davebrethauer

Design Team Focus {Sue Trembeth}

 I officially met Sue when I was on a summer class tour 3 or 4 years ago - I was at the Queen's Ink in Maryland, and she had driven down with a group of fellow papercrafters for class. I remember how fun and engaging she was when I met her! I saw her again the next year I was on tour, and she shared so many fantastic ideas after class that I knew she should be on the Memory Box Design Team!

She's sharing with us today a stationery set - using the Orchid Branch Print stamp G1718 stamp and paper piecing out the blossoms.








It's a brilliant idea to switch out the color scheme - and then just repeat the composition from card to card. Wouldn't you love to receive a set of cards like this as a gift?

Here's a little background on Sue:
My name is Sue Trembeth but I go by Sue T. I have been stamping for about 14 years. I started out with the ‘major craft store” stamping and one day came across a small stamp store 5 minutes from my house. The store was closed when I got there and I had my face pushed up against the glass and was amazed at all the stamps I saw sitting on the shelves. I was back at Create an Impression in Ardmore PA the next morning waiting for them to open. Heather Schwartz, the owner, saw a raw stamper in front of her and nurtured and encouraged everything I wanted to try. Before I knew it, I was not only working at Create an Impression, but teaching and sharing my obsession with others. I remember when Heather came in with a catalog for a small new company that was featuring the coolest little birds. We were all so tired of artsy brown and ochre cards that these cute images and simple and whimsical cards were a breath of fresh air, long needed. That company would be yours, Dave. Soon, Heather was carrying Memory Box stamps and paper. I taught at Create an Impression at least once a month for six years before they closed. When Heather sadly closed her doors, I found Rubber Buggy Art Stamps and Supplies in Lancaster, PA. I taught at Kris Hoffer’s store until she closed. I opened my own business teaching paper craft classes when I had no where else to teach. The Creative Studio is run by myself and a creative friend. A year or so ago I was told some exciting news about a new stamp store that opened in Tuckerton, NJ called One Little Spark. I was in the car and off to check it out. Pat and her husband Lee were very brave and opened a stamp store in October 2009 when the economy couldn’t have been worse. When I told Pat my story and showed her my work, she asked me to teach classes. Yeah! Another stamp store to teach in. So presently, I teach at One Little Spark. I am becoming handy with my digital camera and learning how to work all our Mac devices. I am Ranger certified and have been published a few times. Everyone says I have a distinct style of stamping but I don’t see it. I love to try anything and I am an ink hound. I will tell you, I am basically a card maker. I love making cards. When I was a kid my dream was to go to art school and then work for Hallmark. Once in a while I step outside my box for something 3D. I am married to my biggest critic George. He will lovingly tell me when “it isn’t your best work.” My muse in the studio is my sweet girl Pink the cat who I got when she wandered into Create an Impression all dirty and scrawny. Today she’s fat and sassy just like her mama! She sleeps and spends most of her day in our studio. She loves the smell of ink and rubber!

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Exclusive Stamps and Dies {Hummingbird and Columbine}

We've designed another set of exclusive stamps for our friends at Simple Pleasures in Colorado Springs, Colorado - and this time I've designed a matching set of dies to cut them out!

I grew up in Colorado - so when Cathy, the owner of Simple Pleasures requested a columbine and hummingbird, I could think back to camping trips in the Rocky Mountains and knew that those images would be really fun to design!

The Simple Hummingbird stamp (D1858) measures 1.8 x 1.8 inches and the Simple Columbine stamp (D1859) measures 1.6 x 3.75 inches - and they work perfectly with each other!

These designs are only available through Simple Pleasures, and there are only a limited number available - call for details (719 528 1338) to order them or email mailings@simplepleasuresstamps.com !

100 Paper Rose Topiary Video

Well, here's a project that you'll probably want to make about 50 of! Imagine giving handmade paper rose topiaries out to family and friends as gifts! Or decorate a wedding venue with these! The best part is that they are quite beautiful - and don't need any watering! Enjoy the video...

 

Although this project did take awhile (my 13 year old son Cooper helped me make 100 paper roses for this project), it was the most fun I'd had papercrafting in awhile. Just seeing all of the materials assembled together before the roses were glued on made me feel like I was turning in a final project for art class.

And adding some natural elements to a paper project is always fun - I trimmed a branch from one of the lilac bushes in my backyard (which reminded me of where my wife and I bought all of our lilac bushes about 15 years ago - at the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens in Woodland, Washington - definitely a place to go if you are a gardener in the Pacific Northwest!). I used the lilac branch as a trunk for the topiary and then gathered up some velvety clumps of moss from my backyard (Seattle has plenty of moss even though our winter was a little dry this year!). The moss hides the plaster that I used in the pot to make the topiary stand up straight and tall.

There you go! A nice carpet of moss at the base and you have a low maintenance topiary to put in your studio. I'd like to try this project in other shades - maybe all white - or a deep crimson red? And maybe add a paper butterfly or two...

 

 

Memory Box in Australia

We've had a lot of stores in Australia show interest in Memory Box this year - and we feel so lucky to be a part of the paper crafting scene in that country now! You can see which stores currently sell Memory Box in Australia, as well as other countries, by going to our storefinder on the website.

By coincidence, 2 of our Design Team members, Angela Finet (who owns Angela's Happy Stamper in Herndon, VA) and Laura Fulcher (our Design Team coordinator who teaches at Angeala's Happy Stamper!) were invited to Australia Day by the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Australia's wife, Lorraine Fletcher.  Lorraine is a huge Memory Box fan and has taken lots of Laura's classes and enjoyed building her collection of Memory Box stamps while in the US.  Australia Day commemorates the day the settler's ships sailed into Sidney Harbor - kind of a cross between our Columbus Day and Independence Day.  Once the event was over, Lorraine took Laura and Angela on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Deputy Chief's residence (in Washington DC) for a peek at her craft room.  Lorraine is so organized!  

(left to right: Laura, Angela and Lorraine!)

And look how tidy her Memory Box stamps are!!

Angela and Laura are both going to be traveling around the country in the next month or so to teach some Memory Box classes. You can see Angela at Simple Pleasures in Colorado Springs, CO on February 24 (see the Simple Pleasures site for details). Laura will be doing a weekend of classes at the Henhouse Paperie In Albuquerque, NM. - March 9 and 10 (see the Hen House Paperie site for details!).

Hearts and Butterflies

I'm changing it up today - lots of red and pink going on with the projects, so I thought a little variation might be fun. 

The solid Darla Butterfly die (98264) is a really wonderful shape to use with a patterned paper and they work great with the Savannah Border die (98221). The background heart is the Cupid Heart die (98281) cut out of Thistle cardstock - it looks a lot different in a neutral color when compared to the project in the Cupid Heart Card video! 

And just so the card pops a little, add some bright blue Ocean cardstock - and send this to a friend!