Waltzingmouse July Blog Waltz

Okay, hopefully if this works, you will only be able to see this post after 8 a.m. on Saturday 17th July - if not, I'm just babbling to myself again!

Well the theme for this month's Waltz is blue & green, I've had these multicolour stamp pads from Versacolour for years, I bought them because I liked the colours but had no idea what to do with them - boy do I wish I'd played with them properly long ago!. I used Rainforest and Icicle for this and stamped along the lovely zig zag pattern from offbeat backgrounds to get the beautiful watery background (though the lime green at the end certainly heats it up a bit!). I stamped the sentiment from Afternoon Tea Sentiments using the dark blue end of the Icicle ink pad and then clear embossed - I wanted to shape the sentiment so that it looks like the tag you get on the end of fancy flavoured tea bags (hope it worked).

Definitely think this card carries on the simple theme that seems to be developing - hope it's not too simple?

Anyway, looking forward to Waltzing tomorrow, though by the time I've seen everyone elses lovely creations, my credit card may not be so happy, but we 'must have' our stamps.

Hugs to You

I was playing with a sketch yesterday from Cardmaking & Papercraft, and trying to make use of my Claire Curd signature range papers - they are absolutely gorgeous, but I would never buy a pack of 200 sheets again, I've had it for two years & haven't even made a dent in it! (though it makes a very effective weight to press things under).

Anyway, I decided to use a Greetings Farm stamp that I haven't made use of yet called 'Snuggle', which I managed to get cheap from someone having a crafty clearout (what's that - not sure I could part with anything of mine!). The sentiment is from a Waltzingmouse set called 'sweethearts', which is available here.

Well, hope you like this new creation as much as I do.

waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge No. 4

Wow, really on a roll now, I love these challenges & I'm trying to make myself do more of them, just to stretch me a bit and get the creative juices flowing! I've found that the more cards I make, the easier it is to make cards - weird!

Anyway, wasn't sure I was going to enter this week as I could not think of anything to do with the sketch, but then I started to have a play (really started to enjoy doing that, just playing, not sure where I'm going) with some papers I got free with a magazine (My Minds Eye, Pretty Please) and they seemed to lend themselves perfectly to creating the square background. Then I used some offcuts to make the roses (love these, got the idea from a tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers), and punched some butterflies and flowers with my Martha Stewart punches. The sentiment is from an Inkadinkado set, which I stamped on to plain white card which I cut out with my blossom nesties and then distress inked with worn lipstick - in the words of a very famous Meerkat, 'Simples!'

Well, I love it anyway & it really does make me smile to look at - lovely summery colours. Thanks for looking.

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge No. 3

Wow, three weeks in a row, that must be some kind of record for me!

Now I know that this is not a Waltzingmouse stamp, but when I saw this sentiment, it just spoke to me and the card kind of fell together around the image. The sentiment is from an inkadinkado set I got recently from Hobbycraft and I do love inkadinkado stamps - have you seen some of their Christmas images?!!! (sorry Claire, love all of yours too & would dearly love to get hold of that lovely secret Christmas set you did).

I could not tell you who the paper is by as I've had it for ages - I spend a lot of time stroking papers and refusing to use them, but this was one 12x12 sheet that was used on a scrapbooking project years ago and I've used it on several cards since, and I still have enough left for some more, just goes to show how far one sheet can go.

The ribbon is from a QVC set my mum bought me for Christmas 2 years ago (again I've been stroking & refusing to use!). I decided not to put the button on from the Sketch as the card just looked finished to me - hope you agree?

Anyway, see you all again next week for another one!

June Waltzingmouse Blog Waltz

Yeah, second post today & having made my quiche I had time for a quick card & boy do I mean quick!

I was playing with one of my new sets of stamps - Offbeat backgrounds, and a chocolate coloured dye based ink pad & just loved the effect. the ink from dye based pads tends to pool on large areas of acrylic stamps and so you get a mottled effect, which is just beautiful if you want a slightly more 'used' look. Anyway, I stamped on a spare bit of paper to see how it came out, loved what it looked like & this card idea popped into my head straight away - 10 minutes later and the idea in my head was on a card. Yes I know its a very basic card, but I just love the way it looks and even though it's a romantic sentiment, I don't think any man would think it was too 'girly'. Oh, and I did cut away the bottom of the card so it zig zags (just for a little bit of detail).

Well, I only have 4 sets of Claire's stamps, but I sooo need more - will have to wait for the end of the month again though (sigh!)

Happy Waltzing all!!!!

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge No. 1

Yay, well my two new stamp sets arrived from Waltzingmouse last Friday (just in time for the weekend!!) and just in time for the new Sketch Challenge, which started on Saturday, so perfect excuse to have a play (as if any was needed). I just love the Afternoon Tea Sentiments, well I love all of the sets, but I cannot bankrupt myself by buying them all at once (just keep playing the lottery).

I paper pieced the teacup as it just needed a little something extra, and I curved the sentiment so that it fitted the banner perfectly - love the way you can do that with clear stamp sets and Waltzingmouse Stamps, stamp sooo clearly.

Anyway, hope you like my simple little card - hopefully back soon

Waltzingmouse Blog Hop

Okay, so I know this was supposed to be yesterday, but I was composing the card in my head - I only have two of Claire's stamp sets (at the moment) so did not have a massive amount of choice - especially with the theme of Mother's Day. I decided on a simple sentiment 'with gratitude' and love the apples from the Peace and Plenty set. I had a great deal of trouble colouring the background, it should have been a lot smoother than this, but I don't think that chalk inks are the best ones for doing a soft blended background - will have to try chalks next time.

Anyway, hope you like, and I'm off to hop (boing! boing!)