davebrethauer

Susie Paperie

I had a wonderful time teaching at Susie Paperie in Sun Valley, Idaho on Saturday. This immaculate little shop is owned by my friend Adrienne who I have know since my days at Impress Rubber stamps in Seattle. I thought I had a lot of energy, but back then Adrienne was working long shifts at the stamp store, teaching Claudia Rose classes and going to Law School - she was (and still is) such a superstar.

The store was decorated beautifully - soft, moss green walls, beautiful displays, plenty of workspace for class, the most delicious gingersnap cookies from the deli next door and a super sweet store dog named "Haddie" she had rescued from the shelter a couple of months ago.

Here's a picture of new friends Lila and Kim, who had driven 3 hours from Boise to take the class - I was quite honored! 

Here's Adrienne - the generous store owner who flew me out for the day! There is a hanging collage, done by a local crafter, that spells out "susie" on the wall behind us. One really neat feature of the store was the giant schedule wall - where Adrienne writes out the upcoming list of classes on one of the store walls that was painted with chalkboard paint (so cool!).

I made it back to Seattle at about 6:30 - it was actually hotter in Seattle (90 degrees) than in Sun Valley (86 degrees)! Finally summer in Seattle (I think we skipped spring this year!).

Here's SeaTac airport - 90 degrees is HOT for Seattle, since most of us don't have air conditioning in our homes. Luckily, I just had a bunch of design work to do on the computer Saturday night (no heavy lifting)!

We're releasing a Christmas and Fall batch of stuff in a few weeks (stay tuned for details) - it will be another What's in the Box full of surprises. Here's a peak!

Cha Cha Cha!

Time for some fun!

The fruit hat penguin (C1073) is one of our most whimsical Memory Box designs - this card could serve as an everyday cheery greeting. "Cha cha cha" (B1078) are the words that go with this fun little guy. We created the background leaves and flowers with CL126 Bugs and Blooms Clear set.

Well, I'm off to Hailey, Idaho tomorrow to visit Adrienne at Susie's Paperie - I'll take some pictures of her store (and of the whole stamping adventure) and share them on my blog next week!

Con-"grad"-ulations!

Got a graduate who needs a card? We have the penguin for you!

The graduation penguin (C1092) and the matching saying (con-"grad"-ulations B1097) makes a whimsical graduation card. Or if you have someone in your life who is just plain outstanding, why not use the top hat penguin?

The top hat penguin (C1075) and the matching saying (hats off to you B1080) are matched up here with one of our oldest stamps - AA135 Bulb. We have used it this time to light up the "stage" where the penguin is tipping his hat.

I received an email from my friend Polly at the Stamp Act in El Paso, Texas! She shared with me a great class she's having this month - and I wanted to show you some of her great samples!

This is the "A" page. Polly is using the Penny Black Clear set "Zoophabet" to create these wonderful pages. Notice the Memory Box Meso Flourish (C949) that the monkey is hanging from.

Here's the "B" page - the shrink plastic bees are from the CL126 Bugs and Blooms Clear set.

 

And finally the "C" page - the caterpillars are from the CL126 Bugs and Blooms clear set - notice how the caterpillar bends around the letters! That's something you can only do with clear stamps!

Howdy Partner!

Introducing, the Cowboy Penguin!

The Cowboy Penguin (C1082) could be considered a tribute to to my Colorado roots - where my family had a farm (back in the ol' days). I love to ride horses but rarely get a chance to anymore - but still get plenty of opportunities to garden in this great maritime Northwest weather. We matched up the saying "Rounding up some fun" (B1086) with this penguin.

The Tube penguin (C1072) is definitely a summer themed image - pair him with a beach scene, water, boats, volleyballs, sunshine or fish for a fun card. The coordinating phrase is "fun in the sun" (B1077) -

Don't forget the sunscreen -

Hey Batter, Batter

We had lots of interest in sports themed penguins during our contest - specifically something that could be used on a guy's card. So here's the baseball penguin (C1081), a good image to use on a card for a sports fan! The accompanying saying is "You're a hit!" (B1085) - so you could use this combo for anyone who did a good job. 

..and here's the bumblebee penguin! He's got all sorts of possibilities! Wings made of transparencies or covered in diamond glaze and a little glitter? Yellow flocking on his stripes? Stamped or embossed for a little shine? He goes well with our bee peg stamp (AA216)

The saying that's available for him is "bee yourself" (B1069) - though "what's the buzz" (B886) works well too!

Ready for the Day?

This is the Curler Penguin (C1084) - I think it conveys a concept we can all relate to! It goes with the saying, "I don't do mornings" (B1088)- and could be just the right image for a fun card to a friend. The bathrobe has a few possibilities - could be colored in, could be stamped on pink velvet paper and cut out - but I think a pink bathrobe is perfect for this penguin. It matches the pink curlers!

Penguin Contest 2008

The 2008 Penguin Contest has officially begun!

We have 3 parts to this Penguin Contest - and we hope it is our biggest and best promotion yet!

Part One:

After soliciting ideas for penguins for the last month, we have made our official decision on the which ideas made it! We received tons of entries for penguin ideas (I underestimated the legion of penguin fans out there!). Don't give up if your idea didn't make it this time - we'll do some more of these in the future. The fun part was designing the penguins based on people's word descriptions. As much as I enjoy exploring birds and flourishes, this was a fun change for a few weeks! We let everyone on our mailing list know yesterday who won, what the new stamps look like and when they can expect to get them in. Not on the mailing list yet? Go to our site and sign up!

We got so many wonderful entries - and had originally planned on releasing 9 new penguin stamps. But after trying to narrow down the choices, we still had 18 entries that worked out really well. You can view the new penguins, and their accompanying word stamps, on our site, in the new stuff section.

Part Two: The second part of the penguin program is up to you. Like last year, we will be holding a penguin card contest - participating stores will be given a poster and a prize of 50 cards and 50 envelopes (in 50 beautiful Memory Box colors). The contest runs June 15 to August 15 - the requirement is that customers use at least one of the 18 new penguin stamps. Beyond that, you can use non-Memory Box papers and stamps and embellishments. Interested in entering the contest? Just tell your local store to get on board!

Part 3: The third part of this program is that a portion of sales from these stamps will go to an environmental cause. We are commited to using environmentally sound paper and printing practices - and want to support similar organizations in a way that benefits all of us. We will be donating to a group called Conservation International - an organization dedicated to education and positive environmental initiatives. So from June to August 15, the more we sell - the more we can give to this great organization.

Our Penguin release last year was so fun and created a huge penguin fan base. Our goal this year was to create a few more smiles, make it more interactive and also somehow use it to create a positive change in the world.

Stay tuned, as we post ideas for all 18 penguins - beginning tomorrow!

Dandelions

Are there dandelions everywhere in the world? It seems as if everyone on the planet has seem some variety of a dandelion in their yard or poking uo through a crack in the sidewalk. I've dug a lot of dandelion tap roots out of my yard over the years and have tried to stay positive (at least artistically) about dandelions, in spite of their amazing ability to proliferate.

I try not to react when my kids blow off all the seeds - "making wishes" - on our walks with the dog. It is, after all, a pretty cool thing from a kids perspective - to make little tiny seeds fly away on the breeze. A hundred little parachutes drifting up into the sky.

This greeting uses our new Dandelion stamp (D1046) - it has a seed head image mounted on the side, so that you can compose a scene where the wind is moving things along. Our latest Thank You stamp (B1055) hangs above -

  Here's a pattern from our 6x6 Grove Collection - this is the last pattern I came up with for the collection. It took awhile - building up the hills, coloring in the leaves of the trees in different colors, but I really like how it turned out.

Butterflies and Blooms

This new idea from the What's in the Box May collection is a actually just 2 images "collaged" together. We stamped the Butterfly collage (E1060) and then sponged a background over it. We stamped it again on white paper, cut out the butterfly and then mounted it onto the first image - so that it would pop out a bit.

The Butterfly Stem (D1040) is stamped on the bottom left, slightly overlapping the first image. Check these images out (along with the rest of the collection) under new stuff at the memory box site. 

And heads up for all of you penguin fans! We have made the final cuts in our penguin contest and will be announcing the winners soon! Our plans for the contest were as follows:

We would get ideas from the penguin fan base for a special "Penguin Contest" to be held in June. We would choose (9) ideas for new penguins - the people who submitted the winning ideas would receive a stamp of their penguin idea. We will hold another penguin contest at participating stores - where customers will submit a card using at least one of the new penguin stamps, with a first prize of paper going to the winner. Finally, a portion of the proceeds for this contest will go to an environmental/conservation organization.

Well- everything stayed pretty much the same. Things were going according to plan until we received 200 amazing penguin ideas! So, we are releasing 18 new Penguins and 18 accompanying sayings! We plan on showing these to you next week - stay tuned! 

Summer Classes

I am finalizing plans for a summer tour of workshops - . If you live in Colorado, Idaho, Massachusetts, Connecticut or Virginia - then check out the schedule below. I will be teaching colored pencil and watercolor classes for greeting cards at the following stores:

Susie's Paperie (Hailey, Idaho) June 28

Simple Pleasures (Colorado Springs, CO) July 30

Ink About It (Boston, MA) August 2

Absolutely Everything (Boston, MA) August 3

Stamp and Scrap Nest (Simsbury, CT) August 5

The Great American Stamp Store (Westport, CT) August 6

Angela's Happy Stamper (Herndon, VA) August 9,10

This is my favorite part of my job - going out and meeting stampers/crafters and seeing all the different stores around the US. I wish I could do this full time! Check out the store's class schedules - hope you can make it to one of the sessions!