A Blog Called Wanda

Watercolor butterfly friends....

Happy Sunday crafty peeps! Have you been able to get crafty this weekend? I worked in my studio all day yesterday and it was grand! I made some projects for the Simon Says Stamp blog for later in the week and then made a pretty watercolor card to share with you for today! Can you tell I am already dreaming of Spring colors and flowers? I'm sorry to say that I am/was over Christmas crafting!! In our creative world it seems like Christmas crafting lasts for months... I'm ready for aqua and lavender and yellow! Hahahaha. So today's card is full of butterflies and leaves. I hope you like it! I used my Distress Inks and some favorite SSS stamps and dies to make this friendship card...

 

 

The background was made by using the large background leaves stamp from SSS (Supply links at the bottom of my post). I inked directly onto the stamp with my Distress ink pads. Then I took a water bottle and misted the stamp all over. Then I stamped onto some watercolor paper, letting the stamp sit on the paper for just a few seconds to let the colors run together. I used Wilted Violet, Twisted Citron and Peacock Feather. YUM! I dried the image with my heat tool after stamping. Then, I sprinkled some water color droplets on top. Tip: Do the water splashes/drops after the initial image is dry! 

 

 

 

I die cut the Chrissy Butterfly die three times out of watercolor paper. I watercolored the butterflies using a water brush and Distress Inks. After they were dry, I used Mister Huey's white mist to add some visual interest. The friends die was cut out of crisp black paper. 

 

 

 

 

 

I glued the butterflies down only in the center and gently folded their wings upward with my fingers. I added Doodlebug Glitter Sprinkles to the centers of the butterflies. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much for coming by to see me! Hope you have a happy Sunday and hope your week ahead is a great one! I cannot believe tomorrow is February 1st already! Yikes! I don't have a ton going on in my life next week, so hopefully there will be lots of stamping time! XOXO 

SUPPLIES FOR TODAY! 

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Color Pop! Candied Apple!

Happy Color Pop Day! I have a super fun Valentine Project to share today with bright red hearts! I am so happy every month when I get to share my Color Pop feature with you! Thanks for being there with me all year as we crafted with the new Distress colors on the Simon Says Stamp Blog! Sadly, this is the last new color! I can't believe it's been an entire year and twelve colors already. What a cool project! Today's final installment of Color Pop is live on the SSS Blog right now. There is a lot of news and also some updates on the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Blog and I hope you will pop over there and leave some love.

The last Color Pop post is for the ink color for December, which is Candied Apple! Another pretty shade of red to add to our stash. It's bright, clear, and oh so pretty. It is truly candy apple red! It's perfect for Valentine's Day...and I know I'll be using it for Christmas projects too. Lovely! 

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 prize swag! Sweet! Big thanks to Heidi and the rest of the crew at SSS for giving away such great prizes!

Here is a very sneaky peek at my project:  

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ENTIRE PROJECT! 

 

 

Here is my color swatch for this month. Candied Apple fits right in with all the pretty red tones in the Distress Ink family. It is very vivid and clear. CLICK on the photo below to see all the different mediums it comes in. It's the perfect warm-toned red. OOH LA LA.  

 

 

 

In case you didn't see it - CLICK HERE to see last month's project tutorial. It features the gorgeous Lucky Clover Ink. Here is the coffee themed card I made!  

 

Thanks for following along with me on this Color Pop adventure for the new colors of 2015!

Stay tuned, I might just keep it going! Have an awesome day.

Until we meet again - happy crafting! 

 

Let's Chat! A sweet coffee card just for you!

Hey crafty pals! Let's Chat! How are ya? I'm posting today about a new company that has some awesome products....and I finally got my hands on some of them! My card for today was made with stamps from Concord & 9th. I had the opportunity to meet one of the owners at CHA and talk to him a bit about their company. I'm really impressed, and their stamp images are very unique and cool. I ordered some up last week and they came super fast. I was sitting at my work table today trying to decide what to make - and decided to ink up this pretty coffee set. It's called Let's Chat....appropriately enough! You know I love coffee!! 

I used some of my ginham paper stash (From Amuse Studio) with some pretty bright aqua paper...

 

 

The saucer, the leaves, the cup, and the coffee are all separate stamps. Then there is a separate stamp for the latte art heart! I stamped the coffee part in brown ink and then white heat embossed the white heart on top after. I put my sentiments in circles to continue the circular theme of the cup and saucer. 

 

 

I gently inked the edges of my circles with Antique Linen Distress Ink and a sponge dauber.... Just to soften a bit. I colored my images with watercolors and a water brush. Kept it sweet and simple. Not too fancy. The Femme Frames dies make the perfect scallop background layer. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This card is nice and flat for easy mailing! Are you proud of me for not using twine and enamel dots? LOL! 

 

Have a super wonderful fabulous week my friends!! I'm SOOOOOOOO excited because my city (Sacramento) is getting a Container Store finally! OMG! The Grand Opening is this Saturday! This makes me very happy. XOXOXO What's making you happy this week? 

 

 SUPPLY LIST:  

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Happy Weekend! Let's get caught up!

Hello, my dear sweet crafty friends! How was your week? If you're back east you might be hunkered down in that giant snow storm right now! If so, I hope all is well, and hope you stay safe and warm. Here in California it's raining again - and that's a very good thing. And, I love the rain anyway! I am going to hang out inside and get caught up on some things today. Some cooking and crafting...and maybe a nap with Mr. Buddy this afternoon. 

I had already been feeling like it's been a while since I posted some announcements about stuff going on.... And then I had a conversation with a girlfriend the other night that made me also think...perhaps I should post some updates!! My new creative ventures are going so well. I have been very busy in the best possible way - creating and photographing and blogging. It's all so good. I'm the most grateful girl. My heart is going to burst. CHA was amazing this year - lots of connections and business and lots of hugs too. 

It's been about four months since I started doing regularly scheduled work for Simon Says Stamp (hard to believe how fast it's gone!) I cannot say enough about Heidi and her company. What a blessing to work for her!!!  I am posting on the SSS blog six or seven times a month. So I feel like I'm posting lots of new projects - but now, not always here on my blog! It's been so great meeting new crafters through Simon Says Stamp. I would love it if you would subscribe to the SSS blog! That way, you can still follow along with all my projects including the ones not posted here. On the SSS blog there is a new post every day! Lots of prizes and good stuff. If you would like to sign up, CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK. I'm still posting Color Pop projects and the last one will go live next Friday the 29th - for Candied Apple Ink.

Here are sneak peeks of a few of my recent projects on the Simon Blog. To see the entire card, just click on the photo and it will take you to the tutorial and more photos! 

 

 

 

 

While I was at CHA, I took all the photos for the SSS live blog posts each day! Man, that was an awesome assignment!! To see the posts from the CHA show click on the graphic below. It takes you to the search results. The first four results are the posts from CHA 2016. Enjoy! 

 

 

Last, but certainly NOT least... A super fun and fabulous announcement! Some of my projects are in the newest book from Sizzix! YAHOOOOOO! This is pretty much the coolest thing of all time, right? I'm so honored to be included with all the other awesome crafters who contributed to this book. I have three projects in there....and my photo is in the back! EEEEEEK! I'm so totally geeking out about this!! Click on the photo below to see some preview pages on Amazon!!!  

 

So that's what I have for today! I'm off to get the mojo flowing now...See what happens! The next few weeks at our house are pretty quiet and event free. That feels sort of good after the holidays. Time to breathe for just a minute. I'm sending you hugs out via the interwebs. Have an awesome weekend. XOXO

 

Reverse Confetti - New product release!

 

 

Hi there! I'm very honored to have been invited to participate in a fun blog hop for a new release from our friends at Reverse Confetti! They are releasing a few new dies sets and some other cool products. VERY fun new and innovative ways to make treat bags! And you know how much I love to make treats!! The full list of participants in today's hop is at the bottom of my post. Or, CLICK HERE to go and start on the Reverse Confetti Blog. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to stamp with these lovely ladies! I am in the mood for flowers and bright cheerful colors right now, even though it's January! I made a treat bag and matching card that would be perfect for a 'girlfriend' gift! I love the sentiments in the Posted Notes Sentiments stamp set. And, I have always been a fan of the Love Blooms stamps and dies. YAY!

 

 

 

 

 

The new dies include this big beautiful bow, and the cool piece that perfectly fits at the bottom of the clear treat bags. There is also an awesome new long tag with cute toppers. I loved mixing and matching papers for this project. I used the new long tag for my card, and also for the sentiment on my treat bag. 

 

 

I made my bow out of pretty yellow paper and then put a flower in the center. I think this sort of looks like Mary Engelbreit! These bright and happy colors! 

 

 

Here is a close up of the die cut for the bottom of the treat bags. A pretty scalloped edge! SO cute. 

 

 

My card is small - it's a three and a half inch square. I used a sweet doily and then layered the new tag over it. Perfect for a gift enclosure card. I love kraft paper with bright colors. Oh yeah, I pretty much just love kraft paper! LOL. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIG thanks to Jen and the rest of the Reverse Confetti crew

for having me as a guest today! 

Here is your list for today's inspiration: 

Reverse Confetti Blog
Amy Kolling
Audrey Tokach
Heather Pulvirenti
Jennifer McGuire
Lisa Addesa
Lisa Henke
Kay Miller
Amy Rohl
Amy Tsuruta
Nichol Magouirk
Amy Sheffer
Sarah Gough
Laurie Schmidlin
Wanda Guess (ME!)
Susan Liles
Leigh Penner

 

Simon Says Stamp February 2016 Card Kit - Hello Beautiful!

Hi fabulous crafty friends! I'm here today to share some love in the form of cards - made with the awesome new February 2016 Card Kit from Simon Says Stamp! This one is so perfect for Valentines...and also for 'girlfriend' cards. I adore this stamp set - the words, the fonts, everything! The other thing I really love are the pretty word stickers that are pink and GOLD! Yay. Love. It is time to get our craft on for Valentine's Day! The card kit is already available in the Simon Says Stamp store....You can buy one kit, or sign up for a subscription! The stamp set is also available separately - I put all the links at the bottom for you. Hope you are having an awesome day. I missed blogging while I was at CHA - glad to be back in the craft room making a mess. And I think my feet finally stopped hurting! LOL. 

Here's the first card: 

 

 

And the second card: 

 

 

 

For this card I wanted sort of a patchwork look.... So I cut squares and rectangles out of all the beautiful papers and then distressed the edges. I adhered them down to my card base in layers to make a mish/mash of colors and prints. Then I stamped my sentiment in crisp black onto a circle. I added stamped accents of hearts and arrows in pink ink. Then I added a few embellishments to my card - some word stickers and some of the epoxy stickers too. 

 

 

 

 

 

For this card I wanted the word stickers to be that POP of color on the front. I chose those first and then worked some papers and stamping in around it. I used strips of papers for the side, and then a larger piece for the top layer. 

 

 

Those pink and gold word stickers are THE BOMB! So pretty! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for popping in today! Hope you are feeling the L-O-V-E! My studio is a complete disaster area! But I'm having fun - so that's what matters, right? Clean up on Aisle 5! Best wishes for a great week my beautiful friends! XOXO

 

 

TODAY'S SUPPLY LINKS! 

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Pretty Pink Posh 2nd Birthday Celebration - Blog Hop!

Hey there crafty friends! There's something really fun going on around here today! I'm so excited to be part of the celebration for Pretty Pink Posh! It's the second anniversary for our dear friend Paulina and we're all going to help her party with a big three day blog hop event. There are tons of discounts and fun prizes every day. Be sure to leave comments on all the blog posts for chances to win big! There are new items in the PPP store for you to check out, including some beautiful new sequin mixes. I've used a couple of the new mixes in my card today! Big shout out and congratulations to Pretty Pink Posh! Yahooooooo! I'm happy to be included in the fun. You may have arrived here from Anna's awesome blog?! I adore her project from today. More links and prize information at the bottom of my post....

Also, scroll to the next blog post down to see my recap from CHA 2016! Just returned from Anaheim the other day! Woot! 

For my card, I was still thinking Winter and New Years, so I used some cute Lawn Fawn stamps to make a friendly New Year's shaker card. I used the AWESOME Scallop Frames dies from Pretty Pink Posh, and also the Speech Bubbles and sequin mixes. It all works so nicely together. The new frame dies are going to be a fav in my craft room, I already know it. 

 

 This color palette was inspired by the new Kindness Sequin Mix! The MFT Plaid Paper went perfectly with the colors!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used about four different sequin types in this shaker! White ones, stars, the new Kindness mix and silver!! OOOOH LA LA!  

 

My Copic Coloring is simple - not too many colors - and I picked an aqua for his scarf! The words were all stamped using my stamp positioner so I could use lots of sentiments together to spell out what I wanted, and make the words fit! 

 

 

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE NEXT STOP ON THE BLOG HOP - the lovely HEATHER!

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL LINK LIST!

 

BLOG HOP DISCOUNTS AND PRIZES INFORMATION BELOW! 

 

 TODAY'S SUPPLY LINKS:  

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I'm back from CHA! Fun, Memories & Creativity!

Hey everyone! I'm back from CHA! Wow! Can't believe it's been a week since I drove down to LA! That was maybe the fastest week of my life. I told my husband last night that it felt like I got pulled into the CHA tornado, swirled around, and then spit back out! But, oh, what a wonderful thing it was. I am quite sure that I have never laughed that much in one week in my entire life. It's all about memories, friends, fun, and creativity. And this time around, work, too! YAY! So it was raining the day I drove down to Anaheim and the last 50 miles of my trip took over three hours. Can you believe it? The entire I-5 Freeway was FLOODED! Yowza. I made it safe and sound though and checked into my hotel that night. On Thursday I did some sightseeing over at the ocean. I need ocean time, ya know!! Then I met up with Heidi, Stephanie and Sarah from Simon Says Stamp for a yummy dinner! MAN, I love those girls...A LOT. 

Friday I helped Brenda set up her Sizzix booth all day. That was the first time I've been in the convention center before the show opened. It was super duper interesting to see behind the scenes of how everything comes together. I'm really happy I had that opportunity. It kind of freaked me out that I was sitting there doing some last minute crafting for the booth....and a tractor went by me in the aisle!! They were putting up the giant overhead signs. Like I said....super interesting. I saw so many of my favorite people setting up, and it was quiet in there too. I worked the show Saturday, Sunday and Monday and drove home on Tuesday. We had some amazing meals together all of us gabbing and getting caught up. I worked with Brenda in her booth on Saturday morning and that was amazing. 

This year I was on assignment for Simon Says Stamp and I loved it! I was responsible for taking all the photos for our "LIVE FROM CHA" blog posts all week, and writing some of the posts. I was also doing some Instagram too. We were all there scouting products as well, looking for things we want in the SSS store and things that would be fun for card kits. I loved doing all of those things. There were some late nights and rowdy times with the gang. Seriously, on Sunday I left my hotel room at 8:30 am and got back at 1:00 am!! Brenda was doing crafting in the food court at midnight!! LOL. A bunch of us ended up in someone's room and I looked around at the people there and had a moment. Like, I am sitting here with so many people that I admire. Wow. So much food for my creative soul. My heart is FULL. I got to hug all my crafty pals in person and meet some of them for the first time. When you meet another crafty girl, it's not really like meeting them...more like seeing them again. It's so cool that we are connected like that all over the world. Today it's all about laundry, bills and unpacking (back to reality mode!!)

Some of my favorite products were from Tim Holtz (Ranger, Ideaology and Sizzix), Lawn Fawn, My Mind's Eye, Prima, Simple Stories and Waffle Flower. We R Memory Keepers has a new punch board that makes the entire alphabet! They are so innovative. Lots of companies are getting into the planner biz I noticed. Echo Park as always had some of my favorite paper collections. Little B has new washi tape that has FOXES on it - and I must have it! It's really hard to think of everything right now! 

CLICK HERE to see the blog posts from CHA that we posted on Simon Says Stamp Blog (it will be the first four links that come up). CLICK HERE to see my Instagrams from the show! I made a fun little video instead of showing a bunch of photos here on the blog!!! I hope you enjoy it!!! 

 

This slideshow created with Smilebox

 

I'll be back tomorrow with a card and a super fun and fabulous blog hop! XOXO 

It's time for CHA! Announcements and Info!

Hi everyone! Hope you're having a great week! I'm already down in Anaheim for the giant CHA Convention! Yay! Oh, man, I look forward to this so much every year! So anxious and excited to see my friends, have tons of laughs, take some selfies, and do some business! This year I am part of the Simon Says Stamp team and I'm really grateful! I will be taking photos on the show floor and will be writing some of the blog posts for the Simon Says Stamp blog - to keep you updated from the event.

Here is the link to the CHA website so you can see what it's all about. It's the world's largest craft and hobby trade show. Where all the vendors of our favorite products show their items and display them for the buyers. 

This year I was lucky enough to help my dear friend Brenda Walton design her CHA booth and make some of the projects. What an honor and what a fun experience! I can't wait to show you what it looks like! I also have a few projects in the Sizzix and Ranger booths for Tim Holtz like I did last year. Also, such a great opportunity. I am so blessed. I will share photos of all of these things when I get back. Here is my post from last year's show! 

I won't be blogging here on my blog for about a week. Please check the Simon Says Stamp blog every day for updates from the show....new products and tools! You can also follow along with me on my Instagram account or my blog Facebook page. You don't have to have an Instagram account or a Facebook account to see the pictures! I'm going to use the hashtag #wandaCHA2016

Here are the links:

SIMON SAYS STAMP BLOG 

WANDA'S INSTAGRAM

A BLOG CALLED WANDA FACEBOOK PAGE 

#wandaCHA2016

 

Until I get back - stay crafty my friends! XOXOXO 

 

Floral note cards set!

Hello creative people! Happy Monday! I guess the holidays are officially over, now that it's the Monday after New Years.... Happy 2016! Thank you for the OVERWHELMING response to my last two posts! Oh man! I think I got 1000 comments in the last week. Two awesome blog hops. Thank you so very much for playing along with me. I will pick my winner for the Season's Givings prize tomorrow and email the lucky person! Thank you for supporting me - and I did read every comment. You are all so kind and sweet to me and it uplifts me. I'm grateful for that. SO grateful! What a blessing to know all of you! 

I'm leaving for CHA on Wednesday. I'll do a post here on Thursday with all the links to how to find the scoop from the show....so stay tuned for that. 

I really enjoyed reading about everyone's crafty resolutions. Lots of us are planning to try to get more organized in 2016. I think that is my crafty resolution every year!! A lot of you commented that you are going to try to learn new techniques, and send more cards. Several people said they need more creative time to help the balance in their lives. Yes, I agree with all of that. Let's see what we can do to accomplish that in the new year. I hope you had a great weekend!

One of my ongoing creative resolutions is to use my NEW stamps before they become OLD stamps! ACK. How many of us buy awesome new stuff and then we don't find the time to use it!? I sat down on Saturday afternoon to craft, and with this resolution in mind, I reached for my newest stamp set from Papertrey Ink. It's called Fresh Floral Wrap Ups. Their design team made so many beautiful projects with this set. I was totally inspired. And then Laurie posted THIS VIDEO ON HER BLOG which inspired me even more! So I made a set of four note cards using the same supplies. All I did was change the colors. Take a look.... 

 

 

 

It's hard to pick a favorite! I think red.....or maybe pink?? ACK. You can see that I used all my favorite items!! Enamel Dots, Woodgrain Paper, Twine....and flowers! I started with A2 white card bases and layered a piece of woodgrain paper. Then I had fun stamping and die cutting all my elements. All of the stamps and dies are from Papertrey Ink. The twine is from Lawn Fawn and the Enamel Dots are from Doodlebug. Yes. Makes me happy! In Laurie's video she talked about using colored pencils to accent her stamping. What a great idea! So here, you can see that I added some accent colors of dark red, green, and vivid yellow to my floral images. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't decide if I'll save this as a set to give someone for a gift, or if I'll just mail them out individually. These were easy and fast to create - and the color possibilities are endless! What fun! They are pretty flat too, for easy mailing. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made a collage because I thought it was kind of cool to see them all next to each other like this - just the color is different. Which one do you like? 

 

Thanks for coming by today!

I hope you have an AWESOME first week of 2016! Keep on crafting! XOXO