A Blog Called Wanda

Watercolor roses and gold hugs!

Greetings! Hello my crafty pals! How are you doing this week so far? I hope you're doing great! I have been laying low in my craft cave and quietly working on some really fun things to share with you! I had something happen recently with a friend and it really shook me to my core. I'm processing that out and trying to make sense of what happened and just generally feeling kind of down and very sad. So the best medicine for me today is time with Buddy, time on Facebook chat with my dear friend HS, and time in the studio. Those things heal my heart and keep me going. It's been a long time since I was knocked for a loop like this. I'm looking to God and completely trusting in HIS plan and knowing I just have to keep walking... His plans for me are far greater than my mere dreams anyway. There are lessons in every situation. So if you have time, stop and send me a virtual hug and I'll do the same for you! 

I felt like watercoloring something and it is close to Valentine's Day and all, so I thought I would watercolor some pretty pink roses with my Zig Markers! I used the beautiful Simon Says Stamp Roses for You stamp set and shades of pinks, greens and red to create a sweet greeting. You know what they say, right? A card is a hug with a fold in the middle! I started with an A2 card base made from Fog Cardstock, which is a beautiful soft gray. Then I die cut a Stitched Rectangle out of Prima Watercolor Paper (This is my go-to watercolor paper recently). 

 

I used three of the circle roses stamps from the stamp set, and two of the leaves stamps from that same stamp set. I randomly stamped them in clear embossing ink and then heat embossed with white embossing powder. All of my stamping was done on watercolor paper. Kept it really informal and loose. No plan for this part. After I heat embossed the main part, on a separate piece of paper I heat embossed the big heart from the stamp set and die cut it out. 

 

I used my Zig Clean Color Brush Markers, a tiny paint brush, and lots of water to color in all the roses using two shades of pink. I colored the leaves with a pretty lime green Zig and a touch of blue. For the background I used a beautiful soft sky blue Zig Marker. Of course, the big heart was saturated with ink from a red Zig Marker. Once I was done coloring, I gave it all a blast from my heat tool to dry everything. They I went back with some pink ink and made my splatters! (I love splatters!)

 

I die cut the Simon Says Stamp Hugs die out of rich gold cardstock. Then I layered the heart onto the floral background with foam tape. The hugs die is glued down with some glossy accents. Use your tweezers! LOL. I added a few Pretty Pink Posh Droplets for a nice effect. 

 

 

 

 

I gently curved up the top parts of the heart to make it a bit more dimensional. I love that pop of color on there! 

 

 

Okay, so there are some hugs for you today! Thank you for coming by to see me and see what I'm creating! Today (the 31st) is the last day to enter my month long January prize drawing. CLICK HERE for all the details! I will draw the winner and email them tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who participated in this! On Saturday I have a retro fun project on the Simon Says Stamp blog, and then on Sunday I have a BIG announcement right here on my blog. Hope to see you around this week. Hugs. XOXO 

 

SUPPLIES FOR TODAY'S PROJECT! 

InLinkz.com

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

Hello crafty friends! Happy New Year! Gung Hay Fat Choy! Today is the celebration of Chinese Lunar New Year so I'm posting a card I made to mark this great 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 Fire Rooster. 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. We are strong and fierce! 

People born in the Year of the Rooster are known to be observant, hardworking, resourceful, courageous, and talented. Roosters are very confident in themselves. That sort of makes sense! Famous people born in Year of the Rooster include: Donny Osmond, Jennifer Aniston, Bob Marley, Caroline Kennedy, and Jennifer Lopez. 

I made a festive card using some brand new layering stamps from Hero Arts, and some vivid Avery Elle Inks. This big rooster is perfect for this card! It is really fun to ink up all the pieces of these layering stamps and watch it come to life!

This card came together with a clean and simple and graphic layout. I made a crisp white A2 cardbase from Neenah paper. Then I layered kraft paper on top of that. I used an old stamp (maybe 20 years old) of some pretty Chinese Calligraphy in deep black ink on red paper. After stamping all the layers of my Rooster, I die cut around him with a Stitched Circle Die. The stamp for the Calligraphy is not made anymore - but I did find one on Ebay and linked to it in my supply links in case you want it!  

 

My ink color choices are below in the supply links. You could have a lot of fun with this guy - stamping him in all different colors and variations. I chose a traditional look of gold and red since it was for Chinese New Year. He is a proud fella! 

Thank you for stopping by today! I'm happy to be back in the studio and finding my groove! Lots going on and I feel like my head is spinning. Trying to zen out in here! I must organize! LOL. I have a really fun project today on the Simon Says Stamp Blog. I hope you will click over and see it! And, leave a comment for a chance to win a prize package. (It goes live at 8am EST). Thanks for being here for me. Love you. Mean it. XOXO

 

 

SUPPLIES FOR TODAY: 

InLinkz.com

Creativation Wrap Up - Phoenix 2017! What a show!

Hey everyone! I'm back from Creativation 2017 in Phoenix Arizona! It was a great week! Now I'm sorting through all my photos and my catalogs and trying to get my head back to reality! How have you been? I hope life is good in your creative space and in your life. I left last Thursday for Phoenix to attend the CHA - Creativation Trade Show. The largest craft and hobby trade show around. This was a new venue this year, usually the show is in Anaheim. So we were all newbies this time around, trying to figure out the lay of the land and where everything is. Oddly enough, it rained almost the entire time... Except the last day when everyone was flying home! I did have the most gorgeous flight I've had in a long time, with all those clouds. Just like heaven!  I had never been to Phoenix before, and I'm sad to say that I didn't see too much of it - only the downtown area near the Convention Center. I really want to go back and explore one of these days. I attended the show this year as part of the Simon Says Stamp crew and I had a great time taking photographs for their social media and writing blog posts each day on the SSS blog. I hope you were able to follow along with me during the week! 

Overall it was a fantastic show! I would say that I did not see tons of new companies this time. What I did see was loads of great new products from the companies I already love. So nothing new, but then again, some new things.... If that makes sense! I always go to the Tim Holtz booths first - Sizzix, Idea-ology, Ranger, etc to see what he has in store for us. Of course it was all amazing. He demo'd the new Oxide Distress Inks and now I have to have all of them! And his new stamping tool is the best! I loved everything new from Waffle Flower Stamps - so pretty and unique. The new Hero Arts catalog launched just before the show and I had lots of samples in their booth - that is really fun to see your work on display!

Planners and planner supplies are still all the rage. Lots of companies making cool planners, stamps, tapes, and stickers to use to organize our lives. I was particularly smitten with the new floral planners and accessories from Webster's Pages. Then again, I've been a fan of that company for years! 

Altenew has beautiful new stamps and more markers coming. Lawn Fawn has made  more plaid paper (my favorite papers) and this time it's rainbow plaid! Yay! I was really struck by the abundance of items with a faith based theme. Lots of planner items, stamps, stickers and paper for Bible journaling and for making cards. I want everything from the Bella Blvd new paper lines.... I saw a funny collection from Simple Stories called Emoji Love! SO cute.

I had fun seeing my creative friends and colleagues, eating and drinking too much, and walking until my toes hurt. It's all such a good experience. This is the one time of the year when we are all together in the same place and the energy is wonderful. Hugs for days! I'm so moved by the kindness of our industry and how people lift others up and are so willing to be positive. I always come home in a happy mood. There are some real angels out there that I am lucky enough to call my friends. 

I made a video out of some of my favorite things from the show. I thought that might be easier than trying to post 40 pictures here! I'll put some links below the video to some of my favorite products. I would say that if something is available on pre-order and you want it, I would get it now. Then you won't have to wait months for re-stocking. I've learned this the hard way over the years. Especially the Tim Holtz items. Let me know in the comments what you are excited about! 

 

Create your own free slideshow design

 

To check out my favorite new things from the show,

here are some links! 

NEW TIM HOLTZ - ALL PRODUCTS

NEW OXIDE DISTRESS INKS

NEW SIZZIX

NEW LAWN FAWN

NEW HERO ARTS

NEW WAFFLE FLOWER STAMPS

NEW TONIC STAMP PLATFORM FROM TIM HOLTZ

NEW ALTENEW

NEW DOODLEBUG

CONCORD & 9TH

NEW WEBSTER'S PAGES

NEW ILLUSTRATED FAITH

If I think of anything else, I'll pop back in and tell you. I'm sure I've forgotten something (many things)! Saturday, I'll be sharing a fun felt Valentine project on my Weekender with Wanda post on the Simon Says Stamp Blog. I'll also have a post here! I'm back in the studio! Yeah! Have a great day. XOXO

News & Updates!

Hi everyone! Just checking in here - sorry to be a stranger the past few days! Last week there were so many blog hops and releases and projects! OH my! It was a fun ride and I totally appreciate each and every kind comment you left on all my blog posts! Bless you! Really some awesome new things right? I love being that busy and creating like that - and of course, sharing! 

Tomorrow I leave for Phoenix for a week to attend the awesome CHA - Creativation Show! Yes, they moved it to Arizona this year. That means I"m not driving, which means I have to pack efficiently. Uh Oh. I can't wait to see all the new and exciting products from all of our favorite craft companies. I also cannot wait to hug all my crafty friends. It's like one big reunion every year when we see each other in person instead of on emails and video chats! It's wonderful. I am very blessed to be traveling as part of the Simon Says Stamp team again this year. That means I get to hang out with my colleagues for an entire week. I will be writing blog posts for the Simon Says Stamp blog with photos of the newest items and news from the show floor. Please tune in over there each day to read all about it! 

I will be on Instagram and my Facebook page as much as I can sharing with you and updating you on what I'm seeing. I'll write a recap post when I get home. Here is my recap from last year - CLICK HERE. 

Other than creating we've been keeping a lot profile here in Sacramento. It's been raining non stop pretty much. We've been nesting and enjoying the cozy fire. This weekend we did get out and go to a Vintage Market and for a drive since the sun came out. Our flowers are already blooming in the front yard - the camellias are always first! 

I'm sure I will come home next week feeling tired and inspired! It's the best! Let me know what you are up to! Take care and I'll be reporting from Phoenix! 

LINKS:

SIMON SAYS STAMP BLOG (updates from the show floor)

MY INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT

A BLOG CALLED WANDA FACEBOOK PAGE

CHA - CREATIVATION 2017 

 

Here are just a few random photos from the past week to share! 

Here is a photo from our drive this weekend. This was taken in Newcastle California! See how green and lush everything is because of the rain! 

 

This was one of my favorite photos I took at the Vintage Market - someone had a little fresh farm stand too! 

 

This beauty was the first camellia to bloom in our front yard this year! 

 

And of course BUDDY! He was freaking out because my husband was outside on the back desk sawing and chopping things! His eyes almost popped out of his head! He really is the most handsome cat!! His tenth birthday is coming up - I can't believe it. We got him when he was a teeny baby kitty. 

Simon Says Stamp February 2017 Card Kit! Coffee & Friends!

Hi everyone!! Wowzers!! This week was like a stamping marathon! Thanks for hanging in there with me! Whew. SO MUCH GOING ON! I feel so lucky to be part of all the fun things happening out here in crafty blog land! Three blog hops in one week???? And now a new card kit! Yay! Today I'm here to introduce the new February 2017 Simon Says Stamp Card Kit! It's full of cofffeeee and cute things! I love it already. The stamp set is perfection! And the teeny tiny coffee cup die!? Killin' me. The paper is a brand new collection from Doodlebug JUST released called Cream & Sugar. It's going to be a favorite at my house. Quite possibly the most adorable thing ever. The card kit also has really fun embellishments from Crate Paper. My favorite ones are the tiny gold hearts. I used those on my card today!

You can order your kit HERE or subscribe HERE to automatically receive a kit every month. They are a great value and always get the inspiration flowing. You can also order just the stamp set HERE. Full supply links are all at the bottom of my post. It's really a bargain at $29.95. I hope you love it as much as I do!

 

The coffee cup stamp is my favorite one from the awesome stamp set. I stamped and cut out (with scissors) two coffee cups and colored them with Copic Markers. I also cut out two pieces of kraft cardstock to make the cozies for the cups. The stamp set comes with different faces to put on your mugs and cups! I love this little smiley one! And it perfectly matches the paper. I die cut out a Stitched Circle and stamped my sentiment - which has a perfect curve to it. My card base is made from the included Kraft cardstock.

 

I could not resist adding some of those tiny gold hearts as accents! The cups were attached to the card using foam tape. 

 

 

 

Coffee & Friends really are the perfect blend! These two are so cute together! 

Thank you for coming by today to see the new Card Kit! Sunday I will have a post on the SSS Blog! Next week it might be sort of quiet around here. Lots to do to get ready to leave on Thursday for Phoenix and CHA! I am so excited to see my Simon Says Stamp family in person, hang out, get crafty and laugh until my cheeks hurt. I will be posting every day on the SSS blog while I'm at CHA - to provide you with an inside look at everything I see! Also, I'll be posting like crazy on my personal Instagram account. CANNOT WAIT! (but I hate packing!) Have a wonderful weekend. XOXO

 

SUPPLIES FOR TODAY!

InLinkz.com

Simon Says Stamp Hey Love Blog Hop!

Hey Loves! In case you're keeping track - yes - this is the third blog hop this week!! YEAH! Today, it's time for a super fun blog hop with my Simon Says Stamp friends! We are celebrating the launch of the Simon Says Stamp Hey Love collection! Full of hearts and flowers and beautiful word dies... Something to make everyone happy and cheerful on this winter day! CLICK HERE to see the entire collection! There are 14 stops on the hop today - full of ideas and inspiration for you. Have you started your Valentine crafting yet? Or are you still recovering from Christmas!? I've been creating a lot with this release already, and I'm happy to share another project with you today. If you're new to my blog, welcome! I hope you've arrived from the talented Heather's blog!

For today's card I finally executed an idea that's been in my head for a while. I made some pretty watercolor hearts using the SSS Exclusive Clipping Hearts Die as my template. I always love a rainbow card - in any form! 

 

I started with a dark grey card base, cut to A2 size. Next I die cut a Stitched Rectangle out of watercolor paper. I added black paint splatters to that piece later. Next I die cut the "love" sentiment out of black cardstock. And I also white heat embossed the rest of the sentiment onto black paper. 

 

 

 

I used pretty shades of mini Distress Inks to watercolor the hearts. Kept it sort of loose and free. On some of the hearts I blended two colors together. I knew I wanted the largest heart to be red, so I arranged my rainbow colors with that in mind. The bigger hearts were attached to the card with bits of foam tape. 

 

 

 

I die cut the Clipping Hearts Die out of watercolor paper and left it attached inside the paper as you see here. That made it a little easier to color and manage the tiny pieces. 

 

Once everything was watercolored and dry, I used the outline of the hearts to put them in place on the background layer. I wanted to use the design layout of the original die. 

 

Here are my rainbow color choices! This card layout would be pretty in any color combination! 

 

I added a few sparkly sequins to my finished card - you gotta have some bling!! The love word is glued on with clear glue and the other sentiment piece is attached with foam tape. 

PRIZE ALERT PRIZE ALERT PRIZE ALERT! 

Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp! Every single blog on the hop will have one winner! Names will be randomly selected, and posted on the SSS Blog on Monday the 16th. Good luck! Enjoy the hop! 

Next up on the lineup is the wonderful Nina-Marie! Full link list is at the bottom of my post! Have a great weekend! I'll be up on the SSS blog on Sunday this week, with a Weekender with Wanda feature. Tomorrow is the launch of the new SSS Card Kit! See you soon!  

SUPPLIES FOR TODAY! 

InLinkz.com

 

BLOG HOP LINK LIST!

 

Simon Says Stamp Blog
Kristina Werner
Shari Carroll
Laura Bassen
Debby Hughes
Nichol Spohr
Yoonsun Hur
Yana Smakula
Heather Hoffman
Lisa Addesa
Amy Rysavy
Heather Ruwe
Wanda Guess
Nina-Marie Trapani

Altenew Alcohol Markers Release Blog Hop! Celebrate!

Hello! Two blog hops two days in a row! WOOHOOOO! I'm so excited for this week - so many fun things happening! Guess what? Another blog hop is coming on Friday! I've been busy! Today is a very exciting day indeed, because I get to help launch a brand new product from Altenew - Artist Markers! Yes, our friends at Altenew have come out with a wonderful new product line and today is the first day you can buy it! I was lucky enough to get one of the first packs of the markers to use, and review for you here today. I hope you've arrived from the very lovely blog of Svetlana Fotinia!

Altenew Artist Markers are alcohol based, allowing you to beautifully blend colors on any stamped images. You can also easily pair them with the Altenew Crisp Dye Inks to take your coloring to the next level! Here are the details of the first set: Altenew Artist Marker Set A - features:- Alcohol Based, Brush tip and fine tip on each end and, Organically designed for easy gripping. The colors included in Set A are: Frosty Pink, Coral Berry, Ruby Red, Grapevine, Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades, Evergreen, Jet Black, Sea Glass, Ocean Waves, Dusk, and Dessert Nigh. The colors even sound pretty! (and they are!!) The entire set sells for $44.99. The markers come with a clean container to keep them in (more photos below). 

I made a clean and simple card today, showcasing one of my favorite Altenew Stamp Sets (Celebrations) colored with the awesome new markers. I wanted to feature the one floral bouquet to showcase the marker colors. My card layout is one of the ones I used often when I want to make a clean lines sort of card. The crisp white really sets off the pretty colors of the new markers. 

 

I started with a white A2 card base and speckled some black mist paint onto it and set that aside to dry. Then I die cut two stitched rectangles, one blue and one white, and one stiched circle. I stamped the white rectangle in London Fog Ink from Memento using the pretty floral bouquet. I tried it in black first, but the grey is much softer and prettier with this image. Next I stamped and die cut another floral bouquet to use as my focal image. I always die cut before coloring - in case I mess up! If you've ever spent an hour coloring something and then didn't die cut it exactly right, you understand... I colored the image using only the markers in Set A. The colors worked beautifully together and blended very nicely. I love these pink shades so much. 

 

I stamped the sentiments in black ink directly onto the card base before layering my other pieces. This is going to be a special birthday card for one of my friends.

 

These little Doodlebug Clips make great accents! I also added a few shiny silver sequins to complete the card. 

 

 

 

The marker set comes beautifully boxed and packaged just like you see here. Twelve colors in a pack.

 

These are the colors I used in today's project. 

 

I made some color swatches first thing, right after I took the markers out of the box. One very nice surprise is that you can layer the color to get a darker shade. Here I've used R302 to make three different shades. In the top swatch I colored one time. In the second swatch I colored twice and in the third swatch I colored three times. This is a great way to take your supplies further. 

 

The markers are very nice to hold - they feel good in your hand. the tips are very sturdy and sharp. they are good for coloring and writing both. The black is super deep and crisp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRIZE ALERT TWO WAYS TO WIN!

To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to THREE lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew blog by Monday, January 16th at 11:59pm EST for a chance to win. The winners will be announced on the Altenew blog on Wednesday, January 18th. Also, I will be drawing a winner here on my blog to receive a $30 gift certificate. I will pull the winner and email the winner on Tuesday, January 17th! YAY!  TWO chances to win a prize! Thanks Altenew!

I am the last stop on today's hop! Thank you for joining us! If you want to start the hop at the beginning, CLICK HERE. Or, the full list is at the bottom of this post. XO

SUPPLIES FOR TODAY! 

InLinkz.com

 

FULL BLOG HOP LINK LIST!

Altenew

Kathy Racoosin

Nicole Picadura

TaeEun Yoo

Debby Hughes

Michelle Short

Marika Rahtu

Stephanie Klauck

Yana Smakula

Yoonsun Hur

Therese Calvird

Keeway Tsao

Jennifer McGuire

Svitlana Shayevich

Lydia Evans

Svetlana Fotinia

Wanda Guess

My Monthly Hero - January 2017 Hero Arts Kit!

Hi friends! Welcome to the Hero Arts "My Monthly Hero" January Kit blog hop! I'm so happy to see you today! The kit this month is yet another fabulous kit (of course!) Lots of products perfect for valentines and looooooove! And the add-ons? Also all super wonderful. All of these products work together seamlessly and beautifully to create love notes, friendship notes and Valentines projects. I was inspired today by my love of vintage things for Valentine's Day. Something so romantic and cheerful about a sweet pink valentine heart and some pretty fonts. I went a little overboard with stamping and die cutting so many elements, but it just truly made me happy to create this card to share today. Thanks for stopping by here on the hop today. Hope you have a wonderful week ahead of you! I'm getting my hair cut and colored today and I cannot wait - long overdue! 

You may have arrived here from my amazing friend Shari's blog?! If you want to start at the beginning of the hop, CLICK HERE to go to the Hero Arts Blog. Lots and lots of inspiration for you today. I am always so grateful to join these fantastic crafters in this monthly hop. If you're new to my blog -welcome! 

Here is my finished card! The colors were inspired by the paper pad I wanted to use. Kind of muted floral tones and some vintage gold too. My card base and all my elements are made with cream cardstock instead of pure white. This by itself lends a vintage feeling. I also used lots of brown ink to look aged. 

 

One fantastic thing is that there are matching dies for all the stamps! Made it easy to stamp and cut out all these small elements to make my flower bouquet! To make the paper wrapper for my flowers I stamped the image onto text paper and then die cut it out. I die cut a second wrapper and cut the bow out. The bow is colored with a Copic Marker to match. 

 

This is such a pretty font! The pearl in the center was colored to match using the same Copic Marker as I used to color the bow. The pearl is white! You can color white pearls any color you want by using your Copics! 

 

Everything is attached to the card using foam tape. I used two layers of tape in some spots to give variation to the dimension. The smaller background images were stamped with Antique Linen Distress Ink. 

 

 

 

 

 

I literally could not resist these mini envelope dies!! I made some sweet love notes using cream cardstock, and matching inks to my main card. How totally adorable is the teeny postage stamp? LOVE. 

 

 

The kit is available NOW! Yippeeeee! Below is a photo of ALL THE STUFF that comes in the main kit. Beautiful and sweet stamps with matching dies, ink pads, envelopes and more! This is a great value for $34.99! The items sold separately retail for $70.00 or more! Hero Arts is very generous with their beautiful kits! The other supplies I used are listed below in my links.  

PRIZE ALERT!! Hero Arts is giving away one kit as a prize to one blog reader – selected from the comments across all of the blogs in the hop. Giveaway closes January 15th at midnight, and the winner will be announced the following week on the Hero Arts Blog. If you've already purchased your kit, and you win, you will be reimbursed! 

 

The kit is available for a limited time only – once it’s gone, it’s gone. Kits begin shipping from Hero Arts on Friday, January 13th. These have a habit of selling out fast! So don't wait if you like this one. 

 

Next up on the blog hop is the extra fabulous Amy Tsuruta! The full hop list is at the bottom of my post. Have fun hopping and have a happy, creative day! XOXO

 

CARD KIT CONTENTS!


SUPPLIES FOR TODAY! 

InLinkz.com

 

BLOG HOP LINKS! Enjoy the hop! 

The Hero Arts Blog

Jennifer McGuire

Yana Smakula

Shari Carroll from Simon Says Stamp

Wanda Guess

Amy Tsuruta

Clare Prezzia

Julie Ebersole at Ellen Hutson’s CLASSroom

May Park

Jessica Frost-Ballas

Libby Hickson

Valentine Vellum Shaker Card!

Helllloooooooo! How are you!? Thank you for all the fun comments and all the excitement from the Season's Givings Blog Hop this weekend! WHOA! That was super super fun! I loved reading all of the comments about your creative resolutions. There were three main themes that came up over and over again your comments. One, getting organized! That seems to be the top priority for all of us (me included)! Two, starting Christmas cards earlier this year (I am one hundred percent on board this train too). Three, using the craft supplies we already have and making the most of our supplies. I'm going to do some brainstorming here and write some posts speaking to these things we all have in common. 2017 is ready to rock and roll! Let's do this!

Be sure to check out my current Prize Drawing for the month of January! CLICK HERE for more information. Make sure to email me with your order details so I can enter you in the drawing!! I have a few entries so far! Good luck! 

Hope your week is going great! My studio is in full on heart mode! Valentines everywhere! I am loving all the new papers and the new collection of stamps and dies from Simon Says Stamp. I used some more of the brand new dies from the Hey Love collection to make today's card. 

I am sharing a traditional red and white valentine - gotta love that! And, it's a shaker card with a twist... Instead of using acetate or clear plastic for my shaker, and sequins, I used vellum and paper hearts. I like how this one came out - just a bit of a change up from the normal shaker. It somehow seems a little more vintage or old fashioned. And, lemme tell ya, it was a lot easier to wrangle the paper hearts that it is to wrangle sequins! LOL. 

 

It's kind of hard to photograph vellum... I hope you can see the little red hearts inside my shaker square! Much more prominent in person. I used two sizes of Stitched Squared dies to create a frame and layered the beautiful new Happy Valentine's Day die on top in bright red. YUM!

 

These new roses dies are so delicate and beautiful! I cut out just a couple of them for the corners of the card. My card is a 5x5 inch square. I thought about making the hearts pink but when I did that it sort of threw off the whole look. I liked it better with just red and white. I added pearl accents to the centers of the flowers and here and there on the card. 

 

I used the new Clipping Hearts Die to make my 'confetti' for the shaker part. SOOOO easy! I made all these little hearts with just one pass through the Big Shot! 

 

Here is my vellum frame....

 

I cut foam tape in half to mount my layers of the shaker part, and dropped in all the hearts. 

 

 

 

 

 

This Valentine's Day die cut is seriously too gorgeous!!!! I know this one will get put to good use!!! 

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Are you making Valentines yet? I really love making Valentines - definitely one of my top three fav crafting holidays. All the supplies are listed below. Hope you have a wonderful day! XOXO

 

SUPPLIES FOR TODAY'S CARD!

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