A Blog Called Wanda

A fond farewell and thank you to Taylored Expressions!

Hi friends.... I don't even know where to start to write this post.... Today I'm writing about my awesome stint as a designer for Taylored Expressions. I have been on the TE Design Team for over FOUR years! Wow! It has been four years of fun, creativity, friendship, and general awesomeness. All good things must come to an end, and it is time for me to say farewell to this chapter of my crafting life. When I say I don't know where to start, I really don't know where to start. I have so many good memories. Taylor was the first person to ask me to be on a design team and I will be forever grateful to her for giving me my first big crafting opportunity. Nothing can ever replace that. I still remember exactly where I was when I got her email! And I remember telling all my friends! 

I have watched Taylor's company and her family grow, succeed and flourish! It has been a complete joy to be a part of the TE team. The entire TE creative family is amazing, and I have made life-long friendships. For that I am so grateful! We've had good times and great times, and more great times! Lots of memories from CHA and from Stamp Joy. So many great stamp sets to use on so many projects! I got to design some stamp sets along the way, too, and even had a stamp set named after me! Truly a work of heart. All of it! I could write a book right now...

I thought I would just share some photos today and take you on a trip down TE memory lane with me. GINORMOUS thanks to Taylor and Jon for allowing me to be part of something very special. Love you guys! XOXO 

Here is the teaching crew from the Stamp Joy event last October. I LOVE these girls. 

 

 

 

 

Here we are at CHA 2014....

 

 

 

This is my last project - posted today on the TE Blog....lovely stamps! 

 

 

 

This project is also from this month....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I even had a stamp set named after me! Here's Moka Wanda! 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to share these memories with me!

Have a wonderful day everyone! XOXO

 

Color Pop #3!

Hi everybody! What are you up to? We are having a relaxing weekend here in Sactown. The weather is awesome and it is just really nice to spend time with the hubs. Later today we are going over to our local outdoor mall to see the Budweiser Clydesdale Horses - that should be pretty fun! 

I am blogging today with some news and updates about my monthly Color Pop Feature over at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Blog! Today is the post for new ink color #3, which is the beautiful Fossilized Amber.

You know if it's Simon Says Stamp, then there must be cool prizes...and there are! Leave a comment over on my SSS Blog Post post for some Tim Holtz swag! Sweet! (It's a cool Tim Holtz tote bag!)

Here is a very sneaky peek at my project:

 

  CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ENTIRE PROJECT! 

 

 

Here is my color swatch for this month. Fossilized Amber fits very nicely into the yellow color wave. It is more rich and golden than Mustard Seed but not as deep as Wild Honey. A very good addition! Click on the photo to see all the different mediums it comes in! 

 

 

In case you didn't see it - CLICK HERE to see last month's project tutorial. It features the lovely Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink and a nautical themed card! I used the distress paint to make my own striped paper. 

 

Coming up next month is the super awesome Twisted Citron! I was hoping and praying and wishing for a pretty lime green color...and now it's here! It's like Tim read my mind or something. Just in time for Summer. So I'll be back next month with a new project featuring Twisted Citron. Thanks for following along with me on this Color Pop adventure! Have an awesome weekend. XO

 

Our friendship is a very happy thing....

Hey everyone! It's almost time for a long weekend! Hope all is well in your part of the world today. We have absolutely no plans for the long weekend, and guess what? I'm totally okay with that. I seriously need to recharge my batteries and sleep in - and hang with the hubs. Who knows what the weekend will bring. For now, I'm happy just knowing we have a holiday! Our American flag is already hanging out front and I already bought groceries too. Bring it! 

Thank you so much to everyone who has sent me an email, or a card or a text... I really am so grateful to have friends out there pulling for me and lifting me up. I'm hanging in there! There are several Bible verses that talk about being grateful for past hard times, because they remind us that God always pulls us through. That has been my focus and my Bible study the past few weeks. And, I know it to be true and right. Music, friends, The Word, and crafting....always get me by. 

Today's card features a new stamp set I got from Altenew Stamps and it's called Painted Flowers. It's so delicious. Seriously. Awesome. I am finding that I'm really into florals right now - nice, graphic, pretty florals. This fits the bill perfectly. And, I am all on board with the current trend of mixing a bold, black sentiment strip in with florals. If you look on Pinterest or some of your fav crafty blogs, you'll see this a lot. Me likey. My sentiment is from the Stampin' Up set called A Happy Thing. I stamped the words onto black paper and heat embossed with crisp white embossing powder. 

 

 

 

 

I popped my sentiment strip up with some foam tape. Then I added some clear raindrops (These are from Papertrey Ink). I chose two shades of pink and two shades of light green from the Fresh Ink collection. This project reminded me that I really need to buy some more clear blocks!! LOL. This is actually about 10 different stamps and I had to keep taking them on and off my clear blocks. MESSY! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before I sign off I have a couple of announcements! Saturday is the next installment of my Tim Holtz Color Pop Feature over on the Simon Says Stamp Blog. I LOOOOOOOOVE sharing this with everyone! This time it's Fossilized Amber as the feature color. I hope you will pop over and check out my card there. 

 

 

Second Announcement! The lovely and talented May Flaum has invited me to be a contributor this year to her Camp Scrap! YAY! I'm making a card tutorial. There is SO MUCH CONTENT on this class for such a great price. I hope you will CLICK HERE to read all about it and sign up! Lots of crafty gals involved in this awesome project. Can't wait! 

 

Pineapples a Plenty! Reverse Confetti Guest Designing continues!

Aloha! Are you guys ready for a little tropical spirit in a card? Well, that's what you're gonna get today! I'm back with another card I made for Reverse Confetti! I'm having SO much fun being a guest designer for them this month. Yay! Their stamps are too much fun - and I was especially smitten with this set - called Pineapples a Plenty. I am going to use these a lot - so many ideas going through my head. Hope you all had a very nice weekend.

I used the pretty Pina Colada Quick Card Panels because they match perfectly. I adore the striking black and white stripes combined with all this color. I also used my favorite flower set from Reverse Confetti. Because when I think of Aloha, I always think flowers. 

Here's my happy card! Good way to start off the new week! 

 

 

 

 

 

There's a lot going on here! LOL. I used a kraft card base to 'ground' all that color. Then I wanted to pop some hot pink in, then some text...oh and some stripes! I couldn't stop myself. I love that the dies are in two separate pieces so you can stamp them in pretty colors and put them together after. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used foam squares to add LOADS of dimension to this project. I also added some glittery enamel dots in bright lime green. Oh, and then some Wink of Stella (clear) on the flowers, leaves and pineapples. This card just kept getting better! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope I've added a little sparkle to your day. Pop on over to Reverse Confetti to see if anything (everything) might spark your creative fire! Have a very blessed day. 

Blogging makes me happy....

Hey crafty friends! I'm trying to hurry up and blog tonight before the power goes out again! SOOO weird, that we are having thunder and lightning storms here in Sacramento tonight. The power already went out once, and it's pouring rain right now! That isn't the norm around here... Kinda feels like the Midwest, not Northern California. LOTS of lightning! Poor Buddy went and hid in his kitty house in the studio and is in backwards, so all I can see is his furry rear end sticking out. Poor guy! 

The title of this post says it all... Blogging makes me happy. Truth. You guys make me happy. Thanks for the nice comments on my last post and for the good vibes I can truly feel coming my way. You lifted my spirits with your wise words and kind thoughts. That's the exact reason I blog...kind people. I'm blessed to know you!

In the spirit of keeping me happy this week and not getting down, I came home and made a card right after work again. One thing about my new (early) work schedule is that I am home by around 4:15 in the afternoons now. I wanted to use my new Papertrey Ink goodies that have been sitting on the counter...so I whipped up a clean and classy floral card. LOVE these new stamp sets!! (Brushed Blooms and Graceful Greetings).

 

 

 

 

 

I stamped all my images using Mama Elephant Inks. I chose some pretty, rich, black wood grain paper and then contrasted it with some pretty polka dots paper. I love black and light blue together. Delicious! I popped some bright yellow in there too, and matched the yellow twine at the end. 

 

 

 

 

So I was SUPER nervous when I stamped that big word stamp across my flowers! Whew. How many times have I ruined a card when I put the words on? Um, a lot! But this time it came out nice and crisp! I used black archival ink. 

 

 

 

 

My white panel with the stamping on it is raised up with foam tape for some depth. I added some pearls at the end - like I always do. I think this has a really nice vintage feel to it! 

 

 

 

 

Before I took my card photos I ran out and grabbed the FIRST hydrangea of the season! SO pretty!! It's so fresh and this color takes my breath away. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! Probably when you read this it will be FRIDAY already! Woot Woot Woot! Amen to that! Hope you have a really nice weekend planned! Take care everyone! XOXO

 

This n that!

Hello my creative and lovely friends! Where have I been? Oh my.... Lots going on in my world. First of all, didn't you enjoy the Reverse Confetti release last week? I did! And, I have more Reverse Confetti projects coming this month and next month so stay tuned for that. I am so grateful to be invited to be a guest!

My energy is super low and I am totally going through something right now. I am like a roller coaster inside. You see, there is soooo much to be grateful for, and so many positive things are happening in my life... And on the other hand I have soooo much work stress that I feel like I'm barely hanging on in that regard. I am having a difficult time sorting all of that out internally. The highs and the lows are coming at me too fast lately. What's a girl to do? Buckle up and hang on? I dunno...but if I figure it out, I'll let you know!

One of the (many) very positive things is that this past weekend the hubs and I went on a mini getaway. I signed up for the Bay Area Illustrated Faith Workshop and that was on Saturday afternoon. Met some really nice ladies and had a lovely afternoon - thanks to Shanna! The hubs dropped me off there and then came back for me. He went out and did some walking and took some surfing pictures. We stayed the night in the beautiful Hotel Valencia on Santana Row in San Jose. Had a great dinner Saturday night, slept in Sunday, and shopped the afternoon away before heading home along Highway 1 - where I got to see my favorite things: fog and ocean! It was a great weekend together. Click over to my Instagram to see some of our adventures from the weekend.

So then Monday happens and I feel like crying. Right? You guys probably really don't want to hear about that. It's dreary and gloomy. But it's real. Don't we all just try and hold it together all the time? I see some of my seams coming apart. Good thing I can sew! God is good and merciful and I will be fine. I know that with all my heart. It's part of the plan. Thanks for listening to me and letting me vent.

Because I'm so topsy turvy, I feel like my crafty mojo is askew.... I came home tonight from work and went straight into the studio. I didn't allow myself to linger or dwell...or over analyze. And guess what? A happy little card came out. Just like that. And here it is! 

 

 

 

 

 

These are some new Savvy Stamps I picked up at Paper Garden last weekend. They were just the cheery thing to inspire me tonight! I have a couple of tips to share. First, that sentiment was too big for my card - you can see the entire stamp...So I taped off part of it and just stamped the 'hello' part! My image was stamped in Archival Black Ink and then loosely water colored with Distress Inks and a water brush. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second tip - I thought the black in the image was a bit harsh for this card. I put some yellow enamel dots on the one black flower to brighten it up. You can see I also took a white pen and made little highlight dots on the black leaves (Tip three). 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for being there for this girl! I hope that your week gets off to a splendid start! Not sure what I'm cooking up next. What are you working on? XOXO

Reverse Confetti May Release Blog Hop - Party Hats!

It's May Release Hop Day at Reverse Confetti! Yahooooo! All the stamps and dies we've been sneak peeking all week are available for purchase! It's a celebration. I have enjoyed this week so much, seeing the great projects everyone has made with the new stamps and dies. Today is the new Release Blog Hop! 

My card for today features the cool new "Party Hats" stamp set and the matching dies. These hats are seriously too much fun. Love the sentiments, love the shape...all of it. And, the matching die for the hat also comes with extra pieces so you can add more color and layers. I also used the Star Garland Die.

I made a festive and happy birthday card with lots of bright, happy colors!  

 

 

 

Isn't this font the cutest?? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The blog hop today is extra fun - with all the crew and the guest designers! I know you're going to love hopping to see what everyone made. Thanks for coming by today. I will have more Reverse Confetti fun coming up on my blog throughout May and June. 

I hope you've enjoyed hopping with us today. Up next is the SUPER fabulous Heather Pulvirenti (I love her work!). Be sure to hop with Reverse Confetti on the 8th of every month! If you get lost along the hop today CLICK HERE to find the hop order, and all of the participating designers on the Reverse Confetti Blog. 

Happy Shopping! CLICK HERE for the Reverse Confetti Store! 

 

 Here are the products I used today:

 

Reverse Confetti Release Week - Guest designing! Monkey Business sneak peek!

I have something super fun to share with you today! I am guest designing with Reverse Confetti for May and June! YAY! I love their fun and delightful stamps and dies and was thrilled when Jen asked me to be a 'Fetti Friend! This whole release for May is about celebrating. It is Reverse Confetti's two year birthday. Fabulous! Today is the first day of sneak peeks and then all the products will be for sale on Thursday the 8th. You're gonna love it all....

CLICK HERE to go to the Reverse Confetti Blog to see the announcement and the blog roll for today.  Oh, and also to see about the PRIZES!! :-)

My card features the new stamp set called "Monkey Business" and it's adorable. I'm also featuring the newest Quick Cut Panels on my card. These colors really POP! Quick Cut panels are small paper packs that are wonderful for cards or pocket scrapbooking. 

 

  

Isn't this saying entirely too sweet and fun? I say yes to Monkey Business! LOL. 

 

 

 

 

I used the new Flag Trio Dies to make some pretty banners for my card design and then matched the party hat and balloons to the patterned paper. My little monkey is popped up with some foam tape onto the sweet Scalloped Circle die cut. You can see touches of glossy accents too....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for coming by today! These new items are so fun to create with! Can't wait to share some more Confetti with you later in the week. I'll be joining in the Release Day Blog Hop on Thursday! WOOT WOOT! 

Head on over to the Reverse Confetti Blog to see what Jen, the Confetti Crew designers and the 'Fetti Friends have whipped up with this special May Birthday Release!

 

Here are the products I used for my card