A Blog Called Wanda

The Light Box Experiment...

I have been complaining about taking pictures of my cards, and not being happy with the results. SO...the DH and I bought all the stuff this past weekend to make a Light Box. The theory is that you make a perfectly white light box so that you get true color and eliminate shadows when taking indoor pictures.

The directions I used to make the box can be found here: http://www.studiolighting.net/homemade-light-box-for-product-photography/

I bought the foam core board and tape at Michael's and the lights/bulbs at Lowe's. Total cost was about $35.00. It took us about an hour to make it. I followed the directions exactly and the finished light box is a 20 inch square. Here are some photos of it:

My final thoughts on the project.

I think that the box is too large. If I made it again I would probably make it a 15 inch square. Be sure that whatever type of light bulbs you buy, that the box says 'daylight' so the color of the light is not yellow. I used 100 watt daylight CFL bulbs. Also, the more light, the better. I may end up buying another light to put on the top pointing down. Overall, the colors in the card photo above are much closer to reality than what I was getting without the box. This experiment is still ongoing...

Please let me know if you have any suggestions that have been working for you! 

Things to love about New Jersey...

So, I've never been to New Jersey...but I watch WAY too much reality TV! So I kinda feel like I've been to New Jersey! Here are some of the many things to love about the Garden State:

The Housewives...

Snooki and The Situation at the shore...

The Boss...

 
The Cake Boss...

 
And this recipe...

Did anyone else see the recent episode of Cake Boss where they made a GINORMOUS Crumb Cake? It looked like heaven on a plate to me! I knew I had to make a crumb cake!  I scoured the interwebs and found this:

The recipe can be found here on Recipezaar: http://www.recipezaar.com/New-Jersey-Crumb-Cake-33645. I made it almost exactly according to the recipe. Here are my changes: Use only unsalted butter. In the topping mix I added 1/4 cup of light brown sugar and 1/4 cup of chopped pecans. I cooked it for 35 minutes instead of 30 minutes. 

The entire house smelled like cinammon while it was in the oven. YUM. I think I'm going to rename it Crummmmmmmmmb Cake. Here are some pix to make you drool and to inspire you to make it too! 
 

 

 

  

Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today. Share your recipes with me if you like and I'll try them out next. Have a blessed day everyone.

Vintage Style Card for today

Evidently I love a challenge! Today I'm posting my entry to the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger Challenge: Turqoise and Gold. I have an idea rolling around in my head for my own Tuesday Trigger...I need to create the card and send it in. Keep an eye out for it. :-)

Here is the Tuesday Trigger image:

And here is my card:

 
I wanted to pick up the small amount of black in the photo as an accent. Also, I used the circular mirror for inspiration for my little frame. The Turquoise and white print paper actually has a slight shimmer to it that you can't see. The Gold paper is kind of a matte/burnished shimmery gold. The picture inside the frame is a sticker! This card has a nice old fashioned vintage-y feel to it.

 
 

Yesterday the DH and I went out and bought all the supplies to build a 'white box' for taking photos of cards. Just need to find the time to put it all together. Hopefully that will be a success. Until next time, Happy Monday and best wishes for a crafty week ahead! 

Start to Finish and Inside out! My Moxie Fab Challenge Card

Does anyone remember the Phil Collins song "Inside Out?" That is one of my favorite songs of all time. I used to sing that at the top of my lungs back in the day.

Inside out is also the name of this Moxie Fab card challenge for January. I decided to have a go at it. The objective is to make the inside of the card just as wonderful (fab) as the outside! What a great idea!

 
I must say that I really like this card! It was made especially for my sweet friend JRR. She loves butterflies. When I saw this paper I knew I had to make her a card with it.

Here's the inside:

I'm still trying to get the picture thing mastered. This is the best I could do. Not crazy about all the shadows. Here are some detail shots:

 
No coloring on this card! I used brown Memento Ink for the images. Lots of layering... And, of course, Martha Stewart punches. As always, best wishes for a great day and happy stamping!

 

Lazy, rainy Sunday afternoon...

Okay, so is it acceptable to stay in your pajamas all day? Or do you have to take a shower and put on clean pajamas? This is just one of the dilemmas facing me today. It is pouring rain here and we are having a quiet day at home. Football is on in the family room and I am holed up in my crafty cave with Mr. Buddy.

However, as you can see, Mr. Buddy has different ideas as to what he would like me to do today...

This is my desk/work space and is doubling as a nap area.

He must have fallen asleep while reading...That can wear a man out, you know.

Seriously, you are NOT stamping today until my bowl is full and my head is scratched. Do I look like I'm kidding?

One cat out of the way and over to his blankie. I did manage to make a sweet little card to send to a far away friend. Here's the front:

Here's the inside:

 
 
Some close in shots:

    
   
Thanks for dropping by to see what I made today. I hope you are safe and warm and dry wherever you are. Back to the craft room to see what else I can cook up today. 

A card for Jilli Bling...

Tonight I had the pleasure of stamping with Jilli's Stampin' Up group at Round Table Pizza. Okay, so is that a perfect evening or what? Pizza! Girlfriends! Stamping! Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about for a Friday night. Of course I had to bring her a little card to show my appreciation for the invite. I just got the new Stampin' Up set called "Tote-ally Tess." Isn't it cute? I like the new format for the sets - and they stamped very nicely. Love the new clear blocks also. Okay, here's the card:

 
I colored her with my Copic markers (of course) and then paper pieced the apron and tote bag. The set has a bunch of little tiny crafty items you can put in her bag or her hand.

The hair is colored with about four or five shades of yellow, tan and brown. The trick to coloring shiny hair is to leave some white space where the light would hit it. Also, hair is many different colors so experiment with what color you want. Start by using quick and light strokes of the pen that lighten at the end. Do one end up from the bottom of the hair, and then do the other end by turning your paper around.

The jeans were made by coloring with two shades of blue - again, to your preference. Then, take your Copic colorless blender pen and do quick, light strokes over the blue. This will give you the faded effect of denim. Have fun with it. The trick to getting better is practice! I hope these tips help.

Have a great weekend everyone! Try to find the time to do something creative!

On a serious note today...

I am a Red Cross volunteer for the Sacramento-Sierra Chapter and have been trained and certified to work on natural disasters. This is something that became very important to me after serving on my former (insurance company) employer’s National Catastrophe Team many years ago. I saw the property and human devastation of the Loma Prieta EQ, Oakland Fire, Hurricane Andrew, the Northridge EQ and local California floods up close and personal.

 

Being a witness to those events and the aftermath changed me as a person forever. My own apartment was damaged in the Loma Prieta EQ and I have friends whose houses were destroyed in the Oakland fire. The damage from Hurricane Andrew was the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Words cannot describe how much I value my safe home every night when I drive up and it is still there with all my things and my loved ones inside. I really do think about that. Every night.  

 

My heart is aching for the poor people in Haiti today. I know that the Red Cross is there already providing food, shelter and aid. If you are moved to do so, go online and read about the Red Cross and see if there is anything you would like to do. Become a volunteer locally, sign up for a CPR class, donate blood, donate money, send prayers, anything. Just take a moment today.

 

Here are the links:

https://sacsierraredcross.org/

http://www.redcross.org/  

Red, Pink and Black...with heart.

I found another color challenge online tonight and thought I would give this one a try as well.   You had to use Red, Pink and Black and also use hearts. Here are the details:  http://embellishmagazine.com/blog/2010/01/embellish-hearts-color-challenge-sponsored-by-the-cutting-cafe/

I thought this would be easy... and immediately got out all my Valentine's stuff. The red and black looked good, but I had a hard time getting the pink to work. I decided to do a collage/funky look for this card. I hope you like it!

And a close up:

 
I absolutely LOVE that red/white flocked paper from Stampin' Up! (Thanks Janice). It is so much prettier in person and reminds me of beautiful old wallpaper. 

I hope your week is off to a good start!

Color Challenge!

The card I made today was made for entry into Dawn McVey's Color Challenge #21. You can find her post about it here:  http://dawnmcvey.typepad.com/these_are_a_few_of_my_fav/2010/01/raspberry-suite-color-challenge-21.html

I really enjoy reading her blog and decided to do my first contest entry here. As I'm getting ready to post mine, there are already over 100 entries! The deal is - someone posts a challenge in which you must make a project using certain specific colors. I just happen to really like these colors. See below:

Here is my card!

And a close up:

 
One thing I am stuggling with is photographing the cards to get the right color and tint. It seems like that would be easy - but it's not! I need to study up on that a bit and may need to invest in a "white box" for the photos. We shall see...

Materials: Papertrey Ink 'On My Couch' stamp set, Memento Ink Pads, Bazzill Papers, and Basic Grey 'Urban Prairie' patterned paper. 

Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, the other gold...

I haven’t been feeling that great (just a cold) and have temporarily lost my crafty mojo, so I wasn’t sure what today's bloggy blog entry would be about. But then it hit me: take a moment to write and reflect on old friends and good times. Sometimes life sends you a nice surprise…thanks to the interwebs. A couple of weeks ago I was so happy to hear from my college bff Amy. Unfortunately, we haven’t been in touch for (too) many years. But, now we have been emailing back and forth and it just seems natural to talk to her. It has been so fun to get to know her again and learn about her life. She is super smart and is a college professor on the east coast. I love it.Here is a pic of me and Amy at our sorority initiation in <ahem> 1984. Yikes, yes, kids I was really 19 years old once…A long, long, long time ago. Aren’t we adorable? I think so.

Mz. Amy doesn’t know that I saved the totally awesome, rad, bitchin’ clipboard she made me all those years ago and still admire it! She is quite crafty, don’t ya think?

I am so delighted that we are back in touch. Isn’t it nice to have friends who knew us when? These crazy girls went through a lot together. I am having some flashbacks right now that involve champagne…hmmmm.

Do you have any old friends that would love to hear from you? Make a card! Send a letter! Let me know what happens…I know you would make someone’s day.

I’m so glad you found me again, Amy! Thank you. Smile.

Julie & Julia and a Blackberry Cobbler

 
This movie is delightful! It is adorable, sweet, funny, and positive - and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Family friendly and lighthearted. I was already an Amy Adams fan, and this movie sealed the deal.

It was totally appropriate timing, too, since the subject of the movie is writing a blog! I found that part totally on point for me right now and several parts made me laugh. It is sort of scary putting it out there in cyberspace and just waiting to see what happens...

So, after watching the DVD I had to bake something! One of my specialties is Blackberry Cobbler. I use the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens New Baking Book. It is in the "Old Fashioned Desserts" section. I make it with only two adjustments. I do not use nutmeg - just cinammon. I find the nutmeg too overpowering for the berries. Also, when cooking the berries, I use white sugar instead of brown sugar. I always use Baker's Sugar too - which is super fine. It doesn't matter if the berries are fresh or frozen. This dessert is to. die. for. with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Here are some pictures to make you hungry:

Yumminess in the oven...

Sooo hard to wait for it to cool off....

Are you drooling yet?

Have a great day everyone and Happy Cooking!  

A Rose is a Rose - a craft project!

I saw the instructions for Grunge Paper Roses on Tim Holtz's blog and I just knew I had to try to make some! So, yesterday some friends and I got together and decided to go for it! The instructions are long and I must admit I was intimidated. That being said, once we got started it was an easy process. Many steps, but not so difficult. The results were very satisfying. I would say that these cannot be made with 'regular' cardstock, you really need to buy the Grunge Paper. Any type of glue works, and be patient...it takes a while for everything to dry. The best part is puttin' on the bling at the end! I hope you enjoy reading about these and that you give it a try too!

 

 

 Rose #1 without any bling yet...

Roses #1 and #2. To make the pink one, I covered the rose pieces in white pigment ink first and then went back over it with two colors of pink pigment ink. Then I sprayed it with glitter mist to give it a sheen. The red one was made exactly according to Tim Holtz's directions with pearl-x and misters.

I made three roses in all. The white/silver one was made by covering the grunge paper with eggshell color acrylic paint - about three coats on each side. The antique silver glitter was (generously) applied as the final step after the rose was assembled.

I'm not sure what I will do with the roses, now that they are done! I was thinking they would make very nice package adornments. I was also thinking of making one or all of them into pins to put on a hat or a cool jean jacket. The possibilities are endless.  
  
I would love to hear what you think of my project. Also, let me know if you've tried this and how yours turned out! Happy crafting! 

You can find the fantastic and detailed instructions here on the Tim Holtz Blog: http://timholtz.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/12/12-tags-of-christmasday-12.html