...Introducing Vintage Postcards

Evening Folks! I'm a little late this evening, the ladies are already here:

• Anya Schrier
• Becca Feeken
• Jeanne Jachna
• Julia Aston
• Karin Akesdotter
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Lynn Mercurio
• Sandie Dunne
• Tosha Leyendekker

and very possibly also  here on the DT blog!

Since I'm a little late I'll make it brief and hold back the waffle for tomorrow!

Today we are showing you the new Vintage Postcards set and there is soo much potential in this set. I have used just 3 of the 'stamp' stamps to create my samples for this post and these are the only concession to Christmas, this is really an every day set.

For each card I used only two ink colours and just stamped off the images to get paler contrasts, this is a particularly quick method when you need to cover an area using a small stamp. I finished by adding sentiment panels cut with the pretty panels dies.

These were actually quick to make considering how much stamping there is and I would not rule out making up a set of these as a gift.

There are two sizes of stamps in the set - the one below features the 'snowflake one' shape as an image - you may have seen this as a die. You might recognise the Santa silhouette from Santa's Coming to Town. Hope these tickle! Feel free to pin! :)

... Introducing Old Country Roses

Good evening folks and welcome to the first day of samples for our December release - I have pinched Anya's card for my blog post this evening - Isn't it pretty? I'm a sucker for roses, but they have to be the old fashioned varieties. My wee mum used to grow roses and she always had the most beautiful cabbage roses, peony roses and dog roses, not so many of the tea rose varieties, and so these are the types that I am naturally drawn to. My mum would have been 70 this past Sunday and so this set is tugging at my heartstrings a little today!

I've wanted a rose set for some time, and so I made up this two step stamping set to help me create old fashioned roses. Lining up these stamps is super simple, it all hinges on the centre of the rose and so long as you line up the centre, everything else falls into place, easy. 

I didn't get a chance to photograph my samples today as we were celebrating the end of the AQE transfer tests in our house - my middle chick will be moving from Primary School to 'Big' school this year and she had her last exam this morning. It's been a long haul for all our P7's, they go through a lot of prep to get them ready to take the series of tests that will determine what schools they can get into and it's quite a serious business, so we had a little down time today after the exam, I will be back tomorrow with my own handy work, but hugs to Anya for letting me pinch her card!

Here are the DT - why don't you pop over and see what they have done with our 

Old Country Roses set:

• Anya Schrier
• Becca Feeken
• Jeanne Jachna
• Julia Aston
• Karin Akesdotter
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Lynn Mercurio
• Sandie Dunne
• Tosha Leyendekker

If you prefer you can see all of today's DT samples here on the DT blog!

...A Peek at November release!

Evening folks! I have a sneak peek for you - our release was pushed back a little so as not to conflict with Thanksgiving in the USA, so we will be going live with it On Tuesday 2nd December. It's technically the November release as we're starting the samples tomorrow - confused much? ...

Tomorrow begins the samples from the DT and I and we are super exited to bring you a little gear change - it's not a Christmas release! We have two new sets for you that are going to be year round winners I hope.

Any guesses based on the peek above? come on, it's not that hard...

OOh and don't forget - our Black Friday set retirement sale is running now until December 5, r until stocks last and I am seeing that a couple of the retiring sets are already sold out!

...Stamp sets retiring!

Evening Folks, Happy Thanksgiving if you are popping in from USA. We've taken the opportunity to jump on the black Friday sale bandwagon to help manage our inventory and we are having our first ever stamp set retirement sale. Quite simply, we are running out of storage space.

The following sets will be reduced by 50% from 00:01 AM on Friday 28th November until 5th December or until stocks last, whichever comes first.

Some of these sets are low in stock so if you want it, get it now as we are not planning to restock these sets after the current inventory is cleared.

Earth Angel
Nordic Baby
Little Box Labels
Victorian Alphabet
Victorian Frippery
Two Step Floral Sprig
Words of Wisdom
Country Labels 14
Compact Family
Paris Nouveau
Bitty Banners
Playful Pinwheels

 I'll be back tomorrow with peeks of our next release, which is going live on Tuesday the 2nd - we will be previewing samples from Saturday!

...Sweet Wishes

Quick tag for you this evening! I'm like Mrs Santa Claus in the background, I'm busy in the 'workshop' getting ready for the retirement sale on Friday and setting up the next release - for next Tuesday the 2nd, can you believe December is nearly here!! Peeks will be starting tomorrow.

OOh, by the way, Happy Thanksgiving to all our USA friends for tomorrow! Our USA shipper is of course off tomorrow and Friday, but shipping will be back to normal from Monday I believe.

Anywhoo, just wanted to pop on with another quick tag, the quicker the better at the moment - this one, stamped with Candy Jar Christmas fillers was easily cut out with the matching dies and the tag is made with Stitched tags. The round sentiment is from Candy Jar Christmas another fave set, have you seen these two sets? They are perfect for gifting sweet treats!

...Back in stock Snowflake One and Folk Art label

We have some Snowflake One dies back in store this evening and also some Folk Art Labels 25!

...Back in stock in UK

 Good morning folks! I have just received some stock here in the UK:

Fine Feather dies
Stitched Tag dies
Folding Tag dies
Gift card it dies

If anyone has been waiting on an order containing these, it has now shipped (unless you are also waiting for Vintage Ornaments)! Stocks of the fine feather dies are limited - just lettin' ya know!

...So Sweet

Little bit of stampy time this morning - dug out my Candy Jar Christmas Fillers set and had some fun with the gingies! Cut them out with the Jar Fillers die set. Added pearls to their wee chests - I coloured those with copics before applying - and since I've learned that tip, I only buy white or cream pearls and just colour them to suit as needed. The tags are made with the stitched tags dies and the sentiments are from Elf made. Thought this would make a nice start on the after Christmas thank-yous! These will be fab for adding to a wee box of shortbread or similar. You likey?

While I was on a roll I made up a wee card - I love stamping patterns, and so I made a background by repeating the Sweet sentiment in different inks. I didn't want it to fight too much with the tag I used as a focal point, and so I took apiece of vellum and clear embossed some fine stripes on it using the Pinstripe backgrounder. I love how that turned out. Slightly chuffed with this - can you tell? lol!

...Rustic Christmas decoration

Simple is definitely the best sometimes and I made this little teeny tiny thing the other night while waiting for the spuds to boil, had about 10 mins at my disposal and that was it. I had purchased a few lovely smooth wooden blanks from this fabby Etsy store a while back, not really knowing what I wanted to do with them, but inspiration struck while the windows were steaming up with condensation and the first real chily bite was in the air.

I have fallen in love with this little log cabin from the Frosty in the pines set and it seems to be turning up on a lot of stuff that I've made lately! You likey?  I used Tsukineko Versacolour 171 Pinecone ink because no other ink gives me the same sharp crisp finish when I'm looking to be fussy! The wooden blanks were so finely milled that the surface did not need any priming and the stamping is as sharp today as it was a few days ago - I love it! Tiniest little sprinkling of snow around the edge....it is Christmas....nearly...

...Our PJ party winner!

I'm just a tad late getting the winner posted, but huge congratulations to Annheidel of Mapleberry Musings!!! her stunning Holly and Stars sketch card was the randomly chosen winner! Annheidel, please email  us at info@waltzingmousestamps.com and we will arrange to get you your gift code - your win is doubled because you used WMS on your card!!!

I'm still working my way through the entries - did you SEE the stunning creations from yesterday's PJ party? Scroll down to the previous post to check them out!

...Welcome to the November Pajama Party!

Good evening folks and welcome to our November Pajama Party! It's great to see you! - we have some fun challenges for you tonight and we hope you can play along. 

If you saw the Invite post you will be familiar with the challenges and you may even have your cards all ready to link up, but don't worry there is plenty of time to play if you are only just joining us - the links will remain open for 24 hours! (this post went live at 11:45pm - UK time on the 14th, so you have 24 hours from then!)

PJ Party Schedule:

The PJ party post and all challenge links are now live since 11:45pm on the 14th Nov - Folks have 24 hours to link up their challenge entries. - The PJ party winner will be announced at 11.45pm on the 15th Nov.

Rules - a little housekeeping!

• You don't have to use Waltzingmouse Stamps to play along,

but it will make us especially happy if you do! 

• You can enter each challenge as many times as you like, using separate cards

and separate links, but you cannot enter any one card in more than one challenge!

• Links should take folks directly to the blog post/spot where we can see/

comment on your challenge entry.

• Please mention our PJ party and challenge on your blog or gallery post

(- you are welcome to grab the PJ logo or sketch graphic and

add those to your blog if you like)

 • You do not need to enter every challenge, but the more entries

you have the better change of winning the prize!

Prizes

We have changed up the format of the prizes a little - we will have one overall winner chosen at random from the 4 challenges. The prize winner will receive £30GBP store credit for Waltzingmouse Stamps.

Now please note - this is important - if the winning entry uses Waltzingmouse brand stamps or dies the prize will be doubled and the winner will get £60GBP (approx $98USD)!

Please note that projects using only free WMS products will not be eligible for the double prize - though you could still qualify for the £30GBP!

OK, now we have the challenges, we have a couple of samples to get you going:

Scandi tags 

 

Claire - I used Nordic Winter stamps and the new Pretty Panel 1 self matting die.

 Jeanne dug out her Nordic Winter also!

 Anya used the Folk art snowflake die

 

Lynn used the Folk art additions set and matching dies.

Make a tag or set of tags featuring simple clean design - think Scandinavian style. Think red and white! Any of our Nordic and Folk art sets would be perfect for this, but I will let you into a little secret - so long as you use a red and white colour scheme, with maybe a little kraft thrown in, I'm sure you'll pass muster! I'd love to see a Christmas theme for this, but if you don't do Christmas, how about a Scandi birthday tag?

  Link your Challenge 1 Scandi Tag challenge here:

An InLinkz Link-up

Wrap it up warm

For my Wrap it up warm challenge I die cut the gift card envelope from white felt, then I die cut the same envelope from grey paper and stamped some Nordic Winter patterns on it. I then applied my very best double sided sticky tape all the way around the edge of the wrong side of the paper envelope. I stuck it directly to the white felt and I have a dinky little cozy envelope! Now my gift card is all toasty! Couldn't resist making a card to match - the Around Christmastime set has a lot of stamps that are perfect for this Nordic feel. this circular holly stamp is actually a tag stamp, but I think it looks fab on a card!

 Claire

 Tosha used Festive Foliage and matching mistletoe die.

 Jeanne used Sewing box Christmas and Cabin Plaid backgrounder.

Show us your best gift wrapping - make a gift bag or box with a 'cozy' feel, I'm thinking plaids and stitchery....stamp up some wrapping paper - again I'm thinking Christmas but if you have another reason to celebrate we will happily join you!

Link your Challenge 2 Wrap it up warm challenge here:
 

An InLinkz Link-up

 

Old Pajamas 

 Anya

 Jeanne

 Lynn

 Julia

 Jeanne

 Tosha

Make a project using any of your older Waltzingmouse Christmas sets - I'm going to ask some of the DT to play along with us, we're using our Candy Jar Christmas sets for all the samples above.

Link your Challenge 3 Old Pajamas challenge here:

An InLinkz Link-up

Bedtime Story Sketch

 Karin

 Anya

Jeanne

Link your Bedtime Story Sketch challenge #8 here:

An InLinkz Link-up

...Spacemaker Sale

Folks we are running a Spacemaker sale over at the store - we really need to trim our inventory to allow for the new goodies that we have planned - we're into our 6th year of trading and it's time to prune things a little.

We're starting with this Spellbinder dies sale, it's great value and there are some Spellbinder dies new to the store just this evening - yep, I found a box of unopened goodies while I was moving stuff around....

Retiring Stamps

We will be following that with a stamp Sale on Black Friday  (28th November) - we will be discounting some of our stamp sets as they retire from active service. Some of the sets that we are planning to retire include (but will not be limited to):

Earth Angel
Nordic Baby
Little Box Labels
Victorian Alphabet
Victorian Frippery
Two Step Floral Sprig
Words of Wisdom
Country Labels 14
Compact Family
Paris Nouveau
Bitty Banners
Playful Pinwheels

There will be other sets retiring also, but I'm still ironing out the details.

Next Release

Our next release will be on the 2nd December - we really didn't want to clash with the Thanksgiving celebrations in USA - our USA shipper would have sacked me and you guys would all have been busy! Our previews will begin on the 29th Nov.

Next PJ Party

OOh and don't forget to come back and play on the 14th - you still have a couple of days to make for these challenges!

Think that's all for now..... :)

...oldie but goodie

Found this while sorting through some old stuff on the 'puter - it's from '09... but I still think it looks fresh - hands up who remembers it from the first time around? :) The set was Blessed By You - have you used yours recently? Now's the time!

Good grief - remember the old brown paper backdrops?...lol!! Still, I somehow managed to get better lighting in those days....

...red snow, Next release date and store news

 

Went out and got me some red sequins! love how this looks! I'm practicing for the PJ party - this makes a good Scandi tag - see here.

Next Release

This is just a heads up about the next release - We are settling into our new monthly release schedule and we had picked the 28th of each month, but a little birdy tells me that this clashes dreadfully with Thanksgiving in USA. Soooo, we will begin Preview days on November 29, 30 & December 1, with Release Day being December 2nd. Mark your calendars now folks! 

Store News

There's also a really good chance that I will be running an 'event' at the store after Thanksgiving, we've been going a while now and I'm finding that the inventory is getting a little too large for me to comfortably handle so I am planning to retire a number of sets to make way for what is coming next year.

We are also going to be changing the backordering system on the store over the next week - we are finding that it is proving harder to re-stock as quickly as we used to - and we don't like keeping folks waiting, so we will be disabling the facility for ordering out of stock items. We do of course have our 'back-in-stock' notification system which should eventually replace the backordering system. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this - we can see both sides of the argument for and against backordering, but we've been feeling that having to wait a long time for some items is not consistent with the high level of service that we want to provide to folks. Thanks for listening!

...Purple snow

A while back I rushed out and bought sequins -I bought 4 packets and not one packet was what I would call a Christmassy colour...arg...hence we are looking at purple snow...

Been itching to do this for a while - I wanted to die cut a snowflake and mount sequins in behind it - I thought it would make quite a nice texture in the aperture - I was right, I love this wee sparkly flake!

I used the Snowflake No. 2 die and the Stitched tags dies for this - the sentiment is an oldie, made up of two stamps from the Sewing Box Christmas set. Likey?

Did you get your invite to the PJ party? Nope? scroll down, it's just below!

...Your Invitation to the November PJ Party

Evening folks,  I'm here to cordially invite you to the next Pajama Party here on the WMS blog on the 14th November!!
Just in case you have not been to a WMS PJ party before - the Pajama Party features a collection of Challenges - you make them up ahead of time and then post them to this blog on the night of the party - fancy?

This party, we're having 4 challenges:

1. Scandi tags - Make a tag or set of tags featuring simple clean design - think Scandinavian style. Think red and white! Any of our Nordic and Folk art sets would be perfect for this, but I will let you into a little secret - so long as you use a red and white colour scheme, with maybe a little kraft thrown in, I'm sure you'll pass muster! I'd love to see a Christmas theme for this, but if you don't do Christmas, how about a Scandi birthday tag?

 When to make: Make your project now so that you can be ready to post it to your blog/gallery on the night of the party.  
How do I link it up?: On the night of the party, post your project to your blog/gallery and post a direct link to it into the inlinkz tool on the blog post here on the WMS blog.Links for this challenge will remain open for 24 hours, so you will still have time to play on the night!

2. Wrap it up warm - Show us your best gift wrapping - make a gift bag or box with a 'cozy' feel, I'm thinking plaids and stitchery....stamp up some wrapping paper - again I'm thinking Christmas but if you have another reason to celebrate we will happily join you!
 When to make: Make your project now so that you can be ready to post it to your blog/gallery on the night of the party.  
How do I link it up?: On the night of the party, post your project to your blog/gallery and post a direct link to it into the inlinkz tool on the blog post here on the WMS blog.Links for this challenge will remain open for 24 hours, so you will still have time to play on the night!

3. Old Pajamas -  Make a project using any of your older Waltzingmouse Christmas sets - I'm going to ask some of the DT to play along with us, we're going to dig out our Candy Jar Christmas sets
 When to make: Make your project now so that you can be ready to post it to your blog/gallery on the night of the party.  
How do I link it up?: On the night of the party, post your project to your blog/gallery and post a direct link to it into the inlinkz tool on the blog post here on the WMS blog.Links for this challenge will remain open for 24 hours, so you will still have time to play on the night!

4. Bedtime Story Sketch - Here is sketch no.8 - Go ahead and create now - and your card will be ready to link up when we open the PJ party on the 14th! Like the other challenges links for this challenge will remain open for 24 hours, so you will still have time to play on the night!

PJ Party Schedule:

The PJ party post and all challenge links will go live at 11:45pm on the 14th Nov.
The PJ party winner will be announced at 11.45pm on the 15th Nov.

Rules - a little housekeeping!
• You don't have to use Waltzingmouse Stamps to play along, but it will make us especially happy if you do!
• You can enter each challenge as many times as you like, using separate cards and separate links, but you cannot enter any one card in more than one challenge!
• Links should take folks directly to the blog post/spot where we can see/comment on your challenge entry.
• Please mention our PJ party and challenge on your blog or gallery post(- you are welcome to grab the PJ logo or sketch graphic and add those to your blog if you like)

 • You do not need to enter every challenge, but the more entries you have the better change of winning the prize!

Prizes

We're changing up the format of the prizes a little - we will have one overall winner chosen at random from the 4 challenges. The prize winner will receive £30GBP store credit for Waltzingmouse Stamps.

Now please note - this is important - if the winning entry uses Waltzingmouse brand stamps or dies the prize will be doubled and the winner will get £60GBP (approx $98USD)!

Please note that projects using only free WMS products will not be eligible for the double prize - though you could still qualify for the £30GBP!

Right, off you pop and make something! See you on the 14th!

...Log Cabin shaker card

Evening, I have a little shaker card this evening, I have not been doing much crafting these two days, been carving pumpkins and, more importantly,  slices of apple pie....  felt the need to just stamp something this evening and this kinda evolved. Seems like shaker cards are all over the place right now.... The Pretty Panel two die was used for the aperture, I love being able to 'frame' the aperture with a contrasting colour.

I used snowflakes from the Flurries set just released and I just stamped them randomly and in colours to match the little scene inside the shaker, the wee log cabin and trees are from, Frosty in the pines, Warm fuzzies and Flurries.

The log cabin scene is stamped on cream card, but to get the lighted windows, I stamped the cabin again onto yellow card and just trimmed out the windows and glued them to the log cabin in the scene. I actually like that they stick out a little bit and the glitter rests on them, I think a little snow round the windows makes it look more authentic...lol, little amuses the innocent!

Hope it tickles!