davebrethauer

Winners Announced {Dies Collection Giveaway}

Wow - we had a terrific response over the weekend of people submitting comments for the dies giveaway! It was so fun to read everyone's take on the dies and see which ones were more popular! Thanks for all the feedback - I'm in the studio today designing more for our next release. It's really quite a fun, new way for me to create products for the papercrafting world! And thanks for all the kind words - your support means so much to all of us at Memory Box!

Before I announce the winners, I am including a few more die cut examples using the new collection. Above, you will see a close up of a card where we used the dies with our stamps!

Bubba Elephant D1741 and the Scalloped Polka Dot Circle G1434 are both stamps that have come out this year - and they work with the Bubba Elephant 98113 and Scalloped Circle 98109 dies...

The dies cut a 1/8" border around the dies to perfectly trim out the images! And bonus,

...the scalloped die cuts out the G1762 Thank You Scalloped circle too!

On this little baby card, we created a vellum pocket using the library pocket die (98124)...

...and then slipped a little note into the pocket. We mounted a die cut elephant on the front of a paper card, along with a button...

...from the Round Button die (98135). We left it simple, but adding a little string or ribbon to the top would allow you to pull out the paper and you could view the baby announcement details on the back. And see, the little footprints on the right margin?

The footprints are a "bonus" stamp mounted on the side of the "it's a girl" B1746 stamp. We have the same bonus stamp mounted on the side of our "it's a boy" B1750 stamp.

Finally, here's an idea using the button border die (98137)...

We daubered the edge with Versamagic Gingerbread ink - and then used the Round Button die (98135) to cut out a green button which we layered onto the border. The buttons on the Round Button die work with the Button Border, so you can mix and match and do layering like that with all sorts of patterns and colors!

The branch stamp (C1703)...

...has already become a best seller - the leaf is mounted on the end of the stamp as a bonus image. So, after you stamp the branch in a beautiful brown ink, you can stamp the leaves in various shades of green to start filling out the foliage. You get a crisp, layered look with this technique that's really eye-catching!

The Mama and Baby stamp (C1736) is yet another "double", with the baby bird in the nest mounted on the side. It was fun "building" the leaves around the birds to compose the image.

So - back to the giveaway! We had over 300 comments posted so we are giving away three dies today!

Here are the numbers, randomly chosen by random.org

Here are your random numbers:

71
138
287

Timestamp: 2011-04-25 19:07:34 UTC

 So the winners are...

1) MaryD, who said,

"Some of the most unique die cuts I've seen yet. I am so glad friends shared the info so I make this part of my collection!"

2) Lori said,

"These are awesome, can't wait to try some!! :o)"

3) Louise said,

"These dies look wonderful and will be so much fun to use."

Thanks everybody for playing! I will contact the winners today - be sure and check out all of the stores that are carrying the complete new collection of dies!

 

 

Announcing the {Memory Box Die Collection} and Giveaway!

I am so pleased to announce the launch of our line of craft dies - made in the USA of durable 100% steel and usable in nearly every machine on the market! We have been busy in the studio playing with these amazing new designs and even though we knew that the details would be terrific, we are still surprised at just how beautifully the cut out!

Here is a look at the new designs...

You can see the collection on our site too - and see the list of stores that ordered the entire collection!

Each die comes in it's own envelope inside of a hanging bag...

We've equipped our Design Team with a set of the 30 new dies to play with, so be sure and check out our Outside the Box blog in the coming weeks for some terrific new ideas using them. Plus, Patter has a great storage idea to share with you for our dies.

Contest Details

So are you as excited about our new die collection as we are? Well, we want to celebrate the launch of the new dies by doing some giveaways! Just leave a comment below and you'll be entered in to win one of our new dies! To make things interesting, for every 100 comments we will give away one prize!

100 comments = 1 giveaway prize to one lucky person

200 comments = 2 giveaway prizes to two lucky people (1 to each winner)

300 comments = 3 giveaway prizes to three lucky people (1 to each winner), etc.

We'll choose a comment at random to win - please leave a comment by Sunday night at Midnight. We'll choose a winner on Monday! Enter as often as you like! Tell us what you like about the dies, which one is your favorite, what store you'll be getting yours at - or why you're excited about dies!

 

Design Team Focus {Melissa Meece} 2

I "LOVE THIS" is exactly how I felt when I saw Melissa's scrapbook page that she sent for me to include in a blog post!

Obviously, Melissa's got some talent in the scrapbooking world as well - and she composed such a terrific page that we all passed it around the office when we saw it. It also didn't hurt that the subject of the photo, Melissa's son Jacob, takes a good picture!

She pulled color from the photo to bring everything together - coppers, oranges, greens and blues. Here's the list of supplies Melissa used on the layout:

Mango Moroccan 8 1/2 x 11
Lagoon Soiree 8 1/2 x 11
Neighborhood Cafe 12x12
6x6 Minuet paper pack
D1333 Distressed Swirl
B1374 You are so sweet
B1238 Clever Owl
B1423 Love and Hearts
G1733 Journey Collage
Dark Brown Chalk Ink
Copper Metallic Staz-On
Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Copic Markers
.05 micro tip journaling pen
American Crafts Thickers
Grass Green Jewel Stickers

I really like how she used the Distressed Swirl (D1333) on one side of the page, right over the Neighborhood Cafe 12x12.

The "you are so sweet", clever owl and "love and hearts" were placed perfectly around the page as little elements.

And look how great the background writing from the Journey Collage stamp shows up!

Melissa stamped this in Copper Metallic Staz-On ink - it really looks super cool with Jacob's hair and the sunlit highlights that show up in the photo.

So are you inspired to take a class from Melissa? She teaches at Colorful Creations, on the Cape in Massachusetts - an amazing area to visit, and a beautiful store to get creative in. If you are in the area, or planning a vacation on Cape Cod - be sure and time your visit with a class from Melissa!

Design Team Focus {Melissa Meece}

I'm back from a wonderful Maui vacation (ready to move there - I think I'll have to contact a real estate agent this week!) and have been enjoying looking through the bins of projects that my Design Team has sent me! Somehow, Melissa managed to capture a gorgeous Hawaiian sunrise on her "Springtime Greetings" card here - and the whole feel of the card reminds me of a walk along the beach!

A little bit about Melissa - she lives on Cape Cod, Massachusetts and is a wife and stay-at home mom to her two kids, Jacob & Julia.  She is an avid stamper and papercrafter who has been crafty for as long as she can remember.   For the past seven years Melissa has found her passion for all things paper! Memory Box is the first Design Team experience for Melissa and she LOVES it and feels truly lucky to be a part of such a wonderful and talented group of people.  Melissa teaches classes featuring her Memory Box creations and also the Stamping 101 class at Colorful Creations in Hyannis, Massachusetts.  When she is not crafting she loves spending time with her family, going to the beach and getting creative in the kitchen.

Melissa used 4 images - E1713 Wonderland Butterfly, C1721 Grass Print, C1361 Leafy Branch and B1226 Springtime Greetings.

Look at the detail here, to see the grass print and leafy branch embossed with clear powder. She then painted over those images, which resisted the paint - and she added little clear jewel stickers (like dew on the leaves).

And check out how she colored each portion of the wing - so stunning with the silver embossed outlines.

Here's the materials list for the card:

Bayou A2 notecard
Silver Soiree
Watercolor Paper
E1713 Wonderland Butterfly
C1361 Leafy Branch
C1721 Grass Print
B1226 Springtime Greetings
Twinkling H2O's in Ginger Flower, Teal Zircon, Frost and French Lilac
Polysparkle embossing powder
Versamark
Silver embossing powder
Copic Markers
Tuxedo Black Memento
Bundled Sage Distress Ink
Diamond Jewel Stickers

My homework is to photograph Melissa's other project - a beautiful page layout - and share it with you on the next post. Your homework? Take a walk at sunrise and look at the colors of the sky - enjoy!

 

Color of the Month - April 2011

Our April Color of the Month is Pewter! April usually means a few rain showers - and here in the Pacific Northwest is no exception! We thought a deep gray color for the Color of the Month would be a beautiful shade to work with.

Darker than our Dove Gray card, this gray leans a little blue, so it works perfectly with our Bluebird and Pool Dot patterned papers.

We stitched the Bluebird Dot paper and the Pool Dot paper together down the center of the card, slipping a little handcut banner into the stitched area as the sewing machine was running.

The "spring is here" B1245 is stamped on the banner in plain old black ink.

The center circle (approximately 3 inch diameter) was edged with Versamagic Sea Breeze ink before stamping. The Dotty Tree Birds (D1347)

was stamped in Memento London Fog (this ink matches the Pewter card color beautifully).

The Copic Colors for the leaves and birds were Green Bice YG01, Moon White BG11 and Aqua Blue BG01. 

After assembling, we dotted the circle element with Diamond Glitter Glue, to make it look like a gentle rainshower. You can find the Pewter Color of the Month at participating Color of the Month stores - but this color was popular this month (gray - go figure!) so hurry in if you are collecting the colors!