More Resist Technique entries!

Hello stampers!

You only have until midnight tonight (AEST) to send in your entry for this month's Resist Techniques challenge! It's not as hard as you may think, so don't be afraid to give it a go! :)

I have a few new entries to share today!

First we have this Christmas card by Robyn Wood:

Robyn says:

"I have used Darkroom Door Christmas stamps – Christmas Reindeer & Yuletide Vol 2. The front is stamped with Brilliance and the reindeer is clear embossed".

"The inside is also stamped with Brilliance ink, but it is heat set, not embossed. I imagined the reindeers flying across the sky on their way to meet Santa :) The branches along the bottom are stamped with Brilliance in a rust & olive. Once heat set the card base can be sponged with dye inks. I used Distress Inks - 'Mustard Seed', 'Tumbled Glass', and 'Shabby Shutters'".

Here is a close up:

"It is a bit hard to see but the Brilliance ink retains the lovely pearly effect. The card is so much more effective in real life".

Fabulous work Robyn!

Next we have a card that was created by Shirley Henry:

Shirley says:

"The bird cage was inked with Scattered Straw distress ink, heat embossed with Scattered Straw Distress embossing powder and then was cut out. Birds were stamped to paper with Versafine black ink.
The patterned paper is from Daisyd's Premium paper pack. The patterned paper was lightly sponged with Scattered Straw and Tumbled glass inks".

"The branches are Sizzix 'Birds and Branches' Decorative Strip die. Coloured with Mushroom and Lettuce dabber paints and glued just the branches to the pattern paper. The bird cage is attached with double sided tape. Light lemon gems were added to the bottom of the cage".

"Sentiment stamped in Versafine black and then crayon resisted in scattered straw. Attached to a scrap of black card and then attached to card front with foam tape. Cage, birds and quote are from Darkroom Door Essentials 6 'Love Birds' stamp set".

Gorgeous work Shirley!

Last but not least we have this great card by Inkurable Youngster Emily Shultz:

Emily says:

"I stamped the car from the Hot Picks #1007 stamp set by Paper Artsy, and embossed the cars in white embossing powder and clear embossing powder to get different shades of white. In the bottom left corner I added a black embossed car. Then using the sizzix puzzle piece die (#2) I “spotlighted” the black car. I inked the image red with distress inks and added the finishing touches".

Terrific work Emily!

I do have at least one more entry to share, but I've run out of time this morning!! I'll pop back later on this afternoon to share some more!

~Sarah~

Gothic Arch Challenge #14 - NUMBERS!

Hi stampers!

Your next Gothic Arch challenge theme is NUMBERS!

Fiona has created another gorgeous sample arch for us:

Products Used:

* White Cardstock.

* Stamps – Paperbag Studios ‘Emily’.

* Tim Holtz Urban Grunge (flourish).

* Darkroom Door Alphabet Medley.

* Distress Inks – Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo.

* Black Archival ink.

* Glimmermist – iridescent gold.

* Martha Stewart ‘modern garland’ edge punch.

* Ten Seconds Studio – metal and tools.

* Faber Castell brown artist pen.

From Fiona:

"Antique linen, rusty hinge and vintage photo inks applied to arch. Glimmermist was sprayed on to scrap white card and left to dry. Once dry, it was lightly coloured in antique linen and tea dye inks, then ‘Emily’ stamp was applied in vintage photo. Once it was trimmed, I gently added a little more vintage photo around the edges of the bow and her shoulders for depth".

"The flourish was stamped in rusty hinge (on scrap paper first so the colour was not so intense) and I also used the ‘Emily’ stamp in tea dye (again on scrap paper first) – this faint image of ‘Emily’ was meant to add to the feeling of ‘one’ (almost as if a shadow of oneself). The ‘one’ comes from DD alphabet medley set which was stamped on some of the leftover coloured card from the ‘Emily’ stamp – it was edged in vintage photo ink and attached. The words around it were handwritten on – I didn’t want to overpower the arch with stamped words for the saying".

"The trim was made with brown metal in the Martha Stewart punch, which I then added little dots to sections of the pattern and gently rubbed off some of the colour to reveal the shiny silver underneath. A small portion of the trim was cut out and adhered to the top of the arch. Finally, I used a brown artist pen to ‘frame’ the very edge of the arch".

Fabulous work Fiona!

Now it's your turn! Create a "numbers" themed arch and upload it to our dedicated Flickr Group!

I can't wait to see what you guys create!

Don't forget - this month's Resist Technique challenge is still running, and there have been very few entries, so make sure you have a go! You have a great chance of winning a prize. :)

~Sarah~

Gothic Arch Challenge #13 - Christmas!

Hello Gothic Arch lovers! It's Sunday, and now that I have my helper we can get back on track with our Inkurable Stampers 2010 Gothic Arch Challenge themes! If you're new to the blog, please note that the arch challenges are in addition to our regular monthly challenge - find out more about it here.

Your next theme is CHRISTMAS!

Sorry guys - that might seem a little random, but it was supposed to be revealed in July (I was going for Christmas in July) but it got delayed until now. :)

Here is Fiona's gorgeous sample arch for this challenge:

Products Used:

* Stamps: Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous ‘Christmas Miracle’; Basic Grey ‘Flourish Edges’; Paper Artsy ‘Hot Pick #1007’.

* MME Bella Bella and scrap white cardstock.

* Distress Inks – Pumice Stone, Forest Moss, Fired Brick.

* Black Archival Ink

* Other – Kaiser rubons, charm, eyelet, jump ring

From Fiona:

"My arch was cut from MME Bella Bella. On the reverse side, I added pumice stone around the sides and top, and fired brick across the bottom, lightly edging it all in forest moss. I used the small script stamp from Hot Pick #1007 to stamp down the right side of the arch in forest moss (this was off-stamped on scrap paper and then I ‘huffed’ on it so that the colour was not quite as intense). I used a flourish in pumice stone for the left half".


"The calendar was masked off, and the right side of the arch masked off, and using archival ink I stamped the calendar so it was peeking out just near where I wanted the Santa positioned. Santa was stamped in archival on scrap white, cut out, and attached after the rubons were adhered. Finally attached the star charm using a jump ring and eyelet so it hung nicely in the gap above the word. The last thing I did was take a fine black marker pen and carefully drew a frame around the edge wherever there was no embellishing".

Gorgeous arch Fiona!

Now it's your turn! Create a Christmas themed Gothic Arch and upload it to our dedicated Flickr Group. It's never to late to join in with this year long challenge - the deadline is 31st December 2010 for all the arch themes! :)

Stay tuned arch lovers - I'll be back at 2pm with another new theme!!

~Sarah~

Please Welcome Fiona Shultz!

Thank you to those that contacted me about helping out with samples for the Inkurable Stampers 2010 Gothic Arch Challenge! I have chosen one permanent helper who will be creating gorgeous examples to kick each new Gothic Arch challenge theme off, along with a few new guest artists to mix things up a little!

Without further ado, I am very pleased to announce that Fiona Shultz will be my official Gothic Arch Challenge Example Artist!! Fiona has already created some fantastic arches for us that we will reveal on Sunday, so be sure to come back and check them out!

Fiona is a regular here at Inkurable Stampers, as well as being on the ATC design team for The Stamping Queen. She is a wife and mum of 2 lovely children, and lives in the Hunter region of NSW. You can see more of her work on her blog.

I wanted you guys to get to know Fiona a little better, so I asked her a few questions:

1. Have you ever made a Gothic Arch before?

Aaaaa, no! To be totally honest, I’m not sure I understood them when I first saw them – this was the same reaction I had the first time I saw an ATC ;) But now that I’ve tried one, I can see the artistic beauty in creating something that is not square, or rectangular, and it lends itself to a different kind of focus.

2. What will you do with your arches when they're all finished? Will you be making them all the same size, or mixing things up?

I am a ‘neat’ crafter. I like things to be right and ordered – even if I do grunge, it usually has some structural elements to it.... So, that said, my arches will be all the same size, same shape arch, and possibly even a subtle feature that is common to each arch. When I am done (and I have a few to catch up on!) I am thinking I will adhere them back to back and have 12 ‘pages’ which I can then combine into a book – but I’m not sure if it will be a book with hinged rings, or an accordion book folded and stored in its own box.

3. When stamping, do you prefer red rubber stamps, or clear stamps? Why?

I use both, and probably have a close to 50/50 stash of each. I think I prefer red rubber, but I do like the ability to ‘see through’ the clear stamps. I don’t buy stamps based on what they are made of though – I buy based purely on the design of the image.

4. What is your favourite stamp in your collection?

I don’t have a favourite – and I’ve confirmed with family members if there was one stamp that they see repeatedly in my projects (in case I had a favourite and didn’t know it!), but they couldn’t come up with anything either. I have noticed in the last few months a desire to move toward more ‘artsy’ type stamps.

5. How often do you use stamps in your projects?

Since stumbling across Inkurable Stampers last year, I’d have to say close to 100% of my projects include some stamping.

6. What is your favourite stamping / inking technique?

That’s tricky. I love distress inks – don’t know how I crafted before distress inks! I think a technique I often use, and I’m not sure exactly even what it is called – I call it ‘off-stamping’ – where you ink a stamp, stamp it off on to scrap paper, then ‘huff’ on it to put a little moisture back into it then stamp it on your project. I often use this to achieve a lighter shade of a coloured ink than it would appear if I had stamped it directly onto the project.

Thanks for sharing with us Fiona!

Please join me in extending a great big inky welcome to Fiona - I have no doubt she will delight us with her gorgeous Gothic Arches, and I can't wait to show you what she's been creating! :)

~Sarah~

Irresistible arch!

Hello stampers!

Today's entry is a Gothic Arch that was created by Giovanna from Italy:

Gio says:

"I cut a piece of cardstock in a shrine gothic arch shape. I painted the inner side with acrilic paint. I lay the domino on the arch and cut the opening. I stamped the background by La Blanche Stamps with Versamark ink and embossed with white puff embossing powder by Ranger. Once cooled I rubbed blue, purple and pink distress ink on it. I glued the metallic charm and some jewels".

"I stamped the inner side with the same background stamp using purple Stazon. Then I stamped on it with an hand-carved stamp and outlined with white gel pen. I gessoed, coloured with distress ink and stamped the face from CherryPie Stamps on the domino tile and attached with Glossy Accents on the inner side of the arch along with an image printed from my computer".

Very cool Giovanna!

Speaking of Gothic Arches, our Inkurable Stampers 2010 Gothic Arch Challenge will be back up and running very soon! So if you're a fan of the arches, don't despair! We will return to regular programming shortly. :) Thanks for your patience!

~Sarah~

Art Journal Page.

Hello stampers!

Thanks for all the lovely comments that are coming in for the 700th post giveaway - it's great to see why you love coming to Inkurable Stampers! The giveaway is open until midnight this Friday, so it's not too late to get your name in for the draw. :)

Today's entry is an art journal page that was sent in by Nina Patena of the Philippines:

Nina has given us a step by step:

1. Write message with white crayon on watercolor paper.
2. Draw heart with two colors of crayons.
3. Stamp wings (Heidi Swapp), doily (Hero Arts), frame (Theresa Collins) with Ranger Archival Ink.
4. Paint over entire thing with choice of watercolors. To make the white come out more, paint over words with watered down watercolors.
5. Make a quick collage on twinchie. Adhere in middle of stamped doily.

Here's some more pics:

Great work Nina!!

I'll be back tomorrow with another new entry! :)

Stay inky!

~Sarah~

700th Post!

Woweee - time sure does fly when you're gettin' inky!!

Can you believe it - 700 posts!! That's a whole lotta inky goodness!! Surely that calls for some celebration? 

Why yes!  Yes it does!!

I have a set of these lovely Martha Stewart stamps to give away:

Just leave a comment on this post telling me 700 reasons why you......BAAHHAHAHAAAAA! Nah just kidding!! Just tell me why you love Inkurable Stampers!

You have until midnight this Friday, 27th August 2010 (AEST) to leave a comment and I'll announce the winner on Saturday. :)

Thank you to everyone who has been here for the whole 700 posts, and to everyone else who has stopped by since then! You're all fabulous! And a great big special thanks goes out to our generous sponsors, who continue to provide such awesome incentives for you guys to give the challenge a go!

YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!

~Sarah~

Double resist!

Hello stampers!

Todays entry is a gorgeous card that was sent in by Fiona Shultz where she has used not one but 2 different resist techniques!

Fiona says:

"I have used both the crayon resist (to highlight the little birdies in the grass and the wings of the dragonfly) and versamark clear emboss technique on my flourishes in the top corner. The flourishes were a two-step process, first embossing for a white flourish, then using a little distress ink, before clear embossing a few extra little flourishes so they would take on a lighter red hue, before adding more distress inks over the top. I have carried the technique to the inside of my card".

"Distress inks are 'Barn Door', 'Fired Brick' and 'Walnut Stain', and the stamps are Paper Artsy Hot Picks #1004; #1005; #1006. You can visit my blog if you want a closer look at the rose – it is basically the same as the ones Tim Holtz makes, but using the Paper Artsy flower die which matches the flower stamp from the Hot Pick stamps, and it is made of metal instead of grunge paper".

Simply stunning Fiona!!

Well, it's a big weekend here in Australia - tomorrow we go to the polls to vote in the Federal Election to see who will become our Prime Minister. Still don't know who to vote for - and most people feel the same way! Will be interesting to see what happens.

I'm teaching 2 classes tomorrow at Erina Scrapbook Store, which are both booked out! Will be lots of fun, but I'm a little scared because I'm pretty sure I have tonsillitis and have almost lost my voice!! Here's hoping it improves tonight!! >.<

Have a great weekend everyone!

~Sarah~

A Resist ATC.

Hello stampers!!

Today's entry is an ATC that was sent in by Jenny Rodda:

Jenny says:

"I stamped the bicycle image (Grace Taylor) with Versamark ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. Then following the tutorial video, I inked my card using the wrinkle free distress technique with Tim Holtz's vintage photo, tea dye and fired brick inks, then added a little Tim Holtz spiced marmalade ink into the mix".


"I stamped in my text with StazOn Jet Black ink (I don't have a brand name for these stamps...have had them forever and the packaging is long gone). I sewed around the card and inked the edges in black ink also. I couldn't fit the entire quote on my card but it is one from Albert Einstein - "Life is like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance, you must keep moving".

Great work Jenny!!

One of my favourite stampers is Jennifer McGuire, and I noticed that she shared a gorgeous card on her blog this week where she used a resist technique. If you're in need of some inspiration, or you just wanna see some eye candy, check it out here!

Keep sending in those entries!

~Sarah~

*** WINNERS FOR JULY 2010! ***

Thank you to all 18 of you who gave last month's Lavender and Lime challenge a go! The entries were all beautiful!

Refresh your memory by checking out the slideshow:

A fantastic effort from everyone who participated!! Out of the 18 entries received, 9 were from Australia, and 9 were International.

The lucky winners are as follows:

Major Prize (Aus only):

Congratulations goes to VICKY FERNANDO!! Her gorgeous Stampbord ATC with matching box has won her the awesome set of Tim Holtz stamps, thanks to Tarisota Collections!

Newbie Prize (Aus only):

Congratulations goes to JENNY RODDA!! Her gorgeous ATC was our only Aussie newbie entry last month, so she has won her choice of 4 packets of Photochips, courtesy of Darkroom Door!

Inkurable International Prize:

Congratulations to ANNEKE DE CLERCK of BELGIUM!! Anneke's awesome magazine holder has won her a prize pack of Collections Elements goodies courtesy of The Stamping Queen!

Well done ladies! Enjoy your prizes!!

~Sarah~

Resist if you dare....

Hi stampers!

Our latest entry was sent in by Jenene Evans:

Jenene says:

"I stamped a pear stamp from 'Collections' and embossed with white embossing powder. I then sprayed it with Moon Glows Moon Shadow Burnished Brass ink, (unfortunately the scan does not show the beautiful shimmer) then cut the pear out, & tied a little ribbon onto stem. The 'Happy Birthday' stamp is from 'Stampin up'. I also embossed through a Sizzix 'Big Shot' the dotted background, and ran a white ink pad lightly over the dots. Paper is by Kaisercraft".

Great work Jenene!

My inbox is feeling very lonely this month! Don't be scared of resist techniques - they're not as hard as they look! And you don't need Distress inks to do it with - you can use glimmer sprays like Jenene has, paint, watercolours, or even markers! Have a go with whatever you have in your stash - and if you go to Youtube and search for stamping resist techniques, there are dozens of videos to give you ideas!

Now go and get inky! :)

~Sarah~

Down by the sea.....

Hello stampers!

Thank you to those that emailed about helping out with the Gothic Arches - I'll be in touch over the weekend!

Haven't had a chance yet to do last month's winners either - so keep an eye out over the weekend. :)

Today I'm here to share the latest Resist Technique challenge entry - a lovely card that was sent in by Lyn Smith:

Lyn says:

"I've used a resist technique on the greeting, waves, surfboard and the beach chair in my card. I stamped the images with Versamark ink, embossed them with white embossing powder, then sponged Distress Inks over the images and wiped the excess ink from the embossed areas".

"For the sky area I smooshed some Distress Ink over my craft mat, spritzed it with water then used a damp sea sponge to apply the ink to my white cardstock. The sand is made by tearing some strips of watercolour paper, applying some Windsor and Newton Sand Texture Gel, then painting over this when dry with some acrylic paints. Once that had dried I spritzed some Bronze Glimmer Mist over the pieces and assembled them using some dimensional dots in places so I could tuck the other elements into my 'sand'. The palm tree is stamped with Memento black ink, coloured with Copic Markers and cut out and raised on dimensional dots".

"My stamps used are :- Inque Boutique 'Cabana' - Waves and surfboard; Viva Las Vegas - Beach chair; Stampendous - Palm tree; Paper Xtra (Sullivans) - Greetings. Other supplies:- Blue Bazzil cardstock, Kaisercraft patterned paper, black marker, Tim Holtz Distress Inks. The card is for my nephew's birthday so I made a little pocket with the striped paper so I can tuck a little cash inside".

Awesome work Lyn!! Such a  lovely summery scene - I'm sure your nephew will love it!

Speaking of beach scenes, have you seen the new Darkroom Door Seaside Collection?

Yuuuuuuummmmmo!! You can see some samples using the stamp sets here.

Have an inky weekend!

~Sarah~

Help Wanted!

Hello stampers!!

Do you love Gothic Arches?

Are you looking for a challenge?

Do you have some spare time up your sleeves?

Then I may just have the answer for you!!

I am a little overwhelmed with all of my other commitments at the moment, and unfortunately the Inkurable Stampers 2010 Gothic Arch Challenge has fallen a little behind. I've finally realised that I just can't do everything by myself! I'm looking for someone who can help me out with creating samples for the challenges so that I can get up to date with posting the challenge themes, and most importantly, stay up to date!

The best person or persons for the job will have a high standard of work and be able to meet deadlines. Anyone of any age, country, or style can apply. Happy to have more than one person for the job - and anyone that I pick to help out will get their own feature here on the blog with a photo and interview to introduce you to the readers! You'll also get a little prezzie from me. :)

If you are interested, please email me and I'll give you more info!

~Sarah~

Our first resist technique entry!

Hello stampers!!

I hope you all had a great weekend! Me, not so much, but that's another story! LOL! But on the bright side, I spent most of today mounting and cutting fresh new rubber! Woot!!

Today I'm here to share our first Resist Technique entry, sent in by Vicky Fernando:

Vicky says:

"I started with a white piece of cs, spritzed it with Sunflower Glimmermist, stamped the skeleton leaf stamp (My Stamps) with Versamark ink, & covered the image with Clear embossing powder". 

"I then applied a combination of brilliant yellow & red Marvy inks, & some Distress ink (Vintage Photo) wiping away the excess ink from the embossed areas using a damp cloth". 

"I cut a strip of the Glimmermisted cardstock, and mounted the stamped, clear embossed & edged sentiment (Darkroom Door) onto it using some foam tape".

Great work Vicky!

I'll be back tomorrow to announce the winners of last month's challenge! But in the meantime, pop on over to Darkroom Door and check out their new releases - sensational!

~Sarah~

THE THEME FOR AUGUST 2010 IS.........

RESIST TECHNIQUES!

Your task this month is to create a stamped project using a Resist Technique!

There are quite a few different ways to do the resist technique. You can use embossing powder, crayons, wax paper, etc. For this month's challenge you can pick any type of resist technique you'd like to work with!

Most of you have probably tried some sort of resist technique before, but for those who haven't (or just to refresh your memories) I've found a few different examples of resist techniques on Youtube to show you guys:

Resist Using Embossing Powder and Versamark Ink by Shari Carroll of Hero Arts:



Resist using Crayons by Rachel Greig of Darkroom Door:



Resist using embossing and glimmer sprays by Jennifer McGuire for Creating Keepsakes Blog:



Resist using Paint Dabbers by Tim Holtz:



(fast forward to about 5 mins because the first half is just talking about how to revive a paint dabber).

There you go - lots of inspiration there!

Other helpful links:

* I shared a resist technique tutorial here on the blog back in 2008 - check it out here. That particular card was inspired by Tim Holtz's resist technique example on his blog here.

* I used a resist technique on my Stars theme card. See it here.

* Embossed Layered Resist by Jennifer McGuire for Hero Arts.

Entries are due by Midnight 31st August 2010 (AEST) to be eligible for one of the prizes on offer from our sponsors! Entries must comply with the challenge details and the participation guidelines set out in the sidebar to the right. As always, your entry must feature at least one stamp, and if you have any questions, please let me know!

I can't wait to see what you guys create!

~Sarah~

New Paris Collection from Darkroom Door!

Stay tuned for the full reveal on the Darkroom Door website on Monday 9th August!

Get ready to Unlock the Artist Within!!

~Sarah~