davebrethauer

Faded Color Butterfly

I am having so much fun with my masking paper and sponges on this butterfly image - and wanted to show you another look for this stamp. I stamped the Inspire Butterfly collage with Brilliance Graphite black and heat set it - so that the ink wouldn't smear (or you can let it dry overnight).

I masked off the area around the butterfly, then swirled on ink color using sponge daubers and 4 shades of ink:

Versacolor Canary (upper left)

Versacolor Lime (upper right)

Versamagic Oasis Green (right side, middle)

Versamagic Spring Pansy (bottom part of wings)

Slightly overlap the colors when spreading the ink on - not too much (especially purple and yellow), but just enough so that things look blended. I used a white pen to fill in some of the dots and then I spread a little glitter glue over the white areas - nice and bright. You'll notice that the black portions of the butterfly fade a little after you've swirled the new ink colors on - but I like this soft, graphite look.

Experiment with the sponges and swirling - the more colors the better!

 

Art Plus in New Hampshire

I received a postcard from a friend traveling in Australia today - and was struck with their perspective of the night sky. She writes:

"...I'm writing under a crescent moon that's moving in reverse, and Orion is upside down".

Of course a change in perspective isn't specific to being on the other side of the world - look at these card projects that Karen from Art Plus in New Hampshire shared with me! She changed "perspectives" on each image with embellishments and color...

The images used (from top to bottom), E1326 Tree Frame - isn't it beautiful how she switches from snow covered branches to spring flowers to fall leaves. Next image is the D1273 Build a Tree - changing seasons right on the card. Even the last card, using the D1319 Mod Tree Border shifts seasons - changing from frosty blue, to flower pink, to spring green, to a leafy summer green (with fruit!) and finally fading to a warm autumn gold.

And last - some inspired art from a very young stamper (Karen's 5 year old son) - on his way to creating his own line of stamps and stationery no doubt!

Stampin&Scrappintime

A little Monday morning eye candy for you today! Kathy at Stampin & Scrappintime in Bridgeport, NY sent over samples of some recent card projects. Enjoy these gorgeous greeting cards!

 

From top: E1295 Modern Bird Branch, D1057 Palamedes Swallowtail, D1184 Cozy Chair, E1321 Flower Bundle, D1315 Nesting Birds, B1058 Fritillary Butterfly!
   
    

Butterfly Collage

 

Here are a few more variations of the Butterfly Collage art - once you do a few (they only take minutes!), it gets addictive! The above piece is done with acrylic paints and ink again, but this time without any embossing powder. The patterned paper is from the (about to be released) Jubilee collection.

Here is a close up of the colors on the collage - it definitely is one of those projects where there isn't a wrong way to do it (I love those kinds of projects!).

This version is done with inks only (no acrylic paint). It has a watercolor look to it - without as much texture - but the colors are so beautiful.  

Enchanted Butterfly Collage

I was inspired to make some mixed media collage art this week as I was cleaning out a cabinet of supplies - some acrylic paint, embossing powder and ink proved to tempting to use before I finished reorganizing a workspace.

So I'd like to share a step by step tutorial on how I made the artwork shown above. These are just guidelines of course - use whatever colors and medium you wish. But the key here is to layer, layer, layer!

 

First up, a clean slate. I began with a sheet of our Lagoon Shimmer cardstock - perfect for projects like this because of it's thickness (105#) and I love it's metallic sheen.

All of the paint I am using in the project is just basic acrylic paint. I applied some bright green in messy strokes with a sponge. 

I applied some strips of Eclipse masking tape (post it tape works fine too) randomly over the area.

Now, a random layer of periwinkle blue paint. Cover some of that tape with paint!

A few drops of yellow Copic (or other alcohol based) reinker at the top and a drop of red reinker. Don't worry, we'll be covering this up - but we need some layering in there.

Add a few drops of Copic blending solution over the red - and it will dissolve the color, making it fade a bit at the edges.

Add some more masking tape - randomly, but definitely over some painted areas.

Add some pale blue paint - this acts as a bit of a neutralizing color. You can go over earlier areas of paint, but allow some of that original color to show through.

Try a color that doesn't make sense - like the orange here - but don't worry, we'll cover up most of it and the end product will still be wonderful.

Some more of the bright green paint adds some punch. Cover up some of those original areas, but again, allow some layers to still show through a little.

This is the fun part - carefully peel off the tape, and see how the paint has layered on the paper. Don't worry if a little of the tape stays behind, we'll paint it and it will just add some texture!

Add some bright yellow paint over some of that red dot and also here and there around the paper. The "inspire" text will be stamped onto the yellow area, so make it wide enough for the word "inspire" to fit.

Pour a pile of clear embossing powder over the yellow area and heat it with a heat gun - make sure you heat it from behind (underneath) the paper so that you don't blow powder all over the place. Again, make the "puddle" of embossing powder wide enough to accommodate the word "inspire".

OK - here's the tricky part. Ink up the stamp with Black (Brilliance Graphite Black) ink and set aside. Warm up the puddle of embossing powder until it is liquid and then quickly stamp the image onto the paper, making sure that the word "inspire" hits that puddle of embossing powder. You only get one chance (no pressure).

Cut a mask of the butterfly image out of Eclipse masking tape and adhere it to the stamped image.

Add a small puddle of glaze (Diamond Glaze or Glossy Accents) onto the mask. Add a few drops of Aqua Copic reinker to a rag and spread the glaze with the rag - the ink will color the glaze as you spread it. You will need to reapply the ink as it is spread - and you may need to repeat layers. The goal is to darken the area around the butterfly a little, so that the inside appears different than the surroundings. The glaze dries almost instantly - but it is invaluable for keeping the text from smudging.

Remove the mask and see if the area around the butterfly is dark enough - if not, put the mask back on and apply more ink (no need to add more glaze). Add some yellow paint to the embossed area - just lightly go over the hardened embossing powder, being careful not to spread paint down into the impressed letters.

I added a little more yellow paint over the red area to brighten the space around the word - then mounted it onto a mat board and a piece of the new 6x6 Enchanted paper. Voila - a beautiful art piece to frame and put up in the studio! 

             

 

 

6x6 Enchanted Paper Collection

As promised, today I wanted to show you the Enchanted Paper collection, pattern by pattern, so that you can see all of the amazing designs in the collection. The color scheme is quite diverse - and gives you a wide range of colors to use in papercrafting projects. You will recognize three of the patterns as portions of the 12x12 papers I previously shared with you - and the remaining 7 patterns are only available in the 6x6 pack.

 

 

These paper packs, along with all of the new butterfly images, should be arriving in stores this week. I can't wait for everyone to see them!
         
 

 

Enchanted Paper : {Garden Magic} & {Evening}

Garden Magic - another 12x12 that coordinates with the Enchanted 6x6 Paper collection - is all about the garden as the sun goes down and the colors shift to evening shades.

Looking through our portfolio of design patterns, which now numbers in the hundreds, I realized that there simply wasn't a lot of purple in the palette. It does seem that I am noticing more purple this year - so we figured it was as good a time as any to add some purples to a collection - and I think it really did turn out quite beautifully. I supervised balancing the color at the press check - and we experimented with more blue, more red. In the end, the colors were so brilliant that I rushed home a sample sheet to show off, the ink still wet from the press.

Our neighborhood has flowering crabapple trees planted extensively along sidewalks and in people's yards, so I used a few sketches to inspire me when I drew the branch and flowers in this part of the design.

 

The text in the background is to convey the poetry in nature that seems to run steadily as spring progresses. Living in a wet, mild climate like Seattle, I am fortunate to see an amazing amount of things grow just in the surrounding neighborhood. 

 

This little thicket of branches, inspired by the barberry bushes in my yard, create a gorgeous vertical element on the paper.

 

The last 12x12 sheet, Evening, is a simple striped pattern that uses the basic color scheme that runs throughout the Enchanted collection.

 

It has a little bit of distress to it - and lots of little fine details to make it interesting.

Tomorrow - an up close look at the 6x6 Enchanted paper collection, pattern by pattern!
 
 
 
 

 

 

Enchanting Paper : {Flowerbud}

 

I always remember that when I worked in the store, there was such excitement with the arrival of new papers - and it still happens to me today. I design the papers on the computer - but it really isn't until the designs are printed that I get to see all the little intricacies of the pattern. I love the little flaws - the scratches and subtle color shifts, the overlaps and pattern repetitions. Seeing it on the screen is, at best, an approximation. The monitor settings can sometimes make the colors look almost fluorescent - when really, they come out much more neutral when printed.

This 12x12 paper, Flowerbud, is one of 3 coordinating patterns that I did for the Enchanted 6x6 paper collection - and I wanted to convey that experience we all share when we see the first flowers opening on trees in the springtime.

I wanted a little texture too - so I created a "dictionary entry" that I used as one of the layers, scattering a few daisies over the text.

  

As well as some area that had some beautiful mixed colors and just some straight up pattern. My design objective: to make every square inch of the paper usable in some way.

Read the blog all this week for up close looks at this new Enchanted paper collection! 
 

 
 

Enchanted with Butterflies

The new stamps and papers for our Enchanted Butterfly program have all been carefully packed and they are making their way to stores across America (and Europe!). It really was a fun collection of stamps to work with, and we decided to really make the greeting card ideas as colorful as possible.

The card above uses two of the new stamps, D1351 Butterfly Twig

 

and another image that I think is going to be a really popular image, B1354 Happiest Birthday  

Our signature "stamp on the side" is a butterfly in this case - just a beautiful little butterfly silhouette that can be stamped as an accent on the back of the envelope or somewhere on the greeting card.

Here's a close up view of the background of the image - I painted the background with Teal Zircon and Lemongrass Twinkling H20 paints for a striking ombre effect. 

The butterflies haven't quite arrived here yet in Seattle, though some upcoming warm weather may prompt a visit - and I am sure they will inspire some more greeting card art for me to share with you!
 
 

 

Enchanted Butterfly release

So many things to share with you today - first up is news of our upcoming release of our first new collection of stamps and papers for Spring!

We have titled this collection Enchanted Butterflies - and we are doing our best to make the sample cards we send out to stores as colorful as possible. We've been throwing alcohol inks and blending solution all over the studio as we ready the display boards that will be going out to stores next week - and we are remembering how fun it is to work with this medium. Since we buy a refill bottle of ink for each copic marker we have in the studio (sometimes we have a dozen of the same color pen for use in workshops), we are well stocked to try out lots of different ink colors on glossy cardstock.

We'll be posting ideas after April 15, once stores begin receiving the program - and if you like butterflies, you'll love the images we have ready for you! You can check out the collection by going to our site and looking for Enchanted Butterfly in the new release section or you can go here to see a page of the new images. Tell your local stamp or scrapbook store you want some!

We are also releasing a pack of 6x6 papers titled Enchanted, along with 3 coordinating 12x12 papers. For a peek at one of the 12x12 papers, look here.

On the homefront, spring is always a very busy time for us. We are busy spring cleaning and readying for outdoor and indoor projects at the Brethauer house! We are remodeling the bathroom to update some wiring, getting all of our seedlings ready to be transplanted in the garden (so far we have 4 kinds of peppers, some white squash, broccoli and spinach) and trying to keep up with the kids. Such a busy time for our 12 and 14 year old, as I am sure many of you can relate.

The sun is coming out today in Seattle, reminding me that warm weather is on it's way!