...Couldn't resist - pun intended

Good morning! I hope you enjoyed the recent release, I took a wee break from shipping last night because I especially wanted to play along with this sketch challenge.

It's the Waltzingmouse Fanatics challenge No. 25 and with being so busy it had been a week or two (ok well maybe a little more) since I'd had a chance to pop over and see what the ladies have been  up to. Well I scrolled back through the last couple of challenges and I was wow'ed! The ladies have a small following, but that small following is BIG on talent, I was pinning inspirational cards like crazy.

Anyhow, here's my take on the latest challenge - I started with some patterned paper and used the fabby Heirloom patterns stamps to create a diamond pattern - I clear embossed the diamonds and then rubbed on some brown ink, the clear embossing resists the rubbed on ink and lets the original pattern show through clearly this gives a nice texture as well as age to the paper. If you have your magnifying glasses on you will see that no, I certainly did not line up my diamonds perfectly, this was totally intended (lies) as I was hoping to give it that homey, homemade feel. (damned lies - I really, really like things to line up, I'll stress about it for an hour but then I'll give up and call it 'homey').

I folded the top down and stitched. I used a sentiment from Say it Loud Winter Holiday and stamped it with a tired old memento ink pad, sometimes I love the faded look of an old worn out ink pad more than a juicy new one. A little more trimming and stitching and a rummage through the cupboards for some embellies. It's a simple card, but I think it feels warm, which is what Christmas should feel like, all cosy and warm.

So, if you are a lose end today - why don't you play along!! Click Here.

Hope it tickles!

August Release Blog Hop Winner Announced

Hello! The August release was amazing. We are so appreciative of all your lovely comments AND your support of the Design Team and of Waltzingmouse Stamps.

The Design Team wowed and amazed us with creating incredible samples using our newest sets and dies: Great Big Owl, Peek a Boo Sentiments, Boo and Friends, ‘Tis the Season, Hello Happy Thanks, Vintage Baby Shower, Little Darlings Sentiments, Little Darlings Images, Picot Panel Die, Great Big Owl Die, Vintage Baby Shower Die Set, Boo and Friends-Boo Die Set, Boo and Friends-Vamp Die Set, Boo and Friends-Witch Die Set, Boo and Friends-Batty Die Set, Little Darlings-Bow Die, Little Darlings-Bassinet/Moses Basket Die Set, Little Darlings-Pram Die Set,  and the Little Darlings-Cradle Die Set.

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

CONGRATULATIONS GOES TO: Lisa808

To claim your prize, Lisa, please e-mail me (Lynn) at lynn@waltzingmousestamps.com and kindly note in the subject line of your e-mail  August BLOG HOP WINNER. I will provide you with a special code to claim your prize.

Thanks again for all of your continued support!

...New stamps for August!

 

Good Evening ladies - I have a very long release post for you today -

8 Stamp sets and 11 die sets!

Since it's been a while - allow me to refresh your memory about our FREE SHIPPING offer:

There is Free Shipping on all orders over £60GBP - 

and yes, that means free shipping to anywhere in the world.

Remember we also have a Rewards Program now - and yes we were able to backdate that for a whole year when we started running it - so even if you have not shopped with us in a while, you may already have some points gathered up! Just click the little 'Rewards program' tab on the store to check it out. points gathered turn into discount! discount is available on everything - even digitals!

OK, One last thing before I let you lose on the goodies - 

the DT ladies have a last round of inspiration for you - here they are (don't forget to comment!):

Lynn, Kelly, Renee, Becca, Karin, Teresa, Jeanne, Julia, Jen, Anya, Laurie, Sandie, Tosha

Here are the New goodies for August

 

Great Big Owl Stamp set 6x8 inches £15.95GBP

Great Big Owl Die set 5 dies £12.99GBP

Boo and Friends Stamp Set 6x4 inches £9.95GBP

Boo and Friends Bat Die set of 2 dies £5.99GBP

Boo and Friends Ghost die set of 3 dies £4.45GBP

Boo and Friends Witch Die set of 2 dies £8.50GBP

Boo and Friends Vamp die set of 2 dies £4.75GBP

Peek-a-Boo sentiments Stamp Set 6x4 inches £9.95GBP

'Tis the Season Stamp Set 6x4 inches £9.95GBP

Hello Happy Thanks Stamp Set 6x4 inches £9.95GBP

Picot Panel self Matting Die £6.50GBP

 

Vintage baby Shower Stamp Set 6x4 inches £9.95GBP

Vintage Baby Shower Die Set set of 4 dies £16.99GBP

Little Darlings Sentiments Stamp Set 6x4 inches £9.95GBP

Little Darlings Images Stamp Set 6x4 inches £9.95GBP

Little Darlings Cradle die £5.79GBP




Little Darlings Pram/Baby Carriage die £6.35GBP



Little Darlings Bassinet/Moses basket die £4.89GBP

Little Darlings Bow Die £4.25GBP

 Now if you are in the mood to read on I will show you my Great big Owl

I really wanted to make this guy 'perchable' and I do this with the help of the matching die set. Fist, I stamped the owl in black - I clear embossed him at this point as I was going to colour him with copics. Then I trimmed him out with the die and colored in the white card - I knew he was going on a black background.

then, I placed the little 'claws line die right on top of his feet. Even though you cannot see the cutting line when you do this there is a simple way to make sure it lines up - see where the red arrows are - I just made sure the centre of the metal at both ends was 
centred on top of the last toe/claw on each side.

This is how it looks when the cut was made - perfect.

At this point you can slide a branch in underneath his toes!!! The Great big owl die set contains a branch die which is a perfectly sized perch for him. Love this tip.

I simply mounted him on a layered card base - he really is a big chappie

Hope it tickles!

...it's nearly time

Folks it's nearly time for our big release - we have 8 stamp sets and 11 die sets brand new and ready to go. The store is closed now, but will reopen around 7.00pm (UK time - in about 30 mins) with all the new goodies added. Check back here at 7.00pm (ish) also for the full reveal of all the new goodies in one place and also for the traditional DT release hop! Gotta rush...

...Introducing Boo and Friends

 

Evening folks -  are you all vintaged out? yep? lol, well we have something different now for you - a total change of pace - we have some cute Halloween characters for you. 

Here are the DT ladies - there's another new set called A Great Big Owl previewing tonight - I'll be back with him later on...

Lynn, Kelly, Renee, Karin,  Jeanne, Julia, Jen, Anya, Laurie, Sandie, Tosha

This set is called Boo and Friends and I'm going to go right ahead and pop up the whole set image here for you this eve - I know we don't normally reveal all 'til release day, but I can't properly introduce you to these guys unless you can see them all at once - aren't they cute?

Boo is a ghost - she's the little ghost in the top left hand corner of the image below - and those guys are her friends. They are all ghosts who love to dress up for Halloween! I loved the concept of a Halloween ghost actually dressing up for Halloween.

Here at WMS we have always gone down a more traditional path at Halloween and this year I thought it might be fun to add some cuteness (roughly translated - this means my kids twisted my arm for some cute Halloween stuff that they could use themselves...)

My cards this evening feature the little ghost witch and the vamp - The sentiments are from another new set called Peek-a-boo Sentiments - a bunch of punny Halloween sentiment that work great with the images in Boo and Friends, because we all need a little corny right? So easy to trim out a dose of these with the matching dies which are available as singles so you only buy the ones you need. I stamped up a few backgrounds with the Zig Zag backgrounders and Reverse Crackle Backgrounder.

There are dies to match all those characters and each die has a little bonus die attached - I will do another post to show you how to get the best from those.

Hope these tickle! I will see you later on with my great big owl!!!

...Little Darlings Post two

Good morning folks -I hope you are enjoying the previews so far - I have some more vintage fun for you this morning and then later on this evening we'll be shaking it up with some sets of a completely different style. Scroll down for last night's post if you missed it.

The light is a bit brighter here today thanks to Mr G. Electric... and I've been able to take pics of this wee set. Feel free to pin and share these pics - lol, it's only the ones with grotty lighting that I am ashamed of...

I don't think there is much on the planet that is sweeter than a pair of baby shoes and so I set about learning how to crochet them on my week off - I lean towards home made gifts if I can do it well enough - I'll pass out jam like it's going out of style, but if the shortbread didn't work out you are likely to get something store bought... I made up these sweet little Baby Janes (pattern from these delightful gals at etsy) and I was very pleased - I think they are up to giveable standard.

Deciding how to present these was easy with the Little Darlings sets. All of the images are from the Little Darlings Image set and the Sentiments are from the Little Darlings sentiments set. I made up a card and taggy and then part covered a duo cupcake box with some of the patterned paper. The Cradle image on the card was stamped in a deep purple (SU elegant eggplant) and trimmed out with the matching die. I used the Picot panel for the sentiment - I'm finding that so versatile. I used a stitched tag die upside down to create a stitched panel on the card front - under the cradle and I stamped the round sentiment from LD sentiments in a blue shade to tone with the paper (Tilda).

The tag uses the Pram ( stroller US?) image and I cut that out with the matching die. The largest of the stitched tags was ut in kraft card and a wee strip of patterned paper just sets it off. Lots of sponging - because there are no other stamping techniques... :) Loving the small contrasting grommet die that comes with the stitched tags - it's all about the details sometimes.

The box was a find - it's a due cupcake box with those sweep-up-and-gather sides, I love it! - I covered the end panels in paper - a little sponging...for old times sake....

And there it was, a lovely little bundle - I think it does justice to my crocheted efforts - I think handmade goodies should be presented properly - I think it alerts folks to the fact that you have made the effort and spent time creating a little piece of love. Don't sell yourself short all you knitters and crocheters by giving away your beautiful hard work all rolled up in a paper bag - present yourselves! :)

Hope it tickles - I'll be back this eve with Halloween!

...Introducing Little Darlings

Evening ladies - welcome to the second day of our previews for the August release. You will have guessed by now that we are now posting our previews at 7pm UK time, in line with the release day - hoping to make it just that little bit simpler for all of us!

I'm kicking off with this little card and I will be back later with more, but the light here is dreadful for taking photos, yada yada.... it's been like winter here all day!

Anyhow, this little card will serve as an intro to another one of the new Vintage Baby sets - there are 3 in total this release - you saw Vintage Baby Shower yesterday and today we are showing, Little Darlings - which is an image based set, and a sentiment set, Little Darlings Sentiments - specifically designed to go with vintage baby images. All three vintage baby sets are 6x4 inch sets. The Vintage baby shower dies are sold as a set, but I decided to do the dies for Little Darlings as single dies, that way you can pick your favourites.

The Bassinet (or Moses basket ) image used on this is from Little Darlings images set and the New Fangled parents sentiment is from the Little darlings sentiments set.

Also previewing today we have 'Tis the Season - a fabulously fonted Christmas set, I'm just easing us in gently... - pop off to see what the ladies have for you - I'll be back later, soon as I track down a daylight bulb...

Kelly, Renee, Becca, Karin, Teresa, Jeanne, Julia, Jen, Anya, Laurie, Sandie, Tosha

Just before you shoot off tho' I just want to show you another trick for that Picot Panel die from yesterday - if you look in detail at this card below, you can see how I have used the picot panel die on the plaid background to cut a space in the centre of the panel, I mounted the plaid panel onto the kraft cardbase with foam tape. Then, when I cut another panel in just plain white and discard the edge, I can pop it into the vacant space in the plaid panel and the kraft card shows as a neat border between the white panel and the plaid frame!

Chat later, c

... Introducing Vintage Baby Shower and Picot Panel die

Gals, this is a long post - go get the coffee, I'll wait on you...

Ok today I am previewing one of the 8 New Stamp sets that we are releasing on Wednesday - For tonight's post I'm also using 2 of the Eleven new die sets...yep, it's a big ole release!

Oh, just before I commence waffling, here are the ladies who are previewing with me this eve: Lynn, Kelly, Renee, Karin, Teresa, Jeanne, Julia, Jen, Anya, Laurie, Sandie, Tosha

My Stamp set is only a year and a half overdue, been working on this for a little while now...It features some scrumptious vintage engravings from my collection. I nursed them back to life with some detailed retouching and generally doctored them until I was able to create stamps with them. I absolutely adore vintage images. I've been collecting old books since college days and now and again I happen upon something especially beautiful - these images are a sample of those. I created some vintage style sentiments to complement them and at last I have some Vintage baby stamps, and by happy accident, they are just in time as I hear I'm going to be an aunty again this winter!

I used the parasol/umbrella image as the focal point for the baby shower invite card - can you see how neatly cut out that is? Dies! There is a die set to match this set (Vintage Baby Shower Dies) This makes me happy. The background paper, which was already patterned with some tiny text detail, has been sponged in Antique Linen distress in and then stamped with the baby shoe image - also from the Vintage Baby Shower stamp set. The umbrella image is a treat to work with - it is so detailed that you can just stamp it and leave it, or you can add some colour - I chose to add some ginger tones to my Navy scheme and I used a copic marker to add colour to the brolly. The ink was SU, Night of Navy and I was delighted with how this image stamps with a variety of inks. I'm using a lovely smooth stampers cardstock here (coughGinaKcough)...

Cardstock tip

It's worth trying to get yourself some decent smooth cardstock for all of your detailed stamps - the pic below shows what a difference decent cardstock can make - the top image has been stamped on a good smooth card and you can see how beautifully crisp it is - I then die cut it out so I could set it beside the bottom image - this was stamped on a lesser quality card and you can see how the ink has puddled at the top of the umbrella and not taken properly to the card - lots of times when this happens to folks, they blame the ink or the stamp - mostly it turns out to be the cardstock...

For the Baby Shower Thank You card, I have used the baby face image - I love how Victorians were so decorative - the more is more thing really appeals to me! Some days you just need a frill. The detailing on this image is gorgeous and is wonderfully suited for either colouring or just stamping plain. I did not need to spend a lot of time colouring this as the image is pretty much self shaded.

The dies make this so easy to trim out - in the image below you can see that I secured the die with tape before running through the GCalibur. You can also see how I'm working on white cardstock - but that I had previously sponged it with antique Linen Distress ink (be sure this is dry first), before stamping my image in navy. I like to do this as SU ink sometimes smudges if I sponge over it.

Picot Panel Die

My sentiment Panels are cut with a new die - Picot Panel die. This die is also releasing on Wed.

What's nice about this super useful little die is that it is self matting! Here's how:

The die has a double cutting line all the way around - when you run it through your die cutter it will produce a panel and a little frame, you will normally just discard the wee frame piece if you want to use the panel only.

If you have run it through the die cutter again with an embossing mat, you will also see the embossed line detailing and it will bring out the pierced lines especially well.

If you wish to create a mat for the panel, run the die through the die cutter one more time with a fresh piece of cardstock in the colour you want your mat to be.

While the die cut is STILL IN THE DIE - use ordinary tape to tape along both of the side of the die - you can just see the shiny tape in this pic. You should but the edge of the tape up to the lowest parts of the scalloped edge - DON'T put your tape right to the edge of the scallops or you will see it when the panel is done. It does not really matter how wide your tape is - I used ordinary household tape - just so long as it covers the tiny holes also.

When you take the die cut out of the die and turn it right side over, you will have something that looks like this - all you need to do now is snip away the excess tape at each end of the panel.

In the pic above I have cut a plain panel from blue card and I have made a mat panel from white card - just as I described above.

Now I layer the pieces to get a picot panel with a contrasting mat - happy clappy! :) - you can use the mat complete, or you can trim it flush at the sides like I did for the Thank you card. I love this look also.

Hope it tickles - we'll be back tomorrow with more new goodies!

LOL, just an aside here but this pair of cards reminded me of when i last used Ginger and Navy together - back in 2009.... do you remember my brown paper backdrops? lol!