A Blog Called Wanda

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2016 - February!

Hey! I'm just getting this post done right in time before the month is over! Whew! It's been a little while since I made a Tim Holtz Tag and this is my first one for 2016! Yipppeee! I loved all the cool techniques in this one and had a fun time making it over at Richele's house one lovely afternoon. I didn't make it a Valentine theme, since Valentine's Day is over, but I used all the fab ideas Tim shared in his post. My favorite thing? Embossing paste with gold embossing!!! Are you kidding me!? Where has this been all my life! Really fabulous and pretty. I am happy I got a tag done and excited to see the one for March! 

Speaking of Tim Holtz projects....did you see my Ideaology Charm Bracelet on the Simon Says Stamp Blog yesterday? I totally loved making that too! 

Okee dokes, Here is my completed tag....

 

 

 

To see Tim's Tag, and his awesome tutorials, please CLICK HERE. I am not going to go through it all step by step - since he is the master!!! I always learn so much watching his steps... Here is that super beautiful gold embossing over texture paste. I found that it doesn't need tons of heat. Hold your heat tool far away from the image... Also, let your texture paste dry first! 

 

 

I added Rock Candy Distress Glitter to my heart die cut. I first covered it with TH patterned paper. MMMMMM. 

 

 

 

 

 

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE TIM'S TUTORIAL! 

 

 

Lots and lots of layers of ink, and embossing, and distressing and all that jazz! The bottom inky layer that is directly on the tag was made using three of the new mini stencils. They are the exact size of a tag. Genius I tell ya. 

 

 

Of course I dyed my own ribbon....oh how I love to do that! Richele taught me some of her tricks....and now I used Spray Stain instead of ink pads! 

 

 

 

 Today I am grateful! Have a blessed day my crafty friends! XO

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Tim Holtz Ideaology Charm Bracelet!

Good morning and happy Saturday! Just a really quick post today - because I'm so excited about this project! How was your week? I hope it was great! The hubs and I got our taxes done yesterday and I breathed a huge sigh of relief....maybe you heard it? LOL. I am always so glad when that is over for the year and that stress is off my shoulders. After our tax appointment, we went and had a very nice celebratory pizza luncheon at this cool, hip place that I've been wanting to try and then we just ran errands. I have been working for a few days on next week's projects - using felt! How fun to be making some crafty things that aren't cards! Flexing my creative muscles in a different way is always awesome. Tomorrow I will be in the studio in front of the TV all day watching Oscar hype! I think it's as intense as the super bowl! I don't really care about the awards show (since I hardly ever have seen the movies) but I love the red carpet chatter! What's on the schedule for your weekend? Whatever it is, I hope you are content and happy in your corner of the globe!

I would love it if you would pop over to the Simon Says Stamp Blog this weekend sometime to check out my charm bracelet project. Like I said, I'm REALLY excited! It's been hard waiting for this post to go live so I could share with everyone! XOXO Here's a sneak peek photo! Full tutorial over at Simon Says Stamp!

 

Papertrey Ink February 2016 Blog Hop - Spring Florals!

Hi crafty gals! Hope you're having an awesome week! Today I'm sharing my card for the Papertrey Ink 2016 Blog Hop! Woooot! It's always fun to use my new stamps to make something for this cool hop. I try to make it every month!  My PTI order came in record time this month and I used two of the new stamp sets for February - the Painted Petals (Anniversary Set) and Tulip Time. The inspiration image was full of garden inspiration in pink and green...with flowers and ferns and butterflies. The images they pick for the blog hops are always so pretty. I sometimes find it hard to just pick one thing out as my inspiration. So I decided to go with a pink and green color scheme and went from there! I just let it happen. I loved the dark green background of the inspiration photo so I began with a green card base. 

 

 

 

There probably aren't flowers this color....but I liked all the pink and yellow together! LOL. I stamped everything and used the matching dies to cut out the flowers and ferns. 

 

 

LOTS of foam tape involved with this card! Here's a side view so you can see how I put it all together. I added a few water droplets to the card at the end.

 

 

Here is the inspiration image!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be sure to click over to Nichole's Blog to enter your own card and to see all the other ones! Have a blessed day - today and every day! XOXO

Rain or Shine! Reverse Confetti Guest Designer!

Helllooooooo there! How are you? Monday already!? How is that possible? Hope your weekend was nice! Thanks for all the lovely comments on my Blog Hop post from Friday! Wowza! I hope you guys win one of the prizes! I had a super productive and creative weekend. Yay for that! 

I was invited to guest design for Reverse Confetti stamps last month (THIS POST) and this month (today) and I'm so happy to work with Jen and her wonderful products. For my post today I chose the super sweet stamp set called "Weather it Together." The images are cute and the sentiments are just so perfect. The little umbrellas have a separate stamp that fills in the color/polka dot parts and it is so easy to create with. This is a perfect Spring time card for a friend, or a note of encouragement. I popped some bright lime green as my card base - love that color! 

Here's my card....

 

 

I used the patterned papers as my color inspiration for this card! I love these teeny umbrellas! I die cut them out using the matching dies. Then I added a bit of silver sparkly with a Wink of Stella brush pen. The hearts have just a touch of clear gel pen on them to make them shiny. 

 

 

The umbrellas were placed on the card with foam squares, and my top layer with all the papers is also popped up with foam tape. I adore the font for the sentiment. I think this could be perfect for a baby shower card too - little pink or blue umbrellas! EEP. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for coming by to see what I'm up to today! CLICK OVER TO THE REVERSE CONFETTI BLOG to see what's up over there! Always so much inspiration and cuteness! What will they come up with next? I already ordered everything from this month's release! :-) Have a wonderful week! XOXO

 

Garden love - just a quick post!

Hey everyone! Happy weekend! Oh my gosh! There is a LOT going on creatively around here. I am overwhelmed with creative energy and enthusiasm. I am so blessed to be working on many fun things to share with you! And just wrapping up the big Simon Says Stamp new release too. Today in the studio I'm working with lots of Tim Holtz Ideaology products to bring you a cool project for next week. The sun is shining where we live and life is good. The hubs just went out to get a pizza so we can watch a movie later. I've been in a bit of a grumpy funk for a few days and today I'm feeling my old self again. Whew - good for everyone!! LOL. I go in these phases where I don't sleep for like two weeks and then one night I sleep again. Gotta love hormones! (NOT!) Last night I slept eleven hours - which probably explains my renewed enthusiasm. Oh...and I got a Mini Minc machine too! EEEP. Can't wait to foil all the things. 

Here's a look at my card that is posted for Weekender with Wanda on the Simon Says Stamp Blog today! CLICK HERE or on the photo to go over and read my post and see how I made it. I'm posting it here for a couple of reasons.... 1) I really like this card! 2) In the SSS blog post I talk about my top crafty product picks for Spring and wanted to share that with you and 3) If you leave a comment over there you could win a prize!  

 

 

Here is just a little hint of what's coming next week:

 

 

And here's a picture of Buddy just because he was looking so handsome yesterday! 

Hope you are having an awesome weekend - wherever you are and whatever you'd doing! And, hope it's a crafty weekend too! XOXO See you soon! 

 

Simon Says Stamp Reason to Smile Blog Hop! Easter Bunny!

Happy Blog Hop Day! Welcome to the "Reason to Smile" new release blog hop. I'm sure you will find lots of fun, happiness and Spring inspiration at all the stops on the hop today! We have so many new stamp sets, and dies, and felt, and watercolor cards...and embossing powder! Oh my! Yay! There are 18 creative stops on our hop today! And, you know Simon Says Stamp...there are prizes at each and every blog. And, each prize package is valued at approximately $50! Be sure to hop along and see everyone's projects, and leave a comment on each one for all the chances to win. If you're hopping in order, you would have arrived from the FAB-ulous Kathy Racoosin's blog! If you need to go back and start at the beginning, click here. Have a wonderful day! I am so lucky to be able to create and share with you today! 

For my first project with this new release, I used the pretty churches dies to make an Easter Card. (See Wednesday's post!) Today I wanted to make another Easter card - but this time with an adorable bunny from the Melody's Easter stamp set, and the awesome new Gingham Background stamp! I chose Spring colors of bright yellow and pretty lavender and matched it with soft Fog cardstock that goes with my sweet grey bunny! I loved coloring these pretty flower images and it was so easy to cut them out with the matching dies! This card would be fun in any color combination... And, I think I'm going to save this card layout for future crafting!   

 

 

This new 6x6 Gingham Background stamp is so great! I know for sure I am going to use it again and again. It's still on my desk! I used pretty yellow ink to make a sunshiney background layer for my card. I matched my Copic colors to the yellow. (Supply links below)

 

 

How adorable is that bun-bun? I love him! I colored him with my Copic Markers. I even gave him little pink cheeks! I accented the flowers and the bunny with a white gel pen. 

 

 

I added two layers of stitched circles to make a focal point for the bunny. Then I added my flowers with foam squares to pop them off the page. 

 

 

 

 

 

This sentiment is in two pieces - and I love that! You can use both words separately or together as I did here. Awesome! I used the new Simon Says Stamp Intense Black ink pad which is perfect for Copic coloring. 

 

 

 

 

Thank you very very much for coming by today! Next up is the super talented and amazing Jennifer McGuire! CLICK HERE to go on to her blog! The full linky list is at the very bottom of my post. Most of all....just have fun today! Happy Hopping! XOXO 

 

SUPPLIES FOR TODAY - 

AND MORE NEW RELEASE PRODUCTS! 

 

InLinkz.com

 

 

BLOG HOP FULL LINKY LIST!

 

Simon Says Stamp 

Laura Bassen 

Suzy Plantamura  

Sarah Moerman

Yana Smakula
Kristina Werner  

Kathy Racoosin

                          Wanda Guess  <-- You are Here! 

Jennifer McGuire

Heather Ruwe

Debby Hughes
Nichol Magouirk

Nina Marie Trapani

Kelly Latevola

Heather Hoffman 

Lucy Abrams

Carissa Wiley 

Shari Carroll

Simon Says Stamp - Spring 2016 New Release - Reason to Smile!

Hey everyone! It's an exciting day! The newest, latest, greatest release is here from Simon Says Stamp! It's the Spring 2016 release and it's called "Reason to Smile!" It's chock full of fun, happy, cheerful images, stamps and dies for your Spring crafting. I'm sharing a card today that I made for Easter! Please be sure to come back on Friday when we will be doing a big blog hop with loads of inspiration and prizes! I love release week! I can't wait to see what everyone made.

My card today was created using the pretty new Churches dies. They are beautiful and simple and classy. There are two dies in this set. I combined one of them with the new clouds dies, and also with the Easter word die released last year. I chose a pretty pastel color story for my Easter creation.  Supply links are at the bottom of my post. CLICK HERE to see the entire new collection.

 

 

I love pink for Easter. I chose a medium value rose shade for my bottom card layer. I think it looks nice with the crisp white of the clouds and the church. I layered some leaves made with vellum and the Simon Says Stamp Clustered Leaves die. 

 

 

 

I cut some hills out of green patterned paper and then layered that onto the Stitched Ovals die to make my focal point of my card. Tip - cut your hills first, attach them to the kraft paper then cut the oval, so it all fits together. I used the sentiment from the new Melody's Easter stamp set and put it on a tiny banner. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so very much for stopping in today!

Lots more to come this week! Have a wonderful day. XOXO

 

SUPPLIES FOR TODAY -

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BLOG HOP ON FRIDAY! YIPPEEEEE!

Simon Says Stamp March 2016 Card Kit - for my peeps!

Greetings Peeps! Are you having a nice weekend? Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you are having fun with your sweetheart today! Today is also release day for the March Simon Says Stamp Card Kit! It's soooooo cute this time and I adore the Peeps stamp set that's in it! (Matching dies too!) Peeps are so colorful and cheery and adorable. I had a fun time making a card to share with you. Be sure to check out the Card Kit Galleries for more ideas and inspiration. I think we've all been having fun with this one. Get yours now! In time for Easter crafting! I have the suspicion that this one is going to sell out fast. I wouldn't wait!! 

The papers in the kit are bright and happy. I colored two of the medium peeps images with my Copic markers to match the paper, and then drenched them in sugary, sparkly glitter! A quick and easy card layout, and it was ready to go. I used the Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink Pad - which is perfect for Copic coloring. 

 

 

The peeps were mounted on my card with foam squares. I added a bit of twine and a pink button for an accent. The sentiment in the set is a long one. I masked off part of the stamp, and stamped it twice to fit the space I had for it. I use this trick often. Just use a piece of washi tape over the part of the stamp you don't want, ink it up, then peel the tape off... Repeat! Easy Peasy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have an awesome week ahead - my favorite peeps! 

GET YOUR CARD KIT HERE! 

 

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Bicycling by to say Happy Valentine's Day!

Hi friends! Happy FRIDAAAYYYYYYY! And, it's Valentine's Day weekend, and President's Day weekend! Lots going on and lots to celebrate right?! It was 78 degrees here the other day and the daffodils in our front yard are blooming. So pretty. The hubs and I got invited to a Valentine dessert party on Sunday night! How sweet! I haven't been to a Valentine party since I was a child. Totally looking forward to that - and being with other couples and generally having some good fun. I think we are going to go out for a little dinner tonight together. Even after 23 years I'm still so happy he is my sweet heart. I have loads of crafting to do this weekend too. So much good stuff coming up. Sunday is the launch of the March Simon Says Stamp Card Kit! Woot. You're gonna squeee with delight when you see the stamp set. Then, on Wednesday there is the new Spring product release called "Reason to Smile." So, be sure to stop by every day next week. Do you have fun plans for this weekend? 

Today's card was made with all supplies from one of my favorite companies - Papertrey Ink. This stamp set with the bicycle is called Pedal Pusher and it is sooooo dang adorable! It's been a long time since I inked up this set, and I thought I could make it into a cute Valentine card. My layout was inspired by one of my very favorite crafters: Betsy Veldman. Do you love her? I do! CLICK HERE to see her card that inspired me!  Read to the bottom to see what else inspired this card today! It's very special to me! 

 

 

 

These adorable cloud dies are the very first thing I bought from PTI many years ago. I stamped the clouds and then die cut them out. I like that there is no edge of white around this particular die. Then I went back with a white gel pen and added small accents to make them look puffy! The sentiment is from another stamp set from PTI. 

 

 

I couldn't resist adding a couple of little tiny red hearts! 

 

 

Gingham paper makes everything better! I added a little strip of red/white gingham behind my fence dies. The bicycle is mounted to my card with foam tape, as are the clouds. How adorable is that tiny basket filled with flowers?! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were married in Chatham, on Cape Cod. We were married in the Fall, and then we went on a two week trip around New England! I took 37 rolls of FILM on that trip! (Remember film!?) Does anyone else miss the anticipation of waiting to pick up your photos from the photo place? Sigh. The photo below is one of the pictures I took on our honeymoon and it brings back many happy memories. Sorry for the bad quality scan....but you get the idea!  

Happy Valentine's Day! See you Monday! 

 

Hero Arts 2016 Catalog Blog Hop!

 

Hi! Happy Monday! It's an exciting day here on the blog! I am so happy to have been invited to participate in the big blog hop today - celebrating the new 2016 Hero Arts Catalog! There are so many fun new items in this catalog. I saw most of it at CHA and love it all, already! Really happy to be able to get my hands on some new product and make something to share with you today. Welcome to the hop! Be sure to leave comments on all the blogs - Hero Arts is giving away four gift certificates - randomly - from all the comments. YAHOOOO! To shop the Hero Arts Store, CLICK HERE. To start at the beginning of the hop CLICK HERE!  There are a lot of my favorite craft girls on the list for today! (Full list at the bottom of my post). 

One thing I was very smitten by at CHA were the new 3-D houses dies and the matching stamps to go along with them. The possibilities are endless for these products! We have new neighbors on our street, so I used the die and stamps to make a little welcome present and card to give them. I used a mason jar (kind of addicted to mason jars right now) and a soft color palette of yellow, kraft, brown and green to make my project. Let's take a look! 

 

 

I made two houses out of kraft cardstock. I stamped the teeeny tiny stamps in white ink and brown ink. And added some green vines! The little window boxes were stamped on white paper and cut out by hand. Then I colored them with Copics and added flower centers with a white gel pen. The stamps are so fun - little trees, animals, shutters, doors....so CUTE! It is super easy to assemble the house. It's all one piece, you just fold it and use a little dab of clear glue. 

 

 

I made these little banners by stamping more of the images from the house stamp set and wrapping them around some floral pins. Under the green paper circle and the button on top of the mason jar, I put some foam tape. That's what the pins are sticking into! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every detail has been thought of...see the tiny porch light? 

 

 

 

 

 

My card is a three and a half inch square card. I stamped it to match the mason jar gift and tied yellow twine on both pieces...because that's just cheery! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THANK YOU for coming by today! I hope you enjoy the hop! It's a good one. Lots of inspiration and fun today. Really happy I got to be part of it. Be sure to comment for a chance to win a prize! Have a wonderful day everyone. XOXO

 

BLOG HOP LINKS! HAVE FUN! 

Hero Arts

Lia Griffith

Kelly Purkey

Jennifer McGuire

Yana Smakula

Lucy Abrams

Kristina Werner

Kathy Racoosin

Mariana Grigsby

Debby Hughes

Nichol Magouirk

Joan Bardee

Lydia Fiedler

Sandy Allnock

Julie Ebersole

Amy Tsuruta

Kelly Rasmussen

Suzanne Dahlberg

Wanda Guess

Clare Prezzia

Tami Hartley

Libby Hickson

 

 

Year of the Monkey - Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy New Year!

Hello crafty friends! Happy New Year! Gung Hay Fat Choy! Monday is Chinese New Year so I'm posting a fun card I made to mark the occasion. I love to make festive and pretty cards for this special celebration. CLICK HERE to see some of my other Chinese New Year cards from years' past.  I have lots of friends who celebrate this beautiful cultural tradition. Do you and your family celebrate the Lunar New Year too? This year is the Year of the Monkey. Is it your year? CLICK HERE for the list of the years and the corresponding animal. I am a DRAGON! Yep! Gotta love that. 1964 was a very good year indeed. I have lots of Dragon friends. Good vintage! LOL. 

People born in the Year of the Monkey are thought to be mischievous, witty, intelligent, and have a magnetic personality. Famous people born in a Year of the Monkey include: Leonardo Da Vinci, Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Taylor and Will Smith! 

I made a festive card using cute stamp sets from Mama Elephant and Avery Elle, and some gorgeous ink colors. I love red lanterns! I used this same lantern stamp set on my Chinese New Year card for last year. So pretty. The Mama Elephant and Avery Elle stamps seem to just really go together nicely. And, gosh, that adorable monkey!! EEP. 

 

 

 

I started with a white card base. Then I cut my layers of red and white using the Femme Frames dies set from Mama Elephant. I stamped my bunting strings and my lanterns and my sentiment... Then stamped some red and gold fireworks! This was super fun to make. I stamped, colored and cut out my monkey and last red lantern. Those are popped up with foam squares. All my supplies are at the bottom of the post. 

 

 

 

I added some sparkly clear gems to the centers of the fireworks. I just thought it needed some shine, and glitter didn't seem to be right! 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

  

 

How is your week going so far? Any fun plans for the weekend? I know it's early, but why not start planning now? Hahaha! Not sure yet what we're doing. I have lots of fun stamping assignments to work on so I'm happily busy in my studio. And the Super Bowl too. Are you really into the Super Bowl? Parties? Commercials? I'm sure we will be watching!  Monday be sure to stop by for an awesome blog hop celebrating the new Hero Arts catalog. Lots of cool bloggers, and prizes too. Have a wonderful, blessed day! Gung Hay Fat Choy!  

Wanda 

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

 

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