WMS June Blog Waltz

Happy Thursday, friends. The 17th of the month means it is time for the Friends of WMS Blog Waltz. This month, our theme is all about the boys!

To get started, head to the WMS Forum to link up your creation and hop along with the other participants. There is also a thread for chatting about what you've seen and participating in our little contest! The DT members are each hiding an image on their cards. Keep track of their count and a correct guess could win you a stamp set of your choice!

Here is my card - a great opportunity to create something for my dear old Dad for Father's Day!

My Dad is a racing fan, so I wanted to incorporate the race car image from Free Spirit - Boy. Inspired by the sentiment (from Free Spirit - Sentiments), I used the car to create a little 'scene'. I stamped the checkered pattern from Off Beat Backgrounds and finished the card off with my own checkered flags.

Have fun waltzing! Don't forget to head back to the WMS Forum to chat and join the contest.

I hope you enjoy! Have a fantastic day!

#Anya

Recipe:
Stamps: Free Spirit - Boy, Free Spirit - Sentiments, Off Beat Backgrounds - Waltzingmouse Stamps
Cardstock: Pacific Point - Stampin' Up!; White, True Black - Papertrey Ink
Ink: Pacific Point, Riding Hood Red, Wild Wasabi - Stampin' Up!; True Black - Papertrey Ink; Jet Black Archival Ink - Ranger
Other: Floral wire, Copic multiliner

WMSC2

Hello, my dears!

It is time for another Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge - doesn't that just make Saturday even better than usual?

You can find all the details on the sketch challenge blog, but I am sharing my card here, too.

Here is today's sketch:

And here is my card:

Isn't that a fantastic sentiment? It is from Afternoon Tea Sentiments. I really love that set (have I mentioned that? ;). I took the color cues from the current Embellish challenge, which is being hosted by WMS.

The card details can be found below, but I wanted to mention that I used Watermelon Glimmer Mist to tint my previously white flower - something to keep in mind if you need custom embellishments!

Now I hope you will play along, too! This current sketch challenge will remain open until Thursday, 11:59 pm EST. You can link up your entry right on the Walzingmouse Sketch Challenge blog.

Thank you for stopping by - I hope you're inspired! Have a fantastic day, I am on a plane right now headed to sunny Cozumel!

#Anya

Recipe:
Stamps: Afternoon Tea Sentiments, Very Vintage Labels No. 10 - Waltzingmouse Stamps
Cardstock: Dark Chocolate, Rustic Cream - Papertrey Ink; Cameo Coral - Stampin' Up!
Ink: Jumbo Java, Thatched Straw VersaMagic - Tsukineko; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger
Other: Cameo Roses White - Prima; Watermelon Glimmer Mist - Tattered Angels; adhesive rhinestone; sewing machine

A Cordial Invitation

Hello, friends!

I feel as if I've been neglecting you... I'm very sorry! I have been going crazy, so I hope that explains it!

The flooding we had in our basement last week really threw us for a loop. (As if anyone is really prepared for something like that...) We have spent almost every waking moment moving furniture, setting up shelving, throwing stuff out and it has been exhausting. One good thing, though, is that it has motivated us to do some much-needed purging. But on top of that, we leave on Saturday for our annual scuba diving trip to Cozumel!

We'll be doing a little bit of this,

and a lot of this.

I know that I should be excited but I feel like the house issues and boarding our two dogs for a week is weighing heavily on me. I know - crazy.

I hoped to have a few things to share with you next week while I'm gone, but I really didn't have a chance. I was able to make cards for the upcoming Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenges and Blog Waltz, and with the way things were going, I was pretty satisfied with that!

Ok - sorry for all that chit chat - I do actually have a card to share with you today!

A little fun with Afternoon Tea. I really love this set. The fun flourishes are from the Very Vintage Labels No. 10 set. That is another favorite of mine, too.

Since I've talked way too much already, I'll leave you with that. The card details are all below.

Have a great day, thank you for stopping by!

#Anya

Recipe:
Stamps: Afternoon Tea, Very Vintage Labels No. 10 - Waltzingmouse Stamps
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Bashful Blue - Stampin' Up!; White - Papertrey Ink
Ink: Night of Navy, Bashful Blue - Stampin' Up!; Old Paper Distress Ink - Ranger
Other: Blue adhesive rhinestones; sewing machine

Serendipity Stamps Sympathy Sketch Challenge

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Today is challenge day over at Serendipity Stamps, and this week we've been challenged to make a sympathy card using the following sketch:

And here is my card:

I knew right away I wanted to use this passage from Ecclesiastes (To Everything - 722E). I think it is a good reminder, especially for a sympathy card.

I stamped just a portion of the Orchid (1158H) stamp in the top corner. I masked the butterfly to keep it from stamping; I just wanted the flowers to sort of curve around the words. The flowers were colored with Copic markers (listed below). I kept the rest of the card simple, keeping the patterned paper low key and tying a small bow. Elegant and pretty, I think!

Thank you for the stop today, now make sure you visit the other Design Team members!

Amy
Kathie
Lynda
Sue

Have a great day!

#Anya

Recipe:
Stamps: To Everything (722E), Orchid (1158H) - Serendipity Stamps
Cardstock: Sweet Blush, Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
Patterned Paper: Life's Journey - K&Company
Ink: Rich Cocoa Memento - Tsukineko; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger
Other: Sweet Blush Satin Ribbon - Papertrey Ink
Copics: R0000, R00, R20, YG0000, Y21

Class of 2010

A quick graduate gift card holder for you today. My brother-in-law graduated from high school last week and I needed something quick for his monetary gift.

I used some of the many applicable sentiments from Free Spirit - Sentiments to create my text background. The 'Congrats' and 'Class Of' and numbers are also from the Sentiment set. The graduation cap is from the Free Sprit - Boy set. The card was made in his high school colors.

Here is what the card looks like when it is open.

Instead of using ribbon to keep it closed, I created a little tab that tucks under the front of the card. Seemed a little more manly to me than a big ol' bow :)

I first found the pattern for this type of gift card here on Jen del Muro's blog. I have used it many times since then!

It is great to see so many of you participating in the new Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenges! If you haven't heard - you can see all the details (and pick up a sparkly blog blinkie!) here.

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you have a great day!

#Anya

Recipe:
Stamps: Free Spirit - Sentiments, Free Sprit - Boy - Waltzingmouse Stamps
Cardstock: Handsome Hunter, More Mustard - Stampin' Up!; Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
Ink: Handsome Hunter, More Mustard - Stampin' Up!
Other: Rectangle Nestabilities - Spellbinders

Ooh! WMS SKETCH Challenges!!

Hi there!

Yes, you heard (read) me correctly - today Waltzingmouse Stamps is launching their own sketch challenge blog! Wahoo! This has been a dream of Claire's for some time, and she thought now was the right time to start it up! I couldn't agree more.

A new sketch challenge will be posted each Saturday and prizes will be offered at least once a month - but we'll keep you guessing as to when! There will be blog blinkies up for grabs, too! You will find all the details and information on the sketch challenge blog. But, I'm just going to get on to my card, ok?

Here is our first sketch:

Fun! And here is my card:

I have been dying to use Afternoon Tea Sentiments, and as soon as Royal Mail delivered it earlier this week I had to ink it up.

The patterned paper used to paper piece the cup is from the Cosmo Cricket Everafter Collection. I really love the look of yellow and purple together. The pansy was colored, cut out, and layered onto the sentiment (as a side note, I thought I'd start listing the Copics I've used when coloring - the majority of my markers are Ciao, so one of those nifty marker photos won't be much help to you. They are listed below in the card recipe). I finished the card off with some stitching and adhesive pearls. Good stuff!

Now I hope you will play along, too! This current challenge will remain open until Thursday, 11:59 pm EST. We hope you will find this new venture to be a great resource for inspiration and motivation!

Thank you for stopping by - I would love to know what you think about this great news! Have a fantastic day!

#Anya

Recipe:
Stamps: Afternoon Tea Sentiments - Waltzingmouse Stamps
Cardstock: Vintage Violet, Almost Amethyst - Stampin' Up!; Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
Patterned Paper: Everafter Collection - Cosmo Cricket
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento - Tsukineko; Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger
Copic Markers: E31, BV23, B60, B63, G21, YG63, YG67, Y21, W1, C00, Gold Spica
Other: Standard Circle Nestabilities - Spellbinders; Pinking Blade for Rotary Paper Trimmer - Fiskars; Adhesive pearls; sewing machine

A Quick Note

.. or three!

I'm swamped today, so I'm just going to share a few quick things and then I'm off.

The winners of the June WMS Blog Waltz have been announced - head over to the WMS Blog to see if you were lucky!

Secondly, WMS is sponsoring the current Embellish Magazine Color Challenge. It is a fantastic one, so head on over there and see what amazing things the Embellish DT has done using Waltzingmouse Stamps!

And finally, you may have heard some rumblings about something new coming up for WMS. Yes - it is so exciting! And you will love it. But I can't tell you until tomorrow. :) So please stop back then!

Hugs!

#Anya

Fly Away With Me

Today I'd really like to fly away!

We have had some serious rain here in Pittsburgh over the past 24 hours and last night my husband went down into our basement to find about half an inch of standing water in our finished (aka random furniture junk storage) room. It appears to just be seeping in from the baseboard. Needless to say, the room had to be emptied and cleaned as much as possible right then. So now we need to try and sort out what we need to do to keep that from happening again - I'm inclined to hire a professional, but we aren't exactly in the position to spend loads of money. Has anyone been in a similar situation that could provide some friendly recommendations? I have faith that it will all work out in the end, but in the meantime it has certainly given me the motivation needed to do some major purging!

Today's card is one I made for the current Embellish Magazine color challenge (with butterflies!).

I stamped the argyle pattern onto a square of Kraft cardstock and then trimmed it down to the smaller squares. The butterflies are from a variety of punches and dies (listed individually below). The Spring Moss butterflies were stamped with Background Basics: Woodgrain and then layered with a Simply Chartreuse butterfly. The finished card size is 5 inches square. Love the pop of green with the otherwise neutral colors. Great challenge, Ashley!

That's all for me today, I have tons to do! Have a fantastic day!

#Anya

Recipe:
Stamps: A Little Argyle, Background Basics: Woodgrain, Up, Up & Away - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: True Black, Kraft, Spring Moss, Simply Chartreuse - Papertrey Ink
Ink: Sahara Sand, Kiwi Kiss - Stampin' Up!; True Black, Chai Tea Dye - Papertrey Ink
Other: Sizzix Bigz Beautiful Butterflies die - Stampin' Up!; Butterfly Die - Papertrey Ink; Classic Butterfly, 3-in-1 Classic Butterfly punch - Martha Stewart Crafts; green adhesive rhinestones - Recollections

Thank You Friend

Good morning, all!

I have a few housekeeping things to get to before I share today's card.

First off, thank you all for the overwhelming support during Embellish Magazine's first blog hop! It was very successful, and I am pleased to announce that one of the winners was chosen from the comments on my blog!

Congratulations, Jackie! You have won an assortment of May Arts Twine. Head over to the Embellish Magazine Blog to claim your prize. Thank you all for participating - I hope you've checked out Embellish Magazine's premiere issue!

Moving on.. thanks also to all of you that stopped by yesterday for the WMS Design Team Blog Waltz - I hope you were inspired by some of the earlier WMS releases! And in case you haven't heard, WMS is teaming up as a product partner with Spellbinders! So not only will you be seeing more nestie-friendly stamp sets coming out, you will also be able to purchase the coordinating dies right in the WMS store! How is that for convenience, huh?

And finally, a little happy news of my own. My card was chosen as one of the winners in the Paper Crafts Magazine Phone Book Challenge! That put a smile on my face. My fellow DT member Belinda's card was also chosen! Congrats, Belinda!

OK! I know you're at the edge of your seats now ;) Here is my card for today, made for a very dear, wonderful friend.

I used elements from the Asian Gardens set to create this card. The large flowers were inked first with Pixie Dust VersaMagic and then Cardinal VersaColor just around the edges to get that graduated color look. Pigment or chalk ink is great to use for this technique.

I hope you have a great day - thanks for sticking with me. I am so thankful for all of you!

#Anya

Recipe:
Stamps: Asian Gardens - Waltzingmouse Stamps
Cardstock: Pure Poppy, White - Papertrey Ink; Pretty in Pink - Stampin' Up!
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Real Red - Stampin' Up!; Pixie Dust VersaMagic, Cardinal VersaColor - Tsukineko; Jet Black Archival Ink, Antique Linen Distress Ink - Ranger
Other: Standard Circle Nestabilities - Spellbinders; gold pearls; sewing machine

June WMS Blog Waltz

Good morning!

Today the Waltzingmouse Stamps Design Team is having their monthly blog waltz. If you're waltzing along, you should have arrived here from Lynn's blog. I'm the last stop on the waltz, so if you just happened to stop by, head over to the Waltzingmouse Blog for the start of the waltz.

Normally this is release day, but since last month was such a large release, Claire is holding off releasing any new stamps this month. July, though, will be full of *wonderful* sets (trust me!). So this month, the Design Team is doing sort of a retrospective using stamps from previous releases.

I decided to create my card with the first stamp set I ever purchased from WMS. As soon as I saw it, I was hooked. It is still one of my favorite sets!

And its never too early for Halloween cards! This, my dears, is Halloween Party. And as soon as you start to use it, you'll be coming up with all sorts of creepy, spooky ideas!

The orange background was stamped with the plaid stamp from Off Beat Backgrounds. The witch and bats were stamped and cut out. I layered a purple glittered cardstock strip onto some die cut scallops. Doesn't it make you want to break out your Halloween stamps? I sure do!

As usual, prizes are also up for grabs for two lucky commenters! One winner will be randomly chosen from the comments left on one of the Design Team Members' blogs, the other will be chosen from the comments left on the Waltzingmouse Stamps blog. So let us know what you think!

I also want to send a quick shout out to Carly, who shared the great tip to use a wooden cutting board in your photo tent. I am always looking for ways to improve my photos, and I thought this was a great idea - thank you Carly!

Have a great day, friends!

#Anya

Recipe:
Stamps: Halloween Party, Off Beat Backgrounds - Waltzingmouse Stamps
Cardstock: Going Gray, Basic Gray, Tangerine Tango - Stampin' Up!; Plum Pudding, True Black - Papertrey Ink
Ink: Jet Black Archival Ink - Ranger
Other: Charoite glitter - Martha Stewart Crafts; Large Scallop Border die - Papertrey Ink