davebrethauer

Art Plus - Concord, New Hampshire

Art Plus in Concord, New Hampshire is part art supply store and part stamp store - and the owner Karen (above with me) - keeps a diverse inventory in stock for all sorts of papercraft projects. Karen welcomed me with zucchini quiche and fresh tomatoes from her garden, before I started a couple of casual workshops in her classroom area.

A surprise visit from my friend and Memory Box Design Team member Anne Thompson from Winthrop, Maine was a nice addition to the summer day - she attended both classes, and left with cards that she entered in a contest! You can see the results of that endeavour here. She is an amazing talent!

Karen displayed tons of Memory Box samples, with rows of matching stamps below. It was fun to hunt through the store and see what was around each corner.

The F1439 Heart Bird Keepsake stamp was on one of the projects - shown here stamped in Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate ink, then cut out and daubered with gingerbread ink around the edges.

And Karen had the full line of our 8 1/2 x 11 patterned papers! All of the colors, in all four patterns (dot, distressed dots, gingham and moroccan!).

We ended the day perfectly with a batch of frosted cupcakes that Karen had baked for everyone - I wonder how she guessed that I like cupcakes? Another sweet ending to a sweet summer day.

Inspiration Station - Stafford Springs, Connecticut

I can't tell you how much fun I had at the Inspiration Station in Stafford Springs, Connecticut - it was a small town that reminded me of going home to Wray, Colorado (the town where my grandparents live). Debbie (on the right) owns the beautiful store in a wonderful old building, and hosted me throughout the day - while Donna helped me get ready for class. Debbie's Mom, Lu, had a pot of soup and buffet of sandwiches lined up for me - to keep me going during all the coloring! Lu took me upstairs to the break room and made sure I ate - I felt quite taken care of!

The store had a great classroom area at the back of the building - and we passed the rainy day away, watercoloring and colored penciling.

Debbie had some clever display ides - I loved the dishes of stamps and samples on the displays!

And trays of Halloween stamps and cards! Look at the ravens in among the ideas!

Best part?

Donna's class samples! Donna teaches a lot of classes there and boy is she an amazing talent! Look at the C956 Sledding Bear - what a fun card!

This greeting - sprayed with various colored mists was so eye-catching, I kept picking it up and showing it to everyone! After spraying out her background, Donna simply stamped the D1277 Tree Border in black on top. So fast and awesome!

All is Calm, All is Bright.

It sure is!

Wouldn't you love to receive this card in the mail? Donna did some simple watercoloring over the E1805 Autumn Tree Landscape...

...and then added the B1301 All is Calm stamp in the sky.

Note that the stamp has a star mounted on the side - bonus!

A neat variation on the E1801 Haunted Mansion stamp - with the Autumn Tree Landscape too! Donna works wonders with her backgrounds!

Debbie helped every customer throughout the day - and passed mini cheesecake bites and homemade thin mint cookies out to everyone (Donna shared with me her secret recipe for the thin mints). 

If you're in their neck of the woods, be sure and stop in at the Inspiration Station - a jewel of a store!

Beautiful Impressions - Westbrook, Connecticut

It was a perfect day to visit and teach at Beautiful Impressions in Westbrook, Connecticut - I drove down the highway on a cool, rainy day to Westbrook on a quiet Sunday (after stopping at Truffles Bakery in Farmington, CT for breakfast) and pulled into the parking lot of the store for a full day of workshops. This charming store, in a charming little town (see the front entrance) was just the thing for the end of a weekend.

Warm and generous, Terri hosted me in her rubber stamp store/ice cream parlor (best combination ever)! The building is filled with lots of eclectic touches - like the vintage chandelier above - with stamps, papers and dies tucked into shelves throughout the store. When Terri treated all the students to pizzas in between workshops, we pulled up chairs and ate around the old fireplace. 

There were lots of samples in the store - and the Halloween ones were done so expertly (I loved the torn edges). Above, the G1802 Vintage Halloween Words are embossed with white embossing powder - and then the B1798 Cat and Moon is stamped on a layer (cut out with the 98204 Small Scalloped Circle die). All of the orange and black papers are from the 6x6 Nightfall pack.

Lots of layers on this one - the D1803 Vertical Happy Halloween and the F1799 Web and Willows are embossed with black embossing powder for a simple combination. Can you see the highlight of shimmery ink on the web?

The Haunted Mansion (E1801) looks super cool with some tiny pumpkin brads!

And here's a different haunted house - an instructor used the 98165 Country House die (the doors and shutters can be swung open after the die is cut out) and then placed images of little party go-ers behind. I tried to get really close, so you could see the detail - it was as if I was viewing a little miniature scene!

 This is the 98165 Country House die - it's amazing how this peaceful looking little house can be transformed into a creepy mansion!

There was this gorgeous Christmas sample as well - aren't the colors terrific?

The 98211 Classic Ornament Die was used to cut out the stamp images...

The D1784 Classic ornament shadow was inked and stamped first and allowed to dry. Then emboss the D1784 Ornament Outline (right) over the top in gold embossing powder. Finally cut the image out with the ornament die - perfect. A little metallic gold twine suspends them in a row across the card.

There are hundreds of samples in the store - including a tree of samples near the front - so cool! The sample tree is also conveniently located near the ice cream counter - so you can get a cone or some pints of ice cream while you are perusing!

Terri sent me home that night with the 4 quarts of ice cream (thanks Terri!)- and one of the students in class made me a dozen chocolate chip blondies (thanks Donna!) - so we were ready for breakfast the next day!

 

 

 

Stamp and Scrap Nest - Simsbury, Connecticut

Hooray for Stamp and Scrap Nest in Simsbury, Connecticut! Susan, the hospitable and talented owner of the store, managed to fill 60 workshop spaces for me and arranged for the classes to be taught right down the street in the beautiful Church. I was fortunate enough to teach in this space last year - a grand old structure that has been a part of the community since 1697!!

And what was on the table there to greet me? Several dozen cupcakes - decorated with homemade cupcake toppers! Susan, her husband and staff cut out circles from the 12x12 Beary Good Paper and put them onto our Bluebird Dot paper (cut out with our 98204 Scalloped Circle die!). The cupcakes were just as delicious as they were wonderful to look at!

The workshops were wonderful - lots of familiar faces along with some brand new ones!

Later that evening, we returned to Susan's store and her staff and I brushed up on some painting techniques and chatted before dinner. I feel fortunate to have gotten to know everyone at the Nest over the years! Here's Pat giving some serious effort to her project...

The samples in the store are always a revelation - they take Memory Box images in a different direction altogether! It's always fun to see what they've done!

I love how they banded the E1426 Reverse Bird Branches with several shades of embossing powder!

Here's the E1426 image above - just stamp it with Versamark ink and pour the powders, one at a time, across the image!

And what a cool idea with the D1431 Crafty Birds! Stamped on a tile, embossed with a layer of clear embossing powder and a pinch of gold embossing powder in each corner.

The G1720 Birch Branch Print looks so elegant and graceful on this beautiful sympathy card. I have previously used this branch in so many ways, but with such soft, neutral colors - it really took my breath away!

Susan gave us the royal treatment - the kids swam away the hot afternoon in her swimming pool and she even sent her cute dogs off for the night at some friends' house, so that our dogs would be at home!

Stop by the Nest, Susan will take good care of you - and show you the latest and greatest from Memory Box!

 

Great American Stamp Store - Westport, Connecticut

I've been to Connecticut so many times now, it's almost like coming home! The Great American Stamp Store in Westport, CT is as fresh and inspiring as it always has been, and I always enjoy seeing what they've done with Memory Box. The D1431 Craft Birds rubber stamp (shown above) is a really popular image of ours, and what a neat idea to put leaves and flowers on the branches!

Judy, who owns the store with her daughter Jamie, hosted me for all 4 sessions, while ringing up customers, demoing and running the store! She's an energy dynamo!

They had a beautful sample card done with one of our dies that I just had to share. The E1771 Museum Tag stamp was die cut with our 98145 Museum Tag Die to create the tag on this card...

...and then the C1033 Folk Flower rubber stamp was stamped onto the tag with soft pink and green ink.

Tied with some beautiful ribbon (and you can see from the photo of Judy and I that they have a lot of ribbon!) the tag is quite simple and eye-catching. And speaking of tags...

One of my students, Susan, delivered a giant box of treats for me and the family, wrapped up and decorated with the beautiful tag above (she used the E1713 Wonderland Butterfly and the G1733 Journey Collage)

For me, Monica and the kids, she made a fresh batch of chocolate brownies, which we enjoyed for breakfast (smile) the day after class! 

And as if that weren't enough, she even made treat bags for our dogs, Biscuit and Kip!

She filled brown paper bags with organic chicken and apple dog biscuits (the dogs were in heaven!) and decorated the sacks BEAUTIFULLY! Look at the flowers behind the dog - they are from our Primula Die

Each sack was decorated slightly differently, here the flowers are made with our Catalina Border die

The presentation was so outstanding, I'm keeping the bags in my office back home. The dog treats were a big hit with the dogs too, as you can see in the photo below of Biscuit!

Before I go, one last fantastic card idea using the F1402 Brilliant Maple rubber stamp...

Judy stamped the image with Versamark ink, then applied different colors of embossing powder to the image. She put a mix of golds and reds to the leaves, poured off the excess, then applied copper to the branches and trunk in the middle. I love how the colors mixed a little bit on the leaves - just as leaves do when they begin changing for fall.

 

 

 

Collector's Set - Exclusive Stamps!

A quick announcement today for all of you who collect our special edition collage stamps! We've teamed up again with Simple Pleasures in Colorado Springs, Colorado to release a limited edition set of wood mounted rubber stamps! The G1492 Snowflake Wish Collage is beautiful embossed in white embossing powder and then colored with daubered ink or watercolor. The phrase "sending warm winter wishes" (with coordinating snowflake image mounted on the side) is bundled with the collage stamp in this great set!

You can get your hands on these fun new images by contacting Simple Pleasures via email at mailings@simplepleasuresstamps.com or calling them at (719) 528-1338!

Angela's Happy Stamper - Herndon, Virginia

I joined up with my Memory Box Design Team cohorts, Angela (left) and Laura (on my right), at Angela's Happy Stamper, for 4 workshops that I taught from 10 in the morning until 9 at night. Angela (hence the store's namesake) briefed me with suggestions in between classes on all things Memory Box, discussing new dies and stamps, as well as plans for upcoming classes. Angela has taught Memory Box classes at a number of stores over the past year (Simple Pleasures, Eclectica, Stamp Antonio, Prairie Art Stamps, to name a few) in addition to teaching at her own store (super talented and full of energy!). Laura, our Design Team coordinator, teaches tons of classes at the store too - if you are lucky enough to take one of her classes, you'll join the group of Laura Fulcher fans that email me about how much they enjoy her! Laura has her own Memory box log - which you can follow here.

While I taught the workshops, Emma and Cooper went to the water park with Angela's kids - which gave Monica time to catch up on business back at the hotel. Funny how we thought the trip would leave us a little more time to see the sights - but the release, workshops and a very busy warehouse in Seattle kept the days filled with things to do!

In addition to all the wonderful ideas in the store, I was really taken with a series of collage photos that Claudine Hellmuth had made for the staff at Angela's Happy stamper - how wonderful these were! Happy and bright - and funny. Claudine can do custom artwork for you too - just check out the details on her site. The entire staff was represented by Claudine, including:

Fun and interesting fact about Laura: she's a professional radio contest winner. Ask her about how she won a couple trips to see Wicked, a trip to the premier of the Harry Potter movie in New York (with actors on the stage talking about the movie!), a diamond pendant necklace, among other things.

Harriett, pictured above, not only leaves us wonderful messages at Memory Box ("Love your stuff!") but also sews the Memory Box aprons that the Design Team wears during classes - and she makes an amazing 7-layer salad! All of the collage photos were labeled with the staff's names - customers had commented that they had been coming to Angela's for 8 years now, since the store opened, but didn't know some of the staff's names. Problem solved!

A terrific use of our Pastry Label die (98107) on this card, with the Garden Cutaway stamp in the background!

And look at the watercolor of our Giraffe G1738 - love the speckles of paint! Plus, what a cool idea to add a balloon!

If you are in Angela's Happy Stamper's area, or happen to be at a store that Angela will be guest teaching at, be sure and pop in and take a class!

 

 

Photo Scraps - Eldersburg, Maryland

What a beautiful drive it was to Photo Scraps in Maryland! Rolling hills and farms on a warm, summer day put me in just the right mood for two workshops of 25 students each. Here I am with owner Tracy who hosted me in her bright and colorful store. And yes, for those of you who are wondering, I had more than one polar bear shirt (it's not the same one that appears in all the photos across the country!).

They had a large classroom area to accommodate the creative gathering and it was easy to walk up and down the space and offer tips to students as they colored and painted.

I liked the whimsical touches around the store - Disney on the ceiling...

...and some really beautiful projects on all of the shelves. This wonderful idea using alcohol inks and the Dill Print image (F1356) was inspiring some oohs and ahhs among the students.

This project was quite striking too, combining alcohol inks and glaze over the F1439 Heart Bird Keepsake

Stop by and take a class or pick up a new technique here - I met several of the instructors at Photo Scraps and they are all super talented! Lisa is planning a coloring class (she got a gold star in our workshop) and it's something you won't want to miss!

 

Enchanted Cottage - Lewisville, North Carolina

I taught four workshops at Enchanted Cottage in Lewisville, North Carolina - and could tell by the look of the building that the store was pretty big. But, without question, this store is the biggest stamp and scrapbook store I have ever been in and is *packed* with every product imaginable! I have been in hundreds of stores and this one was HUGE!

There were beautiful samples everywhere you turned, with plenty of ideas to delight paper crafters of all kind! Marilyn, the owner, helped customers throughout the day and then took classes with me later that night - and she was busy, busy, busy! Monica, Emma and Cooper dropped in to help switch out materials between the 4 classes, but were lucky enough to meet up with Monica's Aunt Luann and Uncle Marty who live in North Carolina, so they spent part of the day exploring Lewisville and nearby Winston-Salem.

I thought this variation on our Halloween Card idea was brilliant! They used our Museum Tag die (98145):

the G1802 Vintage Halloween Word stamp

and the C1800 Crow and Pumpkin stamp

What a beautiful collage card!

Plan a full day to see everything at Enchanted Cottage - you'll need some time to look through everything!

Bakeries of America - {Amelie's} Charlotte, North Carolina

It only took us a half hour to drive from Mooresville down to Amelie's bakery in Charlotte right after class at Stamper's Alley. There were so many "ooh's" and "ahh's" when someone mentioned Amelie's in class, we knew we had to try it!

By the time we got to the bakery, it was a little past dinner time, so we decided to forego "dinner" and just eat a big dessert (and let's face it, at this point of the trip, we had pretty much switched to a dessert only diet anyway).

Monica and Emma decided on the cake above - a key lime cake with citrus buttercream frosting, rolled in pastry flakes and garnished with a candied orange. Key Lime cake is the best!

Cooper and I indulged in Triple Chocolate baby cakes - triple, chocolatey goodness. 

There was of course a full menu - sandwiches and homemade soups and salads (after the sugar rush hit us, we decided a salad would be a good idea so we each ordered some fresh greens with candied walnuts). The space was quite large - and arranged very casually, with little nooks here and there to gather with friends or read a book. The chandelier above definitely showcases the look of the place - classic and a little eclectic!

I highly recommend trying this place out!