davebrethauer

January 2011 {Project of the Month}

We are so excited to start a brand new program at Memory Box this year that we are calling our Project of the Month. Similar to our Color of the Month program, we will be signing up stores to participate in a monthly project to  display in their store. You can see a list of stores participating in the Project of the Month program in the sidebar of my blog.

January's project (which we are calling "Love Birds") features the new Crafty Birds D1431

We inked the body of the birds with Versacolor Rose Red and then used a Memento Rich Cocoa marker to ink the legs and branches. This was stamped onto the Antique Linen 12x12 from the new Pixie Collection (this pattern is also in the 6x6 Pixie pack). We used a 3 inch heart punch to cut out the heart and then sponged the edges with Versamagic Gingerbread ink. A craft knife was used to cut slots to thread some ribbon through and tie on a little silk "scarf". Here's a picture of the Antique Linen 12x12 - 

...and here's a close up of the Antique Linen 12x12 - it's a good background to stamp on, nice and subtle

We cut 4 inch circles out of the new Cranberry Dot paper and wrapped it with a bit of crushed velvet ribbon. The card was our Cherry A2 Soiree Notecard - it sort of brought all of the reds together on the card.

Finally, the sentiment was stitched and mounted onto the card

 B1424

We thought the sentiment of warm wishes was a good stamp to coordinate with a warm scarf on the birds - look through your ribbon stash and see what sort of "scarves" you can wrap around the Craft Birds!

Read more...

Pixie Paper Collection

Ta-dah! 

Our Pixie paper collection is arriving in stores (officially) this week! We have a new 6x6 pack and (4) 12x12 papers that coordinate with that pack.

To see the papers in the 6x6 pack, click here

To see the 12x12 papers, click here

Working up a new collection for each season is one of the perks of my job - getting to explore new colors, patterns and backgrounds is fun for all of us at Memory Box. Trying to pick out what elements will work is a challenge - and I wanted this collection to have a huge variety of styles.

My patterns ranged from elephants in love (!) to painted branches:

(Here's a close up of the elephants):

Fun and whimsical - the elephants are playful, and could be interesting in a layout. On the more serious side though, the branches on the 12x12 Secret Garden paper are one of my all time favorites:

Hopefully, there is something for everyone in this collection!

 

Dahlia Cards

We are continuing our popular Color of the Month program in 2011! Every month we are printing a special, limited edition color of the month and sending them out to participating stores - we only print these colors once, and then they are gone forever!

The card above is the sample we are sending out to our Color of the Month Stores - the January card color is "Dahlia", a brilliant pink that coordinates with Versacolor Opera Pink. We used some of the new images (you can see the new release here) on this card including the E1427 Bird Grass:

The image was stamped in Versamagic Tea Leaves - ink it lightly so that the ink isn't doo dark.

The "love" stamp (B1423) was stamped in Versacolor Opera Pink onto some brand new papers - we are offering Distressed Dots 8 1/2 x 11 (in Currant and Bubblegum, the top two strips) and Dots 8 1/2 x 11 (in Currant). Put a White Pearl sticker on either side of the word love to finish things off!

For the hearts that are floating above the birds we used 2 stamps (B1423 Love and Hearts, B1424 Valentines Duo)

 (B1423)

 (B1424)

You'll notice on these stamps that the words are the main image mounted on the stamp, but we've mounted extra images on the side. For example, "love" is the main image and then we put the 3 hearts on the side as a bonus image to stamp.

We used the 2 hearts together - first we stamped the bigger heart in Versacolor Orchid above the birds. Then, we carefully inked just one of the 3 hearts in Versacolor Opera Pink and stamped that single small heart inside the larger one.

I wanted the hearts to overlap like the designs in our new 12x12 Deer Heart 

Here's a closeup of the pattern on the paper - little deer with love in their thoughts...

Check out the Color of the Month at a store on the list (I've made a list of participating stores in the sidebar). If you don't see a store near you - let your local store know about it and maybe we can get them to start offering the program!

Deer Hearts

It's hard not to notice all the hub-bub (is that the right word?) going on out there this week! People rushing around making last minute purchases and getting ready for Christmas. We have been super busy at the warehouse and studio, sending out shipments to all our wonderful stores and getting ready for the new year. With the kids home on Christmas break, the days have been jam packed with activities too - my son has been coming to the gym with me in the morning and Emma has a tennis game tonight that begins at 8 PM (my bedtime!). I hope everyone is enjoying all the extra time with family this week - and spending plenty of quality time together.

I played around with some of the new stamps the other day and put together the tag you see above - I might have to add a little glitter or Flowersoft around their feet for some snow!

This is D1442 Deer Friends - and I stamped hearts above them from:

 B1423 (the three hearts are mounted on the side of the stamp, I only inked one of them)

 B1424 (the large heart is mounted on the side of the stamp).

The Seattle forecast for Christmas is rain so we're going to find some snow this weekend in the Cascade Mountains - and enjoy a weekend of playing hard with the kiddos and dogs. My thanks to everyone who has supported Memory Box (and all those local and independent craft stores out there) - it's been such a memorable year!

Oh, and before I forget - be sure and check out our flickr gallery - so many of you have sent in your beautiful creations - and it's wonderful to see how you've used our Memory Box papers and stamps! Suzz has a great post down in discussions that shows how easy (and helpful for others) it is to tag your photos with what you used on the cards.

Also, since the kids are on break from school, they are running a 30% off sale on their site poppystamps.com - if you like poppystamps, now's the time to stock up! You can go their site by clicking here!

 

A Delightful Release

OK - here's another look at the new stamps and papers coming out this week! In case you missed it, there are stores signed up to receive all 12 new stamp designs, all 4 new 12x12 papers and the brand new 6x6 Pixie pack. You can see the list of stores here. There are many more stores who have ordered in *some* of the new stuff - so check wit your local store to see if they are getting it!

The card above was made with paper from the 6x6 Pixie pack - 

I especially like the branch pattern in the pack (which is also in a 12x12 that we call Secret Garden)

A few scraps and some sewing makes this little 4 bar card (Frost White 4 bar cards) look fun and hip. Pop it into a matching 4bar Frost envelope and you're good to go!

The "love" stamp at the bottom is one of our signature duo stamps - a great value because you get the word "love" as well as some hearts that we mount on the side.

 

We're looking forward to the kids getting out of school next week (the word "snow" came up in the weather forecast a few days ago, so the kids are super excited). If it doesn't snow in Seattle, it looks like we'll need to take a trip to the mountains to play! Monica is already thinking about what to pack:

Boots - check!

Gloves and hats - check!

Greek yogurt and vanilla - check! (gotta keep our energy up!)

Dogs - check! (nothing funnier than Cairn Terriers on snowtubes)

SO until then, we're sending out Valentines shipments and prepping for the big Whats in the Box release - arriving in stores Jan 10. Interested? The new images and papers are a secret (even to the stores that order them!) - but you can see who's getting all the new stuff here!

 

Christmas in Paris

A quick post today - featuring another beautiful card I received. This one is from Teri Dickason, owner of Scarlet Empress in Olympia, Washington. 

Teri has a knack for transforming anything Memory Box into something beautiful - and european! She recently visited Paris, and she used one of her stamps - a glittery Eiffel tower - to adorn the front. Look at the "Joyeux Noel" ribbon she adorned the top with - it looks like a little flag blowing in the breeze.

The card is A7 sized - and she used some of our shimmer Quartz cardstock to make it (and mailed it in a matching A7 Quartz envelope). This size makes a greeting so special - and it stands taller than the other cards on my mantle!

 

Christmas Greetings

I love this time of year for so many reasons - one of which is I begin receiving Christmas cards from Memory Box fans and store owners. To see our products transformed into handmade greetings, in ways that we hadn't thought of, is a great reward for all of the hard work we do around here.

In December, we have one foot still in the Christmas season, and the other into next year. So as I sit at my desk, working on new designs and illustrations for spring (and even summer!), it is good to receive a card that puts me back in the correct month!

The card above is from Betty at the Stamp Attic.I visited her store many years ago and my kids still marvel at how late it stays light up there in the summer - and Cooper still keeps his "bear bell" handy (a gift from Betty).

Here is the inside - complete with a calendar that I can put on the bulletin board near my painting table. I have appreciated Betty as a friend for many years - and as you know, cards like this are a great reminder of special friendships. If you'd like to read more about my trip to Alaska to visit the Stamp Attic, click here.

The card uses portions of our Evergreen Bough 12x12 - some of the elements I used to create this paper actually grew in my yard (the cedar sprig for example - as well as the branch of flowers, which are actually miniature crabapple flowers).

I'll try and post some more handmade cards as I receive them - they're fun to share!

And since I mentioned it, I'd like to share a sneak peek of an upcoming design (from the new Valentine collection):

OK, but that's all you get to see today!

Interested?

Tell your local stamp or scrapbook store that Memory Box has some new stamps coming out soon...

 

Color of the Month - December

Our Color of the Month program - where we do a limited printed of a special color - has been a lot of fun to do in 2010. This month's special color is "Snowflake" a pearly, silver color that matches *perfectly* with Brilliance Platinum Planet ink.

We sent this sample out to our Card of the Month stores - decorated with the E1410 Crystal Snowflake, Diamond Jewel stickers and a strip from our 6x6-Mistletoe pack.

If you are interested in the Snowflake card color, the following stores are carrying our Color of the Month program (We sold out of this color this month, so what's left in these stores is all there's going to be!):

Angela's Happy Stamper (Virginia)

A Small Cleverness (Florida)

Buffalo Stamps (New York)

Baas Junction (Ohio)

Create a Card Studio (Minnesota)

Gee Gee's Stamps (California)

Great American Stamp Store (Connecticut)

Impress (Washington)

Ink About It (Massachusetts)

One Little Spark (New Jersey)

My Heart's Fancy (Oklahoma)

Paper Garden (California)

Queens Ink (Maryland)

Scarlet Empress (Washington)

Simple Pleasures (Colorado)

Scrapbook Memories (Wisconsin)

Stamp Cache (Alaska)

Stamp Attic (Alaska)

Stampeddler (Michigan)

Stampin in the Rain (Washington)

Stampin Cat Studio (Oregon)

The Cats Meow (California)

Your Maine Stamper (Maine)