Yep...it's Summer!

'cuz these lazy days

find us...

CAMMI!

Trying to cool down,

each in our own special way...

PENNI!

Here's to ya!

And an almost LONG weekend

for those on this side of the pond.

Cheers!

WOYWW - Building a Dummy

I'm at the beginning of a pretty big project (well a new pretty big project). 

I'm attending a five week children's book intensive 

On Saturday I pitched a book, in rough thumbnail form to a class of mega-talented artists who are working on their children's books in the intensive too. I had forgotten how nice it is to be in a safe place with talented people. I get that at job-job but it's in a robot direction. Saturday was remarkably refreshing.

I am playing with perspective for this book and thus, tonight my workdesk is this:

And then some of this: 

I didn't have enough of this clay, and it was starting to bake under the lights. Panic! at the Workdesk.

Then, relieved, I remembered. I have this!

It's special clay that doesn't get hard under lights. I have my BFA in film and once upon a time I owned a bulk of this stuff for claymation. Looking for it was so intense, just now.

OK. So, now my workdesk looks like this:

Run on over to Julia's where things are sure to be less, well... impossible to get off your hands :( 

Get it. GOT IT. Good.

I'm always a sucker for an old Danny Kaye movie but for our new torchbearers...they GET IT!

How silly Amber and I were when we thought we invented ipaper - rather Al Gore of us don't you think? 
We didn't know that "digi paper" was out there, (hence the name ipaper @ Amber Ink) and honestly, I think we do it best in that you can print individual pages and not entire packs.  If you want one, you buy one and if you want to coordinate something, you choose that too.  We're all about free agency here.
Personally, I have always been caught up in the idea that even if you're not a scrapper or a stamper (moi) you can print a piece of patterned paper for a flyer, origami, a note to a friend etc, etc. 

That's why I was so tickled when you could hear the excitement in the cyber voices projecting through my laptop yesterday.  

LEE ANNE!

"So, I was digging around the Amber Ink store the other day

and found some beautiful paper.

Not having ever used digi-paper before, I must admit that I was a bit skeptical.

I don't have a color-laser printer at home,

so how good can the paper really look if it's not printed on a top-notch printer? "

Well, let me tell you.

One push of the print button and I was H-O-O-K-E-D. 

 

NINA!

"Those cute little flags I made with this flag border digital stamp

and with this cute yellow polka dot ipaper!

First printed out the polka dots and then put the paper

BACK into the printer to print the flags!

Easy!

 

And if that doesn't convince you...

We can always defer to Siobhan's top two reasons to use ipaper...

1. You can be a paper hoarder w/o it taking up space on your shelves!

2.You can be a paper hoarder w/o telling your husband!

Get it? 

GOT IT.

Good.

Ladybird, Ladybird fly away home...

Your house is on fire

and your children are gone!

RACHEL!

DENIMO!

LISA!

The Cupcake challenge has ended, but you still have

about a day left to enter Sweet Sketch Wednesday!

Julye B. won a $15 to the Amber Ink Store.

If you enter the Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge,

maybe some of that lady luck will rub off on you.

P.S.  The farmers would sing that little ditty to their friends the ladybugs

before they burned the fields after the autumn harvest, 

so it's a good thing 

and not the creepy bad thing that it sounds like.

Aloha Friday - Summertime and the Living's Easy

It's here. OFFICIAL KINE. It's Summer and It's Aloha Friday so I get to speak pigeon English.

On Wednesday the Duchess and I blew off from our job-job's early and met at our favorite nail salon in the Slope. There was bliss in the air as we had our nails did. Mine are florescent orange and the Duchess is rocking 'nude' , the latest nail trend. We ended up talking about things that make us happy and of course our minds turned to music. OK. You know the drill!

#1 - The music that puts that special sundress vibe in your walk. It might be nostalgia or it might be brand new, but it is totally your sound of summer.

Every Summer I relish reading Cynthia Voight's middle grade treasure trove, the Tillerman series. This weekend at the beach I'm toting my favorite of the set, 'A Solitary Blue'.

#2 - What book are you thrilled to be carrying in your tote this season?

Ready for the third Aloha Friday clue? WILD CARD!
#3 - It's not Summer without ____________

GOODIE GOODIE!



OK, Let's Remix this baby:
OK. RECAP TIME!
..............................................................................
#1 - Your Sound of Summer
#2 - The Summer Read You're Dying to Read
#3 - It's Not Summer without ________
..............................................................................
New to Aloha Friday?

We've made a video to help you play along!
Get your URL ready and paste it into the URL line.
Click on the 'click here to enter' part of the linky.
Your caption is the number you are answering and your name.
..............................................................................

First Projects that will blow you back to Wednesday

Our new torchbearers are already running at supersonic speed! 

Since we are sponsoring this week's

SWEET SKETCH WEDNESDAY

our girls agreed to play along for their first projects.

And SHAZAAM!

They are AWE to the SOME!

NINA!

LEE ANNE!

PENNI!

CAMMI!

We LOVE it!

If you're up for an Amber Ink smorgasbord,

take a look at the projects from the

Sweet Sketch Wednesday's DT...

And don't forget to play along too!

Even if you're not fortunate enough to own

any Amber Ink ipaper or images yet,

just play along with anything, cross your fingers

and maybe you'll be the winner of

 a $15 gift certificate
so that you can buy some stuff from Amber Ink
and be Awe to the Some too. 

WOYWW

It's been five years since I've had a job interview. You know how they always ask you your greatest weakness? I've been thinking about that a lot lately, and the true answer is, thank you cards.

Case in point. My great and wonderful friend, Rachel, first grade teacher extraordinaire, not only baked the most delicious cupcakes for my birthday, but also gifted me one of the most perfect gifts ever. These Boylan glasses are venn diagrams of perfection.

They are vintage. They are brightly colored in my favorite colors. They are upcycled (they used to be the actual bottles that you buy Boylan soda in! I LOVE Boylan Soda! They are smart. They go in the kitchen. All my favorite things go in the kitchen. 

OK, without further ado. Here is my workdesk and where I am starting. 

Firstly, I am shutterbugging my lovely gift x 4.

etc.

DIGITAL IT!  Sketchy, Sketchy, Sketchy it!

Color it!

Print it!


Score Pal it!

Shutterbug it! 

WOOT! Now to stamp it... I am going to report to you when it's in the mail. I need 50 brittish babes holding me accountable  ;)  Speaking of which, let's go see what Julia's crafting up today.

New (th)INK Tank! We're Tossing Torches!

We have love love loved the intuition and ingenuity our babes of May have brought to our Inky fingers! We are thrilled to find that they bring that skill to torch passing too! You might even say we're tickled pink...

Speaking of which. The month of June, Nancy's bright Pink Flame
will be carried aloft by Penni Vickers, our newest resident wild child!

 After a brief journey to Norway, our PINK torch returns to the East Midlands region of the UK, Nottingham, England.  Look closely though because by all intents and purposes, you just might think you are in a Mangrove forest in the heart of Bengal. Behind the exotic cats you will find a proper English lady who lives with her best friend and husband of a dozen years, Simon and two beautiful human children, Edward and William. Penni leaves the tinned fish for Thomas and Erin, but keeps the Italian, chocolate, rose wine and papercrafting for her own special moments, and as a Medical Secretary in Clinical Oncology we know those moments are well deserved.

 The cats aren't the only ones doing the stalking @ http://lazycatscards.blogspot.com/. It's been over a year since we first noticed this stand-out on WOYWW and you can only imagine how excited we were to hear that Penni is now running with a torch! 

.................................................................

Our Bronze torch (formally brown) but I just realized how much more fitting Bronze is ;) is being passed from the wonderfully cheery and ingenius Laura Kayra to Nina Maksimainen or Ninarsku, to you. 

As a pikkutyttö little girl Ninarsku dreamed of being an archeologist or a princess. It makes sense that our newest Bronze torchbearer is a treasure and a treat. Running the torch from Hämeenlinna (say that three times fast) she lives near a castle nestled against the banks of Finland and receives the royal treatment from her hubby.

Nina might as well be carrying a copper torch, because this Finnish babe is our heads-up-penny. Meet our first torchbearer to run a blog entirely in a language other than English (but just for us her entries will be in English too)! We figure finding this scrappy girl with a prowess for modern color and clean lines has to be good luck. When we can't find this adorable brunette at her craft table with her craftiest of friends, we look for her snuggled in the crook of her husband's arm, or planning her new craft room in her new pesä home that will be finished being built in the Fall! From where we're sitting we think it's fair to say, "it's better in Finland",  Find out how much at http://ninarsku.blogspot.com/

.................................................................

From the soulful and brilliant Renee Lynch to the girl with a sketchy vibe (yes!) Lee Anne Verret 

Just this month, Lee Anne Verret attended her first scrapbooking convention and discovered that not only does she have a gift, but she can stamp on layouts! Since she teaches 115 puberty driven eleven year olds (bless the middle school teachers of the world) can we say “duh”? One look at Lee Anne’s Happy Place and you’ll be happy too.

A certain six year old boy that keeps showing up on that blog seems to have his daddy’s smarts (okay, let’s be fair here…Lee Anne is a science teacher so he has his mommy’s smarts too), good looks and charm. Our new blue torchbearer has the pluck and courage that can only come from being the youngest of three sisters growing up on the boy hair bands of the 80’s, hand me downs and a loving family. She may be baking in Texas, but she is cooking in the stamp and scrap department.

.................................................................

Our fabulously brave, and wickedly funny Siobhan Kline
will be tossing her new found digiStamp super star status
 in the form of a hot purple torch to Cammi Boddie 

Some people were born to make people feel better and we are fortunate to share Cammi Boddie, a pediatric oncology nurse, with her precious kids for just a little while. Cammi's cards and projects show her compassion and creativity, whether it be decking out a hammer or a paint can, creating a sympathy card for a patient's family, or a t-shirt for a chemo buddy, this is one awesome angel in crafty nurse's clothing (she probably embellishes her own scrubs too!). 

When she isn't growing her copic collection exponentially, you might find Cammi celebrating just about anything with her husband of five years (did you know you can sail from Virginia to the Bahamas?) or playing with her dog, King or kitty, Belle.  See the latest she is cuttin', colorin' or creatin' @ http://cuttin-up.blogspot.com/

.................................................................
Toni Johnson is sprinting towards the finish line, 
where Lynette Brown has her hands out, ready to catch this orange flame of fabulous.

Life in Haysville is all about the simple life, and Lynette Brown wants to keep it that way.  Summer is easy in rural Kansas and it is a favorite time for family (especially the two grandkids, Wyatt and Andrea) backyard bar-b-ques, gardening, photography, walks to the park and time in the pool. Throw in a little scrapbooking and card making and it really does sound idyllic doesn’t it?   When the bug hits, Lee Anne and her husband Ray, a rural mail carrier, can hop on the train that stops in Haysville and travel in leisure to far away places.   Grab yourself a nice tall glass of sweet tea and have a smooch @ Life in Haysville.

.................................................................

A Journey of Celebration...

Today marks the magnificent showcase of five amazing runners.

Laura, Nancy, Renee, Siobhan and Toni have covered the globe with the Amber Ink flame and their amazing craftsmanship.  They contained the flame and never skipped a beat.  Tomorrow they will pass their torches to a new set of runners, but today we celebrate the amazing run they have had!

Torchbearers, you have released creativity and excitement along with your light.

Some of our torchbearers this month had never

used digi's or ipaper and have

since become converts and community experts.

What inspirations you are!

Well done!

It's Aloha Friday!

It's Aloha Friday Father's Day, no work 'til Monday... doo doot doo doot doot doot doot dooo doot doot do do.... that is unless you're prepping for a Father's Day fete'. I am prepping for a phone call and a lot of beach time. Usually Amber INK. is all about girls. This weekend we'd like to focus on the men in our lives who matter.

Here's me and my younger siblings with my
dad on a particularly lovely Easter Sunday in the 80s.

Here's my momma and biz-naz partner, Incredimobo (aka Pam) on her daddy's lap chilling with her brother and 'the aunts' in the 1960s. You just know there were jello moulds in that kitchen somewherez.

SO this weekend we look to our Father's or our Father Figures or our kid's Fathers to do Aloha Friday up right.

We got such a kick in pants over all of last week's awesome Aloha Friday dreamz comments. This week we're going to blow up the comments again.
Share each of your picks in the comments section!

#1 - A memory of your dad or your baby's daddy or an uncle or a grandfather, pick your father's day poison.



On the morning of my white-robed high school graduation I unearthed my long lost white high heels from under my bed. To my shock and horror they were worse than grimy. They were scrody. We were living on a prayer at the time - no dollars at all for new shoes, especially when I hadn't taken care of the first. I knew that I was royally screwed. I did what any teenager would do. I had a breakdown. My meltdown encouraged mom to have one pushing me to declare "MY LIFE IS RUINED!!!" I scrubbed them until the dirt on them went muddy while dad chuckled at the 'NOT A LAUGHING MATER!"

"You know..." he interrupted my sobs, "I bet we could paint them." What?! He hooked up his airbrush, my dad does not take painting lightly, and three coats later I had the shiniest most sparkling pair of shoes on stage. I remember everyone saying how awesome my heels were, and knowing I had the best secret ever. Dad saves the day and my graduation, and at eighteen, I still get to feel like my dad is a hero. Well played, father. Well played.

#2 - Something (a noun or verb) that always reminds you of your dad, hubby, uncle etc....



Stacks of napkins. My dad is incapable of letting a paper napkin go to waste. No matter where we are, if there are any stray unused napkins in sight, dad collects them, folds them twice and puts them in his shirt pocket. We tease him and he tells us about the importance of trees. It's a tradition

Side note: At an airport dive bar with my brother earlier this year, I left the table, turned to grab my purse, and caught my kid brother stuffing our table's remaining napkins into the back pocket of his slacks. OH THE GLEE THAT MOMENT BROUGHT ME!

Which slides us the perfect segue to our last Aloha Friday buzz:

#3 - A habit or a trait that you have that is either genetic or learned from your daddy or father figure, or one that you love to see in your kids, because you know it's from your hubby.


Yup. Flat as a pancake.

OK, This got long! Next week short and sweet, promise!
RECAP TIME
..............................................................................

All about your father or father figure or baby daddy:
#1 - A memory
#2 - An object or place or thing that reminds you of them
#3 - Something you learned, inherited or something you see in your kids
..............................................................................
New to Aloha Friday?
We've made a video to help you play along!
Get your URL ready and paste it into the URL line.
Click on the 'click here to enter' part of the linky.

Your caption is the number you are answering and your name. Enter once, twice or thrice. Spread it out or pick a buzz to focus on.

Good News...

You haven't missed the Wee Memories Challenge yet! 

If you wait until tomorrow you will have though. 

Today is the last day to enter the "anything goes" challenge

to show off a card AND have a chance to win a gift certificate to AmberInk! 

You know what a fun guy Mr. Linky is right?

Doesn't hold a candle to

our new resident photoshop expert's fungi.

SIOBHAN!

Since Siobhan made this card after 6/4/2011

and she hasn't met her 3 entry maximum

to the Wee Memories Challenge yet

seems to me that fungi card and fun guy Mr. Linky could be introduced.

And that is just a very confusing way to say

that you can still enter today

and you get three tries.

And I'm signing off before it is three strikes and I'm out.

WOYWW - This is my desk:

This is my desk on "work".
I've been watching a lot of PSAs lately as I'm studying to get my permit. At 28 I figure it's probably time to learn to drive.

On the fateful day I invented 'Baby Mermaids' the brilliant Sandra Gaddis and I were running on sleeplessness, giggles and hot tea. Apparently this is the exact mix I need for pure genius. It's been years since the spark that made Baby Mermaids, and nothing as creatively spectacular or clarifying has happened to me since, until....

What we will call THE PERFECT STORM (which happened today) I had a semi-lame but acceptable blog post ready to roll and scheduled to go live. I planned to be in bed hours ago, but this PERFECT STORM must be shared, and shared with you now on the evening of its birth.

On Sunday night my friend Sam brought me these.
HAVE YOU EVER SEEN ANYTHING MORE ENCHANTING?

(Incidentally if it's years since this post has happened and my future husband is reading the archives of this blog in our penthouse apartment across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I want you to know I never expect these blooms to be topped, so no pressure)

There are a bunch of white roses that were somehow magically dyed to make rainbow blooms. They have been in a place of honor on the windowsill since the fateful day they were delivered. This afternoon after days of not sleeping and pushing myself too hard between job-job and licensing clients and follow up from Surtex (it feels like months since I've had a weekend) AKA PERFECT STORM... I panicked in a way that only happens when you are delusional from not sleeping. What if they were getting too much sun?! I picked them up and moved them to the kitchen table out of the harm of gama sun rays.

In the process one perfect petal fell from its rose and in theatrical Beauty and the Beast style floated to the table....

I was instantly devastated, proof that I need to go to bed. BUT THEN, my eyes did that criss-crossy thing that they do when you are looking at a magic eye poster or smoking crack ;)

In fast non-thinking trans like motions I started tearing petals. One after another.

At 8:00PM - prior to the next creative chapter in my life. My workdesk looked like this.



It's obvious what we're looking at here, right?
.
.
.
.
RIGHT?
OK, if you can't see them, maybe you're a healthy girl who goes to bed and remembers to eat ;)

They're fairy wings!!!
In homage to the masses of UK followers we have here at Amber INK's WOYWW I thought they would most likely start out sharing a spot of tea. As in, "would you care to join me for a cup of tea?"

They weren't working out exactly the way I thought they would in the moment I cannibalized my bouquet of beauty. Exhausted and blurry eyed I crawled to the kitchen, driven by the power of suggestion to brew a cup of Earl Grey...

PERFECT STORM!

It's going to be hard to sit through job-job all day. I've got fairies to develop! Funny how we're only tired until we're lit up with an idea.

Now spit-spot - Off to Julia's to peek at ll the other desks,
the ones that aren't presided over by sleep starved idiots ;)
I blogged this at She Sure is Sketchy too. I Couldn't help myself. Too excited ;)