A Blog Called Wanda

You mocha me happy! Yes you do!

Hi everyone! Happy (rainy) Saturday and greetings! Where have I been? Seems like I haven't posted a blog post in forever! I missed you! I have absolutely no idea where this week went! Dang. I had such big plans to get so many things done. And hardly any of it happened. I guess that just happens sometimes. I have been in a bit of a creative slow spell. I have been making so many projects lately, and I think my brain maybe just needed a break. It rained most of the week here and I totally love this kind of weather. I met a friend for a visit one night this week.... And my husband and I went to a really cool and fun Halloween party last night at an antique store! Today I sat down at my desk, and yay, some cards emerged! I made a clean and simple card with a new to me stamp set that I've been wanting to ink up forever. It's called Coffee Love and it's from Altenew. Altenew has a bunch of coffee themed stamp sets and I bought them all of course! (Links at the bottom of my post). I've been posting a lot of photos on Instagram, so if you are a 'gramer I'd love to see you over there! My handle is @stampcatwg. I'm pretty much addicted to Instagram. 

Sorry to keep rambling! I have a bunch of stuff to share today, but let's start with the card I just finished! You mocha me happy! LOVE that sentiment!

 

I used my Kuretake Zig Clean Color Brush Markers for this project! I started with watercolor paper and stamped all the coffee cups in jet black archival ink. Then I used clean water in a water brush and the markers to color in all the images. I chose some fun colors that I thought looked nice together - and kind of happy colors. I also added tiny grey shadows to all the cups at the end. It was just a really fun project! 

 

I stamped the sentiment on a strip of vellum using Stazon Ink. That is the very best ink for vellum! You get a nice crisp impression that dries quickly and doesn't smear! 

 

 

This is a very free and loose watercolor technique. The trick is to leave white space in the images - that gives it this particular look.

 

Once my panel was all dry, I trimmed it to size. This card is a wonky size, because I didn't plan ahead and I stamped my images on a bigger piece of paper than normal! OOOOPS! So my finished card is 4.25 x 6 inches. No worries, I used my favorite AC Cardstock in 12x12 and made my own card base from a pretty teal to match the ink. 

 

 

This card below is on the Simon Says Stamp blog today! It's actually a gift card holder! There are directions and more photos over on my post. CLICK HERE! Leave a comment on that post for a chance to win a prize package! YAY! 

 

 

Yesterday as we were driving through our neighborhood on the way to the Halloween party, I hopped out of the car and snapped this photo! It stopped raining just long enough for me to capture the nice light and the raindrops on the leaves! Sigh....

 

Lastly, today, I have some NEWS about SALES for you! Two sales are going on at Simon Says Stamp currently. A Copic Marker sale (25% off) which includes sets and individual markers, and a Halloween Sale ($15 off your $75 purchase) If you need any supplies from SSS, now is the time. Click on the images below to get the sales! YEAH! 

 

SUPPLIES FOR TODAY! 

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More Inspiration from the Believe in the Season Release - Colorful Christmas Cards!

Hellllooooooo friends! Whew! It's been a Christmas card bonanza around here lately! Today I'm sharing the last of my three blog posts introducing the Holiday 2016 release from Simon Says Stamp! Did you do the blog hop already (Friday's post)? If not, I hope you will hop around to see all the wonderful inspiration from everyone. The first of my three blog posts was very traditional red/green/poinsettia Christmas cards. The second of the three posts was kinda hipster/retro/woodsy Christmas cards.... Today's post is BIG BOLD and COLORFUL Christmas cards with pink and aqua and bling! Haha! It was fun to use some different colors and add a punch of bling to this set of cards. The new Corbel Tree Die is soooo pretty and the Believe word die is going to get used a lot in my studio... And not just for Christmas!

First up is a clean and simple design inspired by the Corbel Tree Die and my love for Lawn Fawn Plaid Paper! I used the plaid paper as my starting point for my color palette. Picked up some grey and aqua to match with it. Really loving this color combination. I die cut the tree from the center of a piece of crisp white cardstock. I layered the white onto the aqua paper using foam squares so there would be dimension and shadow under the die cut. I used silver glitter paper to die cut the word Believe. To finish it all off I added a bunch of clear gems and pearls to look like ornaments. This would be a great card to mass produce, and nice and flat for mailing too! 

 

It is very hard to photograph silver glitter paper!! I simply adore how the silver matches the grey in the paper and the clear rhinestones. Very clean and classy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, put on your sunglasses for this one! I used the new Winter Flowers stamps and dies to make a pretty watercolor floral cluster for the center of my card. The images were stamped onto watercolor paper and then cut out with the matching dies. I used my awesome Prima Confections Watercolor Paints to color the flowers in bright hot pink and muted magenta. I also used the same paints to color the leaves in a few shades of clear green. I used the black paint to splatter a few drops onto another watercolor cardstock base. The sentiment was heat embossed in white onto rich black cardstock. I always love that look. The card base is pretty soft Fog cardstock from SSS. 

 

The flowers and leaves are attached with foam squares to make them jump off the paper! When I lay out a cluster like this, I will do it on my craft mat and then snap a quick photo with my iPhone once it is just right! Then, when it comes time to glue it all in place I refer back to my photo.

 

The Prima Watercolors are so gorgeous!! the color is pure and bright. LOVE. 

 

 

 

 

Thank you ever so much for hanging out with me the past few days as I inundate you with Christmas creations! I think now I will take a break from Winter crafts and get back in a few more days of Autumn crafting! But first, I need to clean up the complete disaster going on in my room! OH MY. There is stuff everywhere!! What are you working on in your studio right now? I'd love to know! Have a wonderful day everyone! XOXO

 

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ENTIRE NEW RELEASE!

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Simon Says Stamp - Believe in the Season - Inspiration Blog Hop!

Hi crafty friends! Welcome to the Believe in the Season Blog Hop! We're introducing the new stamps, dies and inks for Holiday 2016 from Simon Says Stamp! Yahooooo! I love new stamps... And I love a good blog hop! Today is sure to be loads of fun. There are many great designers joining me today for this event. I hope you have a great time looking at all the inspiring projects and getting some good ideas for Winter and Christmas creating. 

PRIZE INFORMATION! Each stop on the blog hop today is giving away a $25 Gift Certificate to one lucky winner! Be sure to leave a comment here on my post for a chance to win the prize. Leave your comment before 7pm EST on Monday October 24th. I will notify my lucky winner via email. Good luck! 

There is soooooo much to love in this new release. I literally could not stop making cards! I shared two in my blog post yesterday using the new Poinsettia stamps... And I will share two more cards over the weekend. BUT, if I had to pick a favorite I would pick the Magical Christmas stamps and dies! The images spoke to me right away and ideas popped in my head faster than I could grab an ink pad! LOL. So I hope you enjoy these cards also... They are woodsy, and textured, and vintage inspired! Thank you for visiting my blog today! 

I made the first card using the stag head image from the Magical Christmas stamp set. I stamped the stag and the word banner in rich black ink onto kraft cardstock. Then I die cut them out using the matching dies. The black and kraft together is so striking. I went through all my new Christmas paper pads and found the gorgeous floral paper in the Comfort & Joy pad from MME. So, you probably think that pretty red and black check is patterned paper, right? Nope! I made it myself using black ink and red cardstock along with the awesome SSS Gingham Background stamp! LOVE this, because you can make any color gingham your heart desires. I am very partial to red and black buffalo check in the winter time. I used my MISTI tool to get a good impression. I ended up inking it twice to get a good, solid black on the red. After I had my layers ready I had fun embellishing the card with snowflakes, charms, pine twine (from Tim Holtz of course) and a bell. (All supplies are listed at the bottom of my post)

 

The stag head is attached to the oval using foam squares. This gives the pine twine some wiggle room behind it. The pine twine is wired so it's easy to wrap around and easy to secure. The snowflakes are from one of the new die sets - called Snow Flurries. It doesn't get more Christmas than that! 

 

The images in this stamp set have words inside them - it's so pretty! And the word banner is simply perfect. I will use that on a lot of cards this season - so many colors you could use with that to make it pretty!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To make the next card, I used all the same supplies, but made a simpler version of the first card. I used the other half of my gingham image and combined it with the pretty border image from the stamp set to make a really masculine card. This card makes me want to go back to Alaska! LOL. 

 

Again, I layered on just a few snowflakes and red enamel dots for a pop of white against the darker colors.

 

 

 

 

 

THANK YOU for stopping by as part of this fun Blog Hop day! Be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win the $25 SSS Gift Certificate! Have a blessed day, and enjoy the rest of the hop. Next up is the lovely and talented Heather Ruwe! Full Hop list is at the very end of this post! XOXO

 

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ENTIRE NEW RELEASE!

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BLOG HOP LINKS LIST! HAVE FUN! 

Simon Says Stamp

Laura Bassen

Debby Hughes

Kristina Werner

Jennifer McGuire

Kathy Racoosin

Suzy Plantamura

Nina Marie Trapani

Nichol Spohr 

Yana Smakula

Wanda Guess

Heather Ruwe

Kelly Latevola

Anna-Karin Evaldsson

Barb Engler

Shari Carroll

Heather Hoffman

Simon Says Stamp Holiday Release 2016 - Believe in the Season!

Hi everybody! How are you my crafty friends!? I've been a busy bee in my crafty hive this week! I'm here today to announce the brand new release for Holiday 2016 from Simon Says Stamp! Dies, Stamps, Inks, and Watercolor cards! Everything you need to start making your Christmas and Holiday cards and projects. I love the name of this new release. It's called Believe in the Season! I have two cards to share today, two more tomorrow for a blog hop, and then a couple more to post maybe on Sunday! Whew! I told you I've been busy. I have a great head start on my Christmas cards now. Too much fun and so much good stuff. Be sure to check back in here with me in the next few days! I hope you had a great week so far!

The two cards I have for today were both made using the Poinsettia stamp set. I colored the flowers two totally different ways to show you alternative looks and ideas to try. The first card I used white heat embossing, and then watercolored with Distress Inks onto watercolor paper. In the second card I heat embossed with gold, and then used Copic Markers to color on vellum - a technique I always love. Let's take a look! 

I started by stamping, embossing and die cutting the elements for this card. I die cut several leaves out and two poinsettia flowers. You can see that I've layered two flowers together, and cut out some sections of the top flower for a dimensional look. I used several shades of Distress Inks (colors listed below) and water to watercolor in the flowers and leaves. Then I created a soft golden watercolor wash for the background - also using Distress Inks. I stamped the sentiment using my MISTI to get a good solid impression on the watercolor paper. Works like a charm every time! 

 

I really love the font in this new sentiment! Beautiful! 

 

After my flowers and leaves were dry, I used some Perfect Pearls powder and water to make shimmery splatters onto them! I love this look. It's kind of hard to photograph the subtle and pretty pearl shimmer.  

 

Here is a close up of the finished flower. I used a yellow Copic Marker to color the flower center. Did you know that Copics will color on any surface? Even heat embossed areas!! 

 

 

This next card is very classic and timeless Christmas. Plaid and bright red.... How can you go wrong?! I started by stamping, heat embossing and die cutting my flowers and leaves with SSS Vellum paper. Then, I turned the pieces over, and colored on the back with shades of red and green Copic Markers. This technique kind of ends up looking like stained glass! I added white snow splatters to the flowers using Copic Opaque White. For the sentiment, I die cut it out of nice thick cardstock and heat embossed it three times using SSS Gold Embossing Powder. To re-emboss for a thicker look simply add more ink and more powder and keep heating until you get the look you want! I think it's so rich.... 

 

I used Lawn Fawn plaid paper for a nice crisp border of color at the bottom of my card. I think it looks so nice with the red!

 

 

 

 And, as I like to do, a few gold enamel dots and some pretty twine finished off the card! 

Thank you so very much for stopping by today! I hope I've inspired you to start getting ready for Christmas crafting! There's lots more to come in the next few days. Hope to see you soon. XOXO

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ENTIRE NEW RELEASE!

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Simon Says Stamp November 2016 Card Kit!

Hi friends! Hope you had an amazing week! The hubs and I have been in Orange County all week and it was awesome. PERFECT weather, lots of ocean time, and just a nice easy trip together. Looking forward to being home now and to giving my kitty a giant squeeze! I miss him when we travel! That guy. LOL. I'm here today to introduce the newest, latest, greatest Simon Says Stamp Card Kit! The kit for November 2016 is called Thankful Heart! The stamp set is full of gorgeous sentiments and the papers are beautiful rich tones for Fall. I love it! As always, you can order one kit month to month, or order a subscription so you automatically receive the new kit each month. Links to everything are at the bottom of my post.

Since we were getting ready to go away when my card kit came, I only managed to make one card this time (one card so far!) I used my favorite sentiment from the stamp set and stamped it using the included gorgeous copper ink pad. I framed the sentiment using a heart cut out to focus the card....

 

This floral paper is so pretty! It has beautiful colors in it! I stamped the copper sentiment on the included cream card stock and layered the heart die cut over it using foam squares. 

 

A bit of twine and some enamel dots finished off the card! The silver clip is included with the card kit. I thought it looked like a flower so I added a stitched circle center using the included blue patterned paper. Then I stamped one of the small sentiments and cut it out into a tiny banner. 

Thank you so very much for stopping by today! Hope you have a great weekend! I'll have a post on Saturday on the SSS Blog featuring CUPCAKES! YAY! XOXO

 

This is a close up of the new stamp set. SO pretty!

 

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Hero Arts 2016 Planner Release Blog Hop!

Hello! And welcome to my stop on the Hero Arts 2016 Planner Release Blog Hop! Yippppeeeee! New stamps from Hero Arts, one of my favorite companies! I'm really happy to be part of the big hop today, as we introduce you to the new 2016 Planner Catalog. So many fun things to use for your planners, or just for fun and cards too!! There are lots of awesome designers making projects today to show you different ways to use the new items. To start at the beginning of the hop -CLICK HERE for the Hero Arts Blog. Or, follow through to the next stop at the bottom of my post (Full Links List there). 

Hero Arts is generously giving away three $25 shopping sprees, drawn from comments left across all blogs in the hop. Leave your comments by Wednesday, October 19 at 11:59pm PT and they will announce the winner the following week on the Hero blog. Make sure to leave a comment on each stop for more chances to win! Good Luck! 

I am a total planner girl!! Are you a planner girl? I love all the pens, and stickers, and stamps and clips! So fun! I used a Franklin Covey Planner for almost 20 years for my corporate job. I Recently I switched over to an Erin Condren Planner since my needs are more creative oriented instead of corporate oriented. I write really big, so I don't have a lot of room for stamping!! I stamp in the margins and some of the extra spaces on the monthly tabs. For today's blog hop I wanted to think of another clever way to use the totally adorable small sized stamps..... So, I decided to use them to decorate fun Halloween Treat Boxes! These little stamps are really versatile - for making your own background paper, for tiny tags, for the backs of your cards, and on envelopes too!  

Here are my treat boxes! I used the Pillow Box Punch Board and Kraft cardstock as the base. Then I used Copic Markers to color the images! Coloring on Kraft is a fun technique - a completely different look from coloring on white cardstock.

 

 

Here is a close up of one of the boxes. I started with a 6x6 piece of cardstock for each one. I die cut a window in the center using the SSS Stitched Circle Die. Then I layered some happy Doodlebug patterned paper and also die cut the same circle in that to form a band. There is acetate window plastic covering the circle (kind of like you would do for a shaker card) and that let's you see the candy! 

 

All the images are from the new Hero Arts Planner sets! I stamped and colored all the images before assembling the boxes. After I colored with my Copic Markers I added tiny accents of white ink with a gel pen. Then I added dots of Stickles for some shimmer. To make the halloween banners I stamped the sentiment on white cardstock and then hand cut them with a small pair of scissors. No need to be exact with this!! I stamped, colored and cut out another pumpkin image and attached the banner and the pumpkin using foam squares. 

 

Some of the supplies for today! I LOOOOOOVE my punch boards!! I think I have managed to collect all of them now, except the alphabet one!! They are easy to use. If you ever get stuck, just go on YouTube and search for it and there are so many helpful videos!

 

After I created the boxes with the punch board, i die cut out the circle in the front panel. Here you can see that I adhered the acetate to the back of the window using tape runner. Easy as pie! 

 

Here is the finished box before I added the twine and accents! 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today! I hope you have a great time on the blog hop! We have worked really hard to bring you inspiration and fun today! XOXO 

Here is your FABULOUS link list for today's Hop!

The Hero Arts Blog

Kelly Purkey

Jennifer McGuire

Yana Smakula

May Sukyong Park

Mariana Grigsby

Amy Tsuruta

Amy Tan

Wanda Guess

Lydia Fiedler

Jen Carlson

Barbara Picinich

Brooke Takara

Krista Wells

Jamie Waters

Nadia Azni

Kari Stiles

Libby Hickson

 

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A visit to Anthropologie & Co!

Hi friends! happy Sunday morning! When you read this, the hubs and I will be in the car headed back down to Southern California for another week. Seems like we just got back from San Diego! He's traveling for work again.... And I'm tagging along again! Got my laptop all packed and ready to go so I can write blog posts and do some work at the hotel. I have dinner plans with some friends. It's all good. Hope you're having a nice weekend! I've been taking A LOT of pictures lately and I LOVE to share pictures! (Imagine your crazy fun aunt with the slide projector full of vacation photos - yeah that's me).

Today's post is a photo essay about a visit I made to the amazing new Anthropologie & Co store in Walnut Creek California a couple of weeks ago. CLICK HERE to read more about this new concept from Anthropologie. The store in Walnut Creek is the first store of its kind in the United States. How lucky I am to live only about an hour away from it! When I heard that it was opening I made a mental note to go asap. But, then they announced on their Instagram page that they were having a Calligraphy event. I signed up right then and there...and visited the store on their fifth day open. 

Let me just say that the place is MAGIC. Pure magic. The building is an old two story former Barnes & Noble store, so that will give you some sense of scale as to how big it is. Thousands of square feet of furniture, clothes, bridal, plants and flowers, shoes, makeup, jewelry, candles, dishes, paper goods, and home decor items. I thought my head was going to explode from all the wonderful sensory overload. They have created something so special. I went for the Calligraphy event, which was fantastic. CLICK HERE for information about the Calligrapher who taught us. I ended up staying about three hours! Walking around, taking it in, observing the millions of perfect details, taking pictures. I met so many of the lovely employees and talked to almost all of them! Everyone seemed so happy and excited about their new store. And they are also all beautiful and chic! 

I get so totally inspired by going to beautiful, creative spaces. I believe that inspiration is everywhere and anywhere. Color, texture, light, design, styling, all of it. It gets into my head and keeps me engaged and ready to create. It's also such a nice mental break to be somewhere that beautiful. Just feels good, ya know? You need to go here. Stat. They are opening more locations too. I'll go ahead and start with the photos....

First up, this is the scene that greets you right when you walk in the door!  

 

These first shots are general photos of the decor and the furniture vignettes... OH... And don't even get me started about all the wallpapers....

 

 

 

This is in the kitchen and dishware department. So lovely! 

 

 

 

All these textures and colors!! Oh my. 

 

 

 

A pink velvet couch? Yes, please! Don't mind if I do! 

 

 

 

I wanted this gorgeous cabinet.... But it was too big to fit in my purse.

 

These next few photos are of the set up for our Calligraphy class! Beautiful and inspiring and festive all at the same time. It was a quiet time with lovely, happy women. We had a great time and learned a lot too. I definitely want to go back for more events here. 

 

 

 

 

 

The way the light captures this little bottle and makes a gorgeous green shadow??? SIGH. 

 

The next few photos are of some of the gorgeous clothing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And bridal....

 

And shoes! What about this cool, funky, interesting, artsy light fixture?? WOW!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paper goods of course! 

 

There is a full service beauty department that feels like a spa.... And the gorgeous 'tree' hanging down over it? Made of hand dyed PAPER! Swoon! 

 

 

 

Last, but not least, is the garden and floral department. It's called Terrain. Yes, before you ask, all these flowers and plants are real, and they are all inside the store!!! I've never seen anything like it before. A feast for the senses. 

 

 

 

This blue wall!!! ACK. Stunning and inspired. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So there you have it! I wanted you to feel as if you were there with me. As a photographer, I could have taken a lot more pictures here. It is a buffet of beautiful things just waiting to be photographed. They make it easy to imagine your own home decorated with beautiful objects. I cannot wait to see how they decorate for Christmas! I hope you have a great day. I'll be back on Wednesday with a super fun blog hop for one of our favorite companies. Until then, take care. XOXO

 

Fall Treat Boxes with my favorite new paper collection!

Howdy friends! The week is almost over! Happy Thursday and here's hoping you had a great week! The weekend is in sight now! I have been scurrying around trying to make all the Fall ideas that I have in my head. SO many ideas, SO little time! I absolutely love this time of year, and it just goes by so quickly. I love to make treat boxes, and cards with leaves on them, and use Autumn colors....

Today I'm sharing some treat boxes I made with the amazing Lawn Fawn Scalloped Treat Box die. It's been on my desk for a few weeks and I stayed up late Tuesday night making these so I could share with you. I also used my new very FAVORITE paper collection. It's from Doodlebug and it's called Flea Market. Okay, so don't tell anyone (just you guys) that I bought three packs of the paper and ALLLLLLLL the embellishments that go with this one!!! SO dang adorable. Pretty much everything from Doodlebug lately is the bomb. Sigh. 

Okay, so back to my project for today.... I used woodgrain paper that I bought at my local stamp store to make the base of the boxes. I ran into a bit of a snag... The die does not fit on a 6x6 piece of paper. Hmmmmm. I was going to make the boxes out of the 6x6 paper pad but had to go with plan B. So I made the box bases from the woodgrain and then wrapped the patterned paper around it. In the end, I kind of like this way better! To make one box, you need a sheet of paper 6x11 inches. You will cut two of them and tape them together to form the box. Then the fun part is adding your own decorations and personal touches.  

 

I used some cute Doodlebug mini clothespins to attach a twine bow accent. Then I added a flower sticker! In this shot, you can see the pretty scalloped edge of the top of the box. 

 

 

 

I layered two circles for my main focus. On the white one I stamped my sentiment (from the Lawn Fawn Into the Woods stamp set). I used leaves stickers to accent the words. The little crows are dimensional stickers from the same paper collection. EEEP. 

 

 

 

 

 

The twine box is not wrapped around the handle. I left it loose and attached it with the clothespin to allow for easy access into the box. The box seals without tape at the top, so the recipient can open and close it to get inside. A gift card and a few candies fit perfectly inside! (or just candy LOL)! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for stopping by today! This project is so versatile! I'm thinking Christmas gift cards, Valentine treats.... and on an on. I hope you have found some inspiration!! What are you working on right now? Have a great weekend and I'll see you soon! I'm in a fun blog hop next Wednesday. I will try to blog again before then, but I'm not sure!! XOXO

 

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Watercolor Sunflower!

Hey everyone! Happy Monday! It's going to be a great week here for me. I have tons of fun things going on! I'm getting my hair done tomorrow (YAY) and meeting up with friends for a fun event. Wednesday night I'm hostessing a pizza night at the local Round Table (email me or FB message me if you're local and want details). But the most important part of this week is that today is our wedding anniversary! WOOOOOT! It's our fifteen year anniversary (we've been together 23 years this year) and I'm still crazy about that crazy boy of mine. Sometimes aren't you just so proud of yourselves for making it through ups and downs and still staying together? Laughing and having fun and most importantly taking care of each other. Life is hard and being married is hard, too, so I think it's super important to acknowledge the victories and the amazing grace that comes from being in a loving relationship. Cheers to love! I got some beautiful flowers yesterday for our anniversary, and we went out for a very tasty dinner at The Melting Pot. MMMMMM. Anyhooooo, I got kind of off track. I do actually have a card to share today! 

I've been in a Fall mood of course, and also on a watercolor kick. Today's card was made with beautiful dies from Simon Says Stamp. I watercolored the pieces of the radiant sunflower die cuts and assembled them into a cheerful greeting for any occasion. I looooove yellow! How can you not love yellow? Hahaha. Especially the golden buttery yellows of Fall.... 

 

No stamping on this card! Just die cuts and different papers and textures. I tried to make a card without any patterned paper, but it didn't work out! I used two shades of green, two shades of brown, two shades of yellow, and orange watercolors from my Kuretake Gansai Tambi 36 set. I have been using this set for about three years now and you can't even tell. I think they might last me forever. The hello die cut was cut out of rich brown cardstock and glued on with a glue pen. 

 

I die cut two flower centers and layered them. The top one is popped up with foam squares. I added a pretty glitter enamel dot also. In this picture you can see the aqua paint splatters. At first I made that part of the card and used brown paint for the splatters. It just didn't look right. I like the tiny pop of cool aqua behind the warm colors. 

 

 

 

 

Here are the colors I used for the card. I like to keep a 'scratch' piece of paper handy to test my color choices before making the final decision on what to use. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next picture is a snippet of my last card posted on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Saturday. I wanted to share that with you and I hope you'll pop over and see the entire thing. More Autumny watercoloring!! CLICK HERE to see it!  Leave a comment there for a chance to win a grab bag prize too! 

 

Here's a photo I made the other day to commemorate our anniversary! I wanted something to post today on Facebook and Instagram. It's our wedding book with a couple of my favorite photos. We got married in a pretty gazebo right by the ocean in beautiful Cape Cod. It was just the two of us, the judge and the photographer and it was amazing! I left my heart on the East Coast with that trip. We went to Boston, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Cape Cod, New York (Adirondacks), Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire for our honeymoon. Two weeks of leaf peeping and relaxing. Back then, there were no digital cameras! I took 37 rolls of film!! Let's just say that our scrapbook is actually TWO giant scrapbooks! LOL. I get all misty eyed just thinking about it. The reason that I grow blue hydrangeas in our front yard is to remind me of the Cape, and our wedding.

Okay, so that's enough news for today!! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a marvelous week! XOXO

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I used the 36 pan Watercolor set listed in the links. In case you want to choose the individual colors - I listed those also - at the end of the links! 

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