A Blog Called Wanda

Happy New Year and Cheers to 2022!

Hi friends! One more day until it's another new year! Can you even believe it? I can't! I'm gonna say - good job on making it through this past year. We did it! We made it! It's been a hard, crazy, mixed up time - that's for sure! But here we are on the brink of new opportunities and a fresh start. I am sending everyone a giant hug for the new year. I wish you nothing but peace, happiness, health and love in 2022. I do really hope that we get a break and we can get back to hanging out with our friends and having fun. Thank you so much for encouraging me this past year and for always showing me kindness and love. I am so grateful for all of you!!! This crazy crafting community is such a bright spot in all the darkness. Bless you and thank you! Happy New Year! 

Before I forget!!! THE GREETERY is having a HUGE sale right now - for one more day! If there's something you've had your eye on, pop on over to check out the sale items! Yay!

I have one final card for 2021 to share with you! Of course, it's a New Year card! I went with a super muted and 'quiet' color palette and also a different sized card. I felt like making something just a bit different!! I used lots of kraft cardstock and lots of mixed embellishments to give the aura/feeling of champagne bubbles! Let me know what you think! The finished card is 6.5" x 3.5" and it's three layers of kraft. I distressed the edges and each layer is attached with foam tape so the card has lots of dimension and depth.

 

The main element is that AWESOME swirling stars die cut! Oh man, I love it!! All those stars are one die cut. I used it twice, once on each side of the card. The other main element is that beautiful script happy new year die. I used rich black cardstock to make it pop. 

 

At first I had the script words directly onto the top card layer. But it felt like it needed something so I added a vellum circle to highlight it. I used my favorite gold paint to splash gold all over the card. Can you see it?

 

I went through my embellishment bins and found items in a 'champagne' color palette: gold, cream, bronze, clear... This is the first time I've tried mixing lots of different embellishments together and I have to say I really like it!! Seems super festive.

 

I die cut some gold stars to add onto the card and the vellum part.

 

 

 

 

Happy Happy Happy HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you! From my craft room to yours - happy 2022!!!

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

You Perk Me Up!

Hi friends!! Happy Monday - on the strangest week of the year! LOLZ. This week is so weird - like what day is it even? Is Christmas really over? How can it be a new year already? Wait, what day is it again? Monday? Hmmmm.... I hope you all had a wonderful and lovely Christmas weekend! Our holiday was very quiet and peaceful. We spent a good amount of time at church and it didn't rain on Christmas day which was perfect. I made beef stroganoff for dinner - and we're having it again tonight. Yum. My husband bought me this very cool electric kettle and I love it already. And now here we are, awaiting the joys that 2022 will bring! But you know what? We've made it through this super hard year, so cheers to us!! XOXO 

I got into the studio today for the first time in a week or so. Just a quick post here! I was a bit rusty so I just picked up some pretty patterned paper that's been sitting here for too long. I made a quick card. No stamping - just paper and stickers and fun embellishments... I have some Valentine stamps and dies here already for assignments and blog hops!! 

This card is an A2 white card base, layered with deep black cardstock. The the pretty patterned papers!! I wrapped the card with some twine and added enamel dots as embellishments. It's such a nice soft color palette. And you know I love a coffee theme!! 

The card layout is from my Pinterest Board called "Card Sketches and Layouts" if you want to take a peek. I refer back to this when I want to use my patterned papers!

CLICK HERE for the supply list! 

Have a great week!!! I'll be back soon!!! XOXO

Merry Christmas from our Home to Yours - 2021!

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2021!

BLESSINGS FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS!

THE GUESS FAMILY

MARK, WANDA & LUCKY

 

Christmas Eve 2021....

Hello sweet friends.... Almost Christmas now! One more day and then the holiday season is over just like that. This year has been crazy for sure and the holidays were different than 'normal' again... The meaning of the season always remains the same though, and as long as we remember the reason for the season we'll be just fine. Popping in today to share some photographs to finish up my Christmas creating for the year. (Let's have a moment of silence for all the projects that will have to get finished next year - especially stitching!) I love to do 'styled' photographs of pretty things. It helps me push my photography skills, and makes me happy at the same time. So here are some photos I've taken in the past month or so, here at my home. Wishing you a peaceful evening tonight, full of family and love. I can't wait to go to church tonight. XOXO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE, EVERYONE!

Pretty Pastel Snowflakes!

Hi friends and crafty people! Just a few more sleeps until Christmas is here! I managed to fit in one last Christmas project to share with you. Then it's time to put away all the Christmas crafting goodies until next year. Dang, so many projects left that I wanted to make. Will someone please remind me next year to start earlier!? I hope you're having a great Christmas week and that all your shopping is done...and that you're sipping cocoa and enjoying life. Our week has been pretty quiet and calm. It's going to rain every day until Christmas now.... Everything is done. Time to relax!! Sending love your way today.

I have something VERY cool to share with you! Another innovative concept from our friends at Taylored Expressions. They're called Quad Stencils and my cards feature the Snowflake Quad Stencils! The concept is awesome: big 8.5" x 11" stencils that cover an entire sheet of paper....Then when you're done, you cut your paper into quadrants and you have four card fronts done! This came together like a dream... I made four cards and all the cards are A2 sized white card bases. My color palette is a cool fifties retro pastel palette - I love that...

Here is my favorite card - because I also used the brand new Cozy Winter stamps/dies/stencils to make some mittens! (All the supplies are listed at the bottom of my post)

 

Here are all four cards! How fun is this???

 

Here is a close up of my stenciled panel!! Aren't those the prettiest snowflakes? 

 

Here are the four ink shades I used for my panels.

 

Here are the four big stencils - they are great quality and they clean up with a bit of water in the sink.

 

When you're done stenciling - you have this!!!

 

And then you have this!

 

Here are some close up photos of the four cards I made. I used accents of silver and vellum and also some enamel dots and gems. Gotta make it super sparkly and icy!

 

I used a few different Taylored Expressions Christmas sentiment stamp sets to make the sayings on all the cards. I love silver embossing powder on vellum. So classic.

 

These mittens are SOOO cute! I stenciled the mittens and then heat embossed the ribbing on the wrist part and the snowflakes. Looks so pretty! I used a bit of twine for the mitten string. And then I used this neat trick - a Snow Pen! The snow pen was used to make the fleece/fur on the mittens.

 

 

 

 

That's it for today! And that's it for Christmas 2021! Thanks for sharing with me all during this holiday season. I wish I could have made more things!!! I hate that the month of December goes by so fast. Sending you hugs!! XOXO Merry Christmas!!

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

Doodlebug - Place Settings for Christmas!

Hi everyone! Happy to be here sharing part of your Christmas week with you! I hope you have a wonderful week!! It's my day to post over on the Doodlebug Blog today! Yippeeeee! So, I was thinking of what project to make and I thought - what do we need last minute? We need place settings and things for our beautiful Christmas table! I used the wonderful Let It Snow Collection to make place cards, napkin rings and treat boxes sure to make your guests smile. Quick and easy projects with a big impact!  I made this project for Christmas, but it would work with any of the Doodlebug Collections for any occasion. It's always nice to make it personal!! 

Here is my table setting with a red placemat and a pretty gingham napkin. I made the place card holder by gluing three candy canes together with hot glue! It's so fun and festive. The candy popper is filled with sweet treats and the napkin ring is a nice welcome to the meal.

 

 

 

To make the napkin ring, I cut a strip of that pretty peppermint striped paper and made a circle. I die cut a stitched circle from white cardstock and attached that awesome Christmas Time Doodle Pop! I added a greeting and some mini jewels too. One good thing about these projects is you can add as little or as much embellishment as you have time for. 

 

 

 

To make the table treats I used the WRMK Candy Box Punch Board. I love using my punch boards. This one is fantastic and I use it all the time.  I made the box from tree paper and wrapped it with santa paper! I used Chunky Twine and some big jewels to close the ends and add a bit of bling. For the top, I used stickers and Odds & Ends Pieces to decorate. I used cardstock folded in half to make a pop up element. It's so sweet on the table.

 

Doesn't get more festive than this!!! Red and green and pretty!!

 

Here is my place card. I set a place for Santa, cuz I really want him to come! I die cut a scalloped rectangle and added the I Love Santa Doodle Pop and then some gems and snowflake Sprinkles. I used the Abigal Alphabet in black to add the name. 

 

So easy to make a candy cane holder and then just drop your place card right into it! Your guests will love it! 

 

 

Okay friends! Have a wonderful Christmas week!!! Lots and lots of love to you! XOXOXO

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

Pop Up Birthday Card with the new Concord & 9th Release!

Hey friends!! Hope you're having an awesome week! I'm here with (shocking) a birthday card! NOT a Christmas card! LOL. There's a fabulous new release last week from Concord & 9th and I was lucky enough to get some goodies in the mail from them. They always come up with something cool! Remember the pop up Christmas village??? Yeah, they're super cool over at C9! Today I have some pretty party colors and a new kind of Pop Up! You're gonna love it. I will tell you, I am not a genius at folding things and putting 3D things together.... So I was a little nervous about trying this. But guess what? I got it exactly right on the first try! Yay! It's always good to have birthday cards on hand. And you could make this card with any color palette. I used lots of the new goodies: ice cream, cupcakes, candles....all of it! 

The finished card is an A2 white card base folded on the long edge. I wrapped it with a decorated belly band to keep it shut until it POPS open. I love these colors together and this card makes me smile. Here is the front of the card, while folded, with the belly band on. All the elements: words, candy and ice cream are all only connected to that teal band so it can slide right off.

 

Of course I made a triple scoop cone for the front! I used these four colors from the beautiful C9 palette: Ballet Slipper, Honeysuckle, Aqua Sky and Oceanside. I only added a few pops of red/yellow/orange as accents. The "Happy Birthday" is two stamps that match up - so you can easily use two different colors.

 

Here is the belly band after I slid it off the card....

 

And.... POP POP POP up! Yay! Happy birthday indeed! Candles, then ice creams, then cupcakes up front! So sweet! I die cut out all these elements from the four colors in my palette. Then I used Copic Markers to add shading and then some white gel pen accents. The bottom of the ice creams and cupcakes are made with kraft cardstock. 

 

Here's a close up of the elements attached to the folding pop up base dies! SO easy! The pop up base dies are in a set of three - different sizes. You die cut then out and tape them into the fold of the card. Then glue on your elements. That's it. Truly. I did it and you can too!

 

Before I added the pop up elements I stamped the happy happy birthday onto the bottom of the card and also added some confetti!

 

 

 

Here is the back side of the construction so you can see how they are put onto the fold/card.

 

 

 

That's it folks! We're back to the card front! What do you think? Have you tried making pop up cards before? What would you put on there? I can picture some cute critters, or flowers or maybe some presents.... The sky's the limit with this!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a fabulous day and I'll see you soon!! XOXO

CLICK HERE to visit our friends at Concord & 9th!

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

Peppermint Cocoa Anyone!?

Hi crafty friends! I'm back! I made a super cute card yesterday and I couldn't wait to share it! So you guys know that I love Pumpkin Spice everything, right? Well, as soon as it turns winter, I loooooove Peppermint + Chocolate everything! LOL. So predictable! I love Peppermint Mochas from Starbucks and I REALLY love the Peppermint shakes at Chik-fil-a! OOOH LA LA. This card has a funny story.... The coffee/cocoa mugs are made with a Halloween die set! The die set is called Boo Brew and I loved it the second I saw it. So much so, that I ordered and bought it TWICE! But then fall came and went and I never even used it (either of them, LOL).... Well the dies were in my 'in basket' on my desk and I got the creative wheels turning.... And out emerged this Winter themed card with a Halloween die set! Yay! I hope you're having a good week - sorry for the long story. Let's look at my card!

The finished card is an A2 card base that I covered with peppermint striped paper from the new Doodlebug collection!! All the light colored parts are cream cardstock, not white. I wanted a bit of a vintage flair to this one. I used stamps and dies from lots of companies for this card. Supplies are listed at the bottom of my post. 

 

So if you imagine this mug in orange, can you see the pumpkin sections now?? I did red/red tone on tone to make it look like a fancy mug. I used red cardstock and then inked the edges with Brick Distress ink for depth. I glued on a snowflake (cream cardstock) and made a candy cane and a Gingerbread Man too! The leaves are supposed to be the pumpkin leaves, but I used them as holly!! The candy cane die and the Gingerbread man die are both old and discontinued from Taylored Expressions.

 

You know I had to add lots of rock candy glitter to my elements!! Especially that mountain of whip cream! I added enamel dots to look like holly berries and also for the centers of the snowflakes. 

 

 

 

This FABULOUS background die is from Ellen Hutson from last year. I AM OBSESSED with it. I use it all the time!! So pretty and swirly!

 

 

 

I distress inked around the leaves and also my Gingerbread Man....

 

This pretty sentiment was stamped in dark brown ink onto a cream circle. I used the Lawn Fawn Magic Holiday Messages stamps and dies for the sentiment. I added a kraft paper scalloped circle around the word circle.

 

 

I feel like I would absolutely love to sit down with all of you and have a cup of coffee or cocoa and share the holiday season! I hope this card warmed your heart a little bit on this cold day. I will be back tomorrow with something really fun - and not holiday related!! See you then! XOXO

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

Pigment Craft Co - Christmas Hugs and Love - and Ink Pads!

Hi everyone! Merry Christmas-time! It's getting closer and closer now! Not much time left for me to finish all my crafty ideas! I think I might have to just let it go for this year! I hope you are doing great and enjoying the season. We have been out doing lots of activities - craft fairs, Christmas Festivals, Zoo Lights, Volunteering and more! Oh, and it was my husband's birthday this weekend too. Whew. No wonder I'm tired! It has been so nice to be out doing things in the fresh crisp air. Everyone is jolly and happy to be busy. Feels good. Today it's really windy and pouring rain and I'm trying to get things done before the power inevitably goes out. Wishing you a happy season!!

Today's post features stamps, dies and inks from one of my favorite companies - Pigment Craft Co! For my birthday, the hubs bought me the entire set of ink pads. I LOVE THEM! I got them all swatched up and I've been using them on projects. They are wonderful. Today I'm sharing my thoughts on the ink pads, and a card I made with the GORGEOUS Christmas limited edition kit! 

My finished card is an A2 card base covered with my fav woodgrain paper. One layer of white cardstock and then the clean and graphic images. Simple and sweet and maybe kinda retro too. 

 

Here are some of the ink colors..... It's a muted palette with mostly warm shades and tones. The colors are (to me) a bit retro and I looooove that. I don't have any of these colors in any of my other ink pad collections. They are super SUPER juicy and with the foam top so you just barely need any ink for good coverage.

 

Here's my little swatch booklet on a ring! I used my mini tags from Doodlebug (supplies listed at the bottom of my post) and extra thick cardstock. ONE stamp with a heart - see that beautiful coverage???

 

One of my favorite sentiment sets from Pigment too!!

 

Here's a close up of two of the pads.... Really saturated and nice, smooth foam pads. I think they are going to last a long time. I am starting to prefer this type of pad over the cloth ones with the threads....

 

 

 

 

 

I am particularly drawn to all the greens and blues in this ink collection. SO many pretty choices. 

 

 

 

And here's a little shot of my front porch! I love poinsettias!

Okay - that's it for today! Happy Monday! Have an awesome week! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!! XOXO

CLICK HERE to check out the PIGMENT CRAFT CO website!

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

Doodlebug Let It Snow - Flip Tag!

Hey hey hey friends! It's my turn to be up on the Doodlebug Blog today (and here too of course!) I am absolutely in love with the new Doodlebug Let It Snow Collection! It's fresh and pretty and fun! Cute animals, Snowmen, Santa and Reindeer too - everything you need for the Winter Holidays! For my first project with the new collection, I decided to make a Flip Tag Book! This is such a fun way to use up lots of papers and stickers! This is my first Flip Tag (I have always wanted to make one) but it will not be my last! It's like a mini scrapbook on a ring - love it! 

This project started out with lots of fabulous die cut tags. I used the Doodle Cuts Large Tags and Mini Tags Dies and cut out white, kraft, vellum and patterned paper tags. I think there are twelve in all for my book. They are bound together with a binder ring and then decorated with ribbons and a big chunky white jingle bell. All the supplies are listed at the bottom of my post. I'll walk you through the pages... 

 

For the cover I used the Snow Wonder Shaker Doodle Pop!!! It's adorable!!! I added some hearts and put it on patterned (polka dot) paper. Very very cheerful indeed - how can you not smile?! 

 

On the ring, I went through my stash of ribbons and added stripes and polka dots and gingham...some of my favorite things!! I am kinda obsessed with candy cane stripes right now. 

 

Here are the pages.... These colors are SO CHEERY! I love aqua pink and red together! And a little bit of kraft too! 

 

And here are four more pages in my Flip Tag Book!

 

I made a little shaker tag filled with pretty Doodlebug Sequins. To make this I used a trading card page and my WRMK fuse tool. Finished off with a bit of washi tape (more stripes!). 

 

This tag is made from vellum! I added some stickers and Sprinkles....

 

Here's the whole book spread out - look at all that yummy color! I tied on that big chunky bell with some natural twine. 

 

And there's Santa on the last page!!! Tis the season to be jolly indeed! Ho Ho Ho!!

 

 

That's it for me today! Hope you're excited to create with the Let It Snow Collection! It's everything cute for Winter! Especially Scrapbooking!! I can't wait to see more projects from the design team. Happy crafting until I see you again soon! 

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supplies I used to make this project! (Affiliate Links Used)

Fun news for a Friday!

Hi everyone! Happy Friday! This week sure went fast! I had a fun week full of winter and Christmas activities and festivities and I hope you did too! We're full on into holiday mode around here and I wish there was some way I could make this time go slower to enjoy it all and soak it all in. There are so many fun things to do and so many craft projects in my brain! Wishing you a great weekend ahead!!

Today I have a quick announcement and a sneak peek at a project! Today the newest issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today Magazine comes out! And I have a project in it this time around! Yippeee! It's been a while since I had a project in a magazine and it's always so much fun to see my work in print. I am a total magazine-aholic and so enjoy a good read with a cuppa!! The project I made features the new Doodlebug Let It Snow Collection!

You can click here to check out the magazine online!

 

And here's a little sneak peek of my project! 

 

 

Have an awesome weekend! I'll see you on Monday! XOXO