It's over-

So- I was in a couple of contests. The first one ended last week and I WON!!!!! I got a 50$ gift certificate to their online store and i get to be their guest designer for the month of September. You can check out my stuff on their site in a couple of days- www.creatingpages.biz.
The other contest was a tough one. It started out with over 50 people, and got narrowed down each week. I made it to the top 15- but it ended for me today. I'm sad- the grand prize is a product package valued at $500! So that was a little dissapointing. BUT- I cam up with some wonderful pages that I can now reveal to all! Here are some of them- I'll post more later.
I am also guest blogging on Adorit's blog TODAY! Go check out the projects and pages I've created using my line there. http://georganahall.typepad.com/listen_in/. I've had so much fun with it. I can honestly say that now that I've created so many things with my product- I'm officially sick of looking at it! Probably won't be pulling it out again for a while.
Things continue to be good- I'm very excited because Angela Wiggington is coming to Savannah Scrapbooking at the end of the month to do some workshops! She's a big-wig in the industry and it will be a lot of fun to get to know her a little.
I now get a little break from deadlines- which is very nice. I am going to be starting up a couple more contests and continuing to get published.... seems to be the only way I can work now is if I have something to work towards.
Enjoy the pics!

New Stuff/Sad Stuff

Ok- so a couple of things. First of all- I'll be guest blogging at Carolees Creations/Adornit http://georganahall.typepad.com/listen_in/ on August 28th. So I'll have abunch of pages and projects made with my product. It's all about promotion and helping to get the word out... so tell all your friends!
Second-
My daughter just went to preschool for the first time today. It is so empty in my house! Now- I have 3 kids- Hailey is 4 and Kayleb is 3... and they fight hard and love hard. So- needless to say- it is very calm and quiet in my house today- which i love. It's been a nice break. But she's gone from 8-3 every day and I am sad that my girl is not with me anymore I'm constantly thinking about her and if she's ok. I'm sure i'll get over it! Aw- so sad! Anywho... here's her funny pics of her first day of school. she's such a nut. Had to get a new outfit and shoes and a backpack. She thought she was so cool! Ok- I'll get over my sad sad story.......

Much Needed

Ok- Today I went to church and for some reason, I just needed it much more than I usually do. It was a very nice day with inspriational lessons that really boosted my up for the next week. I'm feeling good now!
So.. after several days of not being able to scrap (which literally killed me!) I was able to finally get a page done last night. This is my little niece Macie. My sister came down for a visit not too long ago and I took these pics while she was here. I couldn't wait to scrap them and now i have! Macie and my daughter Mia are 4 months apart, so it should be pretty fun to watch them grow together.
Things will be hectic the next couple of weeks- RIck has is finals, Mia has her apt's with the eye Dr. and the oral surgeon....(finally) so we'll just see if i can accomplish anything! Guess you'll find out eh?!

Finally- a breath!

So...... think I've been scrapping right? NOT! I had soo many plans and so many projects to work on this week and decided to "scrap" them (figuratively speaking). So- now that I've had so much time on my hands (major understatment)- I've been able to go on a date with my husband and celan the house majorly. I must admit- feels really good! After much debate and frustration- I'm not oging to do the Design Team for KI or Scenic Route. I really just don't have the time to get the submissions together. I've been spending a lot fo time with my kids- which has been great, and focusing more on the important things of life. So- I did manage to create our family photo frame (s). now that Mia is 7 mo. old- i figure it should be time to incorporate her photo amongst our family pics hanging up in the house. Up until now- she's been a non-existant child that only existed in the flesh. Now there's proofon the walls that she's an actual part of the family! Poor thing! ok- these aren't the best of pictures- believe me..... I know! but just the general idea of what it looks like!

Work Work Work

Ok- so have you ever felt like you have too much to do and not enough time to do it? I think i've reached that point. I have so many projects and definitely not enough time to do it. ALTHOUGH..... all the things i'm doing are completely optional. hahahahaha! I just want to conentrate on building my portfolio and resume- that I"m trying to get as much on my plate as i can. I'm in 2 contests and currently working on 2 Design Team submissions, and working on my own stuff. It is a lot. I've been putting out some good work. I've been really challenged through these contests and I love that. I don' thave to do the Design Teams, but the more and more I submit- the more likely I"ll have the chance that they'll recognize my work and want to see more. So it's a tough call. I'm loving the work I do. I've completely re-done my daily schedule. I've cut my work time in half so I can spend more time with the kids and cleaning house.....mommy duties. It's been wonderful- but I could defnitely use more hours in the day!
Anyway- here's my latest creation. I love this picture. It's so inspiring. Love my girls! Enjoy too!

OOOHHHH

I am so excited! I came up with this page for a contest i'm doing and i just love how it turned out. Lucky for me - it's a twofer.....for a contest and a Design team submission. Cuts down on my pages i have to do! anyway- just thought I'd share!
BYE!

too long

Wow... it's been too long since i've written here. Sorry! Been so busy with stuff. My parents and sister came down last weekend and we had a fun time. We went to the Georgia aquarium and it was a lot of fun. I'd reccomend it. BUT.... go in like November.. on a tuesday morning! It was so crowded- it was hard to enjoy with so many people there. Here are a few pics I took while we were there. i thought they were fun.
Well... CHA was this weekend and I haven't heard yet on how my papers sold. I've gotten so many compliments on it and I've very greatful for it. I still have to wait until October- but hopefully I can get an idea once they are in my store and selling.
One thing that was really funa nd unexpected by this whole thing.... I have a friend of about 12 years that I just got back in contact with because she saw my picture in CK magazine in the ad for this contest! It's hilarious. It's been really fun and interesting how similar we are. I'd highly reccoment checkin out her blog- she's very good! www.lifeaslou.blogsome.com
i'll be putting up another LO or two tomorrow. I've been working hard on some contests and doing pretty good.
Paper Trends picked up another project of mine for the dec/jan issue. so that's exciting.. i'll let you know more about that later too!
Thanks for checkin back!!

Feeling Good

Ok- so i'm recovered from Rick leaving me this past weekend. It obviously took enough out of me that I couldn't do anything until now on here! I'vebeen able to get some work done and that's been good. Kids have been sick- so that hasn't been good. But I pulled a LO off tonight and I really like it. It's different from what I've done and I'd like to hear what you think. I'm in a couple of contests right now and shooting for the KI contest. Man... I have a lot to do- but i love the challenges. So... now that i've bored you with my scrap stuff... yet again....anyone up for a scrapping challenge?! Here's the LO I did today- what can you do with it.... let me see!!!

Summer Fun

(dislcaimer..... I did this post a long time ago and forgot to post it.. so you are getting it now..... :)
Ok... so I keep looking into all these amazing contests and opportunities for me to get my work out there. THere is a MAJOR contest that is being done by KI Memories company. You have to create a Mini album- (size 9 x9 or smaller) and you ahve to make it colorful useing mostly their product. if you win- you get this amazing prize package and a spot on their Design Team. Which is huge! So i'm trying for it of course. I went out and took some adorable pics of the kids outside so I could do a summer themed album for it. Here are a few of the pics I took today- that I will be using. Cute?... I know! Thanks to my handy dandy new camera too! Thanks for looking!

Adorable Family

Rick just left me for the entire weekend. He's at a huge comic book convention and so left me with the chitlins for 3 days. It makes me so sad to be apart from him. I guess this is why I decided to do this little tidbit on here. We just had our family pics taken by my friend Lisa Brown... (thanks Lisa!). Here are a few highlights of the shoot. I just love how these turned out. I have been so inspired by these pics. Makes me realize how lucky I am to have such a wonderful family that I love so much. These are the reasons I feel it important to scrapbook. I'm not a journal keeper (which is odd that I'm actually keeping this up!), and scrapbooking is my way of keeping our memories. Makes me feel so good to know that I can preserve our family moments in a wonderful and creative way. Who could resist doing something fun and creative with faces like these?!?!?! I would HIGHLY suggest to anyone who wants to play with their photos and make them look amazing... go to Google.com and download PICASA. it's free and you can do amazing things with your pics on there! Theres my 2 cents for the day! 

Sneak Peak!

I have created, yet, another line... and I am sooo excited about this one! I am going to attempt at submitting it to the 4 biggest distributors in the scrapbook industry. I have contacted each company and have gotten a response from all of them. So, on to creating my portfolio and sending it off. I loved this collection from the minute I started creating it. It's called the "Groovy" collection. has 6 papers and 1 sticker sheet. It's a mix of oranges, greens, browns, pinks, and blues. i'll show you a little later!!!

More info.....As if you need more!

Ok... so Georgana Hall (pres. of Carolees Creations/ADornit) is has been doing a spotlight of each finalist on her blog. Today was ME!!!! so... here's the link to her blog- check it out and find out all the things that you thought you knew about me.... (evil laugh... heheheheeh) Actually- it's probably everything you already know and just need to confirm! How fun is this?!?!?!
http://georganahall.typepad.com/listen_in/2006/06/finalist_5_ambe.html

Another one

Ok... so I don't know what it is.... but I am totally inspired to do really good pages of my daughter Hailey. She is so photogenic and there's just something there that helps spark my creativity. sooo... that is probably why you'll seee a lot of pages with her as the subject. My poor other 2 kids... i do pages of them.. i really do. I just don't seem to do as well for some reason. Here is the latest one I did. Did it tonight. I've had this paper forever and could never figure out how to use it until now. I was crazy enough to use the Bernina sewing machine at my store and sew every little detail of the flower and sew a flower border on it. took forever- but I love how it turned out. I'll be submitting this one to of course!
These pics were taken by my friend Lisa Brown... have to give her full credit.
My baby is teething right now and is a complete monster- so I'm not having a whole lot of time to get the things done I want.... so this is what happens when I get to "work" at work! hahaha-

It's HERE!!!!

I am so stinkin excited!!!!! My product came in the mail today from Carolees and I can't tell you how cool it is to see your own designs in actual company packaging!!!! WOOHOO!!! ok.. so here's what it looks like. There are 6 papers and 1 set of 3 dimensional stickers. Now once they hit the shelves come August... I'm expecting all of you to go out and get them....regardless of whether you scrapbook or not.... you have to pretty cool to show everyone that you KNOW the designer right?!?!?! Ok- so tell all your friends to go vote for me online at www.adornit.com and remember that only one vote per email counts. I have included pics of the brochure that is being sent to all the retailers. This is so exciting!!!!!! Thanks for all the support!

YAY!!!

So.. today starts the voting of Carolees Scrapbook apprentice! Finally!!! I've known about this for a month now and I'm freaking out that I have to wait clear until OCOTBER to find out who wins. I'm excited though. I will be getting my line in the mail soon and can't wait to see it in actual company paper and see my stickers! Once they are here- I will uplaod them and show you all!!!!! PLEASE go and vote for me! winner is determined by vote and by sales of product- so buy my paper too!!!! go to www.caroleescreations.com and vote for my line.. the Mia collection (obviously) and vote as much as you want until september. Thanks for all the support you all give to me!
I did a LO the other day with our new fam. pics we took last week. this one is of Hailey. I loved it. I can't tell you how proud I am of myself that I used stamps on a page. I love stamps but I was- and still am- intimidated by them. but here it is. hope you like it!
Sent off my cards that are going to be published in the Oct/Nov issue Paper Trends last week. I can't wait to see them. It's always so fun to look at your own things in magazines!
Until next time......

New Me

Here is the most recent pic of me. I had my hair cut and died.... and i've been outside a lot- so i"m obviously more tan....... just thought I'd share! You can see an older pic of me when I was stark white and blonde in my profile...:)

OY VAY

Don't mind the spelling on the title! This past week has been crazy. I worked 20 hours at the scrap store and was working hard on my submissions for Paper Trends Mag. I have to send out my 2 cards to them for publication in October this week. I met a lady in the scrap store the other day. She was the person that made all the purchases for her store in NC. She told me she was going to CHA in July and I told her about my line and she said she would purchase it. Not only did she do that, but she knows the editor of Memory Makers Mag. and said she would hook me up with her. I've been trying to get published in that mag for a while- so that would be fun. In my day trip to Jacksonville last weekend, I made sure to talk to all the owners of the stores we hit and told them about my line and to purchase it. So hopefully with my advertising, I have a chance at winning this thing. I'd post a snipit of what my papers are- but I'm not allowed to. Sorry! I'lll be working on some more papers this week. RIck is going to teach me how to use different coloring ways on Photoshop so I can get depth to my colors. I"m excited.
Here is the project I came up with for the Memory Makers Idea Gallery issue submission. Of course, it will eventualy ahve pics in it- but that's what it is for now. Here's one of the pages I came up with also.
I'm in the process of saying "goodbye" to a lot of my friends. They are moving away and it just so happens to be all at the same time. So Sad! :(
ok- until next time........

Catchin Up

How's this for my first post? I am so excited. Just got my new tables and fixed up the hutch I received, so now my new scrap room is complete! I love it and I can be so inspired in here. Now I'm working on submitting cards and layouts to various companies. I'm also working on a contest to get a position on My Minds Eye Design Team. Should be fun! If you didn't know, I've been named one of the sixth finalists for Carolees Creations /Adornit scrapbook Apprentice! I found out on may 11 and went hard at work to get everything to them on time. What an amazing experience and opportunity for me. My line is called the" Mia Collection" and will be debuted with the Other 5 finalists lines at the end of July at CHA in Chicago. Whichever line Sells the most to the public, signs a one year contract with them and gets to create a completely new line of product to be debuted in Jan of '07 in Anaheim. of course, I hope I win! so everyone going to CHA- Go Buy my LINE! Check it out here at www.caroleescreations.com . Here is a picture of my scrap room.... I have yet to really decorate it up how I want- but that will come with time. And please disregard the action figures ont op of my hutch..... that would be my husband and not me! He says there is no place to put them... I think he just puts them up there so no one can reach them. :) I also have my latest creations on here. I' ve been hard at work with several projects and can't wait to have them done. Paper Trends just requested 2 of my cards for publication, so they will be in the Oct. issue. This makes the second time I've been published, so I'm slowly getting there. I've only been submitting for 6 months, so I'd hope that would be a good thing.
My username on most online galleries is Scrapperamber- so if you want to look me up- there ya go! I try and keep my stuff up to date- doesn't happen with my website really (oops!) but I'll try harder! Check out my website- www.albumsbyamber.com i'll try to have that updated asap!
enjoy my cute kids and my most recent creations...... :)