davebrethauer

Hoot Hoot!!

 

Hello friends and Happy Friday.

Do I smell birthday cake?  I think I do!!  Happy Birthday to a very special and extremely talented person.  Hoo is it you may wonder?  Well thank goodness I have a pretty good memory and with the help of Facebook I remembered Dave's birthday was this month.  I mailed out a birthday card to my nephew on Thursday and it dawned on me last night Dave's birthday was also in August.  Panic set in thinking I missed it!  I tell you I got lucky when I read on Dave's Facebook page it was today August 28.  Happy Birthday Dave.  You are the one and only Memory Box Man!!  My original intention was to make Dave a card and mail it to Seattle however because I didn't write it on my calendar I accidently forgot.  August has just zoomed by and summer too for that matter.  Dave if you are reading this blog I really designed the card for you today Birthday Boy!!  I wanted to use my new Wintry Owls stamp and I thought it was fitting because Dave is such a nature lover and King of the trees.  I'm sorry its a wintry birthday card in August but I knew Dave would totally understand!!  : )  I LOVE the new Dewfrost paper.  Oh my goodness is it ever beautiful.  I hope Dave likes his card.  I really tried to keep it somewhat masculine.  Think winter OK?  NOT!!  Anyway let's all hope Dave has a terrific birthday even if he's teaching classes for three days straight according to his schedule.  Please join me in wishing Dave a very Happy 39th Birthday.  He's still a young man!!  Don't you wish you could celebrate with him and enjoy some yummy birthday cake?  For me I wish I was taking one of his classes today or on the weekend followed by some serious shopping!!  Enjoy your special day Dave and best wishes from all your Memory Box fans.  You totally rock!!    

Here's a picture of Dave in action!!  What a lovely smile.      

 

I saw this great picture of Dave with his students on someone's blog awhile back and thought it would be fun to post today seeing he is teaching on his birthday.  Isn't the birthday boy a real cutie pie??  I'm sorry I don't remember the store's name or blog. 

 

Card Supplies:

Stamps-Wintry Owls E1275, Happy Birthday B1223

Notecard-Vanilla Bean

Paper Collection-Dewfrost 

Memory Box Jewel Stickers-Sparkling Diamond, Sparkling Snowflakes

Inks-Memento Rich Cocoa; Color Box Chalk Creamy Brown, Ice Blue, Chestnut Roan, Versafine Vintage Sepia

Copics-BG10, 0 Colorless Blender, E00, E33, E35, E41, E50, E51

Prismacolor Markers-Clear Blender, Cinnamon Toast, Sunburst Yellow

Opal Metallic Thread

Spica Clear Glitter Pen

Other Paper-Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80# Cover

Quickie Glue Pen

Angel Dust Fine Glitter

Card Measurements:

Vertical Blue Strip 2.75 x 5.5"

Owl image on white paper 2.5 x 3.5"

Blue layer behind wintry owls 2.75 x 3.75"

Brown polka dot layer 3 x 4"

Card Directions:

Edge blue vertical strip lightly with creamy brown chalk ink and attach to a Vanilla Bean notecard. Stamp Wintry Owls using Memento brown and color with markers listed above.  I used BG10 and 0 colorless blender on the tree circles.  All the other colors were used on the owls. Remember practice makes perfect so experiment with the colors.  Edge owl image with ice blue ink and highlight edges with Spica clear glitter pen.  Edge blue layer behind owls with creamy brown ink.  Use chestnut roan ink to darken the white edges of the polka dot paper.  Adhere background papers to note card as shown.  Using a Quickie glue pen fill in all circles with glue and sprinkle glitter over the image and shake off excess glitter.  Apply five Sparkling Diamond jewels to tree.  Wrap opal metallic cord around tree image and secure ends with Scotch tape.  Adhere owl image to background layers.  Stamp sentiment in Versafine brown ink.  Add a Snowflake jewel near sentiment and there you have it.  Thanks so much for reading this long post.  Some people tell me they just look at the pictures!!  : )  Hope you will stop back next Friday.  Tami  

Scraptasia

If you are in the New Providence area of New Jersey, be sure to stop on in to see Scraptasia, owned by local famous papercrafter Dawn. Since I first visited Dawn a few years ago, I have often talked about her shop as a small store that can really offer a lot of different products, and display them in a beautiful way. It really is amazing how many wonderful product lines she carries, and everything is easy to see and shop from. Her store manager, Morgan, offers a wide range of inspiring classes and was on hand to help me throughout the day of workshops.

Dawn, who is busy juggling the store while raising her 6 month old (Joey! seriously cute baby) came in at the end of the first class with a surprise announcement - she's moving to a new location, double the size of the original store! The group of students were quite excited! Dawn took me to dinner for some New Jersey Italian (maybe I should move to Jersey?) and then we went by the new location, which she is planning to move into in September. Be sure and stay tuned to her website/blog, so that you can see the new store once it opens in the fall!

The video here is of her current store - chock full of paper goodness and creativity (and an entire wall of Memory Box notecards - 40 colors!). I can't wait to come back and see what Dawn has done in her new space!

Spiceberry Reindeer

 

Welcome everyone! I am sharing another holiday card with you this week. Have you started on your holiday cards yet? Now is a great time to get started as there is a lot of inspiration to by had on all of the Memory Box blogs. It will be one less thing to cross off your list as the holidays approach. I know I have plans to make some handmade gifts this year, so getting my holiday cards done early is always a relief.

The stamps used for my project this week are, Reindeer Silhouette & Night Before clear set. I also used Christmas Jewel stickers & papers from the Spiceberry 6x6 paper pack. The base of the card is a Scalloped card from the Soiree Collection in Celery. In this first photo, I have the paper pieces cut & ready to assemble. If you enlarge the photo, you will get all of the measurements you need for each piece of paper used. I added Christmas Jewel stickers to each of the flourish images & to the nose of the reindeer.

The Reindeer Silhouette was stamped onto the Spiceberry paper with Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate.  I sponged the edges of that Spiceberry paper with Memento Rhubarb Stalk ink. The flourish image from the Night Before clear set was stamped onto Cranberry card stock using VersaMagic Jumbo Java ink. I sponged the edges of this piece using VersaMagic Sahara Sand & Jumbo Java. The larger piece of Spiceberry paper was edged with Memento Bamboo Leaves ink.

Next is a close up photo of some of the detail from the finished project. I added a piece of Adhesive Ribbon from DCWV & threaded some green & brown buttons with white Scrappers Floss & adhered to the card.  I think the buttons give a bit of a "shabby" look.

  

Last, but not least, the completed project.

 

I hope you have enjoyed my project this week. I look forward to sharing more next Tuesday!

The Great American Stamp Store

I've known Judy and Jamie at the Great American Stamp Store forever - and have tried to make it almost an annual trip to get to their store. They have another business, Craft Connection, which distributes the latest and greatest gadgets in the craft world to stores across the US. So, of course they have a huge selection of products tastefully packed into their store.

I taught 3 classes at Great American Stamp Store and had a nice visit with everyone there - familiar faces and some brand new students as well. The store is well stocked with copic markers, paper and stamps from hundreds of companies. Judy and Jamie have been in business longer than almost everyone - and both are talented demo artists and instructors, when they aren't busy running their businesses. Stop in to learn a technique or to see the up-to-the-minute releases of new products in the world of crafting (and get some Carvel Ice Cream next door!).

Stamp and Scrap Nest

Susan at Stamp and Scrap Nest has a beautiful store located in historic Simsbury, CT. The first time that I visited her store I was with my family - and while I taught watercolor and colored pencil workshops, my wife Monica and my kids went and visited Mark Twain's house (still one of their favorite places that they have been). We had a nice crowd of papercrafters for 2 days at her store - during which I got to know a lot of terrific people.

I forgot how heavy the rain can be in New England, but was reminded when I first arrived to the store. After unloading supplies for a mere 5 minutes, I was soaked to the skin! We laughed and compared the relatively "light" Seattle rain to the rain in the Northeast. But I dried out soon enough, taught class and by the next day the sun was shining brighter than ever.

Susan has a very airy set up in her store - with lots of opens shelves and a focus on keeping the matching stamps next to the samples that are on display. There is a huge style range - something for everyone!

Thinking of Fall

 

Hello Memory Box friends-

Another week has just flown by and summer is coming to an end.  I am looking forward to fall and all the beautiful colors of the season.  We had a lot of rain this week and three tornadoes touched down on Wednesday.  Luckily no one was injured. Anyway I will move right to my card and not bore you.  I am very fond of Dave's trees and this particular stamp was really fun to work with. You get two images on one stamp, the bare tree and the leaves on the side.  I hope your week has been productive and that you have a fun weekend.  I think I may go shopping for a few more Copic markers and maybe attend a crop?  Thanks for stopping by and see you next Friday.  At this time I can only take a scan of my project so if you have any questions about the card please ask in your comments and I will respond soon.  Have a suntastic weekend.  Tami 

 

Card Supplies:

Notecard-Jack O Lantern

Stamps-Build A Tree (D1273)

New Designer Paper-Twilight

Jewel Stickers-Canary

Pearl Stickers-24 Karat

Sentiment-Thinking Of You (Savvy)

Inks-Distress Inks by Tim Holtz (Brushed Corduroy, Shabby Shutters, Spiced Marmalade); Color Box Chalk Inks (Chestnut Roan, Tangerine); Brilliance Galaxy Gold

Finger Sponge Dauber

Copper Metallic Thread

Green Twill Ribbon

Other Paper-Neenah Classic Crest Natural White 80# Cover, Green Scrap

Card Directions:

Stamp tree on natural paper using corduroy ink.  Fill in leaves on Build A Tree stamp by mixing marmalade (orange) and shabby shutters (green) ink on small leaves image which is mounted on the top side of the tree stamp.  Ink and stamp leaves several times to fill in the tree.  Use finger sponge and edge tree with Galaxy Gold Brilliance ink.  Attach to a green scrap matched to the green ink.  Wrap copper metallic thread tree times around tree panel and scotch tape ends to the back side.  Edge white edges of Jack O Lantern notecard with tangerine chalk ink.  Cut a strip of Twilight designer paper as shown to 2" x 5.5" and edge with chestnut roan chalk ink.  Attach background paper as shown to notecard and adhere main tree image.  Stamp Thinking of You in corduroy ink  and stick on three canary jewels to each side of sentiment.  (I do not own any fall Memory Box sentiments).  Stick on five 24-karat pearls to tree trunk and attach green twill single knot bow using a mini glue dot.  Think FALL and leaves y'all!!  : )

Let it Snow

Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone is having a good week so far. I am posting a little late today because I wanted to give everyone a chance to enjoy Dave's Monday post. If you happened to miss it, be sure you check it out below.  I am sharing a holiday project for you this week using the Snowman Friends clear set. The thing I really like about this set is the options you have for creating different snowmen. I also used paper from the Spiceberry & Dewfrost paper packs for paper piecing. It is super easy to put together, & I really liked using the bright color combination.  I have added some typed details for you on some of the photos themselves, so I am hoping you will be able to read the type clearly if you click on the photos to enlarge them.  

To start this card, I gathered some basic supplies. The photo also shows some tools that I found to be useful for this project. In particular, I wanted to point out the tweezers pictured in the bottom of the photo. I can't remember where I picked this tip up, but these are so handy in holding onto those tiny paper pieces (ie: the mittens used in this project). I already had lost one tiny mitten before I pulled these out to make sure I didn't lose the second one. They also work very well for when you are ready to apply your adhesive. I know there are several different companies that make similar items, and I'm sure they all work just as well.

Next, I chose & cut my paper & assembled my snowman.

I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink for the snowman image &  Versa Magic Sea Breeze for the snowflakes. I applied Diamond jewel stickers to the snowflakes for sparkle. I think Sky Blue jewels would be pretty as well. The scarf, mittens, & sign are paper pieced with patterned paper. I also cut a bit of fringe on the tail of the scarf. The base of snowman is paper pieced using white card stock. I used my Quickie Glue Pen to run a line of ultra fine glitter across the top of snow for more sparkle. Colored pencils were used to color the nose, buttons & base of sign.

 

Finally, the finished card. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I will answer them within the comment section of this post.

 

Enjoy your day & see you next Tuesday!!

Snowpuff Branch

Happy Monday everyone - I hope you are enjoying the summer as much as I am! Tami and Nancy have been lifesavers with their regular weekly contributions as I jet across the country and try to keep up with Memory Box. I know everyone has enjoyed reading and viewing their creative projects.

I have been trying to stay on task, but find myself sneaking out early to go play with the kids - trying to soak up the season before I head back to North Carolina on Friday! I probably won't get all of the videos onto the blog before I leave - but stay tuned so that you can see more of the stores I visited. I hope to get more of them on next week.

In the meantime, I saw this great card that Theresa made for a store and wanted to share it with you. Since Flower Soft has been all the rage this year, we've incorporated it into several of our winter samples, and Theresa used it on our Snowpuff Branch (D1279) with dazzling effect.

This simple (and stunning!) card gives the idea of a frosty branch, with a gentle winter breeze blowing a few crystals of ice into the sky. Theresa stamped the branch with Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate onto our metallic Opal cardstock, layered with our rich Truffle cardstock and then mounted it onto a Cherry notecard (from our Soiree collection).

The branch was dotted with glue, then sprinkled with Polar White Flower Soft. A few Diamond Jewel Stickers were added to give a sense of movement to the composition.

I tried my best to give you a well lit look at the card - the sparkle and soft "snow" makes the card look so beautiful - and the Snowpuff Branch was made especially for the Flower Soft!

Wishing you peace

 

Greetings friends-

Recently I received this beautiful holiday stamp from Memory Box and knew I had to get right to work with it.  I love it so much as I do not have anything like it in my collection.  I am going right to the card details as I am at the library writing this blog.  I hope you have all had a really pleasant week and that you have something fun planned for the weekend. It is very HOT and HUMID here again this week.  YUCK!!  Lots of excitement and buzz going on with the 91st PGA Golf Championship happening right in our own backyard!!  I know my Dad is glued to the TV watching the PGA Championship as he is an avid golfer.  I was glad to read Dave had safe travels back home this week and is hopefully getting some much deserved *R & R* with his loving family.  WOW!!  You certainly taught a lot of lucky people Dave and visited several really nice stores.  I'd like to visit and shop at each and everyone of them some day!!  A girl can dream right?  Again I wish it was me that got to take Dave's classes but maybe next year?  Thanks for stopping by today and I will be back next Friday with another card.  Peace...Tami  

 

Card Supplies:

Notecards-Blue Poppy, Licorice, Peapod

Stamps-Modern Holly Bird (E1294), Happy Holidays (B929)

Memory Box Jewel Stickers-Christmas (or Cherry Red), Sparkling Diamond

Ribbon-May Arts JD01

Copic Markers-O Colorless Blender, B41, C1, E35

Prismacolor Marker-Avocado

Inks-Color Box Ice Blue Chalk, Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black

Ultra Fine Angel Dust Glitter (I prefer to use a Sakura Quickie Glue pen with glitter)

Other Paper-Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80# Cover 

Card Directions:

Stamp Modern Holly Bird (E1294) in Black Memento ink on white paper and trim edges close to diamond pattern.  Color each diamond using Copic B41 marker.  (I know call me crazy)!!  Lightly shadow inside of dove with Copic C1.  Color branch with Copic E35 brown and the holly leaves with Prismacolor Avocado.  Use Copic 0 colorless blender on the leaves and to fade out the Copic C1 gray shadow inside the dove.  Edge the dove image with Ice Blue chalk ink.  Layer dove to a Black Licorice scrap.  Attach a piece of Peapod paper onto a Blue Poppy notecard.  Attach layered dove image to blue notecard and outline inside of dove with a glue pen and sprinkle on ultra fine glitter.  Shake off excess glitter.  Stamp Happy Holidays (B929) in Versafine Tuxedo Black ink on Peapod paper as shown.  Tie the white 16" strip of ribbon around the notecard.  Attach five Sparkling Diamond jewels on left side of main image and adhere seven Sparkling Diamond jewels under sentiment.  Add a Red Cherry jewel to the holly.  Happy Holidays.  Its time to get busy with your holiday cards now that summer is almost over.   Happy Friday my friends and have a terrific weekend.   : )  Smile!!   

Moonlit Owl

 

Greetings & welcome to my Tuesday post!! My original thought was to share a Christmas themed card this week. As I was looking through my scraps of paper from my project last week, and also through the Twilight papers, the idea for this card came about. So you get another Fall/Halloween themed card this week. I also got to play with the Soiree note cards for this project. They have a gorgeous pearlescent sheen to them & are also a very nice heavy weight card stock. Unfortunately, my photograph does not showcase the beauty of the Soiree sheen very well.

I was also inspired by Tami's post last week, to add a moon to my project, that was created in a different way. As I was tossing around different ideas in my head, it occurred to me that the circular image in the clear Night Before set would be different way to create a moon & it is perfect for adding some sparkle to. This is a really versatile image that with a little imagination, could be used in so many different ways. I would love to hear how you've been using this image!!

 

To make this card: Start with a Karat A2 Soiree note card as your base. Cut a piece of Twilight paper to 3.75" x 4" & adhere to your base note card. Trim another piece of Twilight paper (the one I used for the branch) to 3" x 3". Adhere to a piece of Jack O Lantern card stock trimmed slightly larger & adhere to your base. Stamp the Scalloped Owl (C1293)to some scraps of Twilight paper & trim out pieces as desired. I used Brilliance Graphite Black ink. Stamp the owl again onto solid colored card stock. I chose to use a lighter color so I would be able to color in the eyes & add some glitter to the face of the owl. I adhered my patterned trimmings to this base. I used jewel stickers for the owl's eyes from the Halloween Jewels (15520) pack. Once you are done creating your owl, use dimensional adhesive to adhere to your branch.  I added some more jewel stickers from the Halloween Jewel pack to add some sparkle to my Twilight paper on base note card for a starry sky.  I stamped my "moon" onto Sweet Corn card stock using the swirly circle image from the Night Before (CL141) clear set. I used Memento Dandelion ink & punched the image out with a 1 1/4" circle punch. I added some glitter to really make it sparkle (I apologize is doesn't show up very well in the photo). Adhere to your base with dimensional adhesive.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a beautiful day!