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

The Year of the Dragon! 2024! Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Before I get started today, I want to say thank you to everyone who responded to my post from Thursday last week. Thank you thank you thank you! I received such overwhelmingly positive feedback. Notes, messages, coffees, shopping. SUPPORT. Thank you everyone! I'm going to keep going and I'm going to pray for your continued support through the year. Bless you!

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Lunar New Year 2024! It's the Year of the Dragon! The Wood Dragoon, to be exact! And….I am a Wood Dragon so it is my year! Woohoooo! And since each zodiac only comes around 12 years that means that I am going to be 60 later this year! Holy guacamole. Not really sure how this happened, but here we are! So I'm going to embrace it! I love to celebrate and honor the Lunar New Year. I lived in the Bay Area for many years and I really came to know and love all the Asian cultures and the beautiful traditions and celebrations. Maybe this year since it's my year, I'll try to go to the San Francisco parade next month! That would be amazing. It's been a while since I attended a parade! The Lunar New Year starts on February 10th this year. Do you know what Zodiac sign you are?? CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT!

Last year was the Year of the Rabbit – CLICK HERE to see last year's card! Last year I made a super cool pop up card!

The Dragon is a majestic and lucky creature in Chinese folklore, symbolizing bravery, creativity, and innovation. According to the Chinese horoscope, 2024 is a year full of potential and opportunities for personal growth, professional success, and social impact. People born in the Year of the Dragon are charismatic, ambitious, adventurous, and fearless. They have confidence, independence, and vision. They are not afraid to pursue their dreams and goals. They are optimistic, ambitious and adventurous. They like to explore new ideas and challenge themselves. They are also generous, compassionate and loyal to their friends. CLICK HERE to read more about the Dragon!

One of the traditions of Lunar New Year is to give Red Envelopes to friends and family. For my project for this year I made my own custom red envelopes! I used traditional colors of red, black and gold and made the envelopes and decorated them with stamps and dies and stickers. This was really such a fun project!! I made three envelopes and the finished size is 5.75" x 3.75".

I used this GORGEOUS new die to make the lovely lanterns in red and gold. I layered two red pieces and then die cut the lantern again with gold paper and filled in the openings. I cut off the bottom part in red and made that part gold. I embellished with gorgeous red gems! This die is so pretty! I'm also envisioning it in spring in pastel colors – maybe a little banner?? Love it!

The Happy New Year was die cut in gold paper. In this close up you can see my stamping on the envelope! I used clear ink and different stamps to add bamboo and fireworks behind the main image. The cutest little panda bear die set fit perfectly on the front of this envelope! The blossoms are old stickers from my stash. I used black gems to add impact on all the envelopes. SO classy with the red and black together…

Each envelope is slightly different. Here I layered black and gold cardstock to make a feature for the beautiful lantern…. I stamped the fireworks in black and also the sentiment.

For this one I added the year 2024 in gold embossing along the left side of the envelope. I used a VERY old stamp set I've had for 25+ years!!! It's from All Night Media and it's fabulous. You know how you have those things in your craft room you will never get rid of???

All the envelopes are splattered with gold paint for good measure!

I made my envelopes using my Envelope Punch Board. Do you have an Envelope Board? If not, you should definitely consider it. It allows you to custom make your own envelopes to any size!! I use it all the time. I stamped the bamboo on the envelope before gluing it together. SO much easier this way. I also used Distress Ink and a blender brush to ink the tops of the envelopes and shade them….it comes out so rich. Tone on tone distress ink blending – you gotta try it!

And here are my finished envelopes!!

I used foam tape to attach the lanterns to the envelopes. I really love how these came out!!

I just ordered/received some new Mama Elephant Lunar New Year stamps in the mail the other day. I'm going to try to make some more cards before the 10th. We'll see what I can do! Until, or if…. This might be my Lunar New Year project for 2024!! Gung Hay Fat Choy!

That's it for today! Happy Sunday! Go Niners! Hope you have a blessed and happy day today and a great week ahead! Thanks for being here and thank you for your support! XOXO

January 28, 2024
A note from my heart and some real talk today…. Grab a cuppa and spend time with me….

Hello my dear and lovely crafty friends! Hope you're doing great today, and I'm sending some good vibes your way on this lovely day. This post might be long and involved… Grab some coffee and let's chat. As I sit down to write this post, so many things are going through my head. Things I want to say, and stuff I want to tell you, things I need to say, and how do I word these things, and what will be the response?…. I'm optimistic that you all will be supportive, because you always are. Over the years, you have become my tribe, my posse, my girl gang. I have gotten to know you all, and you have gotten to know me. We have been through a lot together. Many of you have become my friends. It's been wonderful and uplifting. We have crafted a LOT of things together over the years! Can you believe that I have been blogging for fifteen years this year!!! FIFTEEN! I have been making cards for 30 years this year!!! Gosh, just writing that is weird. Like how did all those years go by? In a blink. I have learned so much and I have been blessed so much by you, and the companies I get to work with. It's been a ride for sure – a good ride! E ticket!

As I've alluded to in recent past posts, last year was really hard for my little family. Lots of things went wrong and it was a test. I was filled with so much anxiety most of last year and much of the time I felt like I was hanging on by that proverbial thread. As God always does, HE brought us through everything and we are going to be fine. We grow most when we are tested and tried. Forged. God shows up in the dark places and that's definitely what has happened to me in the past year. My faith is so strong and I am ready to take on 2024. Renewed and ready to step into my called purpose more. I have been spending a lot of time in prayer and contemplation these past few weeks of the new year. I have been planning and dreaming and deciding what this year will look like, both creatively and generally in life. I want to share some things with you and get your feedback for how A Blog Called Wanda will go forward from here on out!!

My goal on my blog has always been to produce a creative "magazine" of sorts. A web magazine. I have always loved magazines! When I was in 5th grade, my best friend and I actually 'published' a monthly magazine for our friends! My dream was to be a photo journalist when I was a kid. To this day, one of my favorite things to do is to grab a stack of pretty magazines and a coffee, and relax. That is what I try to create for you – a time to relax, a good story, a project, some encouragement, handcrafted things, beautiful photographs. I love to share new products with you and ideas for cards and more! I want you to feel excited to try something new. I was obsessed when Martha Stewart Living Magazine came out and subscribed from day one. Crafts, and collections, and good stories and cooking and all the pretty things. So here on my blog is my magazine for you. It's mostly crafting but I would like to be able to share other topics and things with you more in this new year.

I am so passionate about my blog, and my little crafty corner of the internet. I have poured my heart and soul into every post from day one. I love sharing creativity with people and I also love the interaction and fun we have here. It means so much to me as a creative soul to have my projects out there for people to enjoy and to spark your creativity. I truly believe that making art should be part of everyone's life in some way. Doing this has enriched me beyond what I ever would have thought all those years ago!

Many of you will remember my post nine years ago when I sat down and told you that I was quitting my corporate job to become a full time creative entrepreneur. Man, that was REALLY scary!! It was the biggest leap of faith ever for this self described control freak and no-risk girl. Since then, I have been making a living through my photography, and creativity. (If you didn't know, I do the product/web/catalog photography for many of your favorite crafting companies!) I also make my living from affiliate shopping links on crafting products, Amazon and now Target. The ways that I used to make a living allowed me to be able to share my blog content with you and spend the time doing so. However, lots of those opportunities are changing or are gone altogether over the past nine years, which means that I need to adapt and pivot.

Here's where I need to get your input, advice and support going forward. I need to find out from my regular readers and subscribers if my content has enough value to you that you would be willing to be more active in making sure it happens. The best way I can put it is that I'm spending many many hours creating content here for almost zero financial payback. I have come to the conclusion that I don't think I can spend this amount of time anymore with no financial gain, so I am faced with the decision to either stop blogging full time, and go back to 'traditional' work, or to ask you for some help – and continue to create here with you the same as always. I know what my choice is because I absolutely LOVE doing this! But, I am at peace with whatever happens going forward. I've turned it over to God completely and my answer will be made clear – I know that. My hope is that we will figure it out together and keep creating together for a long time. I don't know if it's time to slow down, or keep going full ahead. I will always be loyal to The Greetery and the other companies that I blog for regularly and keep working with them!! I hope all this makes sense.

Like many of us in my generation, I didn't grow up valuing myself and my contributions. I wasn't really taught to value my God given gifts or to ask for anything. Be seen and not heard, especially for girls! I know I'm not the only one. In my age and wisdom, I now realize that we are all so dang amazing really. And our voices, talents and contributions are also amazing. And it's okay to ask for help and it's okay to know your worth and it's okay to put yourself out there. Today I'm putting it out there to you! You know me by now, and I'm always going to keep it real. It's always a good idea to reassess and re-evaluate, and it just felt like now is the time to do that.

Here's what I would like to propose… I would like to ask you to consider helping financially to keep the lights on here at A Blog Called Wanda every month going forward. There are lots of easy ways to do this. I'll outline them at the end of this post. We all pay for many different things each month without even thinking about it. Iphone apps, news and website subscriptions, entertainment, books and magazines, coffees, tv channels…. And most of the time, those companies don't even care about your contribution. Here, though, I really care, and each time you help me, it makes a huge difference. You help me achieve my dreams. I don't think I would ever make the move to being a subscription site, and I'm not proposing anything formal like that. I wanted to reach out to you first, and see how it goes from here – If you would be interested and/or willing to contribute for my content. Thank you for everything you already do to give me support – it is so appreciated!

Right now I am spending a lot of time hustling for more one-off, small jobs. If I don't have to do that I will have more time for making content here for you, and trying new things… With your help, I want to do more for you here! Some of my brainstorming ideas of things I want to do are: More detailed instruction, more tips, and more step out photos. Even more projects! I could send out cards that are featured here. I can post about other lifestyle topics, and put together Prizes and giveaways! I feel like it would be a win/win! (Or other suggestions you have on what you'd like to see.) This is our space, not just mine.

Thank you for reading this far – truly – you are the best. Thank you for everything over the years here. You guys uplift me all the time with your notes, comments, emails, and the beautiful cards and letters you send me. I am so grateful to have had this opportunity – no matter what happens going forward. It's been an absolute pleasure all these years to create for you and encourage you to create too. A complete blessing. It was very hard for me to write this, but I just feel like I need to put it out there in an honest way so we can have the conversation. All this being said, I have about ten projects to share before Valentine's Day – I've been so busy crafting! I look forward to your feedback here – Thank You!

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January 25, 2024
Fun with Lawn Fawn for Valentine’s Day!

Hey hey hey friends! How's your week been? I've had a super busy and fun week! Lots going on here this week – more than usual. Life is getting back to normal after the first of the year and all my activities are starting again… We already have camellias blooming in the front yard and life is good. Last January was really awful and full of such stress. I am very grateful that this January is starting off much better. I hope you're doing great today. I have some fun cards to share with you my friends!!

I am frantically trying to make all the Valentine things!! That's mostly what I'll be sharing the next couple of weeks. On Saturday I busted out my bin of Lawn Fawn goodness and made two cards! So that's what's what for today! Hearts and pink and red and gingham and all that good stuff! XO

My first card features one of my favorite suite of dies from Lawn Fawn – The Build a House series! There are several add-ons and I combined almost all of them to create a Valentine Cottage! (CLICK HERE or HERE to see two other projects I made with these dies). Wouldn't you just like to cozy up by the fire with some coffee in this sweet house?! I would! My finished card is an A2 card base layered with pink stripes and a scalloped rectangle layer. It was so much fun to mix and match all the elements into my own custom house!

Here's a side view of my cottage. The door is open so you can come over and visit! Lots of dimension and little bitty pieces on this one. I love it!!

I made my own stripey awning by die cutting that piece from white and red and then snipping out the red parts. It is soooo sweet! I put on a little bluebird there – he's ready for spring already!! Pink shutters and a pink door….

That teeny tiny flag kills me!!! ACK. SO adorable. I put a little heart on it too!! Love is in the air! The Be Mine is one of the small dies that comes in the Stitched Heart Envelope set. I put it onto a vellum scallop circle and added a pink heart.

I added Copic Marker accents on most of the pieces and also did some white paint splatters on different pieces….and don't forget the white gel pen!!

Next up is a cheery cherry card! My finished card is an A2 card base covered in black and white gingham from my stash! I layered a white panel with a scalloped insert as my focal point for those big juicy cherries! The cherries are die cut and then ink blended with distress inks to make a bit more shadow.

The sentiment is clean and simple – I Love You! Die cut from black cardstock for more impact on the bottom of my card and to match the gingham.

I used the double cherry die cut and layered it twice so it would be a bit thicker. I die cut the leaves from two different shades of green. I used small sponge daubers and mini distress inks to add red and green shading to the pieces. Then I went in with my white gel pen and added small accents.

For the circle, I die cut my scalloped layer from the white cardstock. I die cut the hearts layer from pink cardstock and layered the two together with white behind. Really a pretty and subtle background that I love!!

I couldn't resist sprinkling on a few red hearts too!

Okay, my loves. Wishing you a cheery cherry cheerful day!! I'll be back with some more fun soon!! Take care, and keep on crafting! XOXO

CLICK HERE to see the full supply list for today! (Affiliate Links Used)!

January 25, 2024
Vintage Look Cross Stitch Brooch Project!

Hello my sweet crafty friends! Happy Monday! We survived the excitement of The Greetery new release last week! Wowza! Did you love it all as much as I did? Did you get your orders in? I can’t wait for you to create and have fun with everything! Hope you had a great weekend! It was rain and football here… Our Forty Niners won – yay!! I got in a TON of crafting time the past 3-4 days and I have so many things to share with you before Valentine’s Day! This week our church is having a Bible Conference each night for four nights and we get to hear Christine Caine in person tonight. She is ammmaaaazing and always leaves us uplifted and inspired. We are so lucky to have seen her a few times. What an incredible woman with an incredible testimony. I’m so excited to go tonight! Let’s have a great week! XOXO

Today’s project is a fun cross stitch project and I made my stitching into a brooch that I can wear! My first time doing this, but probably not my last time. A tiny quick stitch mounted onto a form and then assembled with a pin back! There’s lots of photos so you can see everything, and my supply list is at the bottom of my post as usual!

Here are the details:

Pattern: Chintz Alphabet by JBW Designs

Thread: My own chose colors – Aurifil Floss

Fabric: 28 Count Linen

I LOOOOOVE a jean jacket! Actually I love several jean jackets! Ha, over the years I have collected quite a few. It’s one of my favorite things to wear. I will most likely wear my brooch this way – with a lace top and a denim jacket. I like wearing handmade things because it always starts a conversation and then I can gab with other creative people! I have a pretty big collection of pins – going back to the 80’s! I used to wear a suit every day to work and I loved to wear pins on my suit jacket. They have good memories! I still wear a lot of them and pin them on my purse, or a hat….

I stitched on linen and it’s so small, that it went quickly. I chose my own color palette, but based loosely on the colors in the pattern. I used Aurifil Floss this time and dang, the colors are so beautiful and vivid!

For the backing, of course, I used gingham! I affixed the pin back using hot glue.

Here it is in my hand so you can see the size and scale.

Here is my finished stitching still on the wee hoop!

Here are my supplies…. The finishing form has two pieces. I used batting in between the stitched fabric and the metal form so it is a bit poofed out. Perfect. So, to make it you put your stitching and batting around the metal piece and criss cross it on the back with thread to hug it in shape. I did the same with the gingham. Then I used hot glue to glue the two ovals together. It’s actually an ornament form, but I made it into a pin!

Here is the pattern….Chintz Alphabet by JBW Designs….

And I stitched only this small portion of the pattern…. I might go back and make myself a W pin using the alphabet! I think that would be kinda fun. Like Laverne and her “L” on her sweater!!

So that’s today’s project! Not sure what I’ll be posting next. I have some valentine ideas rolling around in my brain. Let’s see if I can make them in time! I do know that February is going to be VERY busy. So many good things coming from our favorite companies. I think I might have said yes to too many things, but we will make it happen here in the craft room!! Have a great week! XOXO

If you’re shopping Amazon or Target, you can always go through my Storefronts to see my latest recommendations! The links are at the top of the right hand column here on my blog!

CLICK HERE to see the supply list for today’s cross stitch project! (Affiliate Links Used)

January 22, 2024
The Greetery Love Letters PS Release Day! Yeah!

HEY FRIENDS!! EXCITING NEWS!!

THE GREETERY NEW RELEASE IS LIVE NOW!!

LOVE LETTERS PS IS AVAILABLE!

CLICK HERE TO SHOP!!

It was my pleasure to introduce the brand new Love Letters PS Collection to you this week!! And, I hope you love it as much as I do!! Happy Crafting!! If you scroll back to my last two blog posts, you can see all my projects, and the accompanying supply lists. If you have any questions – reach out!! Thanks for all the love and kind comments this week! I think it's fair to say you love this new release as much as I do! Happy Creating! Can't wait to see what YOU make!

Thank you for shopping via my links –

it helps me so very much and I'm so grateful!! XOXO

January 19, 2024
The Greetery – Love Letters PS Collection – Day Two!

Hellooooo everyone! Welcome to Day Two of the release reveal for The Greetery Love Letters PS Collection! Based on your comments, you really enjoyed Day One! And there's even more fun and inspiration today! Today the design team will be sharing the rest of our projects with you to get you excited for release day. What is your favorite thing so far??!! It's really hard to choose a favorite thing this time, isn't it?! I have three more cards to show you today! Let's get started!

THE GREETERY LOVE LETTERS PS COLLECTION

LIVE FOR SHOPPING FRIDAY, 1/19 AT 10AM!!

My first card features the brand new Vintage Type Dies!! YEAH YEAH YEAH! I do so love a vintage typewriter! And now we have our very own, designed by Betsy! It's big and bold, and has all the right pieces and parts…even an included stamp set to do the letters! Genius! My finished card is an A2 cream card base layered with vintagey stripes, and text paper, and more cream. The typewriter is the star of the show here! I also used the brand new Just My Type Stamp Set and the previously released Ferns….

The stamp set is all one piece and I stamped it on a piece of cream cardstock and matched it up perfectly with the holes in the typewriter. I stamped the small swirls in gold ink and also splattered on some gold ink. This is really so cool!

I inked the edges of my "paper" with Distress Ink and stamped on some red hearts. The charm is from my stash – an old Tim Holtz item.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY FULL SUPPLY LIST FOR TODAY!

Here's a photo of my paper layers….

This is my very own antique typewriter in my house – decorated for Valentine's Day! Now you can see why I was so excited for this typewriter set! I am going to use this all the time I think!

My next two cards I made sort of clean and simple (that's hard for me you know!) because I thought it might be a nice change. And these design elements are so perfect on their own…. This card features the brand new Inked Well dies, the new Pen Pal dies, and the new Just My Type stamps and Air Mail stencils! My finished card is an A2 cream card base layered with rich black. My color palette is super graphic: Black, Cream, Grey and Gold….. Delicious!

It's hard to photograph but the ink bottle and the top of the pen are heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I tried to think of a way to make them look shiny and hard. I die cut the ink bottle from black cardstock and then used my MISTI to line up the accent stamp. I heat embossed it twice in clear and it's super cool and shiny!! Just like an ink bottle. I adore that sentiment!!!

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY FULL SUPPLY LIST FOR TODAY!

Hopefully you can see the gloss in the pen top here too! I used gold paper for my nib and accents.

I used the new Air Mail stencils in grey and black inks and then cut off a slice for my card. I thought this looked like the top of a desk, when someone was writing a postcard…

And my final card for release week…. This card features the brand new Inked Well stamps and dies and the brand new Scripted Sentiments! SOOO pretty! Think ink quills and big bold sentiments. Perfect! My finished card is an A2 card base in kraft, layered with teal and cream and gold… I stamped those giant beautiful feathers onto the top cream panel, and layered my sentiment on vellum. Again, super clean and simple and graphic….

After I stamped the feathers, I went back with the same color inks and added splatters in that color! I added a few golden gems for a bit of shine.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY FULL SUPPLY LIST FOR TODAY!

That's it friends! It's been a pleasure sharing the new release with you! Thank you for your support and kind comments – and for sharing my enthusiasm for The Greetery. We all love The Greetery! Have a blessed and happy day! XOXO

PRIZES INFO: Betsy will be giving away several $50 gift cards as part of the new release week. To enter to win, please leave a comment on everyone's blog posts for today and yesterday! She will announce the winners on The Greetery Blog!! YEAH!!

THE NEW RELEASE IS LIVE FRIDAY 1/19 AT 10AM EST!!

CLICK HERE to see all the supplies I used in today's projects! I will update the links when the new release goes live! (Affiliate Links Used)

DESIGN TEAM LINKS FOR TODAY!! ENJOY THE INSPIRATION AND FESTIVITIES!!

Angelica

Dana

Dawn

Kelly

Laurie

Melissa

Wanda

January 18, 2024
The Greetery – Love Letters PS Collection – Day One!

Hi everyone! How are you this week? I hope it's going great….and I can tell you, it's about to get better! I am VERY excited to be here today to introduce you to the first new release of 2024 from The Greetery! The new release is called Love Letters PS and it's AMAZING! It might be my favorite Greetery release every! (That's saying a lot because I love every release!) This new release has all the vintage things with a correspondence/mail theme. It's exactly everything I love in crafting!! Also some awesome Valentine things, love things, stencils, stamps, dies….. It's so great and I cannot wait to show you everything! Yeah!

There will be two release reveal days – today and tomorrow – and the team will be sharing everything with you on our blogs. The new release will be available for shopping on Friday morning, 1/19 at 10am EST! Today, I'm sharing three projects and tomorrow three more projects. Let's get started, shall we?! I'm so glad you're here! XO

THE GREETERY LOVE LETTERS PS COLLECTION

LIVE FOR SHOPPING FRIDAY 1/19 AT 10AM EST!!

My first card for today features the brand new Sent With Love Stamps and Dies! OMG how I squealed with delight when I saw all this bitty elements! This set is just like the Christmas Wrapped with Love set! And you could definitely use them together. All the mini crafty things! Tiny envelopes, and scissors and stamps. Seriously cute. My finished card is an A2 card base layered with white, red and gingham… Then, as is my style, I put ALL THE THINGS on my card! Ha. I went with a color palette of red, white and teal. I had so much fun making all these elements. The perfect card for a crafting friend.

Here's a side view of my card to show you all the different elements. There is a heart stamp that stamps onto a sheet of postage stamps! Gosh. Swoon. And that tiny pen?! Get outta here.

The die set has a die that makes a tiny envelope liner! Betsy thinks of everything!

I scattered a bunch of tiny red hearts around the card….

I like the mix and match sentiments too!

Here are my card layers… More is MORE! Yeah. I added a sprinkling of gems to make it sparkle….

My next card features the brand new Flourished Phrases (Love) stamps, stencils, and dies along with the brand new Air Mail Border Stencils, the brand new Pen Pal Dies, and MORE! This is such a cool concept! For my card I used the Love version of this set. There is also a Hello version. I'm looking forward to see what the other design team members made with that! I created a vintage postcard with all the new supplies. I am obsessed. My finished card is an A2 horizontal card base. I used cream cardstock instead of bright white. I started by stenciling the air mail stripes around the cream layer.

I used the brand new Postal Modern Stamps and Dies to make this little cluster of postage stamps on my card. LOVE it!

The big LOVE word is a set of stencils that do the words, the outline and the flourish. There are matching dies and I die cut out the LOVE letters to give a bit of dimension. I die cut the pen from the new Pen Pal Dies….

A splattering of gold paint gives a little shimmer….

And, lastly, I made a set of Valentine tags using the previously released Four Square Tags and the brand new Four Square Valentine Stamps and Dies! I also used elements from the brand new Postal Modern set! I used a color palette of cream, kraft and pink, with pops of gold, to make it vintage. That pretty ribbon is from Hobby Lobby! Remember the Four Square Tags dies cuts out four square tags at once – brilliant!!

I first made my tags from kraft cardstock, then I die cut them a second time to get the cream toppers for my tags. I had fun mixing and matching embossed elements in gold and pink…

This sentiment is SO cute, and I love that there are matching dies for everything!

PRIZES INFO: Betsy will be giving away some $50 gift cards as part of the new release week. To enter to win, please leave a comment on everyone's blog posts for today and tomorrow! She will announce the winners on The Greetery Blog!! YEAH!!

THE NEW RELEASE IS LIVE FRIDAY 1/19 AT 10AM EST!!

CLICK HERE to see all the supplies I used in today's projects! I will update the links when the new release goes live! (Affiliate Links Used)

DESIGN TEAM LINKS FOR TODAY!! ENJOY THE INSPIRATION AND FESTIVITIES!!

Angelica

Dana

Dawn

Kelly

Laurie

Melissa

Wanda

January 17, 2024
Valentine Cross Stitch Pillow!

Hi friends! Happy Friday! I hope you had a good week! I’ve been SUPER busy in the craft room and I have lots of good things to share with you soon! This weekend we have fun things planned at church, and also MORE crafting! Ha. It’s been cold here (California cold) and we are nesting and catching up on movies and drinking lots of coffee. I do somehow appreciate the calmness of January after all the hoopla of December. Time to take a big breath, organize, and regroup. I enjoy the cold weather and I like it that my husband can rest and isn’t out in the yard working all the time. And I like wearing sweaters! LOL. Next week is the first Greetery release of 2024 and I guarantee you’re going to absolutely love it. I may go out on a limb and say it might be my favorite Greetery release ever!! (That’s saying a lot). Cannot wait for you to see everything!! Stay tuned!!

Today’s project is a Valentine Cross stitch I made! And then, I made it into a pillow! YEAH! My first ever cross stitch pillow! I have had a mental block about doing this for years. I am not super confident in my sewing skills. And I didn’t want to ruin my stitching by messing up the sewing part! Usually I only use my sewing machine to sew on paper! But I watched a bunch of Youtube videos, and then went for it! I must say, for my first try I am really happy with how it turned out! Now I can make more, with the lessons learned from this one. So excited!

This pattern is one of three in the same pack! It’s called Valentine House Trio. I decided to make the house with the birds/letter first because I love a mail theme!! The finished stitch is about 5×7 inches.

SUPPLY LIST CLICK HERE!

Here are the details about the stitching:

Pattern: Valentine House Trio by Waxing Moon Designs

Fabric: 14 Count Aida

Floss: DMC Floss – My own color choices

Gingham Fabric and Pom Pom Trim: Hobby Lobby

My little finished pillow!! This stitch was fun and easy! It went really quickly and I just love all the little details – the love letter, the swirls in the tree and the little bunting banner at the bottom. Really so much fun!! I used my own stash of DMC flosses for this one. When Floss goes on sale at Joann’s I will buy a lot of them! And I have them separated in bins in my craft room by color family. I can usually start a stitch using what I have on hand here and rarely use the exact colors. I could very easily make this into an Autumn House or a Christmas House just by changing the colors!! Isn’t that fun?

I love the little BE MINE words along the side!!

SUPPLY LIST CLICK HERE!

Here’s a close up of the pom pom trim after I sewed it on… I think it’s the perfect final touch.

Here is the backside of my finished pillow. Gingham of course! You guys know me! Never enough gingham!

SUPPLY LIST CLICK HERE!

First I ironed my stitching and put interfacing on the back of it to make it nice and perfect!! I trimmed my stitching piece one inch around all four sides – one inch from the border of the stitching.

I trimmed my gingham piece to the exact same size as the stitching piece. (In hindsight I would also put interfacing on the gingham to make it have a little more body. Just preference) I put the two pieces back to back and sewed all around it, leaving about three inches unsewed at the bottom so I could turn it inside out and add stuffing. I was under close watch by my sweet furry friend Lucky!!

Checking my stitches!! I loooooove my aqua sewing machine!!! It’s just perfect for beginners. Not too complicated but sturdy and easy to use. It comes in a bunch of colors too! It’s in the supply list!! (It works great on paper lol, now I’m using it on fabric!)

SUPPLY LIST CLICK HERE!

I turned it inside out and pushed the corners out with a bone folder. I ironed it again to make it nice and pretty!! I love my tiny iron and ironing pad for this purpose – it goes right on my work surface and I don’t have to have the ironing board and big iron set up in the craft room for such a small project!!

So far, so good!!!

Time to stuff it!! One tip I got from the interwebs was to add both poly fill stuffing AND poly fill pellets! So I added both types of stuffing to my pillow. The actual stuffing is fluffy and good for making it poofy. But, then it’s very light and hard to sit upright. I put in about 1/2 cup of the pellets at the bottom of the pillow and that made a world of difference!! Gave it some weight and allows it to stand. What a cool invention!!

I hand sewed my pillow shut at the bottom using simple sewing. Then I added the pom pom trim by sewing it by hand onto the edge. I really didn’t trust myself to try to sew it on perfectly so I just did it by hand. Didn’t take me too long at all.

It’s been super fun to share this project with you! I know a lot of you are fellow stitchers and I love that!! It’s such a fun hobby and one of my favorite parts is that you can easily bring it with you!! I always have a project in my purse or backpack!! I have a couple more stitches to post before Valentine’s Day – looking forward to it!

CLICK HERE to see all the supplies I used in today’s project (Affiliate Links Used)!

January 12, 2024
Chocolate Strawberries – with Paper! Yummy card and sweet Valentine Wishes for you!

Hey hey hey! LOTS and LOTS of Valentine's are happening here in my craft room! I ain't mad about it! So many good things to share with you right now! And just you wait until later in the month….. Hee hee! Today I'm sharing a project on The Greetery blog, and of course here on my blog too! I made a sweet card for Valentine's Day!! I used the super fabulous Strawberries dies and created a box of chocolates using traditional valentine colors…. In January, it's always nice to finish up the holidays, start a new year, and get super excited about making Valentine's! A nice change of colors and themes, and so many hearts. One of my very favorite Valentine treats (well any time actually) is Chocolate Covered Strawberries, and that's just what inspired my card for today! (Fun fact – there is a national company called Shari's Berries that makes the BEST chocolate strawberries…. That company started right here in Sacramento and back in the day you could just pop in the store and get one to go! It wasn't that far from my house, so guess what? I popped in a lot! Hahaha. Now they ship all over the world – such a cool success story!) Anyhoo, on to my card for today!

My finished card is A2 sized, and made from kraft cardstock. I layered deep pink and cream cardstocks to serve as my base for the strawberries. My card features lots of pretty stamps and die sets, including the Botanicuts Strawberries Dies combined with the Dippers Dies, the gorgeous Falling Hearts Background, and lots more. I kept a traditional Valentine color palette of cream, red, pink and brown. My supplies are listed at the bottom of my post or CLICK HERE!

CLICK HERE FOR THE DETAILED SUPPLY LIST!

I started by die cutting the Falling Hearts Background from cream cardstock. I layered it over another sheet of cream cardstock for a tonal pattern. I splattered on some brown metallic paint and set that aside to dry. Next, I die cut out the strawberries, leaves, chocolate, and frosting pieces. I used small sponge daubers and Distress Inks to ink all the pieces and then glued them together using liquid glue. I added pretty glitter to the strawberries also.

CLICK HERE FOR THE DETAILED SUPPLY LIST!

I used the Curio Confections Dies set to make the little papers for the strawberries. I layered kraft and vellum pieces to mimic how they might look on a dessert table. (Okay now I'm hungry!) I die cut out the Sweet word dies using red cardstock and vellum to be my main sentiment. My secondary sentiment is from the Sweet Tooth Stamps set and stamped in brown onto a cream banner from Sentiment Suite Basics.

I used foam tape to attach the strawberries to the card in a grid. I added a few pretty red hearts and then put the sentiments on last. Such a fun way to kick off sweetheart season!

That's it for my card for today! Wishing you a happy Winter and Happy New Year AND Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you have a wonderful and creative day and I look forward to sharing with you again soon. In the meantime, happy crafting! XO Wanda

As always, if you're crafty shopping, I would be very grateful if you use my links to my favorite shops and help me out! Also, I've updated my gift ideas section in my Amazon Storefront, so you can check that out too!! And, very excited to now be a Target Creator which means I can share my favorite things from Target with you! Thank you!

CLICK HERE TO SHOP AT THE GREETERY!

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the full supply list for today's project! (Affiliate Links Used)

January 9, 2024
Pretty Pink Posh – New Release – Feeling Lucky!

Hellooooooo! Happy Monday! How are you? How's your new year going so far? Hope you're doing great and getting back to a normal post holiday routine. I like January for cleaning and organizing and generally nesting at home. I tend to cook more when it's cold outside, and craft in my cozy craft room… Today I'm sharing another project I made with the brand new Pretty Pink Posh January Release! I adore this new release so much! I shared two cards last week for the big blog hop, both Valentine Cards…. Well, today I used the new products with some other PPP items to make a shamrockin' St. Patrick's Day Card!! Today PPP is having a big Instagram Hop to celebrate this new PPP Release! So be sure to head over to Instagram and leave a comment to be able to win a PPP gift certificate! As always with an Instagram Hop, I'm sharing my card here too. I couldn't wait to show you this card!!

CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE NEW PPP RELEASE!

My card today features the brand new Stitched Shamrock Dies, the brand new Lucky Shadow Dies, the brand new Shamrock Stencils, and some other PPP items! My finished card is an A2 white card base, layered with my stenciled panel, some vellum and some wonky rectangles! All my supplies are listed at the bottom of my post or click here. As you know, my sweet kitty cat is named Lucky! He was born on St. Patrick's Day and he has the most beautiful green eyes too. So this card is dedicated to Lucky the cat!! Ha.

I used the awesome new Shamrock stencils to make the background layer for my card. I used two shades of green inks (listed in supplies) and both small and large blender brushes to stencil the panel. I splattered on gold ink and set that aside to dry. In this photo side view you can see all my different layers!

I die cut my shamrocks out of green cardstock and then inked them using the same inks I stenciled with. I also splattered on lots of gold ink to make them shiny and flashy.

CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE NEW PPP RELEASE!

I die cut them Lucky word from gold glitter cardstock!! The sentiment at the bottom of the small wonky rectangle is from the Friends Forever stamp set. I love that it fit just right in that spot!

I added a couple of gold enamel dots on the card. I really love green and gold for St. Patrick's Day!

CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE NEW PPP RELEASE!

That's it for today's fun project!! Be sure to head over to Instagram to leave comments in the hop! I hope you have a fantastic day! Thanks for spending part of it with me here! I'll be back soon with some more fun things to share. I'm working on a Valentine cross stitch and it's almost done. Not sure what else I'll be up to! Keep on crafting, friends! XOXO

CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE NEW PPP RELEASE!

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply links/list for today's card! (Affiliate Links Used)

January 8, 2024