...say hello to Asian Gardens Additions and a little bit of everything else.

ED - The new stamp sets will be released tomorrow, July 1st at 11:00 am Pacific, 12:00 noon Mountain, 1:00 pm Central, 2:00 pm Eastern and 7:00 pm GMT, thanks for asking!

OK, this is it, the mammoth post! Get the coffee, tea, whatever you like to imbibe at this hour of the day, maybe some nibbles and settle down for a spot of inspiration. Now that all of the hard work is done, I feel like waffling, but I'll try not to go on too much! LOL. I'll not go over every detail so if there's anything you want to ask, leave a wee comment and I'll answer it here on the post, cheers!

Tomorrow is release day Woohoo! pop back here tomorrow to see the artwork for all of the new sets and to follow the Design team waltz, and don't forget to comment on Mondays post to be in with a chance of winning a wee something!! I'll announce the winner and the prize tomorrow here!

Ooh, ooh, before I say another word, don't forget to have a mosey round the Dt blogs to see what else the ladies have created!! today we have fabulous creations from everybody!! Belinda, Bonnie, Anya, Julia, Lisa, Carly, Jennifer, Lynn, Laurie and Edna


First up is the Asian Gardens Additions set. I had these lanterns 'all drawed up' and ready to go for the main set, Asian Gardens but there just was no room, and so the overflow spilled into this little set, Asian Gardens Additions.

I chose to stamp two lanterns and hung them off the branch from Asian Gardens, a few sakura flowers trimmed out, as I have admired on many blogs lately. I stamped my lanterns on two separate panels, one in a vertical layout and one in a horizontal layout, and layered them over each other. I thought these floating panels gave the idea of one tree behind the other and they seemed to suit an Asian theme.

I love these big voluptuous lanterns and I see me stamping them in every colour!! and maybe one or two might become pumpkins closer to Autumn. The separate top handle and bottom fringe, mean I can mix and match these with the other shape lantern in the set.

This is the first of the new Mini sets, they come on a 4x6 inch sheet, exactly half the size of our normal large WMS sets. Thse set also features a cute little bridge, beautifully showed off by Lynn yesterday, some clouds, which are an auspicious Asian symbol! Rain drops, and another style of lantern accompany the 9 extra sentiments, done up in the same font as the Asian Gardens Sentiments. These mini sets will be priced at £9.00GBP (roughly equivalent to US$13.57, $14.28CAD, $15.91AUD or €11.13Euro at today's rate on XE.com, which is subject to change).



Pancake Syrup. One jar of pancake Syrup. On it's own, with the store label, it is nothing worth remarking on, but gussie it up with a label from the Rescue Remedies set and I think it makes a cracking little treat! A teatime feast beckons! Whip up a card and I think it makes a very self respecting gift! Hostess gift? Small thank you gift? Teacher treat? Cheer up a friend? Loads of opportunities for this!


I used the large circular flower shape to stamp my red background. I used a little delicate scroll from Rescue Remedies Additions on the top portion of the cream card strip, very French Provençal I thought! LOL! Some kettles and steam from Afternoon Tea, to add to the fun theme. The focal image on the card is of course the label, I love this one: "Doc Lily's patented Syrup of kindness, Vial should remain uncorked" LOL!

Isn't that red ink with clear embossing just luscious?? That's that Versacolour ink I was telling you about, Cardinal red I believe.

I coloured around the edge with a green copic to tone with the wee kettles. As the label is clear embossed I had no worries about the copics making the ink bleed.

Below, I made up a wee separate label for my jar, I used a little saw tooth frame from Vintage Labels 2, again the red ink and clear embossing. I stamped the words "Pancake syrup", from the Rescue Remedies Additions set, above the "Enjoy" sentiment also from that set. There are a load of little supporting sentiments in this, another mini set like the Asian Gardens additions. Things like Maple Syrup, Honey, Coffee Syrups are all catered for along with some other thank you style sentiments, too much to mention here, 16 sentiments and a delicate scroll flourish.


I had a lot of fun going over the top with this wee jar, using pinking shears on some red card to match my stamped label, all those wee green tea kettles and the red steam, and the crocheted lace! Vintage fun, but a nice bright modern vintage for a change!


Below, another little project to sneak in when you are short of time, a quickly filled Jar, with a pretty label, made with the circular medallion from Victorian Fripperie! A suitable sentiment also from the Fripperie set. And perhaps this is one of many wee things you need to make to sell at the church fundraiser. How handy to have a suitably vintage Alphabet set, Victorian Alphabet! LOL, now you can make price tags!! LOL! The Victorian Alphabet matches the sentiments from Victorian Fripperie, OOOOhh how fun to make Victorian place cards with that big ole Vintage labels 2 label!


Just a quick note on inks, see the photo below? I used Versacolour Pinecone ink for the sentiment and Tim Holtz Distress ink for the medallion, I love how you can get different looks from a stamp just by changing ink!!


And here it is, my very favourite project from this whole release, "Superior hand Baked and edible goods, to stimulate the appetite and give tone to the stomach" I am just head over heels for this label!! LOL, I love to bake (and yep, that is bake NOT cook, I cannot cook, I turn it on and walk away but baking...mmmmm, goooood stuff) and this will get tons of use especially now with Christmas on the way!! LOL!!!!


I think a Kilner style jar filled to the brim with edible goodies makes a very acceptable gift, and it hardly dents the wallet! I love these jars and my cupboards are full of them. Personally I would be very happy to get the jar! LOL, aaahhhh I'm a simple girl at heart!! LOL!!


Much sponging (Distress Tea die ink) of the precut label (Spellbinders 4 dies!) before stamping in a navy Versacolour ink, the name of which escapes me... I thought I would just pick out the wee floral motif and a couple of the little leaves in red. This motif is a favourite of mine. The design comes from a tiny little motif I found tucked away in a vintage font that I purchased, I fiddled and adjusted it until I got it just right for the label. Then I isolated a few wee bits to use as accompanying elements.


I love the warm tones of the Tea dye ink, it is just the perfect match for these wee blackberry thumbprints, I believe Martha has a recipe somewhere but I sneakily bought mine from Marks &Spencers...being up to my eyes in ink and all...

A very interesting feature of this particular label (and indeed you could do this with any of the labels,) is the ability to ink up the outer border and motif and leave the sentiment uninked. See the photo below. This produces a blank label!!! woohoo!


I used mine for the accompanying card! I filled it with a sentiment from the Rescue Remedies Additions. Fabby!


Do you like my plaid???


Here's how to make it using the narrower of the plaid maker stamps from Pic Nic Patterns.


Then pop a little red flowerlet (Rescue Remedies) in all of the little corners! What fun!


So, what do you think? LOL, are you tickled?

...say hello to Vintage Labels No.2 and Victorian Fripperie

Welcome to the second day of samples for our new July stamp release, (see yesterdays post if you're new here, you might have to scroll a bit, this is a long post! LOL)

You will want to check out what the ladies have been up to as well!! Here are the links! Belinda, Bonnie, Anya, Julia, Lisa, Carly, Jennifer, Lynn, and Edna.

Ok, hands up who has the Spellbinders Labels 2 dies and isn't quite sure what to do with them? yep? me too. I loved the shape of them, and I bought them when they were first new out, but for some reason, they get a little less use than some of my other dies...hmmmm. I don't know why, the shape is appealing, excellent for pictures and sentiments but I seem to overlook them sometimes.

High time for a few stamps to 'liven them up a bit' LOL! and so let me introduce you to Vintage Labels No. 2

It's always a challenge (and I love a challenge unless it is of the household variety) to try to fit in lots of different sizes of stamps for these Spellbinder friendly stamp sets. I love to have stacks of options in a set and it pains me to have only 3 or 4 die compatible stamps in a set so I'm always trying to think up more ways of sneaking a full 'frame' in.

The stamp I use for today's first sample is just such a wee gem! I was up to 7 frame stamps with only a little space left over when I hit upon the idea of making two little corner stamps that could be easily combined to make a full frame! Voila, 8 frames possible from this 8x6 inch set!!

In the pic below you can see how one corner stamp is used in each opposite corner, this is the same stamp, stamped twice in opposite corners. I really like how this looks an would quite happily use them in this way but I wanted to show you how easy it is to make a full frame


Followed by the other corner stamp.


Voila, a full decorative frame option, from two small stamps!


My sentiment is from the new Rescue Remedies Additions set, a smaller 4x6 inch set also new this Thursday. The leaf behind the prima flowers is a stamp from another new set, Victorian Fripperie, more on that set below.


Just wanted to share a wee tip for something I like to do with Spellbinders dies from time to time. I love the shapes of their dies but sometimes I want a sort of distressed version and so I lay the die down on the cardstock, cutting side up.

I hold the die down firmly with one hand while pulling the cardstock up, ripping it away from around the die, with the other hand. You can see how I've just started in the pic below, and then how it looks when finished in the next pic.


The next two cards how the same label, a large heavily patterned stamp from Vintage Labels 2. the first card is a clean version and the second is a 'dirty' version.

I am in love with this label. It speaks to me of Christmas, Valentines, masculine cards, and of course anything vintage! lol Anything requiring sumptuous detail.


I am particularly pleased with the pattern inside the label shape, it is redrawn, by yours truly, from an actual vintage wallpaper pattern! I isolated the repeat and drew the design up, first as a border, showcased in the 'Merci' card way on down this post, and then as a solid background for use in this frame.

This means that this Vintage Labels 2 label design, perfectly matches the border design from Victorian Fripperie. Of course you don't need both sets as there are plenty of other goodies in Victorian Fripperie which also match the border design, but I really wanted to have the option of being able to use these two tamps together!

For my Christmas card, I stamped the green 'curtains' with the border stamp from the Victorian Fripperie set to compliment the label. I bowed the label so that it would sit out from the card and provide some balance to the open curtains below, where the wee gingerbread folks and sweeties from Gingerbread Joy, Oven Fresh are tumbling out. Sentiment is from Very Vintage Christmas.




Below, you can see how I bowed the label using a little length of card. I fold the ends back so that the centre length is narrower than the width of the panel and tape the folds to either side of the panel with strong double sided tape.



I love the proportions of this label design, I love how the sentiment/image space is off centre and that there is a large area of pure pattern below the clear oval. I like how I can add flowers or other embellishments to the bottom of the oval and still have some pattern showing below.

To start with, I sponged a panel of card with Victorian Velvet distress ink. I marked the centre with pencil so that I could stamp the border from Victorian Fripperie either side ensuring that the pattern was centred on the card. Look how crisply the Neptune Versacolour ink prints, I love how sharp this is, but I wanted a softer look, so I took a sponge to it! lol! (The soft pinky background leaf design is the same one on the card you saw above.)


You can see the contrast between the sharp impression of the stamp and the smudgy effect starting to happen with the sponge here in this pic, where I had just started sponging the label, these versacolour inks smudge quite well, lol!


Finished up with a little sentiment from Victorian Fripperie and some prima flowers dyed with copics! this is a very moody thank you card! LOL!


Sure hope these tickle!

Don't forget to leave a comment on yesterdays post telling me what you like so far to be in with a chance of winning a little something!

...say hello to Rescue Remedies

Hello and welcome to the beginning of the July release! If you are new to Waltzingmouse Stamps, we are a tiny little stamp company dedicated to bringing you top quality clear photopolymer stamp sets that are just that little bit different to what you might see elsewhere! Our stamps are designed here in Ireland but manufactured in USA, what a combination!

Over the next couple of days I'll be showing samples of cards and projects that I have made with some of the stamps from the new release. All SIX new stamp sets will be released here on my blog on Thursday 1st July!

You will be able to see all of the new sets in their entirety here on my blog on Thursday. On Thursday we have our traditional Design Team blog waltz, and there are always prizes to be had!

Between now and then, why don't you call back to see what the DT and I have cooked up for you.

Today we have a brand new Design Team member AND a Guest Designer sampling along with us, so there will be plenty to feast your eyes on!!

Our new Design Team lady is Carly Robertson of Paper in Bloom. Carly is a CAS genius, organizational guru (I've seen her craft room...droolable!) and all round lovely lady! Her signature style is fresh and clean and I can't wait to see what happens when I throw some vintage stuff at her! Bwahahah! I'm sure you'll all join me in extending a very warm welcome to Carly!

Our Guest Designer, joining us for the whole July release is Edna Morrisedie. Edna's cards never fail to call to me for closer inspection, there's always some little detail, waiting to be discovered, some stamp used in a new and interesting way on Edna's cards. A lady of great versatility, huge warmth and never afraid to try something different, Edna is our July pin-up girl!

So today we have a terrific line up of ladies all waiting for you! Why don't you pop over and see Anya, Julia, Lisa, Carly, Jennifer, Edna and Laurie. And then come back, and tell me what you're liking so far!! I'm going to kick off with a prize for a random comment here on this post!!!


I'm kicking off the release with what is now my bestest fave, ever set! LOL, till next moth! lol, No, but really I love all of the sets I design, there's no point in doing it otherwise, but now and again one comes along that just makes me want to use it all of the time, Rescue Remedies is one of those sets!

Rescue Remedies is a unique stamp concept, it's a set of 5 label sized stamps, plus accessories of course, that are designed for use when you want to give a little gift or 'pick me up' to a friend or co-worker, or really anyone, many of my samples are going to teachers, since this is our end of term week!

The labels have a vintage apothecary style about them but are equally at home on vintage or modern projects. The wording on each label has a certain Tongue-in-cheek humour, and they cover a huge variety of gifting, project or even just card making opportunities.

My first sample today shows the label that you might use when giving a gift of any type of confectionery. it reads:

"Sweet Confections, for medicinal use - consume as needed"

This could apply to any type of bought or baked confection, of any scale or quantity. In keeping with the apothecary theme, I filled a jar with peppermint cremes, and taking my colour cue from the sweetie wrappers I made up a jar label and lid topper. If you are anything like me, you can't bear to throw out glass jars, they always seem such useful things! lol, and now I have the perfect stamps to turn every spare jar I have into an inexpensive gift! Perfect!

I've had this old jar for ages and I loved the colour of the thick aqua glass. It suited the big bag of peppermint cremes perfectly, I think they were about £2. I gussied it up by stamping the Confectionery label onto some white cardstock, precut out with the second largest die of the Spellbinders Labels 4 dies. Did I mention these labels co-ordinate with the Spellbinders TM Labels 4 dies???LOL.

I used versacolour inks in Sage and Atlantic, applying the sage first and then dabbing the stamp gently with a light touch of Atlantic before stamping, this seemed to achieve the glassy blue colour I was aiming for.

A little sponging around the edges and a couple of loops of aqua mist ribbon. The whole lot ws then layered onto a circle of white card also given the sponging treatment, before being adhered to the jar, which, rather obligingly, had a flat circular area at the front.

The lid of my jar had seen better days, and so I applied a hi-tac double sided tape around the outer rim and applied a wider ribbon, which I then folded over on to the top of the lid. A circle of white card again sponged covers the top. Layered on top of that, is a smaller circle stamped with a circle stamp from Vintage Circles Small that happened to match the border on the main label stamp. A decorative scroll from the rescue remedies set is stamped above and below the sentiment, to complete the lid topper.

Incidentally, I am quite happy to use an old boil washed jar for confectionary like this which is individually wrapped, but if my confectionary had no wrappings I would sterilize the jar by baking in the oven, as I do for jam making. The lids of course are better suited to sterilization with a fluid solution designed for the purpose, I'm a bit fussy like that...DH says maybe too fussy...

The sentiment, 'For You' comes from a smaller additions set called Rescue Remedies Additions. Yep, this month I am excited to bring you a couple of mini sets!!! Normally WMS stamp sets are 8inches by 6 inches, these new mini sets are 4 inches by 6 inches and I have to say I am relieved that I can still pack a fair bit in there! I am a greedy stamper, I love to have loads of variations and options in a set and that's why I have always made up larger sets, but I am beginning to see the benefits of having a few smaller sets around too!


Another of the labels in the set reads

"Pure concentrated Balm of Friendship, a valuable remedy for the relief of solitude, tension and boredom"

I could very easily see this on a lovely soft vintage card sometime soon, but I chose to jazz it up in bright colours to gift wrap a wee set of hair care products, conditioners and such. Equaly suitable for lip balms, body butters, moisturizers and indeed any body care product, the message on this label makes it perfectly usable on it's own as a card front.


Following the colours of the products, I stamped the label in memento Lilac posies onto a precut label 4 shape, which meant that I was able to go in with a copic marker and add some more colour around the edges and in the large letters, a bit of fun!

I made a co-ordinating 'from' label with a smaller label design from Very Vintage Labels No. 4


Well, I hope it's starting to tickle!!!

...are you ready?

ED, just 7.5 hours till the samples start flowing!

...for some inspiration, eye candy and a look at what's coming to WMS this Thursday??

Tomorrow I will start showing samples I've made with the SIX new photopolymer stamp sets releasing this Thursday 1st July!

Couple of things I want to tell you about tonight before we get into the samples!

We're having another FREE shipping promotion!! I got an unprecedented number of folks emailing me to say they really appreciated the free shipping offer we had in the May release and could I please do it again! LOL, and so yes, For the July release, from Thursday 1st to Saturday 3rd July, there will be free shipping on orders over £50GBP (that's approx $75USD, $86.20AUD, $78 CAD and €61 Euros at today's rate from XE.com , subject to change)

AND

Tomorrow I'll be announcing a brand new Design Team member!! I can't wait to introduce you all to this lovely lady! She oozes quiet style and sophistication and I just find myself wanting to case her cards all the time!

Not long now folks!

...saturday morning sketch! WMSC4

ED- Huge apologies to everyone who took part in last weeks challenge, I ususally get round all the entries and leave a comment, with all that has hapened this week with the bereavement etc, I just wasn't able to manage it, but I am looking forward to getting back on track this week!

Good morning and what a stinker of a sketch we have for you this week! LOL, I must admit I was giggling as I was drawing it up! So come on...who's brave enough to have a go at this one?

I have been thrilled to see so many folks playing along with the sketches and I believe there's something extra special ablout this weeks sketch, Lisa will fill you in over on the WMS Challenge blog.

All of the deets are Here on the Challenge blog.

All of these sketches are intended to inspire so there's no need to slavishly copy the layout, footer with it, make it yours. I sneakily used a couple of stamps from upcoming sets releasing July 1st. My background patterns were made by masking off the card base into squares using post it notes and then sponging green (shabby shutters distress ink) and tan (Tea Die distress ink) and then stamping a delicate little scrollwork pattern (New stamp coming July 1st!) all over to make a background. The sentiment is from another new set.

I made a wreath from buttons and some wee flowers I had in the back of the drawer and then made some leaves by stamping more green pattern and cutting out circles with a 2 inch circle punch, I then cut bits off the circle with the same punch to get leaves.


Hope it tickles!

...sneaky peeky 4

Vintage bliss...

...oopsie!

LOL, I ran a competition last weekend, I asked you all to tell me your fave embellishment and then with all the fuss this week i went and forgot!!!

So sorry! anyhow the winner (randomly picked by the number generator thingumabob) is:

Tracey Cuccia who said...

Claire - that is absolutely gorgeous -- love it!! And I was wondering what set those other images were from...now I know ;). Fantastic :). My favorite embellishment??? Pretty much anything that sparkles...but ribbon always dresses things up too...Hoping to play along this week!

Congratulations Tracey!! pop me your addy and i'll send you out a little something!!! Can't spill cos it's part of this release!! LOL!!

Back in the morning!

..sneaky peeky 3

A super wee additions set for one of the most popular WMS sets to date...emphasis on the 'wee'...

..Sneaky peeky two

The absolutely best thing about being a stamp designer is that I get to make all those sets that I wanted but couldn't find anywhere else!! This is a set that I would have given my eye teeth for in the not too distant past before i started WMS!!! I am so happy to bring you this quirky and fun set that I really hope will add another level of fun to your favourite hobby!!

...Sneaky peeky time!

A peep at one of the SIX new sets releasing here on July 1st!! Cannot wait! It feels like forever since we've had a countdown and i'm starting it early cos there's so much to get through!!

...background stamping, a little help...

So, I know tons of you have the plaid-maker stamps, I know this because I ship them out LOL! The plaid maker stamps are fabulous for making all sorts of plaid and stripey backgrounds just like the one you see in today's card. I love making plaid. I love everything about it, choosing the colours, the therapy of some nice repetitive stamping, the unique finished pattern and the look of it on a card or project.

Just this last week I had a few enquiries about how to get the plaid so perfectly straight and a few questions about backgrounds in general, so today I'm going to start a wee series of blog posts on how to get the best from your background stamps, starting with plaid. There will be a series of these posts over the next few weeks, they'll be interrupted by out next release which is so close I can smell it! LOL! (July 1st).

It's so close in fact that I could not resist another little peep at one of the stamp sets due for release, it's the sentiment stamp on today's card, I love it but I'm saying no more about it...

I used the narrower plaid-maker stamp from Pic-nic patterns and the sawtooth border from Vintage Labels no3


Getting a good impression

apologies for the poor photography, I am light box shopping as we speak...

So let's start at the start and make sure that everyone is getting a proper impression. Large stamps of any kind can be prone to less than perfect impressions. The first time I stamped with a border stamp I got a big 'hole' in the centre. I remember thinking that maybe the clear block I was using was perhaps bowed, so I stuck the stamp to the other side and tried again, same problem, maybe it was the table, I tried stamping on another surface but the result was not what I thought it should be.

I went out and bought new blocks and tried many other surfaces and then I found a piece of advice somewhere, I don't remember where, but it was so simple and an instant cure. Use foam. Lightbulb moment.

A thin piece of foam, fun foam, upturned mouse mat, something with a little give in it. Pop it under the card/paper you are stamping on and, hey presto, the problem disappears.

Below, this is how a border stamp might stamp on card which is laid onto a table surface, you can see bits have not stamped evenly, gaps are a disaster in a stamp such as this.


Below, a piece of fun foam set under the cardstock, the stamp is stamped again with an even pressure all over and the impression is perfect. These days I stamp nothing without the foam, not even a teeny tiny sentiment, it seems to improve the quality of every impression from every type of stamp I have, wood mounted red rubber, clear stamps, everything. Try it, you'll like it.


A simple plaid

Now, onto the backgrounds, I will start with a very simple plaid. I have to admit I usually eyeball it and live with slight irregularities but If I'm making something special I might mark a few guides. I have a quilting ruler which I find invaluable, but any old ruler will do.

I'm using the narrower of the two plaid maker stamps from pic-nic patterns for this example, it is just under 3/4 inch wide.


I just set the ruler down on the cardstock, trying to keep it roughly aligned with the edge of the card, but not being too fussy. Because my ruler is so broad I can just make little marks down the edge of the ruler on both sides, I make my marks exactly an inch apart. my stamp is just under 3/4 inches wide and i want a little space between impressions to help the pattern work.



If I take the ruler away you can see that there are two parallel rows of marks. It is very important that the rows are parallel so if you are not using a quilting ruler such as mine, you might need to take a bit of care to make sure your two rows of marks are parallel.


I begin stamping my plaid, for this example i use two colours of ink, a paler and a darker colour, but imagine the possibilities of 3 colours or more!

Using the paler ink, I stamp my fist impression just under the first two pencil marks. I leave a space under the second two pencil marks and stamp again under the third two pencil marks. Leave another space under the 4th and stamp again under the 5th pair of pencil marks.


Now, I take the page and turn it round slightly so that my stamped images are running up and down instead of side to side. I mark another set of pencil marks along the stamped images.


I stamp another impression, just like I did before, just under the new pencil marks again I leave spaces under the second and 4th sets of pencil marks.



You can really see the plaid coming together now and it's easy to just fill in the blanks, the pencil marks are still there to guide you if you don't like to eyeball it.

It's time to use the darker ink now and stamp an impression in between the first two paler impressions.


Stamp another two dark impressions under the 4th and 6th pencil marks and turn the page around again, you plaid should look something like this:


Stamp another dark ink impression under the 2nd set of marks and you can clearly see now the pattern of the plaid, it really is so simple and once you have done this once or twice it will be so much easier to plan you pattern that you may not need pencil marks at all.


With all of the spaces filled in, your plaid will resemble this one.


For my card above, I cut a square out of the plaid to the size required and sponged the edges with the paler shade of ink.

There are a stack of variations of plaid possible with these stamps and I hope to show you more in these posts, as well as a few other types of background stamps, I do hope folks find these useful!

hope it tickles!