Tag: a blog called wanda

Tropical Leaves – watercolor style!

Hello my dear crafty peeps! Hope you're having an awesome week! I went out to dinner with a girl friend last night and we had such a lovely conversation. She is so super busy, and I hardly ever get her all to myself, so it was a real treat. Don't you love that? We got caught up on loads of gossip and it was wonderful! It's hotter than heck here still and I'm hibernating indoors as much as possible. The great studio purge of 2016 was under way all weekend. OY. I got rid of a lot of old paper, and old cards… And made a big bag of things to sell later too. Now I feel like I can think again in here. I am definitely at my most creative in a tidy space. I went to Container Store yesterday and picked up a few odds and ends. I'm sooooooo happy we finally have a Container Store in my town. Now I can just go buy what I need and not have to drive 80 miles each way. Yay! I'm trying really hard to get organized before the big holiday crafty season begins. You know what I'm saying!! Next week is August! For you local stampers, the Sacramento Rubber Stamp Convention is this weekend! I'll be working the front table – so say howdy!!

The last Simon Says Stamp release was quite possibly my favorite release ever! I'm saying now, and I'll probably say it again… My absolute fav thing from the release is the Tropical Leaves stamps and dies. They are sooooooo pretty! (CLICK HERE for my other post made with these stamps). I have had the idea in my head of water coloring these stamps and I finally sat down and made some cards in that style. Hope you enjoy! I made two – with different word dies and different colors. Everything else is the same!

I started with a nice crisp white card base. I die cut a Stitched Rectangle from Slate Cardstock and another one from Watercolor paper. Then I used mini distress ink pads to ink the stamps and stamp them onto the watercolor paper. I used a water brush to slightly soften the color and move it around. After the leaves were completely dry, I went back with pretty blue ink and watercolored the background. The trick to this is to let one layer dry first, so the leaves and the background don't blend together.

Here is the other color scheme! Same technique… Can't decide which one I like better!!!

I die cut the Painted Hello and Painted Thanks dies from crisp black cardstock. You can see that I added spritzes of bright white mist on both the card and the die cut. I really love this look! I don't know why, maybe it looks artsy or something? I also added just a few sequins to each card. The word dies are layered on with tiny strips of foam tape.

To make my watercolor background, I smushed two colors of blue ink onto a clear stamping block. With my water brush, I added just a touch of water and to the ink and then picked up the color with my brush. Easy and fun!

This one orange leaf didn't stamp perfectly, but I just left it. Seems sort of batik?? That carved pumpkin distress ink is my favorite orange for sure.

To assemble my cards I adhered the slate cardstock panel first with tape runner. The top, watercolor layer, is attached with foam squares for a bit of height and dimension. Have I ever made a card without foam squares? I think not!! LOL.

Thanks for stopping by! Have an awesome day and I'll see you soon! I have two projects on the Simon Says Stamp blog this week – one on Friday and another one on Saturday! Take care. XO

REMINDER! RANGER SALE! Everything Ranger is on SALE at Simon Says Stamp until 7-29! Great time to stock up on Distress Inks, paints, stains, watercolor paper….EVERYTHING! Use code CHEM25. Click on the link below to go straight to the Ranger section of the store. YAY!

SUPPLIES FOR TODAY:

InLinkz.com

July 27, 2016
My Favorite Things – Twice the Wishes!

Hi everybody! Dang, Thursday already! Hope you've had a great week! Our washer died about a month ago and we had to buy a new set…. Well, today our TV died! I hate dealing with stuff like that, don't you? Luckily TV's are pretty inexpensive nowadays. Our old TV should be in the Smithsonian anyway…. I guess it was time. But, it's never a good time! I will look forward to watching movies in HD now though! And, please pray for us that we don't need to involve Comcast in the process! Oy.

I'm here today with a post to help celebrate the 10th Birthday of one of our very favorite stamp companies – My Favorite Things! Yes, they are ten! Isn't that awesome!? They launched a beautiful new card kit for July to help you craft and celebrate the birthdays in your life. I made a bright and happy giant birthday cake card today with lots of color! I used my distress inks to color the die cut pieces… And threw in some glitter for good measure. Supply links are at the bottom of my post.

I started with a pretty teal card base and layered that gorgeous striped paper on top. I always love a good stripe paper! I used the colors in the stripes to match my ink colors to tie the project together. The die cuts were cut out from watercolor paper.

How cute are those candles!? EEP. My cake is strawberry pink with chocolate frosting! In this photo you can see I added Diamond Stickles to the frosting and the candles. My circle was splattered with watercolor paint first, and set aside to dry.

To do my watercoloring, I used the wet on wet technique. I got the paper wet with clean water first and then added the ink. This gives a nice flowy effect I think. I want to bit right into this big ole cake! CHOMP.

I was going to stamp my sentiment onto the cake but it didn't quite look right to me… So I cut a strip of vellum and used my MISTI tool to get the exact placement I wanted. I adhered the vellum to the top layer by wrapping it around the back and gluing it down out of sight. I seriously adore this font!!

You, my friends, take the CAKE! Thanks for coming by today. I hope you have a great day and an awesome weekend to come! By the way, for everyone asking, my back is doing much better! THANK YOU LORD! I am back in action! Take care. XOXO

SUPPLIES FOR TODAY! CARD KIT LINK IS IN ABOVE GRAPHIC!

InLinkz.com

July 21, 2016
Simon Says Stamp August 2016 Card Kit! Seeing Stars!

It's that time again! Yay! Time to announce and introduce the newest Simon Says Stamp Card Kit! The kit for August 2016 is called Seeing Stars! A beautiful stamp set, pretty ink pads, cool papers and so much more! The theme is red, white and blue and stars. Summer crafts, patriotic crafts, Olympics themed crafts….Nautical…. I could go on and on. Such a fab kit. It's available now in the SSS Store. As always, you can buy just this month's kit or subscribe to get them all sent to your home automatically each month. It's always such a cool surprise every month when that box shows up at my door. I practically rip the box open like a kid on Christmas morning!

I have three totally different cards with three completely different looks to share today – all made with the card kit supplies. CLICK HERE to see and order your own kit!

When I saw the beautiful starry stamp set the first idea that came to my mind was to make a 'galaxy' card with a cool watercolor background! So that's the first card I made to share. I started with watercolor paper and white heat embossed the stars and the constellations in a random pattern. Next I used some vivid colors of distress inks to make my cool background. (colors listed in the supplies list). I found it easiest to start by wetting my paper with water and then slowly adding the different colors. I let the first layer of colors dry and then went back with more black ink to make it a bit darker. This is so fun and free form. I love it. After that part was dry, I used some white mist to add flecks of white to look like more stars.

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on crisp black cardstock and die cut a banner shape. I wrapped this part around my 'galaxy' after I trimmed it to size. I adhered it to a bright white card base made from the paper included in the kit.

This next card ended up having sort of a country feel to it because of that pretty floral paper! I love red and blue together with kraft. All of the papers used on this card come with your kit. I layered some of the papers together onto a navy blue card base. Then I stamped my sentiment onto a stitched circle and layered that with a red stitched circle. Two kraft banners complete this look.

For my last card I went WAY patriotic and happy! Some of the included papers are white/white embossed like this star paper. I used the included blue ink pad and a sponge dauber to turn the paper blue! Then I paired it with one of the papers that had red stripes and voila a flag! I layered a piece of vellum that was die cut using the included star die. Here's one of my tricks – I used tiny bits of clear glue to hold the vellum down… And the glue is underneath the sentiment and the gems so you can't see it!

Hope you've enjoyed this little peek into the new card kit! Tomorrow something MAJOR is launching at Simon Says Stamp and I will have all the details right here. And, plan on joining us in a big blog hop on Saturday too! Hope your day is awesome. Thank you for coming by! XOXO

SUPPLIES FOR TODAY!

InLinkz.com

July 13, 2016
Wishing you a magical unicorn day!

Hi there! Happy March! Yep, first day of a new month already! New beginnings, fresh start…. We spent a lot of time this weekend getting our front yard 'spring ready.' My husband fertilized and mowed and cut everything. I pruned our hydrangeas and camellias. We have a TON of daffodils blooming. We have this nice brick planter box that goes the full length of the front of our house and the hubs planted 200 bulbs in there. It's so fun to see what comes up. Right now it's daffodils, but I can see some tulips poking up too. We are going to have fun this coming weekend doing a Caffeine Crawl! It's where you go on a tour of all the local coffee shops and hear lectures and drink COFFEEEEEE all day! Yay!

I've been busy in the studio working on some projects for a Simon Says Stamp blog hop coming this Friday. Yesterday afternoon I found myself with some free time and I felt like coloring! So I got out a brand new stamp set that just arrived! It's called Be A Unicorn and it's from Avery Elle. LOVE. I am totally into the unicorn craze I tell ya. They are so fun and cheery and they remind me of my childhood toys from the 70's. One of my sweet crafty friends and I call each other unicorns too. EEEP. My color theme/scheme was completely inspired by a Doodlebug paper pad so I matched my Copics to the paper… It's all just too fun.

Isn't this an adorable sentiment? I colored three unicorns with different color manes and horns…. I couldn't pick just one! The stamp set has teeny tiny hearts and stars…and even a lightning bolt! OMG.

Here is a close up of the paper inspiration…

Doodlebug has chunky twine now and I think it's fabulous! My rainbow and unicorn are popped up with foam squares on my card. It's really hard to see in the photos, but the clouds and the mane/tail of the unicorns are drenched in clear Wink Of Stella shimmer!

Here are my Copic colors for today's project: The ones you can't see are Y38 and RV02

This is a really clean and neat card layout – good for almost any type of card!

Have a magical unicorn day, my crafty unicorn friends! XOXOXO

March 1, 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
Watercolor butterfly friends….

Happy Sunday crafty peeps! Have you been able to get crafty this weekend? I worked in my studio all day yesterday and it was grand! I made some projects for the Simon Says Stamp blog for later in the week and then made a pretty watercolor card to share with you for today! Can you tell I am already dreaming of Spring colors and flowers? I'm sorry to say that I am/was over Christmas crafting!! In our creative world it seems like Christmas crafting lasts for months… I'm ready for aqua and lavender and yellow! Hahahaha. So today's card is full of butterflies and leaves. I hope you like it! I used my Distress Inks and some favorite SSS stamps and dies to make this friendship card…

The background was made by using the large background leaves stamp from SSS (Supply links at the bottom of my post). I inked directly onto the stamp with my Distress ink pads. Then I took a water bottle and misted the stamp all over. Then I stamped onto some watercolor paper, letting the stamp sit on the paper for just a few seconds to let the colors run together. I used Wilted Violet, Twisted Citron and Peacock Feather. YUM! I dried the image with my heat tool after stamping. Then, I sprinkled some water color droplets on top. Tip: Do the water splashes/drops after the initial image is dry!

I die cut the Chrissy Butterfly die three times out of watercolor paper. I watercolored the butterflies using a water brush and Distress Inks. After they were dry, I used Mister Huey's white mist to add some visual interest. The friends die was cut out of crisp black paper.

I glued the butterflies down only in the center and gently folded their wings upward with my fingers. I added Doodlebug Glitter Sprinkles to the centers of the butterflies.

Thanks so much for coming by to see me! Hope you have a happy Sunday and hope your week ahead is a great one! I cannot believe tomorrow is February 1st already! Yikes! I don't have a ton going on in my life next week, so hopefully there will be lots of stamping time! XOXO

January 31, 2016
SIX YEAR BLOGAVERSARY! And my 2015 end of the year wrap-up!

Hello my dear blogging friends! Today I'm celebrating my SIX YEAR BLOGAVERSARY! How much fun is that?! Every year when I do my end-of-the-year wrap up post I can't even believe that another year of fun has gone by! I love doing this each December, and sharing with you my favorite projects from the past year. (Here's my wrap up from last year) This post helps me reflect on where I've been and think about where I'm going. I like to chronicle stats and numbers once a year too. Having a craft blog is a lot like having a diary and it is so fun to have all my projects in one place to keep track of my creative journey. Thank you so much for being a part of it all. I always go back and re-read my VERY FIRST BLOG POST at this time of year. And I think of how grateful I am to have this place to call my own. Blogging has opened so many doors for me and introduced me to so many wonderful people. It's rewarding, meaningful and fun all at the same time. I am so lucky! All of you lift me up and inspire me with your kind words and funny stories and love – so much love. Thank you!!

Later today my Color Pop project for Lucky Clover goes live on the Simon Says Stamp Blog! Check back here or over there for the details!

Tomorrow there is a big Simon Says Stamp Valentine Blog Hop for the new You Have My Heart release! LOTS going on!! Next week I'll be leaving for CHA and I'll be sharing on social media all the new goodies for 2016.

Happy New Year – a little early! I have a neat blog post coming up at midnight on New Year's Eve, with prizes, so be sure to check in then! It's the Season's Givings Blog Hop and it's really going to be cool. All of the bloggers in the hop are giving away a prize! I did this last year and it was a blast!

2015 was an interesting year! Wow. The things that happened at the beginning of 2015 seem way more than a year ago. This year was hard…lots of lessons and so much personal growth. Coming at me every day it seemed. Not bad, just hard. You know, like growing pains. I eased into being 50 years old okay (LOL) and now that doesn't seem to be bugging me as much. As many of you know, I left my corporate job of 28 years to become a full time creative professional. That happened in July and my life has been completely different since then. I've learned so much about myself and what is important to me and how to stand on my own. I've learned that I can do things that I would have thought impossible just a short time ago. I've learned more than ever to trust God and take a leap of faith and that things will always be okay. I'm SO GRATEFUL. I can't even put it into words. The opportunities and the kindness shown to me by people this year – gets me teary eyed in the best possible way.

My three words for 2015 were: PLANS (God's plans are bigger than my dreams – proven fact), MINDFULNESS (this message keeps coming to me) and CREATE (Time to grow as an artist in my own style). Boy, were those words right on target. True that God's plans for me were not even a glimmer at the end of last year.

My word for 2016 is PEACE. By that I mean inner peace and calm. Free from noise and clutter and negativity. Space to breathe and relax. Being present in all things and with my relationships. Slowing down. Calming down. Surrendering more. That seems like where I need to be right now.Do you choose focus words or resolutions for the new year? I'd love to hear!

Something I love to do here on the blog at the end of the year, is to take a look back on my creative journey from the year before! This annual post is kind of like a cyber scrapbook! Thank you for joining along with me. My blog is my journal and here I keep a record of my statistical progress. So, on that note, here are some fun stats from the year. At the end of 2014… I had written 855 total blog posts, received 10,365 kind comments, had 259,000 total visitors, 665 email subscribers… and…618,000 total blog hits! At the end of 2015… I have now written 989 total blog posts, received 17,165 comments, had 372,000 total visitors, 900 email subscribers…and…773,000 total blog hits! I wonder if I might hit one million visitors in 2016? That's a huge goal…but maybe!! We will have to think of a celebration if that happens!

Three years ago, I started a tradition of recapping my favorite projects from the past year. I get so many nice comments about this! Here are my favorites from 2015… There are a lot – sorry! It was very hard to pick favorites this year! I hope you enjoy the look back with me!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

I appreciate all of you so much, all of your love and kindness and support!

I wish you the very best year ever! Cheers to 2016!

December 30, 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

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December 1, 2015
It’s my birthday! And I’m so thankful!

Wooooot wooooooot! It's my birthday today! Gonna party, like it's my birthday…. Yep, I'm a November baby! (A Scorpio! EEK!) It's my favorite month of the year! What is better than November? Um, nothing! There is my birthday (of course), and Football, and Leaves, and Thanksgiving, and sweaters, and Pumpkin Spice Lattes! It's all wonderful! It is the month when we try the most to be thankful and grateful and that is foremost in my mind as we start this new month. How sweet Autumn truly is. I'm so blessed…and so thankful for everything that has happened this year so far. Right now the hubs and I are on a mini getaway to the ocean – my favorite place. I've been looking forward to it for months. It's such a great time of year to travel – hotels are empty and inexpensive and it's more quiet everywhere. As you read this, I hope there is fog in my hair and that I'm wearing a big ole sweater at the beach! I'll be back soon!

In honor of the start of November, I made a card using some of my very favorite leaf dies – from Lawn Fawn. Now there are two sizes, regular stitched leaves and mini stitched leaves. Yay! They are the perfect sizes for cards. (Supply links below). I used a pretty sentiment stamp and let the leaves be the star of the card….

I die cut the leaves out of Papertrey Ink Confetti White cardstock. Then I inked them up with many shades of Mini Distress Inks using a sponge dauber. Here you can see that I ended up edging all of the leaves with Barn Door ink. That was a mistake! I meant to grab the Corduroy ink! But, you know what? I reallllly like it with the red! A happy accident!

I tacked my sentiment strip down with glue on either end and left the center open to tuck my leaves in. The background paper is from Stampin' Up from a few years ago. Presently hoarding a roll of that stuff. Delicious! The pretty twine is from Lawn Fawn. The sentiment is from Impression Obsession.

Now, you did not think I was going to make a card without any enamel dots did you???!!! The leaves are all mounted onto the card using foam squares for a bit of dimension.

SO….one of my birthday presents was a TATTOO!!!! Yes! Me! It's very small, and kinda cool, and it is 100% me. ***CLICK*** So, here's my 51st birthday portrait! (Taken on Halloween!)

Oh, sweet Autumn indeed! Where every leaf is a flower!

Happy November everyone. Best wishes for an awesome week. XOXO

November 3, 2015
Halloween Medallion with Brenda Walton Dies!

Hello creative friends! I have such a fun project to share today! It's my first official Halloween project for 2015! Yay! My super sweet, amazing and talented friend, Brenda Walton, has asked me to create some projects to showcase her awesome craft dies! So I'll be creating some Fall and Winter projects over the next couple of months and I could not be more happy about this! I'll be using the Brenda Walton dies from Sizzix and we are going to have big fun! The Brenda Walton style is pretty and whimsical and nostalgic in all the right ways, and it's a style I have long admired and used in my own crafting.

I love anything that is retro/old fashioned Halloween! Glitter and pom poms and rosettes and cute figurines. Love it all. My goal with today's project was to create a new piece that has that retro feeling. My finished item is a wall hanging that you can hang on the front door or use as interior decor for the holiday. Here it is on my front door!

For the base of the piece I used the Brenda Walton Large Medallion Die and cut eight pieces out. Then I folded each one along the creases. There are diamond shaped cut outs in the folds and I like it when the diamonds are at the top of the creases. I used some cool Halloween paper with cool script and big spiders on it! Here are my pieces ready to assemble.

After I glued the eight pieces together I made my medallion and secured it with a scallop circle on the top and the bottom (made with a craft punch). For this step I use hot glue and put a lot of it on both the bottom and the top. The scalloped circles hide the glue, and give you a nice smooth base to attache your other goodies.

After I made my main piece….I thought hmmmm…how can we add some orange!? So I cut out six medallion dies with orange harlequin paper (From an old Brenda Walton paper pad!) I cut 2 and a half inches off the bottom of each of the pieces and that made a smaller medallion. I glued it onto the first one as you see here.

I die cut several of the Brenda Walton Celestial Stars Dies out of black paper and then covered them in dream black sparkly glitter. Spooky and pretty at the same time! This was the best part! (But there is currently black glitter everywhere in our house! LOL) I made some of the smaller size star and then one of the medium sized star which. If you glue two of the medium stars together it will make a 3-D star. The die set has three sizes.

To attach my stars to my project I first glued them onto some long straight pins. I used glossy accents for this step. Then you can attach the stars and they look like they're floating on the project.

In my stash I found an awesome spider web doily (I think from Michael's) and some pretty silver paper. The Happy Halloween stamp is from a Hero Arts clear stamp set. The banner is hand cut. In this photo you can see that I gently sponged the edges of my medallion pieces with jet black ink. I added some hanging paper flags on the bottom.

I cut a scalloped circle from silver paper and mounted it over the spider web doily. Then I used the center label piece from the Brenda Walton Trophy Die set. It comes with an embossing folder for this very awesome effect! The numbers are from the Brenda Walton Numbers and Dies Thinlits set. Of course I made them from black paper!

Please click here to see the entire Brenda Walton die collection from Sizzix!

There are new dies about to be released next month and you can see those too!

Thank you for spending some time with me today. I hope you'll make a fun Halloween medallion too! Or a Christmas one… Hmmm, the ideas are flowing! See you soon! XO

September 8, 2015