The Big Cheese of the Week

Hi there - it is time for another installment of the Big Cheese of the Week. Time sure does fly, doesn't it? Before you know it, Christmas will be creeping up on us again. In an effort to help you stay ahead of the game, Waltzingmouse sponsors a monthly Christmas Card Challenge. With a different theme for each month, the goal is to create a little bit each month so that when December rolls by, your stack of cards is all ready to go. Lynn posts a new challenge on the 10th of the month - details can be found here on the WMS Forum or on the WMS Blog. Then you can upload your creations to the Christmas Card Challenge gallery. There are no time restrictions, but prizes are awarded at the 6 and 12 month mark for those that have played along with all the challenges up to that point!

So that little PSA was a perfect segue into today's Big Cheese. I give you Jeanne Jachna!

This is Jeanne's creation for the February Christmas Card Challenge. While her ornament takes center stage, the details really make this card. The big striped bow, the glittery bit behind the doily, the little baubles - all add so much depth and interest to her card. I always love how Jeanne's cards are so well put together. Everything has a place and is impeccable!

Congratulations, Jeanne! 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.

Bringing us our next project is Sharon Gregory (simplyshaz) with this adorable treat bag:

Isn't it fantastic? I love the combination of the different banner shapes and patterns. Sharon has some other great projects in her Gallery - while you're there, you must check out her Tea Party ensemble!

Finishing us off today with this card is Kim Heggins.. doesn't this have a perfectly primitive feel?

How can you not love Kim's good morning wishes? The rooster and chicken wire were made for each other, adding such a cozy farmhouse feel to her card - undoubtedly a fantastic French Country creation! Using just one color - this royal red - has such an impact on the feel of the card (I think it would also look fantastic paired up with a navy one just like it!)

Thanks for another great week of projects, ladies! Inspiring as always!

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!

Have a great day!
Anya

...personal message

Folks I just wanted to pop on here and let you know that shipping will be delayed by about a day this week. My mother has been taken into hospital and I also have a wee person at home ill and so I'm spread thin this week. Luckily my assistant has volunteered to dive right in and take over, but there was an unavoidable loss of time yesterday while I was at the hospital. Mostly, I just won't be around the forum or able to answer emails in a timely way for the next few days, my apologies. Thank you for your understanding.

The Big Cheese of the Week

Hi there! It is time again for the Big Cheese of the Week. Thanks for stopping in! Anyone else have SPRING on the brain? Here in Pittsburgh, we've had temperatures in the upper 70s for the past few days, the flowers have all popped up, and even the trees are budding. This is very early for us, but welcome none-the-less!

Bringing us a beautiful spring get well card, this week's Big Cheese is Sharron Gregory!

I love Sharron's interpretation of the weekly Sketch Challenge. Her die-cut flowers are particularly fun, and I like the way she mirrored the colors in her sentiment. Is Say it Loud one of the stamp sets in your arsenal? It is so versatile, Sharron could have easily used a variety of other 'finishers' for her phrase! Beautiful job!

Congratulations, Sharron! 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 would like to share is a stunning showcase of some of the newly released sets, courtesy of Pauline Pollington.

Isn't it amazing what a little color does for this image from French Country? The pinks and greens together are just so lovely, and the images really create an air of feminine elegance. This one really is about the details!

Rounding us out is a CAS (and really fun!) card from Karen Haman.

Award ribbon images are hot right now, and Karen's custom design is fab! What little (or big) guy isn't #1 on his birthday? A simple design and classic layout puts the award front and center. There are plenty of other images in the Free Spirit - Boy set that would also work great for this design - the bike, the skateboarder.. ooh! the graduation cap would also be perfect! Fun inspiration, Karen!

Thank you for your continued support and participation, everyone! You guys do such a great job keeping our Gallery full of continuous inspiration!

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!

Have a great day!
Anya

March Blog Party Highlights (and a winner too)

Wow…upon looking at all the links of those who participated in the March 17th Blog Party, you get a sense of how wonderful the color GREEN is to create with.  The gallery is full of this wonderful springtime color.  We also spied some wonderfully creative projects and we are happy to highlight some of those fabulous projects from the “party” here today.

Check out this creation from Jeanne.  She created her own background paper using images by using the X pattern from Oval Classic Frames , and made the clover with the small heart from Sweethearts.  Jeanne also shares some of her tricks about how to get straight lines when stamping background papers, so be sure to check out her post.  A lovely grosgrain ribbon and clover charm tops the “Stamper’s Prayer” that she created herself.  Nice job, Jeanne.  It sure brought a smile to these Irish eyes!

Venus created a fun shamrock shaker card using the free digi image that she got in the WMS store under the Freebies tab. A lovely green  shamrock bouquet held within this lovely die cut frame really draws your eye to the little free-floating clover and silver stars that shake about.  Her embellishments of the satin ribbon and bits of bling really set this card apart. 

   

Wait until you take a look at this adorable window box overflowing with the lucky shamrocks.  Cathy Weber uses the addition of shutters and lacy curtain to invite you in to see that this project is an easel card. This type of card just begs to be set up for everyone to see. Don’t you just love the decorate edge she created?!

Thanks you to everyone who participated.  There are so many amazing projects – each oozing with green goodness and WMS inspiration.

Now, for the winner – chosen randomly from all the participants, and using the Random.org selector, we have determined that Kary is our Blog Party winner this month.  Congratulations, Kary.  Please send Claire an e-mail atClaire.brennan1@ntlworld.com with your stamp set selection, and mailing address details.  We appreciate your (and everyone's) participation and support of the “Blog Party”.  It was great fun looking at all the very creative projects.  We hope you had as much fun blog hopping as you did creating.

Be sure to check back on April 1st, when we will announce the theme for the April 17th “party” -  no foolin'!

...Happy Mother's day to me!! lol

Well I had a cast iron plan this morning, I was going to tidy up the craft room and make something nice for the St Pat's blog party.

Out of the blue, my wee folks and DH surprised me with a totally different plan and I was ordered to hurry up and get ready! I was forcibly kidnapped and taken on a lovely day out instead! In our corner of the globe it was Mothers day today. I was treated to presents and dinner before we had to make an early run for home, wee little middle lady is not really recovered from her recent infections and began to feel a bit yucky, but it was a lovely day!

I look forward to catching up with the entries between tonight and tomorrow!! From the thumbnails I can see lots of my very favourite colour! Chat soon!

...Waltzingmouse Stamps March 2012 Blog Party

ED - My apologies folks, I messed up the time zone thingy and so the link did not open on time, I have fixed it now and I will try to extend the link for an hour to compensate. I am so sorry to folks for whom this was an inconvenience!!

It’s the 17th! Welcome you to the March 2012 Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Party!

Our theme is “St Patrick/Irish”. We'd like to see you use your  Waltzingmouse Stamps images to create an Irish themes, or St Patrick's Day card.

To Help you out, we have freebies available on the store with an Irish Theme. There's a free shamrock digital stamp here. Or a St Patrick's Day label stamp here.

We encourage you to upload your entries to your blogs or galleries and then link up your creations using the inlinkz tool at the end of this post. We will leave the links open for 24 hours so that everyone can have a chance to play along!

A random selection of time zones are given below, so you can see how this works:

NB Please note the new ending times - I have amended these to take account of Daylight savings...which I had completely forgotten about, so in essence we have an extra hour at the end!!

UK - 6:30 p.m. 17th Mar - 7:30 p.m. 18th Mar 

USA (New York) 1:30 p.m. 17th Mar - 3:30 p.m. 18th Mar

Australia (Queensland) - 4:30 a.m. 18th Mar - 5:30 a.m. 19th Mar

Canada (Alberta) - 11:30 a.m. 17th Mar - 1:30 p.m. 18th Mar

Malaysia - 2:30 a.m. 18th Mar - 3:30 a.m. 19th Mar

Norway - 7:30 p.m. 17th Mar - 8:30 p.m. 18th Mar

So, off you pop and get your green on!! you have 24 hours to link up your creation!

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

The Big Cheese of the Week

Wow! It is already time again to announce this week's Big Cheese winner. We have such a great group of ladies sharing projects, and we welcome new players! So show us your stuff - it is a snap to set up your own album in the WMS Gallery! I could be announcing your name next week!

This week's winner is, in fact, one of our new players. Feast your eyes on this card from Anne-Elise!

Just take a moment and soak up all those details! Look at that beautiful Nestie Easter egg, gently placed on its little nest. How about the pink egg itself, highlighted with green gems. And not to mention the soft, fresh spring color combination.

Congratulations, Anne-Elise! 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.

I have three honorable mentions to share this week - it was just so hard for us to narrow it down.

Nerina is on one awesome kick recently whipping up the most beautiful baby cards. Look at what she created with L'il Buddies and Nordic Winter.

Adorably adorable, no? What a sweet little thing with the chick in the grass. Swap out the blue background for pink and you've got a perfect card for a little girl. Swap out the sentiment for a spring or Easter one, and you've got a perfect design for the season. Gotta love versatility!

Next up is Kristie Hartfeil with another fun card using Back in the Saddle.

Isn't this fantastic? What a great one-layer design that would be so perfect for a guy. The repeated stamping creates the realistic illusion of a large group of cowboys, out rounding up the herd for sure!

And the final project for today is one that I would be remiss if I did not share. Helen Berry has created such a beautiful tag using some of the new sets; I don't think I can aptly describe it.

Swoon.

Now if that doesn't make you want to get your craft on, I don't know what will!

Ladies, you all create such beautiful projects worthy of sharing each week, I wish I could highlight them all. Thank you for your continued support and participation!

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!

Have a great day!
Anya

March’s WMS Christmas Card Challenge

Hi ladies…there is lots going on around the mouse house today.  In addition to the weekly sketch challenge, today we are opening the March’s Waltzingmouse Stamps Christmas Card Challenge.  For all the details about this month’s challenge be sure to check out Lynn’s blog post, here or head on over to the forum and get started.

Can you guess what the theme for March is by her samples?

I hope you will join us! 

The Big Cheese of the Week

Good morning. I am here to share this week's Big Cheese with you.

You ladies wowed us again this week! This week's Big Cheese is Kristie Hartfeil, who has been creating some amazing things with Back in the Saddle!

Don't you just love this? The monochrome, the repeating background patterns, the embossed woodgrain - it just screams Wild West! I think the 'rope' Kristie used under her label just brings it all together. A great card that could easily be translated into so many different images or occasions.

Congratulations, Kristie! 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 would like to share is from Jennifer Cuthbertson.

What delicious colors and designs for these roses! Paper piecing these flowers always yields such stunning results. Jennifer's attention to detail is evident with the multi-layered roses and the symmetrical design. A lovely, lovely card!

Helping spring along is another lovely floral card from Nerina.

I just love the bold rainbow flowers against the simple white background. The pretty bow and fancy die cut bottom also add elegance to the card. A super-versatile layout, too - can you imagine all the other elements you could tuck into that corner? A label and the Eiffel Tower, some chicken wire and a rooster ... endless possibilities with this one!

Great job this week! Thank you all so much for sharing these projects with us. I can't wait to see what you have for us this week.

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!

Have a great day!
Anya

...Spellbinders Egg dies

Literally taking 5 seconds out from shipping to say that we got a small consignment of Spellbinders egg die templates in here. these things are like gold dust, so now's the time...

Design Team Release Blog Waltz Winner Announced

Wow…what a great week it has been.  The new sets released on the 29th are so much fun and easy to work with, and judging from the extraordinary amount of orders Claire has received, you love them too. The Design Team created some amazing projects highlighting the nine new sets and we are all so grateful for all the heartfelt comments.  As promised, we have selected a lucky winner of a free Waltzingmouse Stamps set of choice.  Each member of the Design Team selected one comment from their group of comments, and from those, we have declared that the following comment from the blog of Kelly Schirmer is the winner.

Congratulation Peggy. To claim your prize, please e-mail Claire at Claire.brennan1@ntlworld.com. Provide her with your contact information and set choice, and she will get your selected set on its way to you.

A big thank you goes out to all who took the time to comment and for the wonderful outpouring of love for the new release.

...Release watch

Ladies, I am just popping in to let folks know that the response to our release was unbelievable - I am working at top speed, and I will be working all weekend, but even so, just looking at the volume of orders, it is inevitable that our normal turnaround time of 1-2 days will be something like 4-6 days.

I am so grateful that everyone really seemed to like the new goodies, it went way ahead of my predictions and so I'm not going to hang around here waffling!!! I got envelopes to stuff!!! Catch up with you all soon!!

The Big Cheese of the Week

Wow! What a week here at WMS! There have been so many good things going on.

The February Release Blog Waltz is still open for commenting - leaving a comment could win you a free stamp set! Today is your last day to comment, the winner will be announced here on Sunday!

Yesterday, Lynn announced the details for the March Blog Party. You can read all about it here on the blog. We hope you'll play along, St. Patrick's Day is always something special here at WMS.

And today, I am here to announce this week's Big Cheese winner. With a beautiful rosy creation, this week's winner is Kary Lim.

Kary caught my eye with her rich colors and shabby design. I especially like the pop of contrasting color with the aqua ribbon. The Labels 18 image stamped with the grid pattern is a great touch - I am going to keep an eye out for patterns I can layer. The heat embossed sentiment on patterned paper is a great element as well!

Congratulations, Kary! Your project will be added to the Big Cheese highlight album in the WMS Gallery. I snuck Kary her discount code yesterday in case she wanted to use it for the new release. I'm always thinking of you guys! ;)

Up next is a classy set of thank you note cards from Robin Funge.

A simple, sophisticated design which would be easy to create. Something to keep in mind if you happen to be a new Mom needing these baby thank yous. It would also be really easy to swap out the blue in this design for pink - love the versatility!

Our last mention for this week is Cathy Weber with her fun banner card.

Cathy is a faithful challenge participant, and we all love to see what she creates. Featuring a soft, flowery mix of patterned paper, Cathy's card is vintage sweetness. Love the buttons layered onto the circles layered onto the banners (we're on the same brainwave, Cathy). But did you see how she 'hung' her banners from a little twine through the punched edge of her paper? Super idea!

Fantastic projects this week, gals! Looking forward to what you share with us this week.

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!

Have a great day!
Anya

March Blog Party Details!

Hi everyone – Lynn here and I’d like to be one of the first to welcome to March.   I'm excited that we have only 3 weeks of winter remaining, although my husband constantly reminds me that we can still have winter weather even after the official beginning of spring. (kill-joy) I refuse to let the threat of a freak spring snow dampen my uplifted spirit regarding the onset of Spring.  The long days of winter are nearly over and each morning the sun greets me earlier, which always makes me smile.

But you aren't here to talk about the weather. You're here to find out the theme for the March 17th Blog Party, right?. Hummm...March 17th - why does that date sound so familiar?  Oh yeah - it's St. Patrick's Day!  Whether you celebrate the Wearin' O' the Green or not, we hope you will play along with those of use who look forward to the WMS Blog Party every month. 

THE OFFICIAL THEME IS ST. PATRICK'S DAY/IRISH/GREEN. The choice is yours because we realize that not everyone gets as excited about St. Patrick's Day as we do. So if shamrocks and Celtic designs aren't your thing, just make something green! Please feel free to play off the green suggestion…green could be a color scheme or using something recycled.  Just remember to use your Waltzingmouse Images.

It will work pretty much as it did last month; you will have a 24 hour window in which to post your direct links to your projects using the Inlinkz tool that will be available to you right here on the 17th.

Below is the schedule of beginning and end times in which you can enter your direct link to your project.  Just find your general location and go from there.

UK - 6:30 p.m. 17th Mar- 6:30 p.m. 18th Mar

USA (New York) 1:30 p.m. 17th Mar- 1:30 p.m. 18th Mar

Australia (Queensland) - 4:30 a.m. 18th Mar- 4:30 a.m. 19th Mar

Canada (Alberta) - 11:30 a.m. 17th Mar- 11:30 a.m. 18th Mar

Malaysia - 2:30 a.m. 18th Mar- 2:30 a.m. 19th Mar

Norway - 7:30 p.m. 17th Mar- 7:30 p.m. 18th Mar

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.

Although we call this a "blog party," It is absolutely perfect to use an online gallery for your linked entry if you don't have a blog. It doesn't have to be the Waltzingmouse Stamps Gallery, either (although you are more than welcome to link up as many Waltzingmouse Stamps projects as you like there). If you post your card somewhere on the web, we'll be happy to visit you!!! Flickr-Picasa or other online gallery is also fine. It’s wonderful if we can leave comments but no worries if that option isn't available in the posting option you choose.

You only need to do three things:

1. You will need to be able to link your project here, using a direct link URL.

2. Your project needs to contains something St. Patrick’s Day or Irish related, OR green in theme. (use your imagination…green could mean color or something recycled)

3. Use Waltzingmouse Stamps images.

You are encouraged and welcome to grab this "party mouse" blog button (at the top of this post) for your blog sidebar, or just to put it in the header of your Party day post.

On the 20th of the month – we will highlight a few of the entries that really catch our eye and we will share those here on the WMS blog.  We will also select and announce our winner of the FREE stamp set of choice, by a random drawing from those participating in the Blog Party.

So now that you know the date - you know the time - and now you know the theme, what are you waiting for?  Grab those Waltzingmouse Stamps and lets shower the Internet with some WMS goodness.