Farewell to Waltzingmouse Stamps

Deborah Frings and I have opened the old Waltzingmouse Fanatics blog to do a final farewell hop for Claire following her heartbreaking decision to close her fabulous store.   http://waltzingmousefanaticschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/waltzingmouse-stamps-farewell-hop.html   Waltzingmouse were the first stamps I bought online and it was love at first purchase and I've been #foreverawaltzingmousefanatic since that very fist purchase.

So here is my celebration of all things Waltzingmouse - this could have been a very long post as I had so many options to choose from but I've been brutal in the edit!

This is one of my favourite cards - I used the snowflake die in the background for embossed texture and then did a paper- and wood-pieced robin to go on top.   He does give me the Warm Fuzzies like all Claire's stamps do!

One area in which I think Claire always excelled where other stamp companies often fail (or at best ignore!) is in masculine themed products.   Her products were always so easy to make cards for guys with which is an area I know many of us struggle with.  This is one of my favourites.

I was totally THRILLED to be on the Waltzingmouse blog as part of their "friendly feature" back in 2013  http://waltzingmouse.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/july-friendly-featuretara-caldwell.html   Here is the doll inside the doll card I made for it.
 

I was also lucky enough to be pubished in Paper Crafts magazine in the same year with MY ALL TIME FAVOURITE Waltzingmouse stamp set - that cowboy set just makes me happy everytime I see it!

I couldn't resist making a little something new with my Waltzingmouse supplies - this one is just for you Claire -  I will miss you!

I used Camellia plus Compact Sentiments Part 2 - Claire always had the perfect sentiment for every occassion!  Simply stamped and embossed and watercoloured (roughly!) with Gansai Tambei paints.

Do join in the hop and share your love of the mouse!  http://waltzingmousefanaticschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/waltzingmouse-stamps-farewell-hop.html

Tara
x

Happy 5th Birthday Less is More!

I'm really thrilled to have been asked to join in with the birthday celebrations at Less is More today - the challenge is 5 years old!   Can you believe it?  Time sure does fly when you're crafting every Saturday morning!    Checking the challenge is the first thing I do every Saturday.......    Thanks so much for inviting me to play along ladies.

So, the challenge today is White on White with a hint of black, gold or silver.   I love the cleanness of a white on white card and knew as soon as they gave me the challenge details that I wanted to play with the lovely new layering die from Concord and 9th, they really do have some of the most interesting dies on the market.   This one is Layers of Love and it would be just perfect for wedding invites!

I started with a square base card and trimmed 2 squares of 300gsm white card just slightly smaller than the base card.  I die cut the two different hearts from the centres - one on each card to get the layers which were simply stuck to the base card with foam tape.

My hint of gold comes from a gold foiled word die (Wplus9 Flower Doodles) foiled using stick-it adhesive and therefore no need of a laminator!   To match the gold I added some tiny gold gems into the holes in the floral layer.

As usual - white cards are a pig to photograph - it does look much more beautiful irl!

Hope you're inspired to join in the fun - there are even prizes up for grabs so what are you waiting for?!?!?