A Blog Called Wanda

Boo! Happy Halloween 2014!

Hi! Happy Friday and Happy Halloween! I hope there are many bite-size candy bars in your future! LOL! This is a very fun and happy Friday indeed for me! After work today, I am on vacation for a week to celebrate my (ack) 50th birthday and I literally cannot stand it! We have a fun trip to the Oregon coast planned and I need to finish packing before we leave at o dark thirty tomorrow morning! Before we start moving on in the crafting calendar towards Christmas, thought I'd share one more Halloween card with you.

I was totally inspired by THIS CARD on Splitcoaststampers and put my own twist on it. Shout out to Jingle for the idea - you should check out her gallery - yep, good stuff there. 

BOO! 

 

 

 

I cut the trees out of the super fabulous Birch Trees Cutting Plate from Taylored Expressions then mounted the white die cut piece onto a piece of dark grey paper. I also cut a bright yellow circle and placed that in between the two layers.... The letter dies are from Memory Box!

 

 

 

 

These bat dies come in a set of three - also from Memory Box... I mounted some on foam squares and some flat to the page. After they were glued down, I gently pulled their wings up off the paper to add dimension and flight!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I couldn't resist adding some BLING! 

 

 

 

 

Until we meet again...happy haunting and

Happy Halloween!   

 

   Wanda 

Papertrey Ink October Blog Hop - Pastel Christmas Village!

Hi there and happy Saturday! It's time again for the Papertrey Ink Customer Blog Hop! For October, there were several color recipes to choose from - with pretty inspiration images. I had a really hard time choosing which one to use! I decided upon the one that had a pretty, glittery bowl of sparkly ornaments in pastel shades.... Then I scurried off to the PTI corner of my craft room and just kept picking things out! I am sure I used about 10 products for this card. Really - too much fun!

Here is my sparkly Christmas village card:

 

 

 

Instead of traditional red and green, I used aqua and raspberry! OOOOH LA LA! I am going to do some more of this color palette this winter! Yummy. The trees and snowflakes are cut out of pretty AC Glitter paper which is the bomb!! 

 

 

 

Here is the color recipe and inspiration image - I picked up the shades of aqua and teal and hot pink... and the silver in the background with the tree. 

 

 

 

I put my littel houses all in a row, nestled into the snowy hill... I had lots of fun adding pearls and rhinestones to mimic snow....ahhh....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seriously entirely too much fun and sparkliness! LOL. I'm running off now to see what everyone else made today. I know that there are going to be some spectacular cards based on the gorgeous inspiration pieces! Toodles! CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE PTI BLOG! 

Snowman Blessings!

Hi friends! Hope your week is going great! I'm popping in today to share a fun snowman card I made using gorgeous products from Simon Says Stamp! Ever since the "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" release, I have been dying to get my hands on these adorable snowman stamps and dies! (Full supply links at the bottom of my post) Who doesn't love a snowman on a Christmas card?? Um, no one! LOL. The main reason I love this Build a Snowman stamp set so much is that all the elements are each a separate stamp - so you can customize him/her exactly how you want to! I gave him an adorable hat, and a pretty red scarf, and then put a heart in his twig arm... F-U-N! 

Okay - so here's my card!  

 

 

 

 

The word die is actually two pieces and says Christmas Blessings... I used just the blessings part - so that it could be a Winter card, a thank you card, or anything else too!

 

 

 

EEEEEP! He is so adorable! I added super fine glitter to all his parts! And to the snowflake die as well. For the snowman body, I took my BG11 Copic Marker and outlined him, before adding a rim of sweet glitter. 

 

 

 

 

This snowflake die is just so so pretty! I put a Doodlebug sparkly enamel dot in the center to pop it!

 

 

 

 

Here's a side view of my layering...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blessings to you my crafty friends! Love ya! 

 

Have you started your Christmas crafting yet? I'm sort of caught between Thanksgiving/Fall/Christmas crafting so my craft room is a MESS! Stuff everwhere! But don't we love it? See you soon. Mwah! 

 

 SUPPLY LINKS! 

InLinkz.com

Fall + Coffee = A Perfect Blend!

Hellllooooooo! It's been a long week and I have missed crafting and blogging! I got up early this morning and headed into the craft room and made this card before we started out for a long, fun day! Just now home and posting this! The hubs and I went on a movie-lunch-mall date today! Just what I needed! And, I got a massage (really what I needed)...and I spent a whole wad of cash at Sephora! What's better than that?? Nothing! We went to see "Gone Girl" and it was REALLY good!! it doesn't hurt much to look at Ben Affleck for two hours either (just sayin'). Did you guys have a good week? I was super busy at work and I feel like the week chewed me up and spit me back out.... But today made up for all that! 

Today's card combines three of my favorite things together: Fall, coffee, and leaves! A perfect blend of elements if you ask me. I used some new Lawn Fawn stamps that just came in the mail, along with some old favorites! And I'm pretty addicted to the Sweater Weather paper pad! Here ya go...

 

 

 

 

 

Don't you love when the stamps and dies go together SO perfectly!? I used a few matching Copics to color my coffee cups - really simple. I paper pieced the coffee cozy on the big cup and added a heart. The stitched leaves always work!

 

 

 

 

My coffee cups are popped up with foam squares and so is my banner. Everything is gently distressed with Antique Linen ink and a big sponge dauber. The paper is the confetti cream paper from PTI. It's nice and 'earthy' and goes so nicely with kraft! 

 

 

 

 

I had to use this pretty Lawn Fawn Flair heart button! And...how cute is the little steam swirl??? Love. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so very very much for stopping by to see me! I hope you're having a marvelous weekend. I'll be back soon...not sure what to make next since right now Christmas products are coming... We'll see. Love ya! XO

SUPPLIES FOR THIS CARD! 

The patterned paper is Discontinued - From Lawn Fawn....

Spooky Cats! Fun with Simon Says Stamp Halloween!

Hey friends! I'm back from Iowa! (see bottom of my post for more deets) and spending some time in the craft room again! So I took yesterday off work to regroup from my trip, and I needed to get crafty! I have lots and lots of Halloween ideas in my head and I have to make some stuff! LOL. For today's project I used the uber cute Simon Says Stamp dies and stamp sets to make a pair of cute Halloween cats!  

 

 

 

 

I stamped and colored my spooky kitties with my Copic Markers. At the end I added some pretty Stickles! I created a window using two nesting oval dies. I like that pop of purple on Dracula kitty's cape against the black! 

 

 

 

 

I die cut the Halloween word die and then gently curved it with my fingers when gluing it down - so that it would match the curve of the oval. Then I stamped some cool black bats! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cat images are popped up on foam squares for dimension...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little more about my long weekend! It's so nice to be back here sharing with you after a SUPER fun, fabulous, exciting, crafty weekend. OMG my face hurts from smiling and laughing so hard. I got back late Sunday afternoon from my whirlwind trip to Des Moines, Iowa where I taught at Memory Bound Scrapbooks and then taught and helped out with Taylored Expressions Stamp Joy! WOW! The TE Event was amazing! Taylor worked so hard to put on a good day and she did just that. I got to see the TE warehouse headquarters (and go shopping) and meet the rest of the TE crew. I am SO very lucky to be affiliated with them. I saw old friends and made lots of new friends too. I came home renewed and relaxed. Thank you for all the hugs and kindness I received while I was in Iowa. To see all my photos of the event, and behind the scenes, please 'like' my A Blog Called Wanda Facebook page (link on left sidebar). 

Here is a great photo of the group: Taylor, Jen, Me, Sankari, Stephanie, and Lori! {love}

  

Okay, that's it for me for today! Have a great week!

Here are my links for today's project:  

InLinkz.com

Taylored Expressions Apple Note Cards!

As you read this, I am in Iowa at the awesome Taylored Expressions Stamp Joy event!! I can't wait to share everything with you when I get back! I have been excited about this for months! Hope you're having a super weekend! If you want to see pix from the event, like my facebook page because I'll be posting from Iowa! (Link on my left sidebar).

Autumn crafting continues here on my bloggy blog! I wanted to share a project that was featured on the Taylored Expressions Blog this last week. I loooooove how these mini notes turned out so I wanted to share them here in case you missed them! I am crazy about these new apple dies and they paired perfectly with another of my favorite TE products - the mini scalloped note card die. I think these are great as little notes OR as placecards for your Autumn table! You could even easily write names on the leaves to personalize them at the table. Hope you enjoy this project - and have a beautiful day! XO 

 

 

 

 

I LOVE red and kraft together! So pretty for Fall - especially if you add some gold and olive. Delicious! The dies come with the leaves and seeds in a separate pack and they match each size of the apple stacklets. Two thumbs up! 

 

 

 

I used different sentiments on each note and then added a little twine bow to my mini tags. Even though these notes are only 3x3 inches, they pack a lot of stuff! LOL. 

 

 

 

 

Here is that awesome mini scalloped note card die... You can get three note cards from one sheet of 81/2 x 11 paper. 

 

 

 

Close up! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best wishes for an awesome week ahead!

Yay - it's Autumn! 

Simon Says Stamp - Grab Bag Prize Winners!

Hey everyone! Thank you for ALL THE COMMENTS left on my Simon Says Stamp Cold Hands, Warm Heart blog post! Wowza! That was super fun and exciting to have so many blog visitors! Simon Says Stamp generously is giving away a prize package on each person's blog....and the winners are announced NOW!

So...The winner for my blog is:

DENISE G!

CONGRATULATIONS!

To see the entire winner list for every blog, and to find out how to claim your prize pack, head on over to the Simon Says Stamp blog! Thank you to everyone who entered and made this a really fun release! Didn't you just love all the new stuff? What did you buy?

12 Tags of 2014 - October - Trick or Treat!

Wowza! First of all, let me just say a big thank you to everyone who left a comment on my last post! That was certainly crazy and fun! SOOOOO many kind people came by my blog. At last count I was approaching 500 comments! Yowza! Good luck on winning the prize package!! If you haven't left a comment on all of the posts in the Simon Says Stamp Blog Hop - be sure to do so by this Friday the 10th! CLICK HERE TO SEE MY POST!  There is a prize pack on each of the blogs...so generous of Simon Says Stamp dontcha think? 

Today I'm sharing my Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2014 tag for October! Lots of cool techniques on this one...and it really got me out of my comfort zone (again). Mr. Holtz is very good at that isn't he? I used embossing paste, and glossy accents, and glitter, and inks and all kinds of good stuff to make this one. I took lots of photos too. Hope ya like it! 

 

 

 

The Tim Holtz stencil I used is called "shatter" but I think it looks exactly like a creepy spider web! I put the stencil down and then used white embossing paste with it.... Makes a really cool texture. That was the basis for Tim's tag this month and I'm trying to use lots of his techniques. Another technique he used is to selectively use the glossy accents on your pieces...Here you can see I used the glossy accents on the bats! While they were drying I sprinkled in some black soot glitter for a little spice!  

 

Another technique Tim used on his tag was to put brads down to hold your words or, in my case, numbers. I like how this looks too! My bats were stamped in jet black archival ink and then watercolored with distress inks!  

 

Here is the inspiration tag!

 

 

You know how much I LOOOOOVE to color my own ribbon! The entire card is done in Marmalade, Preserves and Olive Distress Inks. This might be my favorite ribbon ever!!!!

 

 

Tim used alcohol inks on his tag for the color, but I don't have any alcohol inks yet. I was trying to come up with a way to re-create the same look...so here's what I did... I took my spritzer and the three shades of markers and really spritzed good and thoroughly over the embossing paste. It still didn't look quite right, so then I mised the entire thing lightly with plain water! Voila! Now it looks nice! I love the effect of the spray - see in the corner?

 

 

 

 

I watercolored my bats with preserves and olive - totally creepy and funky!! See the tiny bits of glitter on their wings?

 

 

Close up of the ribbon! You can't really see it in the photo but I added some sprays of Heirloom Gold perfect pearls and it's so nice and shimmery! On the tag too!

 

 

Step one:  

 

 

 

This stuff is tricky - but don't let it intimidate you! Do a nice thin, even coat...
 

 

Here's what it looks like before coloring it:

 

 

 

My color palette for this project:

 

 

 

This is how the tag looked before I put everything else on it. LOVE it!!!

 

Can you see the gold shimmer?

 

 

I wanted my ribbon sort of color separated...does that make sense? So here's how I did it this time.

 

 

 

And here it is after it's dry. Delicious!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Here are my bats, watercolored, before cutting them out....

 

I've gone batty! (With glossy accents)!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had the most marvelous weekend this past weekend! The hubs and I celebrated our wedding anniversary (which was Friday) by spending a lovely day together driving around on Saturday, followed by a great dinner out. Thought I would share a few of my Instagram shots from the weekend!

We live not too far from Apple Hill (Placerville, CA) and we got up early to get in line for the apple donuts - still warm from the oven. YUM!

 

 

 

Here's a shot of some of the beautiful apples in the giant bins.

 

 

Here's me being silly, collecting leaves and putting them on a picnic table.

 

 

And here is a shot of my AWESOME anniversary present! I have been wanting an Origami Owl necklace for a really long time, and I finally got one! Yay!

 
Okay, this was a long post....

Thanks for hanging in til the end! Love ya! XO

I'm leaving Thursday for Iowa for the Stamp Joy event!

InLinkz.com

Simon Says Stamp - Cold Hands, Warm Heart Blog Hop!

 

 

Welcome to the Simon Says Stamp - Cold Hands, Warm Heart Blog Hop! Yes! Lots of new products in this release, just sure to warm your heart and get you ready for Winter crafting! This release is available TODAY! SO many fun bloggers in the hop today and I'm really excited to be a part of it! You're going to be excited too, because there's a cool grab bag Prize Pack on each blog! Just leave a comment for a chance to win, then hop around and do the same on all the other blogs! Grab a cup o' cocoa and settle in for the fun! 

Here's my Winter scene - some pretty trees in the snow with a banner of hearts! All the dies and stamps are new! The sentiment is from the Stamptember set called Presents and Ornaments.

 

 

 

 

All of the stamps have perfectly matching dies - even these adorable hearts! Everything coordinates so nicely since it all looks homemade with the stitching. So pretty. The dies are cut out in the center so it's super easy to line them up with your images. 

 

 

 

Here's a side view. My little heart banner is popped up with foam tape squares. I added some gems at the end (of course). I waited until the green ink was dry on my trees, and then added some white snowflakes on top! 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up on this FABULOUS blog hop is the AMAZING and FUN Teri Anderson! LOVE her so much and her projects are gonna knock your socks clean off - trust me!

Here is the entire blog roll for today! Don't forget to check out the (really) great projects! I'm so happy you came by today! If you came in in the middle of the hop CLICK HERE to start at the beginning. 

SIMON SAYS STAMP

SHARI CARROLL

KRISTINA WERNER

JENNIFER MCGUIRE

LAURA BASSEN

SANDY ALLNOCK

DEBBY HUGHES

LUCY ABRAMS

KATHY RACOOSIN

NICHOL MAGOUIRK

ERIN SCHREINER

HEATHER RUWE

KIM O'CONNELL

STEPHANIE KLAUCK

HEATHER PULVIRENTI

WANDA GUESS

TERI ANDERSON

 

The giveaways for the prize pack will close at 1:00pm EST on Friday, October 10, 2014 and then Simon Says Stamp will pick the winners from everyone's blogs! I will post the winner for my blog prize pack that evening, and a complete winners list will be posted on the Simon blog on Friday October 10, 2014 also!! Yeah for prizes! 

InLinkz.com

Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge - Smooch!

 

Welcome friends! Fun things happening today! I am super proud to be the Guest Designer over at the Curtain Call Challenge this time around. The reason I get to guest design is because I was the winner of the Lovely Leaves Challenge! So, if you enter a card and win - you could be a guest designer too! I hope you will have fun with this theme - it's so cute. And we're featuring Paper Smooches stamps. Totally perfect! SMOOCH! XO!  

We have a new sponsor, Paper Smooches, for the Curtain Call Inspiration: Smooch!  A randomly selected participant in the Smooch challenge will be awarded their choice of a Paper Smooches stamp set, while the LEAD of the challenge will be invited as a guest designer for a future challenge! WOOOT WOOOT! 

I decided to do something a bit different with my SMOOCH! I made a fun Christmas card! First one for this year. Who can resist that adorable moose...and that teeny tiny lips stamp? Not me! LOL. I made a clean and simple card and had fun coloring with my Copics. This one makes me smile for sure. I can't wait to see what all the other designers made!

I put a touch of glitter and a little fuzzy pom pom on his hat! 

 

 

 

 

 

LINKS TO THE FABULOUS

CURTAIN CALL SMOOCH DESIGNERS!

Amy Kolling
Amy Sheffer
Amy Tsuruta
Gayatri Murali
Kim Singdahlsen
Laurie Willison
Lisa Henke
Marisa Ritzen
Maureen Plut
Monika Davis
Sarah Gough
Sheri Gilson
Stacey Schafer
Tenia Nelson
Tracey McNeely

 

Stop by the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: SMOOCH for the challenge details and to enter your design to play along with us! Thanks for stopping by my blog today! XO BIG thanks to Stacey for inviting me to join in today! 

 

 

 

 

 

InLinkz.com