A Blog Called Wanda

Doodlebug Lots of Love Card Trio!

Hi everyone! Before I get started today, I truly wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for the outpouring of love after my last blog post! Thank you for all the emails and notes and kindness. You absolutely lifted my spirits. Bless you!!! Our Covid testing kits arrived on Friday and we both tested negative. Good news!! I am feeling more like myself as each day passes, thank the Lord.  I managed to get out of the house this weekend too. It's amazing what a coffee date can do for a girl. Thanks for sending me good vibes

I'm back today on the Doodlebug Blog, and here on my blog, with another fun project made with the Lots of Love Collection! Today I decided to make some cards to share with you! These could be Valentine Cards, or Just Because cards! They have lots of colorful and fun elements and are sure to make anyone smile when they arrive in the mail. The Lots of Love Collection has so many design elements and I love all that color - grounded with bold black accents. I have a trio of cards today. All of them are made from white card bases in A2 size. I used the 6x6 paper pad for my backgrounds and then went to town with embellishments! They are so happy - I hope they make you smile.

 

All three cards have generally the same card layout. I used the Doodle Cuts Large Tags to die cut a white tag for each card. I used the Chunky Twine to tie on top of the tags. I used the design elements from the Chit Chat, Odds & Ends and Bits & Pieces packages. I also used black sprinkles for the flower centers. I am really enjoying doing this type of project - layering papers and embellishments - I love this look!! You could make a million cards with all the elements that come in the packs.

 

How adorable is this sweet little typewriter?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stickers, twine and flowers!

 

How sweet is that tiny little pink ladybug!? I love her!!

 

The possibilities are endless for making cards using the Lots of Love Collection! So many adorable themes and alllll those pretty flowers. I'm ready for Spring now, too, how about you? It's been a pleasure sharing with you today. See you soon - and until then - happy crafting!

I'll be back soon with something fun to share! (I'm not sure what yet, LOL) Until then, be well and take care of yourself! 

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

Happy Zesty Lemons!

Hello friends! How are you this week? I hope you are doing well and feeling good! Before I get started with sharing my project I wanted to say a few words. I've been mostly absent from social media, and not blogging as much as normal, lately. A lot of you have kindly reached out to me here, and on Instagram especially, to ask about me. The truth is, this year is only a few weeks old but it's already kicking me in the booty. I've been really sick for almost three weeks now. There are no Covid tests available here, but I'm pretty sure that's what got me. (We ordered our test kits and hope they show up soon, but by then I'll be better!) I haven't left our house in 15 days! I'm usually a very busy and social person and it's been so hard! I can only really remember being this sick a handful of times in my life. It has gotten me down, down, down. Like really down. I've been laying low and taking care of myself and sleeping SO much. My energy is practically non existent and my mental health is wavering. Lots of time in prayer and the love of a dear husband and sweet kitty have been sustaining me. For me, creating and crafting is a happy activity so I find it hard to create when I don't feel well. I also don't really feel like doing social media when I don't feel cheery. I have missed my daily Instagram Stories with you and hope to get back to that soon. My super power is pretending I'm fine - even when I'm clearly not fine. I'm sure lots of you relate to that coping mechanism.... It's okay to not be fine. The whole past two years have been slowly chipping away at my positive and joyful outlook on life. I feel weary and heavy. I'm only telling you all of this because I know I'm not alone - and maybe me saying something will make someone else feel understood. This recent time of our lives has been a test, a battle, a marathon. We're all doing the best we can and we all need grace. I've been stumbling and that's okay. The lesson, I think, is to not be so hard on ourselves. Rest when needed. One day at a time. I am feeling somewhat better today, finally, thank God. So I spent some time in the craft room and made something pretty!! I'm sending everyone a big giant hug and lots of love. Hang in there - whatever you're dealing with - I love you. Thanks for supporting me. XOXO

My card today features some lovely zesty lemons from Spellbinders! These dies have been on my desk for at least a month and I've been dying to make a card. I love lemons as a design element. I chose a retro 50's color palette and used a beautiful background die that reminds me of a pretty 50's tablecloth. These dies are SO pretty and the creating was fun and easy. My finished card is an A2 card base in white. I layered pretty aqua paper and then a vellum circle...

 

I started by die cutting out all the necessary pieces...lemons, leaves, flowers and sentiment.... I used my mini distress inks and a small sponge dauber to gently ink around the leaves and lemons. I used Copic Markers to add color accents to the flowers. I used lots of the brand new gems from Spellbinders! They are so sparkly and pretty in person.

 

The lemons die set has the main leaf cluster, and then leaf halves that you can die cut from a second color. I chose two shades of happy yellow/green. In this photo you can really see that pretty background die. Love it!

 

I used dark grey cardstock for the sentiment and put it onto a circle to make it stand out. I really like this font - it also had that retro feeling I was going for! At the last moment I added some pink flowers from another die set. I really felt like I wanted a tiny pop of pink on this card.

 

 

 

You know me all too well, so you know I had to add my signature white paint splatters!! 

Thanks for spending a little bit of time with me today!! I'm sending hugs and creativity your way today. Please take care of yourselves! XOXO

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

You've Got {Happy Valentine} Mail!

Hi there my sweetheart friends! Happy Weekend! You've Got Mail today! I'm sharing a project I made for the Doodlebug Blog with their new Valentine Collection called Lots of Love! It's just the cutest collection ever (I know I say that every time!) full of hearts, and letters, and flowers... I love it already. I decided to make a Valentine mailbox and it was a super fun project to make. I like doing this type of thing - decorating boxes and bins and containers. I got this adorable paper mache mailbox at Michaels and went to town with it! I used paper, stickers, acrylic paint, doilies...and more. Here is my finished mailbox!

 

Here's a close up of the front of the mailbox. I used lots of elements to decorate. First and foremost, I covered everything with 12x12 paper. I covered the top, bottom, sides and inside with the cute papers. The decoration on the top was made by gluing together six die cut hearts. Love it!

 

 

 

Here is the plain mailbox before I got started! It's a pretty good size and it was such an easy project because I was having fun the entire time.

 

For the flag, I painted it red first, then glued on that fun stamp! A bright aqua brad holds it onto the mailbox.

 

Everything is so so so cheerful. How sweet are those tiny smiling letters? Makes me happy!

 

I glued on a pretty floral banner on one side and anchored it with shiny hearts. A doily is on the top!

 

Who wouldn't love a big ole mailbox full of valentines!?

 

 

 

Okay and maybe my very very very favorite thing from the collection - this tiny set of pins!!!!! EEEEEEEK!!!! LOVE.

 

My pretty mailbox is on the shelf in the craft room next to my light up heart sign I got at Target! Feels loverly in here! XO

That's it for today's fun project! I'll be seeing you soon. Happy Crafting! XOXO

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

The Greetery Release Day - Confections Collection!!

 

Hi crafty friends! One last reminder! It's The Greetery Release Day! 

THE GREETERY NEW RELEASE IS FOR SALE

FRIDAY, JANUARY 20TH, 10AM EST!

CLICK HERE TO SHOP!

The Greetery - Confections Collection - Day 2!

Hello my sweet and crafty friends! How did you enjoy yesterday's introduction to the new release from The Greetery?! Are you excited for the new release? I am!! Today is day two of previews and projects and then only one more sleep until the release goes for sale Friday morning! Thank you for all the kind comments on yesterday's post. I love to see your enthusiasm! What is your favorite thing so far?? I'm not even going to try to pick a favorite this time around. The Confections release is pure joy and creative fun!

THE GREETERY NEW RELEASE IS LIVE FOR SHOPPING FRIDAY, JANUARY 20TH AT 10AM EST!!

I have two more cards to share today! Some sweet strawberries and some even sweeter bon bon confections! Let's get to it!

First up is a card featuring the brand new Botanicuts - Strawberries! OOH LA LA! I used the previously release Market Baskets to create a market fresh little scene on a card. The finished card is an A2 card base, layered with red, and then the white postal panel. This card is mostly die cutting, and I really enjoy that type of crafting....

 

The sentiments are from the All Kinds of Happy set! This is going to be a great addition to my stamp collection - several types of the word happy, and then loads of accompanying sentiments!! The Botanicut - Strawberry is a big spray with berries, flowers and pretty leaves. This is the entire die. I also added some berries separately to the card.

 

The Market Baskets were made from dark gray cardstock and just a hint of gingham (because you guys know me...) The Picked Fresh sentiment was perfect for the small label on the basket!

 

I die cut out the berries, leaves and flowers and added accents with distress inks and a small sponge dauber. I also splattered everything with some white paint for good measure. The sentiment was die cut from the same gray cardstock to make everything come together.

 

 

 

I am going to use this die cut a lot - I have so many ideas! This is a favorite motif of mine and it's going to be wonderful going into Summer!

 

Next up is a card for my friend Forrest....Life is like a box of chocolates! I used the new Curio Confections dies to create a sweet shop card! This finished card is a kraft 5.25" x 5.25" square card. I layered some pretty pastel pink stripes, vellum and white cardstock.... Then my feature elements and that gorgeous SWEET sentiment!

 

I used the Curio Cabinet Die and cut off part of it to make it smaller. I backed it with light pink cardstock as the bottom of my 'box'. I used my favorite color palette for sweets: pink, aqua, brown, and dark pink.... LOVE. The strawberries are from the Botanicut - and there are add-ons that make chocolate bottoms and frosting!!! Betsy thought of EVERYTHING!

 

The possibilities are endless for using these new dies. I only used a few of them!!! It was very fun and creative to sit and craft bon bons and chocolates at my table. I only wish they were real so I could eat them!

 

For my accents, I used some white gel pen, some Diamond Stickles and some pearls. My sentiment is the new Sweet Word Die in aqua, backed in vellum. Then I heat embossed the valentine wishes portion. 

 

 

 

The level of detail in these dies is truly amazing! I love how Betsy always thinks of things I would never think of, and yet, makes the project even more special. 

Okay, friends, that's it for release week festivities! I hope you've been inspired and that you're excited for shopping! I can't wait to hear what you get and see what you make! Thanks for spending part of your week here with me! XOXO

As usual, Betsy will generously be giving away two $50 gift certificates for the blog hop. The winners will be selected from comments left on all the blog posts! Good Luck!! 

THE GREETERY NEW RELEASE IS LIVE FOR SHOPPING FRIDAY, JANUARY 20TH AT 10AM EST!!

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

 

The Greetery Blog

Laurie Willison

Dawn McVey

Angelica Conrad

Kelly Lunceford

Wanda Guess

The Greetery - Confections Collection - Day 1!

Hi everyone! Today is a VERY exciting day! It's time for a fabulous new release from The Greetery! Previews today and tomorrow from the whole team!! The new release will be live for purchase on Friday morning at 10am EST! The new release is called Confections! And that is the perfect name for it!! Everything sweet just in time for Valentine's Day. Candies, Cookies, Hearts, Strawberries..... What else could we want for Valentine's Day??!! I had a lot of fun creating my projects to share with you this week. The new items are also great for birthday cards and 'just because' cards too. I am excited today to see what Betsy and the rest of the team made! I hope you're excited too!

I have two cards today and two tomorrow. Today, one card is cookies and one card is candy! SUPER fun! I'm ready for the whimsy and color! Let's get started!

This first card features the brand new Love and Cookies stamps and dies! I combined it with the previously released Hug in a Mug Sweet Treats dies. I used a true Valentine color palette of red, cream and kraft....and some glitter too! The finished card is an A2 kraft card base. I layered red paper, vellum and a bit of gingham. The top layer is cream cardstock.

 

This new Love and Cookies set has the absolutely CUTEST sentiments!!! I mean, c'mon, love you more than cookies?? Adorable! I used red and kraft for the die cut part of the sentiment, and white embossing on kraft for the stamped portion. You're gonna love these sayings!! 

 

My little cookies were super fun to make! Two layers of cream cardstock for the top and bottom. Then the middle layer is red cardstock with lots of clear rock candy glitter (Two coats).... I gently inked the edges with Antique Linen Distress ink and a small dauber. 

 

I put on a few tiny red hearts as accents. The perfect Valentine Card!

 

How come I want cookies now??? LOLZ. 

 

Here's a close up of my paper layers....

 

Next up is a sweet-as-can-be birthday card featuring the new Sweet Tooth Stamps and Dies and the new Frosted Frames Dies! The finished card is an A2 card base. The frames die completely covers the front of the card. I used white and brown to sort of ground all those pastel colors.... Boy it was fun to stamp all those yummy treats! 

 

It's like an explosion of bon bons!! What could be sweeter? Lots of color and glitter!

 

 

 

I used the coaster die in pink to make a little area for the candies to sit on....

 

How cute is that teeny tiny strawberry???

Okay, friends, that's it for day one! We will be back tomorrow with more inspiration and more new items!! Can't wait to share more with you. And remember the new release is live for sale on Friday at 10am EST!

As usual, Betsy will generously be giving away two $50 gift certificates for the blog hop. The winners will be selected from comments left on all the blog posts! Good Luck!! 

CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE GREETERY STORE!

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

 

DESIGN TEAM INSPIRATION FOR TODAY!

The Greetery Blog

Laurie Willison

Dawn McVey

Angelica Conrad

Kelly Lunceford

Wanda Guess

Pinkfresh Studio January 2022 New Release Blog Hop!

Hi crafty friends! It's time for another beautiful new release from our friends at Pinkfresh Studio!  The January release, like all the others, is pretty and feminine and cool!! We're celebrating the new release with a giant blog hop of course! Thanks for stopping by today! I made a feminine card using the new Floral Envelope stamp set and the Brighter Days stamp set too! There are a lot of participants in the hop today so there's plenty of inspiration! I hope you enjoy the hop! The new release is available now! My supply list is at the bottom of my post along with the link to the full hop and the prize information!! 

My finished card is a white A2 card base. I layered a new background die with kraft, and then boom! All the pretty flowers! I used the matching stencils to color all the images. It's all so so beautiful. I love how Pinkfresh combines stamps/dies/stencils to make creating easy.

 

 

The main image is the envelope with the flowers busting out! Fresh and colorful for Spring! I added additional flowers from another new stamp set. Then I used vellum leaves and a pretty tag sentiment.... I love kraft mixed with spring colors....

 

The bow stamp is so perfect here! I tucked the flower bouquet down into the envelope and then tucked in the vellum leaves behind everything else. I added clear enamel dots and a few ink splatters.

 

I really like the sketchy feel of these florals - they would be so nice with any coloring medium. I used the gorgeous Pinkfresh Studio Ink Cubes.

 

 

 

Here's a close up of the awesome new background die - Sparkling Diamonds - I know I'm going to use it A LOT!!

 

 

That's it for my card for today! Thank you for coming by to see me on this fun blog hop. Please make sure to stop by all the blogs and leave some love. I will see you back here real soon! XOXO

CLICK HERE to shop the Pinkfresh Studio Store!

Pinkfresh Studio will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel!! They will also be giving away a total of TEN $25  gift cards along the hop today! The winners will be picked from the comments on all the blogs. The winners will be posted 1/25/22 on the Pinkfresh GIVEAWAY PAGE. You must check that page & claim your prize within 2 weeks!!  All the details are on the Pinkfresh Studio Website!

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

 

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO SEE ALL THE BLOG HOP PARTICIPANTS!!

Cute Little Valentine Skunks!!

Hi everyone! How is your week going?! My week has been great so far. Our 49ers made it into the playoffs in overtime! Whew! The weather has been perfect! And....My church is doing a five day Bible Conference and my husband and I have been going to church every day. It has been so uplifting and fun and inspiring. Lots of singing and tons of good, thoughtful messages. It has been a restorative and wonderful way to start off the new year. The first night there were almost 3000 people at church. How amazing is that? I find it very good for my soul to see that many people so eager to hear the word of God and commit to coming to church every day. Looking forward to two more nights.

Today's post is about SKUNKS! LOLZ. Skunks???? Yes!! In our neighborhood there is a lot of open space/natural area... and we have lots of critters around all the time. At least a couple of times a year I'll wake up in the middle of the night and know....'we got skunked!' There is no mistaking that smell. But, you do have to admit, they are kinda cute, especially the babies!! Today's skunks are courtesy of the new Lawn Fawn release for Valentines Day 2022! I couldn't resist! Lots of photos in this post, so grab a cuppa and hang out with me for a bit! XO

TODAY'S SUPPLY LIST LINK HERE!

I used the new Tiny Gift Box Skunk Add-On dies to create some treat boxes and a card that matches. You already know I love those tiny treat boxes!! (CLICK HERE for the ones I made last year for Valentines)The skunk is the add on for this year. It is meant to attach to the front of the treat box die, but it also totally works to make a stand alone critter for a card. Let's look at the card first, and then the treats!

This finished card is an A2 card base. I used the brand new quilted heart background die in white and put pink paper behind it. This die completely covers the front of the card. I layered red cardstock and then my elements.

 

My little skunk is holding some Valentine Love Letters!!! EEP.

 

I heat embossed the sentiment in white onto the red cardstock. I die cut a scalloped circle out of the red and also splattered on some white paint.

 

Here's a detail close up of that beautiful background die...

 

I die cut out all the pieces of my skunk using black, white, gray and pink cardstock. I gently inked the edges of the gray parts using distress ink. I added white gel pen accents onto him too. I die cut several tropical leaves dies and inked those too!

 

I stamped a few love letters and die cut some pink hearts to use as accents on the card.

 

 

 

Next up are my cute little treat boxes!!! I made a girl skunk and a boy skunk! (It is for Valentines after all!) I used the bow die from the Deer add on die set.

 

Here's a side view to see their legs! LOLZ. The tail piece works as the handle to pull the lid of the box open! Genius. 

 

Lawn Fawn thought of everything... There is even a tiny die cut piece for their tummies! I used two of the small white fur piece around their faces. I added white gel pen accents to everything - I just really like that look.

 

Here is the top so you can see the stripes!

 

Here is the TINY gift box in my hand! The perfect size for a big truffle or just a few candies.... The tiny gift box is super easy to assemble. It's all one piece. You just die cut once, then fold and glue it together. Then the add-ons just get glued on to the front side of the box. It's one of my fav dies.

 

 

I crafted them a tiny heart banner to hold with their tails. This is how they will sit on the shelf in my craft room! This would be super cute for a table decoration too! I glued hearts onto a piece of red and white twine.

 

 

 

 

 

So that's it for today! All the cuteness of skunks but none of the aroma! HAHAHAHA. 

Thanks for stopping by today! There are a lot of good things coming in the next couple of weeks. Crafting is revving up again and I'm gonna be busy again! Lots of good things to share with you. Have a wonderful day full of blessings and love. XOXO

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

Pretty Pink Posh - Valentine's Release for 2022!

Cheers friends! Happy Friday! The first week of the new year is in the books! It was a good week! I got my hair done for the first time in a very long time, and I'm feeling sassy! Also, I had a job interview for an interesting opportunity and it went well. It's been cold and wintery and I love that too. It's time to bust out all the cute Valentine projects now!! Pretty Pink Posh has an ADORABLE new release this week for Valentine's Day and today we're doing a big Instagram Hop to celebrate the new release. If you're on Instagram - be sure to pop on over and check it out - there are prizes!! In case you're not on Instagram, I wanted to post my project here too. I love that now we're going to switch out of holiday mode and towards spring crafting. Yeah! Have a great weekend!

My finished card is an A2 white card base covered in mini gingham from my stash. Shades of pink and red, and a sweet little cupid!! I used the brand new Valentine Wreath stamp set and matching dies to make this card. I also used the brand new pink Bubblegum Pearls as accents.

 

My layers are: Gingham, vellum, white paper with pink ink blending, Pink paper with Scallop Frames die and then my focal elements!! I stamped and die cut out the wreath, and the sweet cupid. I also stamped, embossed and die cut out the sentiment. I colored the wreath and cupid with Copic Markers.

 

Here is a side view of my layers - lots of foam tape as usual! I added a bit of glitter to his wings and some of the elements.

 

I used two shades of pink Distress Inks and my blender brushes to ink a pink background for the main elements. I also splattered on some white ink. I added white gel pen accents to all the images.

 

Those pink pearls are sooooooo shiny and pretty!!!

 

 

That's it for today!! Don't forget to visit the Instagram Hop to enter for prizes! I'll be back soon! XOXO

CLICK HERE to shop the brand new Pretty Pink Posh Release!

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