A Blog Called Wanda

Concord & 9th Favorite Things Party 2024!

Hello there!! Today's blog post is both festive AND jolly! Today I'm sharing some super cute and colorful Winter cards I made with supplies from Concord & 9th! There is an Instagram Hop today too, so if you're on Instagram, be sure to stop by my page and leave a comment for a chance to win a prize! The theme for today's Instagram Hop is My Favorite Things - from Concord & 9th 2024! There are a bunch of creatives sharing our favorite stamps and dies and colors from 2024... It's going to be a fantastic hop! It always brings a smile to my face to use stamps and dies from Concord and 9th - truly one of my favorite companies!! So grab some cocoa because today's post is chilly!! 

So you know I did THIS POST earlier this year using the Carpe Denim set - the cutest jean jackets you ever did see! Well, today I made a Christmas jean jacket! Hee hee. I am one of those gurlz that loves to wear holiday apparel! I always have a fun Christmas sweater or sweatshirt on during the month of December! So that was the inspo for this card... 

My finished card is an A2 white card base layered with Falala patterned paper and then a white panel to feature my jacket! I die cut a beautiful bright red poinsettia to adorn the back of my jacket... Oceanside and Poppy cardstock are great together!! I added some snowy paint splatters and bits of gold to finish my look. Let's be jolly indeed!! (I actually wish I had a denim jacket like this!) I added a tree and a sweet sentiment banner to finish it off! 

CLICK HERE FOR THE SUPPLY LIST FOR TODAY'S CARDS!

 

 

 

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE SUPPLY LIST FOR TODAY'S CARDS!

 

 

 

 

 

I just received the AMAZZZZING Alpine Village Dies in the mail last week and I had to use them today too! EEK!! This finished card is an A2 white card base. The layers are all from the super genius die set. I die cut all the pieces using my fav colors of Concord & 9th cardstocks. I really wanted to create a little Swiss village so I used red, dark green and brown.... That little ski lift makes me giddy!! I added little white snowflakes to their Winter skating sweaters... I used glitter glue for the rooftops and skating pond... Snowy splatters finish it off. The sentiment is just perfect! 

CLICK HERE FOR THE SUPPLY LIST FOR TODAY'S CARDS!

 

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE SUPPLY LIST FOR TODAY'S CARDS!

 

 

 

That's it for today's Wintry goodness! These cards were so much fun to make! I hope your week is going great, and your holiday prep is going smoothly... Sending you Winter good wishes today and always. Happy Crafting!

CLICK HERE FOR THE SUPPLY LIST FOR TODAY'S CARDS!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE INSTAGRAM HOP!

 

The new Airmail Box from Catherine Pooler!

Hello creative and crafty friends! Happy Christmas-time! Are you out and about enjoying the festivities?! My hubs and I have been enjoying all the craft fairs and vintage markets and the local ice rink... This time of year there is so much to do all the time and we love it! I have quite the supply of festive sweaters (collected over 40 years!) and I love to be loud and colorful. Oh, and there's always lots of coffee involved too! I hope you are having a great season so far. I have some holiday projects to share with you later this week... But today, I'm sharing something decidedly not Christmas! Something really fun!

The lovelies at Catherine Pooler have created their newest craft/card box! It's called the Airmail Box and it is AWESOME! I do really love a mail theme (being a card maker of course) and I love airmail items too. The new box is just that - mail theme! Three stamp sets with matching dies, a paper pack, standalone dies, and ink!!! I love it! The kit is available to order today! Yay! I made one card, so far, and at the bottom of this post you'll see a photo I took of the whole kit! CP kits are always the best quality and so wonderfully curated...

My finished card is a white A2 card base, layered with the kit included patterned paper, vellum, and a white panel. I inked the top of the panel using the included new ink pad and it's the prettiest shade of blue... That cute biplane, and puffy clouds are so perfect together! The little trail of hearts is too much (in a good way!)

 

 

This plane is so great! I'm picturing masculine cards, and birthday cards, I miss you cards.... You can make it in any color combo! I used silver paper and a pearl for the propeller. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a photo I took of the entire kit! CLICK HERE to order yours!

 

Thanks for spending some time with me today! It's my husband's birthday so we'll be out doing some fun things together! Happy Crafting!

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR AIRMAIL BOX!

 

 

Fun Holiday Projects with Iron Orchid Designs!

Hi friends! Happy Sunday! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and a great long weekend! It's the official kick off to the holiday season and it's December first! Christmas will be here before we know it! We enjoyed a very quiet and peaceful Thanksgiving here at our house and then we got up at 5am to go shopping on Black Friday. We have had a shopping tradition for many many years. I love being out in the hustle and bustle of the mall and the stores - everyone wearing their holiday sweaters and feeling festive! We shopped til we dropped - having fun. Didn't really buy too much, mostly just looking. I feel like the store/mall decorations this year were super amazing!! I love that kind of stuff. It makes me inspired and in the spirit of the season!! 

We had a Christmas miracle happen also... I left my iPhone on a bench at the mall (right by the exit to the parking lot) and didn't realize it for 10-15 minutes. I FREAKED out. We ran to the Apple Store and they turned my phone to lost mode and we were able to track my phone - to still being inside the mall (I thought for sure someone would take it and run)... The Apple store employees were so nice. Since my phone was locked, they sent a message to it which allows the person to call a number.... Well, through divine intervention an honest person had my phone and she called me. Boy did I feel grateful!!!! Whew. 

I have a couple of projects to share today since it's December! I love working with my supplies from Iron Orchid Designs....gorgeous molds and transfers and stamps...They are really wonderful to work with and create beautiful things. I made a home decor piece and some ornaments and I have some more to make also. Here's my home decor piece.... It's hanging in our entry way now.... This started with a plain wood arch piece, which I painted with navy and gold, then a big fabulous transfer, and then more gold paint and a few coats of wax. Annie Sloan Chalk Paints and waxes are the BOMB!!!

 

The piece is painted Navy (I combined two blues for a dark starry night color), and then I painted gold on that inside edge to look like gold leafing... I also splattered gold paint (of course). I used three coats of the blue paint and about five coats of the gold paint on that inside edge. The entire piece is coated in two coats of clear Annie Sloan Wax and then buffed out to a shiny finish. The tree is actually a giant rub on transfer! I cannot even tell you how pretty it is in person.

 

I also made these resin ornaments using my supplies from Iron Orchid Designs supplies also. The shapes were made using resin and then I painted 2-3 coats of deep charcoal chalk paint onto them. I used sweet woodland rub ons and then gold wax as shading. The ties for the ornaments are Tim Holtz velvet ribbon from my stash. These came out soooooo nice. I love them and can't wait to make more!!! I like to use the quick set resin so they set in about 10-15 minutes and then I usually let them sit until the next day before I paint them.

 

 

Here's another photo of my home decor painting piece - on our dining room table - in different light. It was a very hard project to photograph!!

 

 

I took some in-process photos with my iphone - so you could get a feel for the projects.... Here I'm starting with my first layer of paint...

 

 

The two colors I mixed for the blue color....

 

That gorgeous transfer!!

 

Starting on the gold paint...

 

 

Ready to put the tree on!!!!

 

 

 

 

And it's almost done! I let it sit overnight and then did the wax! I used two coats of wax and let that sit for a day and a half and then buffed it out. You can see in my final project photo that it has a pretty sheen to it now. LOVED making this!

 

 

 

 

I only took one photo of my ornaments! Ugh. I get caught up in the moment and the fun and forget to take more pictures!!

 

Thanks for spending a little time with me today. Happy Sunday! Happy December! Wishing you a bright and lovely holiday season! XOXO

 

Happy Thanksgiving 2024! Warm wishes from my home to yours!

 

Happy Thanksgiving 2024!

Best wishes for a lovely holiday with friends and family. Blessings and abundance are my hopes for all of us as we enter the holiday season. Lots to be thankful for! Now it will be time for full on Christmas crafting! XOXO

 

 

The Greetery Release is LIVE - and there's a big SALE too!

 

HEY FRIENDS!! EXCITING NEWS!!

THE GREETERY NEW RELEASE IS LIVE NOW!!

THE ICING COLLECTION IS AVAILABLE! AND IT'S ON SALE!

CLICK HERE TO SHOP!!

It was my pleasure to introduce the brand new Icing collection to you today!  And, I hope you love it as much as I do!! Happy Crafting!! If you scroll back to my last blog post you can see all my projects from the new release, and the accompanying supply lists. If you have any questions - reach out!! Thanks for all the love and kind comments! 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

SALE SALE SALE!!! Black Friday sale starts at the same time that the new products go live (NOW)! 

 

SALE DETAILS: 

• Storewide 15% off (including the new release). 
• Bundle Deals - The Greetery will have 10 different themed bundles, which will be 50% off (the bundles are NOT included in the storewide 15% off).
• When the sale goes live at 10am EST the bundles will be linked from the homepage!
• Sale starts at 10am EST on Tuesday, 11/26
• Sale ends 11:59pm EST on Saturday, 11/30
• No code needed, discounts will be automatically applied!!

 

 

 

 

The Greetery - Icing Collection - New Release Today!

Hi crafty friends! Happy Thanksgiving Week! I am sending love and wishing you and your families a wonderful holiday together! I can hardly believe it's time for turkey already. This year is going to finish up fast! I am looking forward to a quiet week at home with my family, staying cozy and watching Christmas movies and eating tooooo much! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Today is a VERY exciting day because I'm here to announce a NEW RELEASE from The Greetery! The last release of the year! The new release is called the Icing Collection - as in the icing on the cake! The new release is full of more holiday goodness and things for packaging and giving. So here's the deal - and it's good. Today, the design team is showing you everything! And guess what? Today you can BUY everything too! No need to wait until tomorrow! The new release will be available at 10am EST today! Yeah!

I will be sharing four new projects with you today! Lots of photos and inspiration. Let's get started!

CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE NEW RELEASE!

CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S FULL SUPPLY LIST!

 

My first card for today features the brand new Nordic Tree Die set! I combined it with the Warm and Cozy sentiments from the last new release. I created a clean and simple Christmas card with Dr. Suess colors and vibes! My finished card is an A2 white card base, layered with soft pink and vellum. I die cut the tree layers (there are three layers to create the tree) from green cardstock and then added white paint splatters and a bit of snow too! I finished it off by adding a pretty gold star and some enamel dot ornaments. The sentiment is heat embossed in white onto kraft cardstock. Classically Christmas! I love the details in the die cut - makes for a gorgeous tree.

 

 

 

CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE NEW RELEASE!

 

 

 

 

My next card for today features the brand new Nordic Birds Dies and the brand new Crystal Charms Dies! Also featured are past favorites Joy and Pine Wisps! My finished card is an A2 kraft card base, layered in Christmas red, then a pretty arch to feature my design elements. I ink blended the top of the arch for a bit of warmth. My color palette is classic red and green for the holidays... I made it a bit rustic by using kraft paper also. I die cut all the pieces and added bits of sparkly glitter for a snowy feeling. My final touch was some red enamel dots.

 

 

 

 

CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE NEW RELEASE!

 

 

 

 

 

My third card for today features the brand new Hey Honeycomb Penguin Dies! More cute additions to the Honeycomb product line! And also, just releasing today, white honeycombs! Wait until you see all of these!!! I kept my card cute and sweet! My card base is a white A2 card, layered with some Doodlebug plaid for a subtle background. I die cut a scallop panel and added icy blue ink blending... I used the new Hey Honeycomb Holiday stamp set for my sentiment. These are SOOOO fun to make!!

 

 

CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE NEW RELEASE!

 

 

 

 

 

CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE NEW RELEASE!

 

My final project for today features gift tags I made using the brand new Inside and Out Holiday Tags stamps, dies and stencils! I also used the brand new Ornamental Tags Dies. I love a soft color palette of pink, cream and gold... I do also love pretty pink packages! The stamp/die combo makes 8 tags at once, in a pretty, ornate shape! I stamped and heat embossed the stamp in gold embossing onto cream cardstock. I used the matching stencil to do ombre pink ink blending on the tags. I blended the ink only on the top of my tags... I splattered everything with white ink! I added some gold bows and classy pearls... The twine is natural with a bit of gold in it also. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's it for today - and for the reveals of this awesome new release! I am quite sure you must be in the holiday mood now! Thanks for stopping by to share with me today! It's my pleasure to introduce the new release. Enjoy and happy crafting! XOXO

Giveaway: The Greetery is giving away TWO $50 gift certificates, the comment deadline is Wednesday, 11/27 at 11:59pm EST (comments from the design team blogs are all entered into giveaway). Winners will be announced on The Greetery blog on Friday, 11/29 at 7am EST! GOOD LUCK!!

 

CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE NEW RELEASE AT 10AM EST!

CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S FULL SUPPLY LIST!

 

DESIGN TEAM LINKS FOR THE NEW RELEASE:

Angelica

Dana

Kelly

Laura

Laurie

Melissa

Wanda

 

Sweet Vintage Reindeer Christmas Card!

Hi friends! Popping in this weekend to share a cute and cheerful Christmas card! The new release from Honey Bee Stamps is called Cozy Christmas - and boy is it cozy! And gorgeous! I will be making more cards with this fun new release, but I couldn't wait to share the first one! I do love a vintage reindeer motif - kitschy and adorable.... Well, Honey Bee came out with a die set that makes the MOST adorable little reindeer! I turned him into a card and used classic Christmas colors and a vintage vibe.... Stripes and holly and snowflakes, oh my! 

Wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving week coming up! Stay tuned next week, too, because there will be a NEW Greetery Release! YEAH!

My card for today is an A2 cream cardstock card base. Layered with candy cane stripes and red and more cream. The star of the show is my dapper reindeer in his winter scarf... I added lots of greenery and a few sparkles and snow flurries. It all worked together so nicely. I die cut the background with a subtle snowflakes pattern. Using cream cardstock instead of bright white cardstock softens everything just the right amount here. I used Copic Markers to shade my die cut pieces and also white gel pen accents.... Again - just SO fun! Happy crafting my friends - hope you're having a great weekend! XOXO

CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE NEW HONEY BEE COZY CHRISTMAS RELEASE!

 

 

CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S SUPPLY LIST!

CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S SUPPLY LIST!

 

 

 

 

CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S SUPPLY LIST!

 

The Greetery - Merry Christmas Gifts!

Hi creative and crafty friends! It's my turn on The Greetery Blog today, and I'm sharing my project here too! Hope you're doing great and enjoying this beautiful Fall season. My birthday is over, and voting day is over. It will be Thanksgiving before we know it...and then Christmas! The rest of the year is going to fly by!!  For my project today I created a classically red and green Christmas Card using the gorgeous Gifts Galore Stencils and Dies... This card is nice and flat for mailing too! I added a bit of sparkle to it, and I used the new Warm and Cozy stamp set for the perfect sentiment. Time to make Christmas cards for sure!

 

My finished card is an A2 white card base. I layered green patterned paper on top of the white card base. To begin the card I used the Gifts Galore Stencils and kept my colors to only red and green. This idea has been in my head for a long time and I really like how it turned out. I used two shades of red and two shades of green for a clean monochromatic look. I die cut the bows and ribbons using the Gifts Galore dies - and used bright gold cardstock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE SUPPLY LIST FOR TODAY'S CARD!

 

 

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE SUPPLY LIST FOR TODAY'S CARD!

 

 

 

 

I trimmed my presents panel down to 4" x 5.25". I glued all the gold pieces onto the gifts and then added a few pearls as embellishments. I heat embossed the pretty sentiment onto vellum using white embossing powder for an elegant look. I wrapped my vellum strip around the presents and affixed that whole panel to the card base. I couldn't resist adding a few snowy white paint splatters too!

 

 

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE SUPPLY LIST FOR TODAY'S CARD!

 

 

 

My 60th birthday was this past Sunday and I had a wonderful day! My husband spoiled me rotten and I am so super grateful!! On to a new decade as a sassy old lady! 

 

 

That's it for my project for today! I hope you have a fantastic and creative day! Wishing you a wonderful November as we get ready to celebrate gratitude and move into the holiday season. I look forward to sharing with you again soon. In the meantime, happy crafting! XO Wanda

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE SUPPLY LIST FOR TODAY'S CARD!

 

CLICK HERE TO SHOP AT THE GREETERY!

 

 

Fun Halloween Felt Pennants and a Birthday Witch!

Hello friends! Happy Halloween Week! I love this week! AND, it's also my birthday week! So I especially love this week! LOL. Saturday night we went to a fun and festive Halloween Festival and I dressed up (photos at the end of my post),  and we had the best time. Sunday we carved pumpkins all day. The house is all decorated and the front yard is REALLY decorated! (My husband goes crazy with the decorations and it's the talk of the neighborhood!)  We are Halloween ready. We have a lot of fun - setting up a table in our driveway and playing spooky music, the fog machine going...passing out candy. And especially chit chatting with the neighbors and seeing the cute costumes.

On Sunday I am turning the big SIXTY! Gosh, it's been bothering me for months. That seems like so many years. I'm not ready to be this age. In my brain I'm still about 25! No other birthday has really bothered me, but this one is. I can't stop thinking about it and obsessing about it. (Nothing I can really do though, right?) My husband has been spoiling me already and I feel loved, and blessed by so many people. I do know that I am lucky to have had so many years. In the comments, leave me your one best piece of advice for graceful aging! Wish me luck!

I have a reallllllllly fun project to share today. Maybe one of my favorite things I've ever made!! It came together exactly how I pictured in my head and I love how the color palette turned out. I made some Halloween Felt Pennants/Banners for decorations for our home! They were easy and fun to make - a cheerful project with minimum supplies...a quiet afternoon in the craft room.... The dies are from Ellen Hutson! Did you know that you can still buy EH stamps and dies on Amazon?? Well, you can! CLICK HERE!

I used the dies from Ellen Hutson (sadly I think the Halloween ones are sold out right now, but the pennant with different sayings is available) and my favorite felt (the only felt I use) in Halloween colors. The other supplies are either from Amazon or Hobby Lobby and I'll talk more about that below. Let's take a look at my finished pennants! EEK! Lots of photos ahead, because I was having too much fun actually. Aren't they the cutest thing??

 

I made two pennants but I could have made tons more - I just ran out of time!! The dies + that felt = delicious! The felt cuts like butter with those dies. Couldn't be nicer. I used orange and black of course, but then popped in some pink and peach. This is my new favorite Halloween combo.

 

 

The banners were kind of "floppy" with just the felt so I die cut a matching piece of cardstock and glued it to the back to make them look nice and finished and to stand out straight. 

Like literally who knew that I would love pink and orange together??? I used ribbons from my stash and mirrored stars as a nice small accent. I tried not to go overboard as you know I like to do....

 

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE SUPPLY LIST FOR TODAY'S PROJECT!

 

Here are my pretty felt colors - they are also listed in my supply links! MMMMMMM. Yummy. This felt is 100% wool and it crafts like a dream. And it comes in many many beautiful colors!!

Here are my pieces all laid out before I glued everything down.

 

I used this fabric glue to glue all my pieces together - gave me a nice hold without lumps and bumps and it did dry quickly! I bought the dowels and the little wood balls at Hobby Lobby and used this metallic paint to paint the wood balls that are on top of the dowels. 

 

I used my hot glue gun to attach the dowels to the back of the pennants and to attach the wood balls on the top. I also used hot glue for the stars...

 

Some pretty ribbons from my stash....

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE SUPPLY LIST FOR TODAY'S PROJECT!

 

 

 

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE SUPPLY LIST FOR TODAY'S PROJECT!

 

 

 

And now for Wanda the Witch - the birthday witch! Here is my costume for the Festival! I had fun doing bright green sparkly eye shadow (hard to see because of my glasses) and a nice spider on my neck! (a temporary tattoo)....and that hat! Mark bought that for me this year!! My spider earrings and my face stickers are from the Spirit Halloween store.

 

 

And here I am at one of the antique stores on the street with the Halloween Festival. You can see I'm getting attacked by a giant spider! AAAAAAHHHHHHH!

That's it for today! Hope you have a really fun and cheerful Halloween. Don't forget to be a kid and be silly once in a while! Eat candy and have some laughter. It's good for the soul. Stay crafty and I'll see you soon - after I'm SIXTY!!! Now that is the real spook! Hahahaha. XOXOXO Wanda

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE SUPPLY LIST FOR TODAY'S PROJECT!

Pretty Pink Posh - Holiday 2024 new release - Let it snow!

Hi friends! I'm so excited this week because it finally cooled off and it feels like Fall! This makes me giddy with excitement! The house is cool in the mornings and we can cozy up and have our coffee and watch the leaves fall from the trees across the street. I am renewed!! But, alas, we are also at the same time making all kinds of Christmas projects! Today is a big Instagram Hop to celebrate the new release from Pretty Pink Posh. If you have Instagram, be sure to pop over and leave some comments for a chance to win a prize from PPP! Here is my card for today's Instagram Hop!

I used new and old supplies from PPP to create a cheerful winter greeting! My finished card is a white A2 card base covered in pretty green stripes. I layered kraft paper (because I LOVE red, white and kraft together)... That adorable hat I made in traditional colors and added sparkly snowflakes and a tweet little birdie.... Such a happy card!

CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE PPP NEW HOLIDAY RELEASE!!

 

 

 

 

CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE PPP NEW HOLIDAY RELEASE!!

 

 

 

 

CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE PPP NEW HOLIDAY RELEASE!!