...Back in stock at WMS

This evening I have the following sets back in stock - all folks whose orders were waiting for these - your goodies have now shipped! I am catching up with shipping notes tonight/tomorrow.

Hocus Pocus

Funky Feathers

Festive Foliage

Spooky Tree Backgrounder

Little Lanterns

Bright Season

Wanda's Pantry

Asian Gardens (very limited stock left)

Rescue Remedies (very limited stock left)

Fine Feathers (very limited stock left)

Around Christmastime

Splat That

Anya's lovely set above was made with Around Christmastime and Festive Foliage sets.

...Loyalty Program begins

Folks I am adding a loyalty program to the store this evening - It has been a long time coming and I am expecting a few little bumps along the way as I install this new program.

We would not have made it this far without the support of our friends and I'm really excited to be finally putting something in place which will start giving a little something back automatically to folks who support us so well.

You can read the gist of it here. The plan is to keep it simple. I have looked at many schemes and have decided on this one as I needed something effective but easy to manage.

The program begins loading this evening and points will initially accrue from now going forward but please be assured that I am looking into how best to recognise those folks who have supported us to date and I'll have news on that over the next couple of days.

For my image I have pinched Jean's charming Ocean Bound card.

...Bedtime Story Sketch Winner

I was already late with this and I set it to post on auto post and then forgot to publish...sheesh! Thank you for the flag Miriam!

The Winner of the Bedtime Story Sketch was:

No.9. Kimberly Wiener  

Kimberly please Pop me an email with Bedtime Story Sketch Winner in the subject line and I will let you have your gift code!

Friendly Feature–October 2013–Pauline Pollington

Hello craft fans, We are so very pleased to share with you another Friendly Feature. Today we bring you super fan of Waltzingmouse Stamps, Pauline Pollington. Join us as she shares a bit about herself and some WMS inspiration.

I was thrilled to be asked to take part in this month's Friendly feature, my only problem was 'Which stamps should I use?”.  After much deliberation, I decided on creating for Christmas, especially as Claire is such a fan of the holiday season, and I have a few Christmas themed sets.

I started by stamping my background in red with the Cabin Plaid Backgrounder set, a great cover all if you are short on time and can't manage to stamp your own plaid. I then stamped twice in Versamark and white embossed the beautiful lacy border from French Country and trimmed around the leafy bits on one edge. I cut to size and attached them to the plaid background. I added some small red pearls to the stamped lace, they really pop!

I then silver embossed the Opera Tag image and cut using the matching die. The sentiment is from the Very Vintage Christmas set, stamped twice, once in red and once in Versamark and silver embossed. I then trimmed out the sentiments from the silver embossed label and attached to the red with some pop dots.

Finally I layered onto the card and added a white chiffon bow topped with some button twine and a pearly brad.

I then made a matching bottle gift tag using the Opera Tags stamp and die sets, with a sentiment from Nutcracker Sweet. I added some red grosgrain ribbon and some beautiful Guipure lace along the bottom, topped with some red dew drops.  Finally I added some clear Sparklets to the label.

Thanks for joining me today!

Wow, what a creative and beautiful gift set. In addition to seeing some of Pauline’s creative inspiration, we asked her to answer a few questions that will help us get to know her better.

When did you get into this hobby?  I first got into this hobby about 5 years ago when a friend gave me some craft bits for a birthday present. When I found how enjoyable making cards was I began to look about on the internet and came across Claire's blog. I was hooked! At first I started off just using patterned paper, and was very wary of stamping. But I took the plunge and Waltzingmouse Stamps were the first stamps I ever bought!

What is your favorite kind (manufacturer) of cardstock?  My favourite card for matting is Bazzill Basic, I love the variety of colours and textures it comes in. Core'dinations card is a close second. I love to emboss and then reveal the inner core! I love to colour too, I tend to use Promarkers or colour pencils when I have the time. The paper I use for this varies, but I never have a problem with Personal Impressions Smooth white cardstock.

What is your favorite WMS set or one that you reach for over and over? Hmmm... I honestly can't say I have a favourite set, but I have a soft spot for Earth Angel as it was the very first set I bought from Claire. I love the sweet little angel, and the versatility of the butterfly wings.

Do you have a favorite technique? My favourite technique is sponging - the dimension you can create with a little bit of ink and sponge is amazing!

Do you own a die cutter? What kind? I have a Cuttlebug and a Grand Calibur. I tend to use my Cuttlebug most as I prefer the see through plates, and I find it's easier to use. It was my first cutting machine, (must be at least 4 years old) and still going strong!

What is your favorite color combination? OOh! I have a few favourite colour combos! Purple and green are a big favourite, and I love the cooler tones of turquoise with silver, or green with blue. These are primarily the colours in my wardrobe too!

If money wasn't an issue, what crafty stuff would you buy? Phew! Well, I would probably invest in an electronic cutter, such as a Silhouette Cameo, so that I could make use of Claire's fabulous cut files and get the rest of the Waltzingmouse Stamp sets that I don't have yet.

Who is your most admired crafter - or the person that inspires you or challenges you? My inspiration has to be Claire! Her designs, and her card making style are flawless, and more often than not, has me reaching for the ink pads and stamps. I'm so happy to be able to support a homegrown U.K business - running a home, 3 kids and a business cannot be easy, but Claire makes it look so! Thanks for the inspiration Claire!

Please join us in thanking Pauline for guest blogging today and for being such a great cheerleader of Waltzingmouse Stamps!

...Pajama Party Winners!

 Well I have just finished  doing the rounds of the Pajama Party, super entries all round and a couple of showstoppers! SOOO glad the prizes are awarded randomly, there is no way I could choose between some of your fabby creations! Anywhoo without further ado -

The random winner from our Halloweenish Greenish Challenge was:

No. 21 Joseph T! Congratulations Joseph, you win £20 Store credit! Pop me an email with PJ Winner in the subject line and I will let you have your gift code!

And the random winner from our Victorian Ghost Stories Challenge was:

 No.7 Kathy Riley - Congratulations Kathy, you win a £30 store credit - you got the bonus for the £D project! pop me an email with PJ Winner in the subject line and I will let you have your gift code!

And the random winner from our Art Deco Challenge was:

No.10 Pauline P - Congratulations Pauline, you win £20 Store credit! pop me an email with PJ Winner in the subject line and I will let you have your gift code!

... WMS October Pajama Party

Good evening! How has your week been? I am glad to see Friday, today we handed our old home, our first home, over to a new family. It's been a day of mixed emotions for me, I am happy to have moved into a house that better suits our growing family, but I will miss the 'squashy house' and all the memories it holds. I was about to say I will miss the neighbours also, but I don't intend to. I intend to be a better friend to them and call in often to help them offload the surplus of delicious cakes and bakes that they always seem to have! lol. Going to be positive about it all!

Tonight we have our Pajama party and I am looking forward to catching up with you all and seeing what goodies you have created - this has been my worst month ever for blogging and all things online, so I will be here with my cuppa and I hope to get a little surf time in to visit you all!

Here are tonight's challenges:

Challenge 1 - Greenish Halloweenish

For my challenge card, I kept it real simple, mostly because much of my craft stash is still in boxes...I stamped herself in Olive SU ink and  then over-stamped the sentiment in black - both stamps are from the Vintage Witch set, then I trimmed out the sentiment with a craft knife and sponged around the edges of the panel. I mounted the main image on dimensional foam to raise it above the level of the sentiment to provide a sort of frame.
 
In case you missed the brief, here's what to do: Make a card/project featuring Halloween and the colour Green. You do not have to use Waltzingmouse Stamps products to play along, but for this challenge, if your project uses any Waltzingmouse Halloween stamps you will be eligible to double the prize if your project wins the random drawing.

This link will remain open for 24 hours. After the links close we will choose a random project to win a spot prize of £10 store credit! If the randomly chosen winner has used Waltzingmouse Halloween stamps in the winning project the winner will double their prize and receive £20 store credit.

Link your project up below:

Challenge 2 - Victorian Ghost Stories

 Ok, I have provided you with a lantern and a place to go haunting - off you pop! lol. I love this card, I love the olde worlde image of the Abbey ruins, complete with exiting bats! I used the rustic lantern from the Little Lanterns set to provide a focal point and messed around with various greenish inks to get a ghastly gleam. Wouldn't it be so neat if there was a die with which to trim out that lantern...guess what! there soon will be :)


For this challenge we're looking for  old school spooky. If you'd like to play along there is still a little time - Make a project to celebrate a vintage style Halloween. You might even want to consider a 3D project!
You do not have to use Waltzingmouse Stamps products to play along, but for this challenge, if your project uses All Hallows Eve, The Count or Vintage Witch or even Spooky Tree from the last release, you will be eligible to double the prize if your project wins the random drawing.   After the links close we will choose a random project to win a spot prize of £10 store credit! If the randomly chosen winner has used stamps from any of the following sets: All Hallows Eve, The Count , Spooky Tree or Vintage Witch from our September release in the winning project, the prize will double and will receive a £20 store credit. 3D Bonus - A bonus £10 will be added to this prize if the project created is a 3D project!

 Link your project up below:

  

Challenge 3 - Art Deco - Black and white and POP

I shamelessly stole this image of a card Tosha made for the last release, since I have run out of making time this eve and also since it illustrates perfectly what this challenge is all about! You get the idea!

Now it's time for your Art Deco inspired creations -  featuring lot's of black and white, clean cut geometric shapes and the pop can be whatever colour you choose - maybe red, or even gold? it is not necessary to use WMS stamps, but if you do have either Art Deco Background/Putting on the Ritz or even the Art deco card panel cut files, now is the time to show us what you can do with them!  

After the links close we will choose a random project to win a spot prize of £10 store credit! If the randomly chosen winner has used either Art Deco Background/Putting on the Ritz or even the Art deco card panel cut files in the winning project the winner will double their prize and receive £20 store credit.

 Link your project up below:

 

  Bedtime Story Sketch Challenge

Here is your Bedtime story sketch, we have some fabby samples from the Dt to get you started, the links for this challenge are at the bottom of this post and this sketch challenge will remain open for one week.

 

Lynn Mercurio

 

Julia Aston

Teresa Kline

 Tosha Leyendekker

Edna Morrisedie

Hope to see you playing along!

...Invitation to the October PJ Party

Good morning folks - how have you been? I have been moving home, which turns out to be the stressy version of living under a rock, it's going something like this:

Fab, great, ooooh, dishwasher, happy happy, oooh space, bedrooms, cosy, cleaning, what do you mean I can't take my neighbours with me?, folding, packing, cleaning, unpacking, where are/is my clothes/schoolbag/wallet? Ikea, flatpacks, camping on wooden floor, Ikea, real tea, gas, electric, how much? Building Control? since when? - that sort of thing...

All of my craft supplies are still in boxes/bags/neighbours' car boot etc and it feels like about a million sleeps since we had our Halloween release!

I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel at last though and so I'm hopping on here to invite you to our next Pajama party which I'm going to hold on the 18th of October - I will be wanting to see your best Halloweenish of course and , and there's a challenge or two for folks who don't celebrate the holiday also.

Here are the details if you fancy playing along!

Challenge 1 - Greenish Halloweenish

Make a card/project featuring Halloween and the colour Green. You do not have to use Waltzingmouse Stamps products to play along, but for this challenge, if your project uses any Waltzingmouse Halloween stamps you will be eligible to double the prize if your project wins the random drawing.
When to make: Make your project now so that you can be ready to post it to your blog/gallery on the night of the party.
How do I link it up?: On the night of the party, post your project to your blog/gallery and post a direct link to it into the inlinkz tool that will be available on the blog post here on the WMS blog. Grab the Pajama party badge now from the beginning of this post to add to your challenge blog posts when you are ready, this will kelp us to find you in the event of a wobbly link. Links for this challenge will remain open for 24 hours.
What will happen? : After the links close we will choose a random project to win a spot prize of £10 store credit! If the randomly chosen winner has used Waltzingmouse Halloween stamps in the winning project the winner will double their prize and receive £20 store credit.

Challenge 2 - Victorian Ghost Stories

For this challenge I want to see some old school spooky.
Make a project to celebrate a vintage style Halloween. You might even want to consider a 3D project!
You do not have to use Waltzingmouse Stamps products to play along, but for this challenge, if your project uses All Hallows Eve, The Count or Vintage Witch or even Spooky Tree from the last release, you will be eligible to double the prize if your project wins the random drawing.
When to make: Make your project now so that you can be ready to post it to your blog/gallery on the night of the party.
How do I link it up?: On the night of the party, post your project to your blog/gallery and post a direct link to it into the inlinkz tool that will be available on the blog post here on the WMS blog. Grab the Pajama party badge now from the beginning of this post to add to your challenge blog posts when you are ready, this will kelp us to find you in the event of a wobbly link. Links for this challenge will remain open for 24 hours.
What will happen? : After the links close we will choose a random project to win a spot prize of £10 store credit! If the randomly chosen winner has used stamps from any of the following sets: All Hallows Eve, The Count , Spooky Tree or Vintage Witch from our September release in the winning project, the prize will double and will receive a £20 store credit.
3D Bonus - A bonus £10 will be added to this prize if the project created is a 3D project!

Challenge 3 - Art Deco - Black and white and POP!

I'd love to see some chic Art Deco inspired creations - Let's have a challenge featuring lot's of black and white, clean cut geometric shapes and the pop can be whatever colour you choose - maybe red, or even gold? it is not necessary to use WMS stamps, but if you do have either Art Deco Background/Putting on the Ritz or even the Art deco card panel cut files, now is the time to show us what you can do with them!

When to make: Make your project now so that you can be ready to post it to your blog/gallery on the night of the party.
How do I link it up?: On the night of the party, post your project to your blog/gallery and post a direct link to it into the inlinkz tool on the blog post that will be available here on the WMS blog. Grab the Pajama party badge now from the beginning of this post to add to your challenge blog posts when you are ready, this will kelp us to find you in the event of a wobbly link. Links for this challenge will remain open for 24 hours.
What will happen? : After the links close we will choose a random project to win a spot prize of £10 store credit! If the randomly chosen winner has used either Art Deco Background/Putting on the Ritz or even the Art deco card panel cut files in the winning project the winner will double their prize and receive £20 store credit.

Bedtime Story

Our Pajama Party will end with the Bedtime story sketch - this will be a sketch challenge that we will present to you on the night of the pajama party. You will see the sketch and some inspiration samples on the Pajama Party blog post and you will have one week to link up your challenge cards.
We'll be opening a chat thread on the Waltzingmouse Forum during the party on the 18th and we would love to chat with you then. We hope you can join us! And do invite your friends!