

OOOOOHHHHH those lilies!!! And the gorgeous fonts…

The die cut for the top layer bunny is SO incredibly detailed and pretty.

I put some pink art chalk on this one for her ears and cheek. If there's one thing I hoard more than paper…it's ribbon!!

And here is a side view of what the bunny looks like when standing up tall! Be sure to use double sided cardstock for a polished/finished look.

And here is one of the cards laying flat for mailing.

And here are all four cards folded up before I put them in the envelopes!

These dies are really gorgeous and fun to work with. I feel like I could have made twenty cards, just mixing and matching all the pretty elements. I love Easter time and the motifs and colors of the season. I was able to customize each one in my own unique style and it was a very nice day in the craft room creating these to share with you! Are you all ready for Easter? Are you hosting? Let me know your favorite Easter craft this year – I'd love to know what you're making!! XOXO

March 23, 2024
Cute Carrots for Easter Treats!

Hi again! It's me! Back with some more Easter fun! I'm trying to get everything photographed and posted before next week! Loving all the fun Easter things this year. Our house is totally decorated for Easter. Sunday night For King and Country is doing an acoustic concert at our church and we got tickets!! And we have our schedule all set for our church activities for Holy Week. It's time to get ready for our most important holiday… I'm so excited. Seriously, tho, how fast did Easter come this year???!! Today I'm sharing some very easy treat boxes to make for Easter. I used the new Lawn Fawn Carrot Treat Box dies to make some festive and super cute paper carrots! These are perfect for place settings for your Easter table, or filled with candies for a little treat in the Easter basket!! You guys know how much I love a fun treat box idea! Let's get started!

Here are three of my carrots…ADORABLE! Fun concept, and again, soooo easy to make and customize!

In my continuing efforts to use my paper stash, I used two older paper pads from Lawn Fawn (discontinued)… The Perfectly Plaid Fall and the Let's Polka in the Meadow… You could use solid paper, gingham, polka dots, or any other cute paper that you love! You need an orange paper and a green paper for the leaves. That's it!

To make each carrot, you need two carrot pieces and two leaf pieces. They go together with just a bit of scor-tape. I added green sheer ribbon to the tops and I used some cute dies to add hearts on the front. My supplies are all listed at the bottom of this post.

I used green distress ink to add some splatters to the leaves. I used orange distress ink and white paint to add splatters to the carrot parts. I just like a little visual interest and the appearance of texture….

These are fairly small in size – here is one in my hand. So you could really only fit a very small gift inside! Or of course, candies!! Mine are filled with Cadbury Eggs – my favorite!

That's today's fun Easter project!! Are you getting ready for Easter? Do you make treats or cards for Easter time? Let me know in the comments what you're working on!! I have more to come in the next week. Have a blessed day everybody! XOXO

March 21, 2024
The Greetery – Rejoice Easter Card!

Hello friends! It's my turn to share a card on The Greetery Blog today, and as usual, I'm sharing my card here today too! I am always so happy to share with you. Hope you're doing great as fully immerse in Spring. It's in the 70's here every day this week and the flowers are going crazy! It's sooo pretty. I was inspired by the colors of spring today…but using a not so obvious Greetery stencil set! My card today features the gorgeous Fall Folk Stencils, made into an Easter card! Fun! I thought – let's try this fall product with beautiful Easter colors of pink, aqua and green. Guess what? I love how it looks! Just a reminder to look at your stamps and dies (and stencils) with fresh eyes. Try some different color combos!!

My finished card is an A2 white card base. I layered dark pink gingham, then my stenciled panel and then a pretty Arch Frame. I used the Rejoice Dies in gold and vellum for my large sentiment, and the Amen and Alleluia stamp set for the smaller accent sentiment… My color palette is bright green, pink, yellow and aqua. SO fresh!

Here's a side view of my layers and elements…

I started this card by doing the stenciling first. These are the Fall Folk Stencils and I loved them last year with pumpkins and warm tones… I used both small and large blender brushes with Distress Inks for the coloring and shading. To take your stenciling to the next level – try a darker shade with a small brush for just a hint of shadow. It makes a world of difference! My colors are listed out in my supply list at the bottom of this post!

I die cut an arch out of white cardstock using the A2 Arches dies and layered that over my stenciled panel using foam tape. I die cut the word Rejoice and layered that over the top of the stenciling. Then I die cut a small banner using the Pretext Banners Dies and stamped on He is Risen. I finished off the card with a couple of pink hearts for embellishment.

Thanks for stopping by today to share some crafts with me! Have an amazing rest of the week! I'll see you soon my friends. Keep on creating! XOXO

THANK YOU FOR SHOPPING VIA MY AFFILIATE LINKS – IT HELPS SO MUCH!!

If you enjoy my content – consider buying me a coffee! Thank you!

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see all the supplies used for today's card! (Affiliate Links Used)

March 19, 2024
Happy St. Patrick’s Day 2024! And Happy Birthday to Lucky!

Top o' the morning to you friends! Happy St. Patrick's Day! Happy Sunday! Hope you're having a great weekend! Are you wearing your green? I've been wearing green everywhere this entire week. I kinda love St. Patrick's Day! And, it's a happy day for another big reason…. It's also my Lucky's birthday! My sweet little kitty cat is turning six today! He has had a great birthday week and is thoroughly spoiled! LOLZ. His birthday portrait is at the bottom of this post. He has the most beautiful green eyes and the best spirit. Such a good boy…so we say Happy Birthday Lucky!

I have two cards to share with you today to celebrate the Irish!! My first card was made with new supplies from PPP! The new shamrock dies are so perfect! The right size and scale for cards. I will be using these again and again. I combined the shamrocks with a gorgeous fresh plaid and some shamrock paper from our friends at Doodlebug… My finished card is a white A2 card base. This was a quick and easy card to put together and would be a good one for mass producing and flat for mailing.

I started by die cutting out all the shamrocks from the pretty shamrock paper. Then I die cut the Lucky word from matte gold and vellum. I splattered gold paint onto the shamrocks because, why not?!

I cut out a white scalloped rectangle for the base for the shamrocks. I attached them with foam squares and then added some enamel dots for good measure.

I used liquid glue to affix the Lucky dies to the card across the shamrocks.

IRISH BLESSING FOR YOU TODAY!

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

My second card for today was made with super fabulous supplies from Anna Griffin!! This finished card is a 5" x 7" card decorated with St. Patrick's Day ephemera. I added gold splatters, glitter Stickles and pearls… It's vintagey and pretty and kinda fancy! I love that pretty font on the sentiment….

Here are a few close up photos for this card! To make this card, it's basically assembling pieces from a kit. So lovely! I made a bunch of cards last year from this same kit.

And here's the birthday portrait of my sweet Lucky!! I caught him in one of his favorite spots – by the sliding glass door in our bedroom (or as I like to call it, the cat big screen tv)! He loves to sun and watch the birdies and he waits for me to open the curtains for him each morning. He's such a sweetie! Happy birthday Lucky!

That's it for today! Just two weeks until Easter now! I have a bunch of Easter projects to share with you and I'm excited. I've been busy. Easter is my favorite holiday and I just adore all the pretty colors and themes this time of year. Have a great week ahead!! XOXO

THANK YOU FOR SHOPPING VIA MY AFFILIATE LINKS – IT HELPS SO MUCH!!

If you enjoy my content – consider buying me a coffee! Thank you!

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies used in today's projects! (Affiliate Links Used)

March 17, 2024
Pretty Pink Posh – Spring Release 2024 – Ombre Butterflies Card!

Hello lovelies!! Are you having a good week!? Spring is springing and rolling along and it's just a couple of weeks until Easter! Hope you're doing great!! The new release from Pretty Pink Posh continues this week with an Instagram Hop and I wanted to share my card with you here. If you're on Instagram, make sure to stop by my post and leave a comment for a chance to win a PPP gift certificate! Woot! The new release is full of everything perfect for Spring! And we're all ready for it, aren't we!? I shared my other PPP new release projects last week – so please check out those cards too! (Easter cards)

My card for the Instagram Hop features the brand new Stitched Butterflies Dies and the brand new Eyelet Circles Dies! I used the previously released Beautiful Butterflies stamp set for the perfect sentiment! My finished card is a 5" x 5" square card using a white card base. I layered teal and then more white… Because I really wanted the butterflies to pop off the page!

Here's a side view of my layers and gold embossing on the sentiment…

To make the butterflies, I die cut them out of white cardstock. I used pretty, vivid shades of teal, yellow and coral to make an ombre effect with inks and blender brushes. After the inking dried, I splattered on gold paint! The butterfly centers are gold cardstock.

I attached the butterflies to the card using thin strips of foam tape only in the centers! This way, I could gently lift up the wings of the butterflies with my fingers to make it look like they're flying off the card!! I used three colors of ink on each butterfly and left just a bit of white at the bottom of each one – for a true color filled ombre! (All the supplies and ink colors are listed at the bottom of my post today!)

I heat embossed the sentiment using gold embossing on a pretty eyelet circle. I added a few gems and jewels in colors to match the butterflies and add a bit (more) of shimmer!

Okay friends! That's it for today's post! I'm wishing you a very happy day. See you soon! Be sure to create something today and remember to have some laughs too! Crafting and laughter are good medicine!

Head over to Instagram to see this card and enter to win a Pretty Pink Posh Gift Certificate!

March 14, 2024
Happy Sunday – A little vintage Easter project for today!

Hi everyone! Happy Sunday! (Or Monday if you're reading this after getting your email newsletter!) Did you have a good weekend? I had a great weekend, and now Lucky and I have spent all day today in the craft room watching the Oscars red carpet and crafting! We went to a pop up vintage market on Friday at one of our favorite places and then yesterday we spent a while at the nursery (the flowers are soooo beautiful right now!) and then went to church too. A great weekend indeed. Hubs is outside planting seeds for a wildflower garden, set up to attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. I am so excited to see everything bloom and see if they pretty creatures come to visit. It's full on spring here, allergies, blossoms, sunshine…. I am definitely in the mood for Easter and it's in three weeks!! I'm (once again) going to run out of time to make everything. LOL. Story of my life!

With this post I want to share one of the things I made today! It's 4:00 and I managed to get some photos in just in time before it got too shady. I made a fun vintage Easter themed decoration… Not sure what to call it? A rosette? A medallion? Hmmmm. Anyhoo! I'm going to use it as a decoration around the house! I used beautiful vintage image stickers from Anna Griffin and lots of papers from my stash! (one paper said 2005 on it! Time to stop paper hoarding) My first time making an oval rosette! It's not perfect but it was cool to try something new for one of my favorite techniques!!

The paper I used to make the folded medallion part is blue and white gingham! I LOOOOOVE this! Here is a close up of all those paper layers!! Lots of oval die cuts from my collection….

The rabbit/floral image and the sentiment are from Anna Griffin! I usually buy my Anna Griffin supplies straight from her own website… And sometimes from HSN. I made some Easter pop up cards that I will share soon – also made with Anna Griffin supplies! I love everything she does!

I generously splattered on gold paint and added diamond stickles too. Gems and pearls too! Ha!

Here's a side view into the sun so you can see the sparkly parts!

Here is the back! More gingham!

I used seam binding tape dyed with Distress Inks and added a Tim Holtz flower embellishment…

I was originally going to make this piece using all pinks but then that blue gingham paper caught my eye so I switched to blue! I do like how it came out and it's perfect for spring! All these layers and vintagey things is one of my favorite things to craft. No rules, no limits…just keep adding stuff!

I wasn't really sure what to use for the handle! I had some dowels in the craft room and I thought about painting one… but then I decided to hot glue on a paper straw! Works! And adds another whimsical touch…

Okay friends! That's it for today! I have some fun St. Patrick cards to share this week coming up! Wishing you luck and happiness and a good week ahead! Thanks for stopping by to see what I've created! XOXO

March 10, 2024
Pretty Pink Posh – March 2024 New Release – Easter & Spring Cards!

Hello there my kind and creative friends! So nice to have you visit me at A Blog Called Wanda! If you're new here – welcome! We like to have a good time here! Today is a fun celebration of the new release for Spring 2024 from Pretty Pink Posh! I am excited to be part of a big multi day blog hop to celebrate the March new release – stamps, dies, stencils, and more! All with a lovely Spring and Easter vibe/theme. Bunnies, and chicks and flowers and butterflies! It's so beautiful and bright and cheerful and happy!! Good news -the new release is available for shopping now! Enjoy the hop, and I'm excited to share two cards with you today!

CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE NEW RELEASE!

If you're new to my blog because of the hop – I would love to have you subscribe to my newsletter! That way, you'll get an email every time I have a new project! CLICK HERE to subscribe now!

My first card for today features the brand new Bunny Face Shaker Dies along with some of my previously released PPP Easter favorites! My finished card is a white A2 card base layered with pink plaid, an eyelet rectangle, some carrots and then that cute bunny! This card was super fun to put together. All the Easter things on one card! It makes me smile!

Here's a close up of that adorable bunny face!! I die cut the bunny pieces from white, pink, black, and grey cardstocks. I added shading using my Copic Markers and then added white gel pen accents to each piece.

Here's a side view of all my layers!!

I die cut the Hoppy Easter dies from Silver cardstock!! You can see I used the Carrot Stencils for the panel just underneath the bunny. I die cut eggs, a carrot and a sweet little bow for my bun bun. (All the supplies are listed at the bottom of my post). It's sooooooo Spring with all those pretty colors!

I used the Eyelet Rectangle dies for my bottom layer and then cut my carrot stenciled panel to fit just inside the eyelet rectangle stitched portion. I used a vellum circle behind the bunny to 'ground' it onto the card.

My next card for today features the brand new Big Easter Cupcake dies, the brand new Trellis Stencil, and the new Sentiment Strips Easter stamps! My finished card is an A2 white card base layered with small polka dot paper. I also layered a stenciled panel and some vellum – then that cute chickie cupcake!

Here's a side view of my layers and elements…

I stenciled the Trellis using spring colors and then die cut out my stenciled panel using the Wonky Rectangles Dies. I also die cut a wonky rectangle from vellum.

To make the chick I used bright yellow cardstock and then inked the pieces using Copic Markers…. I die cut a few flowers to add interest to the front of the cupcake.

Well, if this new release doesn't put you in the mood for Spring, I don't know what will! LOLZ. That's it for my projects for today!! It's so fun being part of this great blog hop!! The links to the other bloggers for today are at the very bottom of my post! Be sure to visit all the blogs and leave your comments!!

PRIZE INFO: There are THREE $30 gift certificates up for grabs (one winner each day). Winners will be picked randomly from comments along the blog hop. All comments must be left by 11:59 PM PST on 3/13/2024. Winners will be announced on the PPP blog. GOOD LUCK!!

CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE NEW PPP RELEASE!

March 7, 2024