Category: Blog

Tim Holtz Ideaology Charm Bracelet!

Good morning and happy Saturday! Just a really quick post today – because I'm so excited about this project! How was your week? I hope it was great! The hubs and I got our taxes done yesterday and I breathed a huge sigh of relief….maybe you heard it? LOL. I am always so glad when that is over for the year and that stress is off my shoulders. After our tax appointment, we went and had a very nice celebratory pizza luncheon at this cool, hip place that I've been wanting to try and then we just ran errands. I have been working for a few days on next week's projects – using felt! How fun to be making some crafty things that aren't cards! Flexing my creative muscles in a different way is always awesome. Tomorrow I will be in the studio in front of the TV all day watching Oscar hype! I think it's as intense as the super bowl! I don't really care about the awards show (since I hardly ever have seen the movies) but I love the red carpet chatter! What's on the schedule for your weekend? Whatever it is, I hope you are content and happy in your corner of the globe!

I would love it if you would pop over to the Simon Says Stamp Blog this weekend sometime to check out my charm bracelet project. Like I said, I'm REALLY excited! It's been hard waiting for this post to go live so I could share with everyone! XOXO Here's a sneak peek photo! Full tutorial over at Simon Says Stamp!

February 27, 2016
Year of the Monkey – Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy New Year!

Hello crafty friends! Happy New Year! Gung Hay Fat Choy! Monday is Chinese New Year so I'm posting a fun card I made to mark the occasion. I love to make festive and pretty cards for this special celebration. CLICK HERE to see some of my other Chinese New Year cards from years' past.  I have lots of friends who celebrate this beautiful cultural tradition. Do you and your family celebrate the Lunar New Year too? This year is the Year of the Monkey. Is it your year? CLICK HERE for the list of the years and the corresponding animal. I am a DRAGON! Yep! Gotta love that. 1964 was a very good year indeed. I have lots of Dragon friends. Good vintage! LOL.

People born in the Year of the Monkey are thought to be mischievous, witty, intelligent, and have a magnetic personality. Famous people born in a Year of the Monkey include: Leonardo Da Vinci, Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Taylor and Will Smith!

I made a festive card using cute stamp sets from Mama Elephant and Avery Elle, and some gorgeous ink colors. I love red lanterns! I used this same lantern stamp set on my Chinese New Year card for last year. So pretty. The Mama Elephant and Avery Elle stamps seem to just really go together nicely. And, gosh, that adorable monkey!! EEP.

I started with a white card base. Then I cut my layers of red and white using the Femme Frames dies set from Mama Elephant. I stamped my bunting strings and my lanterns and my sentiment… Then stamped some red and gold fireworks! This was super fun to make. I stamped, colored and cut out my monkey and last red lantern. Those are popped up with foam squares. All my supplies are at the bottom of the post.

I added some sparkly clear gems to the centers of the fireworks. I just thought it needed some shine, and glitter didn't seem to be right!







How is your week going so far? Any fun plans for the weekend? I know it's early, but why not start planning now? Hahaha! Not sure yet what we're doing. I have lots of fun stamping assignments to work on so I'm happily busy in my studio. And the Super Bowl too. Are you really into the Super Bowl? Parties? Commercials? I'm sure we will be watching! Monday be sure to stop by for an awesome blog hop celebrating the new Hero Arts catalog. Lots of cool bloggers, and prizes too. Have a wonderful, blessed day! Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Wanda

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

February 4, 2016
Color Pop! Candied Apple!

Happy Color Pop Day! I have a super fun Valentine Project to share today with bright red hearts! I am so happy every month when I get to share my Color Pop feature with you! Thanks for being there with me all year as we crafted with the new Distress colors on the Simon Says Stamp Blog! Sadly, this is the last new color! I can't believe it's been an entire year and twelve colors already. What a cool project! Today's final installment of Color Pop is live on the SSS Blog right now. There is a lot of news and also some updates on the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Blog and I hope you will pop over there and leave some love.

The last Color Pop post is for the ink color for December, which is Candied Apple! Another pretty shade of red to add to our stash. It's bright, clear, and oh so pretty. It is truly candy apple red! It's perfect for Valentine's Day…and I know I'll be using it for Christmas projects too. Lovely!

You know if it's Simon Says Stamp, then there must be cool prizes…and there are! Leave a comment over on my SSS Blog Post post for some prize swag! Sweet! Big thanks to Heidi and the rest of the crew at SSS for giving away such great prizes!

Here is a very sneaky peek at my project:

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ENTIRE PROJECT!

Here is my color swatch for this month. Candied Apple fits right in with all the pretty red tones in the Distress Ink family. It is very vivid and clear. CLICK on the photo below to see all the different mediums it comes in. It's the perfect warm-toned red. OOH LA LA.

In case you didn't see it - CLICK HERE to see last month's project tutorial. It features the gorgeous Lucky Clover Ink. Here is the coffee themed card I made!

Thanks for following along with me on this Color Pop adventure for the new colors of 2015!

Stay tuned, I might just keep it going! Have an awesome day.

Until we meet again – happy crafting!

January 29, 2016
Simon Says Stamp February 2016 Card Kit – Hello Beautiful!

Hi fabulous crafty friends! I'm here today to share some love in the form of cards – made with the awesome new February 2016 Card Kit from Simon Says Stamp! This one is so perfect for Valentines…and also for 'girlfriend' cards. I adore this stamp set – the words, the fonts, everything! The other thing I really love are the pretty word stickers that are pink and GOLD! Yay. Love. It is time to get our craft on for Valentine's Day! The card kit is already available in the Simon Says Stamp store….You can buy one kit, or sign up for a subscription! The stamp set is also available separately – I put all the links at the bottom for you. Hope you are having an awesome day. I missed blogging while I was at CHA – glad to be back in the craft room making a mess. And I think my feet finally stopped hurting! LOL.

Here's the first card:

And the second card:

For this card I wanted sort of a patchwork look…. So I cut squares and rectangles out of all the beautiful papers and then distressed the edges. I adhered them down to my card base in layers to make a mish/mash of colors and prints. Then I stamped my sentiment in crisp black onto a circle. I added stamped accents of hearts and arrows in pink ink. Then I added a few embellishments to my card – some word stickers and some of the epoxy stickers too.

For this card I wanted the word stickers to be that POP of color on the front. I chose those first and then worked some papers and stamping in around it. I used strips of papers for the side, and then a larger piece for the top layer.

Those pink and gold word stickers are THE BOMB! So pretty!

Thanks for popping in today! Hope you are feeling the L-O-V-E! My studio is a complete disaster area! But I'm having fun – so that's what matters, right? Clean up on Aisle 5! Best wishes for a great week my beautiful friends! XOXO

January 17, 2016
I’m back from CHA! Fun, Memories & Creativity!

Hey everyone! I'm back from CHA! Wow! Can't believe it's been a week since I drove down to LA! That was maybe the fastest week of my life. I told my husband last night that it felt like I got pulled into the CHA tornado, swirled around, and then spit back out! But, oh, what a wonderful thing it was. I am quite sure that I have never laughed that much in one week in my entire life. It's all about memories, friends, fun, and creativity. And this time around, work, too! YAY! So it was raining the day I drove down to Anaheim and the last 50 miles of my trip took over three hours. Can you believe it? The entire I-5 Freeway was FLOODED! Yowza. I made it safe and sound though and checked into my hotel that night. On Thursday I did some sightseeing over at the ocean. I need ocean time, ya know!! Then I met up with Heidi, Stephanie and Sarah from Simon Says Stamp for a yummy dinner! MAN, I love those girls…A LOT.

Friday I helped Brenda set up her Sizzix booth all day. That was the first time I've been in the convention center before the show opened. It was super duper interesting to see behind the scenes of how everything comes together. I'm really happy I had that opportunity. It kind of freaked me out that I was sitting there doing some last minute crafting for the booth….and a tractor went by me in the aisle!! They were putting up the giant overhead signs. Like I said….super interesting. I saw so many of my favorite people setting up, and it was quiet in there too. I worked the show Saturday, Sunday and Monday and drove home on Tuesday. We had some amazing meals together all of us gabbing and getting caught up. I worked with Brenda in her booth on Saturday morning and that was amazing.

This year I was on assignment for Simon Says Stamp and I loved it! I was responsible for taking all the photos for our "LIVE FROM CHA" blog posts all week, and writing some of the posts. I was also doing some Instagram too. We were all there scouting products as well, looking for things we want in the SSS store and things that would be fun for card kits. I loved doing all of those things. There were some late nights and rowdy times with the gang. Seriously, on Sunday I left my hotel room at 8:30 am and got back at 1:00 am!! Brenda was doing crafting in the food court at midnight!! LOL. A bunch of us ended up in someone's room and I looked around at the people there and had a moment. Like, I am sitting here with so many people that I admire. Wow. So much food for my creative soul. My heart is FULL. I got to hug all my crafty pals in person and meet some of them for the first time. When you meet another crafty girl, it's not really like meeting them…more like seeing them again. It's so cool that we are connected like that all over the world. Today it's all about laundry, bills and unpacking (back to reality mode!!)

Some of my favorite products were from Tim Holtz (Ranger, Ideaology and Sizzix), Lawn Fawn, My Mind's Eye, Prima, Simple Stories and Waffle Flower. We R Memory Keepers has a new punch board that makes the entire alphabet! They are so innovative. Lots of companies are getting into the planner biz I noticed. Echo Park as always had some of my favorite paper collections. Little B has new washi tape that has FOXES on it – and I must have it! It's really hard to think of everything right now!

CLICK HERE to see the blog posts from CHA that we posted on Simon Says Stamp Blog (it will be the first four links that come up). CLICK HERE to see my Instagrams from the show! I made a fun little video instead of showing a bunch of photos here on the blog!!! I hope you enjoy it!!!

This slideshow created with Smilebox

I'll be back tomorrow with a card and a super fun and fabulous blog hop! XOXO

January 13, 2016
It’s time for CHA! Announcements and Info!

Hi everyone! Hope you're having a great week! I'm already down in Anaheim for the giant CHA Convention! Yay! Oh, man, I look forward to this so much every year! So anxious and excited to see my friends, have tons of laughs, take some selfies, and do some business! This year I am part of the Simon Says Stamp team and I'm really grateful! I will be taking photos on the show floor and will be writing some of the blog posts for the Simon Says Stamp blog – to keep you updated from the event.

Here is the link to the CHA website so you can see what it's all about. It's the world's largest craft and hobby trade show. Where all the vendors of our favorite products show their items and display them for the buyers.

This year I was lucky enough to help my dear friend Brenda Walton design her CHA booth and make some of the projects. What an honor and what a fun experience! I can't wait to show you what it looks like! I also have a few projects in the Sizzix and Ranger booths for Tim Holtz like I did last year. Also, such a great opportunity. I am so blessed. I will share photos of all of these things when I get back. Here is my post from last year's show!

I won't be blogging here on my blog for about a week. Please check the Simon Says Stamp blog every day for updates from the show….new products and tools! You can also follow along with me on my Instagram account or my blog Facebook page. You don't have to have an Instagram account or a Facebook account to see the pictures! I'm going to use the hashtag #wandaCHA2016

Here are the links:

SIMON SAYS STAMP BLOG

WANDA'S INSTAGRAM

A BLOG CALLED WANDA FACEBOOK PAGE

#wandaCHA2016

Until I get back – stay crafty my friends! XOXOXO

January 7, 2016
Simon Says Stamp Die-Cember Release! Christmas Treat Bags and tags!

Hi everybody! Well…you thought Stamp-tember was fun right??!! And, now, it's Die-Cember! Yay! It's another fabulous release of all new dies from our friends at Simon Says Stamp! There is something for everyone with this release. Lots of new word dies, some hearts and some other cool stuff! My favorite thing from this release is the new Stitched Dress Up Tags. LOVE them! CLICK HERE to see the entire release.

A whole fun bunch of us made projects to share with you today! CLICK HERE to see the list of designers and find your DieCember inspiration!

I am continuing in full-on Christmas crafting mode in my studio. Still trying to get gifts and cards made for my friends and family. So I used the pretty new tags to dress up some treat bags for my holiday giving. This is a project that I do a lot – treat bags! It's fun to give little presents of candy to my friends. I did some inlaid die cutting with the pretty snowflakes die and used a crisp color palette of red, green and kraft with pops of white.

Here's a close up of my tag! I cut my tag base from kraft paper and then cut the topper out of crisp red. To make it look like snow, I spritzed some white mist onto the kraft. Love that look. I tied a bell onto the clip with some natural twine. This makes it feel homey and warm. Also, the person can unclip the tag and save it!

I started with some glassine bags. I cut strips of green patterned paper to add a pop of color on the first layer. Then I added doilies, and then my tag. SO FUN! After I put my candy in the bag, I folded it over and stapled it to secure it. The embellishments cover the staples!

December 4, 2015
Simon Says Stamp Holiday 2015 Card Kit! Retro Christmas!

Hi creative friends! I'm on the blog today to share a fun card I made with the awesome new Limited Edition Holiday Card Kit from Simon Says Stamp! It's called Holly Jolly Christmas…and it is jolly for sure! This kit is jam packed with so much retro goodness! If you love vintage Christmas like I do, this kit was made for you. I've had a hard time keeping this one a secret! I love the cute stamp set, and all the accents too! From this kit you can make cards, gift bags, tags, gift card holders….anything! I know you'll love it!

I made a fun snowman card using the new stamps and some of the pretty retro papers. I like how this one came out – very nostalgic! I used cream cardstock (included in the kit) for my card base and my stamped pieces. I chose Copic markers to match the colors in the paper. LOVE the pink!

All of the papers you see are included with your kit. If you look closely you can see that I used the Stickles to add accents to my cute snowman. The red stars are self adhesive….easy peasy to put on your projects.

I die cut a Stitched Circle and gently edged all my pieces with a sponge dauber and Antique Linen ink. My circle, and my snowman cut out are popped up on the card with foam squares. The sentiment was stamped in crisp black on another piece of paper.

I used my Copic Markers to color my snowman and they are my favorite coloring medium! It's an awesome time to stock up on your markers — they are 25% off right now in the Simon Says Stamp store! YAHOOOOO! Click the photo below and use the code "Markers" when you check out to receive your discount. Thanks Simon!

December 3, 2015
Happy December – Mad about Plaid!

Happy December! OMG how did that happen?! The year is practically over…we are on the slide now… Christmas is coming! There is so much to love about the holidays – and crafting is so much fun this time of year. I love vintage inspired Christmas items, and the look of 50's and 60's Christmas things especially. I am also totally obsessed with plaid right now. I have a few plaid scarves, a plaid vest, a plaid tote bag….and now I've gone and made a plaid card! Yay! Mad about Plaid!

I sat down to craft last week to make my Flip Frame project for the Simon Says Stamp Blog, (I hope you will check it out!) and I had all my Tim Holtz Christmas stuff laid out on my desk… Well, then the idea for this card came to me! I really like how it came out. I wish I had thought to make about a dozen more to have on hand. I'm thinking it might look pretty with a bright cobalt blue or kelly green background too… Hmmmmm…

To make my red and black plaid background I simply too bright red card stock and stamped the plaid background stamp in crisp deep black ink! BAM! That's all there was to it! I LOOOOVE this so much! Next I took some silver glitter paper and adhered it to some chipboard to make it thicker. I ran that through my Big Shot and cut out the pretty Noel word with the Vintage Noel Die. Next I took some green Core-dinations Kraft Core cardstock and cut out the pine leaves with the Holiday Greens Die. I gently sanded the edges to let the kraft paper show through. Lastly, I added a few enamel dots and some black and white twine to finish it!

This might be one of my favorite Christmas cards I've ever made…and it's not complicated!

The pine leaves are glued right to the paper. The Noel die is raised up with some foam tape for some dimension. I added a small border of black cardstock to ground all that red. Just the right amount of sparkle. This would be a great masculine card too!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Holidays! Happy Christmas! Happy December! Hope you are having fun and out doing whatever makes you happy this time of year. You guys are a blessing to me and I'm glad to be sharing another holiday season with you! Take care until we meet again! XOXO

z.com

December 1, 2015
Brenda Walton Shadow Box Dies – Projects!

Hi friends! How was your Thanksgiving? I hope it was lovely! Are you shopping today? Or resting? We are doing a little of both. Usually we would be power shopping allllll day today…. But I hurt my knee and I'm trying to take it a bit easy on this old girl. I hope you are enjoying a long holiday weekend with your friends and families! Now, it's time for Chrsitmas!

Wow! I have a fun project to share with you today! I'm so excited to show you this versatile and fabulous Shadow Box Die! I made these projects for the Brenda Walton Studio, using two beautiful Brenda Walton Dies – The Shadow Box Die and the Poinsettia Swirls Die. I combined these dies with some of my favorite holiday papers and vintage embellishments to create project with an old fashioned flair. Don't you love vintage Christmas?

Let's get started! The Shadow Box die can be used in so many ways. You can create a true shadow box, a theater, an ornament, a treat box….and whatever else your imagination can dream up. I made an ornament and a candy treat box to show you two ways to use the die.

I die cut my pieces out of sturdy cardstock. For the background piece of my ornament I used silver glitter paper for a bit of whimsy and sparkle! I used the Sizzix Crease Pad to get nice deep score lines. I definitely suggest using the Crease Pad, and also using nice, thick paper. This paper I've used is 110#. If you use thinner card stock, it may not fold as nicely!

After die cutting my pieces I folded all the score lines and used a bone folder for crisp edges. This makes your projects come together perfectly! Then use some fast drying paper glue to glue the sides together.

And here I have my two finished boxes! One will be left open for the ornament shadow box. In the other one, I put a sheet of window plastic across the opening and used it as a sweet treat box. See the half circle cut out? That makes it very easy for the recipient to open the box. Genius!

For my ornament, I attached a bit of patterned paper with a pretty winter scene in the back. Then I put in some little trees…. I added glitter of course! In the form of Diamond Stickles. I cut out a pretty poinsettia using matching patterned papers, to glue on the front. I also cut strips of papers to use on all four sides of the shadow box.

I used blue snowflake paper to add a border across the top of the shadow box (this piece is part of the die set!) and then attached a pretty snowflake charm with some twine. In this photo you can see the top of the shadow box. I made some little hearts to strengthen the area where the ribbon comes through. I love these little touches you can add to make the project your own unique creation!

Here is the candy treat box version of this project! I loooooooove this and I am going to make about a million of these! They are perfect for candy, cookies or maybe a small present like some jewelry! They look so professional when they are assembled. I tied mine with some cheerful twine. This twine from Lawn Fawn is my favorite!

I gently inked the corners of my box and papers to make it look more vintage. To make the blue snowflake piece over the front, I simply cut the die again with that paper and slightly trimmed it to fit!

Thank you for coming by today, and for letting me share with you! I hope that I've inspired you to make some handmade ornaments for your holiday gift giving. I think it's so special to give and receive handmade items! Have a blessed day! XO

November 27, 2015
Chalkboard Pins and ornaments!

Hi there! Don't have a card today! I do have a cool and fun project to share though! How is your week going so far? Did you buy your turkey? I drove by the grocery store last night and the parking lot was crazy-town! I'm glad I already did most of the shopping. Next week already! I'm excited for Thanksgiving and shopping and general holidaze! It's time people! Get ready!

My lovely and amazing friend Brenda had the good fortune of receiving some beautiful birch tree branches from her neighbor a while back and we have been brainstorming what to do with them… My first thought was chalkboard paint! So I bought the paint (Martha Stewart Black Chalkboard Paint from Michael's) and white Sharpie Markers and some White chalk and then we finally got together last week to make it all happen. The ideas kept evolving and Brenda's kind husband (a gentleman AND a scholar) cut little pieces of the branches for us to use. We had a marvelous day in the studio making gift tags, ornaments and pins for Christmas.

Brenda did a wonderful tutorial on her blog, so I thought I would just post some photos of my finished items. This is really a super fun and easy project – with great results! Gather up some birch pieces or wood pieces from the craft store, Chalkboard paint, white paint, chalk or markers, and fun embellishments! The chalkboard paint dries really quickly on the wood. We used medium sized paint brushes and we used two coats for a nice thick black. (This is also a good place to note that if you mess up your white paint, you can put on another layer of Chalkboard paint….ask me how I know this!)

Here is our lovely pile of beautiful birch slices! We did some larger sized ones too, but I think both of us liked the small ones better. My favorite are the 2 inch ones that I made into Christmas pins by putting a pin back on with some hot glue!

I love that each one came out differently! You can really use any embellishments and make them unique and special. I really like the little boxwood greenery – just feels so festive. My favorite pin is the little stag head one. I think I'll be sportin' that one here pretty soon! I am still mad for the deer/stag/antlers craze!! Have a wonderful week. I'll be back on Friday with a blog hop for the new Simon Says Stamp Mini Christmas release! It's called "From All of Us!" Take care crafty girls! XO

November 17, 2015
Simon Says Stamp – Grab Bag Prize Winners!

Hey everyone! Thank you for ALL THE COMMENTS left on my Simon Says Stamp Cold Hands, Warm Heart blog post! Wowza! That was super fun and exciting to have so many blog visitors! Simon Says Stamp generously is giving away a prize package on each person's blog….and the winners are announced NOW!

So…The winner for my blog is:

DENISE G!

CONGRATULATIONS!

To see the entire winner list for every blog, and to find out how to claim your prize pack, head on over to the Simon Says Stamp blog! Thank you to everyone who entered and made this a really fun release! Didn't you just love all the new stuff? What did you buy?

October 10, 2014
Witch way to the candy?!

Helloooooo there! How are you? How is your weekend going so far? Mine has been pretty busy and fun actually! I cannot believe it's almost five o'clock Sunday night and another weekend is almost over. Dang. How does time go so fast? And I have to go make dinner after this. Anyhooo… Yesterday among other errands I picked out new eyeglasses. That is so hard, isn't it? Such a big decision. I had about 20 pairs all laid out in front of me…and finally myself, hubs and the sweet lady at the optician's chose these frames. They look like lace! Very cool and just enough funky! Hahaha. Friday night I went out for dinner and drinks to celbrate a friend's birthday…and today I am crafting (and chores too). It's gorgeous Fall weather outside – love it!

So, my blog this week is going to be kinda all over the place! The rest of the week I'm posting Christmas cards for two guest designing spots I'm doing! So I figured, what the heck, let's post a Halloween card today! LOL. I colored in these images two weeks ago and they've been sitting on my desk waiting to be made into a card… Witch way to the candy!?

I seriously LOVE coloring this MFT images. This one is Birdie Brown as a little witch! ACK. I colored in lots of images and then played around with them. I wanted to use them all! There are matching dies to cut out everything just so. I used my Copic markers and then at the end, added some touches of prisma glitter.

This crazy bat cracks me up! I am loving the kraft paper with the black….really crisp. My card layout was done using some brand new dies, also from MFT. They are called Blueprints 14. They concept is that the pieces of the die set make card sketches. This is my first set of these but I think I am going to get some more. Made it really easy to put everything together.

Lots and lots of foam squares on this card! LOL.

Can you see that I used a Stampin' Up Embossing Folder with stars for my kraft background? This photo shows the touches of glitter…

All day today in the craft room, Mr. Buddy was right by my side – either sleeping or just generally supervising the whole situation. I caught him in the window, and the light caught his pretty golden eyes, so I grabbed my iPhone and snapped this photo! If I do dare say so myself, he is quite the handsome chap! I love that cat!!

I will see you back here on Wednesday for the first of my fun guest designer posts. Until then, have a blessed week! Mwah.

InLinkz.com

September 28, 2014
HAPPY EASTER 2014!

Best wishes for a joyous Easter from my family to yours!

I hope the peace and love of the season fill your hearts with happiness!

HE IS RISEN!

April 20, 2014
Happy Valentine’s Day 2014! Sharing some treats today!

Happy Heart Day!! It's another Valentine's Day again! Hope you have a sweet and lovely day filled with treats and hugs!! The hubs and I will be going to an early dinner at PF Chang's after he picks me up from the office and I cannot wait! YUM. Just a low key celebration for us – our 21st Valentine's Day together!

Today I'm sharing some treats I made for my sweet work friends. I used some gorgeous and cool chevron treat bags I got at Paper Source. I filled them with Hershey's kisses and had fun decorating then with all kinds of red and silver goodies. I really love to make treats like this. So pretty and kind of old fashioned.

All the kisses were on my crafting table, so I couldn't resist getting my camera out and taking some close ups. They are so shiny and bright!

Here are a few of my treat bags…I didn't photograph all of them – but they are all similar and used the same stack of supplies. Don't you love those chevron bags???? I have them in hot pink, and blue too!!

BIG HUGS AND BIG KISSES TO YOU

MY BLOGGY FAMILY!

HAPPY HEART DAY!

February 14, 2014
You’ve been framed! A fun frame project!

Hi friends! I have been absolutely dying to share this project with you! But, I had to wait until the recipients all got their packages this week! This was truly a labor of love and I am so happy with the result. You know how every once in a while something turns out exactly like you wanted it to? Yeah, that happened here! This idea was in my head even on the drive home from CHA! I had the best time with my amazing friends from Taylored Expressions and I wanted to make everyone a present to remember the week! I ordered prints of the great photo someone took of all of us in the TE Booth that first morning of CHA…

This project happened in stages, and it took me a while. First off, it took a while to find the exact frames I had in my mind. I wanted the whole shabby-chic thing going on. I found my frames at Aaron Brothers finally and they turned out great! Then I chose the right shade of aqua blue spray paint… Well, you'll see! Here is a photo of the finished frame and matching tag….

Here is just the frame…

And just the tag… I love these mini wallet prints!!

A close up of my flowers and banner….

Here is what the frames looked like before I painted them!!!! (I think we are cuter than the couple in the frame, don't you??)

And after some Blue Ocean Breeze….

Time to clean all the glass and put the photos inside!

I cut out tons of flowers using my Tattered Floral Die from Tim Holtz….that's always a favorite!! I use this die so much! I chose some pretty gingham and a soft floral in the matching colors. I chose this color scheme because it is the Taylored Expressions color scheme and all our shirts match!

Glued all my flowers together with some pretty button centers…

Now for the tags! I cut some of the paper into strips and then edged them with my FAVORITE scallop scissors… They are for fabric, and they cut paper like buttah!

Next up, cut out the tags on the big shot using the Taylored Expressions tag die…

Here are my tags ready to decorate!

I put some eyelets on the holes and mounted my mini photos, and then added a teeny banner…

For the banners for the frames, I printed them out on the computer using a nice clean and simple font. Then I cut them out with a banner die.

I made Taylor's frame an 8×10 size. The rest are 5×5 size. This big frame came already painted the perfect color and I loved it right away! I think it looks like the TE logo! I didn't have to paint this one either.

Making projects like this is exactly why I love being a crafty girl! I love being able to make the perfect thing to give as a gift and to make other people smile. I hope that you enjoyed this photo tutorial, and hope I've inspired you to try something like this! The possibilities are endless really! Have a super duper weekend everyone. Lots of love!

February 6, 2014
Happy Thanksgiving from my house to yours!

Happy Thanksgiving 2013!

From my family to yours!

A Psalm of Thanksgiving – Psalm 100

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.

I wish your family many blessings on Thanksgiving, and the rest of the year, as we get ready to take on the holiday season! I am thankful to be able to share with you, and I am thankful for your kindness and support! Love, Wanda XO

November 28, 2013
Taylored Expressions September 2013 Sneak Peeks – Birthday Treat Toppers & Party Banner CP!

Hi bloggy friends! It's that exciting time again! Time for a new release from Taylored Expressions! TE is celebrating our FIFTH birthday and we have fun and games for you all week. Lots of opportunities to play with us and win prizes! We have some classic party games you play with a stamping twist. All the new products will be available on Thursday at 8am, but we have previews and projects to share ALL WEEK! So happy you're here to help us celebrate.

For my first card to share today (birthday cards today!) I used a new Birthday Treat Toppers Die, and made it into a card! You're going to love this die set! I also chose a cheery color scheme of red and aqua – can never go wrong with that! I layered my die with different papers and then layered the whole cupcake onto another new die- Bloomin' Stacklets!

The Many Minis stamps are the perfect size for my sentiment… And I couldn't resist adding some swirls…and gems…

My card uses the amazing new Cutting Plate = Birthday Banner Cutting Plate! It has rows and rows of banners and then an opening for your sentiment! The Big Bold Birthday stamps fit in there to perfection!

So, here's how our game for today works! You just make a tic tac toe row to make a card! This is so clever! For example, on my card, I made a birthday card, and used ribbon and rhinestones! I hope you will join us for this fun challenge!

September 3, 2013
Taylored Expressions March 2013 Release Spotlights – Oh Snap! and Graphic Greetings Thankful!

Happy Friday! It's Spotlight Day for the March Taylored Expressions Release! Today's the day when each of us on the design team gets to choose some of our favorite products from this month's release and share them with you! Everyone will have something different for you today! TOO fun!

I am featuring the "Oh Snap" stamp set again (surprise), and also the new Graphic Greetings Thankful stamp and new Flutter-bys dies. I made a masculine card with another one of those great cameras. Then I thought I would make and share a set of happy Thank You cards to keep on hand.

First up, a cheery set of thank you cards! These would be nice to give as a set, or to keep on hand for whenever the need arises. Can't ever have enough thank you cards, right?

Here's a side view to show you these gorgeous new butterfly dies. They come as a set – an outline and a solid one. Use them alone or together! I also wanted to showcase the new Banner Dies…

I went back and forth several times trying to decide what colors to make the flower! I thought it might look nice in a bright lemon yellow or orange, or maybe pink? In the end, I colored it to match and kept the look crisp. What do you think??

Next up is my masculine camera card! I used the vintage camera from the Oh Snap! stamp set and combined it with the awesome new Film Strip Border die. I used all tones of brown for a monochromatic feeling.

Here's my background piece before I inked and distressed it! I just cut out several film strips and layered them on my paper.

This sentiment is AWESOME!!!! I will use this a lot, I already know…

The piece that the sentiment is mounted on is the smallest size of the new Banner Stacklets 2 dies set. I like the curve on it…nice.

SUPPLIES – Oh Snap card – Oh Snap! stamp set (new), Film Strip Border die (new), Banner Stacklets 2 Dies (new), Memento inks, Copics.

SUPPLIES – Thank you card set – Graphic Greetings Thankful stamp (new), Flutter-bys dies (new), Banner Stacklets 2 dies (new), Queen and Co Blings, Copics.

One last link list for this week! Have fun! Thank you so much for spending part of your week with me. I hope you find some cool new things to buy and play with!

Broni Holcombe

Carole Burrage

Charmaine Ikach

Jami Sibley

Jen Shults

Kerri Mchaud

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Shannon White

Shelly Mercado

Stephanie Kraft

Tammie Edgerton

Taylor VanBruggen

Wanda Guess

March 8, 2013
Taylored Expressions February 2013 Release Day – Graphic Greetings Redeemer and Circle Cutting Plate!
Hi and welcome to Taylored Expressions February 2013 Release Day! Yay! All the new products are now available in the Fresh out of the Oven Department in the TE Store! Check it out! I'm quite sure you will find something you must have.

Today I am featuring the new Circle Cutting Plate. Another addition to this great collection of TE cutting plates. I cannot say enough about how nicely these cut. LOVE. This one, in particular, is so cool and graphic. To show you how it can look very different, I made two cards with different color schemes. One is very fab and retro, and the other is soft and pretty. My cards also feature the new Silhouette Stems 1 Die and the gorgeous Graphic Greetings – Redeemer stamp. Perfect for Easter cards.

This green and orange is very Palm Beach, don't ya think? How amazing is that circle cutting plate? WOW! The flowers are new too – so great.

Here's a close up of the awesome pattern and the flowers….

This version is more soft and country feeling. I used vanilla cardstock instead of bright white. I love it paired with that robin's egg blue…

SUPPLY LIST – both cards: Circle Cutting Plate (new), Silhouette Stems Dies (new), Graphic Greetings Redeemer stamp(new), Distress inks.

What is your favorite thing from this release? I would love to know! Leave me a comment! Have a wonderful day. Be sure to come back tomorrow for one last look at everything!

Here is your Release Day Link List! Have fun blog hopping and shopping!
- Carole Burrage
- Charmaine Ikach
- Jen Shults
- Kerri Michaud
- Lynnette Kauffman
- Sankari Wegman
- Shannon White
- Shelly Mercado
- Stephanie Kraft
- Tammie Edgerton
- Taylor VanBruggen
- Wanda Guess
- Jami Sibley (DT Coordinator)
- Regina Mangum (guest)
- Nancy McKinney (guest illustrator)
February 7, 2013