....and the Flower Show winners are:

Good evening! I have some winners for you!! The Randomly chosen winner of the April Flower show CASE competition is this entry:

from Maria F

Maria, you win the grand prize!! huge Congratulations and thank you for playing along with your beautiful entry! pop me an email on claire.brennan1@ntlworld.com and I will arrange your prize of FIVE sets of stamps!!

And now I have three more stand-out entries each winning a £15GBP WMSstore credit!

There were many, many beautiful entries for the CASE comp and I set myself a hard task to only pick three as spot prize winners. This was such a toughie and I have been agonizing over the choices all day! There were sooo many fabulous entries, but I had to narrow it down and here are three that made me smile real wide!

Barb Murphy absolutely knocked my socks off with this take on JJ Bolton's Flower show card.

Barb Murphy

I loved everything about this - the texture, the colours, the little wee pearls, most unexpected, but the perfect accent! It's a super example of how to recreate a card but make it completely your own at the same time.

Next up was this stunner, Laura Jane's card simply demanded my attention, a CASE of another JJ Bolton card!

Laura Jane

Look at the vibrancy of that blue! I could only capture the tiny little thumbnail image for this blog post, you will need to visit the card for yourself to see the full glory, but this card was just alive! You should also check out her Cherry blossom card, softly stunning!

And I just kept coming back to this beauty by Kary Lim, just to take in the saturated colour!

Kary Lim

Stunning colour skills Kary, I love that you used the roses and the co-ordinating label design also! A wonderful interpretation of Meredith's original card!

Oh I could have just kept on picking out fabulous cards and I do hope you can all join us again for our next challenge I have something brewing, more deets later on.

If you ladies could pop me an email on claire.brennan1@ntlworld.com with the words Stand out winner in the subject line that would be fabby, I can then organize your prizes.

I want to thank everyone for taking part - it is most inspirational to see what folks make with their WMS and I really hope folks enjoyed it as much as I have!!

I'd love to hear if you folks have any special requests for future themed challenges - I have a few up my sleeve, but I'm so interested to hear if you have any special requests, leave a comment here if you do!

...omly a few hours left to enter our CASE comp!

Click on the image to go to the entry post! You have literally seconds left!

I will announce all winners at midnight tonight!

....Fame at last!

It is ridiculous how happy this made me, but I have to share - I just got some more die templates for the store from Spellbinders and looksee what they have on the packaging - beautiful samples form some lovely creative person who used OUR STAMPS!!!!!! Fancy Phrases is officially Famous!

I am so tickled!!! Hope your Saturday is awesome!

...Store News Backordering facility reopens

Folks, due to many, many requests we are going to reopen the Backordering facility on the store - it will take me a day or two to reactivate this on all of the stamps, so please bear with me.

What this means is that we will be allowing the store to take orders for out-of-stock stamps once again. We used to allow this and it was very popular. We had to disable this facility for a while when we changed suppliers, but now that there is light at the end of the tunnel we are abe to open it once more.

I have to hold up my hand and admit that I have been a bit of a bottleneck, I had to rejig artwork to suit the new manufacturer and I was a little flabberghasted to discover that I have drawn over 130 stamp sets... all of which had to be re-jigged, on top of all of my other work, but I am nearly there!

The Notification system will continue to work and folks will still be notified once their desired item comes back into stock, but the backordering facility will give folks the option of being assured a set as soon as the stock comes in.

Also, folks who wish to avail of the free shipping offer may use the Backordering facility to add out-of-stock sets to their orders to help them qualify for free shipping. Please be aware of the following points when ordering an out-of-stock item:

•  Out of stock items could take as long as 4-6 weeks to become available, although we anticipate being able to fulfill many items much earlier than this
• The store will take payment at time of order so please be sure that you're ok with this

As a courtesy to folks who have waited so long, we aim to ship out in-stock items right away and follow up with backordered items as soon as they become available.

This courtesy will extend until June, by which time we should be completely back on track with out-of-stock items. From June onwards we will return to our standard procedure of holding orders until we can ship everything.

Please pop a comment here if you have any questions, I'll answer on this post, many thanks!

...it's Confession time.....

Confession No.1

Ok, so I promised this little chicken shack would be available in the March release, and then I got all excited about a little extra bit I wanted to add into the template....and so I had a little more drawing to do for it........and then the April release happened...and so it's a little late, but it is now available.....here...

Confession No. 2

AAAAAnd....I ran a little challenge back in.....February......it was the Red Carpet Challenge .....I failed miserably to pick a winner......and complete the challenge.....so.....would anyone who took part in that please pop me an email with the words "WE FORGIVE YOU" in the subject line...I have a little something for you ladies, I'm popping each of you who entered a little something from the store....so eamil me to get your code, cheers..... :)

Confession No. 3

I have not cleaned any of my stamps properly since 2010....

...Flower Show CASE comp open!

 

 WMS Flower Show competition OPEN
Late last week we were honoured to have some awesome guest designers put on a WMS Flower show for us - just in case you missed the links, here they are:

Taheerah Atchia
Debbie Olson
Meredith MacRitchie
Aneta
Kimberly Crawford
Emilie Chamel
Pauline Pollington
Anne-Elise
Suezie Howard
JJ Bolton
Helen Berry
 
We invited you to pick your favourite creation from the blogs of any of the ladies listed above in our hop. We want you to CASE your chosen card/project. In the stamping world, to CASE something means to copy and share everything - so what we want you to do is pick your favourite card from the Flower show entries and make your own version of it!

Today we open the CASE comp officially! There is an Inlinkz section at the end of this blog post and you can link your entries!

Prize 

There will be one random winner chosen from all of the entries and that person will win FIVE sets of their choice from Waltzingmouse Stamps! I invite you all to put your best foot forward as I will also be picking three 'stand-out' entries based on what catches my fancy at the time! :)  'Stand-out' winners will win a gift voucher for the store to the value of £15 ($20). The Stand out entry winners will be chosen ONLY from the entries which use Waltzingmouse stamps products.
Here's how to enter:

• You should include an image of the card/project you are CASEing and a link to the original project in your blog post, for gallery posts it might be sufficient to include just the link.

• You may enter as many cards/projects as you wish, but each one should be entered separately under it's own link. Each entry must be entered under a direct link - We want to be able to find you quickly!

• You don't have to use Waltzingmouse stamps to enter but it will greatly increase your chances of winning one of the Stand out prizes if you do.

• You have one week to link your entry/ies in the official Flower Show CASE competition post which goes live here on the blog today.

• The Competition will close on the 30th April and the winners will then be chosen!

Come on, let's see what you can do!

We’ve Got Your April Release Blog Waltz Winner Right Here!

We hope that you enjoyed the April release and the Design Team Blog Waltz. The samples that were produced were nothing short of AMAZING and we all look forward to seeing what YOU create with the sets you purchased. We thank you for taking part in the Waltz and leaving so many wonderful comments on the DT blogs.

As promised, we have selected a winner of a free Waltzingmouse Stamps set of choice for the lucky person whose name was randomly drawn from ALL the comments on ALL of the DT blog posts for the Waltz.  Each member of the Design Team selected one comment from their group of comments, and from those, we have selected a lucky winner.

CONGRATULATIONS GOES TO:  Cassie Lu

To claim your prize, please e-mail Claire at Claire.brennan1@ntlworld.com, and kindly note in the subject line of your e-mail – APRIL BLOG WALTZ WINNER.

Please provide Claire with your contact information and set choice, and she will get your selected set on its way to you.

We are most thankful for the time you took to visit the DT blogs and to waltz along with us on this release.

...A New Nest - Folk Art style with freebie cut files

ED - Laura Jane, thank you for your lovely comment - I have only ever used Silhouette machines, at present I have a Cameo with upgraded software and I find it super simple, but I have no idea how it compares to other machines, I am sorry!

Good Afternoon folks. I had an opportunity to make something yesterday since I had no internet connection for most of Saturday and a lot of Friday also. Turns out it was my system that was at fault and so one new hard drive/router later (ouch) I am online again. Since the store was unaccessible I wasn't able to do store admin, emails etc and so while I waited the 8 hours 37 minutes and 57 seconds that it took my new piece of kit to backup everything I ever did, I made this.

I have a billion things just lying around waiting for an opportunity for me to alter/fix/gussy them up and this little birdhouse was top of that list. Thankfully younger me had the forethought to employ the wee folks one rainy afternoon in the task of giving every raw wood product I have a base coat of paint so that when such an opportunity arose, I was able to grab it and not wait around on paint drying because unless you are a kid, I have little to no patience.

One of the things I have been most pleased with this year has been the Folk art papers - in particular - The Dirty Collection.  I had run out a few sheets of these during the March release and I had been thinking for ages how pretty they would look on this wee birdhouse. Here's a little walk around the birdhouse, see what you think.

 

I love that little butterfly - from my much underused set of fabulous Spellbinder Butterflies - Wonderful Wings die templates LF-006. That really is a terrific set of butterflies, expect to see a lot more of those from me.

Do you like my little roses round the base? - those are real dried mini flower buds on dried moss - picked those up at a craft fair, they smell heavenly.

What about the mini fence detail on the side of the birdhouse below? If you like it - I have loaded it as a freebie at the store, click here to get your free .svg and .dxf files. A dinky little doodad for lots of projects. The cut file makes a mini garden fence about 5.5 inches long, it's easy to join a few together if you need a longer fence.

I used a piece of a square cut with Heart Squares die template S4-343 from Spellbinders to make the decorative 'bargeboard' running down the edge of the roof. Dis you like my little shutters? lol, I just punched out a flower from the digital paper I printed and chopped it in half. They are attached with a scrap of card.

Do you like the little scroll with the sentiment? I have also made it a Freebie over at the store - pick yours up here - it's supplied as .svg and .dxf files and there are actually three pieces to it although I have only used two of the shapes to create this little banner. The sentiment is from A Good Egg set and is perfect for a pair folks who are close to my heart who are just setting up home together in a new house.

 

I made a little card to match and can I just say WOW - Would you look at the beautiful detailing from the new Adorning Squares die templates S4-389 from Spellbinders. That lovely cut out detail that frames the medallion panel. We just got these for the store and I am in love with them. They are just stunning! I added my sentiment again, ton the curved scroll, this time slightly larger. The little blanket stitch birdie from Sewing Box hugs was just the perfect little image to complement this set I thought. I gave him a beady eye by adding just a dab of glossy accents and colouring it with a black copic once it had dried. A few more little roses and dried moss, I am very happy with this little set. Making this was just the tonic I needed to combat the technical nuisance of yesterday.

Hope it tickles!

OOh btw, have you chosen you card from the WMS Flower show to CASE yet - we'll be starting the CASE competition on the 23rd here on the blog! Join us!

...Just for fun $100 winner!

Folks we trialled a new widget recently - the rafflecopter gadget here and we were pretty tickled, it seems that we can include folks who use Facebook and Twitter as well as folks who blog, or even folks who dont! I think we will definitely be using it again! thank you to all who entered and helped us test it!! All that is left for me to do now is give a great big Congratulatory shout out to:
  

Patricia Bell Covillon

Patricia!!! Congratulations - you win $100 Gift code for Waltzingmouse Stamps!! pop me an email on claire.brennan1@ntlworld.com and I will get your code ready for you!!!

April Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Party Recap

With all the excitement going on at Waltzingmouse Stamps this week with the April release preview, the release itself, and our Flower Show yesterday, we are thrilled with the Blog Party participation! Your creations are a garden of pure delight and today we are recapping a few of those amazing projects that has us blossoming with joy.
Our first floral delight is by Kara of Kandrdesigns. The sparkly goodness in her Mother’s Day basket of flowers are so eye catching. Kara used Spring Baskets in shades of pink highlighted with glitter! Nicely done Kara!

The next project made me so happy to gaze upon and I imagine that Sarah of Dreamingspires Cards had this same feeling when she created this bountiful bouquet of flowers in vibrant colors. Just look at all these doily flowers! Sarah broke out her Dainty Doilies Large set and embossed them in white and then cut and layered them held together with a brad center. Amazing, aren’t they?!

Lastly, we have a fabulous design by Emilia of Emilia’s Italian Inspiration.  She created her beautiful flower using the Roses in Bloom set that she stamped and then colored with Copic markers. Her combination of kraft and light pink cardstocks are a delightful combination. She finished off her design with layers of border punched layers. Lovely spring colors and a stunning design.

It gets more difficult each month to select only 3 projects to highlight because everyone does an outstanding job with the blog party project.
As promised, we have randomly chosen one person from all who participated  to receive a special code, good for one free Waltzingmouse Stamps set.  Congratulations goes to this month’s winner:

Bee

Please e-mail me at Lmercurio at sbcglobal dot net and I will provide you with a code to use upon checkout in the store. The code is good for several months, so if you want to wait for the “set of your dreams” feel free. I request that you please use BLOG PARTY WINNER in your subject line.
We appreciate EVERYONE’S participation and support of the “Blog Party”.  We hope you had fun creating your projects for this month’s Blog Party. Be sure to encourage your friends to play along with our monthly “parties” because everyone knows that a party is all the more fun when lots of people attend.

...Waltzingmouse Stamps Flower Show

Good morning folks I am especially excited to welcome you to Waltzingmouse Stamps today! We are having a very special event today - we're hosting a flower show blog hop. We have invited some very, very special guests to come and play.

One of the very best things about being a stamp designer is seeing what other folks do with your stamps. When I'm drawing I have ideas about how I would use the stamps, but very often once those stamps get into the hands of our designers I see new exciting possibilities opening up - I have a huge file of inspiring pictures of cards the  DT girls have made and I like refer to my favourites when I'm feeling a little empty in the inspiration department. It goes without saying that our DT is the best bunch of gals a stamp designer could hope for, but I have been working the ladies rather hard this last few days and I thought we might give them the day off! lol.

So here to provide us with some alternative inspiration are a stellar bunch of ladies that we have gathered from across the net! Most of you will be very familiar with them, they are all superstars in their own right and I nearly feel like a spoilt child when I tell you that today they are all using Waltzingmouse stamps floral stamps as the focus of their work!

I invite you to hop from blog to blog and oooh and ahhh at the creations that lie in wait for us in the WMS Flower Show. I recommend you take note of your favourite creations as you pass through so that you can refer to those to take part in our competition detailed below. Here are our very special guests, you should be able to hop from post to post, but the master list here is handy if you get lost:


Taheerah Atchia
Debbie Olson
Meredith MacRitchie
Aneta
Kimberly Crawford
Emilie Chamel
Pauline Pollington
Anne-Elise
Suezie Howard
JJ Bolton
Helen Berry


I suggest doing the hop twice, once to just look at it and once to see which card you'd like to case for our competition!

WMS Flower Show competition

We're inviting you to pick your favourite creation from the blogs of any of the ladies listed above in our hop. We'd like you to CASE your chosen card/project. You have all weekend to make your CASE card/project, and on Tuesday we will open the CASE comp officially!

We will be putting up a post here on the blog on Tuesday (the 23rd April) in which we will invite you to add a link to your CASEd entry. You can post your cards/projects to your blogs, or online galleries or Flikr etc, but do remember to come back and post the link in the Flower Show Competition post. Just check our sidebar for the Flower show logo - as seen at the start of this post, it will be linked directly to the entry post.

Prize

There will be one random winner chosen from all of the entries and that person will win FIVE sets of their choice from Waltzingmouse Stamps! I invite you all to put your best foot forward as I will also be picking three 'stand-out' entries based on what catches my fancy at the time! :)  'Stand-out' winners will win a gift voucher for the store to the value of £15 ($20). The Stand out entry winners will be chosen ONLY from the entries which use Waltzingmouse stamps products.

Here's how to enter:

• You should include an image of the card/project you are CASEing and a link to the original project in your blog post, for gallery posts it might be sufficient to include just the link.

• You may enter as many cards/projects as you wish, but each one should be entered separately under it's own link. Each entry must be entered under a direct link - We want to be able to find you quickly!

• You don't have to use Waltzingmouse stamps to enter but it will greatly increase your chances of winning one of the Stand out prizes if you do.

• You must link your entry/ies in the official Flower Show CASE competition post which goes live here on the blog on the 23rd.

Hope it tickles!!

...New Stamps for April

 

Welcome to April at Waltzingmouse Stamps. We have some new goodies for you today, the design team have been doing a stand-out job of sampling our new ware, but if you are still in need of inspiration, one last waltz with the girls today should fix you right up - here they are!
 The ladies are still running a comment prize on the release day waltz, see their posts for details.

Teresa
Tosha
Becca
Clare
Kelly
Lynn
Jennifer
Belinda
Sandie
Julia
Laurie
Sarah
Anya
Iwona
Edna
Jeanne
Jen
Jean
Karin
Kim
Renee

USA shipping

 We are pleased to offer USA dispatch on some of our products including today's new release sets - look out for this image on products at the store, or click on this link to see what is currently available from our USA base.

On Products available from USA you will be able to click on a drop down menu to select the option for that item to ship from USA - Just be sure to check that all items in your cart read 'ships from USA' and you should be good to go.
Our free shipping offer still applies for USA items and so If your order is over £60GBP you will automatically qualify for free shipping as normal!

And here are the New goodies for April:

Man of the Hour 6x8 inch set

15 fabulously fonted phrases with which to celebrate the most important man in your life!

Man of the Hour cut files are also available

The shape of the cut files is indicated in the orange lines around the stamps shown above

My Kind of Guy 6x8 inch set

A stylish masculine set with a vintage air, 20's style typography complements clean cut Brogue pattern styling, something different for your debonair gent! The rectangular panel fits those fabulously polular 3x4 inch journalling cards, while the circle motif is easily punched out with a 2 inch circle punch. The mini date stamp fits a 1 inch circular punch.

My kind of Guy cut files are also available

The shape of the cut files is indicated in the orange lines around the stamps shown above - the My kind of Guy set includes two 3x4 inch panel cut files, one plain and one frame, both are great for use with the brogue pattern frame. The little extra odd shaped cut frame in the first graphic is a piece of lace and two eye holes already lined up for ease of use.

Nordic Baby 3x4 set

A mini baby themed set to match the popular Nordic Winter and Nordic Spring sets

 Nordic Baby cut files are available as a Freebie at the store.

 Hope it tickles! Be sure to call back and see us tomorrow for our Special guest event, the WMS Flower Show!

...Release day Schedule

I can't wait to open the release this evening, I will be unveiling the three new sets at 7;00pm my time!

We are delighted to be expanding our USA shipping option with  these new sets and if you have not been aware of this facility here is a quick run down;

We now have selected items available from our USA base.

The way to tell if an item is stocked in USA is to look at the product page - you will see this graphic displayed on items that are available from USA:

On Products available from USA you will be able to click on a drop down menu to select the option for that item to ship from USA - But remember - we can only ship your order from USA if all of the items you have chosen are in stock there. Orders containing even one item that is not held in our USA location will automatically be shipped from our UK base.

If you have filled your basket and all of your items are available from USA - you will then have the option during checkout to chose the "Flat rate shipping within USA option." This will mean that not only will you be getting your items much faster, you will not have to pay international shipping!! woohoo! Our free shipping promotion will still work for USA items and so If your order is over £60GBP you will automatically qualify for free shipping as normal!

We realise that this system is not perfect, but until we are able to stock our USA base with everything, this is the best solution we can offer at present. Eventually we hope to hold stock of all our stamps at our USA location, but you can appreciate that with over 100 stamp sets, this will take a little time...

Our shipping rates

We have moved to a flat rate pricing system:

Shipping within UK is now at a flat rate of ............................ £2.00 per order
Shipping within Europe is now at a flat rate of ..................... £3.50 per order
Shipping to USA/Canada/Australia/Rest of World is now .... £5.00 per order

Any order OVER £60, to anywhere in the world, will ship for FREE.
These prices are all in Pounds sterling.

You are not limited to purchasing physical items to qualify for free shipping, purchases of digital, downloadable goods will count towards your qualifying order.

Schedule for Today
Please note these are the UK times that are local to me. I have a little note below of equivalent times in other places.

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

7:00PM - the New Stamps for April post will go live on this blog and there will be more fabulous samples from the DT in our December release Blog Waltz. Don't forget also that we run a little random giveaway from the DT blog waltz, another chance to win goodies!

7:15PM - the Store will re-open and the new sets will be available.

7:00pm my time Thursday 18 April is approximately equal to:

1:00pm USA 18th April Missouri USA
4:00am 19th April Queensland Australia
2:00am 19th April Malaysia
8:00pm 18th April Germany
8:00pm 18th April Sweden
3:00pm 18th April Brazil - Rio
10:00pm 18th April Russia - St Petersberg
8:00pm 18th April South Africa

April Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Party–Where Blooms Happen!

Hello and welcome!. We are thrilled that you stopped by today! You are in for a treat as well tons of inspiration today as we host the April Blog Party! Are you ready? If so, let's get this party started.

This month we are all about SPRING and all the color that SPRING FLOWERS bring. It’s been a long and harrowing winter, and we are ready to see some color with April’s theme of  SPRING FLOWERS. Whether you are seeing the beauty of spring in your part of the world, or the waning days of Summer, we want to see your creativity and your favorite flowers using your Waltzingmouse Stamps images. Use one of WMS’s flower sets, or create your own flower by using images from another one of Claire’s sets as focal images or embellishment elements – however you are inspired, we are happy to have you share them with us.

Here’s how the party works works: Upload your entries to your blog or on-line gallery and then enter your direct URL link your creation using the inlinkz tool at the end of this post. We will leave the links open for 24 hours so that everyone will have a chance to play along, even if you haven’t created anything yet!  Then after you link your project, why not take a little time and check out all the other inspiring projects by just clicking on the links shared by the rest of the party animals.

Be sure to include the Blog Party Logo (seen at the top of this post) on your blog to easily identify your participation). How fun and easy!

The festivities begin right here, according to your location, as indicated below:

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

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

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

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

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

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

At the end of the appointed time, the linking option will be closed.

As we mentioned before, you have 24 hours to link up your creation!  And we all look forward to see your creative and inspiring projects.  Be sure to check back on the 20th of the month right here where we will highlight a few of the entries that really catch our eye. We are looking for projects that showcase extra special effort and creativity! We will also select and announce our winner of the FREE stamp set of choice, using a random generator from those participating in the Blog Party! Will you be the lucky winner?

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

...Introdcing Man of the Hour

Good morning folks, today the DT ladies are previewing the third new set for April - Man of the hour. My apologies for the lack of samples from yours truly, but Spring has sprung and with it came a slew of viewers to the house this last couple of weeks - you may or may not know we are attempting to move house. Since I am not superwoman ( I know, I'm as surprised as you are) I have had to let something go this month and unfortunately release samples are turning out to be the victim. I feel badly about this, but not that badly, since I know I am sending you out to a host of the best cardmakers in the business:

Anya Schrier  

Becca Feeken  

Belinda Chang Langner 

Clare Buswell  

Edna Morrisedie  

Iwona Palamountain 

Jean Martin  

Jeanne Jachna 

Jen Cuthbertson 

Jennifer Holmes 

Julia Aston  

Karin Åkesdotter  

Kelly Schirmer  

Kim Duran  

Laurie Schmidlin  

Lynn Mercurio  

Renee Lynch  

Sandie Dunne  

Teresa Kline  

Tosha Leyendekker 

Do leave comments the ladies are running the normal comment prize draw! The Three new sets will be available tomorrow along with matching cut files! I'll pop back a little later on with a schedule and the Blog Waltz will run as normal this evening! so do check back for that!

Chat soon!

...Introducing Nordic Baby

Good morning folks! Here are the links to the DT ladies, don't forget to leave them some love as you pass by. The ladies are previewing a dinky little Nordic Addition, it's a 3x4 set that matched the Nordic Winter and Nordic Spring sets, please note Becca will be with us a little later on today:

Anya Schrier  

Becca Feeken  

Belinda Chang Langner 

Clare Buswell  

Edna Morrisedie  

Iwona Palamountain 

Jean Martin  

Jeanne Jachna 

Jen Cuthbertson 

Jennifer Holmes 

Julia Aston  

Karin Åkesdotter  

Kelly Schirmer  

Kim Duran  

Laurie Schmidlin  

Lynn Mercurio  

Renee Lynch  

Sandie Dunne  

Teresa Kline  

Tosha Leyendekker  

I will be back later on today with my sample hopefully - I'm wrangling with some cutting files.

...Introducing My kind of Guy, New for April

 Good morning folks! Here are the links to the DT ladies, don't forget to leave them some love as you fly by, there's always a chance that you  might win a little something...:

Anya Schrier  

Becca Feeken  

Belinda Chang Langner 

Clare Buswell  

Edna Morrisedie  

Iwona Palamountain 

Jean Martin  

Jeanne Jachna J

en Cuthbertson  

Jennifer Holmes 

Julia Aston  

Karin Åkesdotter  

Kelly Schirmer  

Kim Duran  

Laurie Schmidlin  

Lynn Mercurio  

Renee Lynch  

Sandie Dunne  

Teresa Kline  

Tosha Leyendekker 

If you are new to us we are just about to release 3 new clear photopolymer stamp sets - The sets go live in the store on Thursday and today Today we are showing some samples made with one of our newest sets - My kind of Guy. We will be previewing here on the WMS and DT blogs between now and Thursday. 

We're also squeezing in a blog waltz on Wednesday and we have a special Guest Event on Friday...phew! Do try to pop back and check here for a giveaway you can enter if you have not already! Back to My kind of Guy....

A feature of today's set is the Brogue pattern styling - I love it. I was looking for a new theme to use for a masculine set and while on my knees one day cleaning out the shoes at the bottom of the cupboard, there it was, a pair of Brogues! That beautiful leather punched pattern was just calling out to me and I had to draw up a version that I thought looks right at home on cards and stationary. You can just see the thick border pattern peeping out behind the layered card pieces. I adore that pattern! more on it later on.

This large stamp set contains many stamps that will enable you to build borders and patterns and create quirky accents for masculine cards, I think it's something a little fresh for the guys and I hope you like it!

I combined 20's style lettering with some modern typefaces for a little updated style and while you won't find a picture of 'himself in a boat' or with a toolkit in this set, you will find just the right accents to create masculine cards with an understated graphic style.

I stamped each word separately onto some different shades of red and aqua card and then punched them out with a square punch before lining them up so that the words are all centred above each other, I like how fast this card was! lol. A little background stamping and a piece of embossed cardstock for texture and I thought this was enough, DH thought so too...not one for ribbons or frills Mr B...

Hope it tickles!

....last peek for April

Last peek before release samples kick off tomorrow! Not much guessing needed for this one.....

Don't forget to scroll down to the post before this one to enter our fun giveaway and help us road test a new widget!

...Just for fun

ED - Folks I think I have managed to edit this widget to accept entries from folks who leave a comment on this post to tell us how they spread the word in ways other than Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest...If you are not seeing the option for blog comment when you try to enter please let  me know! Cheers!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So just for fun we thought we would trial this little widget thingy - it's supposed to make holding giveaways a whole lot more easier - remember the bother we had with pinterest...LOL

Anywho, as usual we want you to help us spread the word about WMS - this widget allows you to do that in a few different ways and earn points for each way you spread the word. To help you get in the mood, we are putting up a $100 WMS worth of WMS goodies.

You can help us make ourselves heard by following us on Facebook and Pinterest and by tweeting about us.

I am also investigating ways to make this work for folks who don't use facebook/twitter and Pinterest,etc.

The  random winner will be drawn on the 20th April, so fire ahead, let everyone know we have new goodies on the way and that we also have cut files and digi papers now! Thanks ladies!

Lets put it through it's paces and see how cool this wee gadget really is! :)

I'll be back in the morning with another peek at our April release, which goes live next Thursday!

...Sneaky peek 2

Just time for another peek!

April’s Friendly Feature ~ Ren-Yi

We are back with another Friend Feature – this month, fan and imaginative crafter, Ren Yi is guest posting for us a wonder creation she cooked up using two fun Candy Jar sets. She adds lots of pizzazz to her candy jar with the help of some trendy sequins. 

Hello Waltzingmouse Stamp fans, friends & newcomers! I received a fabulous email from Lynn a couple of weeks ago. I love getting mail from Lynn, which doesn't happen too often. And when she asked if I would love to do a Friendly Feature. Then I did a happy dance!

A few of you may know that I'm packing up and moving. Lynn caught me in the knick of time to create something. For Waltzingmouse, my fav stamp company? Any day! I may have been willing to unpack all my moving boxes just to do this ;) Just sayin'.

So what makes someone a Waltzingmouse Stamps fan? a) they have unopened stamp sets b) they eagerly await Release months c) they want every stamp set in the store d) Fancy Phrases or Say It Loud are their go to sentiments in their stamp stash. Or all of the above. I decided this is a good opportunity to finally ink up an unopened stamp sets. It's not because I don't love them. But it's that dreaded lack of time, the day job that pays for the stamping addiction! So I'm showing off some Jars today. Jars are nice and versatile and they remind me of the farming season that is soon upon us!

If you happened to have a bunch of sequins laying on your desk like I do, and you're flipping through your huge pile of Waltzingmouse Stamps, while thinking "What can I make-what can I make," it may just happen that the sequins wanted to live in a happy jar. And that's how I came about this idea. All you need for this is a pair of tweezers, some trusty Glossy Accents (or other liquid adhesive of your choice), loads of colorful sequins, and two jars stamped off, with one carefully cut out into a frame. Unfortunately I got so wrapped up in this project that I forgot to take progress shots. So this work in progress snapshot is when I was nearly done.

What does it look like all done? Something like this:

 

A good tip is to trim off any excess sequins sticking out on the sides, top and bottom. When you do so with your trusty scissors, expect lots of little plastic bits and pieces to go flying everywhere - a clear testament that you were crafting diligently ;) Another good tip is to camp out in front of some music or a TV show while adhering these sequins. It could take a while ;) The rest is just a 4x4 inch vellum mat onto a 4.25 x 4.25 inch yellow card stock. I wanted to mute the yellow off a bit, but liked how yellow was a cheery color. The two-thirds doily helps anchor everything in place. Add a cute label and a lid and I call this one colorful candy jar.

Hope you enjoyed this as much as I have! Thank you so much to Claire & Lynn for having me. I can't wait to see who's up next on the Friendly Feature...it may be you!

Supply List:

Stamps: Candy Jar Christmas Fillers  Candy Jar Jam Packed - Waltzingmouse Stamps Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Lemon Tart; Stamper's Select Vellum) Papertrey Ink  Ink: (Jenni Bowlin - No. 11 Brown Sugar) Ranger; (Perfect Match Pigment Ink - Orange Zest, Raspberry Fizz, Hawaiian Shore) Papertrey Ink                                    Embellishments: (Sequins - Pretty Pretty Pink, Tangerine, Summer Sun, Mermaid's Tail, Perfectly Purple) Neat & Tangled; (Round Paper Doily - Style 1) Dudley & Tyler

...sneaking in a sneak peek!

Ladies, this month is just whizzing by and I am popping up a super quick post to let you know that the April release is right around the corner - we have 3 new sets for you on April 18th! Nope, I am NOT ready! lol.....can't wait to hear what you think this is tho...

I know there is a very special post coming up for you tomorrow (friday), so do check back for that and then I will be posting another peeky on Sat!

...Winner of the Test set

Morning ladies! My apologies for the slight delay in posting the winner - I was a little incapacitated last night with some sort of tummy bug - and I am taking today off, but I just wanted to pop on here and let you guys know that we have a winner!

The random number generator picked ot:

Miriam Prantner who said... 

A Festive Foliage die would be wonderful. Thanks for the chance to win some goodies!

9 April 2013 15:00  

Miriam - pop me an email and we will organise getting your prize to you!

I was most interested to read all the comments regarding dies - I'm delighted to say that we have some of those in production and I will be taking careful note of what was requested here when I'm sending away the next batch! Thank you for your input ladies!!

April Christmas Card Challenge

Hello crafting people! Today Linda Suarez is our hostess for the April Waltzingmouse Stamps Christmas Card Challenge and I hope that you will consider joining us for this fun challenge. We enjoy providing you with the opportunity to make a few Christmas cards each month so that you won’t be in a panic come December in addition to bringing inspiration to others who may need a little nudge to being making Christmas cards in early spring. We all know that December brings enough panic what with all the preparation and gift buying without adding the pressure of having to make 50 cards in one month, so why not get started today?
Linda has a very creative challenge for us, and here is just a peek of her beautiful creation.

For general guidelines for the challenge, please check out this post here.
You may join in the challenge by posting your challenge cards to your blog, or just to the forum. Feel free to grab this cute little WMS Christmas Card Challenge logo at the top of this post if you like. You can post them in April or any month you have your project completed. Then, just pop into the forum and let us know you have posted your project....because we all want to see your creative projects, and we love the WMS inspiration – anytime of the year.
Have a great day!

....Freebie test stamp set

So Folks I had to open a set of stamps to test one of the shapes against a die design! Since I can no longer sell the set I am going to give it away for free - One commenter on this post will get the set! I will chose by random number choosery thingy, all I want you to do is leave a comment here to tell me which WMS stamp you would most like to see getting it's own co-ordinating die! I will chose a winner tomorrow night at midnight my time!

...Flat Rate Shipping Introduced

EDITED - Re UK postage

Folks just a heads up for you regarding the shipping. I have had to readjust the shipping as Royal Mail have changed the way they are handling packages in their latest price increase. I have absorbed the price rises as much as I could but yesterdays price increases meant that I had to overhaul our system.

I have opted to remain with a standard shipping service since delivery times are usually good for the price and we (touch wood) don't have much of an issue with lost packages. In order for things to be as simple as possible, now that we also offer US shipping, I have changed the way shipping is offered at WMS. We have moved to a Flat Rate system.

All orders OVER £60 to anywhere in the world will ship for FREE.

All orders UNDER £60 are priced as follows:

Shipping within UK is now at a flat rate of ..................... £2.00 per order
Shipping within Europe is now at a flat rate of ..................... £3.50 per order
Shipping to USA/Canada/Australia/Rest of World is now ............... £5.00 per order

These prices are all in Pounds sterling. All timescales remain the same - We will still be using First Class Airmail.

I am currently updating the information on the store to reflect this, so please bear with me if you find any glitches on your next visit. The shipping service is constantly under review and if I find a way to reduce the costs involved it will be done.

Thank you for your understanding.

April Blog Party Details–Bloomin’ Springtime

Hello friends.  How can it possibly be April already? In many places around the world, spring is seen in budding trees and little flowers poking their heads toward the sun. Spring is running late in my part of the world, and even as I type this, there are patches of snow on the ground. I'm SO ready for winter weather to end.  I need a little color in my life.

So, color is what we shall have with this month's theme - SPRING FLOWERS. We all have our own special spring flowers that make us happy, and we would love for you to use your imagination and share with us what is blooming in your craft space.  Design a project that highlights flowers using Waltzingmouse Stamps. It can be a card, a 3D project, or even a scrapbook page, using images from Waltzingmouse Stamps. We hope we have "planted the seed" for your floral creativity and you will join the fun.

We will follow the usual schedule for the April party, and below you will find a schedule of beginning and end times in which you can enter your direct link to your project.  Your post on your blog, or on-line gallery, can go live anytime you wish on the 17th, but you will need to post your direct link here on the WMS blog using the Inlinkz widget that will be available during the time frame (outlined below) .

The festivities begin right here, according to your location, as indicated below:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 and enjoy the colors of spring.

Although we call this a "blog party", it is perfectly fine to use an on-line gallery for your project, if you don't have a blog.  It doesn't even have to be the Waltzingmouse Stamps gallery either (although you are most welcome to upload as many WMS projects as you like there).  On-line galleries such as Flickr,  Picasa or even Pinterest are all fine.

You only need to do three things:

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

2.  Your project needs to contain something directly related to the theme – color or other inspiration should be noted in your description

3.  You must use Waltzingmouse Stamps images somewhere within your design

We encourage and welcome you to grab this "party mouse" blog button (at the top of this post) for your blog sidebar, and to use it at the top of your post on "party day".

On the 20th of the month – we will highlight a few of the entries that really catch our eye and you'll be able to see those here on the WMS blog.  We will also select and announce our winner of the FREE stamp set of choice, using a random generator 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?  See you the 17th!