A Blog Called Wanda

Happy Halloween Kitty!

Hi friends! Dang, just a few more days until Halloween! I'm trying to get some more cards made really quickly! I bought some cute stamp sets at the Scrapbook Expo and there was one in particular I wanted to use right away. It's called Purrfect Halloween and has the cutest cat and accessories that go with her! I think this is a discontinued older stamp set, because I got it really cheap. I found one on Ebay and it's in my supply links below. It's from Close To My Heart! I love their stamp sets! I had this awesome plaid paper on my desk and I just thought these two crafty things were a match made in heaven! Are you done with your Halloween cards yet? I think is probably going to be my last one for this year. Happy Saturday - hope you have a wonderful weekend! 

 

I started with an A2 card base made from orange Cardstock. I layered the Carta Bella plaid paper on top of the orange and then a layer of white that I die cut with a stitched rectangle die. I stamped directly onto the paper, masking the hat to the top of her head. The mask was stamped on a different piece of paper and then cut out with detail scissors. I stamped the sentiment onto a banner die. I used Archival Ink because I knew I was going to use water with my coloring. 

 

To do the coloring, I used a water brush and mini Distress Ink Pads in Halloween colors. I went slightly out of the lines for a more casual look. I added pops of Stickles to the mask, the bats and the hat for a little sparkle. 

 

I also used watercolor and distress inks to add orange to the sentiment banner. In this photo you can better see the coloring. It wasn't fussy at all! Super fast. 

 

At the top, I used some pretty twine cord and a cute Halloween brad! EEEEEK! 

 

Here's a little sneak peek of something the Papertrey Ink Design Team is working on for next week! YIPPEEEE! A brand new kit from the Sincerely Yours line of kits. This one is called Envelope Envy! Paper, stamps, dies, stencils....all so pretty for decorating your envelopes and correspondence. I know you'll love it! Be sure to check back here or on the PTI blog to see the entire thing. I can't wait to make more projects! 

Thanks for coming by today! Have a super fabulous weekend! I'll see you soon my friends! XOXO

 

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PTI Throwback Thursday - Featuring Stenciled Alphabet Dies!

Hi friends! Just a few more days until Halloween...and only a week until my birthday! YAY for Fall! I'm having a great week - lots going on this time of year - and I love it all. We went to this cool thing Tuesday night called Pumpkin Nights and it was so fun and festive. Got us way in the mood for Fall things! (Like I needed to be put in the mood! Ha) Check it out here! It's vest season in my world. I looove to wear vests - it's kind of a weird thing about me. I just had the hubs bring them down from the attic. I am always hot, so in the winter I never wear a coat! I love to accessorize with a vest instead. I call it A Vestivus for the rest of us! Plaid, buffalo check, floral, strips, houndstooth.... Today I'm doing some private photography lessons for one of my favorite local crafty girls and I can't wait to hang out with her. What are you up to? Are you pumpkin carving or costume planning yet?? 

Today is Throwback Thursday for Papertrey Ink! Yes! Today the design team is featuring the older die set called Stenciled Alphabet Blocks. We like to bust out some of our favorite older supplies and make them new again. I've combined the blocks dies along with two sets released this year to make a fun Fall banner card. These Alphabet Blocks dies are perfect for making banners. You can spell out the season, or a person's name, or anything! I used a Fall color palette and had fun paper piecing with 6x6 paper pads. 

 

My card base is an A2 size made from kraft paper. Then I layered canyon clay plaid on top, and then a vintage cream panel. I die cut the FALL letters from kraft cardstock to match the card base. Kind of ties it all together. I gently inked around the edges of the cream panel with Antique Linen Ink and a sponge. I stamped the sentiment in black in the upper left corner to leave room for the banner. 

 

The banner pieces were attached to the card using foam squares. After I had them attached, I used clear glue to affix the twine across the top of them. I tied a bow on one end and tucked the other end underneath Mr. Scarecrow's arm.

 

I had a lot of fun paper piecing this one! I just used tons of patterns and colors. I colored his face and arms, and the pumpkins and leaves, with Copic Markers (E000, RV10, YR12, YR16, YR18, Y15 and E17) Isn't he the cutest? 

 

I added a couple of leaves to the banner and the card. They are so tiny and cute!

 

 

Thank you so so so much for stopping by today, and for your continued support of me, my blog, and my business. it's a time of year to be grateful and I am grateful for all of you, and the kindness you show me. I hope you have a wonderful day! XOXO

 

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Flying by to say BOO!

Greetings from my studio on this lovely Sunday afternoon! Got some nice tunes on (Basia Radio on Pandora) and Buddy is asleep at my feet. Getting caught up on blogging, photos and generally organizing today. I had colored some stamped images at the retreat I went to last weekend, and wanted to make them into a card today - so that's what I have to share! At the end of my post are some photos from our weekend too. Mark was gone last week for work and I missed him so much! We didn't waste any time getting out to do some fun things and get caught up with each other. The weather is amazing and it finally rained and cleared the air from all the fires. Life is good! What are you doing lately? 

My card for today was made using the ADORABLE stamp set from Waffle Flower called Boo! It's from Big Bear & Bird, one of my favorite artists that designs for Waffle Flower. LOVE. Smitten. I had colored the bear and the bats last weekend and they've been sitting on my desk ever since. (Or on the floor after a cute cat wiped them off with his tail). Today was the day to make a card! I went with a clean and simple card layout and some Halloween colors....

 

Like, seriously, how adorbs is that flying bear??? So cute, and I see that he has his trick or treat bucket ready! Kind of reminds me of me! LOL. Same body shape!! I made some grey poofy clouds using the Mama Elephant Landscape Trio Dies (my go-to clouds) for him to fly in. I made a big bright yellow moon. The card base is white, in A2 size. I used a bit of patterned paper for the bottom because I wanted some orange in the card. 

 

The bear and bats were colored with Copic Markers and attached to the card with foam squares. I used the matching dies for the stamp set to get a perfect cut. 

 

Just a few sparkly rhinestones to finish it off - to look like he's flying through the stars! 

 

 

 

On Saturday morning we went to the Open House at the UC Davis Veterinary School Raptor Center and saw the gorgeous animals. This is a rescue facility that houses and cares for injured raptors. SO cool. Owls, Eagles, Osprey, and others. These creatures are so amazing and we got to be about 12 inches away from them! It's free to visit here and if you're local I definitely recommend it. The kids would love it too. CLICK HERE for their website.  

This guy is named Forrest and he's huge - about two feet tall. One thing I learned is that owls cannot move their eyes...that is why they can, and do, turn their heads all around on a swivel. Also, they can, at will, change the size of their pupils!! Isn't that amazing??? I was geeking out, because I love owls. 

 

This little guy is named Wes! My first boyfriend was named Wes! LOL. He is tiny, but he is fully grown. I wonder if he hates it that everyone calls him cute?? But he totally is cute. He's probably thinking "I'm a grown man!" Hahaha. 

 

Sacramento got a Starbucks Reserve Bar recently and Mark and I went to check it out. WOWZA! It's like a Starbucks, only fancy. It's huge inside with lots of places to sit and hang out. They have Nitro coffee, Siphon coffee, Pour over, and all kinds of cool espresso drinks. We sat there for a couple of hours and the baristas talked to us about all the different drinks and the types of coffees. Really a neat experience. We will be back for sure! 

That's what I got today! I hope you've had a great weekend! XOXOXO I'll be back on Thursday! 

 

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More Papertrey Ink October Release: To The Point Edgers II and Big Basics!

Hi crafty people! I'm back with, you guessed it, another Christmas card featuring some new products from the Papertrey Ink October Release! One of the great things about making all these Christmas cards is that now I'm almost done! I will still mass produce some more in the next month or so, but I have lots of cards ready to go! Have you started on your Christmas cards? How many do you make? I usually make about 75 handmade cards. I used to make them all the same but that's not really my gig. I get bored making a ton of cards all the same way. I like to pick out cards that I think the person will like! I'd love to hear your traditions about this!

Today I'm featuring a new addition to the "To The Point Edgers" Collection. These are amazing border dies that give such pretty sharp, crisp edges. They are so versatile and such a staple to have in your crafty stash. These new ones won't be leaving my desk for a while I'm sure. I chose some of my favorite Winter themed PTI stamp sets and used a new color scheme of red, white and kraft. I'm loving those colors together!! I hope you do to! Supplies at the end of the post. CLICK HERE to shop the new PTI October Release.  

 

I started with a white A2 card base and layered Kraft onto it. I used the GORGEOUS Fair Isle Borders stamp set to stamp the pattern in black ink onto white paper. I stamped the stamp three times to get this effect. It was so easy to line up too. Didn't even use my MISTI this time! I layered the white piece with the Fair Isle pattern onto the kraft paper. Then I stamped and die cut out the sled using red and green ink on kraft paper. 

 

I used the new To The Point Edgers II dies and cut one edger in red and one in white to layer together. I love that big bold scallop edge!! EEK! I adhered those two together and layered that part on top of my card. 

 

I used foam squares to attach the sprig of greenery to the sled, and to attach the sled to the card. I stamped the sentiment vertically on the left edge in rich black!

 

Here's a close up of those beautiful edgers dies. Swoon.

 

It was super fun to showcase some of my favorite PTI stamp sets with you today in combination with the edgers dies. I forgot how much I love those Fair Isle patterns!!! 

Thank you for coming by today! It's been so much fun sharing with you all week! My husband has been away on business this week and I can't wait to see him tomorrow. Kitty misses him too. It was a productive week, but now I'm ready to have some Autumn fun with the hubs. Hope you have something fun planned for your weekend. XOXO 

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More Papertrey Ink October Release: Mix and Mat Snowflakes and Year Of Psalms October!

Hellloooooo and happy Wednesday! We made it half way through the week already. The days are flying by so fast right now - probably because it's my favorite time of the year! I want October to last forever, but it is speeding on by! The weather has been super lovely this week. Crisp, cool mornings and sunny afternoons. This weekend is the Scrapbook Expo here in Sacramento and I'm hoping to be able to find the time to pop over there for a bit. I took another crochet class this week too! It's addicting and FUN! 

Today is my third day introducing some more new Papertrey Ink products from the October release! My card is featuring Year of Psalms October, and the newest Mix & Mat Snowflakes Dies. I created a chalkboard effect and I really like how it came out!  

 

My card base is A2 and made from Kraft cardstock. I layered white paper and Chartreuse plaid paper underneath the black die cut. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark Ink and heat embossed it in white embossing powder. To add to the chalkboard look, I smudged some white pigment ink with my finger on top of the embossing. 

 

For accents I used a few Christmas trees and a smattering of enamel dots. I wanted to pop some red in there. 

 

 

Thank you friends! Good to see you again! CLICK HERE to shop the new Papertrey Ink release! See you soon! XOXO

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More Papertrey Ink October Release: Traveler's Journal December, Typed Words and Quoted Little Bit More stamp sets!

Hi crafty people!! I'm back with my second Papertrey Ink post for this week - featuring two more brand new stamp sets! My cards for today are bright and bold and cheerful! These new sets called out for primary colors and graphic designs. CLICK HERE to shop the entire new release for October! Everything is now live in the PTI Store. Hope you have a great day, and thanks for coming by!  

First up, I'm featuring the Traveler's Journal stamps for December, along with the new December Typed Words. I thought these two sets went well together! I love those tiny words and will definitely use them in my planner, as well as on cards and tags.  

 

I used Smoky Shadow for my card base. I love to use different colors for card bases! I stamped the mittens in red ink and added a few snowflakes along with the sentiment for the focal point. I also used the typed words and added a few more sentiments on the card. I layered some banners and the Branching Out Die (my favorite) for pops of color.

 

 

 

My next card features the Quoted: Little Bit More stamp set! OMG I love a quote from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas!! Brilliant!! The font on this is bold and big! I decided to not add a lot to this card and let the words be the focus. I started with a Soft Stone card base and layered just a few strips of papers. Then one big glittery snowflake! 

 

I couldn't resist adding a little heart at the end of the quote!

 

This snowflake die is part of last month's release: Silver White Winters!

That's it for today! See you tomorrow! The new release is available now! 

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Spellbinders October 2017 Blog Hop!

UPDATED 10-22-17: MY LUCKY WINNER IS MAUREEN! Thank you for all the delightful comments! 

Hi everyone! Happy Monday! I hope you had a fantastic weekend! Welcome to the Spellbinders October 2017 Blog Hop! I'm excited to be part of this fun hop today with some of our favorite crafters and bloggers. I was very happy to get my hands on some new release products from the Spellbinders collection. I had fun creating a fall floral card to share today. Lots of bright, bold colors with a vintage twist!

Did you arrive here from my friend Yana's amazing blog? Welcome to any new readers today! If you want to start at the beginning of the hop, please pop over to the official Spellbinders Blog! There are some great prizes available, and a lot of great inspiration! (I'll put the prize info at the bottom of this post). 

The inspiration for my card today was Fall foliage and flowers. I am inspired by colors of Autumn - always. Bright shades of green, red, purple and gold... (oh and a little pop of teal!) I used three new Spellbinders die sets, and some of my most favorite Spellbinders stamps, along with pretty Distress Ink colors. This card was super fun to create! 

 

I started with a cream A2 card base. I layered pretty gold/yellow paper and kraft paper and then another panel of cream. For the background I used a lovely background stamp called Dear Ruby. It's a beautiful letter! I stamped the image in Antique Linen Distress Ink to make it nice and soft. I splattered blue distress ink onto it also and then inked the edges with Antique Linen and Vintage Photo distress inks. 

 

This card has lots of dimension! The flowers were attached with foam squares so they pop right off the page! 

 

To make the flowers I started with watercolor paper and die cut out tons of leaves and flowers. The watercolor paper really stands up to inking and MORE inking! And it gives a nice texture as well. 

 

All of the ink colors I used are below in the supply list! I used small sponge daubers to apply LOTS of color to the florals and leaves. I also used my spray bottle to add clear water to the ink to make splotches and make them look more vintage. I'm calling these colors my Fall Rainbow!! So pretty!

 

 

 

I added lots of Gold Enamel Dots to the card for a bit of shimmer and sparkle! 

 

 

PRIZE ALERT! PRIZE ALERT! PRIZE ALERT! There are TWO ways to enter to win prizes from this awesome blog hop! Spellbinders is giving away five $50.00 Gift Certificates to lucky winners who comment on the Spellbinders Blog Post! And...I am giving away one $25.00 Gift Certificate to one lucky winner who comments here on my blog post! Be sure to leave your comments on both blogs by October 19th at midnight! Good luck!

Thank you for coming by today! I sure love having you here! Next up on the hop is one of my favorite creatives (and she's also the nicest person!) Spellbinders Designer Debi Adams. The full blog hop list is at the bottom of the post! Have a wonderful day. See you soon. XOXO 

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 FULL BLOG HOP LIST FOR TODAY! HAVE FUN!

Spellbinders Paper Arts

Jennifer Mcguire

Seth Apter

Laura Bassen

Yana Smakula

Wanda Guess

Debi Adams

Kimberly Crawford

Svitlana Shayevich

Julia Stainton

Amy Kolling

More Papertrey Ink October Release: Sing a Song of Christmas and Ways to Say Christmas!

Hi everyone! Happy Monday! I'll have two blog posts today and this is the first one! This post kicks off an entire week of inspiration from the October 2017 Papertrey Ink Release that went live last night! MORE holiday and winter themed products to get you well on your way towards having your projects started!! Today I'm sharing two cards featuring two new stamp sets: Sing a Song of Christmas and Ways to Say Christmas! One card is very clean and simple and one is shabby chic vintage. Hope you like them! CLICK HERE to shop the new release! 

First up is the Shabby Chic Christmas Card featuring the gorgeous new musical themed stamp set with matching dies. It's called Sing A Song of Christmas! Pretty instruments and very uniquely styled sentiments. I've never seen another stamp set quite like this one. Perfect for the music lovers in your life! I combined some pretty new patterned papers and made a larger size square card. 

 

I used gold heat embossing to make the sentiment really pop! I love gold embossing too, so elegant. This finished card is 5x5 inch square. I layered several papers together and the card base and top layer are cream cardstock. 

 

The matching dies cut the instruments out like a dream. I also gold embossed parts of the cello to make it more vintage and interesting. I stamped a few snowflakes in the background and inked all the edges of my papers. Are you humming a tune now? 

 

My second card features the Ways To Say Christmas Stamp Set. I did a clean and simple card layout and did one layer stamping with some masking, in my favorite shades of greens. I stamped two of the sentiments together to make a nice greeting in rich black. 

 

The leaves are from the formerly released stamp set called Spruce and Sprigs. It's one of my go-to stamp sets for Christmas!! 

 

 

Thank you so much for coming by today! I'll have Papertrey Ink Inspiration Monday through Friday this week! And I'll have another blog post going live this morning in just a bit. It's nice to see you here and I hope you have an outstanding week! XOXO

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Papertrey Ink October 2017 Release! Introducing Dash Away All!

Hi there creative friends! How is your week going? The week is flying by! Tomorrow is Friday the 13th and we are going to a Halloween Party! Spoooooky! It's getting so close to Halloween now! But here, for the next few days, it's more Christmas Crafting for the Papertrey Ink October new release!  

Have you been following along on the Official Papertrey Ink Blog all week for all of the festivities for the October Release? More holiday stamps and dies as we roll on into that time of year. I've got about half of my Christmas cards done already!  The release fun started on the 9th with our monthly intro/sneak peek video, and we will continue to share projects on our design team blogs and on the PTI blog all the way through the 20th. So, lots of inspiration coming your way in the next week or so! All of the new release items will be available for purchase in the Papertrey Ink Store on October 15th at 10pm EST (Sunday)! 

Today I'm helping introduce a fun, cute and festive new stamp and die set called Dash Away All! A perfect prancing reindeer and loads of great sentiments to go with it! You can make a cute Rudolph or an elegant jumping wood deer. No end to the possibilities! I made three cards today to show you some different ways to use these new products! Something for everyone I hope! 

First up today is a prancing Rudolph flying through the night sky! I used a favorite color combo of red, aqua and kraft, and then some rich black. Love the look of these elements all together. Try stamping onto kraft paper for a different look - since the edges will not be bright white. 

 

Lots of paper layers on this card! Kraft, patterned paper, dots, aqua mist....it's all good! I die cut the focal point circle from black paper and then stamped the snow in white pigment ink. Such a cool stamp that makes the snow. I stamped and die cut the reindeer and gave him a bright red nose! CLICK HERE to shop the black holly patterned paper (it's on sale!) 

 

The sentiments in this set and delicate and pretty - like handwriting!

 

 

 

Next up is a bright and vivid card with lots of red, and some peppermint stripes! I used the Pure Poppy patterned paper and cut it on my paper cutter so that the stripes are at an angle instead of straight across. Looks like a candy cane! I covered the entire card base in the stripes before layering crisp white on top of it. 

 

My favorite stamp from this set is this big graphic that has all the reindeer names on it! I stamped it across the bottom three times to make my own pattern. So cool! Then I stamped the snow stamp across the top in Hawaiian Shores. BIG and bold! The reindeer was stamped and die cut out of white paper. He is attached with foam tape. 

 

His big red nose with surely light the way!

 

 

Lastly, for my third card, I went with a watercolor effect and used the Silver White Winters stamp set from last month's release! I used pretty shades of blues and purples to randomly stamp snowflakes across a watercolor panel. The snowflakes are softened by adding water to the paper before stamping! Such a fun and easy technique! I also water colored the reindeer in brown ink. 

 

Here's another one of those pretty sentiments!

 

 

That's it for me for today! Remember, everything new is for sale on the 15th at 10pm EST.  If you don't want to miss anything from the new release, make sure to visit the official PTI blog!  I'll be back on Monday, starting five days of sharing more PTI projects with you. CLICK HERE to shop the PTI store! You're gonna be seeing a lot of me! Until then - have a great day! Thanks for stopping by today! XOXO 

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Watercolor Birthday Roses!

Hi creative and crafty friends! Monday already!? How are you? I woke up at 5am and have been in the studio all morning trying to organize and plan my week. I have a lot of projects in the works and trying to keep it all straight in my head. If you can believe it, Valentine's Day stamps are already starting to arrive here! Yikes! It's really remarkable how far ahead the planning is for crafting projects! Yesterday I had a "girl day" and took a crochet class with a dear friend. We had fun for sure! I'm getting better, but still have a lot to learn. There are sooooo many gorgeous yarns out there. I want it allll! A whole new thing for me to hoard!! LOL. This is definitely not your grandma's crocheting! It's more modern and fun and I am loving it. After that I hung out at the stamp store and had dinner with the crew from Judikins who are here visiting Sacramento! F-U-N! I have a super busy week this week. Most weeks I am home at least a couple of days but this week I am out and about every day and night! Must be the Fall season! It's all good, fun, work, play, all of that. I hope that you have a great week my friends! 

Last month I was trying to keep up with the 30 Day coloring Challenge and had some half done projects saved. Today I'm sharing a card made with one of the panels I colored - a classy botanical style tree rose stamp from Impress Cards and Crafts. A beautiful image to color for sure! I used my Zig Clean Color Brush Markers and some small paint brushes. I made it into a clean and elegant birthday card in a square format!

 

My finished card is a 5x5 inch square. I made my card base from my favorite shade of pink cardstock! I layered cream cardstock onto the pink and then layered my watercolored panel using foam tape. The main image was stamped in black archival ink to stand up to the water. For the bottom cream layer I used rich brown ink and stamped the stamp twice - once in each corner - to add a bit of a background effect. I used my Kuretake Markers to color the roses and leaves and also used a bit of blue around the image. The sentiment was gold embossed onto a black banner for some drama!

 

Here is a close up of the coloring and the background. For the leaves I used three shades of green and let it all blend together. Tip: Use a tiny paint brush and get the paper wet before adding your marker color - the effect will be nice and soft. Then, after your project is dry, go back and add depth with the marker itself. These markers are so wonderful to work with. 

 

 

 

 Maybe I went a little crazy with the shimmer spray??? LOL. I used Gold and Pearl Shimmer on this one! It's veryyyyy pretty but super hard to photograph! I like how it all came out! 

 

 

Thanks so much for spending a little bit of your day with me! Have an amazing week! Lots of love from my studio to yours! XOXO

 

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World Card Making Day 2017!

Greetings crafty friends! Happy Saturday! Happy World Card Making Day 2017! Are you doing something fun today to celebrate WCMD? Are you stamping with friends or taking part in an online contest or hop? I hope you are able to fit in some creative time today. How cool is it that there is an entire day just for Card Making?? It's a beautiful Autumn weekend here in Sacramento. I'll be in my studio all day today and then on Sunday I am taking another crochet class! I am finding that in order to keep up with the crocheting I need to be in class. I'm going to be doing it with a favorite friend, too, which makes it even better! Mark and I celebrated our wedding anniversary this week with a nice road trip. I posted some pictures at the bottom of my post from our trip! Hope you have a wonderful weekend! 

I posted on Monday to kick off WCMD and that post has a prize giveaway on it! If you haven't already entered, CLICK HERE to head to that post and leave a comment. I'm giving away three $25.00 gift certificates to Scrapbook.com to three lucky winners! There is also a GIANT SALE this weekend at Scrapbook.com! Something for everyone. I stocked up on the new Waffle Flower Release, and new Tim Holtz Christmas stamps. 

Today's card I'm sharing shows how I feel about my card making community....and the sentiment is 'sending love' because I'm sending you lots of love today! I used adorable brand new stamps from Honey Bee Stamps and my watercolor pencils to create a clean and simple card perfect for friend! I haven't busted out the watercolor pencils in a long time and it was fun to re-visit this technique.  

 

I started with an A2 card base from cream cardstock. I completely covered the front of the card with Lawn Fawn Plaid Paper in this soft teal/blue color. I really like this technique of covering the entire card front with patterned paper! Gives a whole different look. I stamped the image of the animals in Archival Black Ink so it would not smear with the water. I used watercolor pencils and a water brush to color in the sweet critters! 

 

I used some Lawn Fawn woodgrain paper in soft brown for my sentiment. The sentiment is from the Honey Bee Stamps set called Seasonal Sweeties and I stamped it in brown ink. I pretty twine bow finishes off the card. 

 

I used Antique Linen Distress Ink and a sponge to ink around the edges of my panel. This just gives a really soft and vintage look to the card. I thought it went well with the coloring I chose. The stamp set with these cuties is called Forest Friends. LOVE. I also added a few sequins! 

 

BIG GIANT AWESOME SALE! CLICK THE GRAPHIC!

For our anniversary - which was on Tuesday - we kept it really low key and fun. Mark and I are not super fancy people in general. We really would rather just have a pizza and hang out than go to a super fancy restaurant or spend a ton of money on presents. I think that happens after 24 years together!! We went for a long road trip around the Sierra mountains looking for Fall color. Here where we live in Sacramento the leaves don't turn until almost November. But up in the mountains, the Aspens are already turning yellow. You know how much I love Fall! LOL. We drove around Highway 88 through to Lake Tahoe and ended up having dinner there, then came home. It was a lovely lovely day! And, as a bonus, it was like 40 degrees up there! I almost forgot what it felt like to be cold, after the HOT summer we had here. Here are a few photos from our day out! XOXO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My Monthly Hero - October Card Kit - Warm Holiday Greetings!

This is my second post for today! Be sure to scroll down to see the other one - because - PRIZES!!  Welcome to the Hero Arts "My Monthly Hero" October 2017 Card Kit Blog Hop! Yippeeee! As always, I'm happy to see you today and happy to share a sweet and fun Winter greeting with you! Happy October! Are you in full on Fall mode yet? You know I am! Enjoying the gorgeous weather and being outside more. It's wonderful! The new Hero Arts Kit is ALL about Christmas projects. The main stamp set has tons of images with matching dies, and there are so many great add ons too. Everything you need to kick start your Christmas cards and Winter Holiday projects. The main kit has the cutest scene building images which I totally love! I know you will too. I had lots of fun coloring everything with Copic Markers and adding bits of sparkly glitter too...

You may have arrived here from the fabulous blog of May Park! If you want to start at the beginning of the hop, CLICK HERE to go to the Hero Arts Blog. So much fun and inspiration for you today from lovely fellow crafters. I'm always grateful to join the other ladies in this monthly hop. If you're new to my blog today - welcome! Have fun! Enjoy the hop today! I will always warn you, these kits sell out VERY FAST (usually the first day) so if you like it, don't hesitate! I know I say that every time, but it's true! Get it while you can! Here is my card with my sleepy snowy village! I stamped a matching envelope too!

I started with some woodgrain card stock from my stash, and folded it into an A2 card base. Next I cut a layer of crisp white cardstock and die cut a circle into the upper middle part of it. I die cut a snowy hill out of white also. I used the included tree line die from the kit and die cut some pretty trees for my background. 

The next step was stamping and die cutting all those adorable images - the houses, bow, tree and holly leaves. After I cut them out I colored with Copic Markers. One thing I love about Hero Arts dies is that they cut like a dream the first time - they are so easy to work with and give the perfect border. 

I stamped the sentiment in the lower corner and then added a few snowflakes to tone down all the white. 

 

 

Now the fun part! Arranging everything! I tried a few different configurations and ended up liking this one the best. Don't laugh at me but this totally reminds me of Who-Ville from The Grinch! Can't you picture the Whos standing around singing??!! 

 

Since I had all my supplies out - I stamped a matching envelope - so quick and easy. I store them together so they're ready to mail! 

 

 

The kit is available NOW! Yippeeeee! Below is a photo of THE ENTIRE CARD KIT CONTENTS! Beautiful images for Christmas and Winter crafting,  gorgeous patterned paper, ink 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 October 8th, 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. 

 

This kit is available for a limited time only - once it's gone, it's gone! Kits begin shipping from Hero Arts on Friday, October 6th. These kits have a habit of selling out fast! So don't wait if you like this one. The last one sold out the first day! 

 

Next up on the blog hop is super talented Amy Tsuruta! The full hop list is at the bottom of my post. Have fun hopping and have a happy, creative day! XOXO When you make something with your new card kit, be sure to use the hashtag #mymonthlyhero on your social media! TO START AT THE BEGINNING OF THE HOP, CLICK HERE!  See you next month!  

Kicking Off World Card Making Day (week) 2017 with a Scrapbook.com Giveaway and a fun Fall project!

UPDATED 10-9-17: Winners are Sally K, LC, and Vicki M! Check your emails ladies for your gift certificate codes! XO

Hi everyone! Sorry to have been absent for a little bit. I really wasn't feeling that great last week and had way too much on my plate. I've been busy behind the scenes though, getting all kinds of fun things ready for the next couple of weeks. This is my first creative post of October! Happy October! And, this coming Saturday is World Card Making Day! So, the kind folks at Scrapbook.com invited me and some other card makers to share projects with you today to kick off the fun week before WCMD 2017.... They also gave us some blog prizes to give out! YAHOOO! I have three $25.00 Scrapbook.com gift certificates to award to three lucky winners! I'll put all the prize details at the bottom of this post. Are you going to be doing something special with your crafty friends to celebrate the day? I'm not sure what I'm doing yet! There is always so much going on online for this fun day!! Scrapbook.com will be having a sale and free gifts with purchase on WCMD too!! 

Since it is my first post of October, I thought it would be fun to post a not-so-spooky Halloween card made with some of my favorite Tim Holtz supplies - stamps, inks, embossing folders, papers, etc. I love vintage Halloween, and that's the look I was after with this card. It was fun to create and I am loving the vintage vibe created with the distressing and embossing. These Pumpkinhead stamps are going to stay in my Halloween crafting bin forever! LOVE. 

 

See what I mean about these pumpkins? Aren't the perfect?! The center panel is cream cardstock. I started by stamping the center pumpkin directly onto the cardstock. They I masked it off and stamped the other two next to it using my stamp-a-majig tool. That gave me the placement and the bottom 'ground' part of the images. Next I stamped all three pumpkins a second time onto cream cardstock and colored them and cut them out with scissors. My card base is an A2 size made from Kraft cardstock. My layers are orange cardstock (embossed with the Tim Holtz Rosettes Folder and inked) and then Tim Holtz Halloween Paper Stash paper. 

 

When I attached the pumpkins to the card I used foam tape. For the center one, to make it look rounded, I added a second layer of foam tape under just the center part of it. This makes it 'bump' out! The sentiment was stamped in the same black archival ink as the pumpkins. 

 

I used Squeezed Lemonade, Vintage Photo, and Carved Pumpkin Distress Inks to color the pumpkins. I used small sponge daubers to add the color. First up I used the Vintage Photo to do the stems. For the pumpkins I inked Squeezed Lemonade over most of the image. Then I used Carved Pumpkin to go around the edges. Keep blending until you get the result that you like! The yellow in the center makes it look like they're glowing! 

 

After I embossed the orange cardstock, I used the large size sponge dauber and Vintage Photo Ink to gently brush ink over the raised portions. This shows the design better. I also used the larger sponge dauber to ink around the edges of the cream card layer. I used a water brush to splatter Vintage Photo ink onto that layer also. I LOOOOOVE Rock Candy Distress Glitter so I used that to give the pumpkins a bit of retro sparkle! 

 

This little spider came in on his twine web! I felt like the card need a little something there at the top - and this Halloween Ideaology Adornment was perfect! EEEEK! 

 

 

Thank you for joining me today as we kick off World Card Making Day (week) 2017! So happy to share a project with you and I'm delighted to be able to offer you some cool prizes today! 

PRIZE ALERT PRIZE ALERT PRIZE ALERT

Here's the details for the prizes! To enter, please leave a comment here on this post telling me your favorite Fall Crafting tradition OR what you have planned for WCMD 2017!! You have until Next Sunday, October 8th at 6pm EST to leave your comment. I will randomly select THREE LUCKY WINNERS to receive a $25.00 Gift Certificate to the Scrapbook.com store. I'll email the winners with the code for your certificate! I can't wait to read your comments on this one. 

 

SUPPLIES FOR TODAY'S PROJECT!

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