In the words of Natalie Portman...

"It's time to put on the sweat pants!"  With the award season over and New Year's resolutions well behind us (if anyone caught that pun it was intended), what better way to start the week than with pie! I was inspired by what I saw on Cheryl's blog this morning.  That Kraft paper must be magic because she said the realistic look of this hot apple was easy to achieve.

CHERYL!

There are so many pie in the sky ideas on this set:

Get a closer look HERE

and don't forget the ipaper

How sweet to bake a pie for a friend

and include the recipe like our Oodabug did:

CHARMAINE!

Or how about making a dozen for your closest friends,

(boy that Aloha Friday comes in handy!  Got this from Amberbop's link a couple of weeks ago)

IRL recipe HERE

And deliver them in these containers of Sunghee originality

SUNGHEE!

Now where did I put those sweats???

It's Aloha Friday...

No work till Monday ...doo dee doo doo dee doo dee doo dee doo dee doo dee doo.

I know that Oprah has not been in favor so much lately, but just for the record, she has had a few good quotes.  Here's one...“luck is preparation meeting opportunity”.   I've been prepping for the Academy Awards my whole life and at this point I'd consider riding to the Kodak Theatre in this oscar:
 

 Another year gone by and  Betty White has become my new muse. 

Enjoy the coverage this weekend.

With no further ado, The Oscar goes to...

1.  The Dressseeesssss!  Show us a red carpet look that you loved.

2.  The Best Picture.  Wanna make a bet? teehee.

3.  Best gift in the swag bag. What would you want?

I hear that German crosseyed  opossum is one hot ticket!

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It's best to right click and save an image to your computer file first.

Link to a URL, not your blog!

Make sure you put the category # (1,2,3) and your name.

(No need to put your email addy.)

That's it! See...easy peasy.

Enter once, twice or thrice

Make your wager now, because when we see you on Monday

it will be too late ;o)

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Brought to you by...

Allison!  This is so cool we just had to copy and paste share. 

Hi everyone...
After having some email chats with various friends over the last little while on this topic, I figured I would write this quick tut up just as a helpful idea for your digi-stamping arsenal...

If you have digital stamps that are JPEGs (i.e., without a transparent background), consider the following as a way to effectively mask images on top of each other to create a scene...

Using these Amber Ink stamps, I am going to make a scene with a tree stamp, an Amber girl and some presents under the tree.

1. Before you begin, decide whether you want to color in the image digitally (see my tut here). If you do elect to color your images do that first and save each file with a new file name (e.g., Tree-Colored) as a JPEG. Close all your images and re-open the saved JPEG files. In this example, I will work with blank images.

2. Working with your first image, ensure the layers palette (F7) is open.

3. Right-click the background layer.

4. Click Duplicate Layer.

5. When the Duplicate Layer dialog box displays, click OK.

6. In the Layers palette, select the duplicate layer.

7. Select the Magic Wand tool. (This tool is displayed in the previous image.)

8. Click outside the out-most edge of your image as shown in this example and press Delete.

9. Select the Magic Wand tool again to turn it off.

10. Repeat steps 2 - 9 with the rest of the images you want to mix to create a scene.

11. Ensure all the images are open and visible in your window (if necessary, click Window > Arrange > Float All in Windows).

12. In this instance I am going to place the Amber Girl next to the tree (which would be impossible if all the white space were still there!). From the Layers palette, ensure the duplicate layer is selected.

13. Drag the duplicate layer over to the tree image.

14. Since the Amber Girl is a little big, I am going to free transform her using the handles at the edge (if you want an even scale of the image, ensure that you press Shift as you do this).

15. Click the Move tool.

16. When prompted if you want to apply the transformation, click Apply.

17. My Amber girl is then placed and sized as I want her. See how she is tip-toeing on the tree skirt with no overlapping lines? Now that is masking made easy! I then added my presents to the base of the tree using steps 12 to 16.

18. Here is my finished image ready to print off and color! Voila!

THANK YOU SO MUCH ALLISON.  You make it seem easy ;0)

WOYWW

Room with a view? I'd rather be crafting ;)
A little something unexpected came up
and I will be SOOOO glad to be home in NYC
tomorrow morning.
I'll take a messy desk anyday! At least it's mine.

Over the river...

and thru the woods! 

That's where our new torchbearer's are already running!

Cheer them on as they are already covering SO much ground!

SUE!

KEVA!

ALLISON!

JEN!

CHERYL!

Have these girls found magic shoes? 

Seems like they are flying instead of running right?

Already Running in Stride: Meet Our Newest Babes!

Did you see it? Another perfect pass off. Speed blurred the faces since Brenda, Joey, Sue, Laurie and Meg never even slowed down!

..................................................................
Please tune in to catch an up close and personal... Let's start with the cute blonde who caught that flaming hot orange torch. She once had dreams of becoming an Olympic gymnast but now has dreams of getting eight hours of sleep and escaping the cold Wisconsin winter (not to mention some dreams of sunny Spain or a grotto in Italy). Olympic aspirations aside, just look at "SHE STAMPS" and you'll see that she easily scores a perfect 10. This organized lady is a Starbuck's mocha sipping Operations Manager by day and a jazzercising Copic Certified designer and stamper by night.

"Who wants a treat?" is a phrase that you might hear quite often in a house with a parrot, a cocker spaniel, a golden lab mix, a husband and a teenage daughter, but it is also something that the blog followers of Cheryl Gorka get on a daily basis. Treat yourself to the craftsmanship of a gold medalist in our book @ http://shestamps.blogspot.com/
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Since Hawaii is always close to our hearts, when Brenda told us that she was passing her brown torch to a Close to My Heart independent consultant who developed the waterfall technique…well, you can just imagine our excitement! Is it any wonder that this scrappy chick's husband is bionic (seriously…dbl knee replacements!) and her two children look like they should pop out of a picture postcard? And BTW anyone who makes an AmberInk valentine card from her future hubby's first date joke ( "A mushroom walks into a bar. The Bartender says, "We don't serve your kind here." The Mushroom says "Why not ? I'm a fungi!") is already close to our hearts! When this Minnesota mom isn't busy with her cute family, or up at the family cabin or lost in "the cloud", you might be able to catch her teaching a scrapbooking class in Forrest Lake or marketing her wares at a local craft fair. Keep up to date @ http://www.myscrappychic.com/
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Keva Brown is running with the blue torch this month and just in case you haven't met this self proclaimed "nerd" who has been stamping since 2003, you are in for a treat! This "winter soul" who lives in Tennessee with 12 year old daughter Ava, is currently covered in a snowy winter wonderland! Did we even know about wearing your pj's inside out and sleeping with spoons under our pillows in anticipation of getting a "snow day"? This is only one of the many tidbits of precious information one can find on Keva's blog! While husband Aaron is deployed yet again, you can still see such a happy marriage of pattern and color, and an eye that is off the hook @ http://hownowbrownkow.blogspot.com/

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Scoopy Sue Cooper is our bright and bubbly pink torchbearing Woywwer from the U.K. Put on your sunglasses and SPF when you see Sue’s name pop up because the brightness will rosy you up as it permeates across your computer screen! Sue’s energy is palpable, whether it be from her stamping, her photography or her genuine joie de vivre. We were touched to find out that in 2005 she even ran the London Marathon in honor of her dear mum, which is only a further testiment of Sue's true character! When her son moved out (there is a hubby and a daughter too) she "nicked" his room and loves to be able to craft in it and then be able to close the door! (See...smart too!) When the sun does actually shine, you'll find Sue crafting in the garden, going on a photo safari or caravaning to even sunnier climes. Grab yourself a glass with a little umbrella and a quick getaway to http://scoopysstuff.blogspot.com/
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We are just sure that our new purple torchbearer has a time machine hidden somewhere and isn't spilling the beans! After one little glance at Stampin when I can, you will see that not only CAN Allison stamp, but she can do just about everything else too. Her profession as a technical writer keeps her mind sharp and her spektac family (DH Brad, and WJs Tristan, Charlotte and Avery) keeps her love pure. Not only does the fabu Mrs. Fillo teach , tutor and tip, but she maintains one of the best Challenge and sketch listing sites available. Oh, and just as a caveat, Allison's "fun things found on the web" can get just a tad bit addicting. See for yourself @ http://stampinwhenican.blogspot.com/

Come see our girls run!

It's Aloha Friday...

No work till Monday ...doo dee doo doo dee doo dee doo dee doo dee doo dee doo.

Been thinking about the greatness of civilizations lately

and the greatness that is exemplified through art.

In case you didn't know,

Google has recently done to art museums

what they did to maps.

At least they've started to.

There are still a ton some glitches
but it's a great start.

So introduce us to some art today!

#1.  A favorite photograph or photographer

#2.  A favorite sculpture, sculptor or sculpture park

(try saying that 3 times really fast)

#3.  A favorite building, architect or structure

--------------------------------

It's best to right click and save an image to your computer file first.
Link to a URL, not your blog!
Make sure you put the category # (1,2,3) and your name.
(No need to put your email addy.)
That's it! See...easy peasy.
Enter once, twice or thrice
We'll see you on Monday
For the big pass off!
---------------------------------

So close they can taste it...

The current torchbearers have the pass off line in sight. 

The new torchbearers are waiting on their marks. 

They are drinking their Orange Juice and stretching their muscles

 and getting ready for those crazy hot

 pink, brown, blue, purple, and orange flaming torches,

even as we speak. 

Haven't Joey, Brenda, Laurie, Sue and Meg

 done an absolutely amazing job? 

They didn't slow down...not once. 

See for yourselves, jog your own memories and give a really big cheer for a job well done!

  

Gosh, we hope there is an encore performance at some point!

Great job ladies!

Please come back on Monday to watch the excitement!

Aloha Friday tomorrow.

Come PLAY!

Rainbow Lady Challenge

We are sponsoring the Rainbow Lady Challenge this week.  The challenge is to use a CD which isn't something we hear too much about on this side of the pond.  It's been fun to see what the Rainbow Lady's Design Team came up with.

They all started with our girl's night in from 

 MORE 2 LOVE

and created...

AUDREY!

CLAIRE!

ELIZABETH!

HAZEL!

JEN!

The Challenge is open through Wednesday, Feb 23rd.

What to do with the Buzz of Love...

Why zip on over to Taylor's List of BlogHoppers and go to work town!
There are so many prizes, so go ahead...use that chocolate high to your advantage!  All you have to do is oooh and ahhhh over the gorgeous cards, leave a comment and wait for that call!  Because who knows, you may be the winner of cash and prizes! Don't forget, there is still time to linky up your AmberInky valentine's Day creation.
 Double the pleasure, double the fun!

Now...We're dusting off one of the first AmberInk cards ever created (thanks Leslie) to wish  A top of the mornin' to ya!

Today Is THE day!

AND...

 It's

a

--->

For the PLETHORA of Valentines Sweets, and European chocolates and long stemmed roses, and yellow tulips,and endless perfection and  romance galore that we hope you are enjoying today,  may we suggest that you take a breather and visit  Our Girl Taylor's landing spot. 

And then, when you have a little bit of room left for a night cap, please come back and savor the sweet medley of none other than the aged to perfection  perfection one might find @  AMBER INK.

Happy Valentine's Day friends. 

For those that have created a Sweet Valentine using an AmberInk product...(and for everyone else's  viewing pleasure) please linky it below for a  little something extra - as offered up in the form of an exclusive V.I.P. gift card, chosen randomly on Friday.  Linkage is open until Wednesday.