Card Design: Rubber Stamping with Colored Pencils and Watercolors [Paperback]

Dave Brethauer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2007

Gather your paints, pencils, papers, and stamps; then get ready to play! Discover how to use watercolor paints and colored pencils to create a clean, colorful, contemporary look in stylish greeting cards for occasions throughout the year.

* Find over 100 projects and ideas, plus beautiful close-up photos of projects and techniques

* Learn to create washes of color with watercolor brushes, paints, and inks, blend and shade with colored pencils, and use a color wheel for stellar results

* Create special effects by combining watercolors and colored pencils with transparencies, sponging, shrink plastic, and more

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Home: Seattle, Washington

Dave Brethauer designs rubber stamps and scrapbooking products for his stamp and paper company, Memory Box. His work has been published in Better Homes and Gardens, Rubber Stamper, and Somerset Studio.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Martingale and Company (August 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564777804
• ISBN-13: 978-1564777805
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #461,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Coloring techniques with pencils and watercolors, March 15, 2008

By 

Blurooferika (SF Bay Area) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Card Design: Rubber Stamping with Colored Pencils and Watercolors (Paperback)

This is a fabulous companion to Stamp in Color, another great technique book by the same author that is about 10 years old. Card Designs showcases cards that are relatively simple compared to cards displayed in papercrafting magazines, but the point is to show you exactly how the stamped image is colored. There is a technique to coloring well with pencils and certainly with watercolors (he shows you how to use watercoloring pencils, markers, inks and paints). With a little practice and Dave's instruction, you'll feel really proud of your projects and progress quickly.

The specific instructions for each card are grouped together in the back, leaving the front free to display the cards more as works of art. Though there are a lot of specific details on each card, there is not as much coverage of basic stamping topics as there was in Stamp in Color (ie. instead of explaining heat embossing at the front of the book, it assumes prior knowledge,) so if you're a total beginner in rubber stamping, I'd definitely recommend buying Stamp in Color: Techniques for Enhancing Your Artwork (Pastimes) or another stamping primer first. Simply Cards by Sally Traidman is a great place to start and covers some of the basics beautifully but is not (and wasn't meant to be) an encyclopedia of stamping techniques. Grace Taormina's book offers very thorough coverage of almost all stamping techniques, but the look of the projects and stamps featured is very dated because the book is probably a decade old.

The book features stamps from Rubber Moon and Savvy stamps and cards/papers from Memory Box--product lines you will want to know about if you are someone who likes to replicate a project exactly, which you can here with very professional-looking results. Have fun!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of great card making ideas, July 11, 2009

By 

Barbara Rhoades "Jackie of all Trades" (O'Fallon, MO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Card Design: Rubber Stamping with Colored Pencils and Watercolors (Paperback)

This book is filled with wonderful ideas for making your own cards.

The two sections, Colored Pencils Basics and Watercolor Basics, provide a good base for understanding how to work in these two mediums. The graphics help to define the written instructions.

There are cards to make for every occasion. After each section, the card ideas are shown. The written instructions on how to create the cards comes in a section at the back of the book.

Upon reading over the instructions, I found that a glossary of terms would have been helpful. I haven't a clue what tooth, mask and analogous mean in relationship to card making. These words I had to look up. I also would have preferred to have the card and the card making instructions together rather than having to flip back and forth.

If you are a veteran card maker, this book will be a dream for you. If you are a beginner, you may want to have a dictionary on hand.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book - wonderful photos and directions, February 22, 2008

By 

J. Forster (Coopersburg, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Card Design: Rubber Stamping with Colored Pencils and Watercolors (Paperback)

This is a great book for people looking to learn more about water color and pencil techniques. The samples have great design ideas and the instructions are clear and easy to read. The colors are vibrant and the photos very good.