A Blog Called Wanda: October 2012

Batty for You!

Wow! It's Halloween week already...and my birthday is coming up this week too! Woohoooo! Now, if I didn't have this stupid sinus-cold-congestion thing happening....life would be perfect! Ugh. Spent the weekend in the house downing Airborne and Dayquil like nobody's business. But, I did drag myself into the craft room to whip up one last Halloween project to share. It's a clean and simple card with a SUPER cute bat from Paper Smooches! I used the tree branch image from an OLD Kim Hughes set I got years ago and that set is called Landing Pad.

I combined two sentiments to make it say 'batty for you.' One of the great things about clear stamps is that you can do that with the sentiments and get them lined up perfectly.

The branch and bat were colored with my Copics. Isn't he silly??

I hope you have the best week ever! Happy Halloweeeeeeeeen! Take care everyone!

Posted at 12:01 AM in Papercrafting | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

Crazy for Washi Tape!!!

Hi sweet bloggy friends! Grab a drink and settle in because this is a LONG post! LOL. Lots of pictures and cards and everything to share today. I'm going to talk about my current obsession with Washi Tape! Are you on the washi bandwagon yet? I got it bad! It started with buying just a couple of rolls here and there and then grew into a big bucket full of pretty tapes! Sunday it was a cloudy day perfect for hanging out in the craft room all day. I decided to make it a fun washi project day!

First I got inspired and pinned lots of new pins to my WASHI PINTEREST BOARD. That got my creative juices flowing. I love looking at Pinterest! I found so many pretty pictures of washi tape and decided to take some of my own pictures of the tapes. I love the graphic nature of the circles and all the colors together. This first collage picture I did with my iPhone so I could post it on Instagram! That's a whole other obsession!

Here's my whole collection...but it seems like there's room in that bucket! (Maybe I need more?)

After I had fun taking photos, it was time to come up with some projects! I used these tapes for my first card...

Those fun hearts are made from washi tape!

One of the cool things to do with washi tape is to layer them over each other so you can combine the patterns and colors....

Here's a close up of my washi hearts!

To make the hearts I got out the red and white chevron washi and put down several strips of it on a piece of the back of an old notepad. It was thick like chipboard, and white, which was perfect.

Next I ran the sheet of washi through my Big Shot with some pretty heart dies from Tim Holtz...

Aren't they cute?!

Isn't this an adorable little fabric tag from Basic Grey?

For my next project, I got out the crazy 80's neon washi tape! And that black and white chevron? ACK! So perfect for bright projects!

I just got this adorable Oh Snap! stamp set from There She Goes. I LOVEEEEE this!! I colored my fun camera in with bright funky Copic colors. Rich black is the perfect touch to ground all this neon.

Here's the card base. I snipped the ends with my scissors to make little flag/banners.

Oh Snap!

This last card is a clean and simple washi project. I used a simple manila square tag and some pretty colors. I made the little tape and pearl pennant. I like how the striped washi made gingham when crossed over itself! (an added bonus to any project!). I used some pink ink in my blo-pen to add some spatters. Nice and easy.

Smile! :-)

Okay, hope you haven't given up on me yet...one more project...

Some cool tags! Not sure what to do with these yet...maybe attach them to the front of a card, or tie them on a present. I'll think of something!

Thank you so much for coming by my blog and for sharing in my fondness for the washi. Do you have some tapes? What do you make with them? Do you have a favorite kind of craft you like to make with your tapes? I'd love some more ideas! Best wishes for a blessed day! XOXO

Posted at 10:00 AM in Papercrafting, Photography | Permalink | Comments (39) | TrackBack (0)

Taylored Expressions October Studio Challenge!

It's time for the Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge for September!! This is our monthly 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 and dies, some tips and tricks, stamping advice and more. This has been such a fun thing to do!

The challenge that Taylor gave us for October is:

Good things come in small packages! The holiday season is upon us and between Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukah, and Christmas there are a ton of opportunities to create and give little treats, gifts, and party favors. Please show us something you'll be giving this year!

For my project, I decided to make some card gifts for my girlfriends for Thanksgiving! Kind of a card and little treat/gift all in one. This Autumn I have been obsessed with the new Pumpkin Flavor Via Coffee packs from Starbucks. Have you tried this? OMG - so delicious and perfect for a cool morning. I built my treat project around giving some packets of coffee to my friends. You could put a Starbucks card in there too...and I may do just that!

These library pockets are PERFECT for gift giving - gift cards, money, gift certificates, coffee, etc.

I used the pretty mini leaves and cut them out of patterned papers to match my card. Can you see the gorgeous houndstooth pattern on the golden paper?

Work in progress....

Here's a good tip for you! I wanted to use the Banner Day Die for my sentiment, but the sentiment is straight. Hmmmm...what to do? Well, I used the pattern for the die (comes with it) and mounted my sentiment onto it in a curve! It worked! LOL.

Here area all my building blocks for this fun treat project....

Here's a close up of the Houndstooth Impression Plate pattern. LOVE.

Here is the object of my obsession...

And last but not least, the inside of my Thanksgiving treat card...

You can find all the supplies in the Taylored Expressions Store! Here are photos of all the dies and stamp sets I used. Yup, I love Autumn!

Here are all the links for the rest of the crew! I'm so excited to see all the posts for today! I hope you will hop around and have some fun with us. I just know you will find some great treat ideas for the upcoming holidays! Have a great day everybody!

Posted at 07:58 AM in Papercrafting | Permalink | Comments (18) | TrackBack (0)

Halloween Fry Boxes!

Hi Friends! Hanging out tonight in the crafty cave, getting some Halloween cards addressed and ready to mail and eating a snack. Buddy is by my side.... It's been a busy week (what week isn't anymore?) and I'm relaxing a little bit. You know that I am always looking for quick and cute treats to bring to work or share with friends... Well, tonight I'm sharing a fun treat project made with one of my go-to dies. This is one of the projects we made at my classes at Paper Garden in August. I thought you guys might like to see it too.

The die is called "Fry Box" and is from Lifestyle Crafts - it's so cute - you've probably seen it here on my blog before. This time I was going for a vintage vibe, with the gingham and an old fashioned image. AND...there's candy involved! Score! LOL. I'll be bringing these to the office on Halloween.

Totally fun, right?

Here's a side view so you can see the die shape...Two of the dies cut on one piece of cardstock perfectly. Two pieces of tape, and that's that!

The little pennants were made by punching out triangles and gluing them onto pearl pins. You can buy these pearl pins in the wedding section at the craft store, or at the sewing store. I make these all the time.

Here's my big bucket of boxes all ready to be filled!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you like this project. Do you make Halloween goodies? Let me know your favorite treat to make! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Posted at 07:33 PM in Papercrafting | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)

Hope - in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Hi there friends! I'm here tonight in the craft room with a post about some cards I made in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast Cancer has touched all of our lives. One of my sweet stamping friends has been fighting breast cancer for the past year and another friend at work has a sister fighting the fight also. I wanted to make some cards to send to these special gals. It's my day to post for Taylored Expressions and I found some great supplies to work with for the occasion. if any of you out there are dealing with breast cancer in your life, please accept my admiration for your courage and strength and determination. Keep on fighting. XO

I took the tall and skinny alpha set of dies and cut out the word hope...then I die cut a bunch of Curly Dies in a slightly darker shade of pink....

I thought that these Curly Die pieces looked like a bunch of pink ribbons all hooked together! What do you think? Can you visualize that?

Here is the inside of the cards....

My supplies....

I cut out two of the Stacklets Dies in white and layered them on foam tape. I made a pretty pink ribbon and put it underneath the white layers.

Here are pictures of all the dies and stamps:

Thank you for stopping by today!
Wanda

Posted at 08:26 PM in Papercrafting | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

Trick or Treat - Halloween Chevrons!

Hi crafty friends! How is your week going?! I hope it's been great so far! I'm enjoying Fall crafting and the nice chill in the air that's starting to come at night... Been spending a lot of time doing Fall projects since October seems to go by in a whirl wind of activities! The hubs and I had a lovely day trip to Lake Tahoe last Saturday and we saw some Fall color up in the mountains and stopped for some apple cider on the way home. I have some pictures to share - and I'll try to get those posted soon.

Today is one of my days to post for Taylored Expressions! I made a bright, graphic Halloween card to share with you, using some of my favorite TE products. I love the way these colors are so powerful together, especially against that crisp black.

I incorporate lime green into my Halloween projects a lot. Can't seem to stay away! Here, I clear embossed my main image with lime ink. I stamped another of the images in orange and cut out just the circle part and mounted it on foam tape.

AHHHHH- Chevrons! So graphic! LOVE this die.... I cut out a bunch of Chevron strips using the TE Chevron Dies and then played with them until I got a look I liked. At first I had white space in between them all...

I used three different Halloween stamp sets from TE for this project. The main Trick or Treat image is from Totally Tags Halloween, the bats are from the Moka Tabitha set, and the sentiment I put on the inside is from the awesome Toil and Trouble set from last year! LOVE them all!

Here are my cool chevrons all ready to go...

Here is my assistant walking through....while I'm trying to take a picture....

I just started gluing them all down and then I trimmed the paper afterwards so the edges would be nice and clean.

Here's a photo of the stamp sets and dies...

And here's the inside of my card....

Enjoy the rest of your week! Thank you so much for popping by today!

Posted at 12:01 AM in Papercrafting | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)

Hey Pumpkin!

Hi friends! There is a lot going on this weekend! Happy World Card Making Day! Are you stamping today? Getting together with friends? I hope you have a great day ahead. The hubs and I are headed out to take a nice long drive and hang out together...headed up to Lake Tahoe. This past Wednesday was our wedding anniversary and it's so hectic to try to do something special during the work week. When we were dating we always used to go for long drives and talk and talk, so DH decided that's what we should do, and I can't wait! We'll take some pictures (see if we can find some Fall foliage) and have a nice dinner....Yay! The weather FINALLY turned today and it was the most glorious day.

Do you ever buy new stamping stuff and you can't wait to use it...and it sits on your desk...and you're so excited when you get to make something with it? Well, that's what happened with the things I used for today's project! I bought the new PTI pumpkin dies last month and wanted to make something cute for Fall...so here it is! A pumpkin card!

How can you go wrong with orange gingham? The sentiment stamp is from PTI also. The pretty leaves are the mini leaves dies from Taylored Expressions...It all works together so nicely!

I think these would make such nice Thanksgiving invitations or place cards for an Autumn table. I wish I had time to make a bunch more! Maybe I'll find some time here in the next few weeks....

Here's how the die comes out of your cutting machine...all in perfect sections.

The solid die folds into a card base (A2) and then you cut one more to mount your sections onto...

I used some distress ink on the edges of my sections to give more dimension. The center section was mounted onto some foam tape. At the last minute I changed my mind and made the stem brown instead of green.

Blessed...that's how I feel today!

In honor of World Card Making Day (and month), Taylored Expressions is having some very fun challenges! CLICK HERE for more details and join in on the festivities! Have a great day everyone!

Posted at 06:00 AM in Papercrafting | Permalink | Comments (16) | TrackBack (0)

Taylored Expressions October 2012 Release Spotlight Day!

Hey everyone! I'm kind of sad to see this release week come to a close! It's been a Holiday-palooza of fun things for Christmas... But I guess I'd better get back on track with my Fall crafting! LOL. I have one last card to share today. It's super clean and simple and silly and fun. Hope you like it! Everything is available now in the TE Store...so get shopping! LOL!

I used the new mini set called Reindeer Food! It's from the Embracing Grace Collection drawn by Emily Burger. So cute! Jami concepted this one and it's a set of nine adorable reindeer images and sentiments. It's great for cards and little treats. I picked out the cute little reindeer face - because I love his hat!

I also used the papers from the Carta Bella Merry and Bright Project Pantry Kit - the light blue and green was perfect. I used this card as my opportunity to cut out the PRETTY new Snowflake Border Die too!

The little pearl for his nose is a white pearl colored red with a Copic Marker. I used my Copics for the rest of the image too. Easy-peasy card. You could make a bunch of these in no time. Sometimes less is more?!

Here's your last link list for the week! Hasn't this been so fun?!

Charmaine Ikach

Jami Sibley - DT Coordinator

Nancy McKinney - Illustrator

Posted at 08:00 AM in Papercrafting | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

Taylored Expressions October 2012 Release Day!

TAYLORED EXPRESSIONS OCTOBER 2012 RELEASE DAY!

Hi friends! It's been such a fun week already...and today is Release Day! What do you think of all the new goodies in the TE store? Aren't they wonderful!? All of the new Taylored Expressions products are now available in the Fresh Out of the Oven Department. AND Be sure to check the TE Current Specials page!

Today I have a trio of note cards to share made with the new Graphic Greetings Christmas stamp. Taylor is continuing this Graphic Greetings series and I'm so glad. This look is so on trend right now in the craft world. The Baker's Dozen gals have come up with some great ideas for this stamp...so many possibilities!

I wanted to show you guys how this card could look in different colors. Christmas doesn't have to always be red and green! LOL. I think these would be great gal pal Christmas cards, because they're fun and feminine. I kept them flat for mailing too.

The snowflakes were made using a new TE Die set called Make a Snowflake...and there are six snowflakes included. You can layer them endlessly and they coordinate perfectly with the new Snowflake Border Die too.

First I stamped my image in Versamark ink and clear embossed it. Then I colored my image with Distress inks and a sponge in the pretty colors. Next, I went back around and distressed the edges with a touch of brown ink. This adds just a touch of depth. Then I had fun layering on pretty cream snowflakes!

The background solid color paper was first embossed with the Swirls side of the TE Swirls and Music impression plate which was released last year for Christmas. I use that all the time!

Do you like these pretty pastels for Winter?

Here are our links for Release Day!

Carolyn King - Guest Designer

Posted at 08:00 AM in Papercrafting | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)

Taylored Expressions Sneaks for October Day 2!

Hi Everyone! It's sneak peeks week at Taylored Expressions! Let the fun begin! We have inspiration to share Tuesday through Friday. All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, October 4th at 8 am PST. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department at the Taylored Expressions Store.You also can 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.

Okay, so like yesterday, there's a whole LOT of Christmas going on here! I have two more projects to share today using more new October release items. I'm so excited about this release - it's wonderful. I hope you find something (or many things) this week to inspire you for your winter crafting!

The first card for today is so happy and bright. I used the new 'Carta Bella Merry and Bright' Project Pantry Kit which has the prettiest shade of pink in it. Love this one. I used every color! LOL. The papers are 6x6 so the scale is just perfect.

The stamp set is called Very Merry, and it is indeed! Very Merry is a full size set from the Whimsical Wishes Collection. This stamp set comes WITH A DIE of the word "merry" which combines with the sentiments. (I used the merry die yesterday). The cute solid images are great for stampers who prefer not to do a lot of coloring.

I also used the Very Merry Outlines and Scallops TE Dies to cut out the super fun mittens on my card. There is a die to coordinate with all the images, and you can buy the solid image, the scallop layer image or both! Check it out!

My teeny sentiment is from the Many Minis Holiday new stamp set. This set coordinates perfectly with our Mini Tags, but you can see it isn't just for that! This card was just too much fun to make!

My second card for today uses all dies! I don't know if you're a "die-aholic" like me, but man, I love 'em. For my background I used the GORGEOUS new Holly Cutting Plate. I layered it over some cream cardstock for a purely Christmas look. Like the Quatrefoil Cutting Plate, the Holly plate cuts a perfect A2 card layer. No trimming needed.

For the word "Peace" I used a new Alphabet Die set released this month. It's called Poster Graphic Alpha Die Set and it's a good size for either cards or scrapbook pages. It would also make pretty monograms. Love all the detail in each letter. I'm going to use this one a lot.

I layered my letters onto a strip of vellum for just a touch of interest...and then I couldn't help but add some clear blings! The papers I used are from the Handmade Holidays Project Pantry Kit (which I used yesterday too!)

Please hop around and see what the rest of the crew has for you today!

Carolyn King - Guest Designer

Posted at 08:00 AM in Papercrafting | Permalink | Comments (20) | TrackBack (0)

Taylored Expressions Sneaks for October Day 1!

Hi Everyone! It's sneak peeks week at Taylored Expressions! Let the fun begin! We have inspiration to share Tuesday through Friday. All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, October 4th at 8 am PST. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department at the Taylored Expressions Store.You also can 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.

October's release is all about Christmas and Winter! So many great items this month. Whew. I didn't even know where to start - it's all so pretty. I have two cards to share today. Both are very traditional Christmas with red and green. Later in the week I'll pop some other colors in the mix!

The first card is made with the GORGEOUS new Quatrefoil Cutting Plate. Cutting Plates are new this month at TE and I am totally psyched with this development. This Quatrefoil plate cut like 'buttah' in my Big Shot and it's so pretty! The plate is designed to cut a perfect A2 card layer...the finished size is 4" x 5.25". WOW.

I kept the color scheme strictly to red and white. It's so crisp and just says holiday to me. I added some pearl accents but kept the rest classy and clean. This would be a great card to mass produce for your holiday cards - because it can mail flat. I could also see this with a bright green behind the quatrefoil too.

In addition to the beautiful new cutting plates, Taylor released a new layering die set called Label Stacklets 1. I used that too! The dies coordinate perfectly with the new stamp set I used in this first card.

The stamp set is called Rejoice - and is from the Lasting Impressions Collection. It is a full size set of 13 Christmas and Holiday sentiments in a beautiful font combination that is so elegant. Jami concepted this set to match with the Stacklets and it's just a general all-around perfect Christmas sentiments set. I stamped my words in a bright red to match the paper.

My second project for today uses the brand new Poinsettia Bouquet stamp set from the Whimsical Wishes collection by Nancy McKinney. This is the next installment in our Petite Bouquet series....just in time for the holidays. This set has one main image and several sentiments to match.

I used a new word die called Merry! Wait until you see how this die matches with the Very Merry stamp set! When you order the stamps, the die comes with it. LOVE. I cut the word out of pretty dark burgundy paper from one of our new Project Pantry Kits. This kit is called Handmade Holidays from Simple Stories - and it's very homey and warm. Love the plaid paper!

I colored my image using watercolor pencils and my aqua brush. Then I distressed the edges with some Antique Linen ink.