A Blog Called Wanda

Wish...

Hi friends! Did we have a weekend? Did I blink and miss it? Oh my. Time flies when you're having fun! I put the DH to work in the craft room this weekend helping me die cut things for classes. What an enormous help he was! WOW - we got so much done. I stayed up until well after midnight Friday night watching the Olympic opening ceremonies. Did you watch? My favorite things were when they raised the five gold Olympic rings and then fireworks came down out of them...and also at the end when the flame came together and the following aerial shots of all the fireworks! SOOOO cool!

I am still frantically making birthday cards! I have lots of Leo friends - August babies. Everyone loves a Leo, right? So, I have another birthday creation to share today. I LOVE the new Chevron impression folder from Stampin' Up. I used it on my card, and tried a different color scheme too.

 

 

 

 

This card didn't have any stamping! Just lots of fun paper, punches and embossing...

 

 

 

The patterned papers and the pennant are all from October Afternoon products.

 

 

 

These super fun wood words are from Studio Calico - can't wait to use more of them. I adore these fresh pretty stripes!

 

 

 

Here's a quick way to make leaves for your punch art flowers...Punch out a circle and then cut the circle into leaf shapes. Easy-peasy! I sometimes will score mine too, to give some dimension to them. Here's photo of the steps.

 

 

 

A little bit of foam tape and some cheery buttons finish off my flowers. Can you see the gorgeous impression of those chevrons? Perfect!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I finished all my samples for my upcoming classes at Paper Garden Boutique! I hope that some of you reading this can come and have some fun playing with me! The dates are August 11 and 12 and there is a Fall/Halloween class and a Winter/Christmas class. You can call the store to sign up - the number is 916-48-PAPER.

 

 

 
Thanks so much for coming by today.

I hope that you have a great week ahead! 

 

Oh...to be in London today!

Hi bloggy friends! Happy Friday and Happy start-of-Olympics Day! Are you into the Olympics? Do you look forward to a particular event?I like watching everything - love the human stories and the athletes in their prime reaching their goals. I'm a sucker for all of it! I am looking forward to sitting down tonight with DH and Mr. Buddy to watch the opening ceremonies from London! I have always wanted to go to London, but haven't made it yet. One day maybe?! Until then, it will be fun to watch all the action on television over the next few weeks.

Have you seen the SUPER adorable stamps that Penny Black put out for the Olympics?? I bought a couple of them a while back and decided, yep, this is the perfect day to post a card made with them! LOL. I sure had fun with this project and I hope it brings a smile to your face. 

 

 

 

 

 

I went on Google maps and found a map of London, printed it out on my printer and cut it to size for my background. The colors don't exactly go, but that's okay, right?  The "Olympics" word was made using an old alphabet set I have in my stash.

 

 

 

This cute little car filled with animals is the "Miniful" stamp from Penny Black for 2012. Love the license plate. It will be a keepsake for years now. I still have a stamp that says "Happy New Year 2000" that I'm saving too!

 

 

 

Yes, I really did use ALLLLLLL those markers! Can you see the tiny image in the middle of my work pad? Crazy, huh? Us girls and our markers....

 

 

 

These little banners are from Poppystamps! I cut out several and then added some Stickles for a bit of shimmer and shine. Popped some up on foam tape, too.

 

 

 

Looks like they are on their way to Opening Ceremonies! Beep Beep!

 

Okay, everyone, have a super great weekend! Thanks for coming by the blog today... and ...

GO TEAM USA!

 

 

July Bakers Dozen Studio Challenge!

Taylored Expressions is introducing a new monthly challenge for the Bakers Dozen Design Team! The Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge!  This will be an opportunity for us to share what makes our stamping studios hum.  Each month we will have a fun, crafty question so we can share our favorite stamps, some tips and tricks, a little stamping advice and more. I'm really looking forward to this new adventure. I feel so lucky to be a part of this amazing team. I hope you have fun hopping around to see what we're up to.

Taylor and Jami came up with an intersting question for July: 

You are stranded on a desert island. The good news is that you find a fabulous stamping hut well-stocked with papers, inks and other stamping supplies. However you only have the 5 stamp sets you brought with you in the luggage you managed to salvage. So tell us, what TE stamps sets did you bring and why?

So, I'm going to answer the fun question....and of course, share a project made with one of my five choices! Here's my card - using Fruity Friends and a crisp, summery card...

 

 

 

 

 

Man, did I have a hard time choosing just five sets! If I could only use five TE sets...hmmmm...I went through my very nice stash of stamps and picked out my top five favs of all time from TE. Now, how nice would it be to be able to stamp on a deserted island??? Let's go! LOL.

Here's a picture of the five sets I chose:

 

 

Pictured above are: Fruity Friends, Love Grows Here, A Day in Paradise, Vintage Dreamer, and Crafty Cuppie. I love each one for a different reason. Crafty Cuppie was how I discovered Taylored Expressions, and it was the first TE set I bought. I chose to use Fruity Friends today because I designed this set!!! The other three are personal favorites that I go back to all the time.

Here are my Copic choices for this project - just a few BRIGHT colors!

 

 

 

 

 

I thought I would show you my favorite project made with each of my five choices!

First up is FRUITY FRIENDS!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next on my list is CRAFTY CUPPIE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh...and then A DAY IN PARADISE!

 

 

 

 

 

Another versatile favorite is LOVE GROWS HERE!

 

 

 

 

Last, but certainly not least, is the beautiful VINTAGE DREAMER!  

 

 

 

 

I sure had lots of fun doing this challenge and post. I hope you've enjoyed it too - looking at some of my old projects and favorite stamps. I CANNOT wait to look around and see what everyone else posted today. How about you? Here are the links to the rest of the Bakers Dozen...and have a blessed day everyone!

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon      White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie      Kraft
• Taylor      VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess

 

More butterflies? Yup!

Hi there bloggy friends!! IT'S FRIIDDAAAYYYYYYY! Finally! You know, I wasn't really a big fan of this week. Not really too sorry to see it go. Nothing terrible happened, just a general weirdness to it. Some bad chi. Was it just me? I'm looking forward to a weekend in the crafty cave getting things ready for my classes at Paper Garden coming up. It's gonna be here before I know it! What are you doing this weekend? I hope you have a great one!

It seems I have found myself in a butterfly phase again! Remember last year when I did 'butterfly week' here on the blog? (kind of like shark week, only prettier and less dramatic). Well...I am finding myself drawn to butterflies again. So, I'm not gonna fight it, I'm just gonna go with it. Are you with me? Can't go wrong with butterflies in a crafty sense. Happy and cheery. Today's card is of the Clean and Simple variety.

 

 

Oh yeah, and here I go with the gingham again. LOVE it. The bottom butterfly was die cut out of white paper and the top one was die cut from vellum. SO crisp. The butterfly die and the border die are both from Memory Box. The flag die is from MFT. Hello!

 

 

I put three spark-a-lay blings in the center of the butterfly. I adore this fresh bright green color! This just says "summer" to me.

 

 

 

 

 

The green paper was mounted directly onto my card base. The white layer with the Piestra Tile Die was popped up on some foam tape.

Have a lovely weekend my crafty friends! Always so nice of you to spend a little of your day with me. You inspire me and cheer me on and make me want to be a better crafter. Thank you! XOXO

 

 

Sunflower Stuff!

Hey everyone! Warning....long post ahead....lots to share with you today! How are ya? Hope the week is going along well for you! Here it is, Wednesday already! Today I'm sharing some of the pictures I took of sunflowers on Saturday and a card to match! 

About two weeks ago, we were driving to San Francisco, and along the way we saw this giant field of beautiful sunflowers. We didn't have our cameras, and didn't have time to stop, so we made a mental note to come back and take some pix later. Well, Saturday morning we got up early, grabbed a Starbucks and headed to Davis to see the sunflowers! Last week was over 100+ every single day, and guess what? Those pretty little sunflowers shriveled up and died! I was so bummed out that most of the flowers were brown and sad.... I did manage to take just a few pictures though. Next time we have to be prepared!

When I decided to post the sunflower pictures, I thought....I need to make a sunflower card too! So today I have a card I made with all PTI goodies to match my photos. Hope you like.

 

 

 

 

Can you see all the hot air balloons? It was such a pretty, still morning. Perfect for a balloon ride! Just over those mountains is the world famous Napa Valley!

 

 

 

So much texture in these pretty gals...the petals, the leaves, all of the beauty is there, even though they're dried up!

 

 

 

I found one little clump of fresh and bright flowers....filled with bees!

 

 

 

Does this give you any indication of how hot it was here last week!? EEEK.

 

 

 

So, here is my card for today! All the products, stamps and dies are from Papertrey Ink! Love getting all that stuff out and playing. I just happened to have these big brown buttons in my stash.

 

 

 

 

So fun to make all these layers of flowers. The leaves are cut from a petals die! The little words are a PTI stamp too. I love that Happy Birthday font.

 

 

 

Lots of layers and dimension on this card!  

 

 

 

Here are all my die cut flowers...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, so for good measure, why not throw in my favorite Instagram photos from the weekend too?! You know how much I love my iPhone camera! Have you gotten hooked on Instagram yet? You really must try it! It puts cool effects on your iPhone pictures and then you can share them on facebook and Twitter too. Very fun...and addicting!

 

 

 

 

Okay peeps! I think that's enough stuff for one day! Thank you so much for coming by to visit my bloggy blog. Enjoy the rest of the week and I'll see you soon! XOXO 

TE Butterfly Birthday card!

Happy Monday friends! How was the weekend? Short? I thought so! We had a pretty good weekend. The heat wave finally broke and Saturday was the most beautiful day - especially in the cool morning. DH and I drove out to take pictures and found some sunflowers... Unfortuntely the heat must have baked them last week! They had their heads down and were kinda dry... We took a few snaps and then went out for a nice breakfast. I'll share the sunflower pictures soon. Sunday I worked for a little while and then spent the afternoon at Paper Garden planning out my August classes! I'm very happy with how everything is coming together for that!  What did you do? Did you have a great time? Did you get your craft on?

I am in dire need of birthday cards lately, so I have been keeping that in mind with my crafty endeavors.... My card today is made with all products from Taylored Expressions....yum....I'll put a supply list with links at the bottom of my post for ya.

 

 

 

 

The circles and scallops impression plate is so classy and classic at the same time. I used it here on some white cardstock. I used lots of fun dies on this project! I cut the elegant butterfly die out twice and layered them. I cut the antennae off the top one first.

 

 

 

Here are all my supplies:

 

 

The It's a Banner Day 1 stamp set is a fav....and I love this font!! The stamps coordinate perfectly with the matching die.  I used some distress inks on the whole card to age it a bit and tone down the stark white. I mounted the whole thing onto a kraft card base (been doing that a lot lately....)

 

 

 

Seriously how fun and pretty is this patterned paper? I had to add just a few blings to the whole thing - you know me! I tiny bit of ribbon and twine finished it right off!

 

CLICK ON THE LINKS FOR SUPPLIES:

TE Scallops and Circles Impression Plate

TE Elegant Butterflies Dies

TE Layering Doily Die

TE Small Scallop Border Die

TE It's a Banner Day 1 Die

MME Bright Side 6x6 paper pack

TE It's a Banner Day 1 Stamp Set

 

Thank you so much for coming on by! Have a great week!

Happy....hexagons!

Hello friends! Happy Friday again! Hope you had a wonderful week. Here...my main concern was just trying not to melt! Over 100 all week and yesterday on the way home from work? 109! It was another busy week and I'm happy to have a weekend to do some fun stuff. What are you doing this weekend? Are you gettin' crafty? I have a mix of things to do this weekend and will probably also go in to work for a little bit. I need to really buckle down and get ready for my upcoming classes at Paper Garden! I already have about 30 people signed up, so I'm getting excited about it.

Today I'm sharing another card I made on Sunday in my stamping frenzy. I made a whole bunch o' stuff last weekend! As you know, I'm loving the hexagon trend...so I made another kind of clean and simple happy hexagon card for you today!

 

 

 

 

I started with a fresh kraft card base and cut out a bunch of little hexagons... Then I just played with the patterns until I got it the way I wanted it. I used some happy paper from Simple Stories and some pretty pearls too.

 

 

 

The hexagons and the happy letters are dies from Papertrey Ink...

 

 

 

The PTI hexagons come on this big grid. You can use it all different ways. I taped the grid outline down on my table so that my little ones would be spaced out just right.

 

 

 

These letters are super fun and retro!! I used crisp white. I am loving white against kraft lately - it just looks good I think.

 

 

 

 

 

Best wishes for a wonderful, happy weekend!!

 

 

 

Taylored Expressions Calendar Challenge - July!

Today it's time again for our cool new calendar projects from Taylored Expressions and I am having such a good time making my pages each month! 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 is my July Calendar page....Cuppie is enjoying the Summer!

 

 

 

 

 

This image is just perfect for July! Mr. Cuppie is quite patriotic you know! I added some glitter to the fireworks and some bright yellow stars!

 

 

 

I used the Cuppie image from A Year of Sweets 2 and the sentiment from Life is a Circus...both great sets. I used the awesome Star Border Die for my accents....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a linky list of the other Baker's Dozen Design Team Members who have projects to share today!  

Charmaine Ikach

Jodi Collins

Melody Rupple

Sankari Wegman

Shannon White

Stephanie Kraft

Taylor VanBruggen

Wanda Guess

 

 

Best day ever card....Cakewalk!

Hi blog friends! It's been H-O-T here this weekend...and I'm surprised I didn't melt! Dang it was toasty...and it's supposed to be 100 all next week too. Summertime. Time for some fun in the a/c in the crafty cave I'd say. Today I was on a complete creative roll! I feel like I could stamp until midnight without stopping. It's been a good day. I love it when that happens!! Got a lot done...now I'm posting this post, going to make dinner and do my nails...and it's time for bed. I don't know where the time goes. Hope you had a fab weekend.

One of my VERY FAVORITE things from CHA this winter was the Cakewalk collection from October Afternoon. I've been practically beside myself waiting for it to come out!! It was finally released, and I snapped up a whole bunch of the collection two weekends ago at Scrapbook Territory in Berkeley. And, it's been sitting on my work desk just waiting for me! Today - that's what I used. I love the color palette, the happy patterns, the embellishments that came with it...even washi tape! Hope you like what I've done....

 

 

 

 

I was putting everything away and cleaning up my work desk and I had all these pretty scraps...so I made a matching mini card! Just perfect to tuck in with a present don't ya think?

 

 

 

Here is just part of the yumminess...

 

 

 

I sewed my three patterned papers together to add some interest and flair...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You know by now that making my own paper flowers is one of my go-to tricks! I made one today using two patterned papers. Then I made some fun pink leaves! :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last weekend when Audrey and I were shopping in the city we saw neon clothes, lace leggings, and leg warmers...and we thought 'here come the 80's again!' Then, yesterday at Paper Garden I found these new ink pads! I guess it really is the 80's again! LOL. I'll be sure to let you know what I make with these. Gotta think of something fun.

 

Best wishes for a happy week everyone! XOXO

 

 

 

Happy Friday!

Helllloooooooooo! Happy Friday! This week was BIZZY! Yowza! Glad it's in the books and looking forward to relaxing and stamping all weekend. How about you? I've been on the go the past three weekends in a row, and just really feel like I need a weekend at home. So happy to say it's Friday! Best wishes to all of you for a great weekend!

Today's post is a little bit of catch - up here, posting some Poppystamps creations! I post them over on the Poppystamps blog all the time, but here and there I like to post them on my blog too. There are new dies right now that are super fun. Hope you'll check 'em out. I'm sharing three cards today!

First up is a cute little birthday owl! HOOOT!! This is one of my favorite dies from Dave...maybe ever! It's so fun and versatile. All the little pieces of the owl are on one die and you can make him look any way you want by changing the colors, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up is a set of little 3x3 note cards made with the vegetable border die! You're rad-ish...get it! LOL. I crack myself up! These were fun to create!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last, but not least, a card using Memory Box stamps and Poppystamps dies with a beautiful bird and soft colors. This card has such a nice, natural feel to it. Just a tiny pop of lavender too....

 

Thanks for stopping by my bloggy spot today!

Happy weekend!!!  

 

Happy 4th!

Hi friends! Happy 4th of July! Whatcha got planned for this fine summer holiday? Parades? BBQ? Fireworks? I hope you have a fabbie day! I will be at work all day today, but super grateful for the overtime hours, so it's all good. After work I'll spend time with family and relax a little bit too. Best wishes for a Happy Independence Day!

I have a milestone to celebrate also...sometime yesterday...I got my 300,000th blog hit! WOWZA! That is the coolest thing ever. SOOOOO happy to share with all of you bloggy friends. Thanks for the love and support over the past two years. I so love being a bloggy girl. I never imagined how much fun this all is!

I have another 4th of July card to share today. Just got some awesome star dies in the mail from PTI and had to use them for the holiday. This card started out sort of clean and simple...but then ended up with some more pizazz, because I couldn't stop with the stars!

 

 

 

 

So fresh and graphic! I love these stars. Nothing says America like red white and blue stars. These dies are so crisp. The sentiment stamp is from Stampin' Up. The paper is Bazzill.  

 

 

 

At first I was going to use this stamp. Look at that pretty pile of stars...

 

 

 

Here is that Nautical Blue ink again. I cannot get enough of it. Blings from Stampin' Up also.

 

 

 

Here's a side view so you can see the layers. All mounted onto a kraft card base. I originally had a white card base, but changed my mind. The color really pops off the kraft more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now for a silly picture! Here is a photo from when Mr. Buddy was a wee boo boo! Can you see his patriotic collar? He was born in the USA! LOL. I thought I would throw in this pic for a laugh and a smile. Hard to believe that the giant cat we all know and love was once this tiny!

 

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Happy 4th of July Week!

Greetings friends! Happy Monday...and I hope you had a wonderful weekend! I had the best time yesterday...I got to meet one of my mostest favoritest bloggy friends in person! Yup, got to meet the super sweet and super talented Audrey! Yay! She is here in CA visiting family and we met up in San Francisco yesterday for some snacks and chatting! It was so great to meet her. We've been bloggy/email friends for about two years now, and have come to find that we have so much in common besides our love of paper crafting. She lives clear across the United States and so we've never met in person before. She is just as charming and fun as I imagined she would be. It did my heart good to spend some time with her! How fun is that?? :-)

Today I'm sharing a 4th of July card I made on Saturday. I'll be back with another patriotic project on Wednesday too. That one is more of a CAS design. Today's card is definitely of the 'more is more' variety! I kept adding stuff and then inking some more and here's what happened!  

 

 

 

 

I cut the letters out of my PTI alphabet dies. The stars are PTI dies also. The rosettes started out as 3/4 inch by six inch strips of patterned paper. You know the drill...score the paper every 1/4 inch and fold them up. Pop on some glue dots and a button...voila!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shape that my letters is on is an EK Success punch. I added some stars with a little tiny Stampin' Up stamp I had in my stash. Don't you love red and kraft??

 

 

 

My sentiments exactly....

 

 

 

I added just a pop of scallops at the bottom - I felt like it needed some more blue on the card. The papers are from Bo Bunny.

 

 

 

Here is the hurricane left behind after making ONE card! Sheesh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see a tiny bit of denim ribbon coming out from under the rosette...and some more of those tiny stars...

 

Have a super fantastic day! I'll see you Wednesday for the 4th!