A Blog Called Wanda

Pretty Garden Card for Sweet Sunday Sketch!

HELLLLOOOOO! Well now, Spring has come full blast to my part of the world. It was 80 degrees here today! Yesterday we were out in the yard and my husband did the first mowing and trimming of the season. My hydrangeas are going CA-razy! So my card today is inspired by flowers and gardening. I surfed around this morning and came upon a great sketch layout from Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #110. This card sort of made itself once I got out the most beautiful patterned paper from Webster's Pages... I hope your week has been a good one and that something fun is in store for you over the weekend!

 

 

 

 The Sketch Image:

 

 

The gorgeous patterned paper:

 

 

I first cut the paper into strips and then into individual squares...It was hard to cut that paper...but now I have a big stack of pretty images to play with. I was trying to think of a way to make a note card set, but nothing good came to me yet. Any ideas? The butterfly and vellum do-dads are from a K&Company collection. Minimal stamping on this card...just the sentiment.
 

 

 
 
 Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. You make me happy!
  

Cake and Ice Cream!

Hi there! It's Wednesday...so I'm posting for iCopic Blog today! For this card, I'm using the sweet Birthday Anya stamp! Do you guys remember that Baskin & Robbins Commercial that goes Ice Cream and Cake, Ice Cream and Cake?"  I LOVE that commercial! It's silly and fun and happy. This card reminds me of that - nothing but happy birthday cheer! I hope you likey. Have a great day today!

 

 

One tip I have for you - in order to get your projects to match your patterned paper...choose your patterned paper first! Then, select your marker colors to match. Your projects will look professional and clean. 

 

I used my Cuttlebug polka dot embossing folder to make the background oval. The papers are from Basic Grey and the Cake and Ice Cream stamp is from Hero Arts. I cut her out and popped her up on some foam tape. Added flat ribbon and just a couple of buttons... 

 

Marker colors:  E00, E000, RV10 (face) Y21, Y35, Y11, E31 (hair) YR01, YR02, B02, B04 (dress and cake)

 

 

Miami!

Hi there! I'm back from my trip to Miami! Got home super super late Friday night (I guess technically early Saturday morning). That is a long trip and both of my flights home were delayed. It feels good to be home with my DH, my kitty and my stamp room! I had a fantastic trip to Florida. I was there for work and so we worked our normal 9 hour work days. After work, however, I managed to see some sights and enjoy the amazing weather. Since I was there two weeks, I also had a weekend to enjoy,  and I drove all the way down to Key West. It wasn't humid and was about 80 degrees each day. I'm not normally a warm weather person, but it sure felt good. I took almost 400 pictures! It was really hard to choose some to share on the bloggy blog. I hope you have fun looking at the pix! Have a fantastic week! The pictures are from Miami, Key West and Miami Beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now...If you made it this far...thanks! Haha. Back in the day I would have been that annoying, crazy Auntie who showed up at your house with five carousels of slides from her vacation...and made you watch them all on a sheet tacked to the wall! I love to share pictures! Smile. 

Berrylicious! New paper from Imaginisce!

Ooh La La...so berrylicious! HI! A while back I was lucky enough to win a facebook contest from Imaginisce! The prize was one of their new paper collections, and it's called Berrylicious! It has the CUTEST fruits with these funny little faces and you can't help but be in a good mood when you see it. The company was very generous and I got tons of stickers, die cuts, paper, stamps and other goodies. THANK YOU IMAGINISCE! I sat down one day and made a bunch of cards with my prize! These are perfect cards to save for Summer, don'tcha think?

Here's a picture of my loot...fresh out of the box!

 

Here are my four finished cards:
 

 

 Bright cherry pink and lemon yellow just might be my new favorite color combination...

 

 

 

 

 Could you just die...is he not the ca-yutest little watermelon you ever did see??

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Really love these strawberries...they are the prettiest shade of pink. See that little guy smiling up in the corner? EEK! 

 

 

 

 

 

And, here is the aftermath!

 
  

Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past Spring Blog Hop Day!

Hi! It's that time again! Time for the super fun Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past Blog Hop! The theme this month is Spring. I know I'm ready for Spring...aren't you? Spring to me is all about color, and especially the soft pastels of Easter. So, my card for today features my favorite Spring color theme of pink and green. I used the In the Park stamp set from TE and also the pretty scalloped eyelet border die! I hope you will take some time to hop around and see all the cool cards from today! Thank you for stopping by!

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Won't you take some time out and check out everyone's entries?!

  
 

You ROCK!

Rock on girlfriends! How adorable is this stamp! Go on over to iCopic store and check out all the wonderfulness they have from TGF!  The images from The Greeting Farm are so fun to color and guaranteed to put a smile on your face! Today's girl is Chelsea, and she is just so cute with her ipod rocking out to her tunes. I knew I had to use bright fun colors for this one! Today's Wednesday, so it must be time for me to post over at the iCopic blog! Have you gotten your new colors of Copic markers yet? Twelve new colors? Are you kidding me? Thanks for stopping by today. I will also have one more post for today for the big blog hop at Taylored Expressions. It's a busy day...and I'm not even home! hahaha. Still sending you my love and greetings from Miami...

 

 

I stamped her, as always, with my Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and then colored her with Copics...not too much shading on this one because I knew I was going to make her dress sparkly with glitter...like a disco queen! haha. The hair color is exactly the same formula as the retro Birthday Anya card from a few weeks ago. I am liking this blond combination.

 

A pretty resin flower for her hair...those are from Michael's. The You Rock stamp is from a Stampin' Up set that I have had for a few years.
 

 

 

 

 

Thinking of you from across the miles...

Hi peeps! I'm still in Miami right now...scheduled this post before I left. I thought by now I would be homesick so I'm posting a card of a pretty house... This is one of my design team projects for the Eat Cake Graphics blog and I've used one of their gorgeous house images. This card would be great for a new home card or a missing you card. Hope you likey!

 

 

I used my Copics to color the house in some browns and golds and greens. The key and flower were already in my stash of goodies. I thought the patterned paper fit nicely since it is phone book listings! How fun is that? I cut the image out and popped it up wiwth some foam tape.  

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

Top O' the day to you! Happy St. Patricks Day!

Are you wearing green right now? I sure hope so! You don't want to get pinched! Happy St. Patty's Day to you one and all...it's the day when we are all a little Irish and can have a little fun! What are your traditions? Green Beer? Corned Beef dinner? I don't usually do anything special, but I do like to wear green. I always have struggled with making cute St. Patrick's Day cards...Nothing ever seems to come out just right. This year I saw examples online and in magazines where people made shamrocks out of heart punches. I decided to try that and make it my own. I am happy with how they turned out! Simple and sweet. I hope you have fun today!

 

 

Here are my hearts and stems. I cut the hearts with a punch and then freehand cut out the parts for the stems. I used some pretty patterned paper with green leaves. Not too overboard with the green...a nice soft shade. 

 

 

The card base is cream color and I inked up the corners. I used some light brown ink to stamp a shamrock background. The kraft paper is the focal part and I used a fine tip brown pen to draw the lines around the edges. This is an easy way to add a frame. It looked too plain before I did that! Added some twine to the center of a pretty green button and there ya go!

 

 

 
 

What the Washi?

Hi friends! It's Washi Tape week over at the iCopic blog! They have about, oh, a million different kinds of cool Washi tape! Have you tried working with it yet? I have a couple of ideas to share with you - ways you can use the tape in your projects. There are the obvious ways to use it ... just like you would other tape - to seal an envelope or a package, or to add a pretty border to a project. I would love to have you leave a comment with your ideas!

Here is a card made entirely from Washi Tape! Three different colors of the same pattern! What do you think?

 

 

So, here's what I did... I put down three strips of tape on a piece of white paper to make my own patterned paper! Then I used a cloud punch and a triangle punch to make my images! Really easy and fun. You could do just about anything with it!

 

 

 

 

 

 You can write directly on your Washi tape with a Copic Multiliner pen...

 

This next image shows the tapes I used and two other backgrounds I made with it. I made a cool three color plaid background, which would be perfect for a masculine card and for the other one, I just popped down some strips to add color. Go on...try some!
 
 
  

Spring has arrived in Northern California!

Just a note before my post: I am going to be in Miami for a couple of weeks for work. I am wondering if anyone has suggestions for me as to places to go, stamp/craft stores, restaurants, whatever?? Please leave me a comment if you would be so kind!  I have planned some blog posts while I'm gone, and when I get back I hope I have cool pictures to share!

Spring has definitely arrived here in my part of the world! My allergies are in full effect but I consider that a minor nuisance compared with all the beauty that surrounds us this time of year. The hills are turning green, the trees are making new leaves, the cherry blossoms are spectacular and, here in Sacramento, it's Camellia time. I took a gander out in my front yard yesterday morning and then grabbed my camera so I could share with you. I know a lot of you are still in the throes of Winter...so I hope this makes you warm inside. Have a wonderful day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These fresh green buds mean that my prized Nikko Blue Hydrangeas made it through another cold Winter. These are my favorite plants in the yard. I can't wait to see their happy pom pom faces!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
From our home to yours...Happy Spring and have a blessed day!

 

Moxie Fab - ulous! Tuesday Trigger Challenge card!

Hi friends! How can it be Thursday night already? I know, because I had the week off from work...that's how! Sheesh...I swear that time off work is on a totally different time/space continuum and goes faster than time at work. I've been a bizzy bee in my stamp hive whipping up all kinds of design team projects, challenge entries, and St. Patty's Day cards. Today Mr. Buddy was VERY happy that his mama laid down on the bed and took a nice long nap with him! It was a good day.

The Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger Challenge for this week immediately caught my eye. The trigger image is GORGEOUS and I knew I had to make a card! I was especially inspired by the pretty color scheme and then by the shabby-chicness of it all. It is shabby chic, but in a simple, uncluttered way. Perfection. I used the colors and then tried to recreate the feel of the photo. Won't you go on over to Moxie Fab World and make your own card???

 

 

Here is the very pretty Tuesday Trigger inspiration image:
 

 

I used some pretty aqua paper to mimic the chair...then I distressed the edges by sanding them with a sanding block. I added one of my favorite stamps - the large flourish from Hero Arts... Then some pretty Prima flowers and just a few pearls. I wanted to pick up the tan background from the photo so I mounted my main card onto some tan paper.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Sweet as Pie!

Hi! It's time for my weekly iCopic Blog Design Team post! Today's card features the lovely Cheeky Cherry Pie stamp from The Greeting Farm! She is too too cute! Love her retro hairdo and her sweet eyelashes! I had fun getting out all the gorgeous red Copic Markers to ink her up! I always use my trusty Memento ink pads for using with my Copics. A list of my marker colors is at the end of the post. I can think of many uses for this card...I think it would make a pretty thank you card for a gal pal...

 

 

Here is a close up of my coloring. Shading with red and brown is hard...If you try it and get discouraged, don't give up! Keep practicing! Use the darkest colors sparingly and blend, blend, blend.

 

 

 Some of my supplies...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isn't she just Sweet as Pie? The sentiment is from a cute cooking set from Hero Arts and I stamped a red heart in the middle of it. The flower is from Prima and I added stickles to it to jazz it up a bit. The paper is from Stampin' Up and I've been hoarding it...but I made myself use it!
 

 

Marker colors: Hair: E42, E43, E57 and E31. Skin: E00, E000, E11 and RV10. Red parts: R29, R27, R24 and R22. Pie tin: C2 and C1.

 
 

Thanks a bunch card!

Hello! How are ya?! It's been a rainy Sunday here in Northern Cal. I've been holed up in the craft studio busy as a little worker bee...making design team projects for Eat Cake Graphics and iCopic! I will have some fun stuff to share with you in the weeks ahead. I've been a copic-coloring fool...all day... What have you been up to this weekend? I hope you've been having fun and doing whatever it is you like to do.

I have a sweet, pretty thank you card to share today. I made this card for Stephanie, the owner of Paper Garden, to thank her for so graciously having me be a guest instructor at her fab store last weekend.

 

 

Here are my supplies! I cut the black and white card base out of a big Sizzix square scallop die. The flowers were cut using a flower die from Papertrey Ink. The buttons and bees were in my stash already. The embossing on the white is a Cuttlebug folder. I couldn't decide between branches/birds or polka dots and ended up choosing the branches/birds one.
 

You can see I added the tiniest pink border around the white...just makes it pop off the black! I added one pretty leaf and one little bee.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Curtain Call Challenge #71! Two cards for the price of one!

HELLLLOOOOO! Well, it's late Thursday evening...which is practically Friday in my book. It's Friday Eve you might say. Just like Christmas Eve only it comes every week! I'm hanging out in my stamp room tonight watching American Idol (it's so good this season, don't you think?) and finishing up my blog post  to share with you. I made two cards for today, one kind of shabby chic and full o' stuff and one kind of clean and simple. I was inspired by Stacey's Stamping Stage Curtain Call Color Challenge #71! The colors are: Kraft, Cherry Cobbler red, Yellow/Gold and Mustard. MMMM. Yummy. When I saw the challenge colors, I instantly knew which papers I wanted to use. Therein lied the problem...

My favorite color paper from Stampin' Up is cherry cobbler! LOVE love LOVE it. That part was easy. Then I picked out some nice Kraft paper from my stash and then some mustard polka dot paper. Then...dun dun dun...I got out the Webster's Pages Spring Market Collection papers. OMG. Really? Seriously? Maybe the prettiest paper I've ever seen. I ain't lyin'. So, every molecule and fiber of my being is telling me "you must hoard this paper and you must not make pretty cards with it, because then it will be all used up." Do you have that voice too? But, I made myself cut this gorgeous paper in half, and then half again...sigh. I have declared 2011 the year of no hoarding of craft supplies...and I was proud of myself!

Okay...you're probably like...get to the cards already Wanda! Here is card #1...Those little bees have been in my stash for years! I found a pretty red label holder...and a rose...I really wanted that gorgeous paper to be the star of the show. Used a Kraft card base and edged the papers with distress ink.

 

 
 

Here is the Curtain Call Color image:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is card #2...the clean and simple version...made with the same exact supplies and color scheme! You don't know how hard it was for me to resist.the.bling!! I like it too, though. Love the banners with the roses, especially! I might do more of this...make a second card...hmmm. Got me thinking...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Happy Weekend Peeps! 

Thank you so very much for coming by!

 
  

Pretty Violet Hydrangeas...

Hello! If it's Wednesday it must be Copic tip day! Thanks for coming by today to see what I've got for you! I hope your week has been a good one! Today's card is a clean and simple design with Copic coloring. You know that sometimes I get carried away (nah) and put lots of good stuff on my cards. Today I kept it pretty and simple. Not a ton of layering or patterned papers. I let the color do the talking! I've included lots of pictures of my coloring in case you're following along and wanting to know how I got this look.

 

 

Here is my palette. The first color is V12 and the green one that you can't see the color on is G21. I thought about using Blue Violet but decided to stick with true green and true violet purple.  

 

First step is to put down some gorgeous V17 in the centers. Feather the color outwards from the center in quick strokes.  

 
 

My second color is V15...going out a bit further from the center color but still leaving white space.

 

I used my lightest color last to blend all three colors together. Go back over your entire image with the light shade to mix it around and dissolve your pen strokes.

 

Here are my greens...same concept for the leaves. I started darker towards the middle of the image to keep it consistent for my eye.

 

I stamped and colored a second flower image and then cut out just the center three flowers to put on top of my main image. This is an easy way to give your card dimension and interest.

 

Okay...so I couldn't completely resist blinging it up! Just a few purple rhinestones and just a few pearls... You can see how the flower came together. I put some foam tape underneath that second set of flowers. The sentiment is a Stampin' Up rub on. Using a crisp solid black card base makes that color pop, don't you think? I like that.