A Blog Called Wanda

Hang your stocking!

Hi my bloggy friends! Whassssssup?! Happy Friday to you! Where did this week go? I can't believe I didn't blog all week. I have been busy at work and then at night, I have to be honest, I've really just felt like putting my feet up and relaxing. I'm am not motivated right now! I meant to stamp every night, but it just did not happen. Do you have weeks like that? Are you ready for December to start tomorrow? I have a fun event to go to tomorrow night - the Paper Garden Christmas party! I'll see all the lovely ladies there at the store and all our crafty buds will be there too! If it's not raining, the hubs and I will go out and look at Christmas lights afterwards. I'll let you know....

Today I have a CAS Christmas card to share. It's made with brand new Memory Box products from this season. We made this card in my August classes....thought you might like to check it out. Classic, clean, red, white and green.

 

 

 

This cute stocking die is the perfect size for cards - yup, Memory Box! So love the details on the top part - really makes it special. Can you see the damask pattern on the red part of the stocking? I took the large Memory Box Damask Heart Stamp and stamped it with Versamark ink. It looks nicer in person - hard to get a good picture of it!

 

 

I always love red, white and kraft together.... I like to keep most of my Christmas cards flat for mailing - like this one.  This is a brand new sentiment from Memory Box too...

 

 

Some foam tape for my layers...and there you have it!

Do you hand make all your Christmas cards? Have you started yet? I'm about half way done with mine. I hope to finish next week and then start addressing them. I always say I'm going to start early...but I never do! I hope you have a most wonderful weekend!

 

Icy Snowflakes....

Hi friends! How are you? What's up? Did you shop-til-you-drop this weekend? Are you tired of leftovers? The answers for me are yes, and yes! We finally finished up the last of the turkey last night and although it was delish, it was time to move on....LOL. Every meal since Thursday was turkey! Friday we went out shopping most of the day and I finished all my Christmas shopping! I don't really have too many gifts to buy, so that's not as impressive as it might first sound. We had a nice day being out in the buzz of the season. Lots to see.

So, it's officially time to start Christmas crafty projects! Today's card is made using this super cool new snowflake rosette die from Tim Holtz! I picked it up last week at Paper Garden and could not wait to make a snowflake!! It came out so beautifully...and then I sprayed (no exaggeration) half a bottle of shimmer smooches on it! It's realllllllly spark-a-lay!

 

 

 

All the papers are from the pretty My Mind's Eye paper collection called Merry and Bright!! It's hip and vintage and so so nice. I am obsessed with Rhonna Farrer right now....

 

 

Here's that snowflake rosette up close! Bam! Are you wearing your sunglasses? Can you tell how much smooch spritz is on there?! The brads are all from that same collection from My Mind's Eye... The velvet ribbon was in my stash already.

 

 

 

 

 

These are some Martha Stewart punched out snowflakes with brads in the center. I put some distress ink on them so they wouldn't be stark white  - more vintage.

 

 

 

 

 

Okay so that's what I got for ya today! Hope you likey! Did you notice my new blog header? There's snow on the ground! I had fun doing that picture. Have a wonderful week everybody! XO

 

 

Taylored Expressions November Studio Challenge - Tags!

Hi Friends! I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving!! Now...it’s Black Friday and it's time for the Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge and a BIG Black Friday Sale at Taylored Expressions! Taylor is releasing a brand new set of Stacklets today - Labels Stacklets 3 and you can get them now - one week before December Release Week! Woo Woo!

Have you been joining along with us every month on our Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge? It's been such a fun new thing that we're doing. Each month, Taylor challenges us with a crafty question...

The question for November is:

"As crafters, we often talk about a hand-crafted Christmas. How much stamping do you do for the holidays?  Do you mail hand-stamped cards, make gift packaging, tags, handmade gifts?  Or do you stamp year-round, but not so much for Christmas?  Please show us some handmade tags and share a tip or two on how to keep stamping fun for the holidays."

I do a lot of stamping for the holidays!! Each year I hand make about 75 Christmas and Holiday cards for our friends and family. I also write a corny Christmas letter too! I love to make tags for packages, and even make my own stamped wrapping paper! You can buy plain wrapping paper at the craft store and make it customized! Sometimes I make treat wrappers or boxes for co-workers and gal pals too. It seems that I have more ideas than time....isn't that the way? 

This was a fun challenge today....because I love making TAGS! Here are my creations for our blog hop today... Snow people in fun bright colors!  

 

 

 

 

The snow peeps and the tiny stamped snowflakes are from the set called 'The Cool Crowd' and the sentiment is from 'Peppermint Place.' I used tons of dies for this project, and they're all listed with photos at the bottom of my post. I think the colors made the whold vibe kind of whimsical and Suessian!  

 

 

 

Here's a close up of my festive scallops and the adorable sentiment. I added sparkles of superfine glitter all over the place.

 

 

 

I hand made my own tags out of kraft paper and then embossed them with the 'Musical/Swirls' Impression plate. After I embossed them, I went over the swirls with a sponge and some white pigment ink to make them look snowy. This is a cool trick to "pop" the embossed parts of cards - use ink over them!

 

 

 

Here are all my dies and tags ready to rock-n-roll!

 

 

 

I stamped my snow people in black ink onto circles and then added a couple of snowflakes. I later edged the circles with light blue ink.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here you can see the swirled background and the beautiful 'Make a Snowflake' dies... For the top of the tags I combined some ribbon with twine and a button, for a homey feeling. I used the green paper to make a grommet...

 

 

 

My Copic Palette for this project - yum!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay...so when I was done with my fun and bright snow peeps tags, I still had all my TE Christmas supplies on my desk, so I decided to make another tag! This time I made a very traditional and vintage tag using red and green. This has a completely different feeling to it.

 

 

 

The die cut word Merry comes along with the 'Very Merry' stamp set! The holly dies are from the 'Very Merry' outlines die set.

 

 

I used the music side of the same impression plate I used for my snowman tags! It's very cool that it is double sided. (Musical/Swirls Impression Plate) This time, instead of using white ink, like above, I went over the impression with some brown distress ink. LOVE this technique! So versatile.

 

 

 

This was the fun part....lots of chunky white snowy glitter!!! Feels so vintage!

 

 

 

 

 

Make sure to head on over to the TE Store for the amazing Black Friday Sale!!! You won't be disappointed! The prices are awesome...especially for the early birds!  

 

 

That was a long post! Lots and lots to share today. I know that the other Design Team Members have AMAZING tags to share with you too! Won't you please hop around? Here's the link list:  

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

 

Happy Thanksgiving Bloggy Friends!!

Hi friends! Popping in with a post and BIG wishes for a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING to you, your friends and your families! I hope you have a wonderful holiday and that you have had a blessed year. I love Thanksgiving...of course, because it's in Fall! LOL. It's such a pure holiday. No presents, no hype, just loved ones and gratitude. Doesn't get much better than that. I'll be cooking the whole shebang at my house - can't wait. Mostly I can't wait for Friday and leftovers. Isn't that really the best part? Once a year I make these jumbo yeast rolls that take four hours to make. They have to rise three times. That's what we use for our sammiches the next days.....mmmmm.

I want to take a minute to say how thankful I am that I have this amazing opportunity to be a crafty girl blogger and to know all of you out there. It brings me so much joy and happiness to interact with you and to know that I have the support and love of kind people I never even met!  It's so amazing and positive and wonderful. Thank you for always popping in and checking out what I"m up to.

I didn't have a lot of time this week to get my craft on, so I made a couple of super simple CAS Thanksgiving cards using some supplies that have been on my table. New stuff from PTI and Stampin' Up that just never got inky this season. Hope you like 'em. 

 

 

This card cracks me up! How silly is that little turkey!? The stamps and dies for this card are all from PTI. I love those word dies - so nice and crisp. This just screams Thanksgiving right? I used brown Memento ink for the sentiment and the turkey.

 

Now this took a while....I popped the 'thankful' die up with foam tape... 

 

This next card is a little corny! Hahahaha. The stamps and dies for this card are from the new Stampin' Up set called Perfectly Preserved. That little corn is toooo cute! It's kind of retro too, which you know I like.  

 

 

The banner dies are from MFT and they're called Fishtail Flags...

 

 

Yep...again with the foam tape...

 

 

Here's a picture of my supplies for these two cards, in case you want to check them out further. LOVE matching dies and stamps....awesome!!

Enjoy your holiday everyone! I'll be out shopping til I drop on Friday with the DH, but be sure to come by my blog because we're doing a Taylored Expressions Blog Hop for our November Studio Challenge. The theme is tags and I made some cool snowman tags I want you to see. Also, there is a Black Friday sale at the TE Store you don't want to miss!

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Falling....

Hello! Happy Saturday! I'm here today with probably my last fall card (sad face) before we move on into Christmas crafting! It's one of my days to post for Taylored Expressions and I used some awesome new dies in my project. And, my favorite paper collection for this season - Authentique's Thankful. The colors of the paper kind of inspired my whole card. I used kind of a different mustardy yellow color for my card base too!

 

 

 

 

These Mega Leaves Dies are wonderful. In this close up, you can see the veins in the leaves embossed at the same time you cut it. The acorn is from the Falling For You dies set.

 

 

 

I'm mad for this plaid! The sentiment is from the Falling For You stamp set specially released this season!

 

 

 

 

 

 Here are some images of the dies:

 

 

 

I have some other TE news that I thought I would share today too! On the TE Splitcoaststampers page, we are doing a feature that is a designer spotlight on each of the Baker's Dozen Design Team members...and I got to be first! CLICK HERE to see my bio/profile page! Stay tuned to learn more about a new designer every month!

Also...there is always tons going on over at the TE Facebook page...contests and giveaways, and preview parties. All kinds of good stuff. I would love it if you would like TE on Facebook!

 

 

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!  

 

Autumn Apples!

Hi peeps! What's shakin'? How is your week going? Have you had your 'freak-out-because-next-week-is-Thanksgiving-moment' yet? Mine came on Monday! How does that happen? We're going along, enjoying Fall, and then BAM Thanksgiving is here and we have to go grocery shopping! And, I just know that after next week it's full on Christmas coming at us like a freight train! I'm not ready! LOL.

I was inspired to create an Autumn apple card when I went to the grocery store on Monday and saw all the beautiful shiny apples all in a row. See how inspiration can come at the weirdest times? I got out my Fiskars Apple Punch and some trusty gingham paper and had a go....This is what I came up with!

 

 

 

 

I started out with three small manila tags that I had in my stash. I stamped the Hero Arts Friends words background in Linen Distress Ink and then also inked the edges of the tags. Then I punched out my cute apples.

 

 

 

I went through and dug up some doo dads in my stash, some twine, a clip, some safety pins...just to see what worked... Stamped my sentiment on green paper with brown ink.

 

 

 

Here's the picture I snapped at the grocery store with my iPhone - my inspiration image!

 

 

 

I lined my tags up before stamping them so the words would match all the way across...

 

 

 

Here's a side view. The tags are mounted on foam tape to add dimension.

 

 

 

I think this card is cheery and happy! I sure had fun creating it in some fresh colors and a new layout design for me. We'll be Christmas crafting soon - before we know it!

 

Have a wonderful day!!! 

Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger - Fall Card!

Hi there friends! How is your weekend going? Hope you are having a great weekend so far. It's Sunday, and I made some pancakes for breakfast and then I've been hiding out in my crafty cave ever since. It's a crazy mess in here, but I managed to find some space to make something. Isn't that the never ending battle? How do you keep your stamp space clean!? I just have too much stuff. That's the bottom line. Oh well...that's a good problem to have!

I was looking around for inspiration and found it at my first stop - at Moxie Fab World!  I saw the Tuesday Trigger Image from last week...and it hooked me right in! CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE IMAGE - you have until 11-18 to enter too! The image is called Fall Fantasy!

I was mostly inspired by the beautiful color palette and that's what I went with. I would not have thought to combine the pretty celadon green with the fall colors, but I love it. I was also inspired by the cream background and the little 'balls' on the wreath. I set out to make something....

 

 

 

 

Here is the Tuesday Trigger Image that inspired me...

 

 

 

Here's a close up of the leaves...this turned out to be a fifty step process and took forever! But, I finally got them to look the way I wanted!

 

 

 

I used my Stampin' Up Woodgrain embossing folder for the background. I have a tip to share here. The first two times I embossed this, my paper cracked and even tore!! I went online and found a tutorial with the tip to place a sheet of vellum in between the paper and the embossing folder...It worked like a charm - and this one came out perfect!

 

 

 

I used Tim Holtz Grungeboard for my leaves and a Tim Holtz die. In order to put ink on the grungeboard, I painted them with cream acrylic paint first...

 

 

 

After the cream paint was dry, I sponged these three ink colors onto the leaves and let that dry...

 

 

 

SOOOO pretty, these colors together!

 

 

 

Okay, so here's where my project went wonky on me... I had envisioned pretty crackled leaves...but when I put on the Distress Crackle Paint...it just smeared my ink!! NOT happy! But, what can you do? Sometimes these crafty accidents turn out okay...

 

 

 

Here are my leaves after they dried. Hmmmmm.... I decided to put some pretty chunky glitter on them to jazz 'em up. Are you starting to see why this took so long!? LOL.

 

 

 

Now that's looking good!

 

 

 

I wanted my 'balls' to match my project, so I colored some pearl pins with my Copic markers...

 

 

 

Here's everything, all ready to assemble.... 

 

 

 

My supplies....

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving! The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse Stamps and the banner die is from Simon Says Stamp - one of the Stamptember dies.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much for spending part of your day with me! I got a bunch of new subscribers last week, so a big welcome to all of you! So happy you're here. Did you enjoy the TE Release last week? Lots of new things to play with. Have a nice afternoon - and a great week ahead! XO

 

Taylored Expression November Spotlight Day!

 

It's Taylored Expressions November 2012 Spotlight Day! This is where we take one last chance to showcase each of the new stamp sets and dies...What a week! Today I have something really fun to share!

All of the new Taylored Expressions products are now available in the Fresh Out of the Oven Department. Everything is just so cute and happy this month!

Be sure to check the TE Current Specials page to find out how you can get your very own  Crafty Expressions stamp set for FREE!

 

There is a new addition to the Moka collection by Nancy McKinney...and her name is...Wanda! SO FUN! It was my idea that we needed a stamping and crafting girl Moka so I told Taylor. And, Taylor named her after me. Coolest thing ever, right? She has on her crafting apron and has all her tools ready to go.  

 

 

 

Here is the LINK TO THE SCS TUTORIAL for this card! It's called a center step card. It was very easy to follow the directions and I really like how it came out. Give some room to add different papers and showcase your sentiment on the bottom.

 

 

 

Here is how it folds down for mailing...

 

 

 

This is my Copic palette for this card...

 

 

 

I used the beautiful new MME Paper pad called Tangerine. I also used one of our new TE dies from the Handmade Charms die set!! I put the little scissors on with a jump ring to hang off my main image.  

 

 

 

Stamping friends REALLY are the best!

 

 

 

One last look at another Signature stamp from the 'Signature Style' set!

 

 

 

 

Okay, friends, one last linky list for you for the week! Hope you've had a good time here with the Baker's Dozen this week!

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

 

Taylored Expressions November 2012 Release Day!

 

It's Taylored Expressions November 2012 Release Day! Yippppeeeeee! This week has already been so much fun...and it's not over yet!

All of the new Taylored Expressions products are now available in the Fresh Out of the Oven Department. Everything is just so cute and happy this month!

Be sure to check the TE Current Specials page to find out how you can get your very own  Crafty Expressions stamp set for FREE! 

 

I have the most adorable set to share with you today...it's called 'Welcome Gnome!' LOL! Love it! This set is from the Apple Doodle Ink Collection from Doug Applegate and features funny sayings and adorable gnomes. The Baker's Dozen had a good time trading emails coming up with silly sayings for this one!

 

 

 

This is the GORGEOUS new border die out this month - The Lace Chain Border Die. Oh man! This is fabulous! You can also see a close up of the leaves made with the new Mega Leaves Dies. Just as awesome. You guys know I use the mini leaves all the time...now I have big ones too!

 

 

 

The paper that matches exactly is from MME and is called Gnome Sweet Gnome and it's available in the TE Store. If you buy this set, you have to get this paper too! I colored my little gnome couple with my trusty Copics.

 

 

 

Here is my Copic palette....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used some of the matching paper to do my Signature on the back of the card. Yup, that's from Signature Style too!

 

 

 

 

 

Have fun looking at everyone's blogs today! It's officially RELEASE DAY so everything is out now! Yay! Here's your link list:

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jami Sibley (DT Coordinator)
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Kerri Michaud (Guest Designer)
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess
• Nancy McKinney (Illustrator)

 

Taylored Expressions November 2012 Sneak Peeks, Day 2!

It's day two of November sneaks! Tomorrow you will be able to see EVERYTHING! But today, I have some more peeks for you!  Are you ready!?

• Today I'm featuring TWO new stamp sets! The first one is called 'Spectacular'  it's from the Whimsical Wishes stamp line by Nancy McKinney. This one is truly spectacular! It's cute glasses and sayings! EEP! So fun. Perfect for funny and light cards.  
• The second set for today is called 'Signature Style' and this one was my idea! YAY! I have been wanting a Taylored Expressions set for the back of my TE creations. Well, this one is a sampler of all the different designers. There is a signature stamp for any mood or creation. I'm very excited about this one! I hope you will love it too.
• We have inspiration to share Tuesday through Friday.  All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, November 8th at 8 am PST. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department at the Taylored Expressions Store.
• Readers 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.

 

Here is my card using the 'Spectacular' set! I kept it very graphic and clean and simple. I chose a bright fun color to match the mood. I found the perfect matching Doodlebug twine... You know me, sometimes I like lots of white space and a POP of an image!

 

 

 

 

My very first pair of eyeglasses were baby blue cat eye numbers with blue rhinestones! This is what made me have this idea! It was the sixties after all...

 

 

 

I used one of my Circle Nestabilities to cut out a piece of my white paper, then mounted that piece on some foam tape. This would be a nice layout to use to make a whole set of notecards.

 

 

 

Here's one of the Signature Style images! Isn't he cute!?

 

 

 

I was trying to think of something to make using all the 'Signature Style' images....so I came up with this! It's a gift bag full of pre-made signatures for the back of cards. It's the perfect gift for a stamping pal. I used the gorgeous new Stacklets Dies to make the topper!

 

 

 

Here's a close up of the top....

 

 

 

Here are my individual signature pieces...see...truly something for every kind of card!

 

 

 

On the back I put a strip of double sided tape so that my friend can just pop them on the back of her cards. Voila! Ready to go.

 

 

 

I used my scoring board to score the Stacklets Die pieces in half for the top of my gift bag...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the list of players for today! Please hop on around and see all the neat projects! Thank you for stopping by.

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Kerri Michaud (Guest Designer)
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess
• Nancy McKinney (Illustrator) 

Taylored Expressions November 2012 Sneak Peeks, Day 1!

 

Yep, It's that FUN time again! Time for November's Sneak Peeks for Taylored Expressions! WOOOOHOOOOO! Get ready for lots of inspiration this week!  

Joining us this week is the winner of our Last Card Standing contest...the talented Kerri Michaud! She won a spot on the Baker's Dozen and I just know her work will wow you! Welcome Kerri! So glad to have you stamp with us in November and December!

• Today I'm featuring the GORGEOUS new stamp set from the Lasting Impressions collection called In the Word - When Mark Your Spot and the Bookmark die were released, Jami  immediately thought a set of Bible verses would be perfect to go with them, and I agree! This set will allow you to create beautiful bookmarks, as well as cards, tags, framed art, and more! I like this stamp set because it can be used for encouragement cards. Sometimes you just want to send a nice thought to someone to uplift them. 
• We have inspiration to share Tuesday through Friday.  All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, November 8th at 8 am PST. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department at the Taylored Expressions Store.
• Readers 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. That really is a ton of fun, if you've never joined us, you should!

 

Here is my card for today. I used all the pretty background stamps to make sort of a collage effect for my card, then framed out the sentiment using the brand new Stacklets Dies. I am over the moon thrilled that Taylor started doing frame dies!! I know I will use these all the time.

 

 

 

Here's a close up of my layers....All the inks are Tim Holtz Distress Inks that are available in the TE Store!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is my card in progress...Yes, I'm a messy stamper! You can see my color swatches of inks - from when I was trying to figure out what colors best matched my patterned paper. The paper I used for this card are from the Authentique 'Thankful' collection. So pretty.

 

 

 

Here is what my base layer looks like. I have fun putting different colors and shapes down on my cream base. I think I like the soft words the best...or maybe those big swirls...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a sneak peek at another new set...that I designed! It's called Signature Style! Yipppeeeee! I will show you all about it tomorrow!

Here is our fun filled link list for today! We have our contest winner guest blogger Kerri Michaud joining with us! Welcome to Kerri!

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jami Sibley (DT Coordinator)
• Jen Shults
• Karen Giron
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess
• Nancy McKinney (Illustrator)

Happy Anniversary to TE Designer Emily!

 

Happy Anniversary to our awesome designer Emily! This month marks the One Year Anniversary of the Embracing Grace collection of stamps illustrated by Emily Burger.  To celebrate, the Baker's Dozen is highlighting Emily's very own set Love Grows Here. I love Emily's work, and this set in particular. I use it all the time! We are all featuring it today on our blogs to give Emily a big shout out! All three of my cards for today are from this set. You've maybe seen them before?

Emily has donated two sets of mirror cards from her etsy store to go to one lucky winner (so you can keep one and give one as a gift.)  The winner will be chosen by a random drawing from all of the comments left on all the posts in today's blog hop (One comment per blog, please.) and will be announced in Taylor's blog post tomorrow morning. So, leave a comment to win! Thanks for coming by today! And don't forget - Release Week starts tomorrow! WOOO HOOOO! 

This first one was for my former boss's retirement. I thought it made a nice masculine card so I chose a soft celery green and brown as my accents...

 

 

 

 

This next card is a pretty Autum Thank you card! You know I love Autumn...oh and cute owls too! This card features the TE Mini Leaves and Scallop Dies.

 

 

 

Last, but not least, Here's fun all-occasion card with some sweet honey bees!

 

Here are the links for today. Have a great time looking at everyone's cards and don't forget to comment to win! XOXO 

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jami Sibley
• Jen Shults
• Karen Giron
• Melody Rupple
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess

 

Hey! It's my Birthday!

Hi Friends! It's my Birthday today! What a very very nice day it was too. And...how nice that the time change is tonight so I even get an extra hour?! LOL. Just got home and put on my sweat pants and snuggled up with Mr. Buddy. I thought I would share my day with you. How lucky that I was born in Autumn, my favorite season. The leaves are in full bloom and we set out this morning to head North and do some leaf peeping in the foothills. We started out by having a wonderful giant breakfast at The Ugly Mug Cafe. Don't you love going out to breakfast? I do! Then we drove up to Grass Valley California, which really isn't too far from home....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we drove around all day taking pictures, we worked up quite an appetite! We went out for some yummy Chinese food at PF Changs. LOVE that place! MMMMMM. Then it was time to head over to the mall to pick out some presents! Yay!

 

 

 This is my favorite Instagram from today...and maybe one of my favorite Instagrams ever!

 

 

This Instagram is from Thursday night when I had dinner with my friend Jane!

 

 

 
Good things come in small packages right?! I have always wanted a Tiffany key necklace and this was my birthday gift! We cruised the mall for a while and I got some makeup and a jean jacket for 75% off too. I'm so spoiled...and grateful...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we got home there was a big stack of cards in the mail box! I have the BEST FRIENDS ever. Seriously. I'm so lucky! Thank you to everyone who sent me a card today, or a text, or a facebook message. I feel so loved today and I'm so happy. My amazing husband chauffered me all around today and was a trooper. LOVE. It has been a truly joyful day.  This has been a year filled with so many blessings...beyond what I can put into words. I always get a little emotional and introspective around my birthday and this year is no exception. Thank you Lord for everything!

 

 

 

 How cute is this card from my super sweet pen pal in The Netherlands!!??

 

Thank you so much for stopping by...and sharing a bit of my birthday with me! I hope you're having a fabulous weekend! Be sure to come by next week - the bloggy blog is going to be super busy. I have something new EVERY day for ya since it's Taylored Expressions Release Week! Nighty Night. XO.

 

Dia de los Muertos!

Hi friends! SO, I don't really ever do this, but today has TWO blog posts! It was the scheduled day for our fun Calendar Challenge at Taylored Expressions today...but then I also had something else to share. My wonderful, crazy stamping friend Corky celebrates Dia de los Muertos each year (which is today) and I always have fun trying to make something colorful and funky to send her on this holiday. This year Paper Source had all kinds of cool stuff for Dia...including this awesome sugar skull stamp. I bought each of us a stamp and then had fun playing with color! What do you think?

 

 

After I made my rosette and layers, I sprayed the whole thing with glimmer mist pearl paint! Oooooh! I stamped the background paper myself with some pretty, bright inks.

 

And, you know the whole thing just needed some bling!!!  

 

The best thing about alphabet dies and stamps is that you can make a custom card for ANY occasion...see! So much fun to make things personal for my friends. Hope you've enjoyed this one.   

 

Look out...here it is November already! I am finally feeling like I'm getting over my cold...just in time for my birthday on Saturday. Not sure what we're doing that day...but it will involve food and shopping in some form! I'm just looking forward to spending the day with hubs and hanging out. Have a wonderful day!  

Taylored Expressions November Calendar Challenge!

Today it's time again for our cool new calendar projects from Taylored Expressions and I have had such a good time making my pages each month this year! The Baker's Dozen Design Team has been sharing calendar goodies and ideas with you throughout the year, and we are winding down to the last two months.

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!

Well, I might be biased, but I think November is the BEST month! Oh, might be because my birthday is this month! LOL. Seriously, how cute is Cuppie out in the pumpkin patch?? I used the adorable fence die and some pretty leaves to make an Autumn scene.... 

 

 

 

 

I cut the fence out of kraft paper! Colored in my cute pumpkins and Cuppie. I cut out a few extra pumpkins to place around my calendar page.

 

 

 

Here are my Copic choices for this project...

 

 

 

Here are my supplies....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is our list of calendar players for today! Take a look! Thank you for coming by my blog today! And, hello to all my new subscribers! Have a fabulous day. XOXO

• Charmaine Ikach
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Stephanie Kraft
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess