Winning Developments!

The story of our Challenge #4 winner, Emily Leiphart!
(please read from the bottom up in true blogger fashion)

31.1.11

Queste Ragazze Amber sono ispirate dalle dolci colline della Toscana.

Il mio preferito è il pulcino con la borsa di grandi dimensioni.

Il mio amica, Emily, pensò di questi disegni. Sono entusiasta di apprendere che è il sua preferita.

Renderli indossare un trench, metterli in scarpe basse! E 'così divertente da disegnare le idee.

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From Emily:
SO WOW, my own ideas in rubber! This is so exciting!!! Okay, I'll stop with the exclamation marks now... maybe. LOL Well, the first thing that comes to mind, and you shouldn't be surprised about this, is European chic. ;) How long do we have to design this set? How many images do you generally need/want?

Here are some ideas that I have brewing (this will be an addition to the Amber Girls line and will go very nicely with Rainy Day, Hostess With The Mostess, and Hope, Popcorn & Wine):

* new Amber Girl image with  loose wavy hair (not too long, not too short) and dressed classically but fashionably, maybe in a trench coat with a knee-length pencil skirt, heels (but not as stiletto-y like Hostess, just to be different - flats might even be cool) and a REALLY nice bag!!!


* Italian cypress trees background (in different sizes to go with cut out hills would be fantastic)


* some sort of cafe setting/background


* store front/shop setting/background

* maybe a sentiment or two (Ciao, bella!)

Those are just initial ideas. Let me know what you think!

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The story of our Challenge #3 winner, Karin Martin!

Please start from the bottom and read up in true blogger fashion.

This win produced TWO sets,

HERE

HERE

The latest correspondence from Karin : 

What, are you kidding me? Like? Shut. Up! These are soooo crazy cuuuuute! Perfection. I always have these sort of half ideas, so this is WAY beyond anything I could come up with. You are remarkable. I'm speechless. I'm without speech. (Elaine from Seinfeld)

As far as sayings for the mixer, "Don't beat yourself up" is cute and I love it...Maybe...Sorry things are mixed up. Sorry I got things mixed up. I'm all mixed up...Sorry. Nobody beats you, you're the best! ????? What ever you decide, or fits space wise I will be great by me :)

I have to say this as well, I'm so excited about that little fan!!!! My mind is swirling...I'm thinking of pairing it with the mailbox from Hope, Popcorn & Wine to make a "fan mail" card. Cheesy, corny? I. Don't. Care. I'm completely geeked out and totally thrilled!

December 1st, 2010

Everyone is probabably wondering what the hec is going on with that Fridge?  Say what?  A TV?

Well, Amber and Karin have been talking. 

It started like this:

Karin: Wheeeee...I'm so totally excited!!!! :) :) :)  I have a couple of ideas, but since I really have no clue about designing...

My ideal set is the concept of a door, a door with interchangeable parts.  Like 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, your 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.

Or...

My other idea is an animal set, since your artwork is super cute in that area.  I love Lynn's set that has different sayings, multi use sets are a must have for me. 

Or...

My brain is still going and I thought I would send this idea too...Feel free to tell me to shut up any time ;) I was thinking along the lines of Valentine's Day...Not sure if December is too soon for that...Anyway, what about a set of stamps with a lamp theme for Valentine's. Mix and match bases and shades. Or that can be paper pieced with ipaper? With cute sentiments such as, You Shine, Hope your day shines, You light up my life, You turn me on...

Or...

I'm also in love with Mad Men, so I have mid century modern in my head all the time. Don't know if there is an idea there...Like with retro looking appliances with cute sayings, Hi Hot stuff, (Oven) Popping by to say hi (Toaster) You're so Cool (Fridge) Maybe the image(s) could be sized to fit with the hostess Amber girl?

Ok, I'm done now. Have a lovely day...

(editor's note - don't ya just LOVE this girl???)

And Amber says: 

OH Karin! It's going to be tough to choose! I love this lamp idea best, but the others were fun too! Maybe the mod furniture is the way to go?! Let me know what you think and we'll rocket from there.

So here is the beginning of the rocketing...

Keep that mid century modern TV tuned in to this station!  We have a great show for you

ahead!

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The story of our Challenge #2 winner, Wendy Price!

Please start from the bottom and read UP in true blogger fashion.

You can purchase the set HERE!!

Have you seen the final outcome????  

As torchbearer Julie, aka Agent Foxy Needles says "this is SO FINTASTIC!"

Clear Set

AND

Digi Set

Available NOW in an AmberInk store near you!!!

11/10 Further Progress on Wendy's set:

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 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:

We hope they like it!

And the W/W response:

Love that this can be used for holidays or birthdays!
The deep sea angler fish with the light....omgosh! So creative!
The swordfish...adorable! 
Willem asked if there is a way to have the swordfish without the present, so that he can spear other things with the sword...typical boy! I LOVE the present on the sword and think it would probably be hard for people to mask the present onto the sword.


The fishing pole with mistletoe and the kissing fish...this made me giggle. Such a cute idea!
The fish decorating the tree...brilliant! Those lures are super cute on the tree!

Maybe instead of the 2nd birthday fish up top a set of bubbles to match with the "celebrate" image in size 

Was trying to think of more cute fish sentiments. Too early and not enough coffee because the only thing I could come up with is Merry Fish-mas. Is it possible to do the sentiment "holiday fishes" in a straight line in your handwriting?

So cool to see a smile on Willem's face this morning as he took a peek at the set. I am so excited to start making cards with them!



Stay tuned!  The completed set will be available on 11/23rd!

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10/30/2010
Preliminary discussions with Wendy:

Here is a snippet of our winning conversation thus far - I think we may have a new art director on board who may be about oh...say 31/2 feet tall?

Wendy:  Thank you!!! I can't wait! and Willem is super excited! And you guessed it...he's dreaming of fish! Actually when I asked him what type of stamps he'd like to see his thoughts were all over the place...

a) someone fishing in a canoe

b) 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!

c) kid fishing with a fish skeleton on his t-shirt

d) a cityscape with monsters in all the windows

Amber and Pam:  We are SOOOOO very excited.  Willem is our biggest fan!  We can hardly wait to see what this new set will bring.  Stay tuned to see what winnings develop over the next month!

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The story of our Challenge #1 Winner, LYNNE PHELPS! 

  Start from the bottom and read up in true blogger fashion
You can purchase the set HERE!
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10/20/2010

Did you see the final outcome???  We are so excited.  Lynne has been the most incredible winner of all time. 

The final set will be up in the shop soon, but we'll give you a sneak...

Can you believe how wonderful?  Our More 2 Love, Let's Communicate (The Lynne Phelps' award set) will be available in both clear and digi sets. 

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My desk is pretty busy this week. I'm working on all our goodies for our next release at Amber Ink.com

I'm also having the absolute joy of working with Lynne Phelps at Savvy Sisters Studio! Lynne was the grand prize winner of our first ever Amber Ink. INK-redible Challenge and she won a custom set! We're designing it together.  I take Lynne's ideas and we chit chat and then I sketch them!

Lynne and I discussed her great ideas.  I did some initial sketching and then we are going back and forth developing as we go. Talk a bit, sketch a bit.  This is really close to final time!  I'm excited we get to show it today! Lynne's come up with some ultimate stamper sayings for our girl with curves to chat about. 

Be sure to be 'first in line' to snatch her up when we release her on the 20th of this month!
Lynne's coming up with some brilliant sayings that will come with this set and be ready for word bubbles!!!
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--Check out our first sketches!!!---
The always savvy, ever brilliant, Lynne Phelps took the cake at Amber Ink's first ever 21-Day Challenge!!!

As promised, a prize/sur-prize of prizeable proportions is underway.

We're creating a custom set with the winner of each challenge!

The set will be developed with Lynne over this month!

You can see our progress at 'Winning Developments' by clicking on Lynne's winning

'I'm the queen' badge on our challenge blog site.

It looks just like this: ------->

When Lynne found out what she had won she announced that not everyone is as skinny as a typical Amber Girl and that she was dying to see a digiStamp that was a real woman.

Here are her notes:

I'd like a girl who's full-figured but fashionable.

I am thinking of her chatting on a cell phone with a cartoon speech bubble that you could put different sentiments in.

She could be talking on the phone or holding it, with the speech bubble coming from her mouth if she is holding the phone, or from the phone if she is texting! Wouldn't it be fun to have a bunch of texting sentiments that would fit in the bubble? Thinking of U?  How R U doing? HB2U, My bad, etc.

In addition to Amber Ink. I work full-time as an animator and illustrator.  The winner of each challenge will work with me as a client would, creating a set that excites and invites their genius.

So when I start with a client, I start with rough sketches, and that is what these are and I can't wait to show Lynne.

Check back and see what happens!  We are giddy. Up.

xoxo,

Amber

P.S. Don't forget to enter this month's

TRICK OR TREATY AMBER INKY!
hosted by MAJOR CELEBRITY Carole Burrage!

Next month we could be making magic happen!





Sono andata a una scuola d'arte di fantasia in cui è stato richiesto a tutti di studiare una lingua romanza. Ho imparata un vago italiano conversazionali. Ne so abbastanza per scrivere un post sul blog, ma non abbastanza per arrivare ovunque in Italia che non è un bar, biblioteca, museo, o un bagno

Grazie per la vostra pazienza