...May new Stamps - Dainty Doilies

ED- and may I just give a shout out while I remember!! We have Belinda (Happy Birthday chickie!) to thank for the fact that our doilies match a Spellbinders die set!!! I believe she first suggested it!!

And just what is a cupcake without....Icing (that's frosting in USA I believe...)??? Today's cupcakes feature icing - two types!!! One type - the blue type, is included in the template - the other pink gingham frosting is very easily made if you have the benefit of owning the Spellbinders Holiday Ornament die - towards the end of this post are a few pointers.

Before I forget, here are the ladies - have you been loving their samples as much as me???

• Anya Schrier
• Belinda Chang Langner
• Bonnie Sharp
• Carly Robertson
• Claire Brennan
• Jennifer Holmes
• Julia Aston
• Kate Whelan
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Lynn Mercurio
• Mona Pendleton
• Niki Estes 
• Sandie Dunne
• Sarah Martina Parker
• Tosha Leyendekker

And before I double forget - scroll down to yesterdays post to comment for a chance of winning the May release!! That's 5 new sets!!!

AND - if you haven't seen details of the HUGE birthday competition challenge - see this post!!

Any self respecting cupcake needs a doily to sit on and so I have created two co-ordinating doilies with another of our new stamp sets - Dainty Doilies large.

We have two new Doily sets releasing on May 1st, which is only one sleep away!! I guess you can tell that I like doilies since I made two sets...

One set is a large stamp set and contains gorgeous doily inspired stamps that you won't have seen the like of anywhere else!! This is the easy set - the set you need if you just want to stamp and go...The smaller set is for those hardy individuals who don't mind spending a little time lining things up...lol - that would be me - I LOVE to footer!! But, I realise not everyone does and hence the two sets...

In the large set a couple of the doilies are designed so that they may be trimmed out with dies from the Spellbinders set - Big Scalloped Circles large - lots of you folks may already have these.

Below is a pic of the basic cuppie shape, I only sponged the bits that were going to show after I dressed it up with a wrap and some icing! You can see how the lid comes off so's you can stuff goodies inside - adding frosting provides a handy  'handle' to get the lid off!

I trimmed out 8 of the ornament die shapes (second from largest), stacked them together and trimmed off the bottom sections. The pieces were then scored down the centre, stamped and glued together, back to back to get a cupcake frosting shape.

Hope it tickles!!

...May new stamps at WMS, Join Us...

ED - the competition on this post is now closed. Thank you for playing along - the winner can be found here after 6:00PM my time today (May 1 2011)

Good morning (at last!! grrr, blogger is playing up and didn't publish my post on time!!) and welcome to the second day of previews for the May release. Our new stamps will be available on May 1st, and until then we are showing samples of our new goodies!!!

Previewing with me today are our fabulous DT ladies - did you see what they were up to yesterday? If you missed it be sure to scroll back on their posts:

• Anya Schrier
• Belinda Chang Langner
• Bonnie Sharp
• Carly Robertson
• Claire Brennan
• Jennifer Holmes
• Julia Aston
• Kate Whelan
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Lynn Mercurio
• Mona Pendleton
• Niki Estes 
• Sandie Dunne
• Sarah Martina Parker
• Tosha Leyendekker
•  
• Also - you might not have seen the announcement regarding our challenge - we're having a tea party to celebrate our 2nd Birthday - you have plenty of time to get ready - scroll down to my previous post to see the details!! And don't miss today's competition - details at the end of this post! 
• 
  

My first project today shows you another option on our cupcake template - which i am calling Cuppie Love...lol!! Today I made it up as a little tiny gift box - I'm using mine for a baby gift.

For the photos we put a little toy ducky in, because I liked how he peeped out the window!!! This little gift box would also be good for a pair of baby socks, a bib (not sure what you call them in USA...) a dodo (pacifier in US I believe) any of those tiny items that folks like to buy for new babies. the box will also make a nice little keepsake for a first curl or tooth.

It's the basic Cuppie Love template which will be available on May 1st. I altered it by cutting an aperture in the lid with a Spellbinders classic circle die template. I made a little frame for the aperture with a Lacey circles die template (also Spellbinders). I fixed a little acetate behind the aperture to make the window. There are some other little design tips that I will share in a later post - I am hoping to do a feature on putting the template together just after the release.

I used stamps from a new set - Join Us, on the little gift box - you can just make out the nappy pin used to make a pattern on the blue cuppie wrap, the mini flags are also from Join Us. The sentiment on the co-ordinating card is from Say it Loud - a set we will be featuring later on.

Join Us is a novel set - it is an invitation set with a difference. A quaint mixture of formal and casual. It lends itself perfectly to CAS cards like those above. A whopping 32 sentiment stamps and 8 motif stamps, this is one of those sets that I will get lots of mileage from.

I love the look of those formal invitations, the minimalist, classic lettering and plenty of white space, and yet somehow it felt right to add a touch of the casual - a little softening.

And so in this set, you will see that there are options for formal invitations, partnered with casual 'follow ups' - the example below shows what I mean - "Join Us for Christmas - you'd be most welcome."

I felt that this approach combined the significance of the occasion with a soft friendly encouragement to attend. It feels like something I would say when I especially wanted someone to accept an invitation.

I made up these little 4x4 note cards to illustrate some of the possibilities.

I used a classical font and paired it with a lovely handwritten style - the same font that was so popular in the Frame-It sets. It's a gorgeous font.

I paired my sentiments with clean sharp graphics. I absolutely ADORE that little snowflake. AND the flourish - which I have used top and bottom around the sentiment below.

As well as the Invitation sentiments the set also contains sentiments for after event thank yous and acknowledgements. I do think you will find it rather unique in approach. I cannot wait to show you the variety of sentiments, so may possibilities are covered!

Today's competition!
ED - the competition on this post is now closed. Thank you for playing along - the winner can be found here after 6:00PM my time today (May 1 2011)

So if you managed to make it to the bottom - here is your reward!!! leave a comment on this post - I know, blogger has been playing up - but this will be open until Sunday Night 5:00pm - two hours before the release.

I want to know what you think the future should hold for WMS - simple as that! LOL!! I'll be so interested to read your views (one comment each please!) that I will be picking one random commenter to win the complete May stamp release - 5 gorgeous sets!!!! The winner will be announced at 6:00pm my time on Sunday evening here on the blog!

Hope it tickles!!

...welcome to May at WMS...

Welcome to Day 1 of the May Release samples - I'm kicking us off with a new set called Gingham & Co. If you're new here, we release new clear photopolymer stamps (that's the best ones) every other month. May is a release month and so we will be previewing our new goodies for the next couple of days while we count down to May 1st, when all of the new goodies will be available in our store! Be sure to check back with us for the eye candy if nothing else and stay tuned for the huge competition - there is a super prize, but you will be required to make something!!! :)

Before I tell you any more tho' - do please be sure to check in with our DT to see what the ladies have been up to!! I can't wait to see!

• Anya Schrier
• Belinda Chang Langner
• Bonnie Sharp
• Carly Robertson
• Claire Brennan
• Jennifer Holmes
• Julia Aston
• Kate Whelan
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Lynn Mercurio
• Mona Pendleton
• Niki Estes 
• Sandie Dunne
• Sarah Martina Parker
• Tosha Leyendekker
• 
  

For today's project, I made up 3 little cupcake boxes - the template will be released on May 1st along with the new stamps!! I love cupcakes, who doesn't? but any templates I have seen to date have had flat sided cuppies, since any cuppies I bake are usually round, I wanted a round template. So I made this one up! You like?? Such a versatile little template it's doing double duty here as a little flower pot!

Gingham & Co. is a set featuring three background building gingham stamps in three different scales. I absolutely adore gingham and I can see this set in so many different settings, right away I'm thinking Baby stuff, but Christmas of course and also spring things like today's project!!!

There is a 4th stamp in the set - the "& Co." - It's a reverse polka dot stamp which will be incredibly useful for creating areas of coloured polka patterns in any colour you choose - you can see that I have inked it up in green here to get a lovely green and white polka dot pattern on the right hand leaf. If you look closer you can see that I used the same stamp to create the pink and white polka pattern on the second petal of the flower.

I used all three scales of gingham on my little project, as I love mixing them, I think the variation in scale adds so much interest!

Right away I'm going to tell you that these are LARGE stamps!! We always make our backgrounders extra long so that you have no trouble stamping the full length of a standard size 4.25 x 5.5 inch card.

The three gingham stamps are for creating backgrounds and will line up perfectly - the reverse polka is a huge stamp that will enable you to cover approx one half of a 4.25 x 5.5 inch card front. I made the stamp large on purpose, mainly because the polka dot pattern is not one that would be easy to line up and a large stamp means that I don't really need to do that, but also I envisaged cutting/punching shapes from the reverse polka impressions, such as the leaves here.

I'll be back later with details on this project, but I have to say it is very simply made, the hardest bit is waiting for the card to dry (much sponging with distress inks! ) so that I could stick it together!

The Competition

Just before I go I want to tell you a little about the competition - Waltzingmouse Stamps is turning two on the 21st May! And I want you all to join me in celebrating with a little tea party!! Here's what I want you to do - since I'm bringing the buns (cupcakes!!! - that's what we call them over here) - you can bring the tea!

I want you to use either the Free Tea bag baggie template - downloadable here - or the Tea cup template if you already own it - a purchase is NOT required to play, if you don't have the tea cup, get the free tea bag baggie. If you have the Piece of Cake template you may use that also (you don't need to make a cake - a slice is perfect!).

Make either the tea cup/tea bag baggie or slice of cake and decorate/stamp them for a party! I will open a post for them here on my blog after the release and we'll have an inlinkz feature where you can link them up for everyone to see.

You will have until 21st May to link your entries and we will only be accepting ONE entry per person! So give it your everything!!

The Prize
One random winner, to be chosen on the 21st May, will win £200 worth of WMS goodies (that's about $333USD, $316 CAD $305AUD). The winner may pick their choice from all the stamp sets/die templates/papers available at the store and will also have the option of picking from future releases!! So if you already have a good WMS collection, the next few releases could be yours for free!!

Anyone tickled?

...last peek...

Ok, I admit it, I might have gotten a leetle carried away with doilies...

...Join Us ...

On May 1st to see our new stamps! - Today's peek is from a really useful wee (big) set that I've often wanted....covers lots of events...

...and again?

 

essentials....

...sneaky peeky again?

 

big is beautiful...

...sneaky peeky?

 

Good morning and welcome to the peeks for May!! If you're new to WMS we will be releasing new clear photopolymer (that's the best ones) stamp sets on May 1. Above is a tiny sample of one of the stamps in one of the large sets...we'll be having peeks on the blog for the next few days before we begin the countdown for real on April 28th!

Anyone tickled yet?...lol

...April waltz winners!!

We had a cracking Easter waltz!!! Thank you to everyone who played along, it was terrific to see the inspiration!! AND thank you for sharing your easter stories!! I really enjoyed reading through and I hope to snaffle a few of your traditions for my own little folks!!

The participants prize goes to:

Carol!!!!
http://www.inkyfingeredcarol.blogspot.com/

the random comment in the chat thread prize goes to:

Helenlebrett!!

who said:

"It's been a fun waltz: everyone is so talented!! I'll bet it is amazing to Claire to see her creations done in so many different ways! Maybe like sending off your children and seeing what they become when the "grow up"
Well, my fondest memories were hiding and re-hiding, and re-hiding the baskets from each other when we were kids. There were 6 of us, so there was always someone willing to play "hide the basket" with you!! And the house was always messy and full of stuff, so there were always such great places to hide the baskets in!! Was it on the storage shelf, behind the box, was it under the sewing machine in the bag , or was it under that pile of clothes? We had to limit it to one room because there were so many good places to look!! (I never realized how good a messy house could be till I had my own kids and tried to hide baskets, and if your place is tidy and all picked up, it is too easy to find the few hiding places!!)
Happy Easter to you all, and thanks to you, Claire, for hosting another great waltz!!

Ladies pop me an email with your choice of set - OR you may wait on the May release!!! - I will get them out to you ladies soon as I can after the Easter break!!

...pssssst...

Niki has candy!!!!

...Forum...

I was doing a little spring cleaning on the forum this morning ladies and so there may have been folks whose accounts were temporarily on-hold while I separated the wheat from the corn, everything should be back to normal now - thank you for your understanding!

Don't forget to leave your comment below for a chance to win a free stamp set from the May release - it's only next week!!!!

OOh by the way - I'd remind folks that if you are registered on the forum, don't be shy - pop in and say hi!! lol!

...Dies?...

I'm asking everyone, I want to hear what you think too!! I am considering getting some custom dies made up for the stamps we have already released, so I'm itching to know....what do we want dies for...I know what I'd like, but what do you think would help you get the most out of your WMS? And just to help you get your thinking heads into gear, I will pick a random comment from this post to win a set of stamps from the upcoming May release!!

... April Waltz @ Waltzingmouse Stamps

 

Good morning and welcome to the April Waltz at Waltzingmouse Stamps!!!!

Every month we have a Blog Waltz with our friends on the 17th of the month. You can read the details here. Our theme this month is Easter of course!

Here is where you can find a list of participants. Here is where you can join in the chat.

This month, in our chat thread we want to hear about your Easter traditions, most of us remember painting a hard boiled egg at some point...lol, but we'd love to hear what you all get up to over Easter! I will be picking a random post from the chat thread to win some goodies!!

I will also be picking a random participant from our list of players to receive a free set of stamps!! The list is here - please feel free to add your link if you have made an Easter project with your WMS supplies - remember our digital product/free templates all count as WMS supplies. Folks using galleries/flikr are most welcome, just be sure to link directly to your project.

I can't wait to see who is playing along and what they have made, but before i run off, I used a combination of Vintage Banners, Spring Baskets and L'il Buddies to create my Egg hunt markers!! Everything is fairly simple, but If you have a question leave a comment here and I'll reply!!!

I stamped my markers with a variety of bright inks and trimmed with the Spellbinders Nested Pennant dies.

 

Copics were used to colour - the spotty leaves had the colourless blender pen applied to create the spots! 

  

I trimmed colour co-ordinated mats with the lacey pennant dies! Yum! Adhered them to flat lollipop sticks! simple!

Hope it tickles!

...so, you waltzing with the Easter bunny??

We're having a waltz on Sunday...check out the deets...theme is Easter...I don't have a card today, but I do have a bunny - this is Ginko, our little mini Lop.

CASING is a good Thing

Back on April 4th, Waltzingmouse Stamps invited you to get your craftiness on and participate in a Waltzingmouse Stamps’ CASE (Copy and Share Everything) Competition. We are happy to announce that we have a winner. Today we are highlighting this great project made by:  Cyndie of Artful Heaven.

What a great way to make beautiful jewelry that totally personalized. Cyndie CASED her project from Anya Schrier’s SOAP Day 3 project. 

Thanks to everyone who participated in the competition…your projects were AMAZING!  You can see ALL the competitors right here.

...practising for Christmas...some more...

A simple little card whipped up this morning - Vintage Banners as Christmas tree...? what do you think, are we getting away with it?? I think so! lol!

Background uses the lace stamp from Faux Fun, sentiment from Frame-It. I cut the sentiment panel with a ribbon die from the Spellbinders Nested Pennants. I used the Spellbinders Nested Pennants and Nested Lacey Pennants to trim out my tree!! LOVE these dies...

Don't forget to play along with our CASE COMP - it's on now!!! Only a day or so left!!!! check the post for exact times!

....ooohhhhh ahhhh...

The best UPS guy this side of the Rio Grande just deposited these on my doorstep - I will be adding them to the store right away....right after I break open a packet of lacey banners....there will be no cooking tonight.....

Don't forget the CASE Comp!

...April Soap CASE Competition

You are formally invited to get your craftiness on as we invite you to participate in a CASE (Copy and Share Everything) competition.

Find a card or project from any of the projects posted over the past few days by the WMS Design Team, and CASE that project using Waltzingmouse Stamp images. You don't have to use images from the March release, we're hoping that the SOAP event will provide inspiration for everyone, as well as the folks who have their March goodies to hand!

At the end of the competition, one project will be randomly selected to be highlighted with a Parade of its own on several of the Design Team blogs.

We hope you will enjoy this competition and that it will inspire your creativity. You have one week to complete and link your project as the competition will close on April 10th at 8:00 AM my time, which is 3 AM Eastern, 2 AM Central and Midnight, Pacific time.

Link your entries directly here:

...SOAP Day 4...look who's joining us!!!

I'll be back later with my last SOAP sample, there's just too much going on today to put it into one post and I am excited to spill our big news!!


It is with great pleasure that we announce not one, not two, but THREE new Waltzingmouse Stamps Design Team members.  These ladies have amazing talent and we are fortunate to welcome them into the Waltzingmouse Stamps’ family.  Please stop by their blogs – experience their amazing talent, and show them some “crafting” love. 


Without further ado, may we introduce the newest Waltzingmouse Stamps Design Team members:

Tosha Leyendekker

My husband and I own a dairy in central California, and have been married for over 21 years.  I'm also a mother to two wonderful children (20 and 17), a lover of all things to do with nature, and an addicted paper crafter.  I have been stamping on and off for about 17 years.  After joining Splitcoaststampers in 2006, and finally getting up enough nerve to post my first project a year later, I've been going full steam ahead.  I love patterned papers, die cuts, punches, lace and bling.  The first time I saw Waltzingmouse images, I fell in love.  Claire has such a unique artistic flair, and I'm oh so honored to be joining this fabulous team of artists.

You may find Tosha’s blog at:  http://stamptalkwithtosh.blogspot.com/

Kate Whelan
I am a bit of an anomaly for my age; I have never been married and I don't have children. I live in a townhome in a Minneapolis suburb with my beloved Bichon, Pookie.   I work in downtown Minneapolis for a large financial corporation. Now that I am finished with law school, and trying to establish a "normal life" routine, I have a lot more time for papercrafting. I have been making cards ever since I was a little girl. I have been stamping for a long time, probably about 15 years. I guess there really is a lot one can do with a folded piece of paper! I really love to stamp backgrounds, which is one of the reasons I love Claire's stamps so much. I found Claire's website and have followed her along her Waltzingmouse journey. I had the pleasure of briefly meeting Claire, just about a year ago, while my parents and I were on a whirlwind tour of Ireland. Claire is a lovely and immensely talented person and I am beyond ecstatic to have the opportunity to showcase her wonderful images!
You may find Kate’s blog at: http://sporadicstamper.blogspot.com/

Niki Estes

Hi Everyone!  I live in Oregon with my husband and our three beautiful children.  I grew up loving to draw and create things.  When my oldest son was born in 2003, I began scrapbooking as a way to preserve all the photos and memories of our family.  In 2007, I decided it would be fun to include some stamping in my layouts.    I've been an avid stamper and cardmaker as well as scrapbooker ever since.   I love the stamp designs at Waltzingmouse Stamps and I'm very excited and honored to get to work with Claire and all the design team ladies.

You may find Niki’s blog at:  http://nikiestes.typepad.com/my_paper_creations/


So here is the list of folks who will be parading with me today!! Today we are featuring an older set - Spring Baskets - can't wait to see what the ladies have done with this one!!!!

• Anya Schrier
  
• Belinda Chang Langner
• Bonnie Sharp
• Carly Robertson
• Claire Brennan
• Jennifer Holmes
• Julia Aston
• Kate Whelan
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Lynn Mercurio
• Mona Pendleton
• Niki Estes
• Sandie Dunne
• Sarah Martina Parker
• Tosha Leyendekker
• 
  

The Competition
Now it’s time for you to get your craftiness on as we invite you to participate in a CASE (Copy and Share Everything) competition.


Find a card or project from any of the projects posted over the past few days by the WMS Design Team, and CASE that project using Waltzingmouse Stamp images. You don't have to use images from the March release, we're hoping that the SOAP event will provide inspiration for everyone, as well as the folks who have their March goodies to hand!
Later today, on this blog, I will put up the official competition thread - there will be an Inlinkz facility where you can link your project.


At the end of the competition, one project will be randomly selected to be highlighted with a Parade of its own on several of the Design Team blogs.


We hope you will enjoy this competition and that it will inspire your creativity. You have one week to complete and link your project as the competition will close on April 10th at 8:00 AM Claire’s time, which is 3 AM Eastern, 2 AM Central and Midnight, Pacific time.


The winner will be announced here on my blog on April 11th.

...SOAP Day 3 afternoon!

So I was a little late today on account of the fact that I lost my scalpel - yep I got more than one craft knife, but I've had this particular tool for over 20 years... it took me through Art College...sniff...
Anyhow today's SOAP sample features the Vintage Labels 18 stamps we released in March - if you are new here - here's a quick run down of what's going on:

We design and sell clear photopolymer stamps - Our monthly releases were fast and furious and our folks - you - were not having time to play with the new goodies before we were foisting new goodness upon you!! Soooo we're slowing down the pace - We're releasing the same amount of stamps, BUT we're having a new release every OTHER month - which means, we have a month in between to show you more ideas on what to do with your new toys!! April is such a month - It's a SOAP month - our Stamp of Approval Event.


Here's what were re-covering - these are the sets that released in March:

• Bitty Banners
• Vintage Banners
• Very Vintage Labels No. 18
• Back in the Saddle
• Way Out West

Here's who is parading along with me today - I know I already posted this in this mornings infopost, but just in case you missed it...lol, we have a debut VIDEO today - check Anya out!!!

• Anya Schrier 
• Belinda Chang Langner
• Bonnie Sharp 

• Claire Brennan
• Jennifer Holmes
• Julia Aston

• Laurie Schmidlin
• Lynn Mercurio
• Mona Pendleton
• Sandie Dunne
• Sarah Martina Parker

And here are the deets to my project today:

•  

I made a little simple Birthday card - I was going for shabby Chic, but I dunno - I think I'm a little clinical for that...lol, anyhow, I liked it!

 I stamped them in a pale blue - Memento Summer Sky... and trimmed them out with the co-ordinating die template. These stamps are designed to co-ordinate with the new Spellbinders Labels 18 die templates # S4 310 - see here. I have these on order for the store they are due this week and I'll be adding them soon as I get them.

Then I trimmed out the centres. The stamp is designed in such a way that there is a neat square shape that may be trimmed out easily and also a smaller circle shape that can be cut out with a classic circle die - 3rd from smallest in the Spellbinders classic circles small set. See the tape holding the die in place before I run it though my Grand Calibur.

•   
• Here's what they look like after sponging...
•  

 

Then I stamped my sentiment - from Say it with Style onto the back panel and layered the frames on top. Simple! I love the stacked look this gives!

• 
  
• I had prepared a larger than average card base - 4.25 by 6.25 inches finished size so that the ribbon and lace would sit out well at either side, a little flower and a touch of ribbon! The card base was also stamped with a texture from Text-It.
• 
  
• Hope it tickles - I'm off to visit the girls - I've only been to Anya's and Bonnie's so far and WOW already!!!