... Gina K October Inspiration Blog Hop Day 3, don't forget your free cut files....

Afternoon folks and welcome to day 3 of our fabulous blog hop celebrating the new Gina K releases! Today, we are featuring Beth Silaika’s new Ian Moose stamp set and my stamp sets: Nordic Winter, Noel, Festive Foliage and Compliments of the Season.

Beth’s set, Ian Moose is the most adorable moose with cute accompanying images and fun sentiments! Gina reckons my stamp sets are the best in classic and traditional stamps celebrating this holiday season! I'm going to go right along with that and hope you like them too!

First up is Ian Moose - a cracking scene building set - here it is in its entirety:

For my Christmas scene card, I watercoloured a loose background and allowed this to dry thoroughly, then I stamped my Ian Moose scene in memento inks and used copics to colour it in. I over stamped the scene with little tiny snowflakes and filled in their little ends with a white gel pen. I added a red frame using cardstock from the kit and dashed a little stitching in with a white gel pen. Can't wait to see what scenes you build with this set!

OK, I have 4 sets out this release and I went a bit crazy with samples for this one, Nordic Winter. I do believe this may be my very favouritest set ever, it's like choosing a favourite child, but judging by how many times I reach for this set over other sets, it may be the case...

Ever since I first drew this set I've been meaning to get around to making little jumpers with it. I wanted them for tags, for tree ornaments and they look great on the front of a card also! Perfect also for masculine Christmas cards I think? What say you?

The Nordic Winter set is full of images that are made up of individual knitting stitch shapes - look closely and you will see they are actually the correct shape. I know this because I drew every last one of them. This gives them an authentic print, and when you stamp with these, your projects really do take on that knitted look.

 FREE Cut Files

If you fancy making these little jumpers with your Nordic Winter set, it could not be simpler - I have here free for you the template - you can chose the .pdf printable template that you can print out and stamp on to, and then trim out. OR you can chose the .svg Cut files included if you have an electronic cutter. I will do a how-to on this in the next few days, once you see how easy it is, you won't look back.

Simply CLICK HERE to get these files,choose from ether the printable PDF or the cut file in .svg form to suit your needs.

The files are really simple to use, one is the overall jumper shape, in the card below it is cut out in green card. There are 3 other shapes, one jumper body and two arm pieces and you can use all or none. For my green jumper I left off the arms.

For my stone coloured jumper I used both arm pieces and the jumper body on top of the full jumper. I stamped different strips from Nordic Winter across the body of the jumper to create a nice jumper design. My kid says these are quite 'hipster' whatever that means... The sentiment is from Festive Foliage and is a nice relaxed style, which suits these perfectly.

A little trick I like to do is to use a pencil or stylus to score the back of the overall jumper shape, just along the bottom where the cuffs and waistband fall - I make small scratches to suggest the ribbing that you normally see in the cuffs of a knitted sweater - I did the neckband too. I used a little Gina K white pigment ink, just lightly sponged along the cuffs and neckband, this really brings out the ribbing, I swear this could not be any easier, it's so simple I'm thinking of doing a video, I don't think I could mess this up...LOL we will see.

Using the Nordic Winter set creates nearly limitless possibilities for jumper design!

Of course you can make cards with it too, here's a nice tonal one I made with Kraft cardstock, some of the dark brown and Ivory cards in Gina's Kit and matching Inks from Gina's range.

I loved it so much I went and dressed up a baggie to match...which also needed a tag...

I adore these tags... here's another one made with the jumper files!!!

I think it makes a neat 'man' set in these colours! Look how great that Gina K Ivory ink holds out against the darker colours, it really pops!

You can also be brave and try using traditional Christmas colours with Nordic Winter ;) I adore all of the different variations you can make by combining the strips and motif stamps - this little Christmas gift set is one of my faves. I like the Scandinavian design feel you get using just red and white.

OK I'm also meant to be showing you some samples for other stamp sets too so here's the 'Noel' stamp set - a set featuring larger than average Christmas greetings

And a few things I rustled up:

Yep, guilty, I used a single stamp from Nordic Winter on this to create a little gift-able ornament for the front of my card. The sentiment I used is a  fair size and fits the bottom third of a card front quite well on it's own and so I just gave it the chalkboard treatment and let it speak for itself.

I love the chalkboard feel and there seemed no better technique to really show off the typography on these sentiments, here's a tag I made for a little tin gift box:

By curving your large labels you can get them to sit up quite nicely on the top of boxes, nobody ever said gift tags had to be flat...

The smallest of the sentiments is quite fun on it's own also.

Go ahead and churn out a bunch of tags while you are at it, the beauty of large typography is that it doesn't need images if you are short of time. - each of my tags above are the same - I stamped in black which was clear heat embossed onto the simplest of shapes - a circle (- I KNOW you have a circle die somewhere) - and then I had a little fun with the edges. 

I used glue and glitter on the red tag. I dipped the edge of the gold tag in Versamark before dipping it again in gold embossing powder and using the heat gun to set it. Back to glue and grassy glitter for the green tag. Each got matching ribbon and a white jingle bell. The work of moments.

This next card was one I hared at the release party, just popping it up here in case you missed it!

The holly sprig in this card is from the next set:

Festive Foliage

Festive Foliage is full of winter themed foliage - perfect for Christmas and the months either side.

I'm going to be just a little bit sneaky and show you something that Debbie Olson made with Festive Foliage - and the Noel set - which just made my heart go pitter patter:

Isn't that marvellous? I adore that card.

 Since we are already at picture overload, I'm going to slow down a bit with samples and maybe post a couple over the next few days, I know I'm rambling on a bit and you have all the other DT to get to also...

my last set today is Compliments of the Season:

In the spirit of well prepared hosts everywhere, here are two projects I made earlier with the Compliments of the Season set.

 And here's one I made yesterday, and yes that is Nordic Winter...again....can't help it...

I did use the Compliments of the Season set for the interiors, I felt i was the perfect fit for these fun knitted beanie cards - Let it snow! I have my woolly hat on!

Do you fancy having a go at this? If you do, just let me know in the comments, I could easily whip up a template for these also... again, super quick and simple, any colour you like... :)

Don't forget to comment!

OK, I really should be letting you go now, I've held on to you for way too long already, don't forget to leave a comment, I know you're exhausted, but you could win a $20 Gina K Designs gift certificate! To see who won, check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hop.

If you have plenty of stamina, you might be ready for more inspiration -   Just click on the links below for more from Gina and the Cast & Crew:

Gina K
Beth Silaika – Illustrator for Ian Moose
Claire Brennan - You are here
Cathy Tidwell
Donna Idlet 

Karen Hightower 

Kendra Wietstock 

Laurie Schmidlin 

Melanie Muenchinger 

Sean Fetterman

 Sheri Gilson 

Silke Ledlow

 Susie Moore 

Theresa Momber

Chris Dayton


Don’t forget to pop over to the Gina K Designs Store and check out all of the new products available this month in the “What’s New” section at http://www.ginakdesigns.com.


Thanks for stopping by!

Advent Calendar Extravaganza with Taheerah Atchia

Hello and Welcome! - It's Christmas Eve and here at Waltzingmouse Stamps we are super thrilled to be popping up behind door 24 on Taheerah's terrific Advent Calendar today!

Advent Calendar Extravaganza is -the- festive event of the season! This ‘hop with a twist’ was dreamed up by Taheerah Atchia and features surprise destinations each day! Joining in the fun with Taheerah are over 60 special guests - each serving up some fantastic Christmas inspiration! Just like an Advent Calendar, you’ll never know where you’re going to be visiting next until you ‘open the door’!

And that’s not all! With 25 *amazing* sponsors taking part as well, your crafty wish list is bound to get a boost with a chance to win a prize EVERY SINGLE DAY!!

Join in the fun every day at taheerah-atchia.com to see what special surprises wait behind the door!

"Twas the Night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse!" I thought that a bunch of adorable sugar fondant mice would make a neat last moment gift - taking literally seconds to create if you cheat with ready roll fondant and almonds for ears! I'm all about fast! The perfect match for a bunch of mice was a tag made using the Waltzingmouse Stamps 'Twas the night set. Currently discontinued, I'm thinking about bringing it back - I've had a few requests! Check with Taheerah for prize details and GOOD LUCK!

Off to herd this lot into a gift Box...

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!!

It’s not a party without a prize - and with prizes every day there are several chances to win! Today’s prize is supplied by us here at Waltzingmouse Stamps so you’ll definitely want to get your hands on it! Simply leave a comment on this post to enter - then head back to taheerah-atchia.com and leave a comment there too to double your chances! Don’t forget to grab the other surprise destinations from Taheerah’s blog and head over to them to leave comments there as well to improve your odds even more! You have until 7am EST on Thursday 31st December to leave all your comments!

Don’t forget the Advent Calendar Extravaganza runs from 1st-25th December inclusive so make sure you visit taheerah-atchia.com every day for fabulous inspiration and amazing prizes every single time! Merry Christmas!

...It's not what's under the tree...

Happy Friday Afternoon!! SOOO glad to see Friday this week, how about you? What are you up to - plans? or just a quiet weekend - well I have a date with about 536 other Coffee loving blog hoppers, the Fall Coffee Loving Hop is still on, but only just - you've only a few hours left. Here's the link.

I'm going to 'try' to get around at least some of them over the weekend, I've seen glimpses and it looks like an amazing hop!

I desperately wanted to case this card by Joan Bardee, Joan has away with a CAS card and this card spoke to me of peace yesterday when I needed peace. Isn't this fabby - must pop back over, see what ink she used...get some....

Well I decided that I wanted to make my own plaid and so I dug out the Pic Nic Pattern set, it has two neat plaid maker stamps, I used the narrower one and stamped some plaidy type patterns, loved the pumpkin spice and green plaid and so I went with that. I did stamp the stag image from Rustic Christmas (just released) but I baulked at the orange stag and went with the tree image instead. I used my plaid as a narrow outer border. I cut out the middle section and I'll keep that for another project.

One of the things I like about this Rustic Christmas set is the laid back feel - the images are intentionally 'grainy' here and there, and so I thought I'd just play that up by splattering my background panel with some white paint. Instant snow storm. I stamped the tree in Old Olive SU ink onto a tree shaped cut out that I made with my Silhouette Cameo (- free matching cut files available here) and then I sponged a little. The tree was grounded in a drift of white flock snow. Loved that.

Hope it tickles, thanks for stopping by!

...Coffee Lovers Fall blog hop

Good morning, good morning! Welcome to the blog! I'm taking part in the Fall Coffee Lovers blog hop today! I love these - they are great fun and what a fabby subject matter! Coffee! Though I must admit I feel like a bit of a cheat as I'm a confirmed tea drinker, but I'm trying really hard to drink more coffee! 

 To see the other entries in the Fall Coffee Lovers hop check out the

 Official Coffee Loving CM blog here.

The hop runs from today (the 25th Sep) until Friday October 2nd - get in!!

My card is pretty simple - I used the WMS Coffee Set stamp set and plenty of masking to create a big steamy cloud of coffee aroma for my coffee pot. I used circle punches to create masks, it was super simple. I did try it first in autumnal shades, but my oranges were getting a bit muddy, so I went for pinks and blues in the end. I suppose it's not overtly autumnal, but I do associate hot drinks with cooler weather, so maybe you will give me the benefit of the doubt on this one... I liked how the retirement sentiment fitted the shapes of the stamping, but this card would work with pretty much any sentiment. Hope it tickles!

Sneaky Blog Candy, right here!

As well as the usual massive haul of prizes that will be officially given away by sponsors (yep!! we're sponsoring too!) on the Coffee Lover blog - you really do need to pop over and check that out - I am giving away one of the two new Christmas sets that we just released on Monday - it's called Rustic Christmas quick piccie below. 

All you need to do is leave a comment here on the blog telling me what your favourite type of coffee is - I'd love to have your suggestions for what sort of coffee to sample - what should I be drinking, coffee-wise, that would convert me from a tea person to a coffee person?

Ok - I'm off - thanks for stopping by - can't wait to see you along the hop!

...Introducing Rustic Christmas

Good evening folks. I have a preview of one of the sets we are releasing tomorrow night - it's called Rustic Christmas. The new sets will be available from 7:00pm (UK time) at the WMS store.

I know - you're thinking "what happened to Halloween?" and since you ask, I'll tell you what happened to Halloween. I had two complimentary sets designed and I realised that I just was not 100% happy with them and so I am not releasing them. Simple. Now I know that's not what is meant to happen, but I have this thing where I won't produce a set unless I'm completely happy with it - it's happened a few times before - I take a design so far and then decide, meh, I'm not loving it, and so it doesn't make it to polymer. It's a shame but it's just one of those things...

Anywho, back to this set. It's a large set with 7 large stamps and two small ones. You can see 4 of the large stamps in this blog post. The stamps are big, solid stamps, with text sentiments reversed out of them. The solid background of the stamps contains something called 'noise' which is just graphic design speak for the appearance of dust and scratches in an image. The noise here is an integral part of the design. I'm going for a very rustic, woodsy feel for these stamps, and I like the aged look the noise gives to these images.

For my sample today I have made a bunch of simple tags - I used the Stitched Rectangle dies to cut various rectangles and simply stamped the images in a combination of Versacolour Burgundy and Cardinal red - this ink is super easy to blend on the stamp. I popped an eyelet in the corner of each tag and strung with some of the Brown Button twine trim.

Each stamp features a different Festive phrase.

 I cut the rectangle for the stocking tag by shortening a rectangle panel using the same die I cut it with, super simple and a great way to get more shapes from these dies.

I sure hope these tickle! Pop back tomorrow, we will have the full set reveals and maybe some more samples!

...Never Before Used Stuff - Challenge and Blog Candy opportunity!

Good morning! I actually have a card for you today! I'm taking part in a challenge today.

Isn't this such a wonderful Idea? Darnell Knauss runs this challenge twice a year encouraging folks to use their 'Never Before Used Stuff'. Genius!

Now this challenge is really a little tricky for me since there is nothing in the WMS armory that I have not used... except this tree stamp set - and that's because it has not released yet - it's part of my Christmas lineup which should start trickling in to the store next week. The tree is from a set is called Scandi Doodle Christmas but more on that in another post. The sentiment is from a set called Nutcracker Sweet. I used red, off-white and grey tones on this card and I clear embossed the image and then sponged around it with grey ink before touching up a little with a red coloring pencil. If you'd like to see the rest of the Scandi set, pop back and see me over the next week when I should be able to post more info on that set. It's a great one for folks who like to colour.

If you'd like to join the NBUS challenge, here's what to do:

Pop over to Darnell's blog here. (BUT Come back here - I have blog candy!) Darnell has all the info on her blog post and also details of the prizes - I must mention that up for grabs on Darnell's blog is a £20GBP gift voucher for the WMS store (that's about $30USD)

The theme is 'Anything Goes' - I can almost hear you sighing with relief - this is such a great challenge - you can basically do whatever you like so long as you are using something you have never used before. It doesn't matter if it's new or old, just so long as you have not used it before.

Also - Blog Candy

I'm also going to give out some Blog Candy to one lucky commentator on MY blog post here. I want you to leave your comment on this post - tell me the name of a set that you like, but don't have,  from the Waltzingmouse Stamps store. I will pick a random winner at midnight my time on the 19th September, when the challenge ends. My winner will receive the set of their choice (so long as it's in stock - if it's not I will offer you an alternative) from the WMS store! I'll announce the winner on the 20th.

Hope it tickles and thank you for visiting!

...Frosty - Alberto style

One of the things I love about WMS is seeing what folks do with our stamps - we recently started asking a few folks to guest Design for us and I'll be bringing you a roundup of some of the fabby creations that they have designed for us but tonight I have a sneaky peek for you of something fabulous created by our guest designer Alberto Gava - I'm sure you know Alberto, but if you don't here is a link to his instagram, he's been peeking some things he is working on for us at the moment - I have to say I am in awe of this guy's talent and I cannot wait until we can see the full projects - I'll keep you posted!

Alberto is working with some of our Christmas sets - Frosty in the pines and Elf Made.