Friday, October 31, 2008

Pumpkin Carving, Drawing and Roasting

Yes, in that order.
I'm spending tonight in perfect NYC haunting mode. I'll be vamping it up on the Upper East and Upper West side. We're starting the night off at St. John the Divine, screening the Phantom of the Opera - old school style with a live creepy and ancient organ to spook up the silent film. Then I'm heading to a party/dance for the rest of the evening on the other side of Manhattan. Happy Haunting!

I got together with about ten friends last Monday for an evening of carving bliss.
Here's Emmett, my new version of Jack:
Here's one of the pages of new illustrations he inspired:

Party on!
Also, if you're in the market for the best pumpkin seeds you've ever tasted, here's my favorite pumpkin treat. I took a keg load of these bad boys into "job job" where they met with rave reviews, which isn't necessarily something I'm used to receiving for baked veggie guts. I'm sure they're best paired with Pale Ale. SIGH -- Here's to another year of sobriety!

Here it goes:


Roasted Pumpkin Seeds of Yumminess

1.Gut your pumpkin.
2. Don't wash the seeds - not only is it bad luck, it takes away some of the yumminess.
3. Remove the strings and the pulp and as much gooeyness as you can manage.
4. Crank your oven to 250 degrees.
5. Put them in an even layer on parchment paper in as many baking pans as it takes to get the job done.
6. Sprinkle fresh cracked sea salt on them and then toss them in the oven. Stir them every once in a while
7. Go be fabulous while they bake (I like trying on different Halloween wigs while they're in the oven). Doing a Halloween like activity only enhances their yumminess.
8. Bake 20 - 40 minutes or until they're a pretty color.
9. In a big bowl mix together 3 Tablespoons sugar, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon ground cardamom. Stir it all up.
10. Take your fresh baked pumpkin seeds from the oven and add them to 1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil in a frying pan on the stove.
11.Heat them up mixing them in the oil as you add 2 Tablespoons of sugar. Stir them all up for a minute or two, until the sugar dissolves and they start to caramelize.
12. Take them off the stove and add them to the bowl of spices.
13. Stir them up good.
14. Marvel at their yumminess.

Friday, October 17, 2008

No Strings Attached

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Stop the Presses! Hold Everything!

So, remember when I told you that it was OK to make mistakes? You must have thought to yourself, "Really Amber? You are pure perfection! you never have a flaw to accept as a mistake." I'm going to let you in on my secret. I messed up, Etsy Style. After recent events came to light, it became clear that Amberbop Shop was not going to be able to hold all the product that I want to make available for the public. I'll explain why below, but I've had to start over with a new Etsy Store and my old little shop front is now a thing of the very recent past. ;)

So with no further ado: Get the horns ready... Man the drum line.....
Tah Tah Da Dah!!!



It's hot - It's cute - It's Sassy...Sexy...Sweet...
It's Amber Ink.

I'm also going to let you in on a 'top secret' kind of secret. I've been dying to get back into the scrapbook and stamping world. For a long time I've wanted my own little piece of scrapping turf. I've had my eye on the domain
http://www.amberink.com/ for more than a year now. I've been stalking it non-stop. When the user who had it let it expire two months ago I had my fingers crossed. I just hoped the owner wouldn't snatch it up again (after it expires it goes into a holding spot where they can still get it back). Then a few days ago, wonder of wonders, it was released to the public and I bought it! So I'll be slowly building a real live business with tangible product. I'll be starting the company with downloadable scrapbook papers that you can print at home. I'm excited as pie!
They'll be showing up at Etsy soon!

Ok, run don't walk!

Monday, October 06, 2008

Friendly Skies


Friday, October 03, 2008

They're at it Again! Stop Orphan Works Bill!

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP
According to our sources THE HOUSE WILL TRY TO PASS THE ORPHAN WORKS BILL TODAY 10.3.08

**If this Bill is only meant to help libraries and museums, why did they draft it behind closed doors?
**Why have the doors been opened wide for commercial infringement of the work of living authors actively licensing their work?
**Why do they want to pass it when nobody is looking?
**Why do they want to re-write copyright law without an open debate?

Stop this effort to give content to Big Internet firms by under mining copyright law. Get the word out!
Light up Washington and home offices of your Congressman.
Contact the media.· Deny them cover. Do not let them hide.
Tell them we will hold each of them accountable.
Here is the message to communicate to your Congressman, Key Leaders,
Aides and Media:


** The "Dark Archive" - where infringers can register their paperwork in secret - will not protect our copyrights.

**An "Open Archive" - with orphaned work exposed to to the public -would be a come-and-get-it bank for plagiarists and infringers.

**Artists cannot monitor tens or hundreds of thousands of images everyday to see if somebody somewhere has infringed their work.

**There are more than a trillion images subject to orphaning each day.

**If someone can't find me, that doesn't mean I've orphaned my work.
An unsuccessful search for a property owner should not be a license to steal.

**Artists should not have to digitize their life's work at their own expense to comply with a law they don't want or need.

**The high cost compliance would make compliance prohibitive.

**The loss of exclusive rights would undermine contractual agreements with clients.

**We cannot sell exclusive rights to clients if others can publish our work without our knowledge or consent.

**The loss of exclusive rights would devalue our entire inventories of work.

**Small business owners should not be forced to subsidize the business models of Big Internet firms.

**No rational business owner should have to give access to their inventory, meta data, client contact information, etc. to outside business interests.

**Tell lawmakers to prevent passage of this bill until it can be subjected to an open, informed and transparent public examination.

**Tell them this is no way to re-write copyright law.

**Tell them it will affect millions of rights holders worldwide.

**Tell them you would support a true orphan works bill, but this is not it.

**Tell them to to consider the amendments presented by the Illustrator's Partnership, Artists Rights Society and Advertising Photographers of America

Phone, fax, email these Congress people immediately:
DELAHUNT Phone: (202) 225-3111
Fax (202) 225-5658
CONYERS Phone: (202) 225-5126
Fax: (202) 225-0072
Phone: (313) 961-5670
Fax: (313) 226-2085
NADLER Phone: (202) 225-5635
Fax: (202) 225-6923
Phone: (212) 367-7350
Fax: (212) 367-7356
BERMAN Phone: (202) 225-4695
Fax: (202) 225-3196
Phone: (818) 994-7200
Fax: (818) 994-1050
PELOSI :AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-4965
Fax: (202) 225-8259
Phone: (415) 556-4862
Fax: (415) 861-1670
HOYER steny.hoyer@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-4131
Fax: (202) 225-4300
Phone: (301) 474-0119
Fax: (301) 474-4697

YOUR REPRESENTATIVE
To find Washington and District Office phone, fax and web forms for your Representative http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/dbq/officials/ and enter your zip code

YOUR LOCAL MEDIA
To find the contacts for your Local Media go to http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/dbq/media/
and enter your zip code

This release was written by Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner,
for the Board of the Illustrators' Partnership
Please post or forward this message immediately to any interested party.
For news and information:
Illustrators' Partnership Orphan Works Blog:http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/
Over 75 organizations oppose this bill, representing over half a million creators.

Lemon Meringue and Pammy Kay

A sweet Illustration and a sugary treat of yumminess.
This illustration made it's way to a very special someone,
along with a nice box of lemon meringue cookies. Happy Birthday!

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