A Blog Called Wanda

CHA Day Two!

Hi everyone! Day two of CHA was just as much fun as day one! Today was full of celebrity sightings and good stuff. What a complete blast this experience has been. I am going to need at least a week to process all of this! Tomorrow is the last day of the show, and then I will drive home on Wednesday. I hope you are all having a good week too. I have some more pix to share.

First up this morning we saw David Tutera talking about his new wedding crafty stuff. Jami got her picture taken with him!

I really want this punch!

The Anna Griffin booth was to die for! That's her sitting at the table. The samples were truly works of art.

Here's a good shot of the floor.

 

Brand new Epiphany tool - banner shape. Have to have this!

I won a giant pink tape gun in the 3M raffle!

 

Amy Tangerine!

The crew from Papercrafts! They were so nice! Regina won a copy of their brand new book.

Tori Spelling talking about her new jewelry crafting line. She was so sweet in person. I got some better pictures on my camera. She's adorable.

Taylor took us out for a nice team dinner in Downtown Disney and we got to share thoughts on the day. That's it for tonight! I probably won't blog tomorrow night. I have a fun post already scheduled for Wednesday. Thanks for all the nice comments! It's been so fun to share with all of you. Hugs.

Greetings from CHA!

Hi Everyone! Whew, I'm so exhausted and happy and overwhelmed all at the same time tonight. Day one of the giant CHA convention was amazing! I'm trying out the whole blogging from my iPhone thing tonight. Let me know how it goes.

I met Taylor, Jami, Melody, and Regina from the Baker's Dozen team and everyone is so great. We had the best time walking the show today. I saw lots of friends and lots of bloggers I admire. Truly a crafty girl heaven.

Last night we had dinner in Newport Beach right on the water.

Then this morning we were off to the show!

Woohoooooo!

Here are pix of some of my favorite things from the day. First up, the Pebbles booth.

 

Crate Paper is always great!

Awesome new polka dots from Doodlebug.

Twelve new colors of Memento ink!

Regina, Jami and Melody at the Tombo make n take!

I am in love with this new paper from October Afternoon. It's called Cakewalk.

Gorgeous new line from Websters Pages called Palm Beach.

Prima!

Want these!!

I am where exactly???

 

Love the new Jillibean Soup stamps and paper.

New Basic Grey Konnichiwa collection is so pretty.

Yumminess inside!

Martha is everywhere!

I want alllllll of this!

Cute stuff!

Twelve new Copic colors!

All the new stuff from MME was beautiful!

I adore this!

Can you say 'crafty overload?!' what a fabulous day! Tomorrow I want to take some pictures of all the wonderful projects on display. I hope you have a great day! Let me know what you think!

Sweet Baby!

Hi friends! Happy Friday! Whew...it's been a week, lemme tell ya! I was in LA for two days for work and generally running around like a crazy person. Today is all about preparing for CHA! WAHOOOOOO! The CHA bus (my car) leaves tomorrow and I cannot wait! I am going to finally meet some of the amazing ladies of the Taylored Expressions Baker's Dozen and also hook up with lots of my crafty friends from all over the country. Right now I'm in panic mode...what to pack? How much stuff to bring? What do I wear? Did I remember the gazillion chargers for everything? Do I have a big enough memory card for my camera? Tomorrow morning I'll be on the road and leaving my cares behind and heading towards crafty adventures.

I am going to try to blog post via my iPhone from the convention. I'm not really sure how that's going to go! You can't format pictures or text...and you send your posts via an email! I will try it and I would be grateful if you guys would give me feedback along the way. Also, I'm going to post pictures from the floor onto my 'A Blog Called Wanda' facebook page. So, if you want to "like" me then you can follow along with me that way. This is all new!

I can't believe I'm finally going to a CHA Convention! I want to say a big giant thank you to Taylor for inviting me as her guest. I am truly grateful to be a part of her team.

Okay...I do have a card to share today too! My sweet friend Teadub had a baby two weeks ago! This is her third little bundle of joy and he is super cute! She is such a cool mom - so mellow and patient with her kids. They are a bunch of cuties! So I made her a baby card and got that off in the mail to her last week.

 

 

All the patterned papers are from the My Mind's Eye True Blue paper collection. I love it because it's cute but not cutesy. Nice warm, happy colors, just right for a baby boy! That bear stamp is one of the first stamps I ever bought! The sentiment is from PTI.

 

I layered my strips (1 inch wide) onto another sheet of paper. I love all the patterns together like that.

 

Don't you love orange  and aqua together? I do! I used white core papers so I could sand the edges to make the color a bit softer.

 

Here are my Copic colors - just a few.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please check back in with me over the next few days to see what happens! I hope that you all have a most wonderful weekend! Thank you for stopping by! Big hugs.  

Pin It

You & Me

Hi friends! All month, I've wanted to get an entry together for the Hero Arts January Contest! I finally made my card this weekend and got it posted over on the Flickr group! Yay! I love doing this contest and seeing everyone else's entries. The themes this month were either 1) a color challenge or 2) Anything about LOVE! I chose the LOVE category, and used the super cool new cityscape stamp that's been sitting on my desk waiting to get inky! There is still one more day to get your entry in!

 

 

I inked the large cityscape first in light gray ink directly onto the paper. Then, I inked it a second and third time in darker gray ink and cut the buildings out.  

 

Here are the supplies...Isn't that the coolest stamp?

 

The sentiment is also from Hero Arts, but I forgot to take a picture of it! I used a border punch that had tiny hearts in it to get those little red hearts for the card. I popped it on some nice, bright red and then on gray Bazzill paper.

 

 

I think the card ended up having a "Sex and the City" vibe or "When Harry Met Sally" vibe! What do you think? This card would be good for a far away friend or love.

Thank you for stopping by here to spend a part of your day! I appreciate it! Have a great week and I'll see you soon.

Year of the Dragon - Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy New Year! It's the Year of the Dragon...and guess what, I'm a Dragon! So...it must be my lucky year! I think that 2012 is going to bring good things. Today is the first day of Chinese New Year. Every year I like to make Chinese New Year cards for my friends. Click here for my 2010 Year of the Tiger card and click here for my 2011 Year of the Rabbit card. Do you know what year you are?  

 

For this year's cards I went back to traditional red, black and gold. It was hard to find a Dragon stamp! The one I used is from Judikins. Here is the finished card:

 

 

 

The gold embossed characters are for double happiness. The dragon was stamped in vivid red ink onto a sheet of vellum and layered over another piece of paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this photo you can see the white paper underneath the vellum. On that paper, I stamped a large Chinese character background and then some green bamboo. Both of those stamps are from Hero Arts. It was hard to get it to really show in the photo. But, you get the idea!

 

 

Here is the inside of the card. I wanted to carry the bamboo and green over into the inside to bring it all together. This symbol is for good luck.

 

 

Here are my envelopes....

 

 

I am a complete Starbucks groupie! I couldn't believe it when I found these SUPER cool Starbucks cards and sleeves last month! They were gone so fast! I must have timed it just right to get some. I actually collect Starbucks cards....I need to do a post on that one of these days....I have some good ones! And, these are a great addition to the collection.

 

 

The DH ordered me this amazing Starbucks Bearista bear on eBay from Taiwan! I have a Year of the Tiger one too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took this photo in San Francisco's Chinatown last year,  and I love the color, the movement, and the drama of all those flags and lanterns. It really captures the essence of the place.

Thank you for stopping by my blog today! Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy New Year everyone! Hope it's a good one, and best wishes for Health, Happiness and Prosperity in the Year of the Dragon!

Wanda!  

Butterflies in red...

Hi there! Happy Saturday! Whatcha doin'? I was supposed to be in class today with the lovely Julie Ebersole at Paper Garden...but she got snowed in in Seattle and never made it here! SO sorry she wasn't able to come this weekend! We will catch her soon though.

We finally got our rain here in Sac-town and I am enjoying a day inside in the craft studio finishing up some projects and reflecting on a roller coaster week. When I say roller coaster, I mean there were ups, and downs, and all arounds, this week. I know that a change is coming in my life. I can feel it coming, and I can feel the commotion and energy that comes before the calm of decisions made. I don't mind it actually.

This week brought me back in touch with people that I care about that I hadn't talked to in years. The week taught me that if you extend your hand and relax, people will be there for you. I loved that part of this week. Anyhoo, I think I'm rambling at this point, and I do have a card to share! I hope you are enjoying a very nice weekend.

I love using the negative space when cutting with dies. This is the new Darla Butterfly Die from Memory Box. It's the perfect shape and size in my opinion. I cut the butterflies out of watercolor paper! I hadn't done that before. I happened to have this scrap on my work table. I LOVE it now. The card is so sturdy and thick and rich because of the texture and weight of the paper.

 

 

The front (white) panel was mounted on foam tape over the pretty patterned paper. I distressed the corners and speckled some ink on the front also.

I think this layout would work with just about any color combination. You could use pinks for a Spring feeling or some pretty green...you might be seeing me make this card again! I added some red blings at the end for a bit o' sparkle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, so next week is going to be CA-RAZY! I'm going to CHA! WAHOOOOOO! I've figured out how to blog from my iPhone and so I might be doing some blogging straight from the convention floor if I see some stuff that I can't wait to share. I'm really over the moon excited to go and have some fun with my crafty compadres. That doesn't start until next Saturday...but I am already there in my mind! Bye for now.

The Sky's the Limit!

Greetings! How are you this week? I'm doing just fine and eagerly awaiting some days of solid rain here in Sac-town! It hasn't rained here since November and the air is super dry and everything is brown and icky. I love the rain and the fresh air it brings with it. It's been far too long around here. This weekend Julie Ebersole is coming to teach at my friend Stephanie's stamp store and it's sure to be a good time! I will take a class and have some din din with the wonderful HRR. Cannot wait! I'll post pix from class on Sunday or Monday. Next week I'm off to my very first CHA Convention in Anaheim. Whew! LOTS of fun things going on for a January! I'll be so happy to share all of my adventures with you.

Today's card was made for a card swap with my dear Stampin' Up group that I've been meeting with for years. I don't know why I never got around to posting this one. I love the whole hot air balloon craze in stamping and this set is so sweet. These were fun to make!

 

 

My little gingham hill was just cut free form with a pair of scissors. The stamps are super easy to layer and mix and match.

 

 

The supplies.....

 

 

The assembly line in progress....

 

 

These are my go-to inks. You can always find them on sale at Joann's too! Even better!

 

 

 

My journey this year I think is going to be about control vs. surrender... I am working so hard on believing in the good things that can happen if you relax and let go instead of trying to hold on so tightly for control. It keeps coming up in conversation and in those 'a-ha' moments a lot. I'm really trying. So... this saying is fitting for me. The sky's the limit if you believe and allow things to happen! Hugs from me to you. Have a wonderful day everyone.

Poppin' up to say hello!

Hi friends! Today is my day to post on behalf of Taylored Expressions and the Baker's Dozen Design Team! I'm sharing one of my favorite sets from TE today - Kitschy Kitchen! It's one of the very first stamp sets I ever bought from Taylor and I love it. Hope you will too. Have a great week! Thank you for coming by today!

Here is my finished card! Is that sentiment just the ca-yutest thing ever?

 

 

I used Karen's awesome sketch this week from Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge! Why don't you enter too? Click on over to Karen's blog and check it out.

Here is a side view action shot! LOL! I cut out a few extra toast pieces and put them on foam tape to give it some fun and pop!

 

Here is my Copic palette - some "retro" olive greens and tans...nice and simple...

 

Here are the supplies I used. Everything is available from the TE Store!

 

 

I'm so glad you popped in! Har har har. I'm cracking myself up! Have a fabbie day!  

 

Home is where the heart is!

Hi! Me again...back with another card creation for the weekend. I've been in the craft room all day and now I'm watching the red carpet for the Golden Globe Awards. I definitely like the red carpet better than the actual show! I love looking at all the gowns and jewels and I like listening to the banter between everyone. It's been a mellow day around our house. The hubs is watching football...and Buddy is...what else...sleeping! I hope you've had a great weekend.

Today I'm sharing a card I made for a friend who moved into her new home this weekend! I'm so happy for her and hope that she has many good times in her new place! She likes antiques and pretty things, so I made her a shabby chic creation using one of my favorite stamp sets from PTI - Love Lives Here - and the matching dies. Hope you likey!

 

 

 

I had so much fun cutting out these tiny houses and picking out the different papers! I put some pretty pink pearls in the middle of the hears.  

 

 

Here's my supply list... The beautiful pink roses and pearls came from my sweet pen pal Holly in The Netherlands! Like I said, I adore that stamp set. I picked out some 6x6 paper pads and used some of each.

 

 

 

 

Here is the card and envelope. I also stamped the inside...but I forgot to take a picture of it!

 

 

Thanks for spending a part of your day with me! Have a good week ahead!  

Rock Star Birthday!

Hi everybody! It's FRIDAY night! Whew. To quote my friend Kat...Lordy Be! We made it. This week was rough. I think everyone is finally back to work and possibly grumpy about it and work was just busy. But, now, it's the weekend. I stopped by The Paper Garden on my way home and saw the girls and got some stamping therapy and some laughs...and now I'm home in my sweats blogging and then getting ready to kick Mr. Buddy out of my seat on the couch.

Today is my brother-in-law's birthday and this week I made him a cool, kinda grungy, rock-star birthday card. Rock on Steve! Happy Birthday! I tried a fun new technique and I took lots of photos to share it with you. I will certainly be doing this again. I was going for an overall Ed Hardy kind of vibe because that's exactly what he likes!

 

 

 

LOVE this color palette. Nice darker aqua with grey undertones and a bright olivey green. It's difficult to photograph the shiny window plastic...makes quite the glare!

 

 

I used watercolor paper, my distress inks, my perfect pearls and a big clear stamping block.

 

 

First off, I smeared some ink pads directly onto the clear block. I've seen people do this with reinkers usually, but I don't have any...so I just used the pad.

 

 

Next up, I spritzed the clear block with water and smeared it around with my finger.

 

 

Then....I smashed it right onto the watercolor paper. Since the paper has a texture, the ink pools in different spots and I think it looks neat. I left it on there for a few seconds to let all the ink soak in.

 

Here's what I ended up with! You can see the brown, green and blue all ran together. I love the way the edge came out! No two of these will turn out the same. One tip - I liked it MUCH better after it dried. So, if you do this and don't like it right away, wait a few minutes.

 

I got out a sheet of Judikins window plastic and stamped some cool images with my trusty black Staz-on ink pad.

 

 

While my Stayz-on was drying I spritzed some pewter Perfect Pearls onto my main color block.  

 

 

I stamped the "Happy Birthday" words directly onto the watercolor paper so it would be a layer underneath the other images. Lastly I added some teal blings to the whole thing. I adhered the window plastic to the card using matte black brads.

 

 

What do you think? Will you try this? I like it very much and I can think of a bunch of other color schemes and images to use with it. I think it would be a nice clean and simple card to just do a color block and a pretty sentiment and leave it at that. Hmmmmm...not enough time and too many ideas!

I hope you all have a very fabulous weekend! Thanks for coming by! Mwah.

Taylored Expressions Calendar Challenge - January!

Hi! Today I'm sharing something kind of fun - and this is my first time making something like this! It's a cool new calendar product from Taylored Expressions and I am having such a good time making my pages for it. The Baker's Dozen Design Team will be sharing calendar goodies and ideas with you throughout the entire year, so be sure to check out everyone else's projects too. 

Refer over to Taylor's blog to get all the info to play along with us each month. There will be a linky at the bottom of Taylor's post and it will remain open all year, so you have the option to go back and catch up if you start playing late. For everyone who plays in 10 or more of these monthly calendar challenges in 2012, there will be a random draw for a TE prize pack valued at over $150!!! Click here to go to the TE Calendar Department and see all the goodies.

I chose to make the "Frame Your Imagination" calendar and use Cuppie as my theme! The stand for the calendar comes in raw wood and then you can paint it whatever color you choose. I painted mine kind of an antique white and then speckled some brown onto it to give it some character.

CLICK here for the calendar stand...CLICK here for the page protectors and CLICK here for the page inserts. I like this a lot because the finished pages are 6x6 and that gives a lot of room to stamp!

Here's my page for January:

 

 

Isn't that a neat stand? I like that it's big enough to stand out and be a desk decoration.  

 

Here are all the stamp sets I used! I used Cuppie of course, and then the sentiment from a Moka set, and the snowflake from another set...oh yeah...and then some banners...I like to mix and match my stamp sets so that each project comes out unique.

 

I added a pretty blue scallop border at the bottom of my page. Can you see the light blue snowflakes?  

 

 

 

 

I always use my trusty Copics to color my TE images!

 

 

 

Hope your week has been a great one! Thanks for coming by A Blog Called Wanda today! Take care! 

Now before you get started on your calendar project, you'll want to take a look at the fabulous calendar inspiration from the other Baker's Dozen gals:

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jodi Collins
• Melissa Sauls
• Sankari Wegman
• Taylor VanBruggen
   

Penny Black Valentines!

Hello! Are you ready for some Valentine's Day cards? Hearts? Red? Well...then you're in the right place on this day! I am the guest designer over at the Penny Black blog today sharing some Valentine's goodness. I was super excited when Jenyfur asked if I wanted to play with some new images. Everything they do just rocks in my opinion. She asked me to keep it simple and elegant...not tons of layers and patterned papers...so that's just what I did!  Please click HERE to go directly to the PB blog. Have a wonderful day everyone!

I think this first one is my favorite of the bunch. Isn't that heart just a gorgeous image? When you do this watercolor technique you never know what you're going to end up with. You put the ink on and stamp and see what develops. I think in this case, the colors blended together very nicely. I added a strip of vellum and one of my favorite PB sentiments.

 

 

 

 

This second one is also made with the watercolor brushstrokes technique. This time in a more masculine color scheme. I shaded with a light tan color against the really vivid red. I added distress ink around the edges of the paper to make it look aged and worn.

 

 

 

These images are from one of the new clear stamp sets and I like the way they are drawn. That little envelope is the cutest thing. I know I will end up using that stamp a lot.

 

 

 

The image here is one big giant background stamp! I stamped the whole stamp in white ink and then went back over just the one heart with red ink. Kept it simple...

 

 

Have you started working on Valentine's cards yet? I am excited about all the new stamps to play with and hope to have mine done early this year! Have a wonderful week.

Spring Birthday Card!

Hi everybody! Hope you are enjoying a nice Sunday! I'm in the crafty cave cooking up all kinds of things to share this week! You are probably able to tell that I am all about Spring right now. I'm ready for bright, happy colors and sunshine in my craft projects. It's been very dry here and windy and yesterday it was warm too. Very odd weather. I would like a spring shower....that would be nice. Anyhoo...I'm off track now. OH! Before I forget...I set up "A Blog Called Wanda" Facebook page this week. I would be very happy if you would "like" it. The link is in the blog left side bar.

Today's card is a cheery Spring birthday card made with what has to be one of my favorite paper collections of all time... October Afternoon Sidewalks. I could make 500 projects with this paper. The palette is wonderful and it works for so many types of cards. Do you have a very favorite paper right now? Share with us so we can check out your fav!

 

You know this paper just screams out to be matched with gingham right? The flower was cut with PTI flower dies. The center is a pin that matches the paper collection. Don't you love how it is perfectly matched to the paper? Um, I'm not OCD or anything....

I decided to pop some bright red to pick up that color. I used my Martha Stewart butterfly punches. I cut a window out of a Nestabilities die and put the text paper behind it.

I matched the green with Stampin' Up Kiwi Kiss paper, and popped my top layer up on some foam tape for more dimension.

I crumpled the flower in the palm of my hand to make it not so hard and straight. This way it has a gentle curve to it, like a real flower might.

Thank you so much for coming by to see me today! This week has some fun things in store. I am guest designer over at Penny Black (yay!) on Tuesday and I will post my cards here too. They are all new Valentine images. Thursday I will be back with a calendar project that we are all working on for Taylored Expressions. I'm making a whole calendar using Cuppie images! Have a fabulous day!

You're my type of friend!

Hi peeps! Happy Friday! I hope you had a great week and that you're looking forward to a fun weekend! I'm super psyched that I get to have lunch tomorrow with one of my besties and get all caught up with her. Yay! I don't get to see nearly enough of Ms. Patty!  It was a crazy week here at the bloggy blog with the new Taylored Expressions release! I hope you found something you liked. That is such a fun whirlwind.

Today I'm sharing a card set that I entered in the Hero Arts December contest. One of the challenges was to make a set of cards....with no specific theme required. I went through my stash and found that cool typewriter set and decided to use that. I made a set of cards and each would be just a nice little note to pop in the mail to a friend. I have had these tins around the crafty cave forever...and figured it's time to use 'em up.

Here's my tin with the cards inside. I adore this paper collection from Basic Grey! I used only papers from that collection - Picadilly! I used corduroy distress ink for my type and typewriter and a light aqua for the lines on the paper.

 

Here are my cards. Each one is just slightly different. Aren't those sayings cute?

 

My supply list:  

 

 

I felt the need to add a few butterflies into the mix!

 

 

 

YOU are definitely my type of friend! Thanks for coming by today and have a great weekend! See you soon!  

Taylored Expressions January Release Day!

 

 

Happy Release Day! Now the store is open and you can shop for all the fun new stamps, dies and papers we've been featuring all week. Have a great time looking around! I hope you find something you love. My one last card to share for Release week is another valentine. This image just reminds me of those cute valentine's we used to send when we were kids. I think it would also be a nice baby shower image.

 

The ribbon and the heart pin are from the Project Pantry Kit for this month. This is just the prettiest shade of pink ever! I combined it with the We R Memory Keepers "Love Struck" collection of papers.

 

 

Would you be mine?? Hee hee. This stamp is a single, from the Whimsical Wishes collection drawn by Nancy McKinney. Like the Scotties from yesterday, it's part of the Animals in Love A la Cartes: Dachshunds in Love, Giraffes in Love, Pandas in Love, are continuing the Animals in Love A la Carte series (see also Animal Love Sentiments). Last year TE introduced Animals in Love A la Cartes with the Elephants, Fish, Flamingos, Owls, Scotties, Snakes, Turtles, and Whales along with the full size set Animal Love Sentiments.
Special on these - Buy one of the three new Animals in Love and select any one of the eight 2011 Animals in Love for Free!! (yes, I said free!)

TE Release Day!

• All of the new products are now available for purchase! Check out the Fresh Out of the Oven Department to see everything in one place!
• More projects from the Baker's Dozen to inspire you. Just follow the link list below.
• Did you win one of the Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaways? Find the list of winners on Taylor's Blog.
• Buy one Animals in Love A la Carte and get one free/Select calendar products 50% off/Layered Doily Dies Special - get all the details on our January Release Specials by clicking here.

 

Ready to take one last hop around this week? Here's the list for today. Thank you for coming by!  

Charmaine Ikach

Danielle Lounds

Jami Sibley

Jen Shults

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Melissa Sauls

Melody Rupple

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Taylor VanBruggen

Tori Wild

Wanda Guess

Grab Boxes For Sale!

Hi everyone! It's time for a new year and that means time for some cleaning and reorganizing in my craft studio!  I am very blessed to have so many awesome crafty things to play with...but alas...there isn't room for it all anymore. So, I thought I would sell some grab boxes. It's like a grab bag, only bigger - and better!!

I'm putting together some goodie boxes...the big, flat priority mail boxes from the post office (see more info below) filled with stamps, stamp sets, paper, ribbon, doo-dads, glitter, dies, stickers, flowers, magazines, embellies, etc... The stamps are either brand new or gently used. (I'm pretty careful with my crafty things.) I think I have enough stuff to do twelve boxes.

Here are the details:

1. USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Box (13-5/8" x 11-7/8" x 3-3/8") filled with stamps, stamp sets, paper, dies, glitter, flowers, magazines, ribbon, embellies, and/or stickers.

2. $55.00 - which includes the $10.95 shipping charge and much more than $55.00 worth of goodies! OR, if you're local, and I'll be seein' you, choose the paypal option for a Grab Box for $44.05 (no shipping)!

3. Payment via Paypal to United States addresses only. I will use Paypal shipping so you can track your goodies.

If you are interested, please click below!

 

Shipping Options

OUT OF AREA - INCLUDES SHIPPING $55.00 USD LOCAL - NO SHIPPING $44.05 USD

Taylored Expressions January Sneak Peeks - Day 3!

 

 

Today I have TWO projects to share using two great TE Valentines images/sets! Yay! Today I went with the traditional bright red for Valentines. This color of red paper that comes in the Project Pantry this month is luscious. The first project is a tin with mini cards inside. I meant for this to be a nice gift for a friend...and then she can give the notes to her family as a surprise. I used the Totally Tags Valentine set...but it doesn't have to just be for tags!  

 

I decorated a tin using the Project Pantry Kit for this month, some pretty twine and this gorgeous new Doily Die from Taylor! That flower was in my stash and I have no idea where that's from (sorry!) You can see two the the new Doily dies in the picture below. There is a third, larger one, too. The little hearts are the centers of the Jumbo Heart Border Die (see the end of the post).

 

 

  

 

 

The stamp set is from the Embracing Grace collection by Emily Burger. It's called Totally Tags Valentine – and it's a new set of tags to coordinate with the Totally Tags Taylored Dies…great for all sorts of cards and treats for Valentine’s Day and beyond! It is a Full-sized set that includes 9 large tag images.

The Layering Doily Dies will be sold separately and there will be a special discounted price to purchase all 3 together!!    

 

  

 

Okay....so that's not it for today!!! I'm also sharing a doggie Valentine using Scotties in Love!! SOOOO fun! These little doggies are so cute! This is one of the Animals In Love from last year...but you can still get it!

 

This Die is TO DIE FOR! Get it? No seriously....one of my favorite products EVER from Taylor! It's new this month and you will love it. I'll be using it on everything! The hearts that come out of the center are the perfect size for the top of the dog house!  

 

 

I used papers from the My Minds Eye "Love Me" Collection again for this card. Kept the colors simple and clean. Just red, off white, and charcoal grey. I love this paper!

 

 

The Scotties in Love stamp is from the Whimsical Wishes collection by Nancy McKinney, and is part of the Animals in Love A la Carte: Dachshunds in Love, Giraffes in Love, Pandas in Lovecontinuing the Animals in Love A la Carte series (see also Animal Love Sentiments). Last year TE introduced Animals in Love A la Cartes with the Elephants, Fish, Flamingos, Owls, Scotties, Snakes, Turtles, and Whales along with the full size set Animal Love Sentiments. Our customers loved these, so we've added 3 more this year. Fun for Valentines as well as showing your love year-round. 

Special on these - Buy one of the 3 new Animals in Love and select any one of the 8 2011 Animals in Love for Free!

 

 

 January Release At a Glance

• We have sneak peeks to share Monday through Wednesday. All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, January 5th at 8 am PST. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department at the Taylored Expressions Store.
• Join us as a fan on Facebook for an early peek at the stamp sets, as well as a SPECIAL Facebook GIVEAWAY, on Wednesday night beginning at approximately 6 pm PST.
• Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate. Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day! Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please. Comments close Wednesday 1/4 at 7pm PST for the drawings.

Here's our hop list for today! LOTS of projects going on everywhere today. Go see what the rest of the Baker's Dozen has for you!  

Charmaine Ikach

Danielle Lounds

Jami Sibley

Jen Shults

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Melissa Sauls

Melody Rupple

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Taylor VanBruggen

Tori Wild

Wanda Guess

Taylored Expressions January Sneak Peeks - Day 2!

 

 

Hi! Welcome back for Day 2 of TE Sneak Peeks! Today's card is made with the new {adorable} Buddy Bear stamp set! He's super cute and make such a fun valentine card. He would also be a great image for baby cards! I used the brand new Project Pantry Kit papers for this card too. 

 

 

 
This is such a great sentiment stamp and comes with Buddy Bear. I love using kraft/brown with this bright clear red.

 

Here's my Copic Palette....

 

I used some sweet tiny scallops of kraft to match the cuteness factor of the image. I left my coloring kind of simple and primary since that, to me, fits the style of the card.

The stamp set is from the Apple Doodle Ink line drawn by Doug Applegate. He's called Buddy Bear –  and he can be a Polar Bear, a Brown Bear, a Teddy Bear? You decide! Any which way, he'll capture your heart! This is a Petite set with 8 images/sentiments.  

We're offering our Project Pantry Basic Recipe Kit along with additional Spice It Up Ingredients that you can pick and choose from to build the kit just the way you want it! I used the papers from the Kit on today's card and some of the ribbon on my card for Thursday. Here's the deets:

Valentine Basic Recipe Project Pantry Kit includes:
20 sheets of double sided patterned paper (American Crafts 'With Love' Collection)
12 sheets of 8.5 x 11 solid cardstock
6 yards of ribbon (2 yards each of 3 different styles)
*Plus lots of optional Spice It Up Ingredients to add in to create a truly personalized kit. 

January Release At a Glance

• We have sneak peeks to share Monday through Wednesday. All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, January 5th at 8 am PST. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department at the Taylored Expressions Store.
• Join us as a fan on Facebook for an early peek at the stamp sets, as well as a SPECIAL Facebook GIVEAWAY, on Wednesday night beginning at approximately 6 pm PST.
• Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate. Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day! Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please. Comments close Wednesday 1/4 at 7pm PST for the drawings.

Here's the link list for today...have fun and hop around! 

Charmaine Ikach

Danielle Lounds

Jami Sibley

Jen Shults

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Melissa Sauls

Melody Rupple

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Taylor VanBruggen

Tori Wild 

Taylored Expressions January Sneak Peeks - Day 1!

 

Hi everyone! This month, for Taylored Expressions, we're working on all things that have to do with LOVE! Cool new stamps to make projects for Valentines and Spring time events. Hope you will have fun with us all week sharing our projects. Here's my first one for the week:

 

A pretty new set with matching dies that's really versatile...Rosy Posey! I used an acetate card base and some pretty papers from the Project Pantry Kit and the My Mind's Eye "Love Me" collection for 2011. This is a really cool technique that I haven't done in a long time. Those flowers are such a pretty focal image I wanted to show them off.

 

Here's my Copic Palette for this project....

 

 

 

The stamp set is from the Whimsical Wishes line by Nancy McKinney. It's called Rosy Posey – and it's a beautiful set of whimsical roses! This set coordinates with the Rose Wreath, the brand new Rosy Posey Taylored Die set, Mini Leaves Die set, and Leafy Branch die. Anyone who loves roses will go crazy for this set! It's a full size set that has 19 images/sentiments. I could really see this one for Mother's Day cards or Wedding cards too.  

The TE stamps are made of high quality red rubber and come on a full color panel and store perfectly in our Mini Binder Boxes (4 sets to a box). The full size set panels are 5.75" x 8.5" like this set. Taylor's sets are an outstanding value.

Here's a sneak peek at the matching dies:  

 

 

January Release At a Glance

• We have sneak peeks to share Monday through Wednesday. All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, January 5th at 8 am PST. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department at the Taylored Expressions Store.
• Join us as a fan on Facebook for an early peek at the stamp sets, as well as a SPECIAL Facebook GIVEAWAY, on Wednesday night beginning at approximately 6 pm PST.
• Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate. Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day! Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please. Comments close Wednesday 1/4 at 7pm PST for the drawings.

Click on the links to check out everyone else's cards and projects for Day 1 of Sneak Peeks. Have a wonderful day! Thanks for coming by.  

Charmaine Ikach

Danielle Lounds

Jami Sibley

Jen Shults

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Melissa Sauls

Melody Rupple

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Taylor VanBruggen

Tori Wild

Wanda Guess

Happy New Year! Welcome 2012!

Happy New Year! WOOOOO! It's time for another year and a fresh start and a time of renewal. To me it's also a time of reflection and thought. I like to look back on the year and think what worked, and what didn't work, and prepare myself to begin again. Do you do that? I don't really make resolutions per se, just more of an effort to have a consciousness about what I'm doing and where I'm going. I truly hope that 2012 is a year of many blessings for you and your family. I wish all of you health, happiness and success in the coming year. Thanks to everyone who's been leaving me Happy New Year's wishes!

 

                                                             {photo from weheartit.com}

 

From the standpoint of being a blogger, New Years will always mark another year of blogging. I purposely started my blog at the beginning of the year...and now it's been exactly two years. I'm still here, typing away, sharing what I love to do and enjoying the comraderie and love. I can't even imagine not blogging anymore!

I find it interesting to note the changes since last year... Last January 1st,  I wrote: "In the past year, I have written 195 blog posts, received 889 comments from readers, and had 30,324 "hits" here at A Blog Called Wanda!" As of today I can say that I have written 387 blog posts, received 3104 comments from readers, and had 221,000 "hits"! Isn't that amazing!? I find it truly amazing. So much fun...it should be illegal. I really am so excited every time someone leaves me a comment. THANK YOU!

The past year presented me with so many wonderful opportunities and I just want to say a big thanks to the people who believed in me enough to let me be a part of their companies. I don't ever take that for granted.

2012 will start off with a trip to my first CHA Convention in Anaheim at the end of January, where I will get to meet some of the other Baker's Dozen Designers. CAN'T WAIT for that! I'm trying to figure out how to (properly) blog from my iPhone so I can share photos with you of any cool new stuff I spot there. I have wanted to go to a CHA convention forever!

I don't know what else 2012 has to offer...but I'm so looking forward to finding out! Thank you for sharing this journey with me, for coming along with me, and crafting with me! I appreciate it so much more than I can write. Thank you...and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!