davebrethauer

Shading the Tree

 

The Twizzle Tree (E1284) and Twisty Pine (E1286) have been so popular this year - I think it's just fun to color in all of those little circles! We colored in a Twisty Pine on this card, using some Prismacolor pencils in 2 shades of green.

 

When coloring these circles in, begin with your darkest shade. Start at the side of the circle, with lots of pressure and then slowly soften until you reach the middle - and then fade out. I like to use lots of circular strokes when I color with pencils - because it makes the colors blend smoothly. Once you have your dark layer down, then go over the entire circle with your lighter shade, pressing hard to blend the dark into the light. You'll be amazed - the pencil color ends up looking more like a paint!

Add a few rhinestones and this card is quick and easy, and the person you give it to will love it!

Ho Ho Ho...Santa's coming!!

 

Hello friends and Happy Friday.

How are you?  How's things going in the craft department?  I've been busy as an elf making holiday cards this week and preparing class kits for Sunday!!  We still don't have any snow and the weather has been quite warm for Minnesota if you ask me.  False alarm on the "white stuff" prediction from last week.  Onto my card.  I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do for today's card so I decided to challenge myself and design a card with the Lattice Background stamp and give "Santa Bear" a little love while I was at it!!  I just love the Memory Box penguins and polar bears.  I thought the card would be fitting as I have noticed so many people are out and about in full force preparing for the upcoming holidays.  Can't you just feel *Santa* is coming to town??  Salvation Army bell ringers, wreaths, Christmas decorations, and tons of catalogs, flyers, and sales.  I sure can feel it and yes the holidays are right around the corner.  I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week.  Yikes!!  Let's hope I don't get too stressed out this year with the pressure of it all!!  LOL.  Who can relate to what I'm saying?  Have a super duper weekend friends and I'll see you next week with bells on!!  For those of you in the United States I wish you a blessed Thanksgiving.  I am thankful for my family, friends, and rubber stamps!!  As always thanks for stopping by.  Tami  Ho Ho Ho!!

 

Card Supplies:

Notecard-Vanilla Bean

Jewels-Christmas or Cherry, Diamond

Memory Box Paper Scraps-Crimson, Kraft, Mocha 

Stamps-Lattice Background (E1283), Santa Bear (C954), Peace, Love and Joy (B1114), Sprinkles (B1158), Point Flake (A1159), Snowy Eve (CL142)

Inks-Color Box Chalk Inks (Creamy Brown, Chestnut Roan, Warm Red), Memento Black

Swiss Dots Embossing Folder (Cut Natural White Paper 4 x 5 1/4")

Brown Polka Dots Ribbon

Snow-Tex (Michael's) and craft knife or toothpick 

Other Paper-Neenah Classic Crest Natural White and White Popset (has sparkles)

Copics-0 Colorless Blender, E35 Chamois, R20 Blush

Spica Glitter Pen-Clear

Stickles-Crystal (Santa's cheek)

Tiny Brown Pom Pom

Circle Punch or Die Cut (1 7/8 - 2") 

Glue Dots, Glue Pen, Dimensionals, Double Stick Tape, Scotch Tape

Card Directions:

Emboss natural white panel using Swiss Dots embossing folder.  Edge sides of paper with creamy brown ink and adhere to Vanilla Bean notecard.  Stamp Lattice Background in red ink on Kraft paper and cut out (gift package).  Adhere ribbon as shown.  Stamp Santa Bear in black ink on white sparkle paper, Kraft circle, and on a Crimson scrap (paper piece red scarf).  Color white polar bear image with Copics and cut out.  Glue bear on Kraft circle.  Cut out red scarf.  Adhere scarf to bear and glue on a brown pom pom.  Stamp Christmas from (CL142) clear set on natural white scrap.  Ink edges of Kraft circle and Christmas with creamy brown ink.  Stamp assorted snowflakes using all three chalk inks listed above around bear and Christmas.  Add jewels and glitter accents (Spica clear pen) to snowflakes.  Layer Christmas to Mocha and Crimson scraps.  Lastly, add Stickles to cheek and Snow-Tex on jacket cuff and hat brim.            

Inside of Card:

 

***Please let me know if you have any questions.

Cards of Days Gone By

I'm back from a trip to Colorado, teaching workshops at Simple Pleasures in Colorado Springs and then visiting my grandparents on the Eastern Plains in a little town called Wray. I got to experience all the weather Colorado has to offer - a warm day Friday, snow Saturday and Sunday and warm temps on Monday and Tuesday. Since I was out that way , we decided to fly the kids into Denver on Saturday night after I had completed classes in Colorado Springs - so that I could pick them up and travel on down to Wray and everyone could get a nice visit in for a few days.

On Saturday night, the drive from Colorado Springs back up to Denver turned from a slightly drizzle of rain into a full blown winter storm - extending the usual 1 hour and 15 minute drive to 3 white-knuckled hours of blizzard fun! I hadn't driven in these conditions since my college days in Boulder, Colorado - but I remembered to take it slow and managed to get to the airport, get the kids and find a hotel for the night.

The visit with my grandparents was great (always is) - and my Grammie, born in 1920, always shares lots of stories of growing up on a farm, living through the depression and is eager to share with her grandkids lots of details about days gone by. I get out to see them as often as I can - and we are planning a big celebration next year in honor of her 90th birthday.

Returning to Seattle, I was catching up on some things at my desk - and happened upon a fun coincidence. A friend had given me a Greeting Card catalog from the 1930's (from The Process Corporation Card Company of Chicago, Illinois) - full of custom cards that you could personalize and send out in the mail. The colors were quite different from todays colors (purple, black (lots of black!), oranges) of Christmas, though there were some reds and greens to be seen. I turned to a page that contained this card:

 

What an unusual color scheme, I thought. We are always trying out different color schemes at Memory Box, posting different combinations onto an idea wall for upcoming releases and projects. The more I looked at the card though, it seemed kind of familiar. And no kidding, 12 inches away from the catalog, on my desk was the new Martha magazine...

 

The aqua's, the orange-reds, the creams - even the black text! Isn't it mazing how color schemes are re-invented again and again - and what you think of as brand new might be a classic? I find the cover of the magazine beautiful - just as I do the card.

The fonts are similar (not exactly the same) - they do lend a certain whimsical effect to the whole composition:

 

Here's a close up of the lettering on the card, and below is a close up up the magazine cover

 

The magazine is updated brilliantly, while still retaining a really beautiful vintage look.

Browsing through the rest of the catalog, I found a lot of other interesting greeting cards.

 

This one, an intricate steel etching, was probably more of what I expected in terms of Christmas style. So detailed, the image is amazing - and looking closely it reminded me of the way we chalk a card to color it in.

I am on the hunt for more vintage cards - to add to a growing collection to be able to see what is new and what is old...and what has been re-invented again!

Dewfrost Snowflakes

Happy Tuesday! I hope your week is off to a good start! We have been spoiled with some nice temperatures for this time of year the last couple of days. I think it hit over 60° on Monday. It actually felt a little balmy after having some very cool temperatures. There is a storm expected sometime today, so we are expecting rain for the rest of the week.

I have a pretty simple card to share this week. I used stamps from the Snowy Eve (CL142) clear set & the Verdi Flourish (C987) wood mounted stamp. All of the patterned paper used is from the Dewfrost paper pack, even the punched snowflakes. This is when those scraps really come in handy.

 

 

I started with a Robins Egg note-card. After trimming the polka-dot piece of Dewfrost paper, I stamped the Verdi Flourish in the upper left corner in dark brown ink. I wanted it to look very subtle, so that is why I chose a chocolate brown ink (I used Ancient Page ink). It is hard to see in the photo, but I also stamped some snowflakes & the flourish from the Snowy Eve set on the polka dot background as well. I softened the edges with some dark brown chalk ink by Colorbox.  I stamped the script/snowflake background with Versamagic Sea Breeze ink onto a piece of Robin’s Egg card stock cut to 2 ½ inches by 4 inches. I softened the edges with Creamy Brown chalk ink by Colorbox. I was hoping to create a bit of a vintage-y feel. Next, I added Frost Blue pearl stickers, Sparkling Diamond jewel stickers (from the Christmas Jewel pack) & Snowflakejewel stickers. I punched some Dewfrost snowflakes using the Marvy Jumbo Snowflake punch. The first snowflake, I doubled up with another snowflake & the bottom snowflake is punched out of Frost Soiree shimmer card stock…so pretty! I added some dimension to the snowflake by using foam adhesive.

 

I know with the holidays quickly approaching, it’s nice to have some ideas for cards that are fairly simple to put together. Have a beautiful day!!

Elegant Reindeer

 

Happy Friday the 13th friends-

This week I decided to use one of my favorite stamps from last year the Elegant Reindeer.  I paired it with a sheet of paper from the Spiceberry collection and a 14 Karat Gold Soiree notecard.  The card came together pretty quickly thanks to my trusty and favorite corner punch.  I finally used my Christmas gift from last year...YES Nestabilities!!  Next I attached gold metallic thread, added ribbon, and berry pearls.  There you have it...a pretty elegant but easy holiday card.  I hope your week has been a good one and very productive.  I sure had a busy week taking care of business, planning my annual holiday trip, and preparing for a couple upcoming holiday classes.  As always thanks for stopping by and have a super weekend.  We are suppose to get snow early next week.  I guess I'm ready!!  Why not??  I'll let you know how things go in the "white stuff" department next Friday.  Peace  Tami    

 

Supply List:

Spiceberry Paper

Notecard-Soiree 24 Karat

Elegant Reindeer (C1107), Snowy Eve Clear Set (CL142) 

Inks-Brilliance Galaxy Gold and Pearlescent Poppy, Color Box Chalk Olive Pastel, Versafine Vintage Sepia...(I should have used Memento Brown with Copics)

Karl Southwest Corner Punch

Metallic Thread-Antique Gold 6"

May Arts Ribbon-(JB16) 15-17"

Other Paper-Neenah Classic Crest Natural White 80# Cover

Nestabilities Labels Two

Copic-0 Colorless Blender, E31, E33, R20

Spica Glitter Pen-Buttermilk

Memory Box Pearls-Berry

Card Directions:

Cut Spiceberry paper to 4 x 5 1/4" and save scrap for inside measuring 3/4 x 4".  Punch corners with Southwest punch and wrap gold thread in each corner as shown.  Secure thread ends to back of paper with Scotch tape.  Stamp Elegant Reindeer on a piece of Natural White paper a little larger than the die cut.  Cut out image using the Nestabilities die mentioned above.  Edge frame with gold ink and color reindeer with Copics.  Add glitter highlights (Buttermilk pen) on the reindeer and punch an 1/8" hole on each side of the reindeer for the ribbon.  Feed ribbon through the two holes and wrap around the entire card.  I used dimensionals under the reindeer to pop up the image.  Tie a double knot and trim ribbon ends.  Adhere eight Berry Pearls to reindeer as shown.  

Inside of Card:

Card Liner: 

Cut Natural White paper to 4 x 5 1/4" (same paper as reindeer image) and adhere to notecard.  Attach Spiceberry paper on left side as shown.  All three stamps on the inside of the card are from the Snowy Eve Clear Set. Stamp Christmas in poppy red, stamp three gold snowflakes (its hard to see them in picture), and the flourish below Christmas is stamped in olive pastel ink.  Please let me know if you have any questions.   

20 Miles to Find a Starbucks

 

Driving 20 miles to find a Starbucks is just about unheard of here in the Seattle area - in fact downtown has several shops within just a few blocks of each other. But that's how far Anne Thompson of Your Maine Stamper had to drive to get some Starbucks paper coffee cups to make this supercool book for me. 

Anne came to my class at Ink About It in October (that's Anne on the right) and gave me this book that was created by the staff at Your Maine Stamper (so thoughtful, thank you so much Anne and everyone at the shop! It was very intricate - and I have never seen a book made out paper cups!)

 

This is the cover of the book (yes, the coffee ring is a stamped image!). The shape of the flattened cup was incorporated into the design of the book, so that each page was curved at top and bottom.

 

Here's one of the decorated inside pages - stickers, stamped images, shape punches and papers from my Spiceberry 6x6 collection showed up throughout the book.
Anne was chosen to be won of our new Design Team instructors for 2010, so you'll be seeing more of her work soon!

Fall Squirrel

 

Hello & Tuesday greetings! I hope everyone is enjoying their month so far. We have been busy raking leaves & doing fall pruning/clean-up around here. This gave me some inspiration for my card this week. I thought the Nutty Squirrel combined with the Twilight papers would make a fun combination for a fall themed card. I used the “leaves” stamp on the Build a Tree stamp to add a leafy ground-cover for the squirrel. I will be dropping this in the mail to a friend I am very THANKFUL for. J

 

 

Below is a photo of the paper supplies with measurements that I used for this card. You can click on the photo to enlarge it to see the measurements better.

 

To make this card, adhere all of your paper pieces to the Dill base (remember to add your ribbon if you wish) except for the Eggshell & Jack O Lantern pieces. Stamp the Nutty squirrel onto a scrap piece of Eggshell card stock (I used a dark brown ink, but black would work too), then color & cut out. I used colored pencils, but you could color with whatever you wish. Next you will want to stamp the “leafy” ground-cover on the pre-cut Eggshell piece. I used a pale orange ink, some yellow & a bit of green. Stamp the Nutty Squirrel again onto this piece so the squirrel is standing on the leaves. Adhere the colored squirrel over this. Stamp the squirrel onto a scrap of Twilight paper (this is for the apron piece) & cut out the apron & adhere to the image. I sponged the edges with some brown chalk ink. Adhere the Eggshell piece to the Jack O Lantern piece & adhere to the base. I finished the card off by adding some Halloween Jewel Stickers to the tree for some sparkle as seen below.

 

I also wanted to add a correction that I made on my post from last week. I stated that the Apron Lace punch used was by EK (Success). It is actually made by Fiskars. I just wanted to clarify that in case there was any confusion.

Thanks for dropping by!

Let it snow

 

Happy Friday Memory Box friends-

Today I decided to make a pretty easy Christmas card as I have a few holiday classes coming up this month and I need to *try* and keep things simple.  Soon it will be Thanksgiving and then Christmas.  Wow its time to get busy making our holiday cards and not wait until mid December.  Every year I say I am going to get my cards made early so I don't feel so much stress before the holidays.  How about you?  Are you an early bird or last minute cardmaker?? 

OK back to the card!!  I really love the Dewfrost paper collection as I'm fond of blue and chocolate!!  LOL.  The paper works really well with the Snowy Eve clear stamp set.  I hope your week has been productive and you have something fun planned for the weekend.  Our weather forecast here in Minnesota is for unusually warm temperatures 58-62 degrees starting today.  Woo hoo.  I'll take it because soon it will be snow and bitter cold weather!!  I hope to get outside a bit and clean up my deck and garage before winter.  Thanks for stopping by and the card looks a lot better than the picture shows.  It has a vintage feel to it and I hope you enjoy it.  I loved making it!!  Tami  :D'  

 

Card Supplies:

Notecard-Mocha

Paper-Dewfrost cut to 3 7/8" x 4 1/8"

Pearl Stickers-Frost Blue

Jewel Stickers-Sparkling Snowflakes

Inks-Creamy Brown Chalk, Versafine Vintage Sepia

Stamps-Snowy Eve (CL142), Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

(B1166)

May Arts Ribbons-Brown, White Metallic Thread (SM01)

Sakura White Souffle Pen

Spica Clear Glitter Pen

1/16" round paper punch or paper piercer to punch small hole

White paper cut to 4 x 5 1/4"

Dimensionals, Double-Stick Tape, Mini Glue Dots

Card Directions:

Adhere white paper to Mocha notecard.  Stamp five snowflakes from Snowy Eve clear set (CL142) using Sepia ink. I used a white Souffle pen on the background paper.  If you look closely there are little white specks on the paper so I wanted to emphasis them and make them look like snow.  This was accomplished using the white Souffle pen.  Edge sides of Dewfrost paper with Chestnut Roan chalk ink.  Stamp Sentiment (B1166) on a scrap of Dewfrost paper in Vintage Sepia ink and edge sides with Chestnut Roan ink.  Layer sentiment to  a scrap of Mocha paper and add glitter accents to edges of blue paper.  Attach designer paper to white paper and adhere brown  ribbon on paper using mini glue dots.  Punch a small hole in the sentiment and tie tag onto ribbon and make a bow.  I placed a couple dimensional dots behind tag and double knottted the white thread ends to prevent fraying.  Add a Frost Blue pearl to the middle of each  brown stamped snowflake and one Sparkling Snowflake to the middle of a large snowflake printed on the paper as shown.   Ta da another card!!

Advent Calendar Envelope Book

Looking for a "different" kind of Advent calendar project? Try this one!

We used 25 A6 size envelopes - in Mars, Jupiter, Antique Gold, Chocolate and 24 Karat Gold colors. These shimmery envelopes from our Soiree invitation papers are beautiful assembled together! We used a Bind It All to make these into a book - just place 5 of each of these colors in a stack and bind it - make sure that you are binding your book along the bottom edge of the "book" so that the envelopes can open up.

We used the CL143 Advent Calendar Clear Stamp set to stamp out the tags for each page. The stamps position nicely on the tag, so that you can center them or make them partly off of the tag.

 

Notice that the "25" stamp isn't there - use the two bracket images included to enclose a star or charm or whatever to mark the 25th day as something special.

 

Stamp the tags with Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate ink and sponge the edges with Versamagic Gingerbread ink for a vintage look. A little bit of ribbon tied onto the tag adds some fun.

 

Decorate each page with paper and ribbon. We used the Spiceberry 6x6 pack, completing an entire book with only one pack of paper - and each envelope page is completely unique.

 

We stamped the Snowpuff Branch (D1279) and added some glitter glue to the puffs on the branches. The punched out tags are from a Martha Stewart Tag Punch, the manila tags that we stamped on are just a standard tag.

 

We decorated this shimmery Chocolate envelope with white ricrac ribbon in addition to the pattern paper. I like how the number 7 goes off the edge of the tag.

 

I stamped the Monterey Flourish (C990) in Pearlescent Poppy in the corner - this is a great standard image for flourishes and collage! This is a pattern paper from our Poppystamps 6x6 Cedar + Snow Collection.

 

 

Don't worry if your stamped image - like the December image in the background - doesn't come out perfect! It just adds to the collage feel of the book!

Here's a better view of the binding - notice that the coils leave just enough room before hitting the envelope flap.

Have fun with this project - we're having lots of fun with this Advent Calendar set, and want to use it for lots of countdown events!
 

Here's what it looks like from above, fanned open - wouldn't this look great on a table?

Warm Wishes

 

Welcome & Happy November! I can’t believe how quickly this year is passing by. The holidays will be here before we know it. I am so happy to be making a dent in my holiday card creations. So what about you……..have you found a little time to get a start on those holiday cards yet? I usually mass produce one design, but last year I had multiple designs & this year is looking to be the same.

 

On a recent cover of a linens catalog, it had some cozy holiday flannel sheets pictured. It inspired me to “do up” the Build a Tree image in the same fashion. In addition to the Build a Tree stamp, I used Dewfrost paper, a Soiree White Scalloped card, a couple of images from the clear set Snowman Friends, & the Warmest Wishes sentiment. I didn’t know if it was “legal” to post an actual photo of the cover of the catalog, so here is a link if a different picture, although it doesn’t show a close up of the tree that was on the cover.

 

 

Here is a close up.

 

 

To make this card, start with a scalloped Soiree card. Add some Dewfrost  paper trimmed slightly smaller & round the corners with a corner rounder. I sponged some Color Box Creamy Brown Chalk ink around the edges. Adhere this piece to the scalloped base card. Stamp the Build a Tree image in brown ink (I used Memento Rich Cocoa) to Robins Egg card stock cut to a 2” circle. Decorate tree with white pearl stickers, white gel pen & snowflake jewelstickers. Add glitter to the snow on the tree if desired. Add bird stamp around the base of tree, perched on snow. Adhere to a scalloped circle of Dewfrost paper. Add a decorative border of Sapphire card stock using border punches ( I used EK Apron Lace Punch) and add some ribbon around this piece. Adhere to your base & add your circle using dimensional foam adhesive. Stamp the Warmest Wishes sentiment onto scraps of Dewfrost paper in brown ink & adhere to card. Add bow to corner.

As always, thanks for stopping by & I hope you enjoy a beautiful Fall day today!!