Saturday 28 December 2013

Challenge 8 - Colours

Good morning fellow Fanatics.  We hope you've had a very enjoyable Christmas and have not been affected by the horrible storms that have been taking place on either side of the Atlantic.  Hopefully now you're all fed up of TV and turkey and are now ready to get back to some crafting fun.  This time we have a colour challenge for you and to start the New Year off well for you all - we are also offering a little prize to our No 1 Fan this time around.   So thanks to Deborah's generosity if you're our winner we will send you "Charmed Squares" which is very useful little background set.


Remember that you don't have to use all six colours in your project, you can go for three if that makes it easier.  Don't forget that your project must include some Waltzingmouse stamps, digital images or cut files.

We've got a little inspiration for you - hope you like them.  As always full details of the projects are on our personal blogs.



Happy New Year - photo by Deborah Frings - Deborah's Gems

We do hope you'll join in with our colour challenge.  You have until 5.00pm GMT (Noon EDT) Thursday 9th January 2014 and don't forget there is a prize up for grabs!


Before we go we'd like to wish you all a very 
Happy, Prosperous & Crafty New Year!

Saturday 14 December 2013

Taking a Christmas break and Winners

Good morning Fanatics - if you're here looking for our next challenge, then I'm afraid you'll have to wait a couple of weeks.  As I'm sure it is in your house, the run up to Christmas is always really busy for us so rather than posting a challenge and not having the time to visit all our entrants, we've decided to take a little break over the festive period.

So - here's a little Christmas wish to you all from each of us for a very Merry Christmas!


Tara

We do also need to give a little salute to the winner of our last sketch challenge - we only had 6 players so we decided to just pick a single winner and no runners up so our No 1 Fan for this challenge was Lori!


We loved how you interpreted the sketch into a perfect little scene Lori and the embossed details on the moon is an extra special touch.   Do grab your No 1 Fan badge for your blog.


We'll be back with a new challenge and a little surprise in the post Christmas slump on the 28th December - see you then!

Tuesday 10 December 2013

Sketch Challenge Reminder

You've only got a couple of days left to join in with our current challenge - we have a nice simple sketch for you to play with.



You'll find the linky on this post http://waltzingmousefanaticschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/challenge-7-sketch.html


Wednesday 4 December 2013

Alternative Christmas Winners

Sorry to have kept you all in suspense for so long about the winners of our last challenge but we're finally ready to reveal our winners.......

We had some fantastically creative ideas for using stamps in different ways - do check out the gallery on the challenge post for some inspiration - feathers for trees, flowers for wreaths and flowers turning into other flowers - I'll certainly be looking at my stamps with fresh eyes!

The No1 Fanatic's award this time around goes to Marybeth for her stunning 3D poinsettia created using folk art florals - wowser!  Congratulations on getting it published too Marybeth :-)



Our 3 runners up this time around, in order of entry were:

Julia - we loved the clever use of patterns paired up with gorgeous sentiment accented with the tiny pearls.


Sabrina - a genius idea to go nautical for Christmas - Deck the Halls Sailor Boy had me in stitches!


Lai-Yoke took a more traditional approach with her red and green colours but using the doilies to create the pattern really made her card pop!


Thanks so much for joining our challenge - you can claim your No1 Fan and Top 3 Fanatics badges from our winners page (see the tabs at the top)

I do hope you'll all be back to play in our current sketch challenge - much less taxing on the creative juices than this one we hope you'll agree - you have a little over a week left to play.


Saturday 30 November 2013

Challenge 7 - Sketch

Good morning Fanatics - we thought after the last tricky challenge, we'd better make it nice and easy this time so we have a really simple sketch for you to play with - hope that brings a few sighs of relief ;-)


As ususal, all you need to do is use Waltzingmouse products somewhere and then anything else goes - CAS or Shabby, Card or  Scrapbook Layout - let your imagination run wild.  Combine us with other challenges too if they fit.

Are you ready for a little inspiration:


Thank You - Photo by Deborah Frings - Deborah's Gems



You have until 5pm GMT on Thursday 12th December to link up your entries below:




By the way - if you're wondering who won the last challenge - we're still deciding - Thanksgiving set us back a little this week so we'll announce the winners in a day or two when we've caught up.  We thought it might stump you but it seems to have inspired a lot of brilliantly creative ways to get more from your stamps!

Saturday 16 November 2013

Challenge 6 - Christmas

Good morning folks - it's that time again - can you believe we've done 6 challenges already?  I hope you're all enjoying it as much as we are!

This time we're back on a theme challenge, and as we're rapidly approaching December, we thought we'd better set a Christmas challenge - only we thought we'd give it a bit of a twist.....


We'd like you to make a Christmas card, but other than the sentiment you use, we'd like you to use stamps that are NOT Christmas themed stamps - so no baubles, or snowflakes, or Santa's.......   It may seem like a difficult challenge, but it was one that was set by Paper Crafts magazine, and Tara had a card accepted using entirely Waltzingmouse stamps so we know it's entirely possible!

Still sound tricky?  Well here's what we made of the challenge ourselves to inspire you:

Festive Greetings - Photo by Deborah Frings - Deborah's Gems



You have until 5pm GMT on Thursday 28 November to play along - just don't forget to use Waltzingmouse products on your projects somewhere.....


Friday 15 November 2013

Challenge 5 Winners

We hope you all enjoyed our colour theme - we certainly got some excellent entries this time around and it was very hard to choose our winners as we like different things on all the cards!

So after much deliberation we finally agreed on the following winners

Our No 1 Fan for this challenge is Ang
We loved her literal translation of the colour blocks with the embossing on top - it gave a really strong clean design and really caught our eye.


do take your No 1 Fan badge from our winners page.


As numbers were a little low again we decided to pick just two runners up so "2" Top 3 Fanatics this time were, in order of entry:

Sarah
We actually loved both of Sarah's entries but settled on the strong clean design of this entry - the layered doilies look so pretty in these soft hues.


Pauline
We loved this fabulous shaped easel card with the cute blue trees!


Again - please do take your Top 3 badge from our winners page (see the tabs at the top of the blog)


We hope you'll all be back to join us in the morning for our new challenge which may just have a festive twist........

Saturday 9 November 2013

Challenge 5 - Reminder

You still have time to play along wtih our current sketch challenge here at Waltzmingmouse Fanatics - the deadline is 5pm (GMT) on Thursday 14th November

Here's the colours you need to use - just add Waltzingmouse stamps ;-)



You'll find the linky tool on this post http://waltzingmousefanaticschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/challenge-5-storm-colours.html

Saturday 2 November 2013

Challenge 5 - Storm Colours

Good morning to all you lovely Waltzingmouse Fanatics out there - are you ready for your new challenge?  This time we're back onto a colour challenge and this time it's quite appropriate as the UK was hit by one of it's worst storms we've seen in 10 years this week - so we have the cool colours of a stormy sea for you all to play with.


Remember, you don't have to use all 6 colours - you can just use 3 if you find that easier and your project can be anything you like as long as you feature Waltzingmouse Stamps, digis, or cut files somewhere on it.  Feel free to combine us with other challenges too.

Are you in need of a little inspiration?   Well this is what we came up with for you - hope you like it - as always full details are on our personal blogs so click our names to come by and say hello ;-)





Sorry I messed up the links last time and they closed at noon - I did link up our late players and I promise you have until 5pm GMT on Thursday 14th November to get your project linked up below (and remember British Summer Time is over now so our clocks went back an hour last weekend)

Friday 1 November 2013

Challenge 4 Winners

I'm sorry I messed up the linky widget and it closed earlier than you thought - I linked up those who came late and I've set it for 5pm for our next challenge I promise!

As the number of entrants were a little low we've decided to just award a winner and a single runner up this time so without further ado - here we go.....

Our winner this time was Pauline with her delightful floral card.  The use of the leaf sprigs for the wave in the sketch was inspired and the floral focal point was beautifully stamped and arranged.  


Our runner up is one of those late entrants (so do always drop us a line if you just miss the deadline!)   We loved how Louise had used dimensional paint to "ice" the gingerbread men in her jar and the vintage lace is the perfect finishing touch to the sketch.

 
Congratulations ladies - do grab your winners badges from our winners page :-)


If you didn't win this time then you don't have long to wait to give it another try as we have less than 12 hours til our new challenge goes live and we have some lovely cool colours for you to play with ;-)

Saturday 26 October 2013

Challenge 4 Reminder

You still have time to play along wtih our current sketch challenge here at Waltzmingmouse Fanatics - the deadline is 5pm (GMT) on Thursday 31st October

Here's the sketch to follow - just add Waltzingmouse stamps ;-)


You'll find the linky tool on this post  http://waltzingmousefanaticschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/challenge-4-sketch.html

Saturday 19 October 2013

Challenge 4 - Sketch

So folks welcome to challenge No 4 - we've rolled around to sketches again - this is how the Fanatics site will work we'll rotate between sketches, colour and themed challenges and as we've done one of each already we're now back to the beginning of the process with this cool sketch which is open to interpretation in lots of styles.


Remember you don't have to make a card - anything based on the sketch is fine by us (feel free to rotate the sketch too if required) - all you have to is use something from Waltzingmouse Stamps somewhere on your project - easy peasy!

Want to see what we did with it?   Well here goes:





As usual you'll find all the details on our personal blogs (just click our names) so do pop by and say hello - we love it when you visit.

Projects without Waltzingmouse products are not eligible to link up to this challenge - we only have that one rule so please ensure your project complies.

Friday 18 October 2013

Halloween Winners

We're mixing it up a little here at the Fanatics house - from now on we're going to let you know the winners of the challenge on the Friday before the new challenge starts.  We think it makes sense to separate the winners post from the new challenge so it's not such a big post in one and we can give a proper "ta da" to the challenge winners.

So - without further ado, it's time to announce our winners for our Halloween challenge - we had some fantastic entrants and really did struggle to choose the winners - you all obviously LOVE Claire's fabulous Halloween designs - doesn't she just rock this time of year!

Our No 1 Fan this time was Asha - we loved everything about this card - the non-traditional Halloween colours, the great colouring of the focal image and the cute layout.  Congrats Asha - do take your No 1 Fan badge from our winners page.


Our Top 3 Fanatics this time were, in order of entry:

Julia - we loved the super CAS layout and how the vellum sentiment gave an extra
spooky feel to the witch - can you hear her cackle?

 Jeanne - we'd like to be Jeanne's neighbours - who wouldn't love one
of these super cute treat bags come Halloween???

 Tammy - the elegance of this one won us over - Halloween doesn't have
to be creepy it can be super elegant too!

Again ladies - please do take your Top 3 badge from our winners page (see the tabs at the top of the blog)


Finally we have a special mention for Ang - she's played along in all our challenge so far and was determined to join in again but only has 2 sets of Waltzingmouse Stamps neither of which were even remotely Halloweeny, so we think Ang deserves a special mention for determination and ingenuity - as with a little imagination the flowers from Simple Sprig became very convincing pumpkins!


Saturday 12 October 2013

Challenge 3 Reminder

You still have time to play along wtih our first theme challenge here at Waltzmingmouse Fanatics - the deadline is 5pm (GMT) on Thursday 17th October.

As the witching hour is nearly upon us, then our theme is Halloween so time to get your spooky stamps inky ;-)



You'll find the linky tool here - http://waltzingmousefanaticschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/challenge-3-halloween-theme.html

Saturday 5 October 2013

Challenge 3 - Halloween Theme

If you're looking for the winners of challenge 2 - then read on down to the bottom of the post - we wanted to get straight into the challenge this time around.  There is no sketch or colour combo to follow this fortnight - just a theme - and as it's getting close to Halloween we thought we'd give you the chance to pull out all your spooky sets.

 

There are some Waltzingmouse Sets which are totally Halloween themed including all the lovely new release from last month All Hallows Eve, Vintage Witch, The Count and Spooky Tree  as well as the older sets Halloween Party; Cicely or Gracie at Halloween; Wanda's Pantry; Midnight Feast and Hocus Pocus  but if you don't have the full-on Halloween sets then you can get creative and look at other sets which include Halloween sentiments such as Say it Loud Winter Holiday  or even use this cute little bat poop poem Clare has in the freebies section of the store if you're really stuck.

You don't have to make a card - gifts and treat bags are particularly apt for this time of year so this could be your opportunity to get a head start on the Halloween candy preparations ;-)

Here's a little inspiration from the two of us to get you in the witching mood.....



Now it's over to you - you have until 5pm GMT on Thursday 17th October to play along so hopefully plenty of time to bring out your ghoolish side!   We'll reveal the winners along with the new challenge at 8am on Saturday 19th October.

Cards without Waltzingmouse products are not eligible for this challenge



And now back to the matter of our winners from our first ever Colour Challenge - it seems you found the colours a little harder than the sketch as we didn't have quite as many entrants but we still got some stunning cards and our favourite was No 10 (it seems going last is quite lucky around here!)  Congrats Claire - head on over to the winners tab to collect your No 1 Fan badge ;-)

No 1 Fan - Claire A

Fanatics Top 3
No 1 - Lori - we loved the bold use of the colours and strong graphic design.
No 2 - Charmaine - we loved the unusal take on the colours and the fun theme
No 8 - GrĂ¡ - we loved the fun use of the circles and the on-trend gold highlights.


Congratualtions ladies - thanks for making judging so difficult!   Hop on over to the winners tabs to collect your Top 3 badges.  We hope you'll all be getting spooky with us again this time around ;-)


Wednesday 2 October 2013

Last Chance!


Challenge No 2 closes in around 18 hours so I thought I'd pop by with a final bit of inspiration for anyone still thinking of playing.  Here are a couple of cards Deborah and I made using our inspiration colours.

Deborah used all the colours in this fabulous autumnal card with some great ghost stamping to her focal piece.

I found using all the colours a bit hard, so if you are having the same issue then remember you only need to use 3 of them - I chose the kraft, the dark brown (which some people see as purple so that's fine too) and the dark red.

Hope that sparks all the fanatics into last minute crafting action - we'd love to see some more cards in the gallery.  It closes at noon tomorrow to give Deborah and I time to choose our favourites ahead of our new "timely" challenge on Saturday ;-)


Saturday 28 September 2013

Challenge 2 Reminder


You've still got time to play along in our first colour challenge - use a minimum of 3 of the colours above with your Waltzingmouse stamps and link up by 5pm (GMT) on Thursday 3rd October........

You'll find the linky tool here - http://waltzingmousefanaticschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/challenge-2-colour-combo.html