Today I write to you from inside a restored 150 year old barn in the real American Wild Wild West.
Yesterday amidst the tumbleweeds and horses, it dawned on me that it was almost Friday - YIKES, Aloha Friday! What better subject than Happy Trails and Cowboy fare?
We love it when you play along - we love it so much that a random winner almost always gets a little prize to the AmberInk store. It's easy. Just pick a category (up to 3) and add a link. It's always best to save the photo first to your files and then upload it. REMEMBER - NO PAPER. Our Aloha Friday game is for balance - YAY balance! Now no one can tell you that your are too OCD.
Okay...so saddle up and don't squat on yer spurs. Yee HAW...
Remember to save your image to your file
Link to any website
No paper products
If it doesn't work in IE, try another browser (firefox or chrome perhaps)
You may enter up to 3 x's by Monday
Be sure to put the # (1,2,3 or 4) and your name. Look at the first example to see how.
Lynn is flaunting her brilliance! What a genius way to use this little kiddo. Lynn calls this new Amber Ink. digiStamp 'The little dude' and I have to say that suits him just right.
Lynn's teaching classes on color techniques now! Check out her mega-talent and if you're close (Middle Georgia), be sure to support her. She has so much to share -- you know because she's brilliant and such!
Wendy's been making all kinds of bits of brilliance for Amber Ink. this month. I still can't get over this card she did last week. If I HAD to go to school to get this card, she'd probably be able to prod me out the door and back into one of thos L shaped desks!
Wendy used all three of our Back 2 School Kiddos to create this adorable bit of back to school bliss. The school lined paper is snipped from one of our recipe cards. Get Wendy's delicious recipe for this card at her blog, Paper, Ink and Smiles!
Remember, you still have ONE day ELEVEN hours and THIRTY-TWO minutes... no wait THIRTY-ONE minutes to enter our INKredible 21 day Challenge. I promise, the prize is so scrumpdiddlyumptious you're going to want to trade that golden ticket in. Run, don't walk! Speaking of... Thanks for stopping by!
THREE...Only THREE days left in our first ever Amber Ink's Inkredible 21 Day Challenge Have you always had an inkling to make history? This may be your chance PLUS the prize will be like no other.
Use any Amber Ink Product to make something to do with books.
I woke up this morning to a Sunny SUNNY day. I got dressed in jeans and a fitted tee and hightailed it out of the house to find that it's CHILLY!!!!!
I am sitting at 'The Fall Cafe' and it is almost one in the afternoon on a school day. Today my only obligations are self-imposed! To fill my cup, a. biker out the window just blew me a kiss. I feel like breaking out into song.
In blissful celebration of this holiday I find that perhaps I never have any cause for upset that isn't slightly motivated by job-job. A day off seems more a gift of the gods than a typical American holiday.
I hope this day finds you full of bliss and radiating happiness. I am pretty sure they can feel my joy in Antarctica today.
This weekend my top-five friend, JenMO asked "What gets in your road?" I LOVED this bit of phrasing. It's so much more effective and visual than 'What are your road blocks?"
On this day of lovely days, I suggest clearing the things that get in your road with a bit of distraction. If something isn't working, do something else! When I am a grump, or things are sucking, my quickest way to shift gears is to listen to something that lifts me up and puts some pep in my step.
Here are a few songs that transport me to here, sitting at 'The Fall Cafe' sipping a cup of mint tea and cozying up to everything I want to do - even when I am some lame place that makes me cringe.
If you've got a frown, turn it upside down with Bonnie Tyler. Man, this girl's videos motivate me into laughing no matter WHERE I am! Keep an eye out for the neon whip! This video was Apple iPod commercial motivating, 20 years before her time.
I saw Lenka open for Missy Higgins at Terminal 5 last year. I was girl crushing on her from the first chord. I think that if my art were music it would be THIS music. As we all know, my art is pretty dang happy.
This is the kind of beat that pulls me out of a funk. What music plays on your life soundtrack? Share those happy beats here on this post. Have a motivated week of and march to a blissful beat!
No work till Monday Tuesday...doo dee doo, doo dee doo dee doo dee doo dee doo dee doo...
Amber's Motivation Monday post really got my head spinning this week. Shoots. Why don't I reflect more? Am I so busy looking ahead that I don't enjoy the past more often, or am I so busy being hedonistic (dang that chocolate cake) that it keeps me from "doing the diet"? Or maybe I so want to be Justin Beiber's Mother-In-Law that I can't enjoy the moment! Being the teacher type, I looked it up. This is what I found...
(okay, this takes 10 minutes, but it is so worth it!)
So here we are, back at our Aloha Friday. You can chose:
#1. Something Old or something in the Past ...ummm...this is not the same thing! It can be a toy you used to play with, a TV show you used to watch, a book set in the 18th century! Get creative here.
As always, only ONE RULE...No paper. Every genius needs a respite.
When you enter put #1, #2, or #3 and your name. Someone will get hooked up with a little prize because Amber humors me and she is getting to like my little game too ;)
No need to link to your blog. You can link to whatever site you'd like. If you have trouble in IE, try firefox or Chrome. Let us know in the comments if the link doesn't work or if you would like to mention anything else.
Business is open until Monday morn. Enjoy your very long weekend!
Tuesday I had to travel from the West Side of 34th Street to the East Side. I'm pretty sure that my journey was the longest pilgrimage of Herald Square. ever.
I tripped over girls clutching photos, signs, their best friends and the last shards of sanity. The crowds surged around me. I reached for my phone. This is a peek at my text log from that confusing late afternoon.
This is from the Duchess: Me: I think it is highly likely that Justin Bieber is somewhere close to Macys. Her: he has a concert at Madison sq garden tonight... what? Me: MSG on a Tuesday? Lame. If I have to see another girl's tears ruining her I Heart Justin Bieber face paint, there is going to be an issue. Her: don't be jealous, Amber :) Me: I'm like baby, baby NO!!!
This is from the man in my life: Me: I think it is highly likely that Justin Bieber is somewhere close to Macys. Him: Who? Me: You know that kid that we saw on the Today Show? Him: With the comb-over?! OH SHEESH.
In case you need a visual:
* I swiped this from http://justinbieberfanscom.weebly.com/ (hopefully you're still with us and haven't fainted clean away at this "sexy, hottest boy ever!" That's a direct quote AND word on the street, literally.) My dad calls this kid 'Justin Beaver'.
I trip-troped over variations of the girls in the photos above. I was surprised at the amount of puff paint they were fronting. I'm happy that this at least brings out a bit of creativity. I wish I would have had the guts to whip out the big lens' on the crowd. I was sure that everything I'd heard about this kid's following was propaganda-y. If I hadn't seen the havoc that was reaped on Fashion Avenue with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it. I almost feel like I failed society by not further documenting it.
Here are my choicest take-aways:
A little girl wailing. Massive tears fall down her cheeks. She is about eight and her father has to carry her because she doesn't have the strength to walk. Her face says I heart JB 4-Ever. I'm following close behind, lost in a haze, when I hear her huff out 'I'm sorry daddy, I just didn't think I would be this messed up!"
A second gradery looking girl is sporting matching Justin Bieber outfits...with her American Girl Doll- this is wrong on every level. At the corner of 34th and 8th she screams "OH MY GAWD! DO YOU THINK HE WILL WEAR A HAT?!!" Before her sister can respond she screams "THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!"
A girl in a stroller sporting a tutu and a face t-shirt. She's smeared with charcoal. It's on her hands and face and running in streaks down her arms. Why? She's clutching a portrait of Justin Bieber, you know the kind they sell on the street in Times Square? It was originally done in chalk and she couldn't help but love it just a bit too much. I'm pretty sure that she wanted Justin Bieber to be a member of her family.
--Seriously, you can't make this stuff up. I pass baby after baby, tween after tween. I am shocked at the sheer numbers of a seemingly never ending block of girls. If I were to scream 'JUSTIN BIEBER SUCKS' it's a sure bet I'd be beaten to death by cardboard cut-out signs that beg for marriage proposals in magazine letters and sharpie markers. My last words would only be heard by a crowd who'd mob me first and ask questions later....
Not that I am not tempted. I mean, it would be quite the way to go.
Finally I feel the crowd is behind me. I'm doing better. No more signs. No more 'FUTRE MRS. Bieber' T-shirts. ( If you're too young and haven't learned how to spell 'future' yet, we don't hold this against you.) My heart rate starts to return to normal.
I run into a boy. He's about 20 and hipstered out. "Um. Excuse me?" he asks.
I'm still stunned from my pilgrimage. I'm scared to slow down. Looking behind me, I see that I'm almost alone. I refrain from falling and kissing the East side of Manhattan. I meet the gray-blue eyes of the enquirer.
"Shoot," I say. As he looks me in the face I feel the bullet pierce my heart, because of course he asks, "Can you give me directions to Madison Square Garden?"
WHAT THE WHAT!?! It's official it's an epidemic
This video was taken right outside the house of school-night hysteria:
The good news is that if they can get this riled up about a pre-teen they can go absolutely nuts for Amber Ink. right? Right?
