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.

A recipe and a deadline.

The deadline     :  Friday the 13th (ew, scary)
The recipe         :  one image, two papers and three embellishments
The place           :  http://totallypapercrafts.blogspot.com/
        (The linky is working, you just have to click on it to see entries)

An entry from KATIE

An entry from SUE:

Next up...an entry by YOU!

Love Bunny Army!

Tanny P. is our hostess with the mostess over at the Sisterhood of Crafters this week! Tanny's officially transcended to another realm and this week she took our very simple Love Bunny Hide and nurtured it into the most lovely bit of crumb-tastic cakey!

We are thrilled at the luck we have to be sponsoring this challenge during our bubbly Canadian's close up! This girl rocks so hard she's rock candy.

Mandy's been hard at work, making something both pretty and funny!!!

Amy Beth has taken our Sharing time Bunny and made this fun eggs-travaganza!
Silly rabbit, tricks are for kids ;)

Darlene is a member of the sisterhood and she's showing off her mad skills by sharing a card with our Love Bunny - Sharing Time digiStamp. That's our Chick-a-boom pink iPaper in the background too. Since we're just launching this today it's the first time I've seen it in action and I've got to say, I love what Darlene has done with it.



This little sweetie is one of my favorites. It's straight out of the imagination of Miss Anita and isn't it fabby? I love the way the orange ribbon matches the I <3 carrots iPaper. Isn't this budy of ours colored to subtle perfection?

Miki's made this baby worshiping bunny into an adorable card.
I love the way she's ribboned this baby's paws and really made this card work double time!


Jana's taken our little And Baby Makes 3 to create a totally lovely bit of magic. I am so into the layout of this card! It's too cool.


Loooooooooook at this! Tammy's done it again! Our I <3 Carrots Tiny iPaper is joined by our Love Bunny - Sharing Time. This card just seems to sing about Spring!

So the gauntlet's been thrown, yo! Tanny's reminding you that you have until noon (Mountain Time) on Sunday, April 24th to show the Sisterhood your Easter best. Then they'll be doing some winner-picking! So it's time to break out those bunnies and LINK UP!

Etsy Inspired!

We're thrilled to be sponsoring one of the coolest challenges out there, EtsyInspired! This week's inspiration at Etsy.com (my favorite site in the whole wide world) is
Fresh Metal Jewelry! This awesome store pairs romantic soft edges, springtime blooms and flowy bits of cloth with heavy metal findings to create unique pieces that go with everything!

Jana's turned her inspiration into a card that is not only cute, but totally classy! Look at those Love Bunnies! It's the perfect thing for Spring!

Amy Beth is rocking out! You'll love her blog post about the inspiration for this cheeky blue!

Anita took our little Wild Animals With Heart of a Turtle and made this amazing card. I love her inspiration for this piece! Run and look!

Tammy's used a flower from our new Wee Bee line and iPaper from our No Ka Oi collection to make an awesome flower within a flower!

What will yours be?! Run over to Fresh Metal Jewelry and get a gander at all their great stuff!

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.

Come and PLAY!!!

(go ahead...click it...you know you want to)

It's Aloha Friday...

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

Baby it’s cold outside!

The jam-packed holiday season is over

and it's time to slow down and enjoy wintertime.

So how do you do it?

All I wanna do is go home,

but I'm coping the best way I can.

Give me some pointers puhleeze!

#1.  Your favorite winter soup

 (from a recipe or @ a special restaurant).

And I know this is a weird pic for this but it has special significance.

Amber's b-day is in a week and this was

 one of our fave bedtime stories when she was growing up!

#2.  Something you do to keep warm

(memba...G rated post here *LOL*)

#3.  Winter sport/winter team/winter event you enjoy.

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

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.

Keep your fingers crossed and Amber may reward a random winner

which BTW was TANNY last week,

otherwise just chalk it up to a fun start to your weekend.

Stay WARM and we'll

see you on Monday!

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

It takes a licking and keeps on ticking...

As Dhubs would say, "someone got paid for coming up with a slogan like that?"

What fun.

It seems so retro.

A lot like the theme of the stamp set that Karin is designing with Amber.

All because she won the challenge.

Which is why that clock is ticking.

That's how much time you have left to enter.

Do you want a peek at something

that is about ready to pop out of  the oven?

And there's going to be lot's more where this came from!

The Countdown begins...

Look closely.

There is no big apple drop here.

There is a chance for something amazing though.

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT!

Someone let the cat out of the bag...

LINDSEY!

Or was it the box?...

EMILY!

So Psssttttt....

What we're saying here is

today is day 21

and

YOU ONLY HAVE 13 HOURS and 30 29 28 seconds left

to enter

AmberInk's InKredible 21 Day Challenge

So go and work it

Because you know the prize is AWESOME and so are you!

Let's Rock this VOTE...

just like our torchbearer's rocked yesterdays blog hop. 

 Didn't they? 

Oh yes they DID!

We'll lay it all out here in case you missed anything.

Remember the recipe:

Create a seven course meal for two
(seven procedures using only two colors + neutrals)


using a predominance of locally grown food.
(mostly AmberInk product)


You get one shot so make your vote count.

We'll announce the winners tomorrow.

Please come back.

WOYWW

If you are anywhere near my workdesk, this is what you are listening to. I officially started the no-holds-barred holiday hymns extravaganza. Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole, Eartha Kitt and... ok fine.... Mariah Carey will be work desk rhythm from now until that big man in red comes down my chimney.


Take a listen. You know you want to.  ;)

Doot doot doot doot. Draw a T.V.

I

Doot doot doot dooot doot. Draw a frigidaire.


Dooot doot dot doot.  Blog stalk Karin-with-an-i-for-paper


Doot doot doot doot.  Marvel at how smart she is! Sheesh that Karin!
Thrill to be designing a set with her.

Turn around in your chair. Check out this mess! Sheesh.


Work on your etsy shop.  Doot doot doot.  How fun to have an Etsy shop!



So my Wednesday's pretty sweet, How's yours going? 
Yaya What's on your Workdesk?
Stop by our pal Julia's and get all loud and proud about your stuff.

Don't forget to enter our Any Way You Wrap It challenge! You can win the bragging rights to design your own stamp set too!

Of Hobbits, cupcakes and rings

Sometimes I wish I had been born a hobbit.  Don't get me wrong, I love adventuring, but I also love staying in my hobbit-hole sometimes, and you know a hobbit-hole means comfort. 
Sometimes, when I start adventuring out in this stamping world, I get a little scared (even with a ring that makes me invisible)!

You know AmberInk is pretty new to this stamping world and a few months ago our girl  PINKY suggested we start a challenge, so without much thought (hobbit's don't like to think too awfully much) we did.

Then our girl SHANNAN suggested we sponsor someone else's challenge, so without much thought we did.

Then our girl RACHEL suggested we sponsor her challenge, so we did.  But this time we thought and we researched.  Hobbits tend to get themselves into trouble when they think too much.  I looked at challenge after challenge after challenge.  It took me most of an entire day!  There are like a KAZILLION MILLION challenges out there!  It scared me.

I think I'll stay in my hobbit-hole for awhile and sip my Ent-draught, and look at all the pretty things that Amber makes, and the torchbearers make, and the challenge players make and the wonderful people who use AmberInk products make.

Thanks for keeping me safe...and comfortable.

'Tis the Season and a Cupcake

Is it officially "The Season" now?  To really get us in the mood we are sponsoring this weeks  Cupcake Inspiration Challenge, and if this cupcake doesn't get you to feeling like it TIS the season, well then...time to make some figgy puddin'.

Here are some of Rachel's Sweeties interpretations:

DENIMO!

ANITA!

RACHEL!

PIALI!

A random winner will be chosen from the Cupcake Challenge Entries on Sunday.  They will receive $5 worth of ipaper and a digi set of 'Tis the Season.

Check back throughout the week as we show you our Torchbearer entries.

Wassail anyone?

Challenges, Challenges!

We are frequently served humble pie.  We usually plaster it with whip cream and and swallow HARD!  When it comes to  AmberInk's InKredible 21 Day Challenge  though, our pie is mile high deep dish name your poison ala mode!  No humble pie here!  And it is because our winners take the cake!

Remember the first win?  Lynne Phelps set the bar for Challenge #1 with her "Let's Communicate"

Wendy Price won Challenge #2 with "Best Fishes" which is in our current release.

Of course you can follow their stories on our Extra, Extra read all about it PAGE

We are THRILLED to announce that Karin Martin is the winner of Challenge #3!

She and Amber will design a set together for our next release in December.

Of course you know that Karin with an "i" not only has an eye for paper, but an "i" for ideas as well!

Here are a few of the preliminary ideas -

"My ideal set is the concept of a door, a door with interchangeable parts. The panels would be separate, so you could have 4 or just the two at the bottom and on the door could be a window. Maybe a door knocker, a pineapple, a door mat with space that says Welcome or bless our home, you're invited...A topiary tree to put on either side. A basket that can be filled with things for the holidays... Maybe a wreath for the door that could have spaces to add things for the holidays, berries, or hearts or shamrocks or eggs or leaves or stars...Or maybe another idea is a wreath set of its own with all those different add ons. Ahhh...

My other idea is an animal set, since your artwork is super cute in that area. I love cows and pigs, but dogs and cats are good too. Somehow a cute critter holding a sign or maybe two critters holding a banner between them that would have some cute/useful phrases...I will keep thinking. "

Keep checking back as our exciting new set develops!

And now it is YOUR turn! 

Our next challenge has begun.  The clock is ticking.  Better hurry to check your next assignment!  Somehow we think this is going to be our biggest challenge yet!

TAKE A PEEK @ AmberInk's next

InKredible 21 Day Challenge!!!

 

WOYWW - Something's Fishy

A few years ago I got a taste of the fun that can be had when a party is for stamping chickies!

This little company we're building (hopefully to be a big company) is meant to be fun.

Sometimes it is overwhelming. Sometimes it is exhausting. Sometimes it is exhilarating and magical.

Mom (aka incredimobo/Pam) is my business partner and with her help, I've realized that the times when it is fun is when it involves people who are not us. (K..I have serious fun w/my mom...but y.K.w.i.m)

Last month I joyfully made a set in collaboration with Lynne Phelps.

This resulted in a truly exciting collection, the inaugural stamps in our new "More to Love" line.  Check out this "real-woman" in our Amber Ink. shop.

That went so very swimmingly (aqua jks) that we were overwhelmingly excited to create our next challenge-win set. Wendy Price won last month's challenge. I love hearing Wendy's adventures in stamping and parenting on her blog Paper Ink and Smiles. It really is a smiley kind of place.

I've developed a kind of Justin Beiber obsession with Wendy's youngest son, six-year old, Willem.

His antics often give me laugh-out-loud thrills. Willem is my youngest co-art director to date. So far things are going well. Here were some of his initial ideas (with Wendy edits)

• someone fishing in a canoe
• realistic fish (I nixed that idea and told him they have to be cute)
  but more fish to go with the Mermaids would be cool!
• kid fishing with a fish skeleton on his t-shirt
• a cityscape with monsters in all the windows (i warned you his ideas were all over the place, lol)

Tonight my desk is covered in sketches for my Double W set (Wendy and Willem)

Notice the fish glass on my desk.

Willem and I have more than our vivacious personalities in common...

So far I'm sketching in my book and on some fun comp pages, in preparation for this celebration fishies set. Of course that's a working title ;)

I've tried to satisfy Willem's 'realistic fishes' whim.

This is for the monster lover in all of us:

There's still 19 hours left to enter this month's INK-redible 21-day challenge!

(man how much do I wish I'd finished this blog entry 2 hours ago?!)

Use any Amber Ink product to create a thank you card, blog about it, and enter your link.

As always, our iPapers are only $1.

You can win yourself your very own custom designed set by entering and crossing your fingers

and whatever other rituals you have

(seriously, what other rituals do you have?)

So that's my desk.

Skirt over to Julia's to see everyone else's uber fab lifestyles as reflected in the table they sit at ;)

 Happy Wednesday!