Thursday, December 3, 2009

Beary Christmas!! Thursday One and Done Auction

Timbo here with yet another Thursday One and Done Auction (TOADA). We had our first frost the other day and also we went and saw the lights at our local botanical garden so I'm feeling all Wintry/Christmas-y this week. With that in mind I drew this teddy bear trying to keep warm with his stocking cap and scarf. He was thinking about eating the candy cane but he's already stuffed (insert rim shot here).



I hope he finds a good home! Thanks in advance for playing/bidding and don't forget to send us a link if you post a card made the digital image.


Here's the full scoop on playing:

Bidding starts at 1¢. To bid, you simply enter your bid total in the comments section of this post. There are no set increments, though each bid must be higher than the one before it. Copyright for the image follows the same policy as the rest of our digital designs. The winner will have almost exclusive rights to the image except I may still  use it to promote the auction and Hambo stamps. Also I may at some point do a variation on the theme of the drawing

Bidding will continue until 10:00 pm (EST). The comments are time-stamped, so when we look back (tomorrow morning), the last comment left at exactly 10:00 pm or before will be the winner, and will pay the price that was bid, via Paypal or money order. If you're unfamiliar with digital images and would like to try them out before you place a bid, you can find links HERE to a couple of free image downloads to experiment with. Please do not bid unless you intend to follow through with payment should you win.

Auction "smack" is permitted, and encouraged! We want this to be a fun thing, so get over on the comment board and have some fun. If you want the image and don't have time to keep upping the bid, go ahead and place your final price, and see if anyone will be willing to top it. We'll list the winner on the blog tomorrow, and the winner will need to contact us with an email address to which the image can be sent.

Thanks for playing!!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Sale Extended!

I was a little late in getting the newsletter about the Cyber Monday sale sent out yesterday, so we're going to run the sale for one more day. If you weren't able to get your order in yesterday, you've got until midnight tonight to qualify for the discounts/freebies. All the sale details can be found HERE.

My daughter Micah awoke early today to check the first box of the countdown calendar. Although I'd explained that the "treasure hunt" was something she and her brother were to do TOGETHER, she read the clue and began her search. (I wrote a short verse for the clue: Inside a big brown flip-top chest is where your first small gift will rest.) I caught her sneaking around opening things, and again told her she'd have to wait for Sam to wake up before she could search. So of course she went and woke him up! It didn't take long for them to find their gifts (2010 calendars, which I got for 75¢/ea. at Michaels!) in the blanket chest at the foot of the bed. :)

This morning I saw another awesome countdown idea on MacKenzie's blog. That girl is SO clever! I love her list of family activities and might borrow some of them for "treasures" myself.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy December!!

Monday, November 30, 2009

Cyber Monday!

Hi everyone - we missed you when we were closed last week! But we're open again now, just in time for Cyber Monday!

What does a Hambo 'Cyber Monday' look like? How about this:

For today only -- Monday, Nov. 30, thru midnight PST -- we're offering 30% all in-stock regular-priced Hambo Stamps. But we're going to give you an extra deal on our SALE stamps too! Buy any 3 UMs from our SALE pages (Sale, Retiring, Seconds) and we'll throw in a 4th. If you buy 6 UMs, you'll get 2 free UMs, if you buy 9, you'll get 3, etc. (If you purchase UMs with cushion, the freebie will be on cushion as well. If the UMs you buy are bare rubber, you'll receive bare rubber freebies.) And if you buy 3 Digital Stamps, we'll give you a 4th for free. Please note that all freebies are OUR choice, though we'll try to send something that coordinates with your order, if possible.

There is no free shipping to be earned during this sale event, though we'll only charge ACTUAL shipping on your order, as always.

So what're ya waitin' for? Get shoppin'!!

Friday, November 20, 2009

Baby Love



The other night I got to keep an eye on a friend's baby. She thought she was imposing on me to ask me to watch him, but I assured her that I wouldn't be having any more babies of my own, so I would LOVE to borrow her baby for a while. When you borrow, you get all of the goodness, and none of the mess. :)

Here's a baby card I made for a friend who recently had a little girl. Of course it's traditional to use pink for little girls, but having had a baby girl myself, I know that you kind of get inundated at first with all things pink and it's nice to have a little variety.

The card features our Baby Got Back baby stamp (colored with Copics), along with the "Huggies & Kisses" saying that I love to pair it with. I'm again using this month's "Hogs & Sketches" layout, so for the two little extras off to the side, I used our Bottle & Pacifier stamps, both of which will soon be retired. (There's a few left, so get 'em before they're gone!)

Speaking of the "Hogs & Sketches" challenge, remember that you have until midnight of the 29th to submit your entry, and have a shot at winning one of two great prizes. As of this morning, we only have 4 submissions, so your odds of winning are quite good. This will be our last sketch challenge of the year; because December is always such a busy month with all the holiday stuff going on, we've decided to take the month off. The challenge will return on Dec. 30 with a brand new sketch to start off the new year.

Remember that we'll be closed for a week, starting tomorrow. Any orders or emails that come in during that time will be attended to once we re-open on the 29th. There will not be a "One & Done" auction this week, but we'll return with another fun digital image up for grabs on Thurs., Dec. 3.

Here at Hambo we have so much to be thankful for, not the least of which are our customers and friends! We thank you for your continued support, and wish you ALL a very safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday! :)

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Thursday Auction Action!!!

Timbo here for another Thursday One and Done Auction! But first a big Hambo Happy Birthday  shout out to MacKenzie. Hope you have a great day and get lots of presents!! And candy and cake.

This week's drawing is ..... drum roll please ...... a cupcake. The rubber stamp world just doesn't have enough cupcakes in my opinion. Well, they might actually but I'm going  to go ahead and throw mine on the pile.



It's always fun to draw cupcakes because they can pretty much be anything you want them to be. I wanted this one to have heart candy and a nice friendly cupcake face. Thanks everyone and have a great Thursday!!


Read the rules here or just post a comment with your bid!

Bidding starts at 1¢. To bid, you simply enter your bid total in the comments section of this post. There are no set increments, though each bid must be higher than the one before it. Copyright for the image follows the same policy as the rest of our digital designs. The winner will have almost exclusive rights to the image except I may still  use it to promote the auction and Hambo stamps. Also I may at some point do a variation on the theme of the drawing

Bidding will continue until 10:00 pm (EST). The comments are time-stamped, so when we look back (tomorrow morning), the last comment left at exactly 10:00 pm or before will be the winner, and will pay the price that was bid, via Paypal or money order. If you're unfamiliar with digital images and would like to try them out before you place a bid, you can find links HERE to a couple of free image downloads to experiment with. Please do not bid unless you intend to follow through with payment should you win.

Auction "smack" is permitted, and encouraged! We want this to be a fun thing, so get over on the comment board and have some fun. If you want the image and don't have time to keep upping the bid, go ahead and place your final price, and see if anyone will be willing to top it. We'll list the winner on the blog tomorrow, and the winner will need to contact us with an email address to which the image can be sent.

Thanks for playing!!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Leggo my Ego!

Conversation with my 6-yr-old son:

Sam:  When I grow up, can I build things with Daddy?

Me: Sure!

Sam: Can people build with anyone they want?

Me: Uh, I guess. Do you want to build something with ME?

Sam: You're not a builder! You're just a stamper.

(I'm not going to let it wreck my self-esteem.)

Monday, November 16, 2009

The Final Countdown

Remember the "Countdown Calendar" I'd started last week? I finished it just yesterday. As a reminder, here's how I started: (Warning -- LOTS of pictures ahead!)



And here is the finished product:



I've gotta say I'm THRILLED with how it turned out! The hardest part of the whole thing was tying the bow on top, because it was a chunky ribbon.



I'd wanted to use a satin ribbon, but besides the fact that the store didn't have the color I needed in satin, the lady in the flower dept. told me that satin ribbon tends to come loose very easily. She said the grosgrain would stay tied much better, so that's what I opted for. Just to be sure, the bow has glue dots all over the place to hold it. I'm not tying that sucker again! One more note about the bow: Because I didn't want the ribbon ends (the part you pull to untie it) hanging down in front of the drawers, I used one of them to wrap around the center knot, giving it a nice flat look. I then trimmed off the ribbon end on the other side short enough that it hides in the loop. Here's the side angle:



I'd planned to do a ribbon that was a darker green to look a little more Christmasy, but the darker tones didn't match my papers as well. Tim assured me that the lighter color looked fine, so I'm taking his word for it.

Here are some closer looks at the different drawers:



It doesn't show up too well in the photo, but I rubbed Ice Stickles all over the blue paper behind the penguin, so it's sparkly like, well... ice.



On drawer 9 I have a ribbon handle that arcs out, which you can't see in this picture. You can pull on that to open the drawer easily.




Drawer 12 is perhaps my favorite drawer (close in running to drawer 18) because of how it came together. Although the calendar kit came with a sheet of number stickers, I wanted to mix it up and use different kinds of numbers. In looking all through my supplies, I came across some clear number stamps in a Martha Stewart set. Although I've had bad luck with them before (and did again this time!) I used them anyway. The numbers are "negatives" in a circle -- meaning the circle is what picks up the color, not the number. After stamping with all kinds of inks to get a good impression, I settled on this attempt using Fresco chalk ink. I cut out the circles, but was still bothered by how the ink was uneven. Since I was surrounded by different supplies, I spotted my Spica clear glitter pen and thought that would help, and I think it did! The shine on the circles made me think a little of ornaments, so I decided that that's what they'd be. I ran upstairs and got some real Christmas tree hooks and snipped them a little shorter. Then I found some silver metallic cardstock and free-handed the toppers. And the moment of serendipity came when I went to attach the ornaments to the drawer, and realized that the paper pattern was pine trees. (I was pretty dang pleased with myself at that moment!) Moving on:



I had kind of a busy pattern for drawer 20 and couldn't decide on an embellishment. After trying several ideas I happened to look up and spot our Icicle stamp on the shelf. While our stamp was too large for this treatment, it gave me the idea at least, so I free-handed some icicles on white cardstock, then again covered them with clear Stickles to make 'em sparkle. I'm happy with the result.



As mentioned before, I'm also quite pleased with drawer 18. In putting this calendar together, you wouldn't believe all the supplies I found that were pushed back in drawers or filed away -- many of them never used. This snowman was one of those things. He's part of a Cuttlebug die set. When I cut him out, I didn't have a specific place for him to go -- and then I realized that he was in the shape of an "8" (a little top-heavy, but then so am I, and I've come to terms with it and so should he!). I decided to use him for drawer 18, so I needed a "1" to go with him. I thought of a candy cane, so once again I cut out what I thought was a proper candy cane shape, then colored some stripes on with a marker. The little snow cap was a 3-D sticker that came with a polar bear sticker set. (Sadly, the polar bears were all too big to use.) Now I know you might not immediately see that it's supposed to be an "18" ... but when sandwiched between the "17" and "19" ... I think you can figure it out. :)  Hang in there, we're almost done:



Here's the bottom row. I used the Hambo Mittens on drawer 23. I'd intended to use more Hambo stamps on the calendar, but most were too big, and though I considered using Shrinky Dinks with them, I ended up going with alternate embellishments in the end.

Here's a quick rundown of some of the supplies I used: stickers, buttons, eyelets, brads, chipboard, pearls, gems, rinestones, Crop-a-Dile, Cuttlebug, yarn, wire, ribbon, Stickles, paper, chalk ink, glitter pen, white gel pen, clear stamps, rubber stamps, silk flower, paper-piercer, scissors, glue, glue dots, Copic markers, dimensionals, Christmas hangers, and probably much more! And one of the best things about this is that I finally used some of my supplies that had been neglected. Now I don't feel so guilty! LOL

Thanks for stopping by and humoring me as I gushed over this project! It's just that this is so different than anything I've done, and FAR outside what I thought was my comfort zone. Boy was I wrong! This was a TON of fun, and if you have any inkling to try making one yourself, I encourage you to go for it!!

Have a great Monday!!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Holiday Closings

Happy Friday everyone!

I just wanted to post a quick note to let you know that we will be closing shop for the whole week of Thanksgiving. The kids are out of school and we'll have family in town, so we'll pretty much be on the run with activities and holiday plans.

Any orders will need to go out in the mail a week from today (Nov. 20th), so that means the orders and payments must be received before then. Please plan ahead if there's anything you'll be needing!

We'll be opening up shop again on Sunday, Nov. 29., so any orders or emails received during the span that we're closed will be attended to then.

Thanks, and have a GREAT weekend! :)

Thursday, November 12, 2009

No place like Gnome?



 Timbo here with the Thursday One and Done  Auction!  Monica suggested I draw a gnome this week and here is my version of one.





 At first I was worried he would look too much like Santa. I made him a little more woodsy with the rope belt and tattered sleeves and it seems the pointy hat is a requirement for gnomes. I didn't get a chance to color this guy but he looks like fun to do.

Some great fun last week with the bidding going right to the end!!! Be sure to tell all of your friends about the auction and if you win show us what you've done. Have a great Thursday everyone.




Rules!!!!

Bidding starts at 1¢. To bid, you simply enter your bid total in the comments section of this post. There are no set increments, though each bid must be higher than the one before it. Copyright for the image follows the same policy as the rest of our digital designs. The winner will have almost exclusive rights to the image except I may still  use it to promote the auction and Hambo stamps. Also I may at some point do a variation on the theme of the drawing

Bidding will continue until 10:00 pm (EST). The comments are time-stamped, so when we look back (tomorrow morning), the last comment left at exactly 10:00 pm or before will be the winner, and will pay the price that was bid, via Paypal or money order. If you're unfamiliar with digital images and would like to try them out before you place a bid, you can find links HERE to a couple of free image downloads to experiment with. Please do not bid unless you intend to follow through with payment should you win.

Auction "smack" is permitted, and encouraged! We want this to be a fun thing, so get over on the comment board and have some fun. If you want the image and don't have time to keep upping the bid, go ahead and place your final price, and see if anyone will be willing to top it. We'll list the winner on the blog tomorrow, and the winner will need to contact us with an email address to which the image can be sent.

Thanks for playing!!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Working Outside the Box

I haven't done much "Hambo" stuff lately because of other projects that have come up -- one of which being my daughter's school project on Spain -- but I HAVE taken some time to do a totally fun, totally indulgent project for myself: a countdown calendar!

One of my sweet friends remembered that last year I wanted to make one of these calendars, and she correctly guessed that I'd not gotten around to it, so she sent me a calendar kit by Karen Foster, which I think she bought at Archivers, along with some papers and embellishments. I haven't finished the project, but thought I'd show you a picture of the progress I've made:



First of all, when I received the kit I was completely overjoyed, and also completely overwhelmed, because I've never done a project like this, and I didn't want to mess it up. But I decided to dive right in, and as it turns out, it's actually VERY easy to do, and I don't think it's something you CAN mess up because anything goes! Once I realized that you don't have to paper the entire drawer -- only the front -- it didn't take long at all to get to this point. The calendar kit included a template, so I just put the template on top of my paper, cut out a square with rounded corners, and then used the template to trace and cut out for the finger notches. I sanded the front of the drawers very lightly, because they were glossy, and then applied Mod Podge to attach the papers. Nearly all of the papers came from the same BasicGrey pad called "Eskimo Kisses," though I used a few other random papers that fit the color scheme to finish out the other 5 drawers so that I wouldn't repeat patterns on them. (Not that it would matter if I did, because they can be embellished differently.)

I've already started the embellishing, and I'll show you a picture of the finished project once I'm done. I just wanted to share this with you today in case this might be a project you'd like to try. The drawers are very tiny, so I'm thinking that I'll do one of two things: I have a few small boxes with locks, so I might hide little gifts for the kids in these boxes, and then put the keys in different calendar drawers; I also might hide small gifts around the house, and put the clues for finding the gifts in the drawers. That way, each day the kids can go on a small treasure hunt through the house. I think this will be such a fun holiday tradition -- and it's a bonus that it's been so fun for me to make. I'm already thinking about doing another... and another...

Thanks for stopping by! Remember to return for our "One and Done" auction tomorrow!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Belated Birthday Wishes

Yesterday was Tim's birthday, and I was able to get a card made for him just in the nick of time! Since being sick, I hadn't stamped in about 2 weeks, and it was good to get back in the saddle. Of course, I had to ease back into it gently ... and what better way than using a sketch to do all the thinking for me. The following sketch is this month's "Hogs & Sketches" design:




I wanted to use the Squirrel image which Tim had colored for me a while back, but since the squirrel would have been facing off the page if I'd followed the sketch exactly, I flipped the whole sketch instead. That's allowed, you know!





The layout was perfect for using the coordinating Acorn image, as well as the "My Favorite Nut" sentiment in the boxes.  The DP is two different sheets, both by Pebbles, Inc. -- Legacy Plaid (background) and Legacy Stripe. I used SU Old Olive to frame around each of the boxes.

Easy, breezy, beautiful ... Cover Squirrel.

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great week!!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Come On In! The Water's Fine!

Happy Thursday everyone! Timbo here with the Thursday One and Done Digital Auction! Or as we call it,  TOADDA. Actually this is the first time I've called it that but it might work. Shorten it to TOAD? Anyway today's image is inspired by  a Canadian saying that goes something like this.... 'Sometimes you get the Gators and sometimes the Gators get you.' At least I think it's Canadian.... ??

I played around with coloring this and it was a lot of fun. You can either camouflage the gators or make them pop. The winners can feel free to post a link to their creations made with the digitals!






Monica has been a little under the weather lately but I think she is about 90% now! Be sure to tell all your friends about the auction! Have a great day and Happy Coloring!


Rules, rules, and more rules:

Bidding starts at 1¢. To bid, you simply enter your bid total in the comments section of this post. There are no set increments, though each bid must be higher than the one before it. Copyright for the image follows the same policy as the rest of our digital designs. The winner will have almost exclusive rights to the image except I may still color the image and use it to promote the auction. Also I may at some point do a variation on the theme of the drawing

Bidding will continue until 10:00 pm (EST). The comments are time-stamped, so when we look back (tomorrow morning), the last comment left at exactly 10:00 pm or before will be the winner, and will pay the price that was bid, via Paypal or money order. If you're unfamiliar with digital images and would like to try them out before you place a bid, you can find links HERE to a couple of free image downloads to experiment with. Please do not bid unless you intend to follow through with payment should you win.

Auction "smack" is permitted, and encouraged! We want this to be a fun thing, so get over on the comment board and have some fun. If you want the image and don't have time to keep upping the bid, go ahead and place your final price, and see if anyone will be willing to top it. We'll list the winner on the blog tomorrow, and the winner will need to contact us with an email address to which the image can be sent.

Thanks for playing!!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Santa Pig is Coming To Town!


Timbo here! Here's a look at another new digital image we have out. It's Santa Pig with a bag full of presents or maybe just corn ...... you know pigs!




 I really liked this jolly ol' fellow when I drew him. It was one of those easy drawings that I didn't have to struggle through. Sometimes that does happen! I went ahead and colored him and drew in a little scene around him. I used some Inktense pencils on this as well as a bunch of Prismacolors. The sky gave me fits as I drew it and probably went over it 6 times with different colors but I like the end result. Thinking about doing a rooftop scene like this as a digital. Any comments on that?





Thanks for looking and happy coloring!!

Friday, October 30, 2009

Snails, Oom Pah Pah Music, and Storytime!

Timbo here! This is one of our new digital images Snail Tuba.





Now the back story..... this was from one of the stories I tell my kids. There was a big parade that day in Marmoosia where the Marmoots live. The 'All Male Snail Marching Band' were to lead the way. Of course being snails they were awful slow and didn't get very far after an hour of 'marching'. So someone had the bright idea of turning the parade around so the snails were now last instead of first. The rest of the parade went off without a hitch!





Our friend Isabelle  had a birthday this week and we thought this would make for a great card. I'm not sure why.  She is from the land of Oom Pah Pah Music so maybe that's it. On the inside it says 'Happy Birthday Tuba You'! Judy came up with that saying, pretty funny I think. I printed the image on card stock and went to work with my Prismacolors and regular graphite pencils to create the background. I had a lot of fun with this one! Thanks everyone for looking and have a super weekend!!

Congrats to Libby for winning yesterday's One and Done Thursday Auction!!