...tomorrow....

...is your chance to clean up your act....refresh your crafting mojo...and have a little fun with some SOAP...


join us...tomorrow...8:00am my time....

...sneaky Christmas card...?

If you know me at all you know Christmas is never far away from my thoughts! lol, and I had this idea for a card the other night - I trimmed out a rectangular piece of vellum (PTI -  I believe, fabby stuff) and I laid a new Spellbinders die template from THIS set (Fancy Tags two - I have these on order for our store, but we're still waiting...lol). Ran it through the Grand Calibur, which I was fascinated to find makes a real crisp cut on vellum...previously, I used another brand die cut machine for vellum and the results were not so good...

I ran the vellum panel - minus tag shape, through the GC with a Spellbinders Impressability (Snowflake) plate for some texture, love how the impressabilities work on vellum!

I set the vellum panel aside and cut myself a kraft card panel, larger than the vellum piece. Into the centre of this I embossed the same tag design and sponged with burgundy ink to bring out the design. I stamped the sentiment from "Twas the Night Before Christmas..." in brown Ink (Memento Rich Cocoa) - I should have used black...

I layered the two pieces and stitched them together, so that I would avoid the glue/vellum problem. I then adhered them to a dark red card base.

Anyhow, Hope it tickles!!!

...late St Pat's and some Mini Banners tips

Yep - I know, it was nearly a week ago - but like everything else in my life, it was running a little behind...lol - anyhow here's what I did with our free digital image for St Pat's day - a card's a card, right???

I printed the image in something like 40-50% black - so that it looked grey...you follow? good. Then I sponged, really lightly (cos the printer ink wasn't liking it) with crushed olive distress ink.

coloured a few bits in with copics and printed out another label so's I could trim out the sentiment and pop it up on foam bits.

See that wee bit of shapely velum peeping out above and below the label? Well that's a label from the new Spellbinders labels 3 die template set - see it here. I cut it out and embossed it - I used my Grand Calibur, it cuts vellum like butter, no cracked edges!!

I sliced the label in half and adhered it behind the label. Went with a grey background that was stamped with a text background from Text-It. Stitched a little, and mounted all that on a cream card base that was sponged with the same green ink! 

Bitty Banners Stamping Tip

Just when I had the ink and camera out - I thought I'd show you a little something about Bitty Banners - the small set we released at the beginning of the month.

As you might be aware we released a large Vintage Banners set too - and it was designed to fit in with the new Spellbinders Nested Pennants die templates - we'll have these on the store later this month.

The smaller Bitty Banners set can also be used with some of the smaller die templates from that set - here's how:

I cut out my little banner/pennant shapes with my Spellbinders dies as shown - in the picture the dies are shown cutting side down with the card still in them - the exposed areas are the area that I normally design stamps to suit.

In this case, the little shapes are very small and for these tiny shapes I wanted something a little different.

So, in this case I have designed the stamps to fit just inside the cut line of the die, and not the emboss line as I usually do.

Normally the designs fit inside the embossed edge, but the Bitty Banners stamps fit just inside the cut edge, so you need to remove the die cut card pieces from the dies and then stamp.

Below you can see my piece of orange stamping foam. On top of that is the piece of die cut card. On top of that is the banner stamp - you're looking at it through the clear acrylic block

Below - this is what the card banner piece looks like when you have stamped - you can see that there is a much slimmer border of clear card all around the edge. I tend not to emboss these wee pieces when I am stamping in this way as it can result in a less than perfect image. 

Here are the three little stamp shapes that work with the tiniest of the Nested Pennant dies - you can see the fine borders all around!! So go - on try it!!! Just remember with the Bitty Banners to die cut the shapes and THEN stamp and you'll have lots of little bits to make wee banners and bunting for your cards!!!

Hope it tickles!

...stand outs from the waltz and Prize Winners!

Our monthly waltz last Thursday was on the theme of St Pat's, naturally. There was tons of gorgeous green inspiration and I just wanted to spotlight 3 that really caught my eye!! I didn't actually make it around the waltz until Saturday morning!! lol, but that's the beauty of it - you do it in your own time! My plan is to spotlight a couple of waltz entries every 20th, along with the prize winners here on the blog and I'm off to a terrible start a day late already!!! Begging forgiveness...

I was captivated by Karen B's green roses - I am one of those stampers that, when faced with an image to colour, can't think of anything outside the obvious! I was delighted to see the roses in green, it helps me to remember that there are no rules!!

I was intruiged by Cyndie's enamelling technique - I thought it was pretty unique - she pretty much painter her scene with coloured embossing powders - I really want to try this!!! The image looks like a delicate little enamel picture, such a pretty card!

And I pretty much fell off my set when I saw Dana's lucky card!! So many fabulous details, I LOVE that she coloured the labels 18 journalling shape with rainbow colours to match the ribbon! and the wee banners!!! eek!! straight into my favourites folder!!

Thank you to everyone who took part - it was great, so much inspiration to be had! I do hope these three ladies don't mind me sharing their cards, and I look forward to joining you all again next month!!

Prizes!

For folks who haven't been along to a waltz yet here are the deets. It's super simple to join in and you might also be in with a chance of winning a prize - this month we had a prize for a random comment on the waltz chat thread and it goes to Kathy aka snowbearsmon who said:

I'm wearin my green!! World's cutest Leprechaun pin and my Today I'm Irish pin.. though I do have some in me for real!

Made the obligatory corned beef and cabbage... so glad the windows could be opened today!!!!! Tonight i am attending a workshop... making cards and 3D items... I think the hostess is serving all green foods.... FUN!!! I think this will be one of the most fun St Patrick's Days i've had.

Kathy

Kathy - pop me a personal message on the forum with your choice of set and I will get it right out to you!!!

We also have a prize for a random participant and this month it goes to Rudlis of http://papierowaobsesja.blogspot.com/

Rudlis - pop me a personal message on the forum with your choice of set and I will get it right out to you!!! 

Congratulations ladies!!! Thank you for playing along with us!!

...St Patrick's Day blog waltz!

 Good evening and a very happy St Patrick's Day to you wherever you are!!! It's nearly over here in Ireland an besides my St Pat's Day Blog waltz card, I have a few images of the day for you.

We were home late and the pic of my card is awful - I'll try to take a better one tomorrow with deets of the card, but it's pretty simple - the large label design from Vintage Labels 18 and the shamrock from Celtic Heritage feature.

We went to watch the parade in Downpatrick - which as you may guess from the name has a special link to the Saint Himself for it is believed to be his final resting place - the 5th pic down shows the marker stone of where the Saint is believed to be buried.

The parade started with St Pat himself... bare feet and all...and let me tell you, it may be spring in your heart but the streets of Downpatrick were cold today!!!

 

A few of the participants.

 This is the site where St Patrick is believed to be resting is in the church yard at Down Cathedral.

 

Down Cathedral - here's a link to a site about the cathedral.

Sunset in Ireland this evening, St Patrick's Day, March 17th 2011. View from Minerstown road towards the Mourne mountains. About 8 miles from Downpatrick.

Nighty night - I'm looking forward to getting round the waltz tomorrow! If you played along - Thank you!!! If you didn't, there's always next month!!!

...Happy St Patrick's Day

I'll be back later this evening with my card...it's nearly done, but I have to take some wee folks to see wee men with orange hair and green coats first!! lol.

Anyhow we are hosting a blog waltz today in honour of St Pat and all things Irish! so pop over here for the link list!!

...St Pat's freebie!

I have a freebie for you!!

Our monthly waltz this month features a St Patrick's day theme and for those of you who don't have anything suitable to 'wear' for our waltz, we have this freebie!

It's a label design - and it will fit with a Spellbinders labels 5 die template - or at least it should if you print it out at 100% size....best to check that before you colour it in etc...

You can get it from the store Right Here in our freebies section!

Also - we are still offering our shamrocks for free!! see here.

Our waltz is on the 17th - hurry, only a few days left to get ready - If you haven't participated before, click on the logo to read more.


Hope it tickles!

...WMS Christmas Challenges....have you seen these?

check it out here at Lynn's blog.

...New feature on the store!

Just a quick note to let you know we now have a new little feature at the store - it's an A-Z list of all the stamp sets - A few of our friends had requested this feature and we are delighted to oblige! Handy dandy web dude also managed to include the stock level indicators!!! so hope folks find this useful!

It's on the left hand menu bar in a section called Handy Links and it's called: Stamps A-Z

oooh and we also got some of those much sought after Nesting Egg Die Templates from Spellbinders - these are a limited edition, and I don't think I'll be able to get any more once these are done!

...well hey there little lady!!

A nice warm cosy card for a cold morning...did somebody say snow...?

I like the blanket pattern. Made with the blanket border from Way out West - I love the tattered flower which came on a package I got from Carly Robertson!!! (; ) I love the wee scrunched leaves made out of leftover bits of paper doilies sponged with Antique linen distress inks...

Just wish I had coloured all the borders with that nice plum coloured copic - like the bottom border - I think it would have been stronger...ah well...you live...you learn....

Stamps - Way out West
inks - memento Rich cocoa - Antique linen distress ink and the orange one...oooh what is it....wild honey....i think. And...Versacolour Heliotrope
copic - Lavender V06
card - cream from local craft store, nothing special...

We Have a Blog Waltz Winner!

Hi all - Lynn here, popping in to announce the winners from the March Blog Waltz.  There was a total of 924 comments posted on the Design Team blogs and a over 135 comments on Claire's blog. That's a lot of interest in Waltzingmouse Stamps!  So, without further delay....drum roll please...

The GRAND PRIZE winner of ALL the March Release Sets, randomly selected from all comments left on Claire's blog waltz post, is Wendy ten Hove!

The winner of the stamp set of choice from all comments left on Sarah's blog is Rebecca Hummell!

Congratulations ladies! Please e-mail Claire at claire.brennan1@ntlworld.com with your details and mailing address, and she will see to it that your prizes are shipped and on their way to you.

Many thanks for waltzing with us this month.  

Remember to join us for the March Friends of Waltzingmouse Blog Waltz on March 17th. Our theme is St. Patrick's Day/Irish Theme.   The thread to post the link to your blog/gallery/on-line photo album is open and ready for you.  Remember, you don't need a blog to join us... as long as you can post your project on the web or even in the Waltzingmouse Stamps Gallery,  where we can visit you, you're in! 

...New stamps for March, Yeehaw!

Good evening and welcome to the March release at Waltzingmouse Stamps.

We design and produce clear stamps made from the best quality photopolymer and today we are releasing 5 new sets!!! If you are new to us, you have just stumbled upon a treasure trove of ideas, we have a Design Team Blog Waltz happening right now where you can see some gorgeous examples of what you can do with the new stamps shown below, and we've been previewing for several days already so it's worth a scroll back to see what's new!

Below is a link list of your dance partners for our waltz! Don't forget to leave comments on the DT posts as you pass by, we will draw a winner from an undisclosed DT member blog! The winner will receive a free stamp set! Now, off you pop! Just don't forget to come back and see the new goodies!

Anya
Lynn

Julia

Carly

Sandie

Bonnie

Sarah

Belinda
Mona
Jennifer

Laurie

The competition!!!!

Can't have a decent release without a competition and so here it is - up for grabs is the full March stamp release! One of each of the sets shown below will be awarded to a random entrant! Since we're easing back into it after our long break from releases, I'll make it super easy, just pop a comment on this post telling me which of these new sets you like best, and nope, I won't huff if it turns out not to be Back in the Saddle!!!! lol!

Store Information for the March release

Remember - FREE shipping for orders over £50 to Everywhere, yes, you're included! (approx $81.30US, $79.05CAD, $79.84AUD, €58.90Euros, rate subject to change) and if you don't think you will fulfil the £50GBP worth of stamps today you might be interested to know that shipping one set to US costs around $4.39US. We ship our stamps out from our company base in Northern Ireland.

I begin packing orders as soon as they start to come in, I will begin shipping release orders tomorrow (Wednesday) BUT please be aware that depending on the volume of orders, there will be delays in shipping this week!!

Shipping notices for orders placed at release times will go out after all packing and shipping is done!! My priority is to get the stamps out ASAP during release times and it could be that your shipping note may be delayed by up to 4-5 days!! So my apologies in advance if your stamps arrive before the shipping notice...You should receive an automatic order confirmation email from the store immediately upon ordering, so you will know that we have received your order. If you don't get an order confirmation email, please check your spam filter. If it's not in there, do pop me an email on claire.brennan1@ntlworld.com

Backordering: our store is set to allow folks to order backordered items. The upside is that orders containing backordered items will be fulfilled first when replenishment stock reaches the store, the downside is that orders containing backordered items will be held until we have all items in stock and ready to ship. However, we have a facility on the store that allows you to see if the item you want is in stock, so that you can decide whether to include that item in your order.

And here are the New goodies for March!!

at 7:15pm they will be (hopefully) available at the store!
Back in the Saddle - ED I will be adding a rough translation of what these sayings mean for our friends who don't have American English as a first language. I'll be adding the translations to the store very soon.

Been wanting to do this set for a long time! I grew up with Bonanza, and the High Chaparral, and cowboys have always been a very popular theme in our house. Perfect for masculine projects of every kind, but with all round appeal. This and indeed the companion background set will inject more than a little western flavour into your card making. Choc full of colloquial Western sayings, there are sentiments to cover birthdays, get togethers, thank you's, well wishes, and more. Even a tiny Wanted poster layout into which you can pop a trimmed out pic of your favourite outlaw!!! Back in the Saddle is a large set, 6x8 inches, packed with 23 stamps in all. 15 sentiments, 5 images and 3 supporting words.

Way out West

A background set, a companion to Back in the Saddle above, this large 6x8 set includes borders and background building stamps that will evoke a western feel on your card/layout projects. Like all our border stamps these are larger than most, averaging between 5 and 3/4 and 6 and 1/4 inches long. The woodgrain border will see use on myriad projects along with the blanket pattern and stars. The western text border is undeniably cowboy. The feature of the Way out West set however are the scene-setting stamps. A duo of stamps made up of a foreground featuring cactus plants in silhouette and another mountain range stamp. When used together these two stamps can create a wonderfully authentic western background. Both are large solid stamps, so be sure to check out our tips for getting a good impression here near the bottom, and here. Separate motif stamps comprising two more cacti, a crescent moon and a teeny sheriff badge complete the set of 10 stamps.

Vintage Labels N0. 18

Spellbinders have done it again, they have released some absolutely stunning label die templates and you just knew I was going to need stamps to match didn't you? lol!! well here is a set that compliments the Labels 18 die templates just released at CHA. Seven label stamps, 1 tag shoulder (see more about this type of stamp here) and 7 tiny little motifs. Lots of folks tell me they use these labels as tags for their craft fair items and so when I was casting around for small stamps to make the most of the tiny little in between spaces I thought that currency symbols would be a useful addition!

Vintage Banners

These pennant shape stamps will be fantastic for scrapbookers and folks who like to make home decor projects as well as card makers. Designed with the newly released Spellbinders Nested pennants die templates in mind, yet also super easy to trim out with a craft knife and ruler, these are sure to become a staple when you need to roll out a banner or flag, or make up some festive bunting for any occasion.

Stamps on a huge scale, these will have you reaching for your mouse mats/fun foam. I use fun foam under my card stock to get a great impression on these and any other large stamps and I hope to have a wee tutorial on that this week.

Bitty Banners

A mini set - 4x6 inches featuring smaller scale banners that might feel more at home on cards and layouts. These little bitty banners co-ordinate with the vintage banners, or may be used alone. There are plenty of them to mix and match giving lots of design opportunities. Easy to trim out, these little banners may also be cut out with the smaller dies in the Spellbinders Nested pennants die templates, BUT there is a knack to it - these smaller shapes are more closely aligned to the cutting edge of the dies, and unlike the larger stamps in the Vintage Banners set above, the trick here is to cut out the die shape first, and then stamp, a little low-tack tape to hold your die cut in place while you stamp is a huge help (cheers Joan for that tip!). You just won't be able to stamp first and line up the die template after in the way we do with all the rest of our Spellbinder friendly stamps, but because these are clear stamps it is still easy to stamp on the die cut shape with accuracy.

The semi circular banner may be easily trimmed out with the help of a i.5 inch die template or a 1.5 inch circle punch.

Hope it tickles!!

...Release scoop!

We're scurrying about behind the scenes getting all ready for the release tonight, and I just wanted to let folks know the schedule. It's been a while since we had a release and I don't know about you but I'm a little rusty!! LOL!!

Anyhow here's the scoop for tonight's release:

• 6:00PM my time - WMS Store will close for the last little adjustments to be made to the new stamp set pages.

• 7.00pm my time - Our release will go live here on the blog - the new sets will be revealed in their entirety. 7:00PM is approximately equivalent to the following times in these places.

In the USA - 11:00 am Pacific, 12:00 pm Mountain, 1:00 pm Central, 2:00 pm Eastern
In Australia - March 2nd, Queensland 5:00am,New South Wales 6:00AM
In Canada - British Columbia 11:00AM, Ontario 2:00PM. Nova Scotia 3:00PM
In Germany - 8:00PMIn Netherlands - 8:00PM
In South Africa March 2nd 9:00PM

• 7:15PM my time - The WMS store will re-open and the new stamps will be available at the store.

Future Releases

I also wanted to take a moment to let folks know what else we've been planning. Looking at what has gone on in the previous year with regards to my own work flow, and taking into consideration the idea that I feel like I am churning out stamps, with very few samples in between, I have reviewed the release schedule.

I feel that it appears that I am only interested in making samples at release time. This is not the case. What first attracted me to stamping was the generosity of spirit in sharing new ideas and techniques and the friendliness of the folks involved. I find that I spend a long time drawing stamps, and that I don't really have long enough time in between releases to use them, and to help folks really get the best out of them.

It feels too fast. I open a new set, make 2-3 samples and have to put it away almost immediately to prepare for the next release. Most of the folks who come to WMS live in Northern America, Canada, Australia, Malaysia. These folks wait on average 2 weeks for the goodies (when the shipping is operating normally). My fear is that I feel like I am releasing new stuff almost as soon as these folks have just got their last order. This bothers me.

As a stamper, I would like more time to play with my new goodies. I don't want to feel like my latest sets are already old hat just as I am peeling them open. As a business owner, this may well be complete madness but I am going to take the leap and change our monthly release format into a new schedule. Henceforth (Trumpets please! lol) we will be releasing new stamps every two months.
So today, being March 1st, we are having a release!!!

Next month, on the 1st April we will embark on a new bimonthly event. Instead of having more new stamps we will be taking time to showcase the sets we released today, and possibly some older sets. We want to make sure that you get the very best out of your stamps. We will be showing more ways to use your new goodies. There will be a sprinkling of tutorials and techniques and there might even be a competition. Our aim is to make sure that there is still plenty going on in between release months and we think it will open up more time for us to all come together and really make sure that we are getting the best out of our investments.

So from now on, release months will be followed by a special recap event the following month.

I'd love to hear your feedback on this as it is a huge step for us. Most companies in our position do release new items every month and I do completely understand the necessity of this from a business point of view. Who knows what way things will go for us from now on, but my overriding principal has been to try to make WMS the sort of company that I would appreciate as a stamper and I guess I am lucky that I can take this chance while we are still small enough not to have to worry about the effect of fewer releases on staff. Wish us luck!!!!