A Blog Called Wanda

Shabby Blue Birthday!

Happy Weekend! YAY! Whew, this week was a hard one for me! I was out of town for work all week, with a nasty allergies-sinuses-cough thing going. Man, was I happy to get home last night and see my guys and sleep in my own bed. There's really nothing like that is there? This morning I got up early to take care of the laundry and unpacking and now it's crafty-bloggy time! How are you? Hope you all had a nice week.

I can finally share this birthday card, now that it has reached it's recipient! I made this shabby chic birthday card for my wonderful pen pal Holly, who lives in the Netherlands. Her favorite color is light blue and so that was my starting point for her card. I have been saving that pretty Webster's Pages Cameo just for her! The sentiment and frame is from the new PTI Anniversary set for this year.

Shabby chic is alllllll about layers and lace and pearls! I adore all this blue together….it's so soft and sweet.

The blue flower is from my Prima stash. I am not sure, but I believe the patterned paper is also from Prima.

Machine stitching on a card, to me, always feels more home-made and nostalgic. Here you can see I distressed the corners and also crumpled some of the top layer of paper.

Holly's birthday was earlier this week, and she let me know that her card arrived safely, so many miles away… It was full of hugs and good wishes too. Happy Birthday Holly!

Thanks for stopping by here today – enjoy your weekend! XOXOXO

Taylored Expressions Calendar Challenge – March!

Today it's time again for our cool new calendar projects from Taylored Expressions and I am having such a good time making my pages each month! The Baker's Dozen Design Team will be sharing calendar goodies and ideas with you throughout the entire year, so be sure to check out everyone else's projects too.

Refer over to Taylor's blog to get all the info to play along with us each month. There will be a linky at the bottom of Taylor's post and it will remain open all year, so you have the option to go back and catch up if you start playing late. For everyone who plays in 10 or more of these monthly calendar challenges in 2012, there will be a random draw for a TE prize pack valued at over $150!!! Click here to go to the TE Calendar Department and see all the goodies.

I chose to make the "Frame Your Imagination" calendar and use Cuppie as my theme! The stand for the calendar comes in raw wood and then you can paint it whatever color you choose. I painted mine kind of an antique white and then speckled some brown onto it to give it some character.

CLICK here for the calendar stand…CLICK here for the page protectors and CLICK here for the page inserts. I like this a lot because the finished pages are 6×6 and that gives a lot of room to stamp!

Here's my page for March:

Isn't cuppie just too too adorable in his little green leprechaun tuxedo? You have to giggle at this! I added lots of ultra fine glitter to the rainbow!

Here is my Copic Palette for this project:

Here is the image of this stamp set…I had to share, because I really love it so much! I used it for my January calendar page too.

We have been having loads of fun getting projects ready for our monthly calendar event. Please take some time and hop around to see what the rest of the Design Team has for you today!

Moxie Fab – Cure for the Winter Blues – Challenge!

Hi peeps! Today I'm posting a card I made for the Moxie Fab World Blog! I love their challenges, and it's been too long since I entered one. This month's challenge is Cure for the Winter Blues… The challenge was to make a project using navy blue as the predominant element. Right up my alley!

When I think of navy blue, I automatically thing navy and white, nautical, crisp colors, pops of yellow or red… I adore navy and white together. So that's what I knew I wanted to use. Next to decide what images and embellies. I was having such a hard time deciding….so I went with whatever was sitting on my desk! I rather like the result.

I had this brand new San Francisco Stamp from Penny Black on my desk and it called to me! I stamped it in navy blue ink and didn't color it. That was hard – to resist the urge to color! The fence die is new from Memory Box and that was sitting on my desk too. In the back of my head was a photograph I took last year in San Francisco….you can see the photo at the end of my post.

I wanted a sentiment that referred to leaving my heart in San Francisco. I had this stamp in my stash. I use it all the time. I got out my stamp-a-ma-jig to line up my words. I blocked off part of the stamp and inked it and then blocked off the other parts that I didn't want. Voila…this saying in a line!

Here's a close up of that teeny tiny fence!

I popped a bright red heart on the top using my Epiphany Shape Studio Heart 25 tool and some red paper. Added some grey clouds (a Memory Box die) to look like foggy San Francisco clouds and that finished it off!

Here is the photo I was referring to! Cool, huh? I took this from the top of Lombard Street looking out at the Bay Bridge and Coit Tower to the East.

Thanks for coming by my blog today! You have until the 11th if you want to enter the Cure for the Winter Blues Challenge! Join me? CLICK here for the deets. Have a wonderful day.

A Simple Thank You…

Hi Friends! Whew….what an interesting week I had and so full! Today I believe I am what you call… exhausted! Yeah, I'm pretty sure that is what this is called. It was certainly a busy week here on the bloggy blog with all the wonderful new things from Taylored Expressions! Did you end up getting anything? Also, for work I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Two days at one location, one day in the office, one day flying to Los Angeles and back (in the same day!). Yup, I'm a tired girl. My boss is retiring and we had a really nice luncheon for him on Wednesday and emotionally that was hard. He is the heart of our department and we'll miss him. I made him a nice Retirement card that I'll share with ya next week sometime.

Today I'm sharing some CAS (Clean And Simple) Thank You cards made with Memory Box and Poppystamps dies and papers. I used two of my favorite colors too. It's nice to have the need for Thank You cards! I'm thinking of making more of these as a set for a present!

I used cold-press watercolor paper for both my background and my word cut out. It's not stark white – but creamy white and has a wonderful weight and texture. I thought it was nice with this natural image cut out.

I made the cards so that they could face either way….with the 'thanks' going either vertical or horizontal. I can't decide which way I like it best. I added just one little bling to each, in the matching shade to that great Memory Box gingham paper….

My little craft room assistant is patiently waiting for me to go back out in the family room and serve as his human couch. Until then…he's perusing the new Cards magazine and scoping out my new Distress Markers! Hee hee. What a good boy!

Thank you so much for coming by today! I hope your weekend is fantastic! Are you feeling creative today? What are you working on? I would love to know. XOXO

Taylored Expressions March Release Day!

TE Release Day!

All of the new products are now available for purchase! Check out the Fresh Out of the Oven Department to see everything in one place! WOOOOO WOOOOO!
More projects from the Baker's Dozen to inspire you. Just follow the link list below.
Be sure to check the TE Current Specials page for Release Weekend Specials and Bundle Deals!
Did you win one of the Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaways? Find the list of winners on Taylor's Blog.

Today I am featuring the Grace A La Carte stamp and also I added a sentiment from the Faith in Bloom set! Embracing Grace is by Emily Burger, and Emily has lent her unique fun style to these Bible verses and words of encouragement and combined them with lots of cute and quirky blooms.

There are three new A la Cartes from the *te* Collection also, and I'm using Grace a la Carte. These all nicely coordinate with Faith in Bloom.

Today I went full-on shabby chic! I got out the flowers from the KI Kit from February (awesome) and some pretty lace and some favorite papers from My Mind's Eye! Used the color palette taken straight from the paper. I adore aqua and red together!

Here is my Copic palette….

I used my wonderful small doily die from TE!!! I distressed everything with a little amount of Fine Linen distress ink.

The papers are My Mind's Eye Lost and Found – Rosy 6×6 collection pack. I also used the KI February Kit for the flowers. MMMMMMM.

Thank you for playing along with us this week!! Be sure to see if you won anything by going to Taylor's Blog. Have a wonderful day! Happy Shopping in the TE Store!

Here are your links to the projects for Release Day!

Taylored Expressions March Sneak Peeks – Day 3!

March Release At a Glance

We have sneak peeks to share Monday through Wednesday. All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, March 1st at 8 am PST. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department at the Taylored Expressions Store.
Join us as a fan on Facebook for an early peek at the stamp sets, as well as a SPECIAL Facebook GIVEAWAY, on Wednesday night beginning at approximately 6 pm PST.
Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate. Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day! Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please. Comments for the drawings close Wednesday 2/29 at 7pm PST.

I am sharing two projects today for Spring – an Easter Card and some St. Patrick's Day treat packages! Top o' the morning to you! Today we are introducing 2 new full sized sets (Faith in Bloom, Totally Tags Spring), plus the 4 new A la Cartes (Faith, Grace, Hope, Lucky).

This fun Easter card was made with the Totally Tags – Spring Stamp Set and was designed for Apple Doodle Ink by Doug Applegate! It's a new set of tags to coordinate with the Totally Tags dies…great for all sorts of cards and treats for Easter and Spring! It Coordinates with Hello Spring and Easter Joy.

I used the Happe Easter tag image to create a "belly band" card! Have you ever made one of these? You just make a simple background card, and then jazz it up with a pretty wrap around band. You should definitely try it. I used the new Jumbo Flower Die to make my band pop! Here it is all disassembled…

That sweet striped paper is from the new My Mind's Eye Howdy Doody 6×6 paper pack. I think I could use gobs of those pastel stripes – for every project.

My second project to share today is made using the Lucky A la Carte stamp, which is from the Whimsical Wishes by Nancy McKinney collection! It's great for St. Patty's Day as well as telling someone how much they mean to you! I decided to make some fun little treat bag toppers for St. Patty's!

I found some fancy gold coins at Michael's to put inside! I colored my image with some olive green Copics and then made a gold horseshoe – and added some clear glaze to it.

Here are my Copic color choices….

Here are my supplies! The paper is from the My Mind's Eye Vanity Fair 6×6 paper pack.

Okay….that's it for today! Tomorrow is Release and Reveal Day! Be sure to come back and see all the sets and dies in their entirety…and SHOP! Here's the blog link list for today!

Taylored Expressions March Sneak Peeks – Day 2!

March Release At a Glance

We have sneak peeks to share Monday through Wednesday. All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, March 1st at 8 am PST. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department at the Taylored Expressions Store.
Join us as a fan on Facebook for an early peek at the stamp sets, as well as a SPECIAL Facebook GIVEAWAY, on Wednesday night beginning at approximately 6 pm PST.
Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate. Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day! Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please. Comments for the drawings close Wednesday 2/29 at 7pm PST.

Today we are introducing THREE new Mokas and a beautiful Whimsical Wishes set, all from Nancy McKinney! I'm using the Spring Tulips Stamp Set – which is a lovely petite set. It's so soft and pretty and I adore this main image. The sentiments are very nice also.

Here is my Spring Copic palette…who wouldn't love a bunch of pretty yellow tulips right about now?

Grey and Yellow as a color combo was HOT last year and I love it! I found these two pretty papers in the My Mind's Eye Be Amazing 6×6 paper collection. Maybe my favorite new papers for the season?? I cut out a window for my focal image and at the last minute added some pearls. Although I made mine a birthday card…dontcha think this would be a lovely Mother's Day card?

Even though I am not using a Moka today – I want to fill you in on a cool new addition to our Copic Coloring Chart for hair and skin… We have added the skin colors to the chart this month. The Coloring Chart was designed by our very own (amazing) Jen Shults and it's a FREE DOWNLOAD! Check it out!

Here are the links to everyone else's projects!

Taylored Expressions March Sneak Peeks – Day 1!

March Release At a Glance

We have sneak peeks to share Monday through Wednesday. All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, March 1st at 8 am PST. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department at the Taylored Expressions Store.
Join us as a fan on Facebook for an early peek at the stamp sets, as well as a SPECIAL Facebook GIVEAWAY, on Wednesday night beginning at approximately 6 pm PST.
Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate. Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day! Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please. Comments for the drawings close Wednesday 2/29 at 7pm PST.

Sooo, without further ado….here's my first card for Release Week!

Today we are introducing two new Adorable Abodes – Royal Digs and Spring Cottage along with NEW DIES! I'm using the Spring Cottage Stamp Set from Apple Doodle Ink! This is Doug's Adorable Abodes #3 – a sweet little cottage with a wishing well and bunnies celebrates Springtime and the new beginnings of a new home! This would be perfect for March or April for calendars if you're doing a calendar project with us.

I used my Copic Markers for the cottage and then paper pieced the roof out of some great wood-grain paper! There really is no place like home! I used some brown/white twine and a matching button. I kept this card towards the masculine side. Love this color palette – all inspired by the pretty patterned paper collection from My Mind's Eye.

The paper is the "Away We Go" Collection 6×6 paper pack from My Mind's Eye. LOVE. Also, I pulled out an old favorite from TE – The Medium Scallop Die – to make my border. As you know, I use this one all the time!

Always remember that TE stamps are high quality red RUBBER mounted on foam. All you do is stick them on your favorite blocks and you're good to go. All the sets come on a full color panel and store perfectly in our Mini Binder Boxes (4 sets to a box). Full size set panels are 5.75" x 8.5" and jam packed with images for $21.95. Mini set panels are 4.75" square (CD size) for $12.95. Petite panels are 3" x 5" for $7.95. (6 Petite sets fit into a Petite Storage case) Have fun looking at all the other projects from the rest of the Design Team! XO

It’s a hodge podge blog!

Say that three times fast…hodge podge blog! Haha! Today I'm trying to get organized and get my craft studio into some semblance of order…which seems to be a major task right now! I wanted to do a blog post and share some things, though. These are just some random cards and photos that never got posted for one reason or another…so I'm lumping them all together. A little of this and a little of that! I hope you are having a great weekend so far. Thanks for stopping by!

First up I'll share a little organizing I did a few weeks ago. I am just a wee bit OCD…okay a lot OCD. Organizing makes me happy and relaxes me when I'm stressed. I know I'm not the only one out there right? I love The Container Store… All my photos are in matching bins organized by year… All my stamps are categorized by theme… You get the drift! One thing that has always escaped me was a good way to organize my Cricut stuff. Well, recently I found these Iris containers at Joann's Crafts and they did just the trick!

Here is the empty container:

Here is my stash of Cricut cartridges:

Here is the final result! I have found that I am using my Cricut a lot more now that I can easily access my cartridges and booklets. Love it!

Next up a couple of cards that I hadn't shared yet! I made this Hello Kitty creation to send to sweet GG who had mailed me some awesome Hello Kitty swag! Thanks again Rachel! We have bonded over HK! I used my Cricut to make it…and some cheery gingham paper.

You might remember this next card…I did THIS version in red a while back. I made another version in purple for a friend's birthday this week. I adore this layout and that Darla Butterfly die from Memory Box!

Next up is just a fun story to share… Our local Shopping Mall had a big fire in October of 2010. A good portion of the mall was closed for over a year and it kinda sucked! The mall had a huge re-opening party late last year and Stacy London was there! I LOVE 'What Not to Wear' - mostly because of Stacy. Love her exhuberance and her happy demeanor! Well…the hubs heard on the morning news that she was speaking in about an hour!!! I hurried up and got dressed and dashed over to the mall just in time to see her. SHUT UP!!!

She said "SHUT UP" about 100 times…and she really is exactly like she appears on the show. Very funny and helpful and VERY pretty.

I took about 50 pictures…and there is not one picture in which she is not making some silly face! I think this one is my favorite. You want to talk about being animated!!

Or maybe this one is my favorite?

Lastly, I took a picture of some yummy treats the hubs sent me for my birthday in November - from Sucre in New Orleans! MMMMMMMMM! I wish I had some right now!

Well…I promised you a hodge podge! I hope you had fun sharing all these things with me and that you found something you liked! Please be sure to come back on Monday for the start of Taylored Expressions March sneak peeks. Toodles!

An old fashioned hello!

Let's talk! Today I'm sharing a card I made this weekend using a fun stamp set from Hero Arts! I only had a few more days to get an entry into the February contest! I love entering their blog contests. There's a lot of competition and it's fun to join in the mix. You don't have to have a blog to enter – they do their contests on Flickr – which is free – so I really encourage you to enter! CLICK HERE for the details on the challenge for this month. This month's theme is Friendship or Hello cards.

I love this vintage stamp set – cool old phones and a neat font…Just begs for some retro colors and buttons and such. I like combining a bunch of 'stuff' on my shabby chic cards. Here I used a scrap of the patterned paper (Picadilly by Basic Grey) and a pearl pin to make a flag. One trick for putting light colored buttons onto dark cardstock is to put the button on a tiny piece of white paper. That way the color can come through.

Here are my supplies…The pretty red toile looking paper is the back side of the stripes…perfection! I found just the right shade of aqua blue Bazzil paper to match. These colors make me think of the 50's!

Let's talk! The stamp set is called "Just Saying Hi." I love the sayings in it.

So there you have it for today! Thank you, as always, for coming by to see me! I hope you have a great day! See you soon.