tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7774777229445991652024-03-04T22:20:31.285-08:00Colour outside the linesambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-39968837949028913842012-06-25T00:34:00.002-07:002012-06-25T00:34:38.447-07:00Design your own iPad sleeve<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are you particularly choosy about colours? </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just want to buy an iPad case that nobody else has? Want to buy a really unique gift for someone special?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Well huzzah! Now you can!</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've just added a listing to the shop that allows you to purchase an iPad case in the colours of your choosing. You can choose from 10 different colours of felt, 8 stitching colours, and 9 snap colours. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>That's hundreds of possible combinations! HUNDREDS! </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And because I'm such a good sport, I'll even email you a pdf illustration of your colour combination so you can visualise how it will look before it exists in real life. How nice am I?!</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/102904960/ipad-sleeve-choose-your-own-colours?ref=af_shop_favitem" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJfzFRYV6iR1qrCkJ0T3zi8FoS6S7MudEvLQQDpLsIRoiavwysgemuckjeBF75XjdeTrhikHbzFP9vLk1pNCSLAXYzwWVLH02Y97zE_Cev5Tayx_sPiU16xQ6HcEIUtHy-mR9zNnP3hdQ/s640/Blank-iPad.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm also planning to do the same thing with the Kindle and iPhone cases, so if that's what you're waiting for - sit tight!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Click <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/102904960/ipad-sleeve-choose-your-own-colours?ref=af_shop_favitem" target="_blank">here</a> or click the photo to go straight to the listing to buy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or, if you're just itching to see what a particular colour combination will look like with no obligation to buy, you can post your colour combo here on my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151046844555871&set=a.327188405870.200872.325282170870&type=1&theater" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> and I'll post the illustration up in the album so you can see what it will look like.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Neat huh!</span></div>
<br />ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-89029952610322427062012-06-06T19:15:00.002-07:002012-06-06T19:15:18.347-07:00Stock clearance sale: 30% - 65% off!<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/ambette?section_id=11637876" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN9zTEvu9Xi6actxcILl12l_cbFywuQEAWySt2EKMtmRs6y8dn7Va2LTwXtsNnQvtrIgo4718OrUylkyL2MIznhlQ2O3WLRY1c7xlSTwcR-3thyeA0QKVJZ3hOKvlpHskq8ndBlpThga8/s400/sale-button.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Who doesn't love a sale!?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have a small pile of products which have been sitting around here taking up space for one reason or another, and I've decided <i>it's time for them to go!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sale items are mostly made up of:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Discontinued products: </b>Some are just colour combinations I didn't make more of, others are just old product lines I've stopped making. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Samples: </b>Products I made as an experiment, but decided not to put them into production - not because there's anything wrong with them, usually just because they were a bit too time-consuming to make in larger numbers. <i>This is a good opportunity to get something completely unique!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Seconds: </b>Items with a minor fault. I've made it clear in the listings if there are any faults with the sale item.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sale ranges from between 30% to 65% off, and includes MacBook sleeves, iPad sleeves, Kindle cases and iPhone cases. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Get in quick!</span></div>
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<br /></div>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-29202856856624943702012-05-11T00:17:00.000-07:002012-05-11T00:51:36.355-07:00Website launch!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.wix.com/lizdoust/ambette#!home|mainPage" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdmk8Pz-oDvaThiu-Mw3Ze86HdGhY_Ebc8D4D597ENC1Siy279lVqiJh8MCJIuHT5R2QGjb9oBBXdxa_q3LRuorj24j0loRflYPJMfBi5ifolBKyciPWQKflv6_rxwXZbcmywKHfVqvZ4/s640/ambette+website+screenshot+10.05.12.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Huzzah! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We finally have a <a href="http://www.wix.com/lizdoust/ambette#!home|mainPage" target="_blank">website</a> where all of our info can be found in one place! No more website envy!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's pretty bare-bones and still in the development stages, but it's got all the basic info there. What do you think? Any feedback is appreciated.</span></div>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com3Melbourne VIC, Australia-37.8136111 144.9630556-37.838699600000005 144.9235736 -37.7885226 145.00253759999998tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-89755811876725554932011-10-24T18:42:00.000-07:002011-10-24T19:32:34.147-07:00ambette at MarkIt @ Fed Square<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.markitfedsquare.com.au/"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 312px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjKtPRslWTHZ2Lv0FRo-MUXR9jTsnv87oN_XkbEjcAOu9OuOn74eKPSf_VsgrU-f0wHEzQfzbNBt48eXhwVqLJcr-ELzKukU300pI-bjevQoIUMMCr979Q73FPWkA4mv70ULxOk3xLyd0/s400/Screen+Shot+2011-10-25+at+12.45.16+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667240526232017346" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >After selling online for the past not-quite-2-years, I've decided to take the plunge and finally do a market stall. I'm throwing myself right into the deep end and going straight for the big fish.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Crazy? Maybe!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >I'm really looking forward to doing it and seeing how it goes. I think one of the downsides to selling online is not being able to gauge the customer's reaction to your product (unless they they leave feedback), so I think it'll be a worthwhile exercise even just for that.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >One of the things I've found a little difficult in preparing for the market, is trying to figure out how much stock of each product I need to make. I've been told by people who have done MarkIt before that 'you will sell a LOT', but that's kind of a 'how long is a piece of string' piece of advice. I've had a look at pictures from past MarkIts and the place looks like it gets pretty packed. So I've worked out roughly how many items I could sell if I was being 100% optimistic (which I admit is a pretty arbitrary figure anyway) and then added some more to that so if by some miracle I do as well as I hope, I won't run out of stock. To work out what proportion of each product I should make, I did a Facebook survey, and I'm basing my numbers roughly on that. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >The Facebook survey estimated that roughly 55% of my products should be iPhone cases, which makes sense to me, given that every second person seems to have one (plus they're at a lower price-point), then Macbook sleeves (22%), iPad sleeves (18.5%) and Kindle cases (3.7%).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Colours and styles are even harder to predict, but I'm just going to go with a variety and hope for the best.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >I'm starting to plan in my head what the stall should look like, but because my products are quite boxy/flat shapes I'm still trying to work out how I can put it all together with varying heights to make it look more interesting. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Also, thrown into the mix, just to make life more interesting for me, I've just accepted some full-time temp work until the end of the year (starting tomorrow), so now I'll be doing all of this outside of normal work hours. I predict much caffeine will be consumed in the next 5 weeks.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><a href="http://www.markitfedsquare.com.au/"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5ZiR7WLXyXwWgS6cqQ8mWMWpb2cN81N3HRYG4siVQHL6JWIDD45Hnp2XOsZ0m8iz1yQ0cY9XDm_O19zopWfMDRHgjsrqJzaYkZ2tJRN5Xjb5ntR0STFnr3jBiW2AD1rrB9ROO9qBHXrI/s400/Screen+Shot+2011-10-25+at+12.45.47+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667250708405411682" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 320px; " /></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Anyway I hope to see some of you Melbourne people on the 27th! There will be lots of other great stalls there, and it's going to be just in time for Christmas shopping (I can't believe I've just mentioned the 'C' word - where has the year gone?!).</span></div>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-79852295320425326632011-07-12T02:28:00.001-07:002011-07-12T08:09:48.557-07:00Tutorial: Correcting white backgrounds on product photos using Photoshop<span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><div style="text-align: center; "><b>How to fix your photos!</b></div><div style="text-align: center; ">
<br /></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><meta charset="utf-8"><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN2eRRmJRZu36v9jgIYiMM3-uxmpnGpTR9oZJnqqWz0MlgNiXdiB3J_wmEBznoyHkE5l0zA6OaY8dBjef7-Zy94YKBc5OjtKEY6P8VRwTZpBijwgdzLQr9zk8u1ajc39zDeZcxYbghzPg/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+11.32.38+PM.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN2eRRmJRZu36v9jgIYiMM3-uxmpnGpTR9oZJnqqWz0MlgNiXdiB3J_wmEBznoyHkE5l0zA6OaY8dBjef7-Zy94YKBc5OjtKEY6P8VRwTZpBijwgdzLQr9zk8u1ajc39zDeZcxYbghzPg/s200/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+11.32.38+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628459669576098978" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPgAlSKFUlDLPpT-MOReqRy5gagTuDdTI5QqlDRpyCJuPLxRHb44xe4uzyBTLSlRA57b6fmfvOeYT0p1CmrS_bMAQdTk21MoXzU0CA_sYv7e7UzKWXUcpczYuslRC4Ng393ap6vCeiMp0/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+11.33.11+PM.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPgAlSKFUlDLPpT-MOReqRy5gagTuDdTI5QqlDRpyCJuPLxRHb44xe4uzyBTLSlRA57b6fmfvOeYT0p1CmrS_bMAQdTk21MoXzU0CA_sYv7e7UzKWXUcpczYuslRC4Ng393ap6vCeiMp0/s200/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+11.33.11+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628459672581924658" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><i><b>Before</b></i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><b><i>After</i></b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><b><i>
<br /></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left; "><b><i><meta charset="utf-8"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "> </span></i></b></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Have you ever taken a product photo where the angle and focus were all perfect but your nice white background has come out a weird shade of blue (or some other colour)? I know the way to avoid it is to get your white balance right before taking the photo, but what if it's too late and you just want to salvage the photo Sometimes there's only a small bit of discolouration on an otherwise good photo - seems a shame to have to re-do it.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >I have to be honest, I'm not a super-awesome photographer, so I don't know all that much about setting white balance. I usually just set it on auto and hope for the best. There's been more than one occasion where a slight blue tint has ruined a photo.... or so I thought!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >I've written a bit of a tutorial below on an easy way to use Photoshop to eliminate the dreaded blue tint from your white background. Hopefully you get something out of it if you're struggling a bit with keeping the ol' white background white.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Just as a disclaimer - I'm obviously not a professional photographer or photoshopper, so I'm sure there are probably other ways to do this, but this is just what I've found works well for me and I thought I'd share. Also unfortunately this tutorial isn't going to be much good to you if you don't use Photoshop (sorry!).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
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<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Tutorial:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >* It might help to click on the images if you want to see a larger size. It's a bit hard to read the text at their current size.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
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<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Right, so I picked out a bit of a doozy to use as an example. Most of my photos don't turn out like this (honest!). This photo has a few problems:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></div><div><meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhlL1OjuD4vp4akwXaBptZ534oYpWVLXTpZz970E0u2bBAL2-AgEyML3DzMnsD1XTP_jlyu9h7I6Pc11oXYYz80sXCbdHhii_R5YYP3tY5sc3vcaiV3DusuuU9AoeAmNwhM5tr-SgEEQ/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+7.05.01+PM.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhlL1OjuD4vp4akwXaBptZ534oYpWVLXTpZz970E0u2bBAL2-AgEyML3DzMnsD1XTP_jlyu9h7I6Pc11oXYYz80sXCbdHhii_R5YYP3tY5sc3vcaiV3DusuuU9AoeAmNwhM5tr-SgEEQ/s400/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+7.05.01+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628396253341333762" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 258px; " /></span></a></div><div><ul><li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Firstly, the background is pretty obviously not white.</span></li><li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Secondly, there are some dark patches in the corners that I'd like to even out a bit.</span></li><li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Thirdly, there was a dark patch in the bottom right (due to a busted camera) which I've already gone over roughly with the clone stamp, but it's left a bit of a patch that's slightly lighter than the surrounding colour.</span></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >So, what I generally use to fix background colour is the 'replace colour' function, which you can find by going to 'Image' and then 'Adjustments' from the drop-down menu. 'Replace colour' is all the way down the bottom.</span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span><div><meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizagyatFa34WU4DMnYU8wMMLKc-vTAwExXQm05WyDnB8_Ckiyu6lBsZbX9LVzbN32HHBN9RCanVujJbzupEyUf2uv0C1ueROKBVhTdAfoy7S6zLqcFzWque7FjC_ZkLu5anHKJaHKItzo/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+7.05.19+PM.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizagyatFa34WU4DMnYU8wMMLKc-vTAwExXQm05WyDnB8_Ckiyu6lBsZbX9LVzbN32HHBN9RCanVujJbzupEyUf2uv0C1ueROKBVhTdAfoy7S6zLqcFzWque7FjC_ZkLu5anHKJaHKItzo/s400/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+7.05.19+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628403245535910754" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 259px; " /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Once you have the little toolbox thingy open, you'll notice that when you wave your cursor over the image, it's now a little eye-dropper.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span><div><meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0RP6uIRaRo-P80KxuxdqeHu-4vyRc28tsOUGaiBt99Y5QozkXWiKTCJP5RLIuYEPsH42v3ZJQca2nbdnzl1FIGyjA39cgNhAuMxkVmSyLMb4PeintUhQvDASUpX8a85VI-bfJyw8QFZk/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+7.05.50+PM.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0RP6uIRaRo-P80KxuxdqeHu-4vyRc28tsOUGaiBt99Y5QozkXWiKTCJP5RLIuYEPsH42v3ZJQca2nbdnzl1FIGyjA39cgNhAuMxkVmSyLMb4PeintUhQvDASUpX8a85VI-bfJyw8QFZk/s400/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+7.05.50+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628403247797176418" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 212px; " /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >The next step is to take your little eye-dropper and click it on a part of the background that appears blue (or discoloured). Once you do that, you'll see that the colour box next to the 3 blue sliders changes colour to what you just clicked on. If the blue tint is so slight that you're not sure if it's just your eyes playing tricks on you, I find it handy to compare that box to the grey colour surrounding it. Once the colour is right next to the grey, it seems to jump out at you if it's got any colours it shouldn't.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></div><div><meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijE_L-Rn_clyxvagTHCtEQU4AlxMzCMg_uJKYFDmz17L4u5PIlagSEby403SfbH0zVIY-VmvpOpSFs7o-a4-1VTx66ejGuB-gT0ID0VWDV_01BtbG1a-aHKb0opsLnmLs2bCOY7l3otNc/s1600/Tutorial-pic.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijE_L-Rn_clyxvagTHCtEQU4AlxMzCMg_uJKYFDmz17L4u5PIlagSEby403SfbH0zVIY-VmvpOpSFs7o-a4-1VTx66ejGuB-gT0ID0VWDV_01BtbG1a-aHKb0opsLnmLs2bCOY7l3otNc/s400/Tutorial-pic.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628403256601885490" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 240px; " /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >So once you've selected your colour, slide the 'Saturation' slider all the way over to the left. That will remove any colour and leave behind only shades of grey. If your image is like the one above, you might find that doing this will not immediately remove all the blue from the background. If this is the case, when you've removed the first lot of blue, click 'ok' then go back into the 'Replace colour' function again. Repeat the desaturation process on all areas of blue until the entire background is colour-neutral.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >To even up the light and dark patches, it's basically the same as removing the blue, except you use the 'Lightness' slider instead of 'Saturation'. If you want, you can lighten up dark patches at the same time you desaturate them. That's usually what I do. Once you've eliminated all the discolourations from your background and evened up the light and dark patches, you should end up with something a bit like this:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></div><div><meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgokex4Tz1kuvrWGmbrdgLo0zuOhlKn9WPBILr7V0aOO6Cpre6Ez4AXB6aeRPcqMvfuM5JDkrBIIDr86xj41Uz90hTV2lVzDAkEIFCp4kNw3lVqQwk0Sfr6Z4_OtyrHuIfXIs95tlxF4UA/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+7.10.27+PM.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgokex4Tz1kuvrWGmbrdgLo0zuOhlKn9WPBILr7V0aOO6Cpre6Ez4AXB6aeRPcqMvfuM5JDkrBIIDr86xj41Uz90hTV2lVzDAkEIFCp4kNw3lVqQwk0Sfr6Z4_OtyrHuIfXIs95tlxF4UA/s400/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+7.10.27+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628403257420963522" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 298px; " /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >For me, the background of the image is still a bit grey. At this point you can do one of a few things:</span></div><div><ul><li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >If you're happy with the amount of light on your actual product, but it's just the background that needs lightening, go back into 'Replace colour', select the background with the eye-dropper (which by now should all be pretty much the same tone) and just lighten it up a bit. The only thing to be careful with here is if your product has light colours, because when you select the light background, anything else that is the same tone will be lightened along with the background. You could also play around with the exposure if you feel like the whole image is a bit under-exposed.</span></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></div></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTwvcAsPOHHErgBWB_C22Pi7gwTqjsJHxj_XbMsOVP0QikhuP0zG52U3m_GLA2e6P52x9rO25qDM7eqwQzvmCJ0xr5WykU7QR1hCaxh5nHow7mPiuAWW1aj_AlJgtfuWJQTcklUZx-TUI/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+7.10.50+PM.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 247px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTwvcAsPOHHErgBWB_C22Pi7gwTqjsJHxj_XbMsOVP0QikhuP0zG52U3m_GLA2e6P52x9rO25qDM7eqwQzvmCJ0xr5WykU7QR1hCaxh5nHow7mPiuAWW1aj_AlJgtfuWJQTcklUZx-TUI/s400/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+7.10.50+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628403267779661666" /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></div><div><ul><li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >If the whole image needs brightening up, you can try adjusting the brightness, which you can change by going to 'Images', then 'Adjustments' from the drop-down menu, and select 'Brightness/Contrast'. Just play around with the sliders until you're happy with the result.</span></li></ul></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></div><div><meta charset="utf-8"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoYRfT7x9mUbXsUUFVcJvTty9tANT10DXvOmtcVXc_iWopVWVcQgjdeBbu-15arW1AfbBMwzwvi9gTtlwEFajg6D1qmtEyG_OTml2IVPfjvKBJ1cutu54Wh46I22VYj3E1NqHqVC7A74o/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+7.13.48+PM.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoYRfT7x9mUbXsUUFVcJvTty9tANT10DXvOmtcVXc_iWopVWVcQgjdeBbu-15arW1AfbBMwzwvi9gTtlwEFajg6D1qmtEyG_OTml2IVPfjvKBJ1cutu54Wh46I22VYj3E1NqHqVC7A74o/s400/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+7.13.48+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628460563024023890" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px; " /></a>
<br />
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span">After all is said and done, you should end up with something that has a nice clean, bright background.</span>
<br />
<br /></span><div><meta charset="utf-8"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFfuviEyHXamNsU7u-Dzj4Zj45KBCao1tsSmFrhgjZTzsUaZSC4SPe7RtQTWAH7zUiOpnjTg-YLqfEeKrMXGsRSJTA9lC9OerHkmQ1leRs_CWfm8MkqyhelUvJdkXdwxS5GfJ5v7MD-qU/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+11.25.56+PM.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFfuviEyHXamNsU7u-Dzj4Zj45KBCao1tsSmFrhgjZTzsUaZSC4SPe7RtQTWAH7zUiOpnjTg-YLqfEeKrMXGsRSJTA9lC9OerHkmQ1leRs_CWfm8MkqyhelUvJdkXdwxS5GfJ5v7MD-qU/s400/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+11.25.56+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628456961846443698" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 299px; " /></a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >This photo certainly isn't my best product shot by any stretch, but when you compare what it was like originally to what it's like now, it's a damn sight better!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></div><meta charset="utf-8"><div><meta charset="utf-8"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN2eRRmJRZu36v9jgIYiMM3-uxmpnGpTR9oZJnqqWz0MlgNiXdiB3J_wmEBznoyHkE5l0zA6OaY8dBjef7-Zy94YKBc5OjtKEY6P8VRwTZpBijwgdzLQr9zk8u1ajc39zDeZcxYbghzPg/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+11.32.38+PM.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN2eRRmJRZu36v9jgIYiMM3-uxmpnGpTR9oZJnqqWz0MlgNiXdiB3J_wmEBznoyHkE5l0zA6OaY8dBjef7-Zy94YKBc5OjtKEY6P8VRwTZpBijwgdzLQr9zk8u1ajc39zDeZcxYbghzPg/s200/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+11.32.38+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628459669576098978" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></a> </span><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPgAlSKFUlDLPpT-MOReqRy5gagTuDdTI5QqlDRpyCJuPLxRHb44xe4uzyBTLSlRA57b6fmfvOeYT0p1CmrS_bMAQdTk21MoXzU0CA_sYv7e7UzKWXUcpczYuslRC4Ng393ap6vCeiMp0/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+11.33.11+PM.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPgAlSKFUlDLPpT-MOReqRy5gagTuDdTI5QqlDRpyCJuPLxRHb44xe4uzyBTLSlRA57b6fmfvOeYT0p1CmrS_bMAQdTk21MoXzU0CA_sYv7e7UzKWXUcpczYuslRC4Ng393ap6vCeiMp0/s200/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+11.33.11+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628459672581924658" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></a>
<br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></div></div></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Hope this was useful to you! Happy to answer questions if you've got any.</span></div>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-9025388727927764992011-06-22T01:16:00.000-07:002011-06-23T00:57:22.816-07:00I need your opinion<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; ">I'm thinking about putting an ad on a decent-sized design blog and have been putting together some graphics. I think it'll look something like the images below, but I can't decide which one is the most 'clickable'. Which one do you think I should go with? Is there anything you think I should add to it?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7FyXOczLqMDXmeilf8w5KK0xHlTGam3hRKGKIR6kc5s_auOUnOgvMCgKURW3OpFtMvSG-4RDc7vU_CVK5JRnxkCodMxSmm7F4w9MjiJCtxrkQurWrv5nNTdYwj6bELRvIPy0BdFTdTlg/s1600/ambette-ad-mock-up-200x120px-7.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 120px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7FyXOczLqMDXmeilf8w5KK0xHlTGam3hRKGKIR6kc5s_auOUnOgvMCgKURW3OpFtMvSG-4RDc7vU_CVK5JRnxkCodMxSmm7F4w9MjiJCtxrkQurWrv5nNTdYwj6bELRvIPy0BdFTdTlg/s200/ambette-ad-mock-up-200x120px-7.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621053675801774722" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibgKWNdkAMxaPLi5aQamPi2gZhOvBK8wraRkzqdqkl7SL9kXn5gZ5nfBMKoCJGIUH8T7BleMM5L5DG7aOIJ08plybTUZFoaoAl3cB_MKrNXVrwu7ilwn3_S0YIG6ymeb0i99JkeDeDNMA/s1600/ambette-ad-mock-up-200x120px-6.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 120px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibgKWNdkAMxaPLi5aQamPi2gZhOvBK8wraRkzqdqkl7SL9kXn5gZ5nfBMKoCJGIUH8T7BleMM5L5DG7aOIJ08plybTUZFoaoAl3cB_MKrNXVrwu7ilwn3_S0YIG6ymeb0i99JkeDeDNMA/s200/ambette-ad-mock-up-200x120px-6.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621039979668311666" /></a> </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVmVWE1vO4bs6lycCuLPS1w3eeakMmvzgqcSQ8OLqOPcMIkntGZgR1_ZvH3fC2SCwt1SFfo_LT8i8SKeyuHtl2b3ySwoEnIAHv_InwIgmxK6DzrZ5RrqzjKxtqkA81o9omqM_t_fJ-jDk/s1600/ambette-ad-mock-up-200x120px-5.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 120px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVmVWE1vO4bs6lycCuLPS1w3eeakMmvzgqcSQ8OLqOPcMIkntGZgR1_ZvH3fC2SCwt1SFfo_LT8i8SKeyuHtl2b3ySwoEnIAHv_InwIgmxK6DzrZ5RrqzjKxtqkA81o9omqM_t_fJ-jDk/s200/ambette-ad-mock-up-200x120px-5.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620955811041778770" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDSJB2plP8wcK_EcLhNDay4BLvDE9k8b6N0YCB2t7BAZ7D1lmCLX6gxY_KO8S3oF8lcE06yzDR6hpOTbSxOMCmBCTcXbeaHXzEXd9Lbzn-evpGdlahTqMrCd4aikIdA7m1MEmUeaNmSHw/s1600/ambette-ad-mock-up-200x120px-4.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 120px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDSJB2plP8wcK_EcLhNDay4BLvDE9k8b6N0YCB2t7BAZ7D1lmCLX6gxY_KO8S3oF8lcE06yzDR6hpOTbSxOMCmBCTcXbeaHXzEXd9Lbzn-evpGdlahTqMrCd4aikIdA7m1MEmUeaNmSHw/s200/ambette-ad-mock-up-200x120px-4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620955803424639346" /></a></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlevSC-CNtJ20oP6wG37hdmqwj7WqKSpDxWp_ZSWDJAcIeBw87xwG1roZ_a3OrdRE3-nGGI3evbJaxa_4Jkg6Em6r7qskuAtKjHi__3TyG9s0rGeqQ4PnDKyzA51sXuO60_s-hQYXhIsw/s1600/ambette-ad-mock-up-200x120px-3.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 120px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlevSC-CNtJ20oP6wG37hdmqwj7WqKSpDxWp_ZSWDJAcIeBw87xwG1roZ_a3OrdRE3-nGGI3evbJaxa_4Jkg6Em6r7qskuAtKjHi__3TyG9s0rGeqQ4PnDKyzA51sXuO60_s-hQYXhIsw/s200/ambette-ad-mock-up-200x120px-3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620955795870837730" /></a> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnbQFU7vyPzG3v1t2xDaeRk7mqg0GqW8Tz7RrzQU73UWXtiRDQsew52v1fDtO_917zzeUfFKmnE5Cdp5chV4NTr0DNInS4qZmEG2Bw5M9YYRFCVr3scSZqfiTEsY29RetN0dzXU4NFwwk/s1600/ambette-ad-mock-up-200x120px-8.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnbQFU7vyPzG3v1t2xDaeRk7mqg0GqW8Tz7RrzQU73UWXtiRDQsew52v1fDtO_917zzeUfFKmnE5Cdp5chV4NTr0DNInS4qZmEG2Bw5M9YYRFCVr3scSZqfiTEsY29RetN0dzXU4NFwwk/s200/ambette-ad-mock-up-200x120px-8.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621320346825357858" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 120px; " /></a></div><meta charset="utf-8"><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>Edited:</b></span> This final design (bottom right) I just added to the options. It's a cleaner font than my logo, but I've changed it a bit so it looks more like my original logo, and a bit less boring than the design on the left. What do you think?</span></div><meta charset="utf-8"><meta charset="utf-8"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlevSC-CNtJ20oP6wG37hdmqwj7WqKSpDxWp_ZSWDJAcIeBw87xwG1roZ_a3OrdRE3-nGGI3evbJaxa_4Jkg6Em6r7qskuAtKjHi__3TyG9s0rGeqQ4PnDKyzA51sXuO60_s-hQYXhIsw/s1600/ambette-ad-mock-up-200x120px-3.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Any feedback would be fab!</span>
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<br /></div></div>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-31545181359687246572010-12-16T01:49:00.001-08:002010-12-16T02:08:38.255-08:00Gift Certificates<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Well, if you're anything like me and leave your Christmas shopping right till the last minute and then realise that you haven't got <span style="font-style: italic;">nearly</span> enough time to order something online and have it delivered by the 25th, a gift certificate might just save the day.</span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've now added a range of <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/ambette?section_id=7641293">gift certificates</a> to the shop, which should help out. </span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/64424358/25-dollar-gift-certificate"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 131px; height: 130px;" src="http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.202316519.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a href="http://ny-image2.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.202316822.jpg"> </a><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/64424473/55-dollar-gift-certificate?ref=v1_other_1"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 131px;" src="http://ny-image2.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.202316822.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/64424523/60-dollar-gift-certificate?ref=v1_other_1"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 136px; height: 132px;" src="http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.202317047.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/64424556/75-dollar-gift-certificate?ref=v1_other_1"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 133px;" src="http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.202317220.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">You'll get a nice pdf gift certificate emailed to you, that you can either print out or forward to the recipient (handy if you live in another state or country!)<br /><br />See my shop for more details!<br /></span>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-40945721451543818002010-12-12T19:03:00.001-08:002010-12-12T19:11:23.638-08:00House & Garden!<div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blogpress.w18.net/photos/10/12/12/3087.jpg"><img src="http://blogpress.w18.net/photos/10/12/12/s_3087.jpg" style="margin: 5px;" border="0" width="281" height="210" /></a><br /></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />If you were to go and buy House and Garden magazine today and turn to page 49..........</span><br /><br /><br /><center style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://blogpress.w18.net/photos/10/12/12/3088.jpg"><img src="http://blogpress.w18.net/photos/10/12/12/s_3088.jpg" style="margin: 5px;" border="0" width="281" height="210" /></a></center><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />....you might find something a little familiar in the top right-hand corner....</span><br /><br /><br /><center style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://blogpress.w18.net/photos/10/12/12/3089.jpg"><img src="http://blogpress.w18.net/photos/10/12/12/s_3089.jpg" style="margin: 5px;" border="0" width="281" height="210" /></a></center><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />YAY!!! How cool! One of my laptop sleeves made it onto the glossy pages of House & Garden - it's so exciting!!</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />They contacted me a while ago and asked for some photos for the January issue, but I didn't even realise it had been released until a friend called on Saturday because she'd stumbled on it as she was flicking through her H&G mag.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />I can't stop looking at it!!</span><br /></div>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-5424430584108643012010-11-25T18:28:00.000-08:002010-11-25T18:36:32.121-08:00Scam!<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvrcjTUj_7rwi13fUc6Jfxwxjw2YPBLbIleoqrSIhrI7GRalSCzQq_ut7M7xSPSrKXLAKGU72ZW-IoS86aGp51YDmaqsjdi72ZH7E5GvR3V8fSGp94WWQWBq9isepQW00rdRa_rKntFA4/s1600/Soysa+bear.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvrcjTUj_7rwi13fUc6Jfxwxjw2YPBLbIleoqrSIhrI7GRalSCzQq_ut7M7xSPSrKXLAKGU72ZW-IoS86aGp51YDmaqsjdi72ZH7E5GvR3V8fSGp94WWQWBq9isepQW00rdRa_rKntFA4/s320/Soysa+bear.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5543679893549493170" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;">Friends of ours have recently had a baby and my man decided that because the father is a Kiwi, he'd buy the new bub a Wallabies teddy, just for a bit of a dig. My man thought it would be nice to personalise it, and thought it would be nice to have the surname and year of birth embroidered on the back of the jersey. So off he went to a place that does custom embroidery thinking he'd get the jersey nicely embroidered.<br /><br />What came back was the jersey with a dirty big emboidered patch sewn onto it, covering up half the back of the jersey.<br /><br />Guess how much this simple little patch with no graphics cost my man?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />FORTY BLOODY DOLLARS!!!<br /><br />What an absolute scam! My man no longer wants to talk about it, because he knows he got absolutely jibbed.<br /></div>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-25655873731907274472010-11-08T17:33:00.000-08:002010-11-08T18:57:01.100-08:00Operation: Secret birthday present<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I recently became quite good friends with a guy, "T" (a friend of a friend of mine), who has come over to Melbourne from the UK to do a year of his engineering course abroad.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmigBsJtRY7jc8By7BAHHRxrvHDe74BsoISTQKWniIoM4ESzQfoByul7MbYMY79KMGv4d26pD1YCwI_ogOt2OLFsxzaD1gu2G4ZRRik-pMrYQd9agEOThi-EqNQyMJOSok7fFB0lG02mw/s1600/VS+laptop+sleeve+2.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmigBsJtRY7jc8By7BAHHRxrvHDe74BsoISTQKWniIoM4ESzQfoByul7MbYMY79KMGv4d26pD1YCwI_ogOt2OLFsxzaD1gu2G4ZRRik-pMrYQd9agEOThi-EqNQyMJOSok7fFB0lG02mw/s320/VS+laptop+sleeve+2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537358503465023010" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">When T found out about the laptop cases I've been making, and that I have some screen-printing capabilities, he got quite excited. T's girlfriend back home had her birthday coming up and had recently bought herself a new 13" Macbook.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">T asked me if I could help him make a really special personalised birthday present for her. Awwww! How could I refuse a request like that? So of course I said I would help, and we started on the collaboration.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzrYqEfiOY42BMQKK9WQum0n_pMVJEIHnLUsNzy1R0odx2Ua4NEhMwjxOd9TNz6rggzoET2oQ22Ik1Teo31a-x-sZUMNa6J5o-FRsEse43eK1Q3zViJlAumfStWE8ZLtE6W8FFz8yDtfs/s1600/VS+laptop+sleeve+3.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzrYqEfiOY42BMQKK9WQum0n_pMVJEIHnLUsNzy1R0odx2Ua4NEhMwjxOd9TNz6rggzoET2oQ22Ik1Teo31a-x-sZUMNa6J5o-FRsEse43eK1Q3zViJlAumfStWE8ZLtE6W8FFz8yDtfs/s320/VS+laptop+sleeve+3.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537359010110551474" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">T was to come up with the design to screenprint, as well as decide on the materials and colours. I just helped out with a few design and sewing logistics. He decided on pale blue cotton duck-cloth for the front, and hessian for the back. We also decided that the laptop would be held in place with a flap, secured by elastic.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So T came round one night after soccer, cut out the stencil and we printed the fabric pieces. I have to admit I was pretty impressed with how the design printed on</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> the blue duck-cloth came out. </span><br /><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu5LCwV-aVn7s8QVQUdmWP2DdC7yAPH10TAvH2HbNHWE0DNbYx7q2jCidSRcMT_G1YHpJJw4ywbKBvhI-BOToNGmyn8pYCsvK7IlVw4ma15KLamg-eHnRnwvh6JueJd8xImsk0UHo6WnY/s1600/VS+laptop+sleeve+4.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 252px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu5LCwV-aVn7s8QVQUdmWP2DdC7yAPH10TAvH2HbNHWE0DNbYx7q2jCidSRcMT_G1YHpJJw4ywbKBvhI-BOToNGmyn8pYCsvK7IlVw4ma15KLamg-eHnRnwvh6JueJd8xImsk0UHo6WnY/s320/VS+laptop+sleeve+4.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537359293546310258" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">I took over the process from there, working out which interfacing to use to achieve the desired stiffness, and how to go about putting it all together.<br /><br />I ended up using Vilene S520 on the blue side and 2 layers of Vilene S320 on the hessian side, with a layer of medium-thickness wadding on both sides as well. I was generally pretty happy with the level of rigidity I got with using the S520, but it did cause a few problems with trying to get it nice and flat after it getting all crushed up in the 'turn it inside out and back again' process when the lining was sewn in.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It did take a hell of a lot of ironing to get it relatively flat again, so I'm not sure if the S520 would be a good choice for future use, or whether I just need to try different combos of interfacing in a different order to get it right.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ95af2exZ8qj6joP_A29ecwv2qlFBElRhwHH1ZauiQXJ11PNwp030BOGgRP1MQ_AN_DGDLOfBkqoo5OWnssLRGoMoDK2oBzrKZF8BuhskRf19_c97RdPYZqIE5OkxvhWFxFfUOhWX7VY/s1600/VS+laptop+sleeve+1.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ95af2exZ8qj6joP_A29ecwv2qlFBElRhwHH1ZauiQXJ11PNwp030BOGgRP1MQ_AN_DGDLOfBkqoo5OWnssLRGoMoDK2oBzrKZF8BuhskRf19_c97RdPYZqIE5OkxvhWFxFfUOhWX7VY/s320/VS+laptop+sleeve+1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537359469482039538" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">Anyway, all in all, I think the special birthday present went down with the recipient rather well. I thought it was quite touching how thoughtful the gift was and how much effort had been put into it. It was quite nice to have been a part of it, really!</span><br /></div>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-44581309892642648272010-09-16T19:01:00.000-07:002010-10-11T19:15:29.459-07:00A somewhat wordy post about the happenings of ambette (part 1)<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Holy moly it's been a while since I've blogged! Not because I haven't been doing anything, more because I've been pretty busy.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are lots of things to fill you in on, but I think I'll start with the most recent first</span>:<br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;">The Finders Keepers markets:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Well, what a great day! They were without doubt the best art & design market I've been to in Melbourne - I loved them! The only problem I had was just the feeling of being so overwhelmed by such awesomey awesomeness, that I couldn't decide what to buy and as such, ended up going home with hardly anything. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">My plan was that I would collect the cards of the designers that I might like to buy from and go home to browse their online shops at my own leisure. I had assumed that everyone was like me and had some form of online shop that they surely sold their wares from. Not so. When I got home I excitedly laid out all the cards and made a list of everyone's websites in anticipation of the online shopping bonanza that would surely follow.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFgJM3LepIwJV75vvPrUwyFTVBCCPwhGwRsKvOT0u5onm_gkJALc19yx2DQcjSST58Z3WKmMFz5eB_xCjntKTkgcZaiDpM6Ev3Yh4rVbgIyi9izosd3NnatP3PsC90Zvaov3FKREDFyyg/s1600/P1020265.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFgJM3LepIwJV75vvPrUwyFTVBCCPwhGwRsKvOT0u5onm_gkJALc19yx2DQcjSST58Z3WKmMFz5eB_xCjntKTkgcZaiDpM6Ev3Yh4rVbgIyi9izosd3NnatP3PsC90Zvaov3FKREDFyyg/s320/P1020265.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525952790738062066" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPPIk40RIlqOFZDc65GnCWcmuGq69q-G-U17rylaxAASUY61Yy1SCBiQjq8QYD96FBzQ7pMq3ocJVjwsS-UZKyPmiBGMPHqmgTbDBYKnzzCbd70tRwaL9JLtPU5se-hs718GYOlscQci4/s1600/P1020273.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 196px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPPIk40RIlqOFZDc65GnCWcmuGq69q-G-U17rylaxAASUY61Yy1SCBiQjq8QYD96FBzQ7pMq3ocJVjwsS-UZKyPmiBGMPHqmgTbDBYKnzzCbd70tRwaL9JLtPU5se-hs718GYOlscQci4/s320/P1020273.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525952794208460706" border="0" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">To my disappointment, when I further explored the websites, most of the designers at the market either did not sell online (only listing their bricks and mortar stockists), or did not have the full range of their goods that I had seen at the market. Oh the humanity!! Needless to say, I spent a good half hour kicking myself that I hadn't checked first that the designers did in fact have everything available online. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Let that be a lesson to all you artists and designers out there - I'm sure I'm not the only one who did this, so you're losing sales by not having a full online shop, and also for not making it clear to potential customers that your lovely goodies are only available on the day of the market.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Anyway, I did manage to buy a couple of things. I got these fab earrings from <a href="http://www.madzhasrunaway.com/">Madz has Runaway</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw5TTR4CnTlVOvYnIPWuMaDlY3jQknVonHkEiKpNPsq8xLCV3K72cCrkS8Q98trRLRtXv0yzjm3PplMeaEODPdBJSvwKErbJM9ujrG3apwxzUtHw5jjCKK24MSUaZfGRs7urDOI257iBU/s1600/P1020276.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 242px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw5TTR4CnTlVOvYnIPWuMaDlY3jQknVonHkEiKpNPsq8xLCV3K72cCrkS8Q98trRLRtXv0yzjm3PplMeaEODPdBJSvwKErbJM9ujrG3apwxzUtHw5jjCKK24MSUaZfGRs7urDOI257iBU/s320/P1020276.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525952795467595362" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I loved her range of jewellery, and found it quite difficult to choose.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">I also got these extremely cool earrings from <a href="http://www.madebywhite.com/home.php">Made by White</a>. They are so retro-awesome! Ironically, the only people I bought from actually do have a decent online presence.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHdJyAVyzKXFLUGbtmp5b3Z41Yj1TLi0SuQtqm973g9ZGve_N5LO6Rq_0do6JGK6DEeS9C9QfV2T8R6Yzg7hOd3TGk2en9W-gp8P__xLKgu22GvguxQwoX8iHccqFU28ZYsgAhCKsFU-8/s1600/P1020282.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 294px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHdJyAVyzKXFLUGbtmp5b3Z41Yj1TLi0SuQtqm973g9ZGve_N5LO6Rq_0do6JGK6DEeS9C9QfV2T8R6Yzg7hOd3TGk2en9W-gp8P__xLKgu22GvguxQwoX8iHccqFU28ZYsgAhCKsFU-8/s320/P1020282.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525952806943943490" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRWiLfFVbTdEwUyK6KrAu62AzDP_ccNeF9PrG3jpy2dNHxjfAgHCqN-Au2Iz0zJmc3le2wHiSlKhVMJ5_XgsqYGDfKBahMuzLH5coZryVe1OGXJHuhJ8bSQbjyiMS6_p-BvVkdzYMHhyphenhyphens/s1600/P1020283.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 263px; height: 196px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRWiLfFVbTdEwUyK6KrAu62AzDP_ccNeF9PrG3jpy2dNHxjfAgHCqN-Au2Iz0zJmc3le2wHiSlKhVMJ5_XgsqYGDfKBahMuzLH5coZryVe1OGXJHuhJ8bSQbjyiMS6_p-BvVkdzYMHhyphenhyphens/s320/P1020283.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525952806172809586" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;">Georgie Love:</span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I have some rather exciting news, which is now a few weeks old, but it's new to you guys! A selection of my laptop sleeves, iPad sleeves and iPhone cases are now available through Melbourne-based <a href="http://www.georgielove.com/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=136">Georgie Love</a></span>. <span style="font-family: verdana;">If you're not familiar with the site, it's run by Sally Morrigan, and sells a pretty decent-sized selection of handmade items by Australian independent designers. Pretty handy with Christmas coming up!</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On a related note, since I was asked to stock some of my items on Georgie Love, Sally and I have been communicating solely via email. On the weekend I thought it might be nice to go introduce myself to Sally at the Georgie Love stall at the Finders Keepers markets, and meet her in person. I introduced myself as Liz, and was preparing to explain further that I was the maker of all the 'Ambette' items on her site. She initially appeared to know who I was, so I didn't clarify. About halfway through the conversation I started to wonder if she really did know who I was, but by this stage I felt a bit awkward about asking if she knew who I was, so I said goodbye and ran off after she gave me a lollipop and told me about a sale they were having.<br /><br />Anyway, I emailed Sally today and explained that the weirdo on the weekend who spoke to her as if she knew her was in fact me. Turns out she did think I was a customer, who expected her to remember me from my order history. Haha! I felt a bit silly, but I've learnt my lesson - even if someone seems to know who 'Liz' is, in future I'll leave no room for confusion!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;">Playing with my banner on Illustrator</span>:<br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The other day I was looking at my banner and for some reason decided I was a bit bored with the green. I had a play with a few new colour-schemes (they're a bit easier to see if you click on them and view at full-size).<br /><br />I definitely don't like the bottom one as it's too hard to read, but I don't mind the first couple. I think they look quite summery, and I was thinking of occasionally changing the colour scheme of my banner just to keep things interesting, but I'm not sure if I should stick to the current scheme for the sake of consistency and branding. What do you think?<br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;"></span></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh33XzIL5LLi-90S5UeQWk0Rh6Zq09eN-Z9LvFelK1Bcq0stIFhG7o-BJKDGOQanFYr-Z20nKeoX1oOnhozwFR4S_xhjw7jD9D_c124mF-fjKRyQY3qs8kzmMd2F1ohjeOLnQFnsllHxpU/s1600/ambette-logo-banner-for-web-orange-and-yellow.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 53px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh33XzIL5LLi-90S5UeQWk0Rh6Zq09eN-Z9LvFelK1Bcq0stIFhG7o-BJKDGOQanFYr-Z20nKeoX1oOnhozwFR4S_xhjw7jD9D_c124mF-fjKRyQY3qs8kzmMd2F1ohjeOLnQFnsllHxpU/s400/ambette-logo-banner-for-web-orange-and-yellow.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525955524903426962" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcwcZuVRSSoYScrCf-HYX4BMuFTRZq6IDtsp2rGkphUdo10FoKUqNmBpKslIP83TyD_Z71fBwLCxMCZodtjSi5HbIGEpI7KGXCrXGK5ugKlNl5NSIDaJJwVa0opK8_TKhkfKbfBIuTSIc/s1600/ambette-logo-banner-for-web-orange-black-&-yellow.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 53px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcwcZuVRSSoYScrCf-HYX4BMuFTRZq6IDtsp2rGkphUdo10FoKUqNmBpKslIP83TyD_Z71fBwLCxMCZodtjSi5HbIGEpI7KGXCrXGK5ugKlNl5NSIDaJJwVa0opK8_TKhkfKbfBIuTSIc/s400/ambette-logo-banner-for-web-orange-black-&-yellow.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525955520284056178" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTwn8Szz_yB5sY5Dq5aG5bzT0YOuFl8QhXNE1YFIsDFnKpfHKguQtESVtACuIFSATCN9Bs1GV-Mbl-kOD2QzgIPng1j4qq2WlZ6HIK8lEkYz54yU6bXJzWylo9O-A-_gSApskduYgvwE0/s1600/ambette-logo-banner-for-web-blue-and-yellow.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 53px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTwn8Szz_yB5sY5Dq5aG5bzT0YOuFl8QhXNE1YFIsDFnKpfHKguQtESVtACuIFSATCN9Bs1GV-Mbl-kOD2QzgIPng1j4qq2WlZ6HIK8lEkYz54yU6bXJzWylo9O-A-_gSApskduYgvwE0/s400/ambette-logo-banner-for-web-blue-and-yellow.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525955529652602290" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Right, I've got more stuff to talk about, but this blog post is already getting pretty wordy, so I might leave the other stuff for the next post (I promise the next one won't be 3 months away!).</span><br /></div>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-30935199036660573792010-07-17T23:39:00.000-07:002010-07-18T00:05:20.381-07:00We have a winner!<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Sorry about the delay, folks - I got completely caught up in weekend activities and forgot to draw the giveaway. Oops!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'm sure you've all been on the edges of your seats all weekends waiting for the announcement, so without further ado, the winner of the felt iPod case (determined by random number generator) is......</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8XTwMfQSdP-RI0Xm019uVfwAUYii6NLcmulZd6McgacUUExaqf_WlT0BZm3JZI0bJ5q8LuL5CPpSCqjGLgTDwX63aBRHRDWmpWghYelt-XRZnUhCks7Z4j2SDM7661hVDMAoBh5aj_e4/s1600/Picture+4.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 160px; height: 186px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8XTwMfQSdP-RI0Xm019uVfwAUYii6NLcmulZd6McgacUUExaqf_WlT0BZm3JZI0bJ5q8LuL5CPpSCqjGLgTDwX63aBRHRDWmpWghYelt-XRZnUhCks7Z4j2SDM7661hVDMAoBh5aj_e4/s200/Picture+4.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495138677848845250" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 102, 204);"><br />UniqueDichroic</span> - Congratulations!! I'll be contacting you shortly for your postal address and choice of case.</span><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/50775014/iphone-case-olive-green-wool-felt-with?ref=v1_other_1"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 140px;" src="http://ny-image2.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.155902702.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/50774737/iphone-case-charcoal-wool-felt-with"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 93px; height: 140px;" src="http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.155901976.jpg" alt="" border="0" /> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/50773867/iphone-case-grey-felt-with-green-snaps?ref=v1_other_1"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 98px; height: 140px;" src="http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.155899271.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/50777695/iphone-case-charcoal-wool-felt-with-red"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 99px; height: 139px;" src="http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.155912232.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Thank you so much to all the entries - they all certainly gave me lots of encouragement and motivation to keep going. I really appreciate every one of your comments!<br /></span>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-26377189875039738812010-07-12T18:33:00.000-07:002010-07-12T19:51:58.234-07:00I got an award!<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I got a lovely and unexpected surprise to have been passed the Versatile Blogger Award from fellow Melbournian, Kristina from <a href="http://inaluxe.blogspot.com/2010/07/six-blogs-award.html">Inaluxe</a>! What an honour to have this award bestowed upon me by someone whose work I admire so much. Thanks Kristina - I'm a big fan!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">By the way,for those of you are unfamiliar with Inaluxe, here are a few of my favourite examples of her work:</span><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.157078085.jpg"> </a><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/51287537/helsinki-afternoon-august-1969-giclee"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 121px; height: 121px;" src="http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.157614191.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.151714381.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 175px; height: 124px;" src="http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.151714381.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/51128303/the-midnight-lovers-giclee-print"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 111px; height: 122px;" src="http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.157078085.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/49950145/lollipop-garden-a4-giclee-print-open"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 138px; height: 122px;" src="http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.153141263.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I just love the colour palettes she uses - they're vibrant but calm and soothing at the same time. I also love the clean look of her prints - they're neat, but quirky at the same time. Be sure to check out the <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/inaluxe?ref=seller_info">Inaluxe shop</a> on Etsy for more goodies!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Now, onto the award!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana; font-style: italic; text-align: justify;">The Versatile Blogger Award's rules are - you must say 7 things about yourself and pass the award on to some of your favorite blogs and let them know. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So, here goes:</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Hmm, gosh this is hard!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">1. I learnt to drive a tractor before I learnt to drive a car. </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />2. I'm fussy about which magnets get to go on the fridge. My fridge is a work of art - no ugly magnets please!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />3. I have played field hockey for about 20 years and have never missed a season. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />4. I am strangely drawn to the colour red. This was a crazy obsession when I was about 5 years old. I had red </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >everything</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />5. I cannot wait until I can quit my science job! I spend every day dreaming of expanding my </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/ambette">shop</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> and running my own creative business.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />6. My favourite drink at the moment is pear-infused vodka with dry ginger ale. I highly recommend it.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />7. I used to hate my ears when I was younger, so much so that I once attempted to superglue them back. I don't recommend this. I have since grown into my ears, thankfully.</span><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Now comes the part where I pass the award on to some of my favourite blogs. Unfortunately I can't give one to Inaluxe since they've already been awarded it, so here are my awardees:</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://nicolemdesign.blogspot.com/">Nicole Mallalieu: You SEW Girl!</a> - The first blog I ever read, and my sewing/bag making idol/one-stop-supply-shop.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://cabinandcub.blogspot.com/">Cabin + cub</a> - I really enjoy her blog, plus all Valerie's goodies, I <span style="font-style: italic;">want</span>! She's also lovely and leaves lovely comments on my blog regularly!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://pocketcarnival.blogspot.com/">Pocket Carnival</a> - I adore Penny's cuter-than-cute illustrations, and I love hearing about her design processes and progress. An inspiration!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://blu-shed.blogspot.com/">Summersville</a> - I'm in awe of Lucie Summers' textile design prowess, and her blog is a very enjoyable read, too.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://www.girlstartup.com/">Girl Startup</a> - We're both on a similar path, so I can really relate to her blog posts on the ins and outs of starting up an online shop selling bags. She designs some of her own fabric which she uses for making her bags. Well worth checking out.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://cicadadaydream.blogspot.com/">Cicada Daydream</a> - Michelle of Cloud 9 fabrics has a great blog which I always enjoy reading. It should be pretty obvious by now that I have a soft spot for textile designers. I live my life vicariously through them.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://unofficialfiction.blogspot.com/">The Crafty DIY Bride</a> - Even though I'm not planning a wedding (or even close to being engaged!), Mel - a fellow scientist in the same building as me - writes a beautiful blog, full of inspirational eye-candy and helpful crafty DIY tips.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><br />Thanks again Kristina+Inaluxe - you made my day!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><a href="http://inaluxe.blogspot.com/2010/07/six-blogs-award.html"></a></span>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-84494592840523536212010-07-12T05:23:00.000-07:002010-07-12T07:24:24.377-07:00Blogaversairy giveaway take 2 - K.I.S.S<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Keep it simple, stupid.</span> <br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I fear I may have made the process of entering the <a href="http://ambette.blogspot.com/2010/07/blogaversairy-week-giveaway.html">blogaversairy giveaway</a> a little too involved</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">. The fact that there was a grand total of zero entries suggests one of two things:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">1. The entry process was too complicated</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">OR</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">2. Nobody wants one of my iPhone cases, not even if it's for free.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'm sincerely hoping it's the former of the two - otherwise I'm going to be stuck with a bunch of iPhone cases that I can't even <span style="font-style: italic;">give</span> away let alone sell.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/50775014/iphone-case-olive-green-wool-felt-with?ref=v1_other_1"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 140px;" src="http://ny-image2.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.155902702.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/50774737/iphone-case-charcoal-wool-felt-with"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 93px; height: 140px;" src="http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.155901976.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/50773867/iphone-case-grey-felt-with-green-snaps?ref=v1_other_1"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 98px; height: 140px;" src="http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.155899271.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/50777695/iphone-case-charcoal-wool-felt-with-red"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 99px; height: 139px;" src="http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.155912232.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So I'm going to make it a little bit easier for you to enter this time.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've been feeling a bit lazy and unmotivated lately when it's come to the creative business. Perhaps it's the short sunlight hours and grey winter Melbourne skies, but I've found myself coming home from work and not leaving the couch. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">To enter the giveaway this time, simply leave a comment that gives me some motivation or encouragement.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >So, what will you win? </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Your choice of one of these new <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/ambette?section_id=7079945">iPhone cases</a>. They're made from lovely rich German felt, and closed by a pair of sturdy snaps.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Don't have an iPhone?</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Everyone knows somebody who has one! They'd make a lovely gift for your tech-savvy friend or relative. Alternatively they'll fit an iPod touch, or they can be used as a little pouch for whatever will fit in...</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Leave your entry in the comments section. Don't forget to leave an email address so I can contact you if you win!</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The winner will be announced on Friday July 16th</span></span><br /></div>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-9129965552768224052010-07-04T19:35:00.000-07:002010-07-06T21:56:02.923-07:00Blogaversairy week giveaway<span style="font-family:verdana;">Today is my first blogaversairy - yes, a whole year has passed since that fateful day when I wrote my <a href="http://ambette.blogspot.com/2009/07/first-post.html">first post</a>.</span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">A year ago, I was learning to sew, had no idea about blogging (not that I'm much better at it now), knew pretty much nothing about product photography, wasn't even close to having a shop of my own and my first sale was not to be for another 6 months.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've learnt a lot in the last 12 months. Not just about how to do things, but also about myself - what I enjoy and what I don't enjoy, as well as realising just how much I can do when I put my mind to something.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Looking back on it all, I'm feeling pretty good, so what better time than now for a <span style="font-weight: bold;">giveaway</span>!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'm going to do a few giveaways in the next few weeks, but I'm feeling like making things interesting. For the first of the giveaways I want to hand a bit of creative control over to you guys.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: bold;">Suggest the next giveaway theme:</span><br /><br />To win this week's prize</span>, I want some crazy/creative giveaway themes. The most creative suggestion will win the prize, but will also be the way I run the next giveaway.</span><br /><br /></div><span style="font-family:lucida grande;">Just to give you a couple of examples of what I mean, your entry could be to suggest that the way to enter the next giveaway would be by doing something like:</span> <span style="font-family:lucida grande;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />* Suggesting an alternative name for my shop</span></span> <span style="font-family:lucida grande;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />* Coming up with a creative way to get my shop name noticed<br />...etc<br /><br />Get it?<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">The above two above examples aren't particularly creative, but I'd like to see some really original suggestions. The crazier the better!</span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">- Bonus points if it involves people sending in photos of some sort</span>.<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">- Bonus points if it incorporates getting my shop/blog name 'out there' somehow.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">So, what will you win? </span><br /><br />Your choice of one of these new <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/ambette?section_id=7079945">iPhone cases</a>. They're made from lovely rich German felt, and closed by a pair of sturdy snaps.<br /><br />Don't have an iPhone?<br /><br />Everyone knows somebody who has one! They'd make a lovely gift for your tech-savvy friend or relative. Alternatively they'll fit an iPod touch, or they can be used as a little pouch for whatever will fit in...<br /></span></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/50775014/iphone-case-olive-green-wool-felt-with?ref=v1_other_1"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 140px;" src="http://ny-image2.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.155902702.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/50774737/iphone-case-charcoal-wool-felt-with"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 93px; height: 140px;" src="http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.155901976.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/50773867/iphone-case-grey-felt-with-green-snaps?ref=v1_other_1"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 98px; height: 140px;" src="http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.155899271.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/50777695/iphone-case-charcoal-wool-felt-with-red"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 99px; height: 139px;" src="http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.155912232.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">So, leave your entries in the comments section below (don't forget to leave a way for me to contact you if you win). Enter as many times as you like. I'll decide which one is my favourite entry on Sunday July 11th</span>.ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-14978998898542692952010-06-16T19:15:00.001-07:002010-06-16T19:29:15.598-07:00I've been interviewed!<div style="text-align: justify;">Lara from <a href="http://harvesttextilestudio.blogspot.com/2010/06/student-profile-on-liz-doust-of-ambette.html">Harvest Textiles</a> has done a student profile on me! Click <a href="http://harvesttextilestudio.blogspot.com/2010/06/student-profile-on-liz-doust-of-ambette.html">here</a> for the interview.<br /><br />Make sure you have a look around on Lara's blog - not only does she run some really excellent <a href="http://harvest.bigcartel.com/">classes</a> on screenprinting and toy-making, but she also sells a range of truly gorgeous hand-screenprinted clothing for children under the label <a href="http://littleharvest.bigcartel.com/">Little Harvest</a>. If I had kids, they'd be decked out in Lara's stuff.<br /><br />Thanks again Lara for the interview. I hope to see you again at another screenprinting class in the not-too-distant future!<br /></div>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-71552503132729303252010-06-03T00:42:00.000-07:002010-06-03T00:53:21.217-07:00Yay! New products!<span style="font-family:verdana;">I have one brand spankin' new iPhone case in the shop! I'm quite excited at the prospect of putting some new things in the shop. I've got 4 colours of felt and about 10 different coloured snaps, so it looks like I've got a lot of different options for colour combos. I may be asking for some opinions in the not too distant future....</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">Anyway, here is the first of them:</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/48635980/felt-iphone-case-fuchsia-and-yellow"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 263px; height: 203px;" src="http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.148748081.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/48635980/felt-iphone-case-fuchsia-and-yellow"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 263px; height: 174px;" src="http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.148748059.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ny-image2.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.148748034.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 263px; height: 168px;" src="http://ny-image2.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.148748034.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></div>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-43085037386781754632010-06-02T19:08:00.000-07:002010-06-02T19:19:47.573-07:00New iPhone pockets coming soon<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The felt has arrived, the snaps have arrived, and my new labels have arrived. I've roughly worked out colour combos, so all that's left to do is hit the sewing machine! </span><br /></div><br /><br /><center><a href="http://blogpress.w18.net/photos/10/06/02/2213.jpg"><img src="http://blogpress.w18.net/photos/10/06/02/s_2213.jpg" style="margin: 5px;" border="0" height="210" width="281" /></a></center><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;">Oh and also, I just downloaded an app for blogging from my iPhone, so this the first test. Hope it works ok!<br /></div><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >*Edit: The app seems to work pretty well. The only thing it doesn't really allow you to do is format very well. I don't seem to be able to change the font apart from the size, and can't change text colour or change to bold/italics/underlined. Also can't change the alignment, so had to edit all these things from my computer. Seems like it might be handy for at least writing drafts on the run, and especially good for when you want to use photos from your iphone, but can't be bothered uploading them to your computer.</span><br /></div>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-60102002728684257682010-05-31T06:11:00.000-07:002010-05-31T06:24:42.447-07:00Doodling in front of the tv<span style="font-family: verdana;">Tonight I was kind of doodling while I was watching tv and just trying out a couple of things I've just learnt about Illustrator. Anyway, it wasn't intentional, but it ended up morphing into another pattern:</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPMLYtmb-ZYrzGdVcuh3nXQXmb3D40MfnrxvdEi6obrrIeHxLMiuJ70oe1npPOkmjADkHXC_rNaywquBMUb2fvg6cIZtw9UqvNS6ATpa0hC4TdY9UKddHapX7YPt5hnIG7WiT9qo_8Wco/s1600/retro-burst-for-blog.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 393px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPMLYtmb-ZYrzGdVcuh3nXQXmb3D40MfnrxvdEi6obrrIeHxLMiuJ70oe1npPOkmjADkHXC_rNaywquBMUb2fvg6cIZtw9UqvNS6ATpa0hC4TdY9UKddHapX7YPt5hnIG7WiT9qo_8Wco/s400/retro-burst-for-blog.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477421816507969298" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I suppose at least when I don't feel like sewing, it's good to still be able to do something a bit productive at the same time as watching tv*.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Anyway, I don't think I'll be able to give up my day job just yet - my patterns need plenty of work - but I'm enjoying doing something a bit different. I think for my next pattern I want to come up with something that will fit in with what I've got in the shop at the moment so I'll be able to get it printed at Spoonflower and actually use it on something tangible. Ooh, that would be neat to make something with my own fabric!</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br /><br />* Don't ask me what was on the tv..... I don't remember!</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></div>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-78423089697004572522010-05-26T00:33:00.001-07:002010-05-26T01:01:21.109-07:00A question for surface designers<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ok, so I was making a repeat pattern in Illustrator today and got to the end to check that the repeat was seamless, when to my annoyance I noticed a faint white line vertically and horizontally (where the edges of the repeat were) when I used my swatch as a fill. Naturally I thought I'd mis-aligned something so I went back and checked everything. Everything was lined up correctly, and the square I used to crop the edges was exactly the same size as the artboard, and I centered it properly using the align tool.</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi70TT-PMS3EfkHrTzMh3d22jPqqNT6abE6-CuyCrti-KEjj8ujADDtM1cVqd7pl5Nmk9_7ex1MEeP4EPjRNYKclTWKwYuKkqc541hPT0Ww1tK4HaW3t9CmjLD8eUXrMurY_mWlKEe545A/s1600/Rainy-day-.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 264px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi70TT-PMS3EfkHrTzMh3d22jPqqNT6abE6-CuyCrti-KEjj8ujADDtM1cVqd7pl5Nmk9_7ex1MEeP4EPjRNYKclTWKwYuKkqc541hPT0Ww1tK4HaW3t9CmjLD8eUXrMurY_mWlKEe545A/s400/Rainy-day-.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475478683464171730" border="0" /></a><br /><br />It left me scratching my head a bit....<br /><br />So I used the swatch as a fill again, and zoomed in a few times and zoomed out. I noticed that the lines were only showing up when I zoomed out to a certain size, but never when when I was viewing at 100%. I thought I'd check even further, and converted it to .jpg. I don't seem to be able to see any of the lines in .jpg form so now I'm wondering why they're showing up?<br /><br />I even re-booted my computer, thinking it was maybe a temporary problem with the program, but it kept happening after the re-boot.<br /><br />Can anyone shed some light on this?<br /></div>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-42124344918469986942010-05-25T03:24:00.000-07:002010-05-25T03:34:37.251-07:00Playing with pattern<span style="font-family: verdana;">Well, today was a day spent at home sick in bed, but it was not a day entirely wasted. Since I didn't feel like sitting at the sewing machine, I thought I'd get back to playing on Illustrator and <span style="font-style: italic;">really </span>nut out how to do a repeating pattern properly. Well, I'm happy to say, I've finally figured it out! I can now do a straight repeating pattern, a half-brick and half-drop pattern and I can do them quickly! Yay!</span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">I haven't attempted other variations yet, but now I know how to do it, I've got lots of ideas.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfO862SNhYWcagXKowgEF_tRdZf4tOXPUBSftrqD6JJyTIeTquNkdg0qQVkbocVXNYzv-3jZGT-6fiwKntZG4roY-sNDYhyphenhyphenHsXx0CvNntYbXzZDXNC8asqsLPjk5vY_Pcn0WYkWCr2TwA/s1600/yellow-chicks-half-brick.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 334px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfO862SNhYWcagXKowgEF_tRdZf4tOXPUBSftrqD6JJyTIeTquNkdg0qQVkbocVXNYzv-3jZGT-6fiwKntZG4roY-sNDYhyphenhyphenHsXx0CvNntYbXzZDXNC8asqsLPjk5vY_Pcn0WYkWCr2TwA/s400/yellow-chicks-half-brick.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475151950800122098" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-family: verdana;">I call this one 'Yellow Chicks'.<br />The chicks are quite a bit bigger in their actual size, but this is a little bit shrunken.</span></span><br /><br /><br /><div style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;">So, obviously it's a pretty simple pattern, but I just wanted to get the technique down-pat before I start playing around with more complicated patterns.<br /><br />I'm really happy I eventually got round to nutting this out! Yay!<br /></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-36082891011367834232010-05-21T22:37:00.000-07:002010-05-24T07:22:32.033-07:00New iPhone case<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >I was thinking of adding a range of iPhone cases to the shop, and thought I'd have a go at making one up this afternoon. I wanted a really simple, quick design, so I made it up out of a piece of felt I had lying around, and secured the flap with some press-studs that I bought ages ago, but have never used.</span><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >I'm pretty happy with it as a prototype. It's quick and easy to make so might be a nice addition to my shop as I've been needing something in the lower price range that also fits in with my recent tendency for making cases for Apple products.</span><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >Anyway, I haven't re-invented the wheel, but here it is:</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1KgUM5af2uHtClZjSMgAxIJjdarpNOW68n3_fXvwuJXCz8vhrj9l7qKsxeH9V95FDTa5aJTiq1Pf7KVBl3sO_3VH_T_6_d0uZKZi40fyXqPvGSPqiY-ZAauCrIi4cL2xXZjeawL0CWz0/s1600/IMG_0606.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1KgUM5af2uHtClZjSMgAxIJjdarpNOW68n3_fXvwuJXCz8vhrj9l7qKsxeH9V95FDTa5aJTiq1Pf7KVBl3sO_3VH_T_6_d0uZKZi40fyXqPvGSPqiY-ZAauCrIi4cL2xXZjeawL0CWz0/s200/IMG_0606.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474365946721816626" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2DT61VBpVgPqzn9432zxiW32LyrqmGRj4-4GARkBA6jjvF6M9gmtlm8AFR23ZLC5-WMcqUn4o0yKmwmfrgX7jBXdB4UZW_dk6HC5CgLinbp-rjym5gbDtb7qmcXKQvi9L0k2TybBDSf8/s1600/IMG_0608.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2DT61VBpVgPqzn9432zxiW32LyrqmGRj4-4GARkBA6jjvF6M9gmtlm8AFR23ZLC5-WMcqUn4o0yKmwmfrgX7jBXdB4UZW_dk6HC5CgLinbp-rjym5gbDtb7qmcXKQvi9L0k2TybBDSf8/s200/IMG_0608.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474366501094114290" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimWBPX7Jn5zzo2VWczbwSbmgXwqZseSSoVf2BotTp-joOwAztVll3xh3LbFH4tirAB_rNTa72tQ40gCBtqKHx2c8qLl6i04LiM_U_8d_UyeqeH3OsqCEupTWhhoNBSxw_eq6RdpYfkN3Q/s1600/IMG_0609.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimWBPX7Jn5zzo2VWczbwSbmgXwqZseSSoVf2BotTp-joOwAztVll3xh3LbFH4tirAB_rNTa72tQ40gCBtqKHx2c8qLl6i04LiM_U_8d_UyeqeH3OsqCEupTWhhoNBSxw_eq6RdpYfkN3Q/s200/IMG_0609.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474367090995769858" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAMlBfvGC0JasXyLIrwaX2i6Z981I44JLc0Kc18pJ_MCTNIzczqzX1f8yg98cauReHJMjlkhEAol3YzHbDyslQ3Kt4Sj4nbuwGzQ_ZHu5Ci5WaCRTBjtihBpsjyGnICt3qhLbctENIll4/s1600/IMG_0104.JPG"><br /></a></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >I think the only thing that really needs to be done to improve it, is probably using slightly thicker felt. This one was made with felt that's approximately 1.5mm thick. I think I </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >probably </span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> need to go with 2mm felt just for the little bit of extra reinforcement. I'm a tiny bit worried that after multiple openings and closings, that the press-studs might eventually rip out from all the force placed on the felt.</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Anyway, I think I might order in a little sample of thicker felt and see if it works, then I might bang a few out and put them up in the shop to see how they go. It's quite exciting to work with felt - it's so nice not to have to worry about linings and raw edges. It's really the lazy person's ultimate material!</span><br /></span></div></div>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-87230597460415098072010-05-19T01:35:00.000-07:002010-05-19T01:53:06.548-07:00and the winner is....<div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Technobimbo!<br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Congratulations! I'll be contacting you shortly for your preference of fabric and postal address. Thank you to everyone who responded. You've all been very helpful, and I'm taking all your suggestions on board.</span></span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></div></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT95lpSVhkke92DlXyPR1ac7txrn15DPoakI7MCA0-sG423QFH-UWXE-Bimw35fopcVsuosPY0iUmhWSx7zsrmWgFVLl10qjrfs7-eDAnQjK4JUTyD46g8s2-yDmVhsph9HuvO4fCq8Y0/s1600/Picture+2.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 164px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT95lpSVhkke92DlXyPR1ac7txrn15DPoakI7MCA0-sG423QFH-UWXE-Bimw35fopcVsuosPY0iUmhWSx7zsrmWgFVLl10qjrfs7-eDAnQjK4JUTyD46g8s2-yDmVhsph9HuvO4fCq8Y0/s400/Picture+2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472897527933315474" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />The result was generated by a random number generator at random.org (see screen cap above). Sorry about the smallness of the screen cap - I couldn't seem to make it any bigger. Anyway if you can't see it, the random number generated was '1'.</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /></span>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-53142468106950327252010-05-16T21:56:00.000-07:002010-05-16T23:31:37.165-07:00The end of all things....<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">....custom</span></span><br /><div face="verdana" style="text-align: justify;"><br />I think I've just about made the decision (for the moment) to put a halt on custom orders. While they have made up around 1/4 of my sales so far, I've decided they suck up way more time than they're worth.<br /><br />I've had quite a few enquiries about custom orders lately. Often when I tell people I charge an extra $10 for a custom order, people seem to balk at it and change their minds because they find it too expensive. But really $10 is extremely cheap and I should charge a lot more for a custom order. I tell people the extra $10 is for extra materials and labour, but after you've subtracted the cost of additional materials from that, you're really only getting about $6 for labour. These are all the extra things I have to do for that extra $6, just to put it into perspective:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1. Extra correspondence</span>. I usually have to send about 2 or 3 emails (sometimes more) to the buyer. Often it takes some email ping-pong to work out exactly what they're asking for - specific colours, plus often I won't be given the specific dimensions of their laptop eg. I might be given the width and depth measurements, but not the thickness, and I have to send another email to get that information.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2. Drafting a new pattern</span>. I have to take the measurements of their laptop and re-size everything. It's not just a matter of tacking on a few extra cm, or taking a few extra off. I have to scale each part of the laptop sleeve by a percentage, so that's a bunch of extra calculations. For example, I have to work out how big to make the coloured canvas section, how big to make the flap, where to position the elastic loops and buttons so that everything is the same proportion as the original laptop sleeve.<br /><br />Once all these calculations are done, I then have to mark all the pattern pieces out on paper and cut the pattern out.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">3. Stress</span>. I tell people to allow a week for me to make it for them. I fit this in around full-time work, plus a few sporting commitments, and when I have a custom order deadline, it feels like homework. Sometimes I come home and I just want to have a glass of wine and watch tv. When I have a custom order, that takes priority. I'd much rather make products when I feel like it and have them ready to ship when I get the order, rather than rushing around trying to get something finished in time. Also on the subject of stress, usually I don't have something the same size as the customer's laptop, so it stresses me out that I can't check the fit before I send it off to them. So far everything has been fine, but I still get worried that I mis-calculated something and it won't fit.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">4. Extra photos</span>. Even though the custom order looks pretty much like the original design I'm basing it on, I still take photos of the actual product for the customer to look at. I'm generally not as stringent with the quality of these photos, but they still take time. With the items I stock in my shop, I have stock photos of all my items so I don't have to take new photos every time I re-list something that's sold.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">5. Setting up a new listing</span>. Granted it doesn't take as much time as writing a listing for a new product, but it still takes time to load all the photos and copy the listing from the original.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">6. Packaging and posting.</span> Often the custom laptop sleeves are an odd size. I have a bunch of mailing envelopes I use to post the 13" sleeves so when I sell one of those I just grab one from the pile, package it up and off it goes. When I've got a custom sleeve which is bigger than what I usually send, it means a separate trip to the post office to try to find something big enough to post it in. This leads onto the final point....<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7. Underestimated postage costs</span>. My 13" sleeves are on that knife's edge, weight-wise. They're really close to 250g, which is the upper limit if you want to send something internationally for $9.30AUD. Often I'll forget that the custom sleeve is bigger and therefore heavier and it'll tip the total weight over 250g, which adds another $6 onto the postage. Usually the postage has already been paid for and I'll have to absorb the extra cost. There goes the extra measly $6 I made for making a custom order in the first place.<br /><br /><br />So, after weighing all this up, I've decided that all the time I spend doing the above things would be much better spent sewing up stock for my shop, or developing new products or coming up with new designs to screenprint. My shop is not going to develop and expand if I keep spending what little time I have to do all this extra work on custom orders that don't really pay off.<br /><br />Ahhhh that's a weight off my mind!<br /><br /></div><br /><br />Don't forget to enter the <a href="http://ambette.blogspot.com/2010/05/i-need-your-opinion-giveaway.html">giveaway</a> which ends on Wednesday! The winner will be drawn by random number generator. Enter by leaving your opinion in the comments section for your chance to win a little zippered purse.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.133505921.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 105px; height: 78px;" src="http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.133505921.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.133505032.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 113px; height: 77px;" src="http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.133505032.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777477722944599165.post-80391983311353483852010-05-11T18:23:00.000-07:002010-05-19T01:55:22.642-07:00I need your opinion - giveaway!<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've recently been working on a new design for the iPad which is soon to be released in Australia. Basically it's just a simple pocket, made from hessian, with an original design screenprinted onto the front.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/46507991/ipad-sleeve-green-crop-circles-original"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 255px; height: 169px;" src="http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.143044247.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've currently got 2 variations on the design. As per the green one, there's a band of colour at the top of the sleeve (it doesn't have to be the same colour as the design on the front, but that's just what I ended up with this time). With this design, the iPad sits down in the sleeve a bit further, and the edge is somewhat protected by the coloured strip around the top.</span><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/46652621/ipad-sleeve-yellow-crop-circles-original?ref=v1_other_2"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 261px; height: 179px;" src="http://ny-image2.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.143519494.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;">With the other variation (like the yellow one on the left), There is no strip of colour at the top, and the edge of the iPad sits flush with the opening.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/46654250/ipad-sleeve-red-crop-circles-original"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 172px;" src="http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.143524961.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">The red one is essentially the same as the yellow one, but just in a different colour.</span><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />So, what I'd like is your opinion:</span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">1. Which variation do you like better?</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />2. Do you think I should have both variations in my shop, or just stick to uniformity?</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />3. Are there any particular colours you'd like to see on them?</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />4. What do you think would be a fair price for these sleeves?</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">5. Are there any other comments you'd like to add?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Comment below for your chance to win one of these cute little zip purses! The winner will be determined by a random number generator on Wednesday May 19th, so get your entry in before then!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >** don't forget to leave some form of contact details so I can get in touch with you if you win!</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">19/5/2010: Entries have now been closed and the winner drawn. Congratulations to Technobimbo! The winner was determined by random number generator at random.org. Thanks to everyone for participating.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.133505921.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 128px; height: 96px;" src="http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.133505921.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.133505032.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 140px; height: 94px;" src="http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.133505032.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div>ambettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372847527300642851noreply@blogger.com13