A Blog Called Wanda

Season's Givings Blog Hop 2020!! Happy New Year!!

COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED! 

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

MY WINNER IS NATALIE WINTERSTEIN

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020!

MANY BLESSINGS FOR A HAPPY, HEALTHY, CREATIVE YEAR AHEAD!

Thank you very much for coming by my blog today to celebrate "Season's Givings" with a giant blog hop and awesome prize giveaways! This is my SIXTH year doing this great hop! (CLICK HERE TO SEE last year's post!) I want to say a  HUGE THANKS TO LATISHA for organizing this amazing blog hop every year. I am very proud to call her a friend! I hope you are having fun looking at everyone's blogs! What a great way to start off the new year right? The entire hop link list is at the very bottom of my post. And every blog has a prize! There are all kinds of beautiful projects to look at and loads of great prizes! I love that this event keeps growing every year! If you have a blog - consider joining us next year - it's open to everyone. 

This blog hop is all about us thanking YOU, our awesome followers and readers, for supporting us and sharing our joy of crafting. For lots of us, the main reason we blog, is that we develop wonderful friendships with a greater creative community and we uplift and inspire each other. Truly, thank you for joining me on my blog journey. If you are new to my site - welcome! I hope you find something you like and I'm happy to have you here today. Welcome to Season's Givings 2020! Thank you for all of your love and support this past year. It was a hard year for me and you guys always make me smile with your kindness. Bless you all!!

Also, if you are a new visitor to my blog - again, Welcome, and Thanks for coming by! Please check out some of my other blog posts! Also, you can find me on Instagram (@stampcatwg), Facebook (A Blog Called Wanda) or on Pinterest (Wanda Guess). I love sharing via social media!  

PRIZE ALERT! PRIZE ALERT! PRIZE ALERT! EVERY STOP ON THIS AWESOME HOP HAS PRIZES! It's our way of saying thanks! I have a great prize package of goodies to give away to one lucky winner (see photo below)! In order to be eligible to win my prize package, please leave a comment on this blog post and tell me your New Year's resolution for crafting and creativity! I will draw the winner on Sunday, January 5th and notify you via email. What projects are you going to work on in 2020? Maybe a new technique? New style? Favorite new supplies? I want to know! I did this same question last year and just loved all the answers!! Happy Hopping today and Happy Crafting in the new year! XOXO

This is the prize package for my stop on the hop! Wooohoooo! A pretty journal for the new year, some fancy markers, and three fabulous stamp sets! Good Luck!

 

And, because it's what I do, I'm also sharing a card today! My fun New Year card for 2020! Made with gorgeous supplies from Concord & 9th and Pretty Pink Posh! I used black and silver with some gorgeous teal for this year's project! The finished card is an A2 white card base. I am OBSESSED with this embossing powder and have been using it on everything! Lots of layers, as I like to do....

 

POP FIZZ CLINK!!! How cute is that sentiment?? I used the Tall Type Numbers to spell out #2020 on my card in silver cardstock. In this photo you can see the million layers! I love to layer the same color twice - it adds a bit of pop.

 

The sentiment and the confetti were heat embossed onto the top teal layer. It's soooo pretty in person. Really hard to capture the shimmer in a photo. I used Copic Markers for the balloons and the champagne glasses.

 

 

I used Stickles in the center of the champagne glasses to look like bubble! I added lots of clear gems to look like more bubbles coming out of the top. This seriously was the most fun card to create!

 

 

 

DEEEEEEELICIOUS!! 

 

 

 

SUPPLY LIST FOR TODAY CLICK HERE!

Thank you for coming by! HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR! We are going to have lots of fun creating together in 2020! I wish you and your family a blessed, happy, healthy, CREATIVE, and successful new year! Love ya! XOXO

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL BLOG HOP LIST!

 

Let's Celebrate! It's Wanda-Palooza!

UPDATED 12-31-19

WINNER - MARY KOBY! 

THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR STORIES!

I LOVED READING EVERY COMMENT!

Hi crafty friends! Did you have a very Merry and Happy Christmas!? I hope you did! Our holiday was low key and lovely and fun! One of the big churches by our house had a concert series that had as a guest Brian King Joseph! He was one of my very favorite people on America's Got Talent! We were lucky enough to attend the show on Sunday night! It was fantastic. We enjoyed gorgeous services at our own church too and spent quiet time together at home. I can't believe the holiday is over and it's time to get ready for a new year!

I have some big things to celebrate this December and I'm very excited to share my joy with you!! I started stamping in December of 1994 - Twenty Five years ago!  And I started my blog in December of 2009 - Ten years ago! So this month has two huge milestones for me! I'm calling it Wanda-Palooza! What do you think? Please read this entire post!   

It's hard to believe it's been so long since I started stamping! My friend and I started out by buying supplies to make our own Christmas gift tags - because we thought it would be cheaper! (LOL LOL LOL!) Well, here we are, all these years later. And we know it definitely wasn't cheaper! Oh, but what a fun ride this crafting journey has been! I started blogging in 2009 because I wanted to join in the fun with the other creative bloggers I was following. I wanted to make my own contribution to the community. I had no idea where it would all lead. (READ my very first blog post here) I'm super grateful for all the people I've met along the way and all the wonderful opportunities I have been given. I'm so looking forward to whatever is coming next! So far I've written over 1500 Blog Posts! WOW! CLICK here to see the archives! 

I wanted to do something nice for my awesome blog followers. You guys have supported me for years with your love, kindness and encouragement! So, in order to fully celebrate Wanda-Palooza I asked my friends at my favorite companies to help me do the biggest giveaway ever!!! I have an enormous prize package for one of my lucky crafty friends! There are products from 17 different companies included in the big giveaway package!!! Everyone was so generous with what they sent me for the prize. I can't even stand it - it's so amazing! Here's a photo of the prize package! (I'll be adding some more things from my stash too!) 

 

The prizes are from companies that support me and my creativity by sending me products, letting me be an affiliate, asking me to be a designer,  and/or hiring me to do social media or photography. They are THE BEST. I'm going to list out below the links for all the companies that have contributed to the prize package and ask that you visit their social media and their websites to shop, follow, comment, etc. I want to share the love and appreciation! And I need you to help me thank them!

HOW TO ENTER TO WIN THIS AWESOME PRIZE PACKAGE:

After visiting the sponsors, come back here and leave a comment below on this post - and tell me when/how/why you started stamping! I want to know your stamping story! The comments will stay open until midnight PST on Monday December 30th. I will pull one random lucky winner from all the comments and notify the winner on December 31st via email! 

 

SPONSOR LINKS! PLEASE VISIT EVERYONE! THANK YOU!

(Some are affiliate links)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME CELEBRATE MY CREATIVE MILESTONES! And thank you for entering the Wanda-Palooza Giveaway! Good luck! Have an amazing day. XOXO

Merry Christmas 2019 from our home to yours!

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2019!

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS

WISHING YOU HAPPINESS AND BLESSINGS

ON THIS CHRISTMAS DAY!

Very Merry Stockings!

Hello my dear, sweet, crafty friends! Popping in today with my last two Christmas cards for 2019! Can't believe it's here! Time to wind down things and be in the moment and enjoy these last few days before Christmas. Really get into the meaning of it all and spend time with friends and family. I start to mentally shift this week each year - from hustle and bustle - to quiet and calm. Remembering the reason for the season. Whatever is going to get done is done, and whatever isn't done, well it just isn't going to get done. And that's okay. It took me a long time to admit that but it is okay. I'm a reformed perfectionist as I'm getting older!! I'm posting these fun cards today and then I will see you next week!! Wishing you and yours a very very special Christmas!!

Next week I have a MASSIVE giveaway!!! I am not even kidding!!! There are some special things for me to celebrate, and my favorite companies are helping me out. It's a bit of a secret for now but please stay tuned!! 

My two Christmas cards for today were made with awesome supplies from my dear friends at Concord & 9th! Cheery, fun, colorful and happy - that describes these cards. What a joy to create, too! Hope they make you smile!

This first card is a 5x5 inch square card made from white cardstock. I layered some pretty snowflakes paper and then another white layer. The stockings are the stars of the show on both cards. I'll talk more in detail about each one as we go through the post!

 

The second card is an A2 size Kraft card base. I layered some striped paper from my stash and then a stitched rectangle in white. I loooooove kraft and red together at the holidays!! The stocking and the items inside - and the sentiment - are all from the amazing Stocking Stuffers stamps and dies. 

 

The stamp set comes with two stockings and then three different bunches of cute items to pop out of the top! I instantly thought of 'brown paper packages tied up with string' and so I made my package by paper piecing kraft cardstock!! I colored the items with Copic Markers. I have some photos later on of how I made the stocking!!

 

Everything is layered onto the card with foam squares. A few clear gems and white gel pen accents complete the details. Oh, and a sweet little heart! The sentiment was stamped in black right onto the top layer.

 

Here's a close up of the stocking. I looooove how this came out! I got the idea to use the Ornamentals Dies to create the pattern on the stocking!! And my idea actually worked out! Red and white are so pretty.

 

 

 

In this photo there is the Stocking Stuffers die and the Ornamental die! I die cut two stockings, one white and one red. Then I laid the red stocking over that center piece of the ornament die and cut out the alpine pattern. Then I glued the red stocking on top of the white stocking. Yeah!

 

 

 

 

 

For my second card I used the wonderful Tall Type Alphabet dies (a new favorite thing in my studio) to spell out Very Merry! So I quickly realized I needed more card real estate to make it all fit. That's how this became a square card! LOL. I stamped and die cut the stocking stuffers and colored with Copics. 

 

 

I stamped a few snowflakes onto the top white layer and added gems and snow! (this one kind of looks more like a blizzard than a light dusting of snow! HAHA).  I also stamped some snowflakes onto the stocking (red ink on red cardstock).

 

 

 

The tiny tag and bow come with the die set!!! Perfect!! I drew the heart with a Copic marker.

 

 

Thank you for visiting today! I am sending you hugs and love and many blessings for a great week full of holiday cheer! Thank you for following along with me all year. I truly appreciate you! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for today! (Affiliate links used). 

Merry Christmas Deer!!

Hi guys!!!! Oh my gosh! I have the cutest project every to show you today!! Merry Christmas Deer!! EEK. How's your week going? Yesterday was my husband's birthday so we're celebrating everything this month! It's fun to do lots of activities and hang out together. We've been going to craft fairs and movies and the ice rink...all kinds of things. Only two weeks until Christmas now!! And then it's 2020!!! OMG I feel like we were all just celebrating 2000! And freaking out about Y2K! Twenty years already!! I have just a couple more projects to share before the end of the year. I'm kind of winding down here in the studio.

I have something REALLY BIG AND FUN coming the week of Christmas. I am so excited to tell you - but we have to wait a bit longer! It's a celebration of some milestones for me and my crafting journey. 

On to today's project! It's a Christmas Deer! And he's drinking cocoa! And wearing mittens! I literally can't stand the cuteness! The supplies for today's project are all from Lawn Fawn, Concord & 9th and Doodlebug. This card was pure joy to make. You know how you're making something and you find yourself smiling because you love it so much? Yeah, that. The finished card is a kraft A2 card base....

 

I will tell you - yes - this has a lot of pieces! But it was easy to put together!! The main body of the deer is from the Woodland Critters Dies set. You can make a deer, a squirrel, a raccoon, a fox and an owl all from the same die set! So cute! Then I added on the Winter add-ons...The scarf, mittens, ear muffs, cocoa, etc. So this is two die sets. They are called Huggers - because they 'hug' things in their arms. You could put a flat candy, a note, a gift card...whatever you think of! I chose to give my little sweetie a mug to hold.

 

I used cardstock for the body, feet, ears, etc. The scarf and ear muffs were made with patterned paper from my Doodlebug Stash. The sentiment was heat embossed onto a black strip.

 

In this photo you can really see how the arms fold over to hold things. Can you even stand it? I'm already thinking of Valentine projects for these dies! Maybe a little squirrel holding some candies!!??

 

I used a white gel pen to add some dots on her face, and highlights on all the pieces. This is a quick and easy way to 'jazz' up cardstock pieces and die cuts. I added Diamond Stickles to the heart, whip cream and ears.

See the pretty background swirls on the white layer? That's one of my favorite dies from Concord & 9th! I stamped a few snowflakes on that white panel also. 

 

 

 

The details are incredible - see the snowflake pattern on the mittens?? Love.

 

I used small sponge daubers and a few Distress Inks to add shading to the antlers and the face parts.

Thanks for coming by today! I hope your week has been awesome! I'll see you next week with something new! Take care and Happy Merry Wonderful Holidays to you! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for today's card! (Affiliate Links Used). 

Pinkfresh Studio Essentials 3 Release Blog Hop!!

Hey everybody! Happy Monday! And it's a super fun and fabulous Monday because I'm part of a big blog hop! We are hopping today to celebrate the brand new Essentials 3 Release from Pinkfresh Studio! Yeah! LOADS of new essentials dies that will take your card making to the next level! Frames, background dies, tags, stitched shapes...it's all so so good! I am very excited that I get to be one of the crafters to share it with you first. CLICK HERE to shop the Pinkfresh Studio store. The blog hop links are at the bottom of my post... Guess what? Prize information is at the bottom of my post too! Yippeee! Have a blessed and beautiful day my creative friends. 

My first card is an Alpine inspired card. I am obsessed with the adorable skiing animals in the Skiing By stamp set! I used that to inspire me, along with pretty plaid paper. But, the best part of this card is the brand new Ornate Oval Die! I can think of a million uses for this gorgeous die. My finished card is an A2 white card base. I layered black and then plaid papers. I mixed in red and kraft for an overall cozy winter feel. 

 

I die cut the Ornate Oval Frame from woodgrain cardstock from my stash. I splattered some white paint on it for a snow effect. I used the Skiing By stamp set and matching dies to stamp and cut the bunny, squirrel, trees and mountains. LOVE. The mittens are from the Skating By stamp set. It all works together perfectly!

 

I love these tiny mittens!!

 

Here is a close up of that pretty frame die! It cuts like a dream! For the animals' sweaters I cut out red cardstock and then drew snowflakes on the front with a white gel pen. They needed alpine sweaters! LOL.

 

Next up is another Christmas card featuring one of my favorite Pinkfresh Studio stamps of all time - that pretty Christmas Unicorn (Chrismacorn!). I chose the awesome new Radiating Background 2 Die and the perfect background for this card. My finished card is a white A2 card base. The background die fits the A2 size exactly, so I die cut it in gray cardstock and glued it to the front of the card base.

 

I stamped and die cut out the Unicorn and colored her with Copics. I paper pieced silver cardstock for her mane and tail. (Of course, right?). I added a small pink bell and silver cord for her neck. I stamped snowflakes and splattered white paint onto the background piece.

 

The fantastic double layer Classic Holiday Words dies were used for the sentiment. The bottom layer is vellum and the top layer is red cardstock. I glued this piece together and then glued it to the front of the card with liquid glue.

PRIZE ALERT PRIZE ALERT PRIZE ALERT!

Pinkfresh Studio will be giving away the full Essentials 3 release on the Pinkfresh blog, and on their Instagram feed. 

I will be giving away a $25 gift card HERE on my blog!! The winner will be randomly selected from the blog comments here on my blog! YEAH!!

PLEASE MAKE NOTE: Pinkfresh Studio will pull the winners & post them on Monday, Dec 16th on their GIVEAWAY PAGE. You must check that page & claim your prize within 2 weeks!! 

FREE US shipping promo - for all orders $100+, you will receive free shipping within the United States without a code. The shipping will be discounted automatically!

THANK YOU for stopping by today! If you're a new visitor from the Blog Hop! Welcome! I hope you come by again! Nice to meet you!

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for today's cards! (Affiliate Links Used)

 

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Reverse Confetti - Beautiful Snowflakes!

Hi guys!! Popping in here today with a news flash about a special release with special sale pricing from Reverse Confetti! Today they are launching this GORGEOUS Snowflakes stamp set with matching dies. I had so much fun working with these beautiful stamps. The snowflakes are the perfect sizing for cards. OOOH LA LA. Wintery goodness right here! I used lots of embossing and a graphic color palette of red, white and silver. Brrrrr! CLICK HERE to go to Reverse Confetti and check out this new set!! 

My finished card is a white A2 card base. I layered A LOT on this card. First, silver glitter paper, then white paper, then vellum! Then I wrapped all of those with a pretty band of striped paper and silver thread! Oh yeah!! Lastly a bold red circle to feature my embossed snowflakes...

 

I used some brand new embossing powder for this project. OMG it's SO beautiful! Silvery, sparkly magic. I heat embossed the snowflakes onto vellum and die cut them with the matching snowflakes dies. I made two snowflakes for the focus of my card. (Supply links are at the bottom of my post)

 

I used red enamel dots for the centers of the snowflakes and also scattered a few others on the card. The sentiment was heat embossed in white embossing powder onto a red flag. The sentiments in this stamp set are perfectly retro and modern at the same time. Pretty font!

 

This silver cord came from Michael's in the notions section. I think it was the perfect touch here!! Cuz, you know, more is MORE!!

 

 

Thank you for stopping by today! I hope you are getting all your Christmas crafting done! It's that hurry scurry time of year!! I'll be back tomorrow with a fun blog hop and new release from Pinkfresh Studio! See you then! XOXO

 

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for today's card.

(Affiliate Links Used)

Granny Square Blanket Project is done! Yeah!

Hey everyone! Popping in here on this Friday afternoon to share my latest crochet project.... BECAUSE IT'S FINISHED! YEAH!! Go me! This one took me a long time to finish and I was very happy to put the edges on and photograph it last week! It's another Granny Square Blanket - because I totally love Granny Square Blankets! This one is for our home! It's made from the nicest yarn I've ever worked with so far. It's super soft Merino Wool. YUM. (Debbie Bliss Rialto DK). I chose a bunch of colors I liked and it came out so nice! I'm really proud of it - it's the largest thing I've made so far. It's finished at about five feet square. I think I will drape it over a chair in the family room for decoration and color. This is a great project for any level of crocheter. It's just a giant Granny Square. You start like you're making a small square, and just keep adding on rows until it's the size you want. I have carried this thing with me everywhere! I love it already. Here's some photos!! Have a super weekend! XOXO

 

To finish this one I did two rows of single crochets. I thought it really needed a simple border this time...and no pom poms. LOL. I ended on a white row and my two single crochet rows are in that same white color so it looks finished. 

 

 

 

And here are some photos of it along the way... Like I said... It's been a minute since I started this one!! This yarn is so dreamy. Like a cloud. My crochet hook size was a G 4.0.

 

 

 

It was about half way done in this photo.

 

And there's Lucky - creeping in the background! He really wants to get his little mittens on this!!

 

 

Okay friends! Have a wonderful weekend! Be sure to come by on Monday because I'll be sharing two cards as part of the new release blog hop for Pinkfresh Studio and there are some prizes!! Yeah! Take care and I'll see you soon! XOXO

 

Let's be merry and drink cocoa!

Hello friends! December is rolling along, and I'm frantically trying to make all the ideas that are inside my brain! I'm going to run out of time! Eeeeks! This morning I went through all my Christmas bins (there's a lot!) and sorted through things and re-discovered old favorites! Dang I have a lot of stuff! Twenty Five years worth! I also made my tiered tray for Christmas time and it has gnomes in it! So adorable. Are you on team gnome? I love them! It's foggy and dreary, but we are warm in the craft room today. My favorite kind of day.

We have officially switched from Pumpkin Spice Season to Peppermint Season! YESSSSSS. We bought Peppermint Whip Cream at the grocery store the other night and we've been making coffee and enjoying that hint of mint. You really need to try it!! It's the inspiration for today's card.

Yesterday I made a super fun card to share with you! No stamping - just die cuts and ink! Sometimes it's fun to make cards with die cuts only. I used a die set I bought last year. I finally used it! (Does that happen to you?). It's called Hot Chocolate and it's from Elizabeth Crafts! I am loving pink on Christmas cards this year too, so I used pink, red, cream and kraft as my color palette....

 

I started by die cutting out all the pieces to make the mug of cocoa: mug, topping, marshmallows, snowflake, drips, and candy canes. I used small sponge daubers and Distress Inks to ink around all the pieces. I used chunky Stickles on the marshmallows.

 

The snowflake was attached with a small foam dot and then topped with a glitter enamel dot. I splattered the mug with white paint to look a bit snowy...

 

The background is the gorgeous Sweater Weather Cover Plate from Taylored Expressions. It's a favorite. The sentiment die is also from Taylored Expressions!

 

Be Merry!!! Here's a close up of that cover plate die...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today! Cheers to you! I'm lifting my mug of peppermint cocoa to you! Are you still making Christmas cards? I haven't sent any yet! Yikes, better get on that! This month always goes by too fast. Have a wonderful day. See you soon! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for today's project. (Affiliate Links Used). Happy Crafting!

Pretty Felt Mittens! For Ornaments or Gift Tags!

Ho Ho Ho! It's officially December! Yikes! Christmas is coming FAST! Better get your sleigh ready! Hope you're having a beautiful Sunday. We are all snuggled in because it's pouring outside! Hubs just went to get us a pizza and Lucky is fast asleep in his bed. I love this kind of day! Friday I did a little crafting and made some sweet felt mitten ornaments to share with you! (I made ornaments, but these could easily be package tie ons or gift tags or bottle tags, or a garland...whatever you want them to be!) I used beautiful felt from TE along with die cuts and embellishments. SUCH a fun project. Also an easy one to do with kids or beginning crafters! 

I made two ornaments. I wanted to make a bunch more but I simply ran out of time! Yeeks. There is never enough time during this time of year, right? I just popped into the TE Store, and all of the dies I used for this project are ON SALE!! So, if you're interested in anything - don't wait!! Their Black Friday Sale is outstanding. SUPPLY LIST is at the bottom of this post!

Here is the first one! Pink and red together...yum. So here's a funny story. I took these photos in the garden center at Lowe's! LOL. I wanted to take the pictures on a real tree (ours is faux) so imagine me standing there with my camera! Ha. The things we do for a blog post...

 

Here's the second one! Yummy aqua and pale green...with a pretty bow. (That ribbon is sparkly, and it's from Paper Source!)

 

Here are my color selections of felt. I use this gorgeous wool felt from Taylored Expressions because it is SO easy to work with and comes in a million colors. And see how it cut out that intricate die above??? Yeah!!! CLICK HERE to see all the colors.

 

I die cut two mitten dies for each ornament and filled them with a tiny bit of stuffing. I used a sharp needle and embroidery floss to stitch around the outside edges for a homespun look. You could also glue them together. I like the bit of contrasting stitching.

 

I used various die cuts and embellishments to decorate the mittens. Here I used the Evergreens Dies and the Sweater Weather cover plate. I glued them onto the top of the mitten. Then I added a button from my stash.

 

At the top of this mitten, I used thread to attach the bow and the Tim Holtz silver token charm. Jingle! Perfect!

 

 

 

This next mitten is pink and red. At the top I glued on some vintage ribbon I had here in my studio and then glued on a pretty holly cluster from Prima. So sweet!!

 

I die cut a couple of snowflakes and layered them onto the top of the mitten and then added a silver snowflake charm - also from Tim Holtz. For this one I stitched in white thread.

 

 

Thank you for stopping by today! Happy DECEMBER! I hope your month is full of fun, delight and merriment!! Welcome Winter!! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies I used for today's project! (Affiliate Links Used) AND everything is on sale as I'm typing this!! Happy Crafting!