GUEST ARTIST FEATURE: Tropic Like It's Hot w/Wanda Guess

Hello everyone! My name is Wanda Guess and I'm very happy to be sharing some cards today on the WPlus9 Blog! Hope you are having a wonderful day! I am an avid paper crafter and blogger and I love to share art with people. I try to do something creative every day. I hope you'll visit my blog - A Blog Called Wanda. If I'm not blogging, you will most likely find me sharing photos on Instagram. My Instagram is @stampcatwg.

I'm so excited to be joining the crew at WPlus9. I've been a fan for a very long time! Last year, when WPlus9 launched their tropical themed release, well, my jaw about dropped to the floor! I immediately wanted all of it, and the ideas started flowing right away! I love anything with a tiki, tropical, flamingo vibe. And I love to create with bright bold colors. When Dawn asked me to guest design for today, I went straight for this collection. I have two cards to show you, so let's get started! In the midst of Winter, I'm bringing you a bit of Summer!

What's better than flamingos and flowers? Not much!

I started this card by die cutting the beautiful Trellis Background 2 Die from bright white paper. I cut and folded a horizontal A2 card base. Here's the tricky part... I cut the top of the card base off, leaving about 1/4 of an inch left at the top. Then I lined the inside of the card base with pretty blue paper. I used liquid glue to glue the edge of the Trellis Die to that little folded over part at the top of the card. This makes the Trellis Die Cut piece the front of the card now! I set this part under a stack of books to make it lay flat and continued to make the rest of the card.

I stamped and die cut out leaves, flowers and the flamingo using the Tropic Fever Stamp Set and the Flock Yeah Stamp Set. I colored all the images in tropical colors using Copic Markers.

Next I die cut out a black panel using a Stitched Rectangle Die. I used the Flock Yeah stamp set to stamp the sentiment and heat emboss it with white embossing powder. Now all of my pieces were ready to assemble.

I used small foam squares to attach the center sentiment panel and the flowers, leaves, flamingo to the front of the card. This is a bit tricky since the front of the card is a trellis! However, there is enough room to attach the foam squares so everything will hold tight. On the back of the trellis, I die cut another black rectangle and mirrored that to the front one.

For this next card I used the Flock Yeah Stamp Set along with another WPlus9 set called Summer Citrus. Those pineapples! Oh my! The sentiment is from the Southern Sentiment Stamp Set. It all works together so nicely for a Hello card!

I used Stitched Rectangles Dies to die cut a green layer and a white layer for the front of the card. The finished card is an A2 size cut from white cardstock. I used Mermaid Lagoon and Tumbled Glass Distress Inks to create a blue background on that top layer. I splattered Mermaid Lagoon Ink and Copic Opaque White ink over the blue blended background.

Next I stamped and die cut the palm trees, the pineapples and the little flowers. I colored them in with Copic Markers. I also used Copic Opaque White ink to splatter white over the images and then set them aside to dry.

I stamped the sentiment in rich black ink in the upper corner of the card. This is only part of a larger sentiment. I masked off the other part of the sentiment with washi tape and only stamped the "hello" portion.

I layered the green and blue layers onto the card base. I used foam squares to attach the palm trees and pineapples to the card. Then I sprinkled a few clear gems to finish it off!

Big thank you to everyone at WPlus9 for inviting me to be a guest designer today! I had fun working with these beautiful stamps and dies. I hope I've inspired you to create something today.

Aloha! ~Wanda

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured Wplus9 supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase.

Summer Citrus Shop at: WP9	Summer Citrus Die Shop at: WP9	Tropic Fever Shop at: WP9 | SSS | EH	Tropic Fever Die Shop at: WP9
Flock Yeah! Shop at: WP9	Flock Yeah! Die Shop at: WP9	Trellis Background 2 Die Shop at: WP9	Southern Sentiments Shop at: WP9

Love You w/Kara

Hey guys! Valentine's Day is just around the corner and I needed a card for my husband, Ryan. This card mixes a ton of amazing stamp sets!

I started by stamping the large 'love you' sentiment from Biggest Fan in the center of a white card panel. I positioned it slightly closer to the top because I knew I wanted to accent the bottom with a banner and other details. This way the entire design is centered.

I used the banner from Autumn Blessings. It has a cool tattoo like vibe that I think works really well with the 'love you' font. On it I stamped the 'there's no one else like you' sentiment from No One Else. Again, I think this font really works well with the design.

Using my Copic markers I colored flowers from Hello & Thanks to place behind the banner. On top of the banner I placed a butterfly from Butterfly Mandala. Since the butterfly was placed on the right I accented the left of the design with a few hearts from Biggest Fan to balance it all out.

I just love how these classic images, when used together with a few more modern styles, take on a much more updated look.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured Wplus9 supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase.

Wplus9 White Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Black Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 4 Bar Stitched Rectangles Die Shop at: WP9	Biggest Fan Shop at: WP9
Autumn Blessings Shop at: WP9	Autumn Blessings Die Shop at: WP9	Butterfly Mandala Shop at: WP9	Butterfly Mandala Die Shop at: WP9
Hello & Thanks Shop at: WP9	Hello & Thanks Die Shop at: WP9

Beautiful Birthday Girl w/Kara ft. HELLO & THANKS

Hello! I'm back again with a clean and simple card design that reminds me of a Victorian style photo frame. A lot of the detail is created with texture from some of my favorite dies. Brightly colored florals accentuate the focal point and make it pop. With the help of the many customizable sentiment stamp sets, this is a design that can be used for any occasion.

To begin creating the 'frame' I die cut a piece of white cardstock using the Sunshine Layers Die, a real classic. I placed the large oval die, from the Basic Labels Die, in the center and ran it through my die cut machine again. Using a scrap of black cardstock, I die cut the oval once more in order to place behind the opening and add a shadow to the left side.

Again in black, I die cut the word 'beautiful' from the Beautiful Butterflies Die. I positioned the letters inside the oval window and adhered them to the card base beneath with some liquid adhesive.

To add that pop of color I used floral clusters from Hello & Thanks colored with Copic markers. I added a hint of shimmer to the flowers with a clear Wink Of Stella pen before adhering them around the oval opening with dimensional adhesive.

Finally, I added the secondary sentiment to the inside using the Hand Lettered Hello stamp set. This is when you can really customize the card to your recipient and the occasion. I love being able to create a card in advance and then decide later how I'll use it.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured Wplus9 supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase.

Wplus9 White Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Black Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Basic Labels Die Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Sunshine Layers Die Shop at: WP9
Beautiful Butterflies Die Shop at: WP9	Hello & Thanks Shop at: WP9	Hello & Thanks Die Shop at: WP9	Hand Lettered Hello Shop at: WP9

Creating Flower Wreaths w/Joni Two Ways

Floral stamps are so versatile, especially if they include individual blooms or smaller clusters. You can build bouquets, use them separately, create all over patterns, or create wreaths.

For today's projects, you can easily use any flower stamps and dies you already have on hand. For my first project, I've used the Modern Petunias stamps and dies. And for the sentiment I used the Birthday Wishes stamp set.

To begin, I used Wplus9 Nautical Navy cardstock, distressed it with Distress Oxide Ink in Peacock Feathers around the card and left the middle card dark. Because the Distress Oxide Inks have both dye and pigment ink properties, I was able to "brighten" up the edges of the darker cardstock with the lighter color. I then splattered it with water and Gansi Tambi Starry Colors.

I colored the flower images with Copic markers, then die-cut them using their matching dies.

Next, I added some Pretty Pink Posh Jewels in Pearl White Jewels. To finish off the card, I heat embossed the sentiment "hope your birthday is extra" in white on black cardstock, fussy cut it out, and adhered it using foam tape.

For my next project, I used the Hello & Thanks stamps and dies. This set doesn't have individual flowers, but it does have several smaller clusters of flowers that can also be combined to create a wreath.

I first distressed the white card panel with Distress Oxide Inks in Worn Lipstick and Spiced Marmalade, then splattered it with water.

Next, I stamped the images on white cardstock in black ink. Again, I used Copic markers to color them and then die-cut each image using their matching dies.

For the sentiment, I used the larger "thanks" included in the same stamp set, and heat embossed it in Aqua Tinsel. For the smaller sub-sentiment, I used white heat embossing on a black strip of cardstock.

To really kick it up a notch, I added some Diamond Stickles selectively on some of the flowers and leaves.

Finally, I added some Pretty Pink Posh Ivory Jewels for added interest to finish off the card.

I hope you guys enjoyed, and as always, thanks for stopping by!

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured Wplus9 supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase.

Wplus9 White Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Black Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Birthday Wishes Shop at: WP9	Hello & Thanks Shop at: WP9
Hello & Thanks Die Shop at: WP9	Modern Petunias Shop at: WP9	Modern Petunias Die Shop at: WP9