davebrethauer

Twinkle, Twinkle Butterfly

Happy Monday to everyone! I thought I'd kick off the week with a sample card that we are making using our Soiree line of shimmery papers! But first, some news from over the weekend.

I mentioned in my last post that I designed 4 exclusive stamps for Simple Pleasures, in Colorado Springs, CO, which were debuted on Friday during their anniversary sale - and all 200 sold out by Saturday! Thank you everyone who purchased these - it was such a fun way to participate in store-owner Cathy's celebration! We are manufacturing another batch for her and will be getting them to her store shortly. Thanks to everyone who emailed me about the stamps -  it was a fun extra project! To read more about the exclusive stamps at Simple Pleasures, click here.

Now back to the card above - I can't get enough butterflies these days. Butterflies and the theme of "journey" seem to go hand in hand, so you'll probably see a lot of each in my creations this year. I used the E1715 Leafy Background stamp 

This was stamped in Versacolor Opera Pink for a vivid backdrop to the 

C1714 Cocoa Bean Butterfly. The butterfly was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto the Leafy Background and also onto a separate sheet of white paper. I sponged Versamagic Pixie Dust and Versamagic Tea Leaves over the wings of the butterfly that was stamped on white paper - and then carefully cut the wings out (no need to trim around the head and body).

Can you see that when the wings are placed over the butterfly image on the pink background everything fits into place? All that's left is a little touch of clear glitter glue over the tips of the wings.

I love looking at the combination of colors and patterns on this card - we added a strip of patterned paper (8 1/2 x 11 Moroccan pattern in the color Bubblegum) which goes nicely with the Petal shimmer paper for a layer and A2 cards and envelopes in the beautiful Twinkle shade (a shimmery gold creme color). The oversized flaps on all of our Soiree envelopes are a formal touch.

 

 

Store News {Art Plus and Simple Pleasures}

I love it when I get news from some of the stores we sell to, so when Karen at Art Plus in New Hampshire sent me a note the other day it was a nice break in the day to read her email and look at some pictures!

Karen says that the new 8 1/2 x 11 patterned papers are selling well and she just put together a dedicated Memory Box paper section at her store. Those new 8 1/2 x 11 papers are doing well everywhere it seems! (You can see the gingham, moroccan, distressed dots and dots paper colors here).

It was last summer that I visited Karen at her store during one of my summer class tours (read more abut my visit to Art Plus in 2010 here). I remember it was a warm day and there was a spectacular evening thunderstorm - the students and I watched the sky through the large windows that are next to the classroom.

I also heard from Cathy at Simple Pleasures in Colorado Springs, Colorado! One of our Design Team members, Angela Finet, just taught classes there last weekend and Cathy emailed this nice note:

Just wanted to let you know what a joy it was to have Angela come to the store to teach. The past weekend will serve to keep the Memory Box brand foremost in our customers minds!

Besides being an amazing Memory Box instructor, Angela is also the owner of Angela's Happy Stamper in Virginia - if you are lucky enough to live in that area, try taking a class with her (or one of the other talented teachers at her store).

I have visited Simple Pleasures twice in the last few years and have really enjoyed working with Cathy. To celebrate her 16th anniversary, she asked if I would be interested in designing some custom stamps for her store. 

"What a fun idea!", I thought! I hadn't ever done a project like that - so we came up with 4 special stamps to celebrate her many years in business. These 4 stamps are available exclusively through Simple Pleasures (to order these stamps, you can email them at mailings@simplepleasuresstamps.com at or call them at (719) 528 1338). Here they are:

This is G1755 the Sweet Bird Collage. I designed it to go with 

B1757 Simple Pleasures combo (it has the saying on the front of the stamp and a fun little bird on the side of the stamp). Also available is...

...the G1756 Bloom Collage. Again, I designed a saying to go with this one as well...

...the B1758 Flower and Friendship combo. For those of you who are collecting all of my large collage stamps, these are a limited edition design, only available through Simple Pleasures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the Neighborhood

We can't stop playing with the new neighborhood stamps! Putting the houses, trees and fence in different combinations gives you a different look every time.

I used the D1725 Home Sweet Home

the D1726 Cozy Home

the City Tree (B1724)

and the B1731 Fence (it has a cloud stamp image on the side)

Rows of houses, a lone house on a hill, a park full of trees...lots of combinations are possible.

I stamped the images, colored a "hill" of grass in behind them and cut them out - then mounted that onto a background of our Pool Dot paper

Some green crushed velvet ricrac adds some texture at the bottom - and I put all of these bright colors onto a squash notecard. Feels like spring already!

 

Valentine's Day Postcard

Sometimes, when I design a stamp, I have something specific in mind. 

Sometimes I know it will be great to watercolor, or colored pencil. Sometimes it will be used as a repeating background or border. For the Leaf Canopy stamp (F1430), I definitely had in mind that I would be stamping with Twinkling H2O's.

While it looks perfectly fine stamped in a single color, it really comes alive with paint. It may seem like a lot of detail to paint on, but really, it turns out great no matter what!

I applied Twinkling H2O's with a paintbrush (a No. 4 Round watercolor brush) in Pink Azalea, Lemongrass, Sunburst Yellow and Brown - paint this directly on the rubber and allow to dry completely. This may take awhile depending on the humidity level in your area - in my studio here in Seattle it takes about 15 minutes to dry. Then spray the stamp with a fine mist water sprayer a few times (might take 2-4 spritzes, but don't overwet the paint because you don't want puddles on the rubber). Then stamp out the image!

I did some simple masking on the scalloped postcard - just mask off the edges and dauber with Versamagic Pixie Dust and Versamagic Gingerbread ink. The pink and brown ink blends together to create a peachy brown, which looks terrific with the pink leaves on the branch!

The colors blend beautifully once you spritz the paint - and each printing comes out a little different. I like putting the lighter yellow colors at the tips of the branches - like the sunlight is just catching the tips of the leaves.

We've had plenty of love around the office lately - puppy love that is! Our Design Editor, Theresa Laurent, got an adorable Australian Shepherd puppy and we have adopted him here at the office and studio. Frisky and energetic, Wesley has been keeping us busy and making the workplace just more fun in general. He has inspired Monica and Theresa to go on morning walks and of course lunch time/breaks have been filled with lots of toys and exercise. He has taken it upon himself to update our phone/cable connection by chewing through the cable - but heck, our old one was worn out anyway. I think he's looking to be in charge of IT at Memory Box.

Here's a picture below of Wesley with my son Cooper - both taking a nap after running around in back and wearing themselves out. I think he'll fit in just fine.

 

I Adore Peonies

It was my neighbor Mary who gave me my first batch of peonies. She dug a big clump of them out for me one fall, told me how to plant them (not too deep) and the next spring they shot up on on sturdy stems, but still barely able to hold their full, deep red blooms.

Mary had been growing the peonies in her yard for more than 50 years - dividing them out now and then to keep them contained by the driveway. Besides her prized roses (some of which were probably 65 year old bushes) I think peonies were probably some of her favorites. I am seeing those stems start to poke up through the cold February soil now when I look out into the backyard - and I remember Mary, who never wore gloves gardening, giving me those peonies over the fence. If Mary were still alive, I'm sure she'd love a little stack of these Peony cards to write notes to her gardening club.

I used Prismacolor pencils to fill in the blooms - deep magentas and peachy pinks, all blended together with a white pencil for a creamy effect. Then a rounded dauber sponge and some Versamagic gingerbread ink to shade the edges of the design. Mary's peonies were a much deeper garnet color, and I'll have to try that color scheme too - maybe with dark reds and some chocolate brown for shading.

The Adore Peony collage stamp (G1433) is another addition to my line of collage stamps. Keep an eye out for more this year!

 

Watercolor Look {Daphne Heart}

Although the card above looks complicated, it was definitely one of the quicker projects we put together! After making 60+ of these, I think I can do these in my sleep (and once you see how easy it is, you'll be able to do them in your sleep too!).

Start by embossing the E1422 Daphne Heart in white embossing powder onto an off white cardstock (we used our new Parchment color). Color some waterbased marker ink (I used Memento Desert Sand, Angel Pink and Rose Bud) onto the embossed areas and then swirl the ink onto the paper with your finger or a dauber. The ink doesn't stick to the embossed area, but will softly shade the cardstock. You may have to layer a little color to build it up to a strong enough level.

You can see up close here how the marker doesn't stick to the embossed white areas, but does color the surrounding cardstock. The amazing thing is that the color becomes quite deep directly around the embossed areas and then softens as it is swirled around.

Here you can see how all of the overlapping colors come together to shade and "watercolor" around the embossed flowers. Stamp the Love (B4123) stamp and it completes the sentiment.

We mounted it on a piece of the Secret Garden 12x12 paper:

I'm devoting the next week of posts to Valentine's projects - and in case you missed it, I began yesterday with a post about the Reverse Embossed Birds (you can see it here). All of the projects are samples that we sent out to stores that ordered our Valentine Delights release.

Also, in case you missed it, and need a laugh, I posted a hysterical video earlier today that pokes fun at the design aesthetic of putting birds on everything. You can see that here - and keep in mind that we really know what they are talking about!

And one last bit of news - my kids' company poppystamps is having a sale on their kanji characters (20% off), so stop by at poppystamps.com to check it out!

Have a great weekend everyone!

We Put Birds on Things

We have been laughing at a skit from the new series "Portlandia" on IFC and since it basically makes fun of all things Memory Box, we thought we'd share it with you!

I can't tell you how many times that we have been putting samples together, and seeing that things weren't quite coming together, we've said, "Oh...just put a bird on it."

Same with rubber stamp images, 12x12 papers and 6x6 papers.

"Put a bird on it!", we'd exclaim when all else failed! So when we saw this funny series, that pokes fun at the design conscious Northwest, we thought that there must have been some secret microphones taping some of our conversations! So take a look at the short movie below, and enjoy a laugh on us!  

And here's a few of our creations, each of which were definitely inspired by someone in the studio saying, "Put a bird on it!"

C1003 Resting Bird, C989 Swish Border and E996 Alpha Background

C990 Monterey Flourish, D1009 Gilded Cage and Bird

D1052 Blossom Bird, D1044 Trumpet Vine, B1054 Happy Birthday

Reverse Printing {Bird Branches}

I had sooo many emails and phone calls about this project sample that we sent out to stores, so I wanted to go over it with everyone to show how easy it really is.

I used the E1426 Reverse Bird Branch

and a sheet of the 12x12 Secret Garden paper

I used just a small portion of the 12x12 for the project, in an area that is a little more subtle. I try to make sure that all of the 12x12 I design has a lot of variety on it - so that my designs have areas that can be used as backgrounds as well as areas that can be the focus of a card (like the branches). The area towards the right of the sheet, that has just a little writing and faded flowers, is perfect for this technique.

I inked up the stamp image with Versamark ink (a clear sticky ink), and stamped it onto the sheet.

The actual stamped image is clear, but I darkened it here so you could see. Next, I poured clear embossing powder over the image and embossed it. The clear embossing powder "seals" the paper, leaving the branches and birds "open".

Using Memento markers (Pear Tart, Rich Cocoa and Desert sand) I colored in the open spots (the birds, branches and leaves) and wiped off any excess ink that got onto the embossed areas. After trimming the image out of the paper, I added some pieces of patterned paper to the card (all the patterns are from the 6x6 pixie pack) using adhesive and my sewing machine to stick everything together. When placing pieces of patterned paper onto the card - try slanting them and overlapping. I usually play with the papers a little until I am happy with the way they look - but I try not to overthink it! All of the patterns in the Pixie pack coordinate perfectly with each other - if you haven't got a pack of the 6x6 Pixie yet, you can see an old post about it here.

You can do this reverse embossed technique with any of our bold images, such as

E1427 Reverse Bird Grass

E1716 Reverse Tree Sprout

E1715 Leafy Background

Hope this inspires you to try some "reverse embossing"!

 

February 2011 {Project of the Month}

Our Project of the Month program continues in February with this delightful Butterfly Branch card! The Scalloped Polkadot stamp (G1434) and the Butterfly Stem (D1040) are the images on this everyday greeting.

We've been discovering how versatile the Scalloped Polkadot is on our projects - in addition to being a great background...

... you can see it here as a pale background around the Deer Friends (D1442), it also makes a cool border around circles. For the Project of the Month card, we cut out a circle with a diameter of 2 3/4 inches, and stamped the Butterfly Stem on the circle. How do you get all of those colors on there? We used Memento Markers (Rich Cocoa for the branch and butterflies, Lilac Posies for the flowers and Bamboo Leaves for the leaves). Brush the edges of the circle with Versacolor Pinecone ink to add some shading.

Next, stamp the Scalloped Polkadot directly onto a Begonia Notecard using Versacolor Pinecone ink - and place the circle over it with some mounting tape.

The side borders are composed of a strip of Truffle brown cardstock and our Distressed Dots Vanilla Bean 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock. We thought the Distressed Dot pattern and the dots on the Scalloped Polkadot went together perfectly!

A quick zig zag stitch through the sewing machine adds a little texture.

The Distressed Dots patterned papers are available in 12 colors - the entire range (see below) is available at all of the stores that signed up for our What's in the Box 2011 release. You can see the list of stores here!