A Blog Called Wanda

Some stuff...

HI!! Haven't seen me around here for a few days!! It's been a very busy weekend...full of good times, stamping and great friends. I'm just sitting down to watch the Oscars and update the old bloggy blog. My stamp classes at Paper Garden over the weekend went really well. A good mix of people. I had a dad show up to stamp with his daughter...which was super adorable! I met lots of new people. Many of my friends took class too. It was a blast! I snapped just a few pics so I wanted to share with you. Thanks to everyone who came - for making it so much fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This is some pretty new silk ribbon from Japan - oh my!

 

I have a quick and easy project to share today too. I needed a clipboard for my classes - to use for my email sign up sheets and such. You know, being a crafty gal and all, I couldn't just have a plain old clipboard! I had purchased a bunch of these plain clipboards on ebay a while ago and they were super cheap. I got out some patterned paper and some cool stickers that all went together...and voila! A cute clipboard in about an hour!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 Okay peeps! Have a great week! Thank you for stopping by today!

  
 

"Going Green" - Taylored Expressions February Blog Hop!

HEY! Thanks for stopping by on this fine day! It's the Taylored Expressions Blog Hop day!  These are always super fun to participate in. The theme for February is "Going Green." So, we could make something green (like I did) or something with a recycle theme...or whatever else that means to you. There was also an optional sketch image which I used too! SO fun! Green is one of my favorite colors so I knew I had to jump in with a card! I hope you have some fun today hopping around to everyone's blogs...I know I will!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
  
 

Birthday Anya card!

It's Wednesday...you know what that means! It's my turn to make a project over on the iCopic Blog! Today's card features the lovely Birthday Anya stamp and a retro color palette with a new shape. I used tons of markers on this one...and I tried a new color of hair. Let me know what you think!

The finished card is about a four inch square. I used the largest size round scallop nestie and then fit the smaller circles inside. I put one gingham circle with the pattern straight up and down (red one) and the other gingham circle on a diagonal (blue one) for visual interest. I crammed a lot of stuff on that little card - lemme tell ya!

 

 

 

 

This entire card was inspired by those little pre-made rosettes! I just fell in love with the colors and they made me think of the 40's so I made Birthday Anya feel kind of retro with her golden hair and some vintage lace and pearls. 
 

 

These are all the Copics I used on this one! 

 

I tried a new color combination for hair this time, so I thought I would share it. I wanted really soft light golden hair. You'll see that all of my colors were not from the same color group. I was winging it!

 

 

 

 

The final result and close up of the coloring:
 

 

 

 

 

New and fun technique!

Hi everyone! Today is the start of a super busy week here on the bloggy blog! I have a post today, Wednesday will be my latest iCopic Blog creation and then Thursday is another Blog Hop for Taylored Expressions! Good times! There is still time to join in on the Taylored Expressions "Going Green" blog hop! Click on the link and check it out!

Today I'm sharing cards I made a week or so ago for the Papertrey Ink facebook contest. I'm so excited that they started doing contests where customers can send in our cards and share with everyone else. There is some hecka talent out there and I've really enjoyed looking at the items posted. The contest series is called Make it Monday and they put a new technique on facebook every Monday...you then have all week to enter for a chance to win some PTI swag.

This first Make it Monday had the technique of taking lots of related word stamps and stamping them in a pattern, combining fonts and styles. It was really fun. I ended up sending in three entries. I didn't get a chance to blog them back then so I'm doing it now. Hope you like them and hope you will try this new way of using your stamps! All supplies, in all three cards are from Papertrey Ink.

Each of those phrases is a different stamp! All combined into a great image! I used a sweet tag and these gorgeous colors...oh my...

 

 

 

 

 

This one was my favorite of the three. I really love all those phrases and I loved combining them all with the cute house stamp. I stamped everything first and then used my oval nesties to cut out the center panel. Those butterflies and ribbon in chartreuse...love that. This is going to be a housewarming card for my bestie who just moved into her dream house. Can't wait to give it to her tomorrow!

 

 
 See you soon!

 

Announcements on a Sunday!

Hi friends! I have some announcements for this Sunday morning...and then I'll be back with some cards tomorrow. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! We have been kind of lazy so far, but in a little while we'll be heading out for some errands and a nice lunch together.

First announcement is just a reminder that I am teaching two Spring Cards classes next weekend at the Paper Garden Boutique! I'm very excited and there are a few spots left. Please CLICK HERE for all the information about signing up. Below are some pictures of the projects we're making. Five cards with a cheerful Spring theme. I'm using brand new stamps and papers from Memory Box and some favorites from Impression Obsession, Amuse and Hero Arts. Hope you can join me!

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Second announcement: Thanks to everyone who left a comment on my last blog post about the Sucre goodies and giveaway... The winner is lucky comment #13! Renee! WOO WOO! Congrats Renee! If you read this before I email you, send me your address so I can pass it on to Sucre. YAY!

 
 (I couldn't figure out how to get this darn thing on my blog, so I took a picture of it!!!)
 

Lastly, I just wanted to share this cool poster/image from Mary Engelbreit. It made me happy! Have a fabulous day everybody! :-)

 
 
  
 

Valentine Goodies...a photo essay...

Hi friends! F-R-I-D-A-Y! Thanks for stopping by today to see me. Well, you know how I love to take pictures of stuff!? Today's post is a photo essay of my Valentine loot from my sweet DH. He is too good to me and always has been a romantic at heart. This year for Valentine's Day he bought me the most gorgeous red roses and some WAY yummy sweets from Sucre in New Orleans. What a treat! It was so hard to stop and take pictures of everything before devouring it! I really just wanted to rip the box open and go for it! I had fun getting all artsy with the colors and textures and had a real full-on photo shoot right here in the craft room. 

UPDATE! The DH sent the company a link to my blog post and they wrote back with an amazing proposition! Sucre has very graciously offered a FREE GIVEAWAY to one of you! Please leave a comment below, any time before midnight PST on Saturday. I will randomly pick a comment/winner and Sucre will directly mail you some goodies! Sa-weet! Be sure to leave me your email address so I can get in touch with you. I will let you know on Sunday if you're the lucky winner!

Even the boxes are so pretty and inviting... 

 

 

These are dark chocolates with a pinch of sea salt on top...They were in the aqua box...
 

 

 

 

 

These are French Macarons. O.M.G. Truly. Seriously. O.M.G. Some of the flavors are pistachio, orange, lemon, almond, and strawberry...The pink strawberry ones are covered in sparkly stuff. Almost too pretty to eat. Almost.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 
 


 

 

 

 

 

I could have taken about 100 more pictures of these Macarons. I love the graphic nature of them on the glass and the colors are so inviting. I had fun working with the reflections.

 

These are the healthiest roses - hearty and strong and the most vivid shade of deep red. Just how Valentine's Day roses should look. They are still going pretty in the vase five days later. I picked out the best one to shoot some pictures.

 

 

 

 

 
 

Do something creative every day! Have a wonderful weekend! 
 
 
 

Lovely Perfume Bottles...

Today's post has a lot going on! This is my weekly post for the iCopic Blog and also I used a sketch from the Mojo Monday blog to get my layout started! I colored this image quite a while ago and it is one that I use as an example in my Copic classes. I finally turned it into a card! A shabby, vintagey card! I think it nicely illustrates a different way to use your Copic Markers to achieve a soft, glassy feel. This is a super super old stamp from PSX.

 

 

Here is the sketch!  

 

Here are the colors that I used - you can see I used very light shades in four different color families. When coloring, I left a lot of white space in the center of the bottles. I did this so that the images would appear see through, just like glass. I used my colorless blender pen extensively to push the color out the back of the paper (see pic below) so that just a very small amount of color was left.  
 

 
 

Here is the back side of my image. See that there is more color on the back than on the front!? That is because I kept using my blender pen over and over until I got the effect I wanted.

 

 

Are you in love with this seam binding ribbon like I am lately? Ooh La La. I found some keys in my stash and a pretty lavender flower. Then, I dug up some vintagey papers... I have been doing a bit of reorganizing in my craft room and found some good stuff!

 

 

 Here is a close up of the coloring of the bottles...

 
 

 

For the life of me, I could not get that ribbon, flower and keys to stay put! I had a needle and thread on my craft table left over from another project...so I actually sewed all that stuff right onto the paper! That'll teach it! Hahaha.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
And...finally...this card is my entry to the MOXIE FAB Stamping with Markers Challenge!!! I hope you will go on over and check out the post and enter...because...you could win 36 Copic Markers!!! WOO WOO! Have a wonderful day. 
   
 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to you! The DH and I have the day off work and we are planning to spend the day together doing something fun...not sure what yet...but it will be fun! hahaha. Hope you have something planned with your loved ones for Valentines. It's all about pink and candy and cuteness! You've seen me post some other cards with this great collection from We R Memory Keepers. I decided to use up most of my stash of it to make Valentines for my girlfriends. They are basically the same, but each one just a little different too. LOVE IT!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
  
 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

FROM ME & BUDDY!

 

You're the cat's meow!

So...I have noticed that every single card on my blog lately is PINK PINK PINK! Must be because I'm in Valentine mode! Sheesh. Okay, so today I made a card that has no pink and is actually a very warm and masculine color scheme! It's one of my projects for the Eat Cake Graphics Design Team. Cutest little kitty stamp with the most precious look on his face. I colored him in to look like my Buddy boy. {smile}.

 

 
 

 

 

I colored him in with my Copics to look like Buddy! Turns out Buddy is YR14 - Caramel! Hahaha. I added stripes in the YR14 over E31 and then some RV10 pink for his ears. Pretty easy coloring job... 

 

 

 

  Look at this face! Yup, YR14!

 
   

Introducing Miss Geisha Anya!

Today's Wednesday! My day over at the iCopic Blog! WOO WOO! Today I am sharing sweet Geisha Anya with her pretty kimono and shiny black hair. I found just the perfect piece of patterned paper to use with this card to make her a pretty little cherry blossom scene. I think I might possibly be addicted to coloring these Anya images now! Seems I can't stop!

 

 

Here is a close up of her hairdo! NO BLACK was used to color her hair! Black is too harsh and will come out flat. Instead I used cool grey tones: C2, C5 and C7. Her flower and Kimono were colored with pretty shades of: R12. R14 and R17. For the hair, I started with my lightest shade first to lay a foundation of color. I did leave some white space, as you see. I went back over with my medium shade and finally streaked in some of the C7. Practice "flicking" your brush pen tip to feather out from thick to thin lines. It's an optical illusion that your eye sees black when really it's grey.  

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

Happy Birthday Cupcake! Fun with Pink Persimmon Stamps!

HELLLOOOOOO! Monday already? Yup! Well...nothing we can do about it I guess. Today I'm posting a card using some SUPER cute stamps from Pink Persimmon!  I fell in love with their stamps last year and the wonderful Darcy was nice enough to recently mail me some new stamps to play with. (Thank you Darcy!) I adore their vintage images, and the stamp quality is superb. They stamp perfectly right from the package. I hope you will take a minute to hop over to the Pink Persimmon shop and check out the images. You will want some for sure! Today's card is a sweet cupckae birthday greeting done in vintage shades of pink and aqua. I don't normally say this...but I love how this card came out! Hope you likey!

 

 

 
 

 

Here is a close up of the coloring of the banner and the cupcake. My Copic shades are shown below. I went sparingly with the markes and then "diluted" my coloring by going over it with my blender pen. I think it looks sort of soft and watercolor-ish.

 

 

 

 

 

The first thing I did was to make my own background paper using the banner set and some cream cardstock. MMMMMMM. YUMMY! I used Versamagic inks for a soft matte finish. Kept the color palette simple.

 

 

Here are the Copics I used for the cupcake and banner: 

 

 

These are the four stamp sets I used for my card. You can see how they all coordinate perfectly and are about the same scale and style. The combinations are endless. The banner set is a personal favorite! 
 

 

 

 

 
 Have a great week cupcakes!

 
 

Red Hot Valentine!

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope your weekend is off to a good start! The sun is shining here and I think once this post is done I will grab my kitty and go take a nice long nap. The DH and I spent the morning at H&R Block getting our taxes done. Ick. Aren't you always so happy when that is over for the year? I know I am. Such a relief...and a nice tax refund coming to us in a few weeks. Gonna try and save the money... We will have our ten year wedding anniversary (18 years together) this year and we really want to try to save for a vacation to celebrate. It's been a good long while since we went on a vacay. Anyhoo...I seriously digressed right there. I have a card to share!

Today's card is a red hot number - a Valentine made with the mostest prettiest and cool paper and ribbon from American Crafts!   I am a fan of their cardstock - as you know from a previous post. And this red/kraft designer paper is off the hook! The polka dot ribbon too! YUM.

 

 

 

As I have been prone to do lately...got out everything but the kitchen sink and put it on this card! Pretty red Prima flower, a glossy sticker, a heart brad, a doily and a red stick pin. The paper heart on the doily was cut out from the patterned background paper. Isn't that sweet?
 

 

 

I added glitter glue to the top of the rose petals to jazz it up. The horizontal element is a piece of red cardstock layered with some lace and then polka dot ribbon.
 

 

The circular piece is again - cut from the patterned paper. I could make fifty cards with this pretty paper. I shoulda bought more. The rule for 2011 is NO HOARDING...so I'm using it! hahaha. 
 

 

 

 
 
 I hope you have a happy heart today!
 
 

Year of the Rabbit - Gung Hay Fat Choy!

One of the things I enjoy doing every year is making cards for Chinese New Year. I have many wonderful friends who are Asian and I love to make cards to send them to celebrate the New Year tradition. Gung Hay Fat Choy! 2011 is the Year of the Rabbit! Are you a Rabbit? I am a Dragon myself!

Usually my Chinese New Year cards are very strong and use red and black and gold (click here to see my cards from last year) but this year I went with a different color scheme. My card was all based on this wonderful sheet of paper I've had in my stash that is chartreuse. Since it's the Year of the Rabbit I thought I would shake it up, and go with a Spring/green theme.

 

 

 

I stamped the Hero Arts rabbit in black first and then masked it. Then I stamped the small Chinese lettering background in chartreuse ink...then I put the larger lettering over that with black ink. I ran the whole image through a circle nestability.  

 

 

 

 

 

I printed out my saying from the computer so it would have a pretty font and the right color for the year. I do this a lot since I'm a font-a-holic! I think this looks pretty.  

 

 

 
 

 

This is one of my favorite shots of San Francisco's Chinatown that I took in October of last year. It captures the exact feel and color of the area. Love to go here and eat and shop and take pictures!

 
 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  

 

 
 

Paris Cutie Valentine!

Bonjour! Ca va? What's going on with you this week? I'm busy at work and trying to get in some stamping time, but that is the story of my life...every week! Got my hair cut on Monday - love to get my hair cut! It always feels so healthy and bouncy. This weekend we're getting our taxes done. Other than that, just plugging along. My card for today features the super cute stamp from The Greeting Farm - Stella. She has this cute bob haircut and just looks like she is holding a special letter straight from Paris. I decided to go with the theme...Je T'aime! I took French in college so I can read it but not speak it that well... Je T'aime means I love you! Mes Amis means my friends! Love you bloggy friends! :-)

This card is also my card of the week over on the iCopic Blog! You can buy the Stella stamp there too! Check it out - lots of good stuff over there...and did you know that there are new Copic colors coming out soon? EEEK!

 

 

Here is my design Palette - goodies from Making Memories and Martha...
 

 

I thought her hair needed to be a pretty chestnut brown... I started with my E57 Copic Marker and left my white space for the shiny bits. Don't laugh at me...I had the best intentions of taking photos as I went along...but I just got carried away and kept coloring! Sorry about that! You get the idea though.

 
 

Her hair was finished off with E59 and E53. The "white" shiny part is actually a very light beige. You can leave that white too- just preference. Her dress is colored with the rosy shades of RV32 and RV34.  
 

 

Here is a close up of the finished coloring. Her face is E00, E000 and RV10 which is my go-to color scheme for skin and faces. She's so adorable! 
 

 

 

 

I finished the card with chocolate brown around the outer edge and brown ink to pick up the color of her hair and provide some contrast to all that pink. I stamped the swirl onto the patterned paper because I just thought it needed to look more French??!! Does that make sense?
 

 

Au revoir! I'll be back on Thursday with my Chinese New Year cards for 2011 - the Year of the Rabbit! Hope to see you around here soon!