A Blog Called Wanda

Hello card with Sizzix Tim Holtz Funky Foliage Dies!

Hi friends! How are you doing? It's almost Thanksgiving! Wow. Are you in holiday prep mode? Are you traveling? I hope you have a great week, whatever it is you're doing! This was a strange week here in Sacramento. There is a horrible, huge wildfire burning about 75 miles Northeast of us and we have been inundated with awful smoke for going on a second week now. I've never seen anything like it. On Thursday last week, Sacramento had the worst air quality IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. Whoa. School is cancelled, everything is cancelled and it is so terribly sad. They are telling everyone to stay indoors. And, I repeat, this is 75 miles away. Gosh. I've been depressed the entire time. Thinking about those poor families. The thick smoke is a constant reminder of what is happening. I pray for my fellow Californians and pray for rain. My heart is heavy and I am again reminded to be so grateful for the blessings I have. Hug your loved ones a bit tighter this Thanksgiving and let the small things go. 

Today I'm sharing a card I made with the super cool new Funky Foliage Dies from Sizzix and Tim Holtz. They've been sitting on my desk for at least a month and I just needed some time to ink them up. The other day I finally just sat down and did it! These dies have all kinds of foliage in a cool retro style: mushrooms, ferns, flowers, leaves, branches... Perfect to create a forest scene. I love the little mushrooms the best. All the coloring of the die cuts was done with distress ink pads. The finished card is an A2 size. 

 

I die cut all the pieces out of watercolor paper so they are nice and thick. I used pretty shades of distress ink pads, water, and a paint brush, to color the images in. I dried them with my heat tool. (when it's cold outside I used my heat tool a lot more to dry watercolors and even my Copic coloring!). After the pieces were dry, I went back and splattered Vintage Photo ink onto all of them. 

 

The 2nd layer and the top layer are Cream cardstock. I used the pretty leaves from the Nature's Wonder stamp set to stamp my own background paper with Antique Linen ink. I stamped the sentiment in brown ink. Both cream layers were inked around the edges using distress ink and a big sponge dauber. 

 

I used a bit of Rock Candy Distress Glitter on the mushrooms and leaves for just a hint of sparkle and vintage feeling. Here's a close up of the layers and the background stamping. 

 

 

 

I arranged two different clusters on the card front. Usually when I'm making a card like this I will stamp/die cut and color a bunch of pieces and then mix and match them until I get the look I want. This arrangement took a while! I wanted to use ALLLLL the pieces!

That's it for today. Much love and good wishes for a safe and happy Thanksgiving week. If you're traveling - have a great journey! I'll be back on Thursday with a Thanksgiving card. Until then, take care friends. XOXO 

 

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Fun Christmas Cards with Flora and Fauna Stamps!

Hi crafty friends! What's up this week? I'm not up to too much around here. Later today I'm meeting up with my friend Wendy for some girl talk and lunch but other than that, the week is pretty mellow. I am getting over a cold and trying to lay low and take care of myself. I'm feeling my age in aches and pains lately. Getting old ain't for sissies - whoever said that was right on the money. Learning to show myself grace and slow down when I need to. That's hard for me - the girl who's been going 100 miles an hour her entire life and was born with a day planner in her tiny hand. But, God has a way of showing us the next steps.... The fuzzy blankets are on the bed and we are all ready for snuggle season. Lucky loves to burrow into a blanket and hide out - he's a world class snuggler for sure. 

Today I'm sharing a couple of sweet and simple Christmas cards made with the wonderful stamps from Flora and Fauna Clear. I love their style and love to sit and mix and match my stamp sets to create scenes. Today it's a llama and a reindeer-icorn! LOL. Some pretty patterned paper and watercolors make for quick one layer cards that are sure to make someone smile! Both ards are A2 and are the kraft prefolded cards from Scrapbook.com (supplies at the bottom of my post). I like these notecards because the kraft is a bit darker and earthier. 

 

This adorable mini reindeer set comes with a unicorn horn! EEP. It's a little Christmas unicorn reindeer thingee. Ha! I used some branches to frame it and stamped some snow too. I used a brush and clean water to smudge the aqua ink a bit to look water colored. The images on both cards were colored with Daniel Smith Watercolor Dots. 

 

 

 

A few Nuvo Crystal Drops in red for holly berries! 

 

 

 

Fleece Navidad! OMG I loooooove this! That little llama with his festive scarf! I made him out Christmas tree shopping! I stamped a couple of trees and then stamped the banner in between then. Doesn't he look like he's out on the lot? These stamps seriously just make me smile. They are so whimsical and cheerful. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheerful wishes to you! As always, be sure to pop over to the Flora and Fauna Blog to show them some love! Thanks for coming by today to see me. Have a blessed and creative day! XOXO

 

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Watercolor Butterflies - You Make Me Smile!

Good morning and happy Monday! Today I'm sharing a project I made as part of Tonic Studios' Nuvember celebration. This month, they are celebrating all things Nuvo, and we love Nuvo! I chose to feature the Watercolor Pencils as my product choice. I used some more new stamps from Elizabeth Crafts and created a soft and pretty card with butterflies and other garden creatures. Thank you to Tonic Studios for sponsoring this fun event! I hope you have a wonderful week! 

When I first started stamping, my favorite medium was watercolor pencils. They are a super easy and inexpensive way to get a lot of different looks. You can achieve a soft wash or color, or go more intense with it. I still get out my watercolor pencils often - do you? My card is an A2 made from a pretty kraft folded card from Scrapbook.com (supplies listed below). 

 

 

I stamped and die cut the butterflies, bee and snail using watercolor paper. I watercolored them using the pretty Nuvo Watercolour Pencils. Then it was a matter of arranging them onto the card panel. The top layer is also watercolor paper. I splattered it with water mixed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The sentiment is from a pretty stamp set from Hello Bluebird.

 

All of the critters were attached to the card using foam tape. I added a few sprinkles of green glitter enamel dots for a bit more color.

 

 

 

 

On Instagram, Tonic Studios are celebrating all things Nuvo throughout ‘Nuvember’. Check out Tonic Studios USA on Instagram and get all the details - or click the graphic below! Have a wonderful day! See you soon. XOXO

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Queen And Company Happy Harvest Shaker Card Kit - Fall Greetings!

Happy Weekend Crafty People! Happy Saturday! I have Thanksgiving on my mind, and making the last few projects for Fall. It's been busy in the studio and there's a mix of Christmas stamps and Fall stamps pretty much scattered everywhere! Just a couple of weeks now until Turkey Day and I can't wait. I am debating putting up some Christmas decorations but, nah... Not quite yet. I love the warm tones so I'm not ready! What are you up to this weekend? 

Today's project is a card I made with the brand new, beautiful, latest shaker card kit from Queen and Company. This one is called Happy Harvest and it's right up my alley! It has a pretty fall color paper pad, a wonderful stamp set (maybe my favorite one yet from Queen and Co), dies, and everything you need to make cool shaker cards. I looooove these kits - I know you're used to me saying it. SUCH a good value for the money. CHECK IT OUT here. The kit is on sale right now too! Woot!

My card started with an A2 card base in cream cardstock. I layered a bit of woodgrain cardstock from my stash. Then all the other papers are from the kit. Pretty stripes and polka dots... I used a bunch of the papers. 

 

I made the cute little acorn shaker using the included paper pad and the included gems and pearls in warm tones. I wrapped a bit of twine around the card and paper layers. I used one of the shaker elements dies (the oak leaf) and die cut leaves to put behind the acorn. It's so cute! I stamped the sentiment using brown ink, and again on cream cardstock.

 

 

 

I'm so glad I got this kit - because I know I will use these sentiments on lots of things. The font combinations are wonderful! 

 

 

That's it for today! Happy Harvest! CLICK HERE to check out the kit - or click on the photo below. I hope you have an outstanding weekend! I will see you soon my friends! XOXO

QUEEN & COMPANY HAPPY HARVEST KIT!

 

Reverse Confetti New Release Blog Hop! November 2018!

Hi my crafty friends! How's your week going? I hope it's been an awesome one! I'm so happy it's November and Fall activities are happening. The nights are cool now and life is good! Today we're blog hopping to launch the brand new November product release from Reverse Confetti! Woot! Pretty, fun, and fabulous new stamps, dies and paper launch TODAY! Yes! There's a lot of winter crafting stuff and COFFEEEE! Yes, brand new coffee stamps and dies. I always love a coffee themed craft project. I know you're going to love this release. CLICK HERE TO SHOP WHAT'S NEW at Reverse Confetti! The full blog hop list and the shopping links are at the bottom of my post. Hope you enjoy this fun and inspirational hop! You should have arrived here from the wonderful blog of Amy Rohl! 

I made two cards to share today - used my Copic Markers and some fun ink blending techniques too. I'm really into ink blending backgrounds lately! So much fun to customize your own background paper colors for cards. Let's get started! 

First up is a BRIGHT coffee card! (Get out your sunglasses!) I used the brand new "Drink More Coffee" stamps and dies for this one. I looooove the sentiments in this stamp set. I chose to use the Sun's Up Mug's Up sentiment and that is what inspired my bright yellow background. This is an A2 sized card with a white card base. 

 

I started by making this fun background. The background die is one of my favorite products from Reverse Confetti. I used it quite often. It's the Stitched Rays cover. I used two shades of yellow Distress Inks and went over it with looooots of color. I dried all that ink with my heat gun and then splattered clean water on it and Copic Opaque White splatters. I set that aside to make the rest of the card. 

 

I stamped and die cut the cup, saucer and spoon and colored them all with Copic Markers. I also die cut the coffee die and splattered it with white paint. I die cut a white circle and stamped the sun rays in yellow behind where I wanted to put the coffee cup. Then I layered the coffee cup and saucer onto the white circle. 

 

The sentiment was white heat embossed onto a strip of vellum - I did this to let the yellow show through, but also to tone it down just a little bit. I love sentiments on vellum! 

 

 

 

Next up is an adorable little bunny and his birdie friend sledding by to say hello! I used the brand new "Snow Buddies" stamps and dies for this card. I started with an A2 card base in white and then layered dark aqua and kraft. The snow mound was made by die cutting a circle die from white paper and trimming it to fit over the kraft layer. Easy peasy! I stamped the snow flakes in white ink onto the kraft. 

 

 

Sweetest sentiment! I stamped and die cut out the snow bunny and his sled and colored them with Copic Markers. I added bits of Diamond Stickles too! 

 

Everything is layered onto the card using foam tape. I used another new set called "Snowflake Magic" to create the small let it snow sentiment. 

 

 

Thank you SO very much for joining me today on my stop on this fun and fabulous blog hop! Hip Hooray for the brand new Reverse Confetti November Release! The entire release is available for shopping now! What is on your wish list? Hope you find something to tickle your creative fancy. Enjoy the hop! Next up is the awesome Heather Hoffman! Full blog hop list below! XOXO

 

BLOG HOP LIST FOR TODAY!

Reverse Confetti Blog
Amy Kolling
Melissa Phillips
Amy Sheffer
Lydia Fiedler
Tricia Barber
Kelly Lunceford
Lisa Henke
Leanne West 
Amy Rohl
Wanda Guess
Heather Hoffman
Therese Calvird
Amy Tsuruta
Kathy Schweinfurth
Michelle Short
Audrey Tokach
Melissa Bickford 
Jeanne Jachna
Olga Moss
Ali Farmer
Deanne Kuntz

 

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Jingle All the Way! Honey Bee Stamps Deerly Loved Release!

Greetings and happy Monday! Let's kick this week off right with a happy, cheerful snowman! Did you have a good weekend? It was my birthday this weekend and I had a very nice weekend indeed. Friday we went shopping and walking all day, outside at this pretty mall and I got some new presents... And spent way too much money at Sephora! Yikes. I love that place! Then we had a day of rest and watched movies... Sunday I worked all day at the Voting Center and that was great too. Lots happening. Oh, and did I mention it was 85 degrees??? So, I am totally in the mood for a snowman! I need fog and rain, and I need to wear a sweater. Dang!! This is very unusual weather indeed. I'm trying to get my Christmas spirit going! 

Honey Bee Stamps launched a new release last week called Deerly Loved, and it has the cutest and best new stamps, dies and stencils for Winter Holidays! CHECK IT OUT here! I fell in love with the Jingle all the way sentiment set and knew that's what I wanted to use first. Paired with an adorable snowman and you have today's card! This card makes me smile. 

I started with a white A2 card base from Neenah Solar White cardstock. The top layer is Bristol Cardstock - because it really holds up well to all that Distress Ink! The background was made with two shades of blue DIstress Inks and heat embossing. YUM. 

 

After I made my background, I stamped the snowman, his hat, scarf and birdie, and colored them in with my Copics. I added accents with a white gel pen, and then some Diamond Stickles for a bit of sparkle. The plaid on his scarf was made with the white gel pen. I colored it red first with Copic Markers and then just made diagonal lines across the red. SO easy! 

 

To make the background, I die cut the scallop rectangle from Bristol paper. I used Broken China and Chipped Sapphire DIstress inks and an ink blending tool to add the color in a circular motion, with the lighter color in the center. Oops! First things first! I heat embossed the sentiment and the snowflakes in white embossing powder first! The distress inks were applied over the top of the embossed parts. I love this effect! I used the Distress Sprayer to sprinkle water droplets onto the ink for some blotches. Then I used a small paint brush and Copic Opaque White to add snow splatters! 

 

This is the background before adding the water drops and white ink splatters. I like it this way too...

 

I attached the snowman onto the card base using foam tape. How cute is that little bird sitting on top of his hat? So fun! This stamp set comes with so many cute accessories - you can make your snowman a million different ways! 

That's it for today! Have a wonderful, happy week! I will see you back here on Thursday to launch the brand new release from Reverse Confetti! XOXO

 

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Pinkfresh Studio Holiday Cards Blog Hop!

Hi everyone! Happy November! Time to get in the spirit of the holidays! The rest of the year is coming fast and we're here today to help you plan out your holiday cards! I'm so excited to be part of this awesome Pinkfresh Holiday Cards Blog Hop today! This is a huge TWO DAY blog hop with fun, inspiration, prizes and a free gift with your order too! Please CLICK HERE to see the entire beautiful line of holiday stamps and dies from Pinkfresh Studio - one of my favorite companies! CLICK HERE to go to the Pinkfresh Blog to see all the details each day, or if you get sidetracked along the hop! The full list of all the designers is at the bottom of my post! Grab some cocoa and relax with us and get inspired for the Winter Holidays! Thank you for coming by today. If you're new to my blog - welcome welcome! Glad to see you! 

I made two cards to share today - one is icy blue and the other is warm and extra sparkly. Both are made with gorgeous stamps and dies from Pinkfresh in their truly unique whimsical and pretty style. The images are happy and they make me happy too. 

First up is a Magical Chrisma-corn! I just made that up! A Christmas Unicorn! Love her! She is flying through the air to spread glitter and sparkle over everyone. This stamp set is called Magical Christmas. Love. The card base is A2 in white. Then I layered red, some pretty patterned paper, and then vellum. I love the look of vellum over patterned papers... 

 

I stamped and die cut out the Christmas Unicorn and then colored her mane and tail with Copic Markers in red and green. Her horn is silver embossed and the scarf is red ink. The head, body, scarf, and horn are all different stamps - so you can make them different colors. Genius I'd say! Made it so easy to stamp a red scarf and emboss the horn. I used a bit of white twine and pretty small silver bells to put around her neck. She is a Chrisma-corn after all!

 

The sentiment and the snowflakes were stamped onto the vellum with white pigment ink. I also used Copic Opaque White to make snowy splatters onto the vellum. Be sure to set that aside and let it get good and dry before attaching it to your card. 

 

Isn't she beautiful? 

 

Next up are these adorable bunnies skating by to say hello and Merry Wishes! This card was made with the Pinkfresh Skating Bunnies stamps and dies. I used an icy blue and grey color palette for this card. I love how it came out! This is also an A2 white card base. I layered grey and then pretty plaid patterned paper on a diagonal.. 

 

I stamped and die cut the bunnies and colored them with Copic Markers. I die cut a circle for them to skate on and used Distress Ink and a blending tool to make a pretty matching blue sky. I stamped snowflakes in blue onto the sky portion. I also splattered some of the same Copic Opaque White as on the first card. (Supplies are all listed below). 

 

They are just so so sweet skating around. The one on the left reminds me of John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever! He's going for it out on the ice! This card is perfect for any winter holiday occasion. 

 

I glued on a few sparkly blue gems at the end to finish off the card. 

 

 

Now for the good stuff! Prizes and Free GIfts! Pinkfresh Studio will be picking SIX random comments from the designer blog posts, from each day to win a $25 gift card to the Pinkfresh Studio store. That's twelve total prizes! How awesome is that? AND - there will be TWO GRAND PRIZES picked from the Pinkfresh Blog posts: each day a different bundle of their holiday stamps & dies. (The prizes will be pictured each day on the Pinkfresh blog).

Pinkfresh Studio will pull the winners & post them on Sunday, November 11th by 2pm CST on their GIVEAWAY PAGE. Note: You must check that page & claim your prize within 2 weeks.

BUT WAIT!  Pinkfresh is also offering a FREE Holiday Vibes die with $25 purchase in the Pinkfresh Studio shop.  A photo of the free die is below! Yay!

 

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FULL LIST OF TODAY'S DESIGNERS! ENJOY THE HOP!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Happy Halloween from A Witch Called Wanda!

Hi crafty friends! Happy Halloween!! Man, how did that happen? Tomorrow is NOVEMBER??? I say that every year, but doesn't the time go so fast lately? It's still warm here and I guess that hasn't really put me in the Halloween mood. Supposed to be 80 degrees here today! Yikes. I'm ready for sweater time! I've been working a lot in the studio making fun projects for next month. Lots to share!! I took all of my Election Worker training classes last week so now I'm on call to work at a voting center. And I'll be working every day at the center the days right before the election. I have to say that the behind the scenes of setting up an election are fascinating! I've really enjoyed being part of things and learning more about the laws surrounding voting. I am glad I signed up to do it! In bigger news my birthday is on Saturday! Woot! Not sure what we'll be doing. I'm happy with a low key birthday to be sure.... The hubs and I will find something fun to do. I am not that psyched about another year under my belt so to speak. 

Today I'm sharing a fun Halloween card made with a stamp named after me! I looooove wood mounted RUBBER stamps and buy them as often as I can! My friend Lindsay Ostrom is a local artist and she illustrates stamps for Impression Obsession! (VERY cool stamps I might add). I almost always buy her wood stamps. Well, imagine my surprise to find out that she made one called Witch Wanda! And she has a kitty! Awesome. I inked up Witch Wanda with my Polychromos Pencils on Kraft paper.... Kept a clean layout.... Used my favorite Ellen Hutson Background die... There you have it. Happy Halloween!  

 

There are three layers of Kraft cardstock on this card: The card base (A2), the background die/embossed layer, and the top layer with the image. I added just a touch of a hint of purple cardstock under that top layer. I like to layer the same color cardstock - it gives added dimension without having a ton of colors going on. I do this a lot with white cardstock also. Coloring with pencils on Kraft is a great technique to shake it up and get a different look. (The Halloween die is from SSS and unfortunately is not available anymore). I added some bitty bats from an old style punch. 

 

When you color with pencils, make sure to utilize that white pencil to add highlights! It makes your project pop! 

 

 

 

And there she is! Witch Wanda! LOL!

 

 

I hope you have a FUN HALLOWEEN with no tricks and lots of treats! Are you dressing up? We'll stay home and hang out and wait for trick or treaters. We don't get a ton of kids on our street but I love to see their costumes and pass out candy! I'll be back tomorrow with a fun blog hop for Pink Fresh Studio! Yay! See you then. XOXO

 

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Halloween Cuties from Elizabeth Crafts!

Hey there! How's your week going? I'm spending the day in training today for working the election in a couple weeks! Should be interesting! ALLLLL day training. Gosh, it's been a while for that! Looking forward to seeing what's up and what I'll be doing during election week. I hope your week is going great so far. Today I'm sharing a card I made with some SUPER cute stamps I bought at the Stamp and Scrapbook Expo last weekend. I literally could not wait to ink these up! They are from Elizabeth Crafts. Although Elizabeth Crafts is definitely not new to me, this new line of stamps (a new artist) was new to me and I BOUGHT EIGHT SETS! I couldn't help myself. They are so sweet and whimsical and adorable!! CLICK HERE to see all of them! EEKS! Love. 

I used the Halloween stamps and dies to make this card. I used my Distress Ink Mini Ink Pads and a small paint brush to do the coloring. I wanted it to look like illustrations! I used a clean and simple card layout with some cute gingham and just a bit of glitter and twine. This is an A2 card size with the fold on the left side. 

 

A little twine bow on the side fold always looks cute and cheerful! I stamped the sentiment directly onto my top layer. Simple layers here of gingham, black and white cardstock. All the little images were stamped and die cut out and attached with foam tape. 

 

To color everything, I used Distress Ink Minis and a small paint brush. SO fast to water color this way! Quick and easy. HOW cute is that candy corn witch??? OMG. 

 

 

 

 

I used the Elizabeth Crafts super fine glitter and a glue pen to add glitter bits to most of the images. A little touch of sparkle is always good!

 

 

 

 

 

I can totally picture this adorable crew showing up at my doorstep on Halloween night! 

That's it for today! Have a blessed and creative day! See you soon! XOXO

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BOO! Fun shaker card with Queen & Company Fright Fest Kit!

BOO! Hey everyone! Happy Sunday! I'm getting a slow start today... Relaxing with the hubs and Lucky and enjoying a second cup of coffee with nowhere to be today. Ahhhhh. I had the best time the past three days! The Stamp and Scrapbook Expo was in town and I did it right! LOL. I had friends here from San Diego, Canada, and the bay area. In addition to all my Sacramento Crafty friends. Whew. Hugs galore, laughter, coffee, snacks, shopping....It was all wonderful. My back hurts and my wallet is empty. But my heart is happy. I really just had a great time. Two of my friends rented a house here and we stayed up long after the show talking and being silly. There is definitely not enough of that in my life! I hope you've had a great weekend too!

Next week is going to be super busy for me. I signed up to be an election worker and I have to go to ten hours worth of training next week. I also have a fun stamping class one night. All good stuff happens in the Fall. 

Today I'm sharing a super fun Halloween card made with a fabooolous kit from Queen & Company. The kit is called Fright Fest! It has everything you need included in the kit - to make tons of Halloween cards. The Queen & Company kits are the best value and the highest quality. Can't recommend them enough really. You get a full stamp set, tons of dies, a paper pad, the shaker shapes, the acetate pieces and all the shaker bits! I hope you will check them out! CLICK HERE to see all the fun kits. 

For my card I decided - if one shaker bit is good, then TWO is better! I used the BOO and the Pumpkin shapes to make this card. It's an A2 sized card. I started with a white card base, then layered black, and then the pretty stripes. I stamped the sentiment in black ink and added a few spooky splatters for effect. 

 

The dies set comes with all the little pieces to make the pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern treat bucket. LOVE. So easy to put this together!! 

 

I like this sentiment with the combination of different fonts. 

 

I wrapped a bit of twine around the card and added some gems. These gems are also from Queen & Co and they're called halos. They come in a bunch of colors! 

 

These are just a few of the items that come in the Fright Fest Kit!

 

 

 

I love that happy Jack-o-lantern!!

 

 

That's it for today! Thanks for popping by! Hope I didn't scare ya! LOLZ. I hope you have a fantastic week ahead. Not sure what I'll be posting next, but I hope to use some of the new cute stamps I got at the Stamp and Scrapbook Expo this weekend. I have loads of ideas. Take care! XOXO

Remember to check out my last post about Stampin' Up and how to get a free gift with your order! 

 

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