Waltzingmouse Makes...

The Big Cheese of the Week

2012-01-25T08:00:00.000Z

Good morning!

I am here to announce this week's Big Cheese winner. Wait until you see this card!

This week's winner is Cammie Murphree with this gorgeous creation.

The simple design of this card is just stunning. The creative combination of different stamps (from Faux Fun Circles, Nordic Winter and Fancy Phrases) and the perfect placement of each.. really, I'm head over heels. Thank you for sharing this beautiful card, Cammie. And thank you for reminding us that there are hearts in Nordic Winter!

Congratulations, Cammie! Your project will be added to the Big Cheese highlight album in the WMS Gallery. Please send me an email and I will provide you with a discount code for $10 off your next Waltzingmouse Stamps purchase.

The second card I would like to share today is from Karen Haman.

Gingham pears. Is there anything cuter than these? Karen revived an oldie but goodie - Peace and Plenty and used the pear image to perfectly execute her punny card. The soft, springy colors are sure to bring a smile to your face as well.

The last card I would like to share is from Erin Thiem.

Erin's choice of color and texture have 'masculine' written all over them. A great guy card for sure. The layout is a versatile one too, substituting different images or sentiments could take this in an entirely different direction. So glad you shared, Erin.

Thanks to all of you for joining us this week. Please, keep them coming! We so appreciate you taking the time to share your projects with us and the WMS Gallery. This week's thread is here in the WMS Forum, we would love for you to share what you're working on.

Have a great day!
Anya

Blog Party “Sweet” Recap

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000Z

Just like any good party, you spend time reliving the great moments from the event. WMS is doing the same thing today as we revisit some of the amazing projects that our customers created for the January WMS Blog Party.

Before we get to the highlights, we spent a little time going over the new format for our Blog Party; reviewing what worked great as well as those things that we can improve. The timing of the event is one of those things we are re-thinking, based on some feedback. For February we are considering the following span of time in which to link up your Blog Party projects:

UK - 6:30 p.m. 17th Feb - 4:00 a.m. 18th Feb
USA (New York) 1:30 p.m. 17th Feb - 11:00 p.m. 17th Feb
Australia (Queensland) - 4:30 a.m. 18th Feb - 2:00 p.m. 18th Feb
Canada (Alberta) - 11:30 a.m. 17th Feb - 9:00 p.m. 17th Feb
Malaysia - 2:30 a.m. 18th Feb - 12:00 p.m. 18th Feb
Norway - 7:30 p.m. 17th Feb - 5:00 a.m. 18th Feb

In Claire’s post on Wednesday she asked your opinions of these times, so if you haven’t weighed in on these proposed new times, please visit THAT post and leave a comment. We want to make this as easy as possible for you to play along.

Now on with some great WMS inspiration from our customers.

Chris L shared a wonderfully “sweet” creation with us using the Sewing Box Hugs set and created a romantic shaker card. What a fun way to send a Valentine greeting. Chris created “love in action” with the shiny heart confetti within the heart shaped shaker focal point.

Next, we found this awesome project from Jeanne J that she made for her Mom; a very lucky Mom, indeed. Jeanne used a wooden box decorated with lovely paper using Waltzingmouse’s Sweethearts , Gingham & Co. and Cameo to Go to coordinate the gift set. The fun rosette wand with a streamer of little hearts is just the sweetest addition. Great job, Jeanne.

And lastly, we bring you this invitation to tea from Debbie Marcinkiowicz. She created this ensemble for the birthday of a friend, who surely was impressed with Debbie’s level of attention to detail. Debbie used Afternoon Tea and Afternoon Tea Sentiments stamp sets to create the tea tag, tied onto the cup with a bit of baker's twine. She used the Piece of Cake template, available at WMS, to create her birthday cake box. The paper teacup is Claire’s A Nice Cup of Tea PDF template that Debbie created in beautifully soft and totally SWEET colors.

Everyone did an amazing job with their projects for this first Blog Party of 2012. Thanks to everyone for taking part of this fun event. If you haven’t yet checked out the creativity of the participants, please click on over RIGHT HERE and have a cup of tea while enjoying the “SWEETNESS” found there.

As promised, we randomly selected one lucky participant to received her choice of stamps set from Waltzingmouse Stamps. The lucky winner for January is:

#32 ~Ali~

Congratulations, Ali. Send me an e-mail at lmercurio@sbcglobal.net and I’ll forward the code to for you to use when you visit Waltzingmouse Stamps.

For information on the February 17th WMS Blog Party, check back here on February 1st. We will reveal final details as well as announce the theme for the “party”.

The Big Cheese of the Week

2012-01-19T08:00:00.003Z

Hi there. It is time again to announce the winners of this week's Big Cheese contest. A big thanks to each of you that participated this week, I know that I enjoyed looking at each of your submissions. Please remember that to be eligible for the contest, you need to provide a link to your creation in the WMS Gallery. If you don't have your own album, it is easy to set one up! The instructions can be found here.

This week's Big Cheese is Helen Berry with, I am sure you will agree, a gorgeous cameo card!

The grays make such an elegant color scheme, and paired with the layers of delicious ribbon, keep the monochrome palette exciting. The images contribute to the elegance as well, featuring a cameo from Cameo Creations and the loopy text from Say It Loud. And it may be a little touch, but the half doily framing the top part of the label really adds so much to the card.

Congratulations, Helen! Your project will be added to the Big Cheese highlight album in the WMS Gallery. Please send me an email and I will provide you with a discount code for $10 off your next Waltzingmouse Stamps purchase.

Wendy ten Hove shared an adorable baby card this week:

If you needed a reminder of how cute the baby animal images are from L'il Buddies, check out Wendy's paper pieced version. Say it with me... awww! The tone-on-tone flourish background stamping adds interest without adding distraction. A great card!

Rounding us out today is a yummilicious card from Jennifer Cuthbertson.

Oh, those colors! They are so fresh - and gray, one of my favorite neutrals, is popping up everywhere. I like how Jen added a tag to her card front, it helps to reinforce the collection of elements yet it still stands out as her focal point. This is a real beauty, and to me, would be perfect for a good friend.

Thanks to all of you for joining us this week. We so appreciate you taking the time to share your projects with us and the WMS Gallery. This week's thread is here in the WMS Forum, we would love for you to share what you're working on.

Have a great day!
Anya

...a cuppa sweet

2012-01-18T12:52:00.001Z

Good morning! Happy Wednesday! I made this little clay tag for yesterdays Blog Party and I thought I'd pop up a wee 'how-to' here today.

First though, a wee word about yesterday's Blog Party times - we will be reviewing the timing of our blog party for next month - my hand is right up in the air, I done picked a wrong time - I must have been somewhere in a giggly cloud of mulled wine when I decided on yesterdays times as it was pretty much impossible for anyone on this side of the pond to participate if they were at work yesterday...doh! My apologies for that!

So, what I'm proposing for the next blog part in February is this - I think I'd like to kick off the party link at around 6:30PM my time, and close it at around 4:00AM the following morning - I'm thinking that this will be between lunchtime and bed time in US...how does that sound?

So, our schedule for Feb would be something like this:

UK - 6:30pm 17th Feb - 4:00am 18th Feb
USA (New York) 1:30pm 17th Feb - 11:00pm 17th Feb
Australia (Queensland) - 4:30am 18th feb - 2:00pm 18th Feb
Canada (Alberta) - 11:30am 17th Feb - 9:00pm 17th Feb
Malaysia - 2:30am 18th Feb - 12:00pm 18th Feb
Norway - 7:30pm 17th Feb - 5:00am 18th Feb

OK, let me know what you think of the proposed times, and we'll try to take it into consideration, thanks ladies!

Back to yesterdays party and I must say tho, that the folks who were able to take part were on fire!! We'll be doing a little round up post on the 20th to point to a few that especially caught our eyes!! Outstanding stuff!

How-to

In the meantime, I have a couple of these little clay taggies to show you. Super simple, once these dry you can use them time and again, decorative ornaments, place setting ornaments as in my pic above, napkin tags...whatever tickles...

Can I just mention those delicious chocolates in the pic, they were sent to me by a friend in USA - I only just opened the package yesterday, I'm in caramel heaven!! Divine Caramel creations by Ellie...and they are!!

Here's what I did:

I made them from Fimo light, air drying clay. It is white when you purchase it and all you have to do is roll it out to the desired thickness and stamp it!

In the pic you can see a piece of it rolled to - I stamped it with the heart from Seasons of love tags. I used Stampin' Up cherry cobbler ink and just inked up as usual and stamped right onto the clay, I pressed it down a little all over and I was very happy to see that it held the colour really well. You will get a little hairiness in your impression and if you press too deep then you might find that other parts of the stamp also leave a trace of ink, but you only have to try it once to get a feel for it.

Next I set my Spellbinders heart tag die template on top as if i were going to trim it out and then I used a scalpel to simply trim away the excess clay.

When I removed the die I had a ready made guideline into which I pressed an embossing tool to create a row of dots around the edge. That was pretty much all I did, the hard part is waiting for it to dry...OOh and don't forget to make a hole for the ribbon if you are making an ornament to hang.

For the second ornament I simply trimmed the heart as before and then added some dots around the edge as before and stamped an unlinked sentiment and a scroll (Seasons of love tags) into the centre.

Once dry, I sponged it with Ink, the indented sentiment stayed nice and white, putty...I thought! And easy peasy!! Hope it tickles!

Welcome to the January 2012 Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Party

2012-01-17T08:00:00.013Z

Hi It’s the 17th and we want to welcome you to the January 2012 Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Party! We are going to have a great time getting some wonderful inspiration from fans of Waltzingmouse Stamps.

This event is held on the 17th of each month (except December) and this month our theme is “SWEET THINGS”. Sweet things can be food items, a Valentine for your sweetheart, something you consider to be a sweet thing, or however you are moved to create as long as you use Waltzingmouse Stamps images and show us how you interpret “sweet things”.

We used to hold this monthly even on the Waltzingmouse Stamps forum, but we are trying something new this year, and are holding the party RIGHT HERE on the Blog. You are all probably familiar with the Inlinkz tool that we use on our Sketch Challenge Blog, and this will work the same way. You have until 10:00 a.m. Central Time, 8:00 a.m. Pacific, 11:00 a.m. Eastern, and 4:00 p.m. Dublin time to post your direct link using the Inlinkz tool at the bottom of this post. The linking option will be closed after these time deadlines, but then the party will REALLY begin as we click on links which will direct us to the participant’s blogs where we will see the “sweetness” created from YOU.

On the 20th of the month – we will highlight a few of the amazing entries right here on this blog! We're looking for projects that showcases extra special effort! We will also randomly select a winner for a coupon code good for a free set. Sweet – yes?!

Let the fun begin and use your direct link to start the party.

The Big Cheese of the Week

2012-01-11T08:00:00.001Z

Welcome to our first installment of the Big Cheese of the Week for 2012! We hope you all had a happy, restful holiday and are ready to get back to it.

The ladies highlighted today helped us jump into the new year in the right way, sharing their beautiful projects in the WMS Gallery.

Our Big Cheese this week is Charmaine Stack, who shared this beautiful birthday card.

Charmaine carried her 'homespun' theme throughout this card, reinforcing her sentiment with images and papers, and really creating a warm and cozy feeling. She combined sentiments from different sets to say exactly what she wanted - isn't it great to have that flexibility? And what's not to love about the doily from Dainty Doilies 2 standing in as a flower?

Congratulations, Charmaine! Your project will be added to the Big Cheese highlight album in the WMS Gallery. Please send me an email and I will provide you with a discount code for $10 off your next Waltzingmouse Stamps purchase.

The next card I want to share is from Sarah Humphries.

Isn't this a beautiful Valentine? I love the elegant take, with the gold embossed heart from Seasons of Love and the delicate doily behind it. Combined with sheer ribbon, perfectly placed scallops and a scattering of pearls, this card is truly an expression of love.

Rounding us out for this week is Laurie Jones.

This is such a perfectly-composed card, with the layered flowers and balancing sentiment. Laurie stamped the stitched flower from Sewing Box - Hugs multiple times onto patterned paper and then cut each layer out... her choice of paper really resembles fabric! One of my favorite touches? The stamped stitched border around the outside... an easily overlooked image from Off Beat Backgrounds.

That wraps us up for this week. Thanks to each of you that submitted projects. We so appreciate you taking the time to share your projects with us and the WMS Gallery. This week's thread is here in the WMS Forum, we'd love for you to share what you're working on.

Have a great day!
Anya

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas–AGAIN!

2012-01-10T10:55:00.000Z

The new year brings a new set of Waltzingmouse Stamps Christmas Card Challenges to you. I know what you’re thinking; “What? We just put away the Christmas decorations”, but the months pass quickly and there is no better time than right NOW to get started on your cards for Christmas 2012.

The challenge is pretty simple. While you increase your stash of Christmas cards, you increase your changes of winning a wonderful prize as well. Here are a few basic guidelines for the monthly Waltzingmouse Stamps Christmas Card Challenge:

A new challenge will be issued on the 10th of each month in the Playroom Forum.
Once you have created your project, upload it to the special WMSCCC gallery Each card must contain some Waltzingmouse Stamps’ images, but does not have to be exclusively WMS products to be eligible for prizes (yep, there are prizes awarded those to play along each month)
All projects will be Christmas themed. You may make as many projects as you like for each challenge, but only ONE is necessary to enter the challenge. We encourage you to make batches of cards since our end goal is to have enough hand-made Christmas cards for each person on our “list”.
You can play along when and if you want – make it suit your schedule. For example, challenge cards for January may be uploaded anytime before June to be eligible for the “halfway point prize”. The same goes to be eligible for the GRAND PRIZE – projects for all twelve months must be uploaded to their appropriate gallery prior to the end of December.

To get you started, I have a sample to hopefully motivate you.

This month our challenge is to create cards that showcase either a day or nighttime sky. I chose a star-filled snowy scene. For more details on my sample cards and to join in the challenge for this month, you can visit the January 2012 challenge thread on the Waltzingmouse Stamps’ forum.

I hope you will join us this month and every month!

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-01T08:00:00.000Z

With a new year comes new beginnings. We say goodbye forever to 2011 and walk right into a new year full of fresh adventures. The same start of a new beginning can be said for the Friends of Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Waltz as well.

The changes to this monthly blog-a-thon are minor ones. One change coming is the name of this event. Going forward we will call this event the Waltzingmouse Stamps (WMS) Blog Party. This title accurately describes the fun and festive atmosphere of the “hop”. The event will continue to be held on the 17th of each month and we will still have a theme from which to base our projects, but rather than have you link your blogs in the forum, we will hold the event right here on the Waltzingmouse Stamps Makes blog.

You are all probably familiar with the Inlinkz tool that we use on our Sketch Challenge Blog, and this will work the same way. Your post can go live anytime you wish on the 17th, and you will have until 10:00 a.m. Central Time, 8:00 a.m. Pacific, 11:00 a.m. Eastern, and 4:00 p.m. Dublin time to post your direct link using the Inlinkz tool. The linking option will be closed after that time. From there you can just click on any of the projects linked and be directed to any of the participants’ blogs to get a closer look at their creativity.

On the 20th of the month – we will highlight a few of the entries right here on this blog! We're looking for projects that showcases extra special effort! At this time we will randomly select a winner for a coupon code good for a free set.

So…with that being said, are you ready for the January 2012 theme? We want to leave plenty of room for your creative imagination so our theme for January 17th will be “SWEET THINGS”. That can be food items, a Valentine for your Sweetheart, something you consider to be a sweet thing, or however you are moved to create as long as you use Waltzingmouse Stamps images and show us how you interpret “sweet things”. To get your creative juices flowing, check out some of the sweet sets that might inspire you from WMS.

Now, let’s see what you can do. Come back on the 17th with your direct link and join the fun for an all new WMS Blog Party!

*****

FAQ

I don't have a blog - what do I do? - it is perfectly fine to use Flickr or other on-line galleries such as the WMS gallery, etc.

I don't have any WMS stamps - what do I do? - We love to see what you do with your WMS at these monthly blogs - so if you don't have any stamps you can still enter by using any of the complimentary templates or digital stamps that make available in the Freebies section at our store!

Got more questions? Just post them here.

12 Months of Christmas Cards Pays Off

2011-12-31T08:00:00.000Z

We are now into the 7th day of Christmas and it’s a fairly certain bet that not many Christmas cards are still being made for the 2011 season. They have all been mailed and have lifted the spirits of those who have received them. You worked hard to get them all completed and should be proud of your efforts. Many Waltzingmouse Stamps Forum members have worked all year long to complete their cards. They have participated each month in the Waltzingmouse Stamps Christmas Card Challenge. (WMSCCC)

Each month, WMS issues a challenge theme for anyone who wants to consistently work on their Christmas cards. We encourage everyone to play along each month for two reasons; 1) It’s easier to make Christmas cards throughout the year, rather than try to make them all amidst the holiday rush, and 2) there are prizes involved for participating; both motivating factors.

The participants who accepted the challenge each month have been entered into a GRAND PRIZE drawing. The WMSCCC had many creative ladies participate, and 10 creative crafters completed the challenge each of the 12 months. I’m happy to announce our Grand Prize winner for the 2011 Waltzingmouse Stamps Christmas Card Challenge. From the 10 crafters who completed each challenge, we drew randomly for the prize, which is a coupon code for $150! Our BIG winner is:

Liza Carruthers

Congratulations, Liza, on your dedication and participation. To claim your discount code, please send me (Lynn Mercurio) a PM on the WMS forum, and I’ll get your code directly to you.

The Christmas Card Challenge gallery is bulging at the seams of wonderfully creative cards all full of Waltzingmouse Stamps goodness. If you haven’t taken a peek lately, you can see them ALL here. As 2011 comes to an end, and 2012 is now only hours away, a new set of monthly challenges will soon be announced. We hope that you will join us for the 2012 challenges beginning January 10th.

Happy New Year!

...Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-24T15:58:00.000Z

I have the winners of our tag competition hear and also the Nice list competition!

I'm a little late getting them up, my apologies! Christmas kinda caught up with me! I loved all of the tags, I very much enjoyed looking at all of the fabulous ideas, thank you to everyone who took part!!

Tag Comp winners:
so here we go - the Tag competition winner, chosen by random number generator:

Dana Gustafson

I awarded two spot prizes also, I was so tickled by all the entries, but could not resist these two!!

Carol - you had a headstart when you used one of my very fave sets!! the Gingerbreads!!! I loved your sweet taggie!

and

Helen - wow!! if I got a gift with this attached, I think I'd frame the tag and keep it!

Nice List Winners:
I had such a time reading the comments, it is hugely heartwarming to read about so many nice folks and what they mean to us, with all of the little things (and some very big things) they do for us. I do believe that this is my very favourite competition of the year, this is what it is all about for me, thank you all for sharing your stories!!

The winner, also chosen by random number generator is:

Charmaine Stack who said...

I really enjoy WMS, the forum, the gallery, the amazing design team. I have been made aware of so many wonderful people as a result of the community that has sprung up around Claire. One person stands out, though - a fellow fan. Deb Frings is always ready with a sweet, kind word, a generous compliment, and a willingness to cheer a fellow stamper on. I enjoy her blog and all her creations, most of which feature WMS in some fashion. The WMS world is a bit better place for her enthusiastic support. So ths year, my Nice List has a shining star atop it named Deb. :-) 19 December 2011 20:54

Since we got so many entries to this comp I thought I might just add a spot prize for this comp too, so winning the spot prize is:

Anne said... 34: Claire I'm going through a very unhappy time just now that has turned my nice list upside down. But though things are very dark my friends are there and top of my nice list is my friend Morag who is a true friend indeed with a shoulder to cry on, she is just the best person there is.; 15 December 2011 20:25

Congratulations ladies!!! I have very much enjoyed 'meeting' both old friends and new through our nice list com this year!!

Ok - so here's what the winners need to do - email me at claire.brennan1@ntlworld.com - send me your addresses and I will get your goodies out to you at some point over the holidays - I may need to chat to the nice list folks a bit so pop me an email and we'll get it all rolling!

Please note it may be the end of next week before I reply to you.

In the meantime folks, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!! I look forward to catching up with everyone in the new year!!!!

The Big Cheese of the Week

2011-12-21T08:00:00.004Z

Here we are in the final countdown to Christmas! I hope you have checked your lists and are ready to relax and enjoy the season.

Just a quick note before we get started: the Big Cheese program will be taking a little break for the holidays with the next new thread to be posted on the forum on Monday, January 2. We look forward to seeing you at that time.

Without further ado, our Big Cheese of this week is Nerina with this gorgeous card.

Isn't this such a beautiful, beautiful card? For me, a take-away technique from this card is the heat embossed petals followed up with the sponged ink. This creates such a lovely effect - soft yet bold at the same time. I also love that this poinsettia is the star of the show. A stunner!

Congratulations, Nerina! Your project will be added to the Big Cheese highlight album in the WMS Gallery. Please send me an email and I will provide you with a discount code for $10 off your next Waltzingmouse Stamps purchase.

How about the cutest sock monkey tag you've ever seen?

Cathy Weber has pulled out all the stops again to create an adorable tag for her sock-monkey-loving niece. With a Nordic Winter stamped body and holding a Christmas Bitty Banner , this guy is the cutest thing going. I love that this idea is so creative, completely personalized, and executed perfectly!

And finally, with another creation that is nothing short of stunning, is Pauline Pollington.

This is just one of a set of beautiful ornaments Pauline made using Sewing Box - Christmas. Framed by a delicate snowflake, each is full of sparkle and shimmer. Assembled together as a detachable ornament garland, these would bring so much holiday cheer to a mantle. A lovely creation!

Thanks to each of you that submitted projects for the Big Cheese this week. We so appreciate you taking the time to share your holiday projects with us and the WMS Gallery. Remember, we'll be back on January 2 with a new thread here in the WMS Forum.

Wishing each of you a wonderful holiday full of the joys of the season and a happy, healthy New Year! We look forward to seeing you then!

Anya

...Last call for entries...

2011-12-19T00:46:00.001Z

These are closing tonight midnight, my time, winners will be announced tomorrow!!!!

Tag competition here

and Nice list competition here...

quick - you only have until the 20th for both competitions!!

...Last minute stocking filler...mini jars...

2011-12-18T22:52:00.000Z

A proper look at the jars I was trying to show you the other day...

Stocking filler quickies - for which I have a huge need....mini jars filled with sweeties - trim yourself out a fancy label for the sides of the jars, I used these dies. I stamped some suitable sentiments from Candy Jar Christmas. Sponged edges with good ole' distress Antique Linen, never lets me down....used black ink... little bit of papperned paper from a Graphic 45 pad, this years I believe. Added a wee loop of ribbon under the lid label with extra strong tape.

Or, join two together using a piece of card, mine was trimmed with a fancy Spellbinder die to make it purty, but basically a rectangle of card scored twice and with two holes punched, see pic below. The trick is to punch holes which are wide enough to accept the jar, but slightly smaller than the lid. See the pic below for deets. Little sponging, little lace, two pieces of black velvet ribbon tied in the same way as a mans neck tie, and I have a dinky little pair of jars, a sweet treat for somebody.

Or, dress it up with a bow tie. Simple!

I started with these jars from Lakeland, it's a UK company, but any old jars will do!

...are you on our Nice List?

2011-12-15T08:00:00.007Z

...we're a little bit Moxie Fab today! If you have joined us from Cath Edvalson's MoxieFabWorld blog today - Welcome! It's lovely to have you visit! We are delighted to be mentioned in the Moxie Fab Stamp of Approval feature!

Join our Nice List

I have a couple of ideas for tiny treats to show you later on today, you can see a little taster above, but first I want to invite you to play along with our Christmas comment competition.

Last year we did this for the first time and it was wonderful - It's easy, no making required. Here's how it works:

Leave a comment on this post telling me who is top of your 'Nice List' this year - it could be anyone, a teacher, a co-worker, the guy who delivers your milk. I want to hear who is top of your 'Nice List' and why - I'll start you off.

Top of my list this year are my next door neighbours. In particular Mr G. Aside from being the nicest folks on the planet, Mr G has just finished completely revamping my prized possession - my solid oak Welsh Dresser. This Dresser has been a favourite of mine, I bought it around 9 years ago for around £100 at auction, I love it.

Here's what it looked like before, I did love the antique wood finish, but it was a little overpowering in our small house and I really felt it was time for a change:

Here's what it looks like now:

I love it!! I am so chuffed!! Mr G sanded it, painted it, sanded it some more, painted it and painted it again and fixed up the handles and made it pretty, It looks great in real life, so fresh and clean!! He really took time over it and the finish is superb. Thank you Mr G.

So Mr G. is now top of my nice list :) Who is top of yours?

Leave your comment at the end of this post.

The Prizes

You have until Tuesday the 20th December to leave your comment and then I will pick a random winner - The winner will win two prizes - one for themselves, which will be 4 large sets of stamps of their choice!!! and one for the person in their comment who is top of their nice list!! we may have to get creative if your Nice list buddy is not crafty, but if they are, they too will win 4 large sets!!!

So, let's hear about your Nice List nominees!!!

The Big Cheese of the Week

2011-12-14T08:00:00.000Z

Well, another week has flown by and here we are, just eleven short days until the Big One!

There is more Christmas inspiration to share from this week's Big Cheese if you need it. Isn't it great to have a place to go for oodles of ideas? Yep, that is our WMS Gallery!

Bringing you a beautiful card idea, our Big Cheese of the Week is Liza Carruthers.

I really like how Liza used a background stamp to create a focal point. The repeated pattern of the ornate border from Very Vintage Christmas creates an elegant design. Liza's card layout is a great one, a versatile sketch when one's mojo is on holiday! The frosty blues are a perfectly suited color for the theme and the big bow is lovely.

Congratulations, Liza! Your project will be added to the Big Cheese highlight album in the WMS Gallery. Please send me an email and I will provide you with a discount code for $10 off your next Waltzingmouse Stamps purchase.

This week Elizabeta shared a photo of an amazing project she completed for an online Croatian magazine.

Drop dead gorgeous, no? Elizabeta used the A Piece of Cake template to create this delectable cake. She adjusted her printer settings to shrink the template to create the second layer. What a great idea!

And finally, if you need a gift in a pinch, take a look at this inspiration from Charmaine Stack.

This is just one of many photos Charmaine shared of her gift basket items. Check the rest out here. Charmaine used the Seasonal Remedies set to create labels for food and gift items. With the coordinating dies, these are easy to pull together with little time. The labels are a little tongue-in-cheek, cleverly describing the enclosed food items. My favorite? The Effervescent Joy label used for a bottle of wine. ;)

Thanks to each of you that submitted for the Big Cheese this week. I know the holidays are quickly approaching, and if you're anything like me, the lists aren't getting any shorter! We so appreciate you taking the time to share your holiday projects with us and the WMS Gallery.

Just a quick note to let you know the Big Cheese program will be taking a short break for the holidays after this week's forum thread closes on the 18th. We'll announce our last Big Cheese winner of 2011 next week (the 21st) and then pick up again on January 2nd. We look forward to seeing you then!

Would you like the opportunity to be chosen for the Big Cheese? Add your direct links for your newly uploaded projects here in the WMS Forum, a new thread starts every Monday!

Anya

...this weeks sketch challenge...

2011-12-10T12:01:00.000Z

Have you been over to play here on our challenge blog? We have easy simple sketches on a weekly basis. If you haven't seen it yet, it's just a click away!

Above is this weeks sketch and if you click here, you will see the Mischief makers fabby inspirational cards!!

The Big Cheese of the Week

2011-12-07T08:00:00.002Z

Hello!

Welcome to this week's installment of the Big Cheese of the Week. Things are heating up for the holidays, I can tell! If you're in the need for a little bit of tag inspiration today, you've come to the right place.

Let me introduce you to our Big Cheese of the week, Deirdre Horgan!

Deirdre created this fantastic three-dimensional tag using Vintage Ornaments and an empty box of Cheerios! The tag doubles as an ornament, and who wouldn't want to hang this pretty thing on their tree? I love the die-cut center with the floating heart, it is an extra touch that just adds so much interest to this creation.

Congratulations, Deirdre! Your project will be added to the Big Cheese highlight album in the WMS Gallery. Please send me an email and I will provide you with a discount code for $10 off your next Waltzingmouse Stamps purchase.

Up next is a gorgeous holiday tag from Jeanne Jachna.

This is just one of a number of elegant tags Jeanne has created recently. I am always inspired by her use of color (she flawlessly combines pink and purple!) and multiple layers. My favorite? That gorgeous gem in the center of the ornament.

And finishing us off today is a trio of delectable place cards from Cathy Weber.

Let's try not to be distracted by Cathy's dessert menu for the holidays and focus on these cards themselves. Lots of sparkle and shine help these fit right in with the party. I adore the way she coordinated the images with the desserts she's serving, and layered them all on top of the holly from Festive Foliage. It makes me want to break that set out right now and add some holly leaves to something. Scrumptious, Cathy!

Thanks to each of you that submitted for the Big Cheese this week. I know the holidays are quickly approaching, and if you're anything like me, the lists aren't getting any shorter! We so appreciate you taking the time to share your holiday projects with us and the WMS Gallery.

Would you like the opportunity to be chosen for the Big Cheese? Add your direct links for your newly uploaded projects here in the WMS Forum, a new thread starts every Monday!

Anya

...Back in stock

2011-12-06T00:10:00.000Z

Rescue Remedies, Vintage Ornaments and Labels 2!

...Back in stock

2011-12-04T23:55:00.001Z

Back in stock: Cottage Christmas, Labels 10, Vintage banners, Doilies large and Very Vintage Christmas...just about to add them to the store...

...Greetings!

2011-12-03T01:45:00.000Z

Good Friday Night to you!! Just posting a quick tag - we have our tag competition underway here, are you gonna play? Good!

This is a fun little tag I made with a Spellbinders labels 5 die and the corresponding stamp from a much underused set - Little Box Labels. I love the shape of this and I remember designing it, thinking that it would be fun to be able to trim out that larger circle and put something in behind.

So I made up a double tag - two identical die cuts, held together with a brad - this allows the front part of the tag to pivot so that you can reveal the image underneath.

I add a silhouette of the Claus himself and couldn't resist the little 'Been Good?" (Santa's coming to town and Candy Jar Christmas sets )

The 'Greetings' on the top part of the tag is from Say it loud - Winter Holiday. Foliage is from Festive Foliage. It was a real hotch potch of stamps last night, but I was just footering with whatever was on my table. Hope it tickles.

Got a quick how-to for anyone who has Little box labels and would like to know how to trim out that larger circle. It's easy if you have a Spellbinders circle die, you can just line the circle up on the image, but If you would like to use a 1 inch punch here is a neat method:

1. Stamp label, trim it out with a Spellbinders Labels 5 die template. Take a piece of scrap and punch out 1 inch circle, keep the circle and the left over bit.

2. Line up the circle inside the larger circle shape on the stamped label, adhere with a tiny amount of glue or tape.

3. Fit the leftover bit of card over the circle, being careful not to move the circle.

4. carefully (with tweezers?) remove the circle keeping the left over bit in place and use a pencil to draw a line around the inside of the punched out circle. You can still see my wee tiny bit of left over glue in the pic below where i removed the circle.

5. Remove the spare card to reveal the drawn circle.

6. Use the drawn circle as a guide for your punch and voila, a perfecly placed punched circle, right where you want it.

Hope it tickles and don't forget to play here.

...Christmas Tag challenge!

2011-12-01T08:00:00.041Z

Good morning!! are you ready for Christmas??? Nope? me either....

In the meantime, Lets make some tags!

I hereby invite you all to make a Christmas tag and post it here in this post for a chance to win big. I'm going to give the winner 4 stamp sets of their choice! Create your Tag using your fave WMS stamps and upload a pic here in the inlinkz widget at the end of this post.

The main winner will be randomly picked. I may also award a spot prize or two for tags that really tickle my fancy so get your thinking caps on ladies, and show us your Christmas style!

Ok, my sample above is incredibly simple, about 10 mins to make, and this would be so easy to mass produce.

It's a great big tag with plenty of space for writing in those all important details, nothing worse than a wee taggy that doesn't give you space to say who the gift is from!! lol.

I used stamps from Candy Jar Christmas. - I used them pretty much as they are laid out on the sheet - you can see from the pics.

I stamped them in Memento Rich Cocoa onto white card. I like Memento as it sets quickly, doesn't smudge much and you can go in and pick out bits with a copic marker without fear of the ink running.

Next I picked a die to trim out my tags, Spellbinders Labels Seventeen is a great shape for these, ran it through the Grand Calibur once.

While the card is still in the die, I sponged, Antique linen of course.... I find that I don't even need to pass the card through again for embossing, the sponged colour highlights the embossing and there's no need to put it through again, a little time saving there. You can see the tape holding the die in place in the pic above, this eliminates the possibility of the die moving as you pass it through the GC.

I finished sponging and added a little golden shading around Mrs Santa and in the lettering using a copic. I added a little stamp - You're on my nice list - in red to the tag and also the word, To: from Candy Jar Christmas fillers, just to complete the tag. It really was very simple. I will add in the recipients details with a pen.

So, you have until Tuesday 20th December to make and upload your tag, each person should play only once, so give it your very best. Remember, as well as the top prize of 4 sets there may also be a couple of spot prizes, but only if I'm really tickled!!!

The Big Cheese of the Week

2011-11-30T08:00:00.005Z

Hi there!

It is time to pick our weekly Big Cheese winner, and boy, do I have some eye candy for you today! We have three holiday projects to share that are just full of inspiration.

Our Big Cheese winner for this week is Helen, who created a jaw-dropping amazing mixed media canvas using the cottage from A Cottage Christmas.

I'm at a loss for words. Just fantastic, from the cozy cottages decked for the holidays, down to the stitched felt snow drifts. A labor of love, to be sure, but what results! I imagine this looks outstanding displayed for the holidays, and it certainly is an inspiration to try something paper crafty outside of the 'card zone'. I've seen these craft canvases at my local store, and I would really love to give one a try now! Amazing, Helen!

Helen, your project will be added to the Big Cheese highlight album in the WMS Gallery. Please send me an email and I will provide you with a discount code for $10 off (the price of a small set!!) your next Waltzingmouse Stamps purchase.

Up next is the cutest little tag from Dana Gustafson.

Easy? Check. Festive? Check. Super cute? Check! What a great combination of elements, from the chenille candy cane to the music background. My favorite part? The glitter on the Labels 18 edge! What a great look. If not adorning a present under the tree, this baby would look right at home hanging on the tree as well.

Rounding things out for today is another great idea brought to us from Cyndie.

How sweet! This container started its first life as an ice cream tub, but Cyndie has transformed it into holiday packaging for some shortbread cookies. The embossed dotted background adds instant elegance and the paper pieced holly and berries from Sewing Box Christmas add major holiday cheer. And really, it is a great (and green!) idea to recycle such a useful container! Makes me want to think twice about what is in my recycling bin.

Ladies, you are ALL outstanding! Thank you so much for your hard work and contributions to the WMS Gallery! We're so glad you're a part of it!

Would you like the opportunity to be chosen for the Big Cheese? Add your direct links (please!) for your newly uploaded projects here in the WMS Forum, a new thread starts every Monday!

Anya

...Check out the challenge blog today

2011-11-26T09:55:00.001Z

Fabulous inspiration such as this incredible creation from Jeanne Jachna await you here....

The Big Cheese of the Week

2011-11-23T08:00:00.006Z

Good morning! I am here once again to bring you this week's Big Cheese winner. I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating: you ladies continue to do an outstanding job. Week after week we have numerous new uploads to the Waltzingmouse Stamps Gallery, just loading it with inspiration. I also want to recognize all of our new participants!

This week's winner has shared a beautiful holiday card. Check out this design from Laurie Jones:

I love the layout of this card and the sweet combination of pink and white. The extra touches Laurie added, including the embossed background, the cute little tag, and the glittered candy canes from Sewing Box - Christmas all come together to really make this a stand-out.

Laurie, your card will be added to the Big Cheese highlight album in the WMS Gallery. Please send me an email and I will provide you with a discount code for $10 off (the price of a small set!!) your next Waltzingmouse Stamps purchase.

Next up is a fantastic idea for holiday packaging, shared by Cammie Murphree.

Cute little burlap sacks are jazzed up for gifts using Seasonal Remedies. The jingle bells on the drawstrings are the perfect finishing touch! Handmade soap, or a pretty little votive candle would be perfect in these. They look easy peasy, too, which is always a plus around this busy time of year!

We all love to see unique and creative ways to use our stamps. Jen Treadway shares a great idea for a holiday card using Teeny Trees.

A reindeer! I just love this little guy! What a super creative idea, and a great card composition. His little red rhinestone nose is just the icing on the cake.

Thank you again for another outstanding week of this program. Your contributions are so appreciated!

Would you like the opportunity to be chosen for the Big Cheese? Add your direct links (please!) for your newly uploaded projects here in the WMS Forum, a new thread starts every Monday!

Have a wonderful Holiday!
Anya

...Can you smell it?

2011-11-22T01:17:00.000Z

The peppermint that is???? lol, me neither, because this is a jar of Cherry rock. Not being in US it's kinda hard to find decent peppermint candy here, or at least I haven't managed to do so yet, but I live in hope.

Anyhow this cherry rock comes in rather uninspiring little baggies like this:

Now, surely, I thought to myself, I can do something with that. It's actually nice stuff (it's soft, which is a bonus for us folks approaching the delicate dental years) and it will make a dinky little prezzie for somebody that I'd like to acknowledge this Christmas, such as a classroom helper.

I decanted my cherry rock into a brand new Kilner Jar, being careful not to touch it on the way in. I know candy keeps for ages but I didn't want to run the risk of spoiling it and so I boiled out my jar first and then wore some of those wee clear sandwich making gloves to be sure it was all tickety boo. If you have ever had a child come home from Home-Economincs class with a 'team effort' fruit salad you'll be completely on my wavelength.

Kilner jars are perfectly suitable for customising thanks to the separate seal under the lid - you can see how I added a little card inset to the top of my jar in the pics below.

I stamped my main label in Riding hood Red ink (SU) onto some white card and then used a Spellbinders 2011 Heirloom Ornament die to trim it out. The main label comes from the Santa's coming to Town set that we released in October. No need for embossing or such, I just kept it plain and simple.

For the lid insert I stamped the sentiment, also from the Santa's coming to Town set in Riding hood red. I wanted a purty frame and I chose a little spotty frame from the Vintage Circles Small stamp set and stamped it in a pale pink (Pink Pirouette - SU). I trimmed the circle out with a punch to be slightly larger than the opening in the screw on lid, so that it would stay in place when I tightened the lid.

I used two shades of green ribbon, pink and red flowers and a wee bit of fancy snowflake trim (Marks and Spencer Christmas ribbon) to finish it off, Hope it tickles!!!

Store News

I have decided not to have a release in December this year. I know we were scheduled to do one but between me and you, it gets a little busy this time of year and I rather thought it would be nice to have a relaxed build up to Christmas for us all. I hope to pop on the blog regularly and share packaging ideas etc and run a few good competitions.

Our next release will be in January, hopefully when we are all ready for a change of pace and a little freshening up, sound ok?

Competition

There are two main competitions I want to run between now and Christmas, and one involves making tags, they're quick, they're small and we're all going to need them, so look out for details on that in the next couple of days, I think you can safely assume that the theme will be Christmas...

The other competition I will be running is the Nice list comp - I LOVED this last year, and I'm itching to do it again this year, I'm thinking I will begin this on 1st December so watch out for that post also.

Right, back to packing for me, what are you up to this eveing?

...And the winner is....

2011-11-21T20:24:00.000Z

We had a little giveaway as we recently got 1000 thumbs up on Facebook and wooohoo Nicoleqmullen, you have been randomly selected as our winner!!! pop me a note (claire.brennan1@ntlworld.com) with your addy and I'll get your set right out to you!!!

nicoleqmullen said... 17 Love this set!I love sentiments and would love to see more sets like this one but with some sentimental sentiment/phrases maybe??

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2011-11-20T08:00:00.000Z

You could almost hear the Christmas music playing – and maybe you were listening to some festive tunes while you Waltzed along with those who participated recently in the Friends of Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Waltz this past Thursday. There was certainly no shortage of inspiration from images of tasty treats to frosty white snowflakes. The fans of Waltzingmouse Stamps shared their creativity and we want to share a few of the projects that really WOW’d us.

Kary really rocked this Christmas card using the Twas The Night Before Christmas as she created a beautiful scene using the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", also known as "The Night Before Christmas" written by Clement Clarke Moore, as well as many of the other traditional images contained in this set. She created a welcoming invitation to really “Believe” and created lovely vintage appeal from this set with her tri-fold card, complete with an open window revealing that Jolly ole Elf. Fabulous job, Kary.

Rudlis fashioned some lovely wintery-white gift tags using line art from three sets; 2011 Holiday Ornaments, Dainty Doilies 2 Small and Festive Foliage. Simple, yet festive enough to grace any holiday gift. The line art from these sets looks striking against the white background and how nice that she created in these heart shapes.

And newcomer, Kim Heggins, created this fun holiday card using Sewing Box Christmas. Those adorable mitten are sure to warm the heart with their built-in stitching and with the addition of the twine and snowflake brads, Kim embellished her card with lots of Christmas traditions.

All the projects were awesome, and as promised, we selected one random winner from all those who participated in the Waltz. That lucky winner is: Renee. Congratulations Renee and thanks so much for taking part in the November Waltz! Please e-mail Claire at claire.brennan1@ntlworld.com letting her know your set of choice and she will make sure that it will be on its way to you soon.

In case you didn’t get a chance to follow along the Waltz, you can get all the links to the projects right here and see for yourself why we think Waltzingmouse Stamps’ customers are truly a creative bunch. We’re sure you will be inspired.

Just a note that there will not be a Waltz next month, as we are taking a wee break so that we can all see to those last minute details surrounding Christmas. We promise to have some details coming your way soon about the new activities beginning in 2012.

And a BIG thank you to everyone who participated and commented. YOU are what makes these Friends of Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Waltz events so much fun and so inspiring.

Have a great day!

...It's beginning to look a lot like......

2011-11-18T17:50:00.000Z

Christmas!!!!! I can't wait!!!! Well actually I can, I'm not ready, in the history of Brennan family Christmasses, I have never been ready, so quite why I think it might happen is a mystery....anyhow, it's fun trying! - This is the Tree in the Victoria Centre in Belfast this week, lights are going on all over.....

Ok in honour of the fact that we reached 1000 thumbs up on Facebook I'm having a giveaway! up for grabs is this set - Seasonal Remedies

What you need to do is leave a comment here telling me what you would like to see next from WMS - I'm all ears, we have a few things up our sleeves, bt I like to hear what you guys think too!

I will pick a random commenter from the ole blog here on Sunday night - ooh and if you win and already have this set, you can pick another!!!

Hope it tickles!

November Friends of Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Waltz

2011-11-17T08:00:00.000Z

Greetings and welcome to the November Friends of Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Waltz. If you are new to the Blog Waltz, or have never even heard of it, you can get most all the general details right here.

This month our theme is Winter/Christmas! I bet you have already been busy with your holiday card making, so let’s see what you have been creating and show us your card designs and scrapbook pages.

Although we call this a "blog waltz," we have some players who use an online gallery for their linked entry, so even if you don't have a blog, you can still participate. For a complete list of the players participating in this month’s Waltz, just click here and you will be directed to the forum. What? You aren’t registered on the WMS forum? Well, that’s easily remedied, and it only takes a moment. Check it out here.

Playing along in the Friends of Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Waltz is not only fun, but could earn you a free WMS stamp set. Come visit us and see what all the excitement is about.

The Big Cheese of the Week

2011-11-16T08:00:00.000Z

Hi there, thank you for joining us for this week's Big Cheese winner.

Let's just jump right in, shall we?

This week's Big Cheese winner, with this stunner of a card, is Katie Gehring!

What an inspired, elegant anniversary card! Making perfect use of the empty frames in the patterned paper, Katie created a beautiful 'wall' of cameo images. Topped off with a lovely crocheted lace flower, this striking card is sure to garner gasps (it did from me)!

Katie, your card will be added to the Big Cheese highlight album in the WMS Gallery. Please send me an email and I will provide you with a discount code for $10 off (the price of a small set!!) your next Waltzingmouse Stamps purchase.

Next up we have a set of clean and simple Christmas cards from Jen Treadway.

I think these cards are seriously cute! Isn't this the perfect combination of an image you wouldn't even associate with a holiday (the sound bars from Free Spirit Boy) with a clever sentiment to create a truly unique Christmas card? They are super, Jen!

And finally, Cathy Wallington has shared a fabulous vintage tag.

A glittered up ornament from 2011 Holiday Ornaments is the showpiece of this creation. The holidays are the perfect time to create some tags, and Cathy demonstrates a perfect balance of rich colors and beautiful complimentary patterns on hers. Great inspiration - I see some tag creation in my future.. how about you?

Thank you again for another outstanding week of this program. Your contributions are so appreciated!

Would you like the opportunity to be chosen for the Big Cheese? Add your direct links (please!) for your newly uploaded projects here in the WMS Forum, a new thread starts every Monday!

Have a great day!
Anya

....ooh look!

2011-11-16T00:14:00.000Z

Delia used her Candy Jar fillers in a really novel way - I had to share it here - Cheers Delia!!

She made a phone cover on the Gelaskins site!!! This is so cool!!

...Happy Saturday!

2011-11-12T13:23:00.000Z

Quick Holiday Gift/stocking filler? Clear kitchen storage jar, a few ounces of sweets and a custom tag? Any takers? Super simple and super quick, because there is literally no time at Christmas....

I stamped the jar from Candy jar Christmas fillers, then I stamped the filler sweets and the lid, I used two colours of copic marker to match my candies, and then brushed the paler stripes on the wee balls with glue, literally threw on some gliter and let it set.

Oh I had already fussy cut this tag using a fancy die (Spellbinders Labels 20) and a ruler and craft knife - you know, when you cut a rectangle of card and slide it up through a label die, so that only part of the card is under a cutting edge of the die when you pass it through the machine.

I stamped the mini jar label on a separate piece of card, coloured it and cut it out - added some glitter and realised that I had used the wrong glitter... I should have used the clear glitter and not the white, but hey-ho, these things happen and I think it looks ok, I popped it up on foam stickies for a little dimension. Dash of ribbon, done. Whole thing - 20 mins.

So, how is your Saturday going? If you have an hour to spare, you might like to pop over to our Challenge blog, we have a fresh sketch today, and plenty of inspiration right here. Including this Beauty from Edna. Pop on over to the Challenge blog to see more.

hope it tickles!

November CASE Competition Winner Announced

2011-11-11T08:00:00.000Z

Hi everyone. If you remember, back on November 4th, we invited you to participate in a CASE (Copy and Share Everything) Competition. We asked that you choose a project from any of the 4 days of the Stamp of Approval Parade (SOAP) held November 1-4th, and CASE a project from one of the Design Team members’ projects. We are happy to announce that we have a winner. Today we are highlighting these two great tags created by: Charmaine Stack

Charmaine got her inspiration from Tosha Leyendekker's Day 3 SOAP project. You can view Tosha's project here.

The enduring link between Tosha’s and Charmaine's projects are the lovely snowflake, each peeking out from the side of the tag. Charmaine added lots of sparkle and shine; using glitter and lovely crystals on both of her tags. Moving from the bright hues of turquoise to the earthy muted colors of the second tag, she shows how easy it is to elicit different feelings with just a change of color.

We all want to express a very special thank you to everyone who participated in the competition. Your projects were amazingly creative and inventive. You can see ALL the competitors right here.

...Christmas challenge, November

2011-11-10T11:14:00.000Z

A quick note to let folks know that the November Christmas challenge is up - anyone who doesn't know about this Challenge hosted on our Forum by Lynn, should check out the details here.

There are a couple of weeks left and at the end of the event there will be a Grand Prize - but only folks who have completed all of the challenges will be eligible. Don't panic, there is still time. If you would like to take part, you can, So long as the projects for all twelve months are uploaded to their appropriate gallery prior to the end of December. Novembers Challenge is a simple one, a trio of CAS cards, here's are Lynn's fabby examples to inspire you.

...Back in stock

2011-11-10T11:00:00.000Z

We have some sets of the followng back in stock:

Nordic Winter

2011 Ornaments

Seasons of love Tags

Compliments of the Season

Around Christmastime

Sewing Box Christmas

Say it Loud - Winter.

The Big Cheese of the Week

2011-11-09T08:00:00.001Z

Good morning, thank you for joining us for this week's Big Cheese winner.

Again, I want to say how thrilled I am to see so many new players and acknowledge those 'regulars' that share their uploads consistently. Thank you!

This week's Big Cheese winner is Cammie Murphree with this gorgeous holiday creation using Nordic Winter.

You guys have really been making wonderful things with this set - I have loved everything I've seen! Cammie's card features one of my favorite holiday color combinations. The design looks great topped off with that bold ribbon and sparkly snowflake!

Cammie, your card will be added to the Big Cheese highlight album in the WMS Gallery. Please send me an email and I will provide you with a discount code for $10 off (the price of a small set!!) your next Waltzingmouse Stamps purchase.

Our first honorable mention for this week is Karen Haman.

This is a classic and versatile card design, and Karen has used it to really make that cupcake (from Frame It) stand out. Seriously, it is colored so beautifully I feel like I could reach out and take a taste of that sparkly icing. Raspberry, I think! ;)

We also have another beautiful creation from Lana to highlight this week.

Ooh! The rose looks so great with text-patterned petals! Fantastic paper piecing on this card and a great reminder that things don't always need to be their 'normal' colors. These images from Roses in Bloom look just as fantastic in these monochrome creams as they would in red!

Thank you again for another outstanding week of this program. Your contributions are so appreciated!

Would you like the opportunity to be chosen for the Big Cheese? Add your direct links (please!) for your newly uploaded projects here in the WMS Forum, a new thread starts every Monday!

Have a great day!
Anya

...Nordic Winter

2011-11-07T23:26:00.002Z

ED - Joyce - M&S - lots of lovely colours..... it was a week or two ago, hope they still have some!

Katie...
A sad day today - Katie Renz lost her battle today and my heart is aching for her boys, her husband and her family - If you knew of Katie, you might like to know that the Swimming for Katie fundraising is still open, I know some folks are still contributing. See the link in the sidebar to the right. Be at peace Katie.

I made something!

I made this in a flash, had to, I am on short time this week again. A very close relative is in hospital and I very much need to be there for her. Orders are going out as normal thanks to my assistant and even shipping notes are getting out, but personal correspondence is slow, my apologies. We are scanning the emails for order related enquiries and if you have a general enquiry, may we direct you to our FAQ page where you may find the answer to your question, do scroll, it's a long page.

This is one of my favourite sets ever....I love it. Nordic Winter. I love the combination of borders that can be made by combining the single motifs with the ready made borders. I love it especially in red and white.

I happen to be in need of about a million little gifts for teachers, coaches, folks like that. I spotted these tea light holders in a local store, they were about £3 each and I bought a few. I filled mine with some chocolate balls covered in gold paper. It was so easy to dress them up with a simple belly band stamped with a border made up of the tree, the small heart and the skinny border.

The card was super simple too, just stamp a few borders together and trim out a card front. Mount it on a card blank and pop on a sentiment. I used a circular sentiment from Candy Jar Christmas. I punched it out and popped it up on a mat that was covered in the gold paper from a 'spare' sweetie. This way it matches the gift.

Just one colour of ink - Cherry Cobbler, white card, could it be any simpler?

Hope it tickles!

... Katie

2011-11-07T18:28:00.001Z

Folks if you didn't know already, Katie Renz has passed. My heart goes out to Kevin and the boys. If you didn't know Katie, you missed an angel.

Folks who feel so inclined may still donate to the swimming for Katie cause, you can see it in the sidebar on the right.

Day 4 and a CASE Competition!

2011-11-04T07:00:00.000Z

Welcome to day 4 of our November SOAP event. Today the ladies are showcasing the Waltzingmouse Stamps’ Christmas – Holiday stamp sets, as they have been for the past three days.

Today we invite you to participate in a CASE (Copy and Share Everything) competition. Here’s how it works: Find a card or project from any of the projects posted over the past few days by the WMS Design Team, CASE that project using Waltzingmouse Stamp images, and link it using the Inlinkz below this post. 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 November 10th at 8:00 AM which is 3 AM Eastern, 2 AM Central and Midnight, Pacific time. The winner will be announced on right here on November 11th.

If you are looking for more inspiration and plenty of ideas to CASE, just check out the projects that the rest of the Design Team has to share with you today. Their projects this week have been amazing.

...November - Day 3

2011-11-03T08:00:00.001Z

Good morning, and welcome to the third day of the November 2011 SOAP (Stamp of Approval Parade).

The Design Team is really doing a bang up job providing lots of holiday inspiration, don’t you think? I hope you are ready for even more Christmas cheer as you stop by their blogs today. You’re sure to walk away with lots of ideas and plenty of creative ways to use Waltzingmouse Stamps!

Anya Schrier
Becca Feeken
Clare Buswell
Julia Aston
Jennifer Holmes
Kate Whelan
Kelly Schirmer
Lynn Mercurio
Mona Pendleton
Sandie Dunne
Tosha Leyendekker

The Big Cheese of the Week

2011-11-02T19:30:00.000Z

Hi there!

I hope you have been enjoying the November SOAP so far. Are you maybe starting to feel just a little Christmasey??

I'm here to share this week's Big Cheese winners. We had a ton of new players this week, and I want to welcome each and every one of you! It was so good to have you join us, and I hope you will continue to do so!

It is so exciting to look at all of your creations each week, and I feel like I can tell when you guys have had a happy visit from Royal mail! This week there were lots of cards using the sets released in October. Aren't they fabulous?

This week's winner, Geraldine McCormick, created a clean, simple card that just really struck a chord with me.

I love the non-traditional Christmas color scheme, but still feel all warm and fuzzy from this one. There has been lots of chit chat as to how on trend this Nordic Winter set is right now, and Geraldine has put together a great combination of images. The simple design would be great for holiday cards: easily reproducible (and realistic - my grand ideas always seem to get out of hand, kwim?), totally customizable, you could skip the gems for easy mailing, and totally adorable! What could be better than that?

Geraldine, your card will be added to the Big Cheese highlight album in the WMS Gallery. Please send me an email and I will provide you with a discount code for $10 off (the price of a small set!!) your next Waltzingmouse Stamps purchase.

Raise your hand if you love shaped cards. Yep, me too! They are so fun. Check out this cutie from Cathy Weber.

Um, hand stamped plaid patterned paper on a sailboat? Love it! Cathy combined Off Beat Backgrounds and Pic-Nic Patterns to create this first birthday card. Great one, Cathy!

Finishing us off today is a card from Pauline Pollington that has a simple design, but tons of dimension!

The flowers are from Sewing Box - Hugs and were stamped on different patterned papers, cut out, and layered. Wouldn't a Christmas version using Big Blooms - Poinsettia be really pretty, too? I just really like the impact the colors have on the white background, and the fancy edge to the card. Another beautiful creation, Pauline!

You ladies are just amazing! Thank you so much for your hard work and contributions to the WMS Gallery! We're so glad you're a part of it!

Would you like the opportunity to be chosen for the Big Cheese? Add your direct links (please!) for your newly uploaded projects here in the WMS Forum, a new thread starts every Monday!

Have a great day!
Anya

...November Day 2

2011-11-02T08:00:00.001Z

Good morning! It's Day 2 of the November SOAP Event - are you taking notes??? there will be a comp at the end....

Did you see what these ladies made for yesterday? if not scroll down to the previous post! you are missing some incredible Christmas inspiration if you don't!

Anya Schrier
Becca Feeken
Julia Aston
Jennifer Holmes
Kelly Schirmer
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynn Mercurio
Mona Pendleton
Sandie Dunne
Tosha Leyendekker

...November Soap

2011-11-01T07:03:00.033Z

Good morning and welcome to November SOAP!

November is a Stamp of Approval Parade month and we've decided to have a Christmas free for all! our DT ladies are providing 4 days of superb Christmas inspiration featuring their favourite stamps from all our Christmas sets to date.

Christmas is huge at WMS and our most recent release featured 6 new Christmas sets, you can see them here.

here's who's got eye candy today!

Anya Schrier
Becca Feeken
Julia Aston
Jennifer Holmes
Kelly Schirmer
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynn Mercurio
Mona Pendleton
Sandie Dunne
Tosha Leyendekker

I hope to get in on the action later this week, I still have samples to show, but it's been a whirl since the release and an unexpected event at home, so i'm not quite up to speed yet, but in the meantime get your notepads out, this is one awesome Design Team!!

...Hallowe'en...

2011-11-01T00:37:00.002Z

If you celebrate Halloween, I wish you a happy and safe evening, if not, I have a little story for you anyhow. It's been an eventful week here with a close relative ending up in hospital so there's not much by way of craft to share with you, but I took this picture one summer in Ireland and I was reminded of the story to go with it as I was looking through some pictures earlier...

If you believe in such things, there is a house in Ireland where strange things happen, I'm not saying that this is the house. It might be, but then again, it might not.

It might be the case that the house lay empty for over 80 years, and that nothing in it changed. It may well be due to the remoteness of the place that nothing is missing, nearly a century after it was abandoned. Tea cups still sit on the dresser, paper still lines the walls and curtains still hang. The glass in the windows is unbroken, the chimneys still stand.

The northern Donegal coast takes a beating from high wind and a few of the roof slates did eventually give way, but when Michael presses his nose up against the glass, he can still see the dining room table is set for dinner. He imagines the mice have a quare time of it here, but then, there is no evidence of mice, no gnawing of boards, no scratching of floors. No birds nest in the gutter. No cats prowl. Nothing alights on the roof even though the nearby trees are alive with rooks.

A quarter of a mile away is a school, a village, a community, liveliness and noise, but here there is silence, always silence.

Michael visits regularly, intrigued by the oddity. He imagines buying the place. Such potential, it would be a fabulous home. Beautiful fretwork on the bargeboards, high ceilings, generously proportioned rooms. Yet, he is unable to discover who owns the house. He contacts all the local auctioneers, but nobody knows, he speaks to the folks in the cottages nearby, but again nobody knows who owns it now.

Turns out that it once belonged to a Minister, reputedly from Scotland, but no-one can remember what happened to him. He is remembered to have been a colourful fellow, often in the company of women of substance.

Undeterred, Michael talks to his solicitor in Dublin who agrees to look into it for him and a a year or so passes before he hears any news.

Inbetween times Michael visits the house at least once a month, driving up alone from Dublin and staying at a local B&B, doing a little fly-fishing and taking some photographs, the surrounding area is quite beautiful and Michael feels at home. He feels he has found his place in the scheme of things and is getting impatient, indeed anxious to buy the property and have it restored. He has an eye for details and often takes photos around the house. He has the time to indulge his dreams as Michael is not married and is in the happy position of being a man of independent income, his mother Isobel having been the last of the Kilkenny Butlers, her entire wealth passing to him, her only son, some years before upon her demise.

He has not dared enter the house, simply because it is locked, no windows are open and no doors are ajar. Breaking the glass to gain entry would be beneath him and so he explores the house only with his eyes from outside. The main entrance to the house has been fully concreted and Michael mourns the loss of what must have been a magnificent doorway, but never mind, he will see that it is fully restored once it is his.

His favourite room is the dining room, the heavy oak furniture is still intact, and must, he hopes, come with the house. The very plates are still on the dresser and must be worth a few hundred pounds on their own. Not that he will sell them, they belong here, just as he feels he does.

One Friday evening after a particularly nice drive up in warm sunshine Michael is rather uncomfortable to notice a newspaper lying on the dining room table when he looks through the window. He had not noticed it before, and feels sure that he would have. He can see no evidence of any of the doors or windows being opened and so he decides that he must have simply not noticed it before. Its presence bothers him and he goes back up to the house after dinner to take another look. The newspaper is folded over but he can just make out a photograph on the front. It shows an older woman in what looks like old fashioned mourning dress. The lady's features are hard to make out, the writing impossible, so Michael, upon whom no grass grows, as his mother was fond of saying, decides to take a few photographs.

Just after lunchtime on Monday in his Dublin home, Michael pops his head into the office of his personal secretary and asks James if he has been able to glean any details from the photos that were taken over the weekend. James, who is sitting in front of a 24 inch computer monitor turns to Michael, open mouthed, revealing a digitally enhanced image of an August 2011 newspaper on the computer screen, The image is of a Mrs Isobel Butler and the caption records that Mrs Butler mourns the passing of her only son Michael in a tragic accident during renovations at a Donegal Manse.

Michael never visits Donegal again.

...slight delay

2011-10-31T15:56:00.002Z

I am currently running about 1-2 days behind with shipping as a close family member was taken into hospital over the weekend, I hope to be back up to speed by Wednesday. Orders are going out, albeit around a day later than normal and shipping notes are slow. I thank you for your patience at this time.

...Forum...

2011-10-28T11:10:00.001+01:00

The Forum is temporarily down while I make some adjustments to do with bandwidth, I apologise for the inconvenience, we hope to be back up soon!

The Big Cheese of the Week

2011-10-26T08:00:00.001+01:00

Good morning everyone!

I hope your week is going well. Thanks to all of you that shared your Waltzingmouse Stamps projects with us!

We're kicking this week off with our Big Cheese winner, Carola Dolder!

I love the simple joy of Carola's card. Featuring a classic Christmas red and white, the jar of candy canes from Candy Jar Christmas Fillers is the perfect centerpiece. With the embossed red strip to ground it, those candy canes (such fussy cutting skill!) look good enough to eat! I need to break this set out! Do you have it yet? I'd love to see what you come up with.

Carola, your card will be added to the Big Cheese highlight album in the WMS Gallery. Please send me an email and I will provide you with a discount code for $10 off (the price of a small set!!) your next Waltzingmouse Stamps purchase.

I loved Helen Berry's cheery get well card.

A beautiful combination of patterns and textures, Helen's card would certainly brighten my day. My take away from this one? More stamping on patterned paper!! I love how this label from Rescue Remedies looks on the yellow gingham paper. The multi-colored flowers and pearl stick pin perfectly compliment the design. Gorgeous!

Finishing us off this week is a scrumptious morsel from Laurie Jones.

So much rich vibrancy to this fall card. For starters, the burlap is spot-on trendy and just looks great paired with this image. The basket is perfectly put together, built using just that one tiny leaf from Bountiful Baskets Additions and with select leaves popped up for dimension. Inking the label die-cut while still in the die has created a beautiful soft border around the image. A show-stopper, Laurie!

You ladies are just amazing! Thank you so much for your hard work and contributions to the WMS Gallery! We're so glad you're a part of it!

Would you like the opportunity to be chosen for the Big Cheese? Add your direct links (please!) for your newly uploaded projects here in the WMS Forum, a new thread starts every Monday!

Have a great day!
Anya

...Christmas Cottage

2011-10-24T21:11:00.000+01:00

I think it's ok for me to put this up now, it's a wee card I did that was featured in a UK mag recently, I used A Cottage Christmas and SU inks. I find that SU inks are not great for colouring with copics unless I clear emboss them, but I do love the colours and so I stamped the cottage (Cherry cobbler...), and used a piece of clean sponge to smooch the image. I smooched a lot, until the image was completely covered in a soft pink glow. Then I was able to use some of my paler copic markers to add a little touch of colour.

Smooching like that meant that there was less ink on the lines and so the image bled less that it normally would have and left me with a lovely soft, smoky image. I liked the effect.

The background mat was stamped with snowflakes from Very Vintage Christmas in Antique Linen distress ink, the ribbon is also from SU, love that stripey stuff!

Hope it tickles!

October Blog Waltz Review and Winners Announced

2011-10-20T08:00:00.000+01:00

The Waltzingmouse Stamps team was so impressed and amazed with the creative projects of those who participated in the Friends of Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Waltz this past Monday. We are please to share some of those great projects with you, just in case you happened to miss then..

Cathy Weber showed us how beautiful a home-decorated candle bring the season into our homes. She used Bountiful Basket Additions and Flourishes-Scallops and Dots to make this candle.

Laurie Jones used Spring Baskets and Bountiful Baskets Additions to create this lovely iconic image of Fall. The great texture of the burlap die cut adds to the earthy feel of this great card. Notice how she stamped the circle rope image from the Very Vintage Labels 3 set. It's the small touches that add so much detail to a project, and these circle rope images make these button embellishments stand out.

Pat used Blessed by You and Teeny Trees to create this autumnal creation filled with lovely leaves layered on this plaid background. Great dimension adds to the design to give it a real 3D look and feel.

All the projects were awesome, and as promised, we selected one random winner from all those who participated in the Waltz. That lucky winner is: Karen Haman . Congratulations Karen! Please e-mail Claire at claire.brennan1@ntlworld.com with your mailing address and you set of choice and she will make sure that it gets to you.

Last, but not lease, we also selected one commenter who posted their answer to the following question: What are are MOST grateful for?

The winning comment came from craftymom205 who said:

"I am thankful for a husband that loves me and allows me to craft. I am also thankful for may family and that I have a job right now."

Please follow the same directions above to acquire your free stamp set.

There are so many things that we can find to be thankful for if we only take a moment to think about it. Being thankful for what we already have is probably the most powerful tool of positive thinking. The ability to notice what we already have, and to consider ourselves blessed with it, truly unlocks the door to abundance and to feeling good.

And a BIG thank you to everyone who participated and commented. YOU are what makes these Friends of Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Waltz events so much fun and so inspiring.

Have a great day!

The Big Cheese of the Week .. times 2!

2011-10-19T08:00:00.009+01:00

Hi there! I'm here to bring you this week's installment of the Big Cheese of the Week! I hope you have brought along a warm beverage, because this week we're sharing double the fun with our winners from both this week and last week (which were postponed due to the release)! Thank you all for your support during the release - I can't wait until I start to see your creations with these new sets showing up in the Gallery.

Let's start with the Big Cheese winner for this week, Elizabeta!

Lots of lovely layers on this one! Combining die cut paper and fabric, Elizabeta has created a delightful card with lots of dimension and texture. I love the popped up presents from Bountiful Baskets Additions. The red and cream together are such a rich color combination, too.

Elizabeta, your card will be added to the Big Cheese highlight album in the WMS Gallery. Please send me an email and we will provide you with a discount code for $10 off (the price of a small set!!) your next Waltzingmouse Stamps purchase.

Kicking off our honorable mentions for this week is Cathy Weber with a creation she shared for the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge.

Love the layered plaid bird and that cute little clip! The repeated sentiment background looks fab, too!

Our next honorable mention is from one of our 'regulars' - Jeanne Jachna!

Jeanne, I need you to teach me how to tie a bow like that - its gorgeous! A classic Halloween card, I love all the details Jeanne included.. did you see the little witchy tag?

Ladies, thank you all for your participation this week. What fun to peruse the Gallery! Now don't leave too quickly, here are our shout outs from the week of October 3rd.

Helen Berry was our Big Cheese for this week... I snuck Helen a little note so that she had her discount code for the new release. Helen, tell us what you picked!

Helen's tag just oozes Christmas! I love how she combined a number of different WMS sets as well as dies and materials. Red and green are easy colors to combine for Christmas, but Helen used just the right proportion of each to create a great balance on this tag - right down to the red and green striped scarf on the snowman!

We're following a bit of a theme for our honorable mentions this week. It just so happened that these ladies all used the new Cottage sets on their creations. Just look at the inspiration!

Carola Dolder created this cozy winter scene using A Cottage Christmas.

This is so cute! And the coloring is outstanding! You're right, Carola, this house does look great with a red tile roof!

Our second cottage creation is from Kary Lim.

What a work of art! Be sure to check out all the details on this card, there is so much dimension. Kary, I can tell you don't get much snow for Christmas there on the equator, huh? ;)

And last but definitely not least is this card from JJ Bolton.

Isn't this great? Using the cottage to make a snow globe is such an inspired idea. This card makes me want to warm my hands by the fire, its perfectly frosty. Love the flourishes and sparkle!

Ladies, you are ALL outstanding! Thank you so much for your hard work and contributions to the WMS Gallery! We're so glad you're a part of it!

Would you like the opportunity to be chosen for the Big Cheese? Add your direct links (please!) for your newly uploaded projects here in the WMS Forum, a new thread starts every Monday!

Have a great day!

October DT Blog Waltz Wrap-Up and Winner Announced

2011-10-18T20:00:00.000+01:00

Hello, Lynn here. The October release was amazing. We can tell that you are ready to get started on your Christmas projects using the new 6 sets that were released on the 15th. The Design Team Blog Waltz, held Saturday, was so well attended and we are all appreciative for your support and comments. Today we are happy to announce the winner of a free set; selected from all the wonderful comments left on the Design Team blogs during the Blog Waltz. But before we make that announcement, I wanted to recap a few of the awesome designs that the Team whipped up for the release. First, a few creations from our Design Team.

Kelly J. Schirmer used 2011 Holiday Ornaments to create this great dimensional card. This set of ornaments is designed specifically to work with the 2011 Heirloom Ornaments from Spellbinders! The designs on these ornaments also co-ordinate with the Santa's coming to Town and the Nordic Winter sets. Excellent for making actual ornaments, or tags or dressing up cards and scrapbook pages in festive style!

Look at this beautiful gift set from Sandie Dunne using the popular Nordic Winter. This set, full of Scandinavian designs great for stamping borders in various combinations and colors in addition to creating your own borders with one of the 8 accompanying motif stamps.

What person could resist being VERY GOOD soul with a card reminding them that Santa’s Coming to Town This set is perfect for adding a little dash of nostalgia to your Christmas preparations. 3 main images, including a delightful cameo of the big guy himself, a beautifully detailed ornament (which happens to fit perfectly into one of this years 2011 Spellbinders Heirloom Ornaments die templates) and a stylish snowflake, great for focal points or even stamped repeatedly as a background. 6 fun sentiments complete the set. This adorable card is sure to bring a smile as we think about whether we should be on the “naughty” or “nice” list. HA!

And just take a look at this beautiful project using Seasonal Remedies; a Christmas set of labels with well known Holiday sentiments styled with a vintage flavor. These labels have a typographic style most commonly associated with old-world product labels. Suitable for all manner of Christmas gifts, these labels supply just the right amount of reverent humor to your Christmas gift giving. Becca Feeken designed this elegant card.

Jennifer Holmes whips up a sweet little card, easily duplicated, for a gentle reminder that the holidays will soon be here - counting the days until the 25th. Jennifer's use of Santa's Coming to Town. This set is perfect for adding a little dash of an old-time feel to your Christmas preparations. The set includes 3 main images, including a delightful cameo of the big guy himself; a beautifully detailed ornament (which happens to fit perfectly into one of this year’s 2011 Spellbinders Heirloom Ornaments die templates) and a stylish snowflake, great for focal points or even stamped repeatedly as a background as well as 6 fun sentiments complete the set.

It's so easy to dress up a glass jar transforming it from just a jar to a personalized gift using Candy Jar Christmas. This wonderful project, created by Clare Buswell demonstrates how beautiful a jar of sweets can be! This Candy jar Christmas set pays homage to Mrs. Claus and her sweet shop skills. Featuring a ready filled jar of peppermint candy, this large set has all manner of stamps to help you sweeten up your Christmas preparations.

Niki Estes shows off the adorable jar and one of the many fillers in Candy Jar Christmas Fillers set. This delicious set contains one empty jar and enough fillers to stock a small store; peppermint candy sticks, canes, balls and gingerbread men! Also included is an official Mrs. Claus label, a bow, two styles of jar lid, 10 sentiments and 4 little supporting goodies! Fill 'em up!

Fantastic, aren't they? OK, I won't make you want any longer to announce the Blog Waltz Comment winner. The name drawn randomly from Mona Pendleton’s blog and that winner is:

#54 Sue Nader

Congratulations, Sue. We hope you enjoyed the DT Blog Waltz. To claim your free set, please send your contact information and your set choice in an e-mail to Claire at: Claire.brennan1@ntlworld.com. The hardest part will be deciding WHICH set you will choose.

We would like to thank you all for making this such an amazing release.

...Mrs Claus

2011-10-18T10:43:00.002+01:00

Good morning!

How are you all?? Me? I'm packing and shipping, the release was big, and I mean BIG. Just in case you didn't know we released 6 new sets here on Saturday and Good Grief, Nordic Winter...wow...I cannot wait to see what you guys all get up to with that set!!!! - And we'll be giving you the opportunity to show it off very soon....

Meantime, here's a wee card I didn't get to put up during the release, hoping to get a few of my samples up on the blog this week while I'm otherwise engaged with stuffing envelopes!

I used the silhouette of Mrs Claus herself from Candy Jar Christmas. It's no secret that Christmas is my favourite Season, I love everything about it and everything it stands for. Admittedly with young kids in the house there's a lot of secular stuff going on and I'm more than happy to indulge in the frills and trimmings while they are all wee, but we try not to lose sight of the Baby in the manger and I love Christmas as much for the opprtunity for reflection that it seems to bring as anything else.

One of my favourite WMS events last year was a 'Nice List' event, where we asked folks to leave a comment to tell us about somebody who had been extra nice to them, or who had helped them in some way, somebody that should be on Santa's Nice List. Reading the answers made a big impression on me and I'm keen to do that again this year. We'll run that event at the beginning of November.

We'll also be running a tag competition again this year, also in November so be sure to get your thinking caps on, it won't be long!

Back to the card, I used the Nordic Winter set to make a cosy knitted style background, see below, and I embossed some fine rock salt into some white card and then sponged all over with Victorian Velvet distress ink to get that front panel, I thought it added a nice snowy feel... It's trimmed out with a Postage stamp die. The circular sentiment is from the same Candy Jar Christma set and was trimmed out with a circle die, but they also work with 1.5 inch circular punches. Mrs Claus herself was stamped with a distress ink, love the texture you get with distress inks. If you prefer a more even coverage, I can recommend Versacolour inks, fab detail, smooth even coverage.

Just a wee note about embossing random stuff on your machine - many thin things such as pieces of string and crystals of salt can be run successfully through an embossing machine, but be sure to try a little test grain, or tiny bit first, and go gingerly, as you never quite know what the machine is capable of handling and it is possible to break a machine of any kind by trying to emboss something which is too thick.

for more on the salt embossing see this post.

Hope it tickles.

October Friends of Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Waltz

2011-10-17T08:00:00.000+01:00

Hi, Lynn here inviting you to join in the monthly Friends of Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Waltz. If you are new to the Blog Waltz, or have never even heard of it, you can get most all the general details right here.

Although we call this a "blog waltz," we have some players who use an online gallery for their linked entry, so even if you don't run a blog, you can still participate. For a complete list of the players participating in this month’s Waltz, just click here to be directed to the forum. What? You aren’t registered on the WMS forum? Well, that’s easily remedied, and it only takes a moment. Check it out here.

This month our theme is Gratitude/Thanksgiving! We all have things that we are blessed with and it’s fun to share those thoughts with others with card designs and scrapbook pages.

Playing along in the monthly Friends of Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Waltz is not only fun, but could earn you a free WMS stamp set. Come visit us and see what all the excitement is about.

...New stamps for October

2011-10-15T19:00:00.109+01:00

ED-Snowbear - I am sorry the 2011 ornaments don't work with the 2010 dies, I am sorry. They were specifically designed for this years dies, the 2011's.

Good evening (or early morning, sorry Australia and Malaysia!) and welcome to the October release at Waltzingmouse Stamps!

If you are new to us, we design and produce clear stamps made from the best quality photopolymer (that's the good stuff) and today we are releasing 6 new sets!!! Welcome! We hope you find lots of creative inspiration!

There is 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!

Today the ladies will be showing the final sets, Candy Jar Christmas and Candy Jar Christmas - Fillers, be sure to visit them all and Don't forget to comment, there are prizes!

Commenting Prize

You have until October 17th (11:59 PM, 5:5 9AM Central, 3:59 AM Pacific and 6:59 AM Eastern in US) to comment on as many of the Design Team blogs as possible because a winner will be selected at that time from one of the Design Team members’ blogs to win a Waltzingmouse Stamp set of choice. The winner will be announced on the 18th here on my blog.

Below is a link list of your dance partners for our Release Day waltz! (ED - A couple of our links are a little awry, please bear with us while we square everything up)

Remember - FREE standard shipping for orders over £50 to Everywhere, yes, you're included! (approx $79.00 USD, $79.86 CAD, $76.43 AUD, €57.00 Euros, rate subject to change) and if you don't need £50 GBP worth of stamps today you might be interested to know that shipping one set to US costs around $4.27 USD. We ship our stamps out from our company base here in Northern Ireland. Please note our free standard shipping offer does not include tracking.

And here are the New goodies for October

Please note ladies that I have slightly changed the way I display the drawings so that you can see all images at the correct angle. I used to display the sets as they were laid out on the carrier sheet, and given that I love to stuff as many stamps into a set as I can, some images appeared at odd angles or even upside down!! From now on everything will be shown right side up, so it will not always be obvious at first glance what size a set is. Please refer to the descriptions as the size is noted there.

2011 Holiday Ornaments - Nestie Friendly

Set size: 6 × 8 inches

A set of ornaments designed specifically to work with the 2011 Heirloom Ornaments Die templates from Spellbinders!

The designs on these ornaments also co-ordinate with the Santa's coming to Town and the Nordic Winter sets. Excellent for making actual ornaments, or tags or dressing up cards and scrapbook pages in festive style! The largest ornament is approx 3.3 inches square and the smallest ornament is approx 1.2 by 1 inch at the widest points. 19 stamps in total.
All images and stamp designs are Copyright © 2011 Waltzingmouse Stamps, Claire Brennan.

Santa's coming to Town

Set size: 6 × 4 inches

The Jolly Elf in the red suit is on his way! We couldn't resist adding a little vintage styling to this most iconic of Christmas images. Perfect for adding a little dash of antique to your Christmas preparations. 3 main images, including a delightful cameo of the Big guy himself, a beautifully detailed ornament (which happens to fit perfectly into one of this years 2011 Spellbinders Heirloom Ornaments die templates) and a stylish snowflake, great for focal points or even stamped repeatedly as a background. 6 fun sentiments complete the set.

The snowflake stamp measures 1.69 inches tall by 1.4 inches wide. The 'No peeking' sentiment measures 1.9 inches wide by 0.6 inches tall.
All images and stamp designs are Copyright © 2011 Waltzingmouse Stamps, Claire Brennan

Candy Jar Christmas

Set size:6 × 8 inches

I absolutely could not have Christmas without Mrs Santa Claus. I don't know if she's big in your house, but we've even had letters from her on occasion. Traditionally (in my house anyhow) Mrs Claus runs the confectionary side of things up North and can be found in the kitchen making candy canes, gingerbread cookies and all of those associated goodies. This Candy jar Christmas set pays homage to her skills. Featuring a ready filled jar of peppermint candy, this large set has all manner of stamps to help you sugar up your Christmas prep. Build a wish list, stamp approval, sweeten your tags and cards with peppermint magic! Mrs Claus herself is there too, a tasteful cameo of the great lady, styled to match Mr Claus in the Santa's coming to Town set.

The circular sentiments are easily punched out with a 1.5 inch punch or a similar sized circle die.
A companion set to Candy Jar Fillers, if 'sweet' is your thing, you can go candy crazy this year!

In the bottom left of the graphic, you can see how easy it is to build a notebook style image - use it with the sentiments to make lists, Recipe, wish list, things to do....whatever tickles...

The filled jar measures just under 2 inches wide by just under 3 inches tall. The 'sweet shoppe' sentiment measures 2.18 inches wide by just under a third of an inch tall..

Candy Jar Christmas

Set size:6 × 8 inches

A companion set to Candy Jar Christmas!

Of course one jar was never going to be enough for me...I have a sweet tooth! So, this toothsome set contains one empty jar and enough fillers to stock a small store, peppermint candy sticks, canes, balls and gingerbread men! A official Mrs Santa Claus label, a bow, two styles of jar lid, 10 sentiments and 4 little supporting goodies! Fill 'em up!

This set also features a little line stamp - you can see it there on the bottom - it just looks like a curved line, but this handy doodad, is just the finish you need, should you wish your jar to be left open, for example if you decide to stamp the oversized candy canes in the jar, see our examples, and my blog for directions with this.

The jar plus lid measures around just under 2 inches wide by just under 3 inches tall when stamped. The single gingerbread man is just over 1.5 inches tall by just under an inch wide.

Nordic Winter

Set size:6 × 8 inches

A Nordic themed stamp set. Are you a fan of Scandinavian design? I am, I love the simple shapes, clean cut images, and I especially love them in knitted items. We took extra care to ensure that when you stamp with this set, you will achieve a realistic knitted texture, each tiny 'stitch' is shaped to recreate that home knit feeling. A great set for experimenting with, stamping borders in various combinations and colours and creating your own borders with one of the 8 accompanying motif stamps. Or simply use one of the motifs stamped simply to quickly create striking, minimal tags and cards. The borders in this set are extra long as usual, the shortest being 6.29 inches long. easily long enough to stamp a full length border on a standard (US 4.25x5.5inch) card without having to repeat.

The double heart border measures 6.29 inches wide by 0.62 inches tall. The single reindeer is 0.93 inches square.

Seasonal Remedies

Set size:6 × 8 inches

A Christmas set of labels with a difference. Well loved Holiday sentiments styled with a vintage flavour, these labels have a typographic style most commonly associated with olde-worlde product labels. Suitable for all manner of Christmas gifts, these labels supply just the right amount of reverent humour to your Christmas gift giving.

This is a companion set to our hugely popular Rescue Remedies, and it contains 6 different label shapes, two square, which work with various Spellbinder square dies (or are very simply trimmed out with a ruler/gillotine) One rectangular label which co-ordinates with the Largest die in Small Labels set (also Spellbinders) One label which is good with a Spellbinders Labels 4 die. One oval label which fits inside the rectangular stamp, or will work with varios Spellbinders ovals, and two smaller labels which are roughly rectangular and will work with labels/tags of all kinds. £ supporting sentiments and 2 small decorative motifs complete this large set.

The Joy label measures 2.17 inches square. The crown measures 0.8 inches wide by just under a half inch tall.

Hope they tickle!!!

Shipping Information

Our usual order turnaround is 24-48 hours but please note that at release time the volume of orders may mean our turnaround is a little slower than normal, please allow up to 3-4 days for your order to be processed, but rest assured shipping is our priority.

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 but be advised that it may be a few days before I can reply.

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.

...winner of the October Release!

2011-10-15T18:47:00.000+01:00

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen!

I scanned through the comments and I need to see that gingerbread bow, the embroidered dishtowels and a million other things - I will be back to read them all in detail later - a great list of gift ideas in these comments!!!!!

But, in the meantime, by random number generator thingy.....The winner of our October stamp sets is:

DooDuhh who said...

Hi There!!! I enjoy giving little homemade items...stationery, cross-stitch ornaments, note cards, etc., something unique!!! I think it's much more personal if gifts are handmade!!! And...I like receiving handmade gifts, too!!! All the sets are exquisite, but I am in love with Nordic Winter. It makes me feel warm & snuggly!!! Thank You for the chance to win!!!
Loves & Hugs

lol, I love your 'screen name' DooDuhh... Congratulations - you win all 6 sets!!!!!! pop me an email with your name and addy details on claire.brennan1@ntlworld.com and we'll get your goodies all wrapped up!!!

...October release schedule

2011-10-15T00:42:00.001+01:00

EDIT- This competition is now closed, thanks to all who left fabby ideas for gifts!!!

Good evening! Tomorrow we release 6 new clear photopolymer stamp sets!!

They are:

Seasonal Remedies - large set

Santa's coming to town - small set

Nordic Winter - large set

2011 Holiday Ornaments - large set

Candy Jar Christmas - large set

Candy Jar Christmas Fillers - large set

So far the DT ladies have brought the house down with their samples for the first 4 sets and tomorrow, on the release waltz, you will see samples for the last two sets, my personal favourites...next to Nordic Winter...

Just in case you are new here, and even if you're a regular, I thought you might like a little schedule of what's happening when, times are all local to me - to see what time it is where I am, see the clock on the right:

6:00PM - the Store will close to allow final adjustments

6:30PM - the winner of the competition (see end of this post) will be announced here on the blog

7:00PM - the New Stamps for October post will go live on this blog, there will be more fabulous samples from the DT

7:15PM - the Store will re-open.

And FYI

7:00PM in 19 September my time is approximately equal to:

In the USA - 11:00 am Pacific, 12:00 pm Mountain, 1:00 pm Central, 2:00 pm Eastern

In Australia - October 16th, 4:00am (sorry ladies!!)

In Canada - British Columbia 11:00AM, Ontario 2:00PM. Nova Scotia 3:00PM
In Germany - 8:00PM

In Netherlands - 8:00PM
In South Africa 8:00PM

In Malaysia - October 16th, 2:00am (sorry ladies!!)

In Russia, Moscow - 10:00PM

And, just in case you are wondering what happened to my samples today, I confess, I am fussy, the light was terrible and the light box and I are no longer on speaking terms ... at some point during the day I had to move on to getting the store set up and so I'll be showing my samples after the release is open.

Competition

Anyhow, now seems like a grand old time to start the competition - I will let it run until tomorrow at 6:00pm my time

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment here, tell me what you most like to give at Christmas. I love to give food gifts, I always imagine the recipient in a quiet moment savouring crumbly shortbread or enjoying a cookie in the peace of the house once the wee folks are all in bed - what do you like to give?

A random commenter will be chosen to receive the complete October stamp release!!! all 6 sets!

tickle tickle!

...Santa's coming! WMS Release day 3

2011-10-14T10:02:00.000+01:00

Ladies, I am struggling with lighting. I will return later with my samples, please bear with me and check out the DT - these girls are leaving me speechless with their creations!! I don't have enough eyes....

Anya Schrier
Becca Feeken
Belinda Chang Langner
Clare Buswell
Julia Aston
Jennifer Holmes
Kate Whelan
Kelly Schirmer
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynn Mercurio
Mona Pendleton
Niki Estes
Sandie Dunne
Tosha Leyendekker

...Nordic Winter

2011-10-13T18:11:00.000+01:00

My friend left these adorable little hearts in my craft room, I'm not sure if she meant to, but since she wasn't here I figured they were fair game. Perfect for adding a little seasonal flourish too with the new Nordic Winter set...

The girls have been previewing this set all day while I struggled with awful lighting... here is the link list:

Anya Schrier
Becca Feeken
Belinda Chang Langner
Julia Aston
Jennifer Holmes
Kate Whelan
Kelly Schirmer
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynn Mercurio
Mona Pendleton
Niki Estes
Sandie Dunne
Tosha Leyendekker

These little hearts are wooden, and well sanded with lovely smooth surfaces, they were crying out to be stamped...

I used SU Cherry Cobbler.... at the moment there is no other red.

Next I switched to more muted colours to make this simple tree card. I cut out 5 medium sized banner shapes with Spellbinders Banner dies. I folded them in the centre and adhered them back to back to make this little tree. Hot glued a tin star at the top and added a simple sentiment, also from Nordic Winter.

I love stamping the borders from Nordic Winter in different combinations and I decided to make some table top trees with the banner dies in just the same way as I made the card, I always think of Nordic style as being simple and though these stamps are detailed, they maintain that simple style, especially if you stamp them in single colours.

There are limitless combinations in which to stamp the borders and motifs to create unique pieces with that Nordic Knitted feel. I am barely scratching the surface with these examples and I look forward to really getting my teeth into this set!

A little tip for lining up the borders on your block:
If you lay the largest border down, on the table, stamping side down and just step back a moment, it will fall naturally into a straight line, you can then lay out any of the thinner borders beside it and just push them up beside the thicker border, then lay the clear block on top of them, see the pics below.

Hope it tickles.

...Introducing Nordic Winter

2011-10-13T09:29:00.001+01:00

Good morning!! Today we're sampling another new set Nordic Winter. I'll be back later today with mine, but here is the list of DT gals with their fabby creations!!

Anya Schrier
Becca Feeken
Belinda Chang Langner
Julia Aston
Jennifer Holmes
Kate Whelan
Kelly Schirmer
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynn Mercurio
Mona Pendleton
Niki Estes
Sandie Dunne
Tosha Leyendekker
Claire Brennan (Owner)

Katie update

2011-10-12T15:32:00.001+01:00

Folks I just heard news that Katie Renz is in hospital today, this lady is fighting hard for her life. I know that many of you have already been along to the Swimming for Katie event (two posts back) but please, would you mind visiting the event, praying, sending positive vibes, whatever positive contribution you are able to make. I'll put up proper links when I get home, but you can get all the info if you scroll back two posts. Thank you.

Click here:

...Seasonal Remedies, Christmas Cheer (2nd post)

2011-10-12T11:32:00.000+01:00

This is my second post for today - there are lots of things I'd like to show you about the Seasonal Remedies stamps that we are just about to release!!!!

If you are new here, we'll be releasing 6 new sets on Saturday - shipping will begin on Monday, and the stamps are all Christmas themed! Christmas is my very favourite time of year and if I thought I could get away with it, I'd make Christmas stamps all year long...lol.

This card shows one of the square labels. I stamped in black Versafine ink - I have found this to be the very best ink for detailed stamps, and when I want the details to be pin sharp, this is the ink I reach for time and time again.

I immediately sprinkled over some clear embossing powder and used the heat tool to set it. This means that the image appears nice and glossy, but has the added benefit of making the ink so stable that I can use copic markers without ear of bleeding!!! Yay!

I added a couple of mats - one being the delicious Spellbinders Lace Doily motif.....LOVE that fine detailed die. The black mat was cut with the square postage stamp die, also Spellbinders.

A little stitching to finish. At Athlone recently a lady was asking about stitching on card, and I know a lot of folks worry that putting card through their machine will ruin it, but I was told by somebody in the know, that if you use a jeans needle (ie a really sharp fine one), it really won't damage the sewing machine and so that is what I do.

I love the detail on these labels, and I love to colour them, but at Christmas time, I just know I may not have time to spend a long time prepping tags and cards and so I really designed these images so that they can stand alone, without any tweaking. An example of a Stamp-and-Go tag is shown below - no fuss, just stamp, add ribbon and the tag is finished. I used a Labels 4 die (Spellbinders) to trim out my tag and I could easily die cut a batch of a dozen of these and have them all stamped and ribboned within a half hour.

If you have not seen todays earlier post, scroll down for the list of DT gals who are also sharing samples with me today!!

Hope it tickles!

...Introducing Seasonal Remedies...

2011-10-12T08:00:00.007+01:00

Good Morning! We began showing peeks a few days ago for our October sets!! Yesterday we took a break to participate in the Swimming for Katie event, and if you have not already done so, please take a look at this event here.

Today we begin showing samples of what we've been up to with the new stamps. Let me tell you right away that this month it's all about Christmas!!! we have 6 sets. I love designing Christmas stamps, I think about them all year long and I have shuffled our bimonthly release plan to let me get these out in good time for Christmas. In November we'll have a recap event which will provide folks with ideas and inspiration for Christmas crafting with these and older sets.

Today I'm kicking off with a very special set - it's a close relative of the Rescue Remedies set, it's called Seasonal Remedies and is a set of label designs that are going to be perfect for Christmas gift giving. Presenting time honored Christmas sentiments in a new and unusual way, this set will make tags and cards super easy.

Heavily typographic and beautifully detailed, these are stamps look fabby simply stamped if you are in a hurry, or you can take time to experiment a little with colouring and embossing etc.

This large set contains 7 label designs, 3 supporting sentiment stamps and two decorative motifs. % of the labels are based around square or rectangle shapes and are so easy to trim out even without dies.

For my first card today I stamped one of the square labels in versamark onto kraft paper and clear embossed it. Then I trimmed it out with a Spellbinders square die template (Classic Squares small), added a vellum mat (Scalloped squares die, also Spellbinders) and mounted it onto an embossed card base (Spellbinders impressabilities), a little button and some tiny die cut holly leaves and I was happy.

I should be back later with more samples, but in the meantime, I invite you to take a peep at what the ladies have been up to!!

Anya Schrier

Beeca Feeken

Julia Aston
Belinda Chang Langner

Jennifer Holmes

Kate Whelan

Kelly Schirmer

Laurie Schmidlin

Lynn Mercurio

Mona Pendleton

Niki Estes

Sandie Dunne

Sarah Martina Parker

Tosha Leyendekker

...Swimming for Katie...

2011-10-11T05:00:00.001+01:00

Good morning! I have scheduled this post and I sure hope it's up at the right time!! Yesterday Kate at I(heart)papers began a huge blog hop in aid of Katie Renz, and today it's my turn to play along. You can read the details below, and I will just give a quick note on my card - I cut an aperture in a kraft card base and doodled around it in white gel pen, before mounting my copic coloured octopus image behind it, and a little more doodling with a kraft coloured copic on the image. I have known Katie for a while now and every time I think of her I'd love to give her a big hug, so it somehow seemed appropriate to spend some time doodling little hearts and arrows around this sweet image. I hope you can join in the fundraising efforts by spreading the word and maybe popping over to get yourself a cute stamp.

From October 10-12 some of the best stampers are joining together to support and encourage our friend and fellow stamper, Katie Renz, who is currently battling inoperable gastric cancer. If you're not familiar with her, Katie’s cancer story started just before Christmas last year. This young, beautiful, healthy, vibrant mother of 3 with her infectious smile was suddenly diagnosed with an inoperable cancer, virtually overnight. A few tummy aches and then stage 4 gastric cancer. Her first post about it is here. The idea of “Swimming for Katie” came from her recent post here.

This exclusive stamp used in my sample, designed by Becky Oehlers is available as a clear stamp, as well as a digis or a dig and SVG cut file. 100% of the profits go to Katie's fund to help her and her young family. Her husband Kevin and her three young children need our help and support. In addition to the Keep Swimming Octopus, Marianne Walker and True =D Doodle Designs both also donated digis that are for sale. Direct donations are also being accepted. Information central is HERE. This is a permanent page that will stay active at i {heart} papers with current information and the full 3 day blog hop listing, as well as the donation button.

Here are all the items available for sale.

Keep Swimming Octopus
Peachy Clear stamp
$5.50 with free shipping

Keep Swimming Octopus DIGIstamp
$3.00 with instant download

Keep Swimming Octopus DIGIstamp with SVG cut file
$3.50 with instant download

Keep Swimming Mermaid DIGIstamp
$3.50 with instant download

Keep Swimming Ribbon Fish DIGIstamp and DIGIpapers
$5.00 with instant download

I hope you will join me in supporting Katie through a purchase or donation. The following is a list of everyone who has projects posted today. I hope you will be inspired by them and moved to purchase or donate. If you would like to send Katie a card, her mailing address is:

Katie Renz
PO Box 5913
Bellingham, WA 98227-5913
Thank you!"

List of participants

Ashley Harris
Clare Buswell
Jessica Diedrich
Lisa Somerville
Charlene Merrick
Eva Dobilas
Judy Rozema
Sharon Doolittle
Tifany DeGough
Windy Robinson
Ashley Cannon Newell
Connie McCotter
Heidi Van Laar
Karen Maldonado
Lori Craig
Melissa Phillips
Tosha Leyendekker
Amy Kolling
Angela Thomas
Angelica Suarez
Angie Blom
Becky Oehlers
Betty Wright
Bev Gerard
Brenda Weaver
Carolyn King
Chari Moss
Charlene Driggs
Claire Brennan
Corinna McGregor
Craft Critique
Karen Hunsaker (Rubbernecker Stamps Designer)
Keely Yowler
Kelly Schirmer
Keri Lee Sereika
Kim Hughes
Kimber McGray
Kittie Caracciolo
Kristin Eberline
Wendy Price

...Katie on my mind...

2011-10-10T18:36:00.002+01:00

Head on over here for info on the ginormous blog hop that begins today for Katie and her folks. If you can pitch in to help, so much the better. I'll be taking part tomorrow, and I know there have been loads of insprational creations today already, so heck out the I(heart)papers blog for all of the deets. Hugs all.

...October yummies...

2011-10-09T15:34:00.000+01:00

Good afternoon! another little peeky of October goodies...and I do mean goodies.....

...October release is just around the corner...

2011-10-07T23:49:00.000+01:00

I don't know about you but for me, September went by in a blur! October is here and the wind is getting up, the leaves are falling and I seem to have bypassed Halloween, jumping straight into Christmas preparations!!!

I must admit, every year, I like to get a little start on Christmas in September/October and then I feel like I can relax and enjoy Halloween, knowing that part of Christmas at least is already under my belt!

Later this month I hope to bring you a round up of some of our best ideas for Halloween, but over the next couple of days I wanted to post a few peeks of what is coming up in our October release.

Yep, I know, technically speaking we shouldn't even be having an October release, but I shuffled the months as I have no fewer than 6 Christmas sets ready to go and, if you are anything like me, you need to start early to stand any chance of getting cards and gifts made in time!

November will be the month the DT showcases Christmas ideas and hopefully by then we'll all be well on the way to having some fabby stuff made for the holidays.

So we're aiming for an October 15th release, with peeks and samples before then.

Today's peek is of a set that could be described as a sister set to one of our most popular sets ever, Rescue Remedies...lots of typographic detailing, love this set.....

Big Cheese of the Week

2011-10-05T06:00:00.117+01:00

Hello and happy Wednesday - it's Lynn here, filling in for Anya, who is on a much needed and well-deserved vacation with her family. We couldn't let a week go by though without recognizing our BIG CHEESE for the week of September 26 through October 2. The Big Cheese program has been up and running for four months now, and if you haven't been participating, you may start today. The gorgeous submissions that have been added provides so mach inspiration to all who view the Waltzingmouse Stamps Gallery. Thanks for participating..

To be perfectly honest, I don't know how it's possible to select only one BIG CHEESE winner each week because the caliber of projects in the gallery are TOP SHELF. But even with the incredible number of amazing creations submitted this past week, I must select one, so may I introduce this week's Big Cheese?

This great CAS card from Tara Cardwell (also known as Craftilicious on the WMS forum) really caught my eye; not only for its simple and clean lines, but for the wonderful dimension that Tara achieved with her house from the A Cottage Christmas set. The sparkle of snow covered rooftop and window sills is just darling, and a card that would be fairly easy to replicate for multiple copies.

Tara, your card will be added to the Big Cheese highlight album in the WMS Gallery. Please send me an email and I will provide you with a discount code for $10 off (the price of a small set!!) your next Waltzingmouse Stamps purchase.

Kary Lim shared this fabulous round card using the You're Lovely set. The way that Kary stamped her image on the patterned paper, but made is stand out by adding more saturated color to the dress along with the outline making it really pop from the same background paper.

I'm loving all the round cards that were added to the gallery this week!

And last, but not lease is this special project from Pauline Pollington that would brighten the wall or shelf of any home.

Pauline created an adorable shadow box that uses a background image from Dainty Doilies, a happy little banner from Bitty Banners that spell out the name of the recipient using the Victorian Alphabet set.

Thank you ladies for your contributions this week. Would YOU like the opportunity to be chosen for the Big Cheese? Add your direct links (please!) for your newly uploaded projects to the Waltzingmouse Stamps gallery, here in the WMS Forum. A new thread starts every Monday!

Until next time, have a great day!

...back in stock

2011-10-04T12:50:00.001+01:00

Say it Loud Winter Holiday is back in stock, and we just got some batches of Vintage labels 18, Vintage Labels No. 2, Musical backgrounds, Rescue Remedies, Vintage Labels no. 10 and Say it with Style. We're doing stock taking today and so the store quantities should all be updated by the morning, but just wanted to let folks know that these are in the house...

We're still 'unpacking Athlone' and I want to try and get a wee post up about it soon!! back later!!

World Card Making Day Winner Announced

2011-10-03T12:00:00.000+01:00

Hi all, I hope that your World Card Making Day (weekend) was fun and fruitful. I was able to enjoy some shopping AND crafting time, which for me, amounts to a fabulous time. Thanks for all of your comments in response to my request to leave a comment either here, or on the WMS Facebook Page telling me what you are doing today to celebrate World Card Making Day, and I’ll select a lucky winner to receive a complimentary Join Us set. Nothing rounds out a great World Card Making Day like winning something, right? So let’s find out who wins this great set.

The winner is Carole Tillman Burrage, who said, “Gorgeous set! So many wonderful sentiments. For World Card Making Day, I've made and posted a card using WMS's Vintage Ornaments set, and then I placed an order at WMS! :)”. Congratulations, Carole. Sounds like you had a very productive World Card Making Day. Please shoot me an e-mail at lynn.mercurio@gmail.com, along with your mailing address, and I’ll get your set on its way to you. Thanks for being a part of the Waltzingmouse fans and for your comment.

The Mouse is Away, so Let’s Play!

2011-10-01T14:03:00.001+01:00

Happy World Card Making Day 2011! Claire is away at Athlone representing Waltingmouse Stamps, so while she is away from the mouse house, I though I would have a little give away. Shhhh….don’t RAT me out. Just leave a comment either here, or on the WMS Facebook Page telling me what you are doing today to celebrate World Card Making Day, and I’ll select a lucky winner to receive a complimentary Join Us set.

You have until Sunday night (Oct. 2) to leave your comment. I’ll select a winner and post the winner’s name right here.

Whatever your plans are for the day, I hope you will enjoy yourself and create something fun!

...and we're off

2011-09-30T11:24:00.000+01:00

We're going to Athlone today!! WMS first craft show!! lol!! if you're are going to be there, be sure come over to say Hi! Whatever you do, don't rely on me to recognise your FB profile pic or forum pic... I am short sighted at the best of times!!! I have been known to walk right past good friends!!

Orders on the store today will be shipping Monday, just so's you know! and I hope to be back on Monday with some snaps of our first trip!