If Only ALL Housekeeping Were This Much Fun!

We Have a Winner!!!

And the winner isssssssssssss...

The fabulous stamper of genius, Jacquie of Java Blu Fame is our fifth person to post about our
Grand Opening on our Facebook page!!!!

Thanks to everyone for hitting the streets and promoting us on FB and thanks to our Ambassador of Awesome, Shannan for coming up with this fun play-along idea!

Jacquie wins a $15 gift certificate to our shop at www.AmberInk.com !!!

She can use it now, or wait to see all of the fantastic fun new things we're releasing

THIS TUESDAY WHEN WE GO LIVE AND BECOME A REAL COMPANY!!!
Have you seen some of our (th)Ink Tank's delicious sneak peek snippits?

Read more about our Brilliant (th)Ink Tank and get to their blogs with one click
(maybe two but that sounds like it's for people with patience) from our new spot on our website!
So far I am loving the way they're creating!!!
I'm so lucky to have such babes running the Amber Ink. Torch for me!!

This snippit is from one of my favorite cards Karin with an i is sneak peeking this week! I cannot wait for you to see how fun this is! Seriously. I am lame and self containing.

The very vibrant Pinky is rocking my world over at Pinky's World

Check out these swatches from cards that are going to seriously blow your mind!

Taylor is rocking our SpinPin deconstruct paper in Milk White and Milk White Whisper!
If you want to learn more about iPaper, Taylor has a great bit of 411 on her blog. If you don't want to learn more about iPaper you should run to Taylor's blog anyway because today's post highlight's some adorable antics from her four year old daughter. We're not really marketing the Hope, Popcorn and Wine set as 'kid friendly' but I love that Ava didn't let that stop her ;)

We'll have a lot more to show you tomorrow when true sneak peeks start!
TGIF!

Don't forget to run buy our (th)Ink Tank's blogs!
They're creating with a fever!

Meet Our (th)INK TANK!!!

We thought you should know...

Shannan Teubner is the leader of the pack and our General Stamping Ambassador of Awesomeness. Shannan has more than the normal five senses ... actually she has about seven. One time her sense of touch went on the blink. She spent an entire day limping around with a sore between her toes. She was so busy crafting and couldn't be bothered, but that night when she checked, she found a piece of red Tacky Tape backing stuck between her toes.
Shannan spends a billion dollars a year on stamping supplies (hey, at least it's not a trillion). She also spends trillions in love and time with her two little guys (aged 10 and 7) and her two BIG dogs Lucy and Tucker.
You can see some of Shannan's awesomeness @ http://withfeathersandsequins.blogspot.com/

Karin Martin is one crafty girl. Even her blog title is clever – Karin with an I for paper. Karin’s projects stood out to us because they seemed to have a bit of magic in them. It didn’t surprise us one bit that Sabrina from Bewitched was a personal fave (and so cute too). Not only is this spunky Ohio girl clever and smart, but so is her hubby Rod. One day when he came home from work, there was Karin telling him about ALL the things that she had to do that day – errands, cleaning, dealing w/repairmen, on and on… “Aw, it couldn’t have been that bad if you still had time to make cards!” said perceptive DH. “Who said anything about cards?” inquired Karin with an I. Rod replied “You have sparkles all over your face!”
Please celebrate with us (and Karin’s one year blog anniversary) by seeing her sparkles @ http://karin-withaniforpaper.blogspot.com/

Nicole Anderson permeates energy and warmth! She says that she sometimes overcommits herself, but it would be hard not to with four busy kids (will the end of baseball season make a difference?) four neighbor boys that hang out at “the cool” house all day, one dog, two cats, one DH , papercrafting, crocheting, jewelry making, exercising and volunteering. We are thrilled to have her high powered energy and pep added to the AmberInk Torch! And with all that this busy lady has to juggle, we’ll appreciate the occasional sticky dot on her pants and copic smudge on her cheek.

If you haven’t yet had the pleasure, please get it sunny side up @ http://gottahavepaper.blogspot.com/

Pinky O'Hagan hails from Co. Armagh N. Ireland and quite simply exudes charm. When we look at Pinky’s World, we want to do it from our comfy chair and with a cup of tea. No wonder she is known as the Agony Aunt, whom everyone goes to to get their problems solved. Patricia lives at the end of the rainbow, next to the pot of gold with her hubby and two sons (another son is married), one daughter and one little squirt.
Please dip into Pinky’s World @ http://pinky-pinkysworld.blogspot.com/

Suzi McKenzie comes to us from Aberdeen Scotland . Suzi caught our eye because we sensed something quite special and alluring in the slightly mad world of Mrs. Weyremaster. If we kept going back for more we thought you would too! When Suzi isn’t creating cards, facebooking, circle journaling or drawing, she can be found sipping tea with Stewart or catnapping with Cleo and Alice.

See more of Suzi’s wonderful world @ http://mrsweyremaster.blogspot.com/

Taylor Usry (Ussree) is a mommy to brand new baby Owen and four year old Ava Grace, yet still finds time to carry the torch for AmberInk! And are we ever happy about that! Taylor has a keen eye for style and line and a “go gettum” approach to everything she does. She recently had to fess up to DH Skip about her plethora of stamping supplies which had to be moved into the family room to make way for baby. She is currently looking for some good camouflage storage tips ;). Besides being a profuse stamper, Taylor is also a voracious reader. Is Southern Virginia really the middle of nowhere? We don’t know, but boredom is certainly not in this savvy babes vocabulary!

We’re not sure if she really gets too many quiet moments, but we’re glad she finds the moments she does to post on her wonderful blog @http://taylorusry.blogspot.com/

I simply CANNOT wait for you to see their complete and utter brilliance! I'm so thankful they said yes to my plea for an inaugural team of torchbearers and for their patience as I've just barely started to get my sea legs!
LET THE WILD RUCKUS BEGIN!!!

This is On My Workdesk Wednesday

So it's Wednesday.

Here is some stuff on my desk.

By this time next week www.Amber Ink.com will be up and running for a full 24 hours!
It's hard for me to imagine it. I want to pinch myself - both because I cannot believe it is almost here and also to keep myself awake. Building a business, working a fulltime job and maintaining my normal NYC social calander is not for the faint at heart (aka me). Put cleaning in that category too. :)

I spent this morning testing some new iPaper we're launching next week at our Grand Opening. Once I design the paper I print it. That dolphin paisley up at the top is totally reject, too big when it's actually on paper. I'll reduce it and test it again. Everything sitting in the printer tray is good to go and double and tripple checked. We're go for launch on those.

It's so fun and exciting and I wish I could just play with paper all day long.

Run by and check out the women who do at Julia's Stamping Ground!
I am loving WOYWW. It's so fun to see what everyone else does to get over this middle of the week funk.

So far my favorite desk this week is Jozarty's warm crafting room - mainly because the colors are to die for and that orginization wall makes me JEALOUS.

I promise that I'll break out my camera next week! Cell phone does her job, but I'm starting to get the hang of this WOYWW and I want to play at the top of my game ;)

Anthropological Studies in Code

My best friend, the Duchess of Justice, and I start IMing 'OME' prior to any link we share or major release from Summit Entertainment or Stephanie Meyer.

Did we scrawl it on our wrists while dressed in gowns we usually reserve for rooftop parties in honor of the midnight release of each book? Maybe. Did we text 'OME' to one another as we read our copies until the wee hours of the morning those nights? It's possible.
Did we scream it at the midnight screening of the most recent book to movie release we attended this month? Oh yeah, we did.

So if you don't know anything about this force sweeping the nation, or you have been living under a rock. OME is our OMG version of 'Oh My Edward'.Juvenile? perhaps. Effective? Very.

I'm a hardfast fan of the totally inappropriate website 'http://www.fmylife.com/'
Recently the MTA decided to change our normal New York City subway V train to the M train. Rather than redo the signage they simply stuck a 'M' sticker over the original 'V' sticker that marks the sad trail to the train. I thrilled to find this amazing sign while on a particularly unsatisfactory pilgrimage to Union Square:

My BFFs and I share other go tos like 'LWSW': 'Laughs while slitting wrists'
We use that one a lot in our IM conversations from work.
We're also fans of "LBH" which is "Let's be honest..." this usually proceeds something particularly mean spirited, like:
"LBH, if you would have married that guy I would have regretted it."

What larks! Haha. We have another half dozen, perhaps less appropriate to share...

OK. yeah.... the point of this post

I'm not as well versed in your secret codes as I am in mine...
I fully believe that stampers could be trapped in an enemy camp and communicate just fine using letters. So far I've managed to decode DD and DH, SCS and um... yeah.

So I think if I'm here to stay (which I HOPE I GET TO DO!!!!) I need to know your code.
What is your one most used or favorite abreviated code word?

Leave a story, leave a line, leave a little bit of knowledge because I'm a fledgling and you are soaring above my flight line.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday?

I'm putting the final touches on our upcoming clear stamp sets for our launch!

My mom, Pam, has been urging me to start doing Julia Dunnit's mega-awesome weekly voyage into the lives of others (and their desks). I kept warning my mom... seriously though, my desk is a mess! She said to do it anyway.
This is the most forgiving picture I managed snap.

I'm in clutter mode as we count down to our grand opening!
Only 14 days left!!!
Yikes/Yay!

What's on your workdesk today?

Amber (Ink) Alert:

Mark your calendars and tell all your friends!
We are!!!

Every Little Thing We Can

To this day, nothing has driven me in my life and my work more than my love of the sea.

When I came to New York after graduating from Kahuku High School I couldn't sleep at night without the pounding of the waves on the sand. I longed for the Pacific the way I longed for my family. I am always homesick for the ocean.

Through every heart break, and every outside stress, through every personal and public tragedy I have faced, nothing ever heals me like the reassuring calm of the sea.

This spill in the Gulf weighs on me like a constant restricting pressure on my chest. I try not to think about it, and then feel guilty for protecting myself from that pain. When it washes over me it feels unbearable.

In all of this, I hurt to hurt the Ocean. I realize that my loss is not the loss of fisherman and families watching the damage happen moment to moment. My home is not immediately threatened but my heart is. I pray for the comfort to bare this. I love the sea. I long for an end to this daily terror. Nothing is more sacred to me.

We can help in little ways though we may be far away.

This Baby Mermaid illustration will be up for purchase with lots of other amazing art donated at
http://ripplesketches.blogspot.com/

later this week you'll be able to find larger prints of it at Etsy's Help the Gulf Coast Shop.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/HelpTheGulfCoast

In both cases 100% of the money raised goes to Gulf Coast charities.

Cow Country

Dearest Amber Inkers,

Some days I steal away from the hustle of New York City to an oasis of healing and relaxing and calm. I then make it as chaotic as possible;) Here are some of my favorite shots from the last couple of weeks I've spent whiling away in Montana.

We have managed to use the down time to put together a year long plan for the Grand Opening of Amber Ink. and beyond. You are going to swoon at the art (that I haven't made yet)!

xoxo,

Amber