Betsy's Blossoms Thank You Card

"Betsy's Blossoms" set is one of those that I look back and wonder why I bought it.  What was I thinking?  Or better yet, what did I see made with this set that made me want to buy it?  That's closer to the truth!!!  I'm not sure but what I do know is that I don't use it much at all.  I think I may have to surf the net for some samples and maybe it will all come back to me why I bought it.  I do like the bird and the branch but there's more to this set than that!!! LOL

Anyway, I played with the set and I also used the Adorning Accents Edgelets.  I LOVE those edgelets.  They are fun and easy to use.  I am thinking that Stampin' Up! may be putting more of those out and the framelet dies and get away from punches.  These dies don't get jammed up like the punches do.  They are SO much easier on the hands and you can cut a lot of different thicknesses with them.  Anyway, that is just a thought of mine.  Let's see how close I am when the next catalog comes out!!!

Ok, back to my card.  The words are from the "Perfectly Penned" set.  A set I have used a lot and am glad I own!!  

I just thought I would make a spring looking card today.  We are in a deep freeze and this warmed me up!! LOL

On Christmas morning we were in a deep freeze too.  I had seen this fun thing on the net so of course I had to try it.  "They can't put anything on the net that isn't true," right?  LOL  You take boiling water in a cup and toss it in the air and it turns to crystals.  I imagined the whole cup of water going "plunk" on the ground.  Some of it did.  But there is a little trick or technique to this.  You must throw the water from the cup in a long sweeping arch.  All that was left was a puff of white crystals in the air.  It was SO cool.  Hubby and I emptied out a whole tea kettle of boiling water.  We're such kids!  It was a fun thing to try on Christmas morning.  I may go out tomorrow morning and give it a try again just because it was fun.  Hubby will be back at work and he won't know the silly things I do during the day!!! LOL

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Happy Anniversary

Our son and daughter-in-law had their first anniversary on the 14th.  It's SO hard to believe that a year has passed already.  It only seems like it was a couple of months ago that we were downtown at the wedding.  

This is the card I made for them.  Don't be too impressed, I found one like this on Pinterest.  You can view it here.  

I used the Elegant Lines embossing folder for the background.  I punched out 3 hearts.  One of Basic Black, one of Whisper White and another Whisper White that was embossed with the Dotted Swiss folder.  It's hard to see in the photo but the black piece is cut in the center and then folded back to make it look like lapels.  

The black pearls were actually colored in using a black Sharpie marker.  The hearts were set in place using Dimensionals.

It's a very quick and easy card to make.  The lapel took the most time to do but it wasn't bad.  Just mark on each side where you want the fold to be and then just score it to the center.  The original card was a wedding card but these images work great for anniversaries too!  

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Baby Bundle

Need a baby card but don't know if it's a boy or a girl?  Well, this is the card for you!  It's got pink, it's got blue, along with some yellow and green!!! You can't go wrong with this card!!!  Plus you get to use that adorable "Baby Bundle" stamp set.  It's such a fun set but it's got those little images in it that don't get used much.  Well, not anymore!!!  With this layout you can use those stamp sets that have small images in them!  

I also have another layout that I like to use for those smaller images.  Maybe later in the week I'll make a card with it and share the measurements (again) with you.  I use it enough that I have it setting out in my workroom so I know where it is at a moments notice!!!  It's just nice to have it on hand when I need it for making a card with smaller images!

The colors used here are Bashful Blue, Daffodil Delight, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery and Whisper White.  The words came from the "Curly Cute" set.  The images and words were stamped with black StazOn and were colored in using markers.  

This was a super easy and quick card to make!!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

The Open Sea

I REALLY like "The Open Sea" set.  There's not very many masculine sets and this one seems to be fun and easy enough to work with.  There's not a lot of coloring to do on it so you can whip out a card in no time.   

This card did take a little time but not a lot.  

The colors of card stock used here is Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Pacific Point and Early Espresso.  

I stamped the Pacific Point piece with Pacific Point ink and the anchor image.

The front layer was stamped on Very Vanilla and the ship's log image was stamped on it using Crumb Cake ink.  Then I stamped the image using Versa Mark and I embossed it with clear embossing powder.  Then I sponged Crumb Cake over the ship and outside it about a 1/2".  I sponged the edges and that panel was done.

The words are from the "Teeny Tiny" wishes set.  Once all the pieces were cut and stamped it went together pretty fast.  

And the best part of making this card is I'M AHEAD ON MY CARDS!!!!  LOL  I am not usually ahead in my card making but this card puts me ahead of the game.  Now don't be too impressed or even jealous, I didn't say a word about getting it mailed out in time!!! LOL  Let's hope that goes well this year too!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Clockworks Masculine Card

I bought this set when it first came out and have never used it.  Silly me.  So today I went on Split Coast Stampers to see what samples are out there using this set.  I ran across this card and I thought it would be perfect to make since I had most of the stuff on the original card.  The poster of this card is ladybugdesigns and you can see her original card here.   

I only changed a couple of things.  At the bottom right was the #80 in Midnight Muse card stock.  I didn't need an 80th birthday card and I didn't have the die for the numbers so I used one of the gear images.  

I also added another gear image on the Comfort Cafe decorative paper. And I also changed the greetings.  I didn't have the words or the ribbon die.  I just went with what I had and it worked! Once again proving to myself that I can work with what I have (but that doesn't stop me from ordering a few new things now and then!

I need to get this out in the mail tomorrow for my nephew's birthday.  It's on Sunday so if he gets it on Saturday it will be early and on Monday it will be late!!! Nothing I can do about that!  He's lucky I remembered so close to his birthday!!! LOL

And I also needed another masculine card for a brother-in-law so I made another card just like this one.  I had all of the stuff out anyway and I figured "why not?"  Those two will never get together to compare cards!!! LOL  

I am not putting this set away yet.  I still need a few more masculine cards for 2013.  I had gotten a WONDERFUL monthly greeting card holder for a Christmas gift from a VERY special friend and I'm going to be filling it up so I can be on time this year with most of my cards.  (Notice I used the word "most"?)  LOL  My plans are to sit down with my photo album that is filled with the Split Coast Stampers Card Sketches.  I know I have typed this many times but I have all of them in one album.  I just noticed today that my album is getting pretty full and soon it's going to be time to go shopping for a new one.  There's around 420 layouts in that album.  It's a wonderful tool to have!

This was a very fun card to make.  You know me, I LOVE layers!!!  This one had lots of fun ones!

Thank you SO much fro visiting today,
Wanda

Watercolor Wash Technique Technique Page

This is a fun technique I thought I would share with you.  It allows you to move colors around and even reuse what is leftover so you don't have a lot of waste.  

I took a piece of Shimmery card stock and misted it with water.  I put a few drops of inkers on a plastic sandwich bag and then with a wet paint brush I moved the colors around.  Then I set the card stock on top and when I removed it this is what I saw.  I LOVED it. 

You can even take another piece of sprayed card stock and put it on top of the bag again, without adding any more ink and see what you get.  It's quick and easy and super fun to do!  And it's SO pretty. I LOVE the bold colors.  I used the primary colors here, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point and Perfect Plum.  Next time I make it I will omit the Pumpkin Pie since the red and yellow will combine to make an orange color.  As long as you don't move the colors around too much you won't get mud and it will always be pretty!  Experiment and have fun with it!

This is another installment in set #5 of my technique pages.  These pages are designed for you to teach classes with.  The CD's come with the instructions on a page ready for you to print out (5-3/4" x 5-3/4").  Your customers would just do the technique, cut it to fit the page and also decorate the page.  A photo of the finished page is also included.  And you could have your customers make a card using the technique too.  That way they not only get a page to add to their collection of techniques but a finished card too!  You can purchase the CD's here in my web store.  

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Mr. & Mrs. Frosty and Cat

Just a little change of pace today and I'll be back at it tomorrow with a very fun background technique.  I promise!!

I just wanted to share with you the ornament I made for my niece and her husband.  She asked me to make her an ornament to commemorate their first Christmas together and to quote, "It has to have a cat on it."  So the same night (two days before Christmas) I'm in my workroom playing with clay.  She had seen a cute snowman and snowlady ornament that she thought was cute so I thought I would go that route.  I got out the clay and began to play!  I

I even took some scrap clay and made the kitty and stuck it to the side of the snowlady.  It's kind of hard to see in the photo but it's there!  

The second photo is of the backside of the ornament.  I had made it so the snowman's arm was around the snowlady but it got hidden behind the veil.  

I was not thrilled with the flowers.  I like how they looked but not at the bottom where I had affixed them to the head with liquid Sculpey.  I should have done something different.  But now I know so the next time I make these they will look better.  

And I'm not thrilled with the wire in the back either.  I had to make a wire to hang them and then I had to split the wire at the end so a piece could go into each character. There was no way just to put one hanger in the middle of them.  That is something I will have to work on later when I have more time.  Something like that is all about balance.  Had I stuck the hanger in the man it would have hung in one direction and had I stuck it on the lady it would have hung the other direction.  It needed to be in the middle.  I may have to add a wire first and then attach the two bodies together.  That is something I'll work on the next time I make a pair of these!  

But the most important part of this was that when they opened them and saw it they loved it!!!  That made me happy!!  They were fun to make.  Anytime I get my hands all oily from the clay is fun!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Fruit & Flowers

I saw a card much like this on Pinterest and I really wanted to make it.  But I didn't have the set with the apples in it.  So I looked through my stamps to see what apples I had.  I found this apple in the Fruits & Flowers set.  I had bought that set because I thought it was cute and I had never used it.  So it was fun to be able to finally play with it!

The original card was found here.  I didn't pay attention to the design of the original card so when I went to add the dots to the bottom I added a few rows too many.  But it worked and it still looks good.  

After coloring in each apple I cut them out.  I set them in place on the card but didn't tape them.  My eye was not liking what it saw, the card still needed something.  These apples had a heart in the center and I had colored the center edges in using Cherry Cobbler but it just wasn't enough.  Then I got out the heart punch and punched 3 out of Real Red card stock.  I taped them in place and took the Chocolate Chip marker and added the seeds and that was exactly what the apples needed.

The words are from the Just Believe set.  And that was it.  It's a very clean and simple card to make!  It was fun and quick too!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Gingerbread House Christmas Ornament

I thought I would share with you a Christmas ornament I made just 2 days before Christmas.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute to get things done!!!  

I made this out of polymer clay (Fimo and Sculpey).  Polymer clay has always been one of my favorite things to play with.  I actually have three craft mediums I love to play with and they are polymer clay, rubber stamping and beading.  Clay being the cheapest of all of them!!!  Clay is something that I can actually run out of.  The stamps and beads, well that would be unheard of!!! LOL  

When I started this ornament I had a different house in mind.  But I do like how this one turned out.  I had this little jar half full of little clay candies so it was easy to just add them to the door trim. I whipped up a couple of  candy canes and with the snow on the roof and ground I was going to leave it as it was.  But then I realized I didn't have any room for the year so I added the little clay charms (the gingerbread boy and girl and heart).  And that completed the ornament.  I was now proud to give it as a gift!

It was very fun to make and I may make some to sell in my web store but not for a few months.  I need to recover a bit longer from the holidays before I dip into Christmas stuff again!

Thank you for visiting today,
Wanda

Blog Candy Winner!

Today is the day for the Blog Candy drawing.  I thought it would have been funny (and kind of eerie) had the Random Number Generator picked the #13! (the link for the generator is on the right sidebar, way down on the list). My grandma was a very superstitious person.  Her birthday was on September 13th and if it landed on a Friday she would stay indoors all day. Poor thing!  Fortunately for her that didn't happen too many times! But we made sure she had a nice birthday anyway!  

So lets move on to the Blog Candy winner!

  The Random Number Generator picked the #28.  And that number belonged to Connie.  Here is Connie's comment:

" connie said...

The number 13 is just another number. It is only what we make of it. Buttttt. . .I will not walk under a ladder. Let's hope 2013 will be a great year and if I win the stamps, then I know for sure 13is lucky. Thanks for the chance to win." 

 I thank you all for playing along.  As I work on getting my workroom more organized I am sure I will be running across more unused stamp sets and of course I will post them here as Blog Candy!!  Everyone loves getting free stuff, don't they?  LOL

Connie, I do need you to email me with your snail mail so I can get the package off to you.  I managed to fill it pretty full too!  You will have hours of fun with the stuff that's in there!

I thank you all for stopping by today.  Tomorrow I have a fun item to share with you.
Wanda

Just Because

Just Because is included in my list of favorite sets to play with.  Today I thought I would try the Sponged Stencil Technique.

You just find a punch that you like and take a piece of scrap card stock and punch the shape out.  Save the piece you would normally keep for another project.

Take the scrap piece with the punched out area.  Here I used a large circle punch.  I did take the original circle and a pencil and made a mark around it on my working paper so I could see where to line up the "stencil."  I did that because I wanted the circle centered.  You don't need to do that unless you want things in a specific place.

I lined up the "stencil" with my pencil lines and I sponged in some Daffodil Delight first and then some More Mustard.  And for this card, that was it.  The sponging gave the circle a nice look of the sun setting.  Though I should have done more on the background to give it a bit more depth.  But I do like how this turned out anyway, so I left it as it is.  I kept it simple.

The butterfly is from the Kindness Matters set.  I just took a piece of post it paper and masked off the are I didn't want ink on and then stamped the butterfly.

This is a very easy and fun card to make.

Don't forget to leave a comment here for the Blog Candy drawing tomorrow.  

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Curly Cute Butterflies

I love butterflies!  One of the things I would like to do this spring is to buy a chrysalis or four!! And watch it go through it's phases.  Wouldn't that be fun?  Well, I think it would be anyway.  

I saw a card like this on Pinterest.  It was made by Chunyuan at Dahlia Memories.  I think the butterfly punch she used was one of the Martha Stewart ones.  I used the Stampin' Up! one and made it work.  My circled had to be a little bigger (2-1/8") to make it work but if you don't compare the two cards no one will ever know!

It's just such a pretty card and easy to make too.  Just punch the butterflies and then center them inside the circle punch and punch out the circle.  I then punched out 2" circles using the Brights pack of decorative paper.  Those were put together using Dimensionals.  

The words are from the Curly Cute set.  Once I got the words on I set the butterfly circles in place.  I put the  yellow and green ones on first.  I just used tape only on the back.  For the Melon Mambo butterfly I used tape on the upper part of the circle and Dimensionals on the bottom .  

And lastly I added some rhinestones to the bottom corner and that was it.  Very easy.  Very quick and oh SO fun!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Day Planner Weekend Project

I thought I should start the year off right with a new Day Planner. I surfed the net to find some free pages that I liked.  I found so many of them that were 8-1/2" x 11" but I didn't want a planner that big.  I guess I was looking for one half that size so I could lose it easier!!!  LOL  My workroom is such a mess and I do misplace things a lot.  I'm hoping to get it cleaned up this coming weekend.  I have no other big plans!

After surfing the net and finding a page layout that I liked I printed them out.  It only took 26 pieces of copier paper because I printed it on both sides (just like a real day planner!!!).  Though I did use only 20# paper.  It did work but 28# or 30# is much nicer.  It's got some substance to it and you can't see the writing from the previous page.  But it's ok, this will do the job I have in mind for it.

I wasn't sure where I was going to go with the cover.  I used the Summer Silhouettes set.  I was going to use the card that was on that same page for my cover but it didn't really work.  The card is smaller than the front of my book so this is what I ended up with.  The catalog I am referring to is the Stampin' Up! 2012-2013 one.  

I stamped the images and then added the layers of decorative paper.  This paper came from the Summer Smooches pack.  I'm not overly fond of how the bottom part of the planner and again, it's ok, it will do the job!!

To make the planner you will need to print out the pages.  Here is the link to where I got the free pages to download and print out.  Once I got the 26 pages printed on both sides I cut them in half.  Then I punched the holes in them with my RubiCoil machine.  You can always take them to an office store such as Office Max, Office Depot or Kinko's, or maybe your local printer and have the holes punched.   Be sure to bring the cover pages with you too.  I also cut a sheet of copier paper in half so I could add one to the front of the book and one to the back.  You can always use a paper punch and bind the book together with twine or rings.  There's lots of ways to bind a book!  Once the pages were punched I ran the spiral through them and bent the edges to hold it in place.  Then I proceeded to decorate the front and that was it!! Now I have no excuse to not get the things done I need to.  Well, they will be written down at least.  Getting them done is a whole different story!!! LOL

Have fun making these.  Please be sure to check the copyrights on the pages if you plan to make these to sell. The pages were made by someone and they may have rules to them beyond personal use.

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Happy New Year Blog Candy

 As promised I am posting my annual New Year's Day Blog Candy!!!  Today I am posting 4 sets of Scrappy Cat clear stamps.  These sets are nice size too.  The first one measures 4" x 6" (not including the colored header).  The other three are larger and measure 6" x 8" (not including the colored header).  There's a lot of stamps to play with here.  

And now you want to know how to win these stamps!  Well, you just have answer one question and leave that answer at this post only.  The question is:  "Is the #13 a lucky number to you or not?"

I will give you my answer here but I will not add it to the comments, I already own these fun sets!!!  LOL  Personally, I think the #13 is a lucky number, despite what superstitions or legends my say.  I LOVE it when Friday the 13th rolls around.  I think it's a fun day.  I think I like it most because it defies those superstitions and legends.  I don't throw salt over my shoulder when it gets spilled (though I don't ever recall spilling salt LOL). I don't worry about walking under a ladder or breaking a mirror.  And I adore black cats!!!  

My mother-in-law knew all the meanings to those superstitions.  I don't know if she really believed in them, I just remember that she knew what they all meant.  I remember one time when my nose itched I told my husband to kiss me.  As the superstition, legend or "wives tale" tells, it means I'm going to kiss a fool!  LOL  Poor hubby!!! 

So as far as the #13, I am looking forward to 2013 with high hopes and expectations.  I have a very busy year planned and I see it as a positive year.  A year filled with many good things for me and my family!!!  

Ok, now you tell me what your thoughts on the #13 are.  I will draw a name from the list on Sunday January 6th.  

Oh and for those of you who have followed along with my blog candy in the past, you know that I always add lots more stuff to that package before it goes out in the mail!! LOTS of fun stuff.  Lots more this year because I think the #13 is lucky!!!  So some lucky winner is going to be very happy with this package. It's usually well over a $75 value!

One more thing, I need to keep this open to USA and Canadian residents only.  I just can't afford the postage outside these areas, sorry.  

Thanks for playing along and good luck to you!
Wanda