A Blog Called Wanda

Taylored Expressions - Farm Fresh Kit Launch!

HAY THERE!!! Oh my goodness are you in for a yeehaw treat today! I'm SO excited to share this new kit with you! I've been keeping this a secret for a long time. It's finally time to launch the newest Card Kit from Taylored Expressions! It's called Farm Fresh! It's adorable and sweet and happy. Just what we need!! Stamps, dies, stencils, stickers, wobbles, envelopes....It has everything. And there's a red rubber gingham background stamp!! Yeahhhhhh. I totally love it. And, just like the last kit, I'm predicting a fast sell out!! DO NOT WAIT on this one!! It will make you smile. 

I made two cards to share with you. Let's get started! First up is this cutie little horse out getting some sun by the barn! This finished card is an A2 kraft card base. I layered some gingham (you know me) and some red cardstock. I used the stencils from the kit to create green rolling hills. I used a previously released clouds die to make the sky. Hay there!

 

The stamp sets are all red rubber and they stamp like a dream. If you've never stamped with TE rubber stamps you are missing out. Crisp and perfect images every time. The animals have two parts, the body and the head. So you can make them wobble!! The barn and the horse were colored with Copic Markers. Love the sentiments!

 

Here's a close up of the new stencils. I used two shades of green ink and then added a few ink splatters for effect.

 

The kit includes action wobbles that fit under the heads of the animals. EEK. I love an action wobble!!! 

 

The images are super fun and easy to color - goes quickly. I added a few white gel pen accents on my coloring and white splatters on the barn.

 

 

 

This next card CRACKS me up. Get it?? LOL. I tried this card two different ways, but ended up leaving it in the silly format with those chicken legs sticking out the side of the card. We need some levity right now, wouldn't you agree??!! This finished card is a 5x5 inch square kraft card base. I layered yellow paper too. I think the chicken is my favorite animal from the stamp set. Adorbs. The background gingham you see here in red is that awesome stamp that comes in the kit. I used my MISTI for a crisp image since it's a large stamp. 

 

This is a good card for right now when we can't go see our friends.... Just chicken in!! I die cut a square from the center of a larger square and mounted the gingham panel behind it. Then I stamped and die cut a bunch of chickens and colored with Copics. I also stamped, cut and colored two of the little fences. The sentiment goes right in the center!

 

I mounted the chickens inside the square to look like they were popping in to say hi! I tried the card without the legs sticking out and it's more 'clean' but my husband and I both decided the legs sticking out were more fun!! What do you think?

 

 

 

 

 

Here are a couple of photos of what's in the kit!! You will receive a storage bag with a big beautiful label with the kit name... Envelopes and seals that match, stamps, dies, stencils, and wobbles. It's awesome.

 

 

Thank you for stopping by my farm today to see what's new!! I'm wishing you a blessed and beautiful day! Please buy your kit right away if you want one. I know the rainbow kit from last month only lasted 2-3 days before selling out. Taylor has thought of everything. I know you'll enjoy it!!

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies I used in today's projects. (Affiliate Links Used)

Sending some Mer-mail your way today! Fun new stamps from Waffle Flower!

Helloooooo from under the sea! Hum a sweet tune from The Little Mermaid, grab a pina colada, and take a look at my fun mermaid card for today! Over the years I have befriended sweet Nina, the owner of Waffle Flower Crafts and last week she sent me a package of the cutest stamps from their Summer release! Thank you Nina!! They always have new artists and super unique stamps and dies. LOVE Waffle Flower! I smiled and was so excited to stamp with all of these ocean themed goodies!! 

One thing that is on trend in paper crafting right now is Slim Line Cards. These are cards that are 4" x 8" big....giving lots of room for more fun images!! I decided that I wanted to use a lot of stamps, so I made my first Slim Line Card. I made the card base using my Scor-Pal and paper trimmer. It's thick white Neenah cardstock. My card has one more layer of white as a frame, and then the panel with the images. This card will fit into a business size envelope. I will probably make my own envelope out of some oceany paper though!

Here's the finished card! One note about my props... I am trying to gather enough items to make an ocean themed tiered tray... I got the cool netting and the baby starfish (and some coral) at my friend's antique store last week! 

 

Isn't that mermaid so sweet! She has seaweed and a little tiny shell in her hair. I gave her red hair and a green and aqua mermaid tail. I stamped and die cut all the images and colored them all with Copic Markers. The images have touches of white gel ink pen accents and Diamond Stickles. The clear bubbles are brand new clear enamel dots from Waffle Flower. I'm gonna need more of those! They perfectly mimic water!!

 

The stamp set with the mermaid is called Mermaid Mail!! OMG do you love that little letter with the shell?? I colored lots of fish and greenery...Baby seahorses and a happy crab!

 

The sentiments set is AMAZING! The best sayings and the best combination of fonts! LOVE!!! For all my ocean cards from now on!!! 

 

The sea floor is a die cut called Stitched Slopes from SSS. I colored it with Distress inks and splatters!

 

Here is my ink blended background before I did anything else to it... All the gorgeous shades of blue distress inks!!!! Here are my tips for good results from ink blending: 1) Use Bristol cardstock. It's smooth and slippery so the ink doesn't 'stick' to it right away, allowing blending 2) Apply the ink in swirly circles and keep going! 3) Use Domed blenders to avoid the blotchy circles!! This background took a while!! I kept adding ink because I wanted it very saturated!! I added waves and sun rays with dark ink and white ink!! 

 

I made this little graphic with my finished card base... The ink blending was done first and allowed to sit a bit and dry. The I die cut one of the waves out of cardstock to use as a stencil. I inked some subtle waves using both dark ink and white ink... My first time trying this and I kinda like it. The white sun rays were made using a small sponge dauber, white ink, and the MFT Rays stencil. I splattered white ink all over it also. Later...I ended up stamping bubbles onto the background and a few plants.

 

All the elements were affixed to the card using foam circles!

 

 

 

I wanna give this guy a hug! LOLZ. So happy and fun!

 

 

 

Here is the sentiment stamp set!! I love it so much!! (all the supply links are at the bottom of my post)...

I used another sentiment on the inside of the card and also stamped some bubbles...It's wonderful!! 

Thanks for stopping by today to see me!! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!! My LSS finally reopened so I'm gonna take a trip down there tomorrow hopefully. Not too much else planned. Hope you are doing great!! Next week we'll be launching the new Taylored Expressions Card Kit. OMG you're going to LOVE it. And it's going to sell out! I'll give you a head's up on my Facebook Page when it goes live!! My cards are already done and I can't wait to share them. 

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

Fun with Photoplay Paper Collections!

Happy Monday my creative friends! It's the first week of official Summer. Here in Sacramento it's going to be over 100 degrees for the next seven days. UGH! I plan on hiding out in the studio and crafting and photographing new projects. I hate being so hot!! Especially if you add in hot flashes on top of it! (Isn't it great to be a girl??) Ha! I hope you are doing good and staying well and happy. I have a LOT of good things coming in July. I'm going to be BIZZZZZY! So many great things are coming. I'm so blessed and grateful. Thanks for going along on this journey with me. XO

I've been working with the folks at Photoplay Paper over the past few weeks on some behind the scenes sort of things...coming soon... They are the nicest and most generous bunch of people. I'm really excited about this new partnership with them. The Photoplay paper collections are awesome!!! Gnomes, sea creatures, heroes, bees....I could go on and on!!! (Remember this card?) Yeah, super cute stuff!! 

Today I'm sharing two cards! One made with the Monterey Bay Collection and one with the Wild Honey Collection. Both are perfect for Summer crafting and scrapbooking. First up is the Monterey Bay Collection! ADORABLE! This has an extra special place in my heart because my father's family is all from Carmel and Monterey. Every good memory from my childhood happened there - with my grandparents and all my family before life got complicated... I even went to kindergarten and first grade in Monterey. If I close my eyes I can smell the forest of Eucalyptus trees coated in wet fog in my grandma's backyard. That is my favorite feeling and smell in the world. FOG makes me ridiculously happy.... See above - I hate to be hot! LOL... Anyhooo I'm off topic. Let's get to the cards. 

Photoplay also has stamps and dies that match some of their paper collections. I smiled from ear to ear when I saw the cute critters in this stamp set. I mean, they're wearing sailor shirts!!!! C'mon!! This finished card is an A2 kraft card base and the papers are all from the paper collection. 

 

I stamped and die cut the two friends and colored them with Copic Markers. I added small accents with a white gel pen. I mixed and matched the patterned papers and die cut them out with stitched dies. I used a kraft card base because I like the color combo with red, blue and kraft. It feels nautical too. 

 

The sentiment, the banners and the other accents are all from the collection Sticker Pack. Nice, thick pretty stickers... (My other card for today is made entirely from their beautiful stickers)

 

They are SO CUTE!!!! I used a bit of twine as another accent. Everything is popped up with foam dots for dimension!

 

Next up is a warm and sunny card made entirely from papers and stickers...No stamping! Sometimes I really love to make cards without stamping. It's a whole different feel. Very mixed media..and the opportunity to combine colors and layers... My finished card is an A2 card base. 

 

I can't tell you enough how nice these thick stickers are...and the colors.... 

 

I layered papers and lots of stickers...and then that pretty sentiment banner...

 

My only accents are black paint splatters and a few enamel dots for a bit of shine. 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today! Happy Summer! If you've never checked out Photoplay Paper - I hope you will!! The best selection and best prices are HERE. But they are also found in your LSS and online. I've linked everything below in my supply list too.

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies used in today's projects! (Affiliate Links Used)

The Greetery - TGIF - A Vintage Note!

Hey friends! Happy Friday! I'm featuring a card over on The Greetery blog for TGIF (The Greetery Inspiration Friday!) I'm sharing a vintage inspired card for this Summer Friday! I like a good vintage project, and getting my hands inky! One of the many things I love about The Greetery stamps and dies is that they can be adapted to any crafting, card-making style. Everything is so creative and flexible to make your style shine. The stamps I used for this project could be used just as easily is bright bold tones, or soft pastels, or warmer hues...

 

Today I'm using one of my favorite products from the last Greetery release: The Pinwheel Party Dies and Stencils. I wanted to use them again with a retro look... I combined them with lots of previously released goodies and Distress Inks.  

 

My finished card is an A2 sized card base in dark brown paper. I started by creating a cool, old paper looking background. I used watercolor paper, a water brush, and brown and blue Distress Inks. I kept layering the inks until I got a nice, worn paper look. Then I used stamps from the Pretty Postmarks Stamp set (the beautiful text and the circular postmark) and stamped them over the background. I sprayed the stamping with water to make it soften. I love text stamps! The overall feeling of this card is vintagey goodness!!

 

Lots of different elements on this card. I love the bright pop of pink mixed in with all the brown tones. 

For the tag, I used the Speed Tagging Die Set and die cut the scalloped tag from watercolor paper. I used Distress Inks and the Oopsie Daisy stamp set to stamp the two daisy flowers onto the tag. I used a water brush to soften the edges of the stamping to mimic water coloring. I splattered inks over the flowers and also added a bit more of the text.... LOTS of splatters!!

 

 

 

Here's a photo of my bottom layer - all inked up and distressed. 

 

 

 

I die cut pinwheels using the Pinwheel Party Dies - some from watercolor paper, and some from text paper. I used the matching Pinwheel Party Stencils to add blue and brown stripes. Then the pinwheels were inked around the edges with a sponge dauber... 

 

I stamped and die cut a pretty postage stamp to add to my collage. The sentiment was die cut from the awesome Sentiment Starters word dies set. My finishing touches are a bit of twine and a few gold enamel dots. The main elements were attached to the card using foam tape. 

 

I hope I've inspired you today to look at your stamps a new way!! If you usually do bright and bold, try vintage. If you always use one certain color palette - try something new. All of these stamps and dies are meant to spark your own style! I love that. 

I am so happy to be part of The Greetery Team! And very happy to share some inspiration on this Friday. Please head over to The Greetery Blog to leave some love and see what else is new there! So many beautiful projects on the blog to inspire us!! I will see you next week! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies used in today's card. (Affiliate Links Used).

Pretty Pink Posh June Release Blog Hop - It's a jungle out there!

Hey crafty friends! Hope you're having a good week! I have something really fun and cute to share today! I'm part of a big two day blog hop to inspire you and launch the June 2020 release from Pretty Pink Posh! All the new products were inspired by Paulina's new baby and all the cute jungle themed baby items! It's a jungle out there, don't ya know! Everything is ADORABLE! I had a lot of fun crafting and coloring this card. Lots of animals and leaves and an inked background too! 

All the new release items are available now in the Pretty Pink Posh Store! The blog hop is today and tomorrow - so lots of ideas for you to see! The full blog hop list, the prize information, and my supply list are all at the bottom of this post. Hope you enjoy the hop!! 

This is a custom card size - I made the card from white cardstock. I needed a bit more room for my design! The card is 6.5" x 4.75". That way it still fits into an A7 envelope. The card base is white and then I used some brown striped cardstock to 'ground' all the COLOR in this card!! I used lots of stamp sets to create a jungle scene. I love how this turned out!! These stamps make me smile.

 

 

I used the Jungle Friends Stamps, The Monkey Friends Stamps, Toucans, Leaves and other animals! SO FUN!! I stamped and die cut out all the images first and arranged them in the way I wanted them. That's how I knew I needed a bigger card base! I colored all the images with Copic Markers and added white gel pen accents. I used vivid and bold coloring for this card.

 

These tropical leaves are the perfect touch for the cute animals!!

 

The background is bright green!! I used three different shades of green Distress Inks. Then I splattered white ink and green ink onto that panel. I wanted it to look very jungle-y!! 

 

The giraffe is from the Animal Signs stamp set, so he doesn't have a body! I tucked him in behind the lion. All the pieces are attached to the card with foam circles.

 

The sentiment was heat embossed with white embossing powder onto a black cardstock banner.

 

 

Thank you for stopping by today! I hope you enjoy this awesome blog hop! I enjoyed sharing my project with you!! Take care and be well. I will see you soon! XOXO

Everything is available now in the Pretty Pink Posh storefront! Yeah!

PRIZE ALERT! There are 4 $25 gift certificates up for grabs (two winners each day)! Pretty Pink Posh will choose the winners randomly along the blog hop! So be sure to leave a comment on each blog!! Comments must be left by 11:59 PM PST on 6/24/2020. Winners will be announced on the PPP blog.

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

 

BLOG HOP LIST FOR TODAY!

Pretty Pink Posh blog  

Jennifer McGuire

Angelica Conrad  

Wanda Guess  

Ardyth Percy- Robb  

Adelle Emery  

Heather Hoffman    

Gemma C.

Channin Pelletier

Mayra's Designs    

Yoonsun Hur  

Guest Designing for Sunny Studio Stamps - Summer Tropical Fun cards - get me to the beach!

There's been a lot of action here this week! SO many fun opportunities and I'm really grateful to be working with these lovely companies. Today is yet another card filled post. I hope you had a great week. Summer is here and the livin' is easy. Today I am the guest designer on the Sunny Studio Stamps Blog! I'm always happy and excited to be the guest designer there! I'm so delighted to work with the beautiful and fun stamps and dies from Sunny Studio! I'm in love with everything SUMMER in the Sunny Studio storefront right now. It was hard to decide what to feature today, so I used, oh, about 10 stamp sets! LOL. I was dreaming of the beach, and palm trees, and flowers.  I had so much fun creating two cards to share with you. Grab a pina colada and take a look! ALOHA!! Cue the Ukelele!! 

Both of my cards today are 5x5 inch square card. I like to use a square card format when I need a little more real estate to work with. This size card fits into an A7 envelope for mailing!! (No extra postage required since it's not a square envelope).... 

First up is this coastal cutie, swimming by on her floatie! On the shore, some happy little crustaceans and swaying palm trees... I used the Sunny Studio Semi Circle dies to create a frame for the waves and sand. I built my card around the semi circle. I also used a layer of hot pink striped paper from the Striped Silly Paper Pack. The sand was stamped and die cut onto Kraft cardstock. The waves were die cut from aqua cardstock. All the images were stamped and die cut with the matching dies and then colored with Copic Markers. I added bits of Diamond Stickles to the images for some sparkle. To finish off the card, I created a sweet bouquet of a pineapple and Monstera Leaves. The sentiment was heat embossed with white onto black cardstock. Everything was assembled using foam dots for dimension. I also really like to use a white gel pen to add accents over my Copic coloring. I love that little parrot sitting in the tree watching everything! These stamps make me smile!! 

 

How cute is she?? I love the tiny splash stamp to show movement on the card!! Can you see that I made foam whitecaps on my waves?? I used aqua paper and then inked the tips with a bit of Broken China Distress ink. Then I splattered white paint just on the tops of the waves. I really like how that came out. I'm gonna remember that trick!

 

 

 

 

 

This little crab and lobster look like they're dancing on the sand!

 

 

 

Next up is an elegant floral card that reminds me of my vacation to Hawaii several years ago. I used the Radiant Plumeria stamp set and the Hawaiian Hibiscus stamp set to make this card. Again, it's a 5x5 inch square card made from white cardstock. I die cut the gorgeous Retro Petals Die and put it over pretty green paper from the Pastel Gingham Paper Pack. The sentiment was heat embossed in gold onto a strip of vellum. These florals are 3-4 step stamping and they are PERFECTION! I used a MISTI to get everything lined up just perfectly. (Be sure to refer to the stamping guides on the Sunny Studio website). I used shades of the islands....greens, pinks and yellows. I layered everything and attached the images with foam squares. Aloha indeed!

 

I cut a square with a stitched die. Then I glued the cut out piece to the top of the square. Then mounted that part to my card with foam tape over the green paper. This gives it a window effect!! I used Scrapbook.com ink pads for these florals. 

 

One of my favorite memories from our trip to Hawaii was a fresh plumeria wreath around my neck! Every morning my husband would wake up early and go our for a walk and he would bring me a fresh lei every day. We would put it in the refrigerator and it would be icy cold and smell like HEAVEN! I am certain that heaven smells like plumerias!!!! My favorite ones were the yellow/pink ones and I tried to replicate that look with my stamping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for stopping by today to see my tropical creations! Be sure to head over to the Sunny Studio Stamps Blog to leave some love and look around at all the inspiration!!! Big shout out to Mendi, the owner of Sunny Studio!! Thanks for having me again! XOXO

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

Pinkfresh Studio June 2020 New Release Blog Hop - fun with hexagons!

Hey guys! How is your week going? There's a lot happening here on my blog this week, and it's all gooooood! Did you see my post on Tuesday for SCT Magazine? I loved that post! And today and tomorrow, two more posts! Yep, I've been busy. I hope you are doing great and getting in crafty time and relaxing time. 

Today's post is all about a big fabulous blog hop to launch the Pinkfresh Studio June 2020 Product Release! YIPPPEEEE! At the bottom of this post, you can read about prizes, and shipping specials, and see the links to the blogs for today. I'm always so excited to participate in a beautiful new release from our friends at Pinkfresh Studio!! Their products are so pretty and nice to create with. I made two cards today using the same product suite: Hexagons! Yes, hexagons are back on trend, and I LOVE it!

First up is a country quilt feeling card I made using the Simply Hexagons Die and the Pop Out Hexagons stamp set with matching dies. Such a creative and fun product collection! My finished card is an A2 card base from Kraft cardstock. 

 

The theme of my card was making a patchwork quilt. I have a quilt on my couch at home in these pretty colors...pinks and dusty blues and greens... So it inspired my card. I used bits of patterned paper for some hexagons, and embossed some of the hexagons... Love how fun this turned out.

 

This hexagons stamp set comes with small sentiments that fit inside the hexagons. It also has these tiny floral clusters with matching dies. It's really all so fabulous. I die cut the hexagons die from kraft cardstock and glued it to the front of the card. Then I used that as a 'frame' for all my different elements. 

 

Here's how the Simply Hexagons Die cuts out - a perfect A2 size!!! Cuts like a dream.

 

I used the hugs die cut to add a bit of a darker element for contrast. I used white paint to splatter over the card. I heat embossed parts of it too, with white embossing powder.... Oh, and added a few hearts and enamel dots for good measure!

 

These diagonal strips are one of the small stamps that come with the Pop Out Hexagons stamp set.

 

For visual interest, some of the hexagons are popped up with foam circles, and some are glued flat to the card. That's one of my fav techniques - building up elements with foam tapes. 

 

Put on your sunglasses for this next card! I used the same supplies as the card above - but made this one into a beehive honeycomb shaker card! Full of warm golden tones and pretty crystals!! This finished card is also an A2 card base. I used Distress Inks and blended them to look like a beehive. Felt like some good vibes to me!

 

This card took a little bit of construction... I inked my paper, splattered it, blended it, etc. THEN, I used the Simply Hexagons Die to cut it out. Then, I made it into a shaker card... But only three of the hexagons are shakers. The rest are flat inside the outlines of the hexagon frame. I used acetate over those three hexagons and used the gorgeous Pinkfresh Studio Crystals to fill them.

 

The card needed some black or another dark color to contrast all that yellow so I made my focal point a circle with a sentiment inside! I inked the edges of the circle and also stamped some of the small florals onto that circle. 

 

This product right here is LIFE CHANGING!! I just got these a couple weeks ago and wowza. 1/8 inch strips of foam tape!!!! Perfect for shaker cards and long pieces to attach together!!! I used these strips along all the frames of my hexagons to mount it above and to make the shaker card portions. 

 

Here is my ink blended background before I jazzed it up with water, ink, and splatters!! Such a sunny and pretty color combination. I'm really into yellow right now for summer projects. I use Bristol Cardstock for a nice even blend.

 

OOOOH. It's getting good now!

 

And here it is cut out with that beautiful die! YUM.

 

Good vibes to you!! Here is a close up of my focal point. I use the Phrase Builder dies A LOT - and love how they have outlines (in vellum) dies too. See the pretty yellow crystals?? Yeah, I spilled them. But what a pretty mess!

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for coming by my blog today! If you're new - welcome! I hope I see you again! Thanks for participating in our Blog Hop to launch this awesome new Pinkfresh Studio Release!! Please head over to the Pinkfresh Studio Blog to see more inspiration and all the links to everyone's blogs for today!

PRIZE ALERT!!!! Pinkfresh Studio will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog, IG feed & YouTube channel... So be sure to check out all the Pinkfresh social media channels!! On each blog today we will be giving away a $25 gift card on each post!! Yes, all of them! The winners will be picked from all the comments. Lea will pull the winners & post them on June 19, 2020 on the Pinkfresh GIVEAWAY PAGE. You must check that page & claim your prize within 2 weeks.  

Pinkfresh Studio is offering a FREEBIE DIE with $25+ purchase - this will load automatically into your cart! Also: Pinkfresh Studio is offering FREE US or discounted international shipping on all orders $50+ from June 12th to June 18th!!

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies I used for today's projects! (Affiliate Links Used). 

Pretty Summer Projects with Simple Stories - Guest Designing on the SCT Magazine Blog Today!

Hi friends! I have something really cool to share today! I am the guest designer today on the Scrapbook and Cards Today Magazine Blog! WOOHOOO! I always love working with the lovely people at SCT Magazine and it's an honor to be featured on their blog. My project(s) for today is perfect for Summer gift giving. I made a card and a matching gift card holder in bright, fresh Summer colors. This would be great for a birthday, a shower, or just because. I give gift cards a lot, and this is a good way to make your gift card giving special and handmade. I was totally in love with the new Summer Farmhouse collection from Simple Stories the first time I saw it. It's so bright and happy. I paired the paper collection with dies from some of my favorite companies. So let's get started! 

Here is my matching card and treat box - don't you love these colors for Summer?? So fresh!! (And of course, some gingham!)

 

Here's the card! A2 size. No stamping! This card and treat box are both made with paper, stickers and die cuts only! I love this kind of paper crafting, don't you? There are so many beautiful paper collections out now. This one is going to be my go-to this summer. I'm a sucker for red, navy and yellow together.

I love reading SCT Magazine - and I always enjoy looking at the Pagemaps and Card Pagemaps Sketches! They are a great tool for kick starting your creativity. I used a Card Pagemap from the Spring 2020 Issue to make this card for today. (Found on pages 30-32 of the Issue). I followed the sketch almost exactly. And I made my own tag from pretty paper, using the We R Memory Keepers Tag Punch Board. 

 

This card is an A2 size. I started with some wood grain paper from my stash. Then I layered Gingham Paper, then a white cardstock layer, then the custom handmade tag. The white layer and the tag were attached to the card with foam circles. I used a pretty doily to make it more of a Summer country feeling. The center image and the bee and flowers are all Chipboard Stickers. SO pretty and easy to assemble. Pretty twine and shiny hearts complete the design.

 

I love the small details. That's my style - A pop of red around the opening of the tag, some swirly twine, a few hearts - it's all good! The tag was made using the We R Memory Keepers Tag Board!! You can make any size tag from any type of paper!! Love it - and so easy!! 

 

 

 

 

 

The matching gift card/treat box was made using the Lawn Fawn Scalloped Treat Box. This is an awesome die to have in your stash. I use it all the time because it's easy to assemble and it's the perfect size!!! (Here's another project I made with this die set) I like to start with a blank canvas and add color and embellishments. I wrapped the box with two different paper layers. The floral layer is die cut so that it has a scalloped edge. I die cut the Hello die using the denim look paper from the collection. There are two layers to make it a bit thicker.

 

This box is the perfect size to tuck in a gift card and some candies. It would even be great for a smaller gift like jewelry. I closed the bow with a pretty pink, some twine and a little strawberry Chipboard Sticker. You could easily change the colors and theme of this project to make it birthday specific, Christmas, whatever! 

 

 

 

 

Please head over to the SCT Magazine Blog to show some love and get inspired by all the beautiful projects there!! I'm so happy to be guest designing for them today!! It's my pleasure truly. Thank you SCT!!

I was inspired today by the beautiful papers. As crafters, we have the fun opportunity to make gift giving special. (Since we all have so many supplies on hand!) The colors of Summer are fresh and happy, and I think we could all use a bit of that right now. Take care until we meet again! XOXO

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

Vintage Butterfly Card with Tim Holtz Supplies and new Speckled Egg Ink!

Hi my lovely friends! The week is flying by - like a butterfly! It's been another historic week in our country. I'm not sure how much more we can all bear. I'm praying and crafting and working... Trying to make sense of what's happening. I pray for our country and all her people. I pray for peace and a restoration to some kind of normal. I pray that everyone can heal, and get back to work and love. I hope you are doing well in your part of the world. Art is my therapy and I've been trying to create each day to maintain sanity. It's been in the 100's again so more time inside for sure! I got my hair cut yesterday for the first time since January and it felt so good. So good to see my stylist and have human interaction and so good to get my mop chopped off! 

Today's card started out by me wanting to use the new Tim Holtz Distress Color -Speckled Egg! I sat down with my new ink pad and embossing glaze and my card sort of grew from there! I made the ribbon first, then I thought it would be super pretty combined with Vintage Photo Ink and Wild Honey Ink. I have an IKEA Raskog Cart that has all my Tim Holtz products. I wheeled that baby over to my desk, and then basically dumped it all out on the floor! Ha! I thought I would make an ocean theme project, but what called out to me was butterflies! Here's my final card - it's a 5.25" x 5.25" square. Lots of pictures coming....

 

Speckled Egg is the most beautiful shade of blue! It's perfectly placed between Tumbled Glass and Broken China! It's vintagey and soft and gorgeous. I'm smitten already and know I'll be adding it to the lineup a lot! Blue and Orange are complimentary colors on the color wheel - so it looks good next to the Wild Honey Distress Ink. Warm/Cool contrast. I used the Detailed Butterflies Dies, a cool embossing folder, and some tags... I'll walk you through it!

 

I die cut the butterflies from Bristol Cardstock because it can hold up to lots of water and ink. The card is layered with some aqua cardstock from my stash and then the awesome DCWV vintagey text paper. Everything was inked and splatterd and glittered....

 

Here's a close up of the butterfly. See how it's shiny??? OOH LA LA! It's the new Speckled Egg Embossing Glaze. It's my first time using Embossing Glaze! What is it?? It's like embossing powder (so you heat and melt it) but it comes out shiny and translucent!!! EEP. So you can see the ink and stuff underneath the soft subtle color. WOWZA. Gonna buy some more colors of this - stat. I put on three layers of the glaze. I used Versamark ink with my fingers and then the glaze.

 

I used a #8 Manila Tag and ran it through my machine with this clock embossing folder. Then I used Speckled Egg, Vintage Photo and Wild Honey to  ink it up. This is several layers of ink. Ink it, dry it, ink it, dry it, splatter it, dry it... At one point my tag was actually smoking!! HAHAHA. It's hard to see in the photo but I also used my fingers in some Nuvo Mousse to add gold to it. And then glitter. The second butterfly (the brown one) also has embossing glaze on it. I sprinkled the glaze onto it and then removed a lot of it with my fingers (messily) and then heated it. It gave a different, but still cool effect. 

 

Here's how I made the tag and butterfly!! On my craft sheet I smushed the three ink colors and then sprayed water onto the color. I sort of mixed it together with a brush and then laid the tag down into the mix of colors. Here's the trick: Do the first pass of this and dry your tag with your heat tool. Then add some more and dry that. Keep going until it looks the way you want it to! My fingers were blue for a few days! HA. 

 

This is my tag with ink only - before all the other stuff.

 

And here's that pretty butterfly!!

 

And the pretty ribbon - with some hydrangeas from my front yard. I think this photo gives you a good representation of the color...

 

The smaller tag was inked around the edges. Then I used my paint brush to drip ink from the top to the bottom of it. Then I used the stamps to make the sentiment in brown ink. After the tags and butterflies were done, it was time to add all the details! A pretty metal floral piece, a pen nib, some linen ribbon, a bow....

 

 

 

 

 

Because I always mess up glitter and Stickles...I wait until the card is completely assembled before I apply them! SO once my card was done I used my fingers and a paintbrush to add the new Stickles Moon Dust Glitter Gel!! I added it to the butterflies, the leaves, and even to the ribbon. Just wherever I wanted a highlight of sparkle. This is a new product to me too. I like that it dries fast and it's very pretty!

Thank you for stopping by today!! It was my pleasure to share this card with you!! I hope I've encouraged you to play - get messy - try something new! All of these techniques are fun. Pick your favorite colors and GO!! The world needs more love and art right now. Please take care until I see you again soon! XOXO

PLEASE CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for today's project! (Affiliate links used)

My Favorite Shops & Affiliate Links!

Hi everyone! Just popping in today with an announcement and update. I am hoping to get a fun blog post out on Wednesday with a Tim Holtz card I made with the new Distress Ink color! (hint: it's gorgeous!) I am doing a bit of housecleaning on my blog and Facebook page. Wanted to share some news about new shops with you! I hope you are doing well and hanging in there. So much is going on in the world today. Crafting is our peaceful space. I'm so grateful for all of you here in my tiny corner of the interwebs. Bless you and whatever you are dealing with right now. I love you. 

Over the past few months I have become an affiliate for several new online stores. I'm very excited about some new partnerships with companies that I love. What is an affiliate?? An affiliate is a person who goes into an agreement with a store to act as a brand ambassador and showcase products. In return, the stores give the affiliates a commission on each sale. It's that easy. It costs the customers nothing more to purchase via an affiliate link. However, it greatly helps the blogger/affiliate. No secrets about it! It's a great system. Each affiliate/blogger has to pay for a service to provide link lists on their posts. Affiliate linking to the products in my posts is how I support my family and is one of the main sources of my income. If I have inspired you, it's how you can help me out. I'm extremely overwhelmingly grateful for those clicks. You make a difference to my family. I never take it for granted. THANK YOU!

SO WHAT'S NEW!? NEW SHOPS!!

I'm super excited to be an affiliate for my go to shop for Cross Stitching supplies and Fabric!! Fat Quarter Shop is amazing! I buy almost all of my cross stitch patterns and threads there. I also buy fabric to finish off my projects. They always have the most on trend fabric of anywhere I've bought from. And super fast shipping. Love them. 

Marker Universe is another new shop! I buy my Karin Markers there! They have good prices (and lots of sales). They also sell Tombow and Kuretake supplies.

Catherine Pooler!! OH GOSH! I have guest designed for CP a few times now. What cute goodies! Seriously the happiest and prettiest stamps! And don't get me started on their ink pads. The people that I work with from that company - top notch kind and talented. Very happy to support them this way. 

Arteza Art Supplies - this is the brand of watercolor paper I use. I also love their Bristol paper. They have a huge selection of paints and brushes too. And, they have lots of sales and specials. 

Blick Art is where I exclusively buy my Copic Markers and have for YEARS! They have the best prices of any shop... And they have every color of every style of Copic Marker. Love this store.

I became the proud owner of a Cricut Joy when I signed on as an influencer for Cricut! I love it so much. Do you have a Cricut?? I love buying directly from them because all the products are available in one place. SO many kinds of vinyl and paper!

A Cherry On Top is a fantastic scrapbooking/paper crafting store. I have been shopping with them for 15 or more years! I'm excited that they now have an affiliate program. They always have the latest on trend products from Doodlebug (and you can preorder!) Bazzill, and American Crafts. Good shipping and ALLLLLLL the latest for scrapbooking. 

THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART FOR SUPPORTING THESE SHOPS AND SUPPORTING ME IN THE PROCESS!! Click on the photo above to see the entire list of my favorite shops. This graphic is also listed on the right column of my blog and on my Facebook Page. At the bottom of each individual blog post you will see a circular photo - if you click that photo you will see the supply list for that specific project!

Wanda