Last minute influx!

Hello stampers!

Happy Halloween!!

Today is the last day to send in your entry to this month's sketch challenge! You have until midnight (AEDST) to email me your pics!

I've had an influx of last minute entries hit my inbox over the weekend, so brace yourselves for a long post! :)

First we have this Christmas card by Lyn Smith:

Lyn says:

"I started with some Stampin' Up Kraft cardstock, folded to make a 5" x 7" card. I inked around the edges with Stampin' Up white craft ink and stamped some Hero Arts snowflakes over it in a random pattern, then stamped the Pink Paislee greeting in Versafine Vintage Sepia ink. Next, I stamped a Hero Arts S5101 Raindrop Background stamp over a piece of pink paper, then punched the longest edge with a Fiskars snowflake embossing punch, I then adhered to a piece of SU Sage Shadow cardstock - I softened the edges of both pieces by sponging with SU white craft ink, then wrapped some silver and organza christmas ribbon around this, tied a silver thread around the bow and added a pink Heidi Grace heart pin".

"For my main image I thought I'd try the Faux Silk technique. I used Versafine Vintage Sepia ink to stamp the Crafty Individuals stamp onto white tissue paper, then added my own twist to the technique by spraying with Bronze Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. It's hard to see in the photos, but it really does give a lovely shimmer. I adhered my finished Faux Silk piece to some Stampin' Up Close To Cocoa cardstock. I finished my card off by adding a row of pink Kaisercraft rhinestones below the greeting".

Beautiful work Lyn!

Next we have this card by Robyn Wood:

Robyn says:

"I stamped Darkroom Door butterflies all over a 9cm square piece of white cardstock and coloured them with Copics. I then cut the cardstock into four 4.5cm square pieces and arranged them over a lime piece of Bazzill. The border was punched with one of the new EK Success large border punches, this was attached to the left hand side and layered with a bit of pink ribbon. To complete the card, I stamped a Hero Arts greeting onto an oval and layered that over a Nestibility tag with foam tape. A couple of pink pearls on the flourish ends completed the card".

Lovely work Robyn!

Next we have this card by Teresa (Trexxann):

Teresa says:

"I started by embossing a love heart in gold from Stampin' Up! set 'Hearts and Posies' onto black cardstock. I masked the heart and then stamped the Music Background from 'Victorine Originals' and embossed it in silver. I placed the four squares onto red cardstock stamped with Darkroom Door 'French Script Background' stamp in white pigment ink from Stampin' Up! and placed it onto the black card base". 

"On the left is a Cuttlebug embossed piece which I stamped with a love heart. The Edwardian border punch used is from Fiskars by Cristina Re. The sentiment border from Pink Paislee Fancy Frames is embossed in black and the sentiment from Hero Arts set Treasure the Moments is again in white pigment ink from Stampin' Up! These two stamps seem made for each other! Finished off with a gold ribbon from my stash".

Nice work Teresa!

Lastly for today we have this mini book by Laurence Schmitz of Belgium:

Laury says:

"The backgound of all the pages is made with neocolor, masking tape, gesso and sewing. I bound all the pages to make a little house and added fibers a s a decoration. Material: stamps by prima, zettiology, purple onions, artemio, gaia, paper artsy, Teresa Collins, Stampers Anonymous & Infinimentscrap, embossing powder".

Here is a pic of the pages on the inside:

Fabulous work Laury!!

Now - I do have one more entry in my inbox, but I'm waiting to hear back from her with some more pics. I'll be back tomorrow to share that entry, and any others that come in before deadline! :)

Stay inky!

~Sarah~

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

I bet you now have that song stuck in your head, don't you?! Sorry! LOL!!

Today's entry was sent in by Inkurable youngster Emily Shultz:

Emily says:

"I started off by stamping a Stampers Anonymous music stamp on my cream card base, which I then distress inked with tea dye. I used some 'Oh Joy' paper (teared a bit) on the top, then added two green ribbons. I used four small squares with embossed Kaisercraft dear santa stamps, which I inked over in various colours (resist). As the finishing touch, I added "Merry Christmas" in small black letter stickers above the ribbon".

Fabulous work Emily!

OMG Stampers - Christmas is just over 8 weeks away!! Can you believe it? Have you started making your Christmas cards yet? Do you make them for everyone, or just the extra special people? Or do you prefer to send everyone store bought cards?

~Sarah~

Back to the sketch challenge!

Hello stampers!!

In a fabulous segue between the Spooky Gothic Arch theme of yesterday, and this month's sketch challenge, I have an awesome example card from Fiona Shultz to get you inspired to give the challenge a go:

I was lucky enough to receive this little beauty in my mailbox today and to say I was thrilled would be an understatement!! She even used my favourite colour scheme! Wooot! It looks even better in real life!

Fiona says:

"Simple red, black and white were my inspiration for this theme – and using the 'Moth Fab' girl image from Stampotique. The flowers are stamped in black archival ink. The background and moth fab girl were coloured with a Derwent Inktense pencil. The white flowers and Moth Fab girls' coloured parts were then covered with dimensional magic. The black strip on the left was white embossed with Hero Arts friends definition stamp. The different sections were layered together, and moth fab girl was trimmed out and attached over the black/white panel on the left. Some Darkroom Door greetings finished this card off".

Thanks for sharing Fiona!

Now stampers - there's only 6 days left to get your entry in, so get a move on! LOL!!

~Sarah~

Gothic Arch Challenge #21 - SPOOKY!

It's time for another theme for our Inkurable Stampers 2010 Gothic Arch Challenge!

Your 21st Gothic Arch theme is SPOOKY!

Your task is to create a spooky Gothic Arch! Too easy!

Think creepy, spooky, halloween, gothic, horror movies, etc - and have fun with it!

Well, it's no secret that I'm a big fan of all things spooky, and I knew that this fortnight's guest artist would be the perfect person to show you all how it's done!! And with Halloween only 7 days away, what better time to get our freak on!

Here is Vicky's awesome sample arch:

Vicky says:

"I started by covering my arch shape with a coat of black acrylic paint, and adding a piece of printed paper from the Basic Grey 'Indian Summer' 6x6 paper pad, distressing the edges before sticking it down. I then got to work on my tree by getting a length of wire, twisting it into shape and covering it with masking tape. I gave it a coat of brown acrylic paint and then dry-brushed some black paint to add dimension. I used a sizzix alterations die to cut the fence, sanding it back around the edges, and trimming as necessary to fit around my tree, using black foam tape to stick it in place". 

"I used one of my favourite stamps, "Head", stamping him with black Versafine ink and covering the image with clear embossing powder, I then trimmed the image and coloured it in with watercolour pencils (I added the black circles around his eyes too) using double sided tape to fix him to the fence. I also stamped "Gibi's" head, using black Versafine ink and clear embossing powder, trimming the image, adding a bit of wire (to hang from the tree) and sticking in place with foam tape. "Smile" was actually rescued from my scraps box, and I think he had been stamped with brown Stazon ink".

"I printed out the sentiment onto white cardstock and trimmed the words using some decorative edge scissors, using some more foam tape for dimension. Once everyone was in place I got some red nail polish and did some decorating of my own. So there you have it, a Gothic arch just in time for Halloween!".

Fabulously creepy Vicky!!

Thanks so much for joining us here on the blog this weekend! We've loved having you as our special guest!

Next we have a seriously spooky example arch from Fiona Shultz:

Products Used:

Stamps – Stampotique ‘Newt with Lunch Box’ and Cherry Pie ‘Pumpkin Totem’.
Distress Inks – Spiced Marmalade, Dusty Concord, Black Soot.
White Cardstock and scraps of orange.
Other – Dimensional magic, glue dots, black kindy glitz, black DMC thread #310 and #E310.

Fiona says:

"First I coloured my white cardstock in Dusty Concord, and used a cotton bud and pushed it in to the Black Soot to draw a ‘rough’ fence. Next I stamped the pumpkin totem stamp onto different scraps of orange cardstock, cut them out, and covered with dimensional magic. While that was drying, I used the metallic DMC thread to make a spiders web, and the stranded DMC thread to make the spider body (he was made using ‘Turkey Stitch’). I used the black Kindyglitz to drag inky dripping mess around the top of the arch".

"I stamped the 'Newt' stamp onto white cardstock and coloured her with Black Soot and Spiced Marmalade Distress inks. I made an extra stamp of her skirt to colour. To attach it without covering her hand, I simply and carefully trimmed her hand out of the base stamped image, attached the coloured skirt in place, and then attached the base hand/handbag back in place over top of the coloured skirt. Also added an extra heart to her hair for decoration. Sewed the spider body in place, added some legs, attached the pumpkins (some with glue dots for dimension) and the girl".

Wonderfully wicked Fiona!!

Now it's your turn! Upload your Spooky Gothic Arch to our dedicated Flickr group - and while you're there, don't forget to check out the other 250+ arches in the gallery - it's looking AWESOME!!

It's not to late to join in on this year long challenge - for more information, see this post, and please note that it is in addition to the regular monthly challenges here at Inkurable. :)

Happy stamping!

~Sarah~

Introducing Gothic Arch Guest Artist - Vicky Fernando!

Tomorrow we'll be revealing the latest theme in our Inkurable Stampers 2010 Gothic Arch Challenge, and this fortnight our guest artist is none other than long-time Inkurable Stamper, Vicky Fernando!

Vicky has entered every single challenge here at Inkurable Stampers since I started the blog back in April 2008! (And she didn't even know me before-hand!). Now that's commitment! She is also by far the most frequent commenter here on the blog as well. So I can't think of a better person to showcase here so we can all get to know her even better!

Vicky is a wife and mother who lives in Victoria, Australia. She is currently on the Design Team for The Craft Queen, and has been a featured artist on the Stampbord website. You can see more of Vicky's work on her blog here.

I asked Vicky the interview questions - here are her answers:

1. Had you ever made a Gothic Arch before taking on this challenge? 

I had never made a Gothic arch until I joined in with the year-long challenge here…but I have often admired the shape from afar LOL! It’s great to have a new challenge & fun to have another excuse to get to play with my stamps, not that I need another excuse!!!

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?

When I first joined in with the challenge, I didn’t do my homework, & I used a triptych card template as my shape, but soon realized the shape was slightly different, so I have 2 arches which are different to the rest, maybe they will be my front & back cover??? I guess that answers the question of what I will do with my arches? But then again, I tend not to plan things, so I may just change my mind about that LOL!

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

I tend to buy my stamps based on the image, rather than whether it’s made of red rubber or clear polymer, but having said that, I do tend to lean more towards red rubber, they just “feel” right.

4. What is your favourite stamp in your collection?

Ooh, that’s a tricky question, as I’m always partial to the newest image that has joined my stash LOL, but if I had to pick just one image it would be “Head” (by Daniel Torrente for Stampotique Originals). It screams weird, but I love it!

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

As often as I can, there are just so many beautiful images to choose from, & so many different techniques to try out!

6. What is your favourite stamping / inking technique?

Any type of resist technique is right at the top of my list, closely followed by heat-embossing, & distressing (does that count as a stamping technique? LOL!).

Thanks so much Vicky for letting us get to know you better!

Stay tuned - Vicky's Gothic Arch wil be revealed tomorrow along with Fiona's sample arch - you won't want to miss them!

~Sarah~

A card for a boy!

Hello stampers!

Today's entry was sent in by Lisa Mason of the UK:

Lisa says:

"The sketch has a window on it, but I adapted it and ripped the main image into four. There are 3 stamps on there (dinosaur, sentiment and a splodgy texture stamp on the brown crumpled paper), although the splodge one (a last minute addition) is hard to see on the photo".

"The stamps and paper are from Basic Grey. The stamps are acrylic and stamp beautifully, it's a fabulous set. The sticky backed leaf ribbon was free with a magazine ages ago".

Great work Lisa!

Working with sketches is a great starting block to get your creativity flowing! You can adapt them by turning them 90 degrees, upside down, or flipping them horizontally! Feminine cards, masculine cards, cards for kids - whatever takes your fancy! Don't be afraid to give this month's challenge a go!

OK Gothic Arch lovers - are you ready for this Sunday's new theme? We have another guest designer this fortnight, as well as Fiona's example arch. And heck - I may even get around to making one too! LOL!! I'll be back tomorrow to reveal the mystery guest arch artist and share her interview. :)

In the meantime, If you're into all things spooky you might like to check out my latest blog post. Just sayin'. ;P

~Sarah~

A Christmas card!

Hello stampers!

Today's entry was sent in by Shirley Henry:

Shirley says:

"Five stamps from Darkroom Door have been used on here - Santa, branch, stars, and 'HO' from Yuletide VOL2 set. 25 DEC is part of a stamped image from the new Christmas set 'Noel'".


"Window was made from white card and a square spellbinder die, then I punched out the four one inch squares. I then dry embossed the window with distressed stripes folder and sponged Pumice Stone distress ink over it".


"On a second white square I heat embossed the stars with versa watermark 'champagne' and clear embossing powder. I sponged over with Broken China and Stormy Sky distress inks. Branch stamped first in Peeled Paint then overstamped with Crushed Olive distress inks".


"Santa was stamped on scrap white card in Aged Mahogany distress ink. The hat was coloured with Twinkling H20's. Santa was then cut out and glued to square".


"The window frame is attached over the stamped square with foam tape. A strip of Christmas pattern paper from my stash, red/white striped ribbon, and olive green punched strip (ek punch) placed on left side of red folded card. 'HO' and 25DEC stamped on light patterned paper with olive ink (Stampin Up) and attached with foam tape to card".

Great work Shirley!

Speaking of Darkroom Door - I'm giving away a little minibook over at the Darkroom Door blog - check it out here. :)

Stay inky!

~Sarah~

Lots of lovely new entries!

Hello stampers!

Boy you guys have been busy! I have quite a few new entries to share today, and if they don't inspire you to give the challenge a go, I don't know what will! They're fabulous!

First we have this card that was sent in by Mim:

Mim says:

"I have used 4 stamps on this card, and been playing with the masking technique again. To make this essentially one layer card, I started by stamping and clear-embossing the dot background along the top edge and then I stamped the lace trim and embossed it with white powder. I masked off the negative of four squares and stamped the floral background with Versamark and decided not to emboss that. To get a little more definition, I used my scoring tool to draw lines along the edges of the squares and then I rubbed them with some Metallic RubOns".

"After I had stamped and punched and inked the sentiment oval, I realised that it needed little more splash of white to balance it all out and this is when I pulled out the pearls (that have been lurking in the cupboard after buying them on a whim while they were on sale) and added them".

Stamps used: Darkroom Door Floral background and Dots background, Crafty Secrets Sew Special, Heidi Grace sentiment.

Lovely work Mim!

Next we have this card that was sent in by Vicky Fernando:

Vicky says:

"I have used a brown piece of cardstock for my base, some red bazzill cardstock, a piece of Basic Grey patterned paper which I trimmed with a Sizzix Alteration die, a scrap piece of pearlised pink Cristina Re card (which I crumpled & sanded back), four 1" Stampbord tiles, and a scrap of DCWV cardstock (for the sentiment)".

"The stamps I've used are from Collections (the flourishes which I stamped with Brilliance pearlescent coral ink); Stampington and Co (the pods); the birds, which are from the Creative Muse (set #46) Stampers Anon set; the butterfly and the wildflowers which are from Darkroom Door; and the tiny sentiment is from a set of Basic Grey clear stamps".

Beautiful work Vicky!

Next we have this card that was sent in by Jenny Rodda:

Jenny says:

"I stamped a piece of Kraft Ledger paper with a background script stamp (Prima). I then added some vintage music paper and some Graphic 45 paper trims".

"I used another three stamps, Butterfly (Paper Chic), Bird (Kaiser) and Postmark (My Mind's Eye). I mounted my image onto a piece of card and layered a transparency over the top....and added some words from Collectiions Elements".

Gorgeous work Jenny!

Last but not least we have this card that was sent in by Marianne Verschoof of The Netherlands:

Marianne says:

"I sponged everything with 3 different colours. I used a mask for the "frame" on the left and the window. I decorated with flower stamps and a border stamp and a green ribbon".

"In the windowframe on the left I used inchies. All put together on a dark green card".

Lovely work Marianne!

Well, these ladies certainly did a fabulous job with this month's challenge! I'm looking forward to seeing what else lands in my inbox!

~Sarah~

*** PRIZES FOR OCTOBER 2010! ***

Hello again stampers!

It's time to reveal the prizes that are on offer this month from our awesome sponsors!

Major Prize (Aus resident only):

This month's major prize winner will be taking home these two gorgeous stamp sets by Pink Paisley (left) and Teresa Collins (right), courtesy of Tarisota Collections:

Inkurable Newbie Prize (Aus resident only):

This month's best newcomer entry will win themselves this gorgeous Seashells Stamp Set thanks to  Darkroom Door:

Inkurable International Prize:

This month's best international entrant will win a $25 Gift Voucher PLUS free postage, courtesy of The Stamping Queen!

Many thanks to our fabulous sponsors for offering such awesome incentives to give this month's challenge a go!

So what are you waiting for? Grab the sketch, your stamps, and some ink, and go and get creating!!

~Sarah~

A new entry, and a prize winner!

Hello stampers!

At the beginning of last month's challenge, I posted an incentive giveaway - the first 7 people to enter the challenge would go into the draw to win a cute set of stamps! Well, today is the day to announce the winner! But first, let's look at our latest entry for this month's challenge! ;P

This lovely card was sent in by Karen Daley of Canada:

Karen says:

"Great sketch! It was a fun one to work with!".


"To make this card I inked the solid image stamp with turquoise and lightly spritzed it, stamping a few times without reinking. Then I repeated, over stamping with brown ink, repeating until I got the effect I wanted. The other layers of cardstock have a small flower stamped in Versamark and brown ink. The silk ribbon is hand-dyed (not by me!) in turquoise and brown and in real life is a very good colour match. The "thank you" is stamped in the same turquoise and punched out, and mounted on foam tape for some dimension. All stamps are by Stampin' Up".

Lovely work Karen!

OK - so I won't hold you in suspense any longer! I put the names of the first 7 entrants (in order) into last month's challenge into a list randomiser, and here's what it spat out:

CONGRATULATIONS VICKY FERNANDO! You have won the set of gorgeous set of "Jolies Fleurs" stamps by Lizzie Anne Designs! Refresh your memory here. I'll be in touch shortly!

OK stampers - I wanna see some more entries! So go forth and get inky! :)

Oh, and if you're on Facebook, join our Facebook page and invite all your inky friends to do the same - we're at 135 "likes" at the moment - when we get to 200 I'll be giving away a prize exclusively on the page! Woot!

~Sarah~

*** WINNERS FOR SEPTEMBER 2010! ***

Thank you to everyone who stepped outside of their comfort zone and were brave enough to give last month's Shoes challenge a go!

We had 12 official entries, and of those 12, five were from Australia, and seven were International. The Shoes challenge now has the dubious title of worst ever attendance rate! (Tied with one other challenge). And I thought I made it so easy for you all with all those links! Oh well, let's hope we see some more brave stampers have a go at this month's challenge! (Although at this rate, I'm starting to get worried!).

It's time to announce the winners of the Shoes challenge - but first let's have a look at the gorgeous entries we did receive:

Lots of lovely projects there!!

Now for the fun part - giving away prizes! Here are the winners:

MAJOR PRIZE (Aus resident only):

This month my absolute favourite was the gorgeous vintage shoe by JENNY RODDA! Simply stunning! Jenny - you have won a $40 gift voucher to spend at The Stamping Queen plus FREE POSTAGE! Enjoy!

INKURABLE NEWBIE PRIZE (Aus resident only):

Alas, there were no Aussie newbies again this month. And only 4 other entries to chose from!

This month's winner of the newbie prize is CHLOE NIELSEN! Her awesome idea to use a map as the background for her card really caught my eye! Well done Chloe! You have won the gorgeous set of three Pink Paisley stamp sets from Tarisota Collections!

INTERNATIONAL PRIZE:

All our international players did a fabulous job with this challenge - such varied projects! It was very hard to choose, but this month I'm going with the scrapbook layout by NINA PATENA of The Philippines! Nina used a cool stamping technique on her fun and funky layout, and I like seeing new things! Great job Nina! You have scored the lovely pack of Seaside Collection goodies from Darkroom Door!

See all the prizes here.

CONGRATULATIONS LADIES!!

Have fun with your new goodies!

~Sarah~

PS: I haven't forgotten about the giveaway winner - will be back later to announce that one. :)

Gothic Arch Challenge #20 - PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES!

The latest theme for our Inkurable Stampers 2010 Gothic Arch challenge is.......

PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES!


Your task is to create a Gothic Arch featuring either planes, trains, automobiles, or all of the above!

I have the pleasure of sharing not one, not two, but THREE awesome example arches with you today! First we'll look at Guest Artist Robyn Woods' 2 arches, then we'll check out Fiona Schultz's example. Lots of eye candy today! (If you missed Robyn's interview from earlier today, scroll down to the post after this one).

Here is Robyn's first arch:

Robyn says:

"This arch was a good opportunity to try a new technique – beeswax. I was really happy with the results and the arch smells so good!"

· The arch was hand drawn after looking at a few images online. It is based on a template by Belinda Schneider but I changed the dimensions a bit. All images are from Darkroom Door.

· I started with a white cardstock arch. The background was made by first stamping the French Script background with Versamark ink & clear embossing.

· The arch was lightly sponged with Distress Wild Honey & Barn Door inks and excess ink wiped from the embossing. I dripped a bit of water onto parts of the arch and allowed them to dry.

· I stamped the cars from Vintage Automobiles and the words from Prague Vol 1 onto white tissue paper and cut images out roughly. These were adhered to the arch with gel medium. The tissue paper allowed me to alter the orientation of the top car.

· The gentleman is from the Photobooth Hats sheet and I used a grey pen to ink the edges so the white cut marks wouldn’t show. He is also adhered with gel medium.

· Once everything was dry I melted some beeswax and painted it all over the arch. Additional heating smoothed the surface a bit.

Awesome arch Robyn!

Here is Robyn's 2nd arch:

Robyn says:

"I came across this sheet of Basic Grey patterned paper at my LSS this week and it became the perfect background. Once again stamps are Darkroom Door".

· Cut arch from patterned paper and paint with white acrylic paint. Allow paint to dry for a few minutes and remove parts using a baby wipe. This will allow some parts of the design to show through more than others. If you remove too much, just repeat the process until you get the required effect.

· Once dry, paint with Ranger Distress Crackle paint in Rock Candy. Allow to dry and lightly sponge with Distress Frayed Burlap. Check out the before & after pic to see the change painting & sponging makes to the paper:

· To highlight a couple of the cars, I used my Copics to go over two of the car images to deepen the colour and then applied a bit of glossy accents to make them pop.

· The border is punched and stamped with the border stamp from Ornate Elements with Distress Chipped Sapphire ink and then affixed to the bottom of the arch.

· The words are from Vintage Automobiles and die cut using a Spellbinders label die. The diecut was then sponged lightly on the edges and towards the centre with Distress Chipped Sapphire ink, folded slightly and affixed at an angle over the border with foam tape under each side.

Great work Robyn!

Thank you for being this fortnight's guest artist! We've loved seeing your work and getting to know you better!

Please join me in thanking Robyn by leaving her some love in the comments section! :)

Now we'll take at look at this lovely challenge example arch created by Fiona Schultz:

Products Used:

Stamps – Tim Holtz ‘The Journey’, Glitz Designs ‘Vintage Love Compass’
Distress Inks – Antique Linen, Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Rusty Hinge, Barn Door, Black Soot
Black Stazon Ink, Black archival Ink
Sam & Lucy Alphabet
Clear embossing powder, Zebra Sarasa pens, black artline pen

Fiona says:

"The background was coloured with Distress Inks, the compass stamped in 'Spiced Marmalade', the quote in 'Barn Door', and the timetable in Black Archival ink. Tickets were stamped in black and coloured in 'Antique Linen', the bottom arrow stamped in 'Wild Honey' and clear embossed. The smaller arrow was stamped with 'Rusty Hinge' and lightly outlined in Zebra Sarasa red pen".

"The truck was stamped twice – once onto white cardstock, and once on to some plastic packaging rubbish (in stazon). Both were trimmed, and the plastic was attached directly over the white version using carefully placed glue dots. I carefully positioned the tickets, added the alpha stickers and outlined the arch to finish".

Fabulous work Fiona!

These girls did an amazing job with their arches - now it's your turn!

Upload your Planes, Trains, and Automobiles arch to our dedicated Flickr Group. Don't forget that the Gothic Arch challenges are in addition to our regular monthly challenge - see more details here.

Go and get inky!

~Sarah~

Introducing Gothic Arch Guest Artist - Robyn Wood!

It's Sunday again, which means it's time for another theme in our Inkurable Stampers 2010 Gothic Arch Challenge! But first I'd like to introduce you to this fortnight's guest artist, Robyn Wood!

Robyn is a stamper, Copic Marker certified designer, and Inkurable fan that lives in Queensland, Australia.

You can see her work here on her blog, as well as here in her Flickr Photostream.

I asked Robyn some questions so we could get to know her better! Here is the interview:

1. Have you ever made a Gothic Arch before?

I had never made an arch before doing this challenge. For the whole year I had been planning to get around to making one after seeing all the lovely art on Inkurable so this challenge gave me the required push. I quickly made two and already have another on the go as well as a few other designs I would like to try so I suppose I am really hooked! They were so much fun to do and totally different to an ATC or a card which is what I usually create. The shape of the top was a bit hard to work with in the beginning but I was really happy with the results.

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?

No idea yet. Perhaps I will add them to the art journal I am about to start, I think they would be a great starting point to a page. While surfing for some ideas I saw a number of sets bound into books so I may do that as well. My first two arches are 4 ½” high but I also plan on making some smaller ones and I have seen some really lovely shapes that I would like to try.

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

Generally I like clear stamps purely for their foolproof ability to get perfect image placement and their ease of storage. But if I am not too worried about that I will take red rubber every time. 

4. What is your favourite stamp in your collection?

Oh that is a hard one – like choosing between your children! I constantly reach for my Autumn Leaves flourish stamps but most of my cards seems to feature Darkroom Door stamps somewhere. I think my all time favourite would have to be 'Artful Mosaic' by Stampers Anonymous (below). That was the one that pushed me into being more arty.

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

I almost never create a card, ATC or off the page item without using stamps somewhere. It is almost second nature to reach for stamps and ink. Oddly, I don’t tend to use them too much in my scrapbooks. Perhaps because I have so much patterned paper, rub-ons & other embellishments to use up from my stash.

6. What is your favourite stamping / inking technique?

I love to use resist methods but I use a large variety of techniques. Most commonly I will use a technique  where I stamp & clear emboss and then sponge over it. Most recently I have been using my Copic markers and trying to do more than just colour in with them.

Thanks for helping us get to know you a little better Robyn! :)

Stay tuned, arch lovers! The latest challenge theme will be revealed shortly! 

~Sarah~

Our first sketch challenge entry!

Hello stampers!

Well, it's been very quiet here on the blog! Not so quiet here at Inkurable HQ, unfortunately - starting to think I should pick out the actress who will play me in the "Made for TV" drama! LOL! I hope you're all having a better month than I am! :)

Today I have our first sketch challenge entry to share, which was sent in by Jenene Evans:

Jenene says:

"I have made a card using Stampin Up! Papers, and Stampin Up punch. Darkroom Door stamps for the ‘butterfly’ and ‘Hello’, and Darkroom Door ‘Photochip’. The window stamp is by Fern Gully Stamps. I have also used some ribbon embellishments too".

Awesome work Jenene! LOVE how you've used the window stamp over the Photochip - great idea!!

That's it from me for today. I'll be back tomorrow with our next Gothic Arch challenge, and this week we will not only have Fiona's gorgeous sample, but a guest artist who has made 2 great samples as well, so there will be lots of inspiration to look at! Watch this space!

~Sarah~

THE THEME FOR OCTOBER 2010 IS.........

A SKETCH CHALLENGE!

Your task is to create something (anything at all!) based on this card sketch by Becky Fleck of Pagemaps using a minimum of THREE STAMPS:

A nice easy challenge to get everyone in the mood for getting inky!! I thought I'd take it easy on you guys this month after freaking you out with last month's shoe challenge! LOL!

Your entry doesn't have to be a card - you can use the sketch as inspiration for anything you'd like to create! For example, you might like to create an ATC, a scrapbook layout, a mini canvas, a journal page - whatever takes your fancy!

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch to suit you, or even change the shape - i.e from a rectangle to a square, or even a circle.

Just remember - this challenge requires you to use a minimum of THREE STAMPS in your creation! (I couldn't make it too easy on you, now could I? LOL!).

So what are you waiting for - go and get inky!

Entries are due by Midnight 31st October 2010 (AEDST) 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. If you have any questions, please let me know!

I can't wait to see all the different interpretations of the sketch! Stay tuned for my example. :)

~Sarah~

Our last Shoe challenge entries!

Our September "Shoes" challenge is now officially over! Thank you to everyone who stepped outside their comfort zone and gave the challenge a go!

It's time to share the last 2 entries that hit my inbox before midnight last night!

First we have this ultra cool scrapbook page by Nina Patena of the Philippines:

Nina says:

"The journaling reads: When I was a kid I always thought I would grow up into this beautiful sophisticated lady. Yup, complete with a model's perfect body, perfect make-up, and wear high heels all the time".

"Technique: I've seen this online but this is the first time I've tried it: stamping on bandage tape! I adhered the bandage tape to some wax paper, stamped my image, cut it out, and used it as a decorative frame for my vintage image".

Awesome work Nina! So great to see a scrapbook layout here again!

And last but not least we have this very cute baby card that was sent in by Shirley Henry:

Shirley says:

"All stamps are from the awesome Darkroom Door set 'Hello Baby' VOL 1. The pink card is from Stampin Up!".

"I stamped background on white card in Distress inks 'Victorian Velvet' and 'Spun Sugar'. The booties were stamped with 'Victorian Velvet' distress ink and fussy cut before attaching to pink punched out circle with double sided tape. The pink circle was then attached to the background card with foam squares. Some pearls were added around the pink circle".

"The ribbon, buttons, and sentiment were added down the left side of background card. The background card was then attached to folded pink card with double sided tape".

Lovely work Shirley!

That's it! Now just sit back, relax, and wait for our October challenge to be revealed! :) (While you're waiting, you can pop over to my blog and check out what I've been up to lately!).

~Sarah~