Design Team Call – Become an INKgirl

ARTFUL INKABLES is looking for new design team members! We need your help and enthusiasm promoting our products through your personal blog and online galleries. We are looking for team members who are excited about stamping, and would love being a part of a fun and friendly design environment. No prior design team experience is necessary. If you’ve never been published… Don't worry! We want to encourage you to show us your best, even if you have not been widely recognized as a designer. This call is open to everyone - even if you aren't in the US or Canada you are more than welcome to apply!!**


Application Process

All submissions must be received by 11:59pm MST, July 27, 2009. New design team members will be contacted by July 31, 2009.

Please send an email containing the following information to: artfullyinking@comcast.net

1. Name:

2. Address:

3. Email:

4. Phone number:

5. Blog or website address:

6. Links to any online galleries you may have:

7. Related forums/message boards that you like to visit and participate (we do NOT need your forum nickname):

8. Three (3) items, cards, or layouts using stamps as the main focus. Your submissions don't need to be brand new and do not need to have Artful INKables Stamps used, but should not have been published or submitted for publication for a printed or online magazine. Don’t forget we will be looking at both your work and your photographing abilities here.

9. Please note if you are a current or past design team member for any other companies. (We do not expect you to work solely for us).

10. Please tell us a few words about what you like about stamping, and what would be the most exciting part for you to become a design team member.

11. Want to really impress us? Mail us 1 or 2 pieces you are especially proud of to: 11582 Summerfield Cir. Sandy, UT 84092. Seeing art in person if often much more effective and awe inspiring. ;) This is not required, however.


General Requirements

• Participate for a term of 6 months and sign a contract with Artful Inkables. This Design Team’s Term will run from August 15, 2009 to January 15, 2010.

• You will need the ability to photograph or scan your art for submission to Artful INKables Rubber Stamps.

• You will need to have a blog or website with regular updates, and enjoy participating in online challenges in the stamping community. You should be willing to post card samples, contest announcements, challenges and new releases on your blog as well as display the Artful INKables logo on your blog.

• You'll also need to be ready to have some FUN, and enjoy your stamps!!!


Monthly Responsibilities

• You will receive two stamps sets per month and your design team commitment will require you to send back two cards per stamp set and one 3D item. I will require your photos ASAP, but you can snail mail the items at your leisure up until the end of your term.

• Contribute one (1) tutorial during your six month term to be posted on the company blog. This is a step by step guide to creating your favorite card or project. This can also be techniques, and include stamping tips and trends.

• Give feedback and suggestions to AI for new stamps, the blog and marketing ideas.

• Leave occasional comments on DT Member blogs and the company blog.

• Promote Artful INKables Rubber Stamps through your blog, and whenever you see an opportunity.

• Participate in AI challenges, Blog Hops and sponsorship challenges as they are presented.

What You'll Get From Us

• A great opportunity to work with a fun design team, learning fun, new things.

• Encouragement and monetary compensation for getting published in leading magazines.

• 2 New Artful INKables stamp sets every month and other goodies as they become available.

• 25% off on all store items, during your term!

• Your bio, artwork and gallery will be spotlighted on Artful INKables web site.

** Please note that, we pay shipping but cannot be responsible for customs or duty fees to Canada or if shipped internationally.

Monday Featured Stamper - Dina Kowal

When Dina emailed me a picture of this fabulous motorcycle card, I about fell out of my chair! I mean, it is beyond gorgeous...and the coloring is superb! So after gazing in wonder for a bit, I emailed back and asked if she would like to be featured on our weekly blog spot. So today I am proud to share her card made with our Road Rider stamp set and a little bit about the artist herself:

I'm Dina Kowal, but you may know me as dini on online forums, or from my blog, Mama Dini's Stamperia. I live with my family (DH and 4 kiddos) in Indonesia, where we serve as missionaries. I’ve been stamping since about 1993. My style has evolved over the years, but I enjoy coloring, and love colors! I couldn’t live without my Prismacolor pencils, but I also enjoy watercoloring. Some of my stamp ‘collections’ and favorite things include lighthouses, butterflies, teacups, beach scenes, Winnie the Pooh, and birds. I've had my own stamp designs 'rubberized' by several different companies...my stamped work has been published, and can also be found in several design team galleries. I stamp mainly for my own personal sanity and to stretch my creative limits, but also with the hope that I will be able to encourage others with the work and time that I put into a card just for them.



Details on this card:
I've had this set for a while - since the A.I. logo contest! How long ago was that? I recently got a set of Neopiko-2 markers, which are an alcohol-based marker, so I've been playing with those lately. I love being able to get an even base color on my image. I love my Prismacolor pencils, though, and really like the detail and texture I get by shading and highlighting with pencil over the areas colored with marker. On this card, I blended shades of dark grey in the background, then colored the motorcycle with a medium red and grey. Afterwards, I went back in and shaded with deeper shades of those colors, and added highlights with a white pencil. I chopped up the sentiment and popped each word up with foam tape. The ribbon and rhinestones were purchased locally, and the papers were from my stash.



As metioned above, Dina designed our logo over a year ago and we are still super thrilled with it. Thanks again for that, Dina, and for sharing your card today! Now everyone show her some love!!

Do You Have a Twihard Teen?

I certainly do! My oldest Daughter is obsessed with the popular Vampire series and was an active participant in the creation of our latest sets, Into The Moonlight and Fictionally Inspired. In fact she has created some lovely cards of her own using these sets so I thought I'd share some of her hard work with you all.



For this card she colored the images with sharpie markers (my copics are off limits to my kids, lol) and used versamark and heat and stick powder to make her background sparkle with glitter.



This creation was made to follow a challenge over at www.Twilighttuesday.com that asked crafters to show the relationships between certain characters in the books. She used copper embossing powder to create the paw prints along the edge of her unusually cut card.



Here she used colored pencils for the image and a strip of redline tape to add glitter to the main card. She also made her own background paper by using some card stock with red ink dripped onto it to look like blood drops.





These last 2 cards use a little creativity and the previously released set, Think Big. She added the book titles to the stack of books and the book the girl is reading to incorporate her obsession into her creations.

Now anyone with teens knows they can be really stubborn and independent so don't think for a minute I had anything to do with how these came out...they were all my daughters ideas and she executed them beautifully. If you have a teen or a tween who loves this series, maybe she would enjoy a chance to create some cards or scrapbook pages of her own with these stamps. And the charms can be used to create great twi-themed bracelets or like my daughter did, use them to hang on a chain...for a new looking necklace everyday of the week.

And finally, don't forget to check out today's Twi-themed creations over at http://www.twilighttuesday.com/

Blog Hop Candy Winners

Is it Wednesday already?? WOW, time seems to move a bit faster in the Summer. I had to pick 2 winners for the blog hop candy today, didn't I? Well it is a good thing the day isn't over yet! *grin* I collected all of the names of every person who commented on all 10 blogs last Friday, wrote them down and tossed them all in a hat...then my daughter drew 2 names. The winner of the tin of Twi-cards that I made goes to Terriavidreader and the stamp set, A Friendly Light was won by Stampin' Cathy. Congratulations Ladies! Please email me your full names and addresses so I can get these out to you ASAP.

I would also like to mention that the girls over at Twilight Tuesday are STILL on a roll with their new stamp sets we sent them. Be sure to visit http://www.twilighttuesday.com/ everyday until Monday to see all the GREAT projects they are sharing!

Inspirations from Twilight Tuesday & AI

We have a Special Surprise for you today! We teamed up with the gals over at Twilight Tuesday this week to bring you a Twilight Inspired Challenge featuring 2 of our new stamp sets and the new charms. Click on the banner below for more details. Hint: there will be prizes!!

Today's Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge is:“ What Says Twilight To You? "

So many things say "Twilight" to the multitudes of Twilight fans. What images do you think of when you think about the Twilight books and movies? For some, Twilight means an apple, for some, the chess piece on the cover of Breaking Dawn, and for others, Bella's truck conjures it up. Many fans love to express their Twilight love by choosing a "team" to root for, and others have favorite quotes from the book that are near and dear to them. Please create a piece that expresses what comes to mind when YOU think of the Twilight saga.

Personally I loved the Twilight books. (You could probably guess that by the fact that they inspired two of my stamp set designs *grin*.) I've read the books 3 times (except for the last one) but for me the thing that comes to mind when I think of the stories is the excitement I feel when I talk about the saga with others. I love using certain quotes in everyday life and having others recognize their origin, sharing favorite parts of the books, favorite characters and deconstructing the motives and feelings of the characters. So with this knowledge in mind, I came up with my creation for the Twilight Tuesday Challenge.

What says Twilight to me? Announcing my love of the books and Sharing the Magic.

How can I share the magic? With badge pins!

This set of 6 pins and the package to show them off was made using the Fictionally Inspired Stamp set. Unfortunately I only had access to a small (rather cheap) button maker so I was limited in the size of stamps I could use but I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the badges it made. I'm sure if you could use a more professional button maker you could get some great variety in size and shape. The tool I used is called the 100% Cool Badge Maker by Fashion Angel Enterprises. Here are some close-ups of those buttons:

On some of these I used punched pieces of card stock, dp and even glitter on the 'Team Edward' one. For the topper, I printed the 'Share the Magic' wording on my computer and doodled the corners with a fine tip pen. The Vampire teeth were colored white with a Gelly Roll White Gel Pen.

Now, be sure to check out the blogs of Joy, Holly, Joanne and Elena to see what they did for this challenge and then cruise on over to the Twilight Tuesday Blog to see all they have to share!

Monday Featured Stamper - Michelle Kovack

The talented Michell Kovack agreed to be our Featured Stamper for the week. Michelle has been creating with our images since we first opened and she is not only very talented but a valued customer. What she says about AI: I have always loved your stamps! You really do a great job coming up with new ideas too! Thanks Michelle!

Michelle is a designer for 5 different design teams, and creates beautiful cards and scrapbook pages. Please be sure to visit her blog so you can enjoy more of her lovely creations. Now without further ado, here is her Vintage Wedding card made using our Wedding Silhouettes set.



Materials used: Versamark and black embossing powder. The paper is Graphic 45, the little bouquet of flowers is from the bridal section of Michael's.
She used her Copic airbrush system to give the main image a bit of color and left the Nestibility on after she cut it to give it a pretty white edge. The she placed a doily under the main image and did a bit of sewing.
Thanks Michelle!

Do Vampires Blog Hop?

It's New Release Day! Ready for something a bit different? My sneak peek card from last week might have been a clue for many of you what direction our creativity led us this month. A certain vampire romance series has become a pop-culture obsession for many Stampers out there over the last few years...this stamper included! So much so that 2 of this month's release sets were inspired by the saga. To those who share my love of this special series, I hope you find fun & inspiration in these sets & the co-ordinating charm package. I see many possibilities for these sets that go beyond the simple card and I hope we can share some of those ideas over the next few weeks.

For today's Blog Hop, I have a fun little creation that uses both the new sets, Into The Moonlight and Fictionally Inspired. (See the store for full views of these sets.) This decorated tin holds five 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch cards.





I don't really feel any explanation is necessary for this fun little gift but if you have any questions on how they were made, just email or leave a comment. Here are some detail pictures of each card:







This set of cards and the tin will be one of the 2 prizes we are giving away today for the New Release Blog Candy. More about that in a minute...

To those of you who don't share this vamp-book-love, I really apologize! Sometimes, an idea takes hold and wont let go. I hope the new set, A Friendly Light, will tickle your fancy until the next release. I know many of the INK Girls have some beautiful samples they have created with this set and they are dying to share them with you.

Plus this set will be the second piece of blog candy for today's give-a-way. So, how can you win either the Tin of Cards or the set A Friendly Light? Well, you must follow the hop all the way through to the end, commenting on each and every blog in the hop (11 in all). Then , next Wednesday, June 24, I will choose 2 winners from all the names that commented on all of our Blog Hop posts. So, if you are done here, H-O-P on over to Joy's blog and see her fantastic creations! And be sure to check back with us next Tuesday for more surprises and free-bees.

Edit: Due to technical difficulties, I had to post this early. The rest of the hop isnt due to be posted until 6am MDT.

Cute Card Thursday

This week Artful INKables is sponsoring the the challenge over at Cute Card Thursday. The challenge for the week is fun and easy...it is 'Tag You're It'. Follow the link above for the details but basically you make a card using a tag or made of a tag. Enter on the CCT blog and you could win 3 AI stamp sets and 3 coordinating charms!

To represent Artful INKable in today's challenge, I decided to make my own tag card and share it with you here. What I came up with became rather involved...big surprise there...but I really love it!

It is a simple pocket made of 2 sided decorative paper from Deja Views (The Sharon Ann 'Delightful' Collection), with 2 tags in it. This view shows all the tags inserted into the pocket.

Here, the front tag is removed. I glued the baby fairy only partially onto the white tag so it could be taken on and off of the mushrooms when you removed the tag.




In this final view, all of the tags are removed. The second tag is also made of 2 sided dp and can be opened up to write your message inside. The fairy and mushrooms come from our Enchanted Fairies set and they were colored using Copic markers. A decorative flower button, a bit of tulle and some magic mesh were used as embellishments.

Please visit the Cute Card Thursday site to view our fabulous prize, and to participate in the challenge. And then join us tomorrow for our NEW RELEASE BLOG HOP!

Featured Stamper - Emily Niehaus

So today is the first day all of my kids are off of school for the summer and I'm already off schedule! Today is supposed to be Featured Stamper Monday & I totally forgot...sigh! Well, I know you will all agree it was worth the wait once you see the card I have to share with you.

Today's Featured Stamper is Emily Niehaus. She made this Elegant card using our Berry Picking set. Isn't her coloring and layout inspiring? I love all the different papers and visual textures she created with the different cuts she used on them.

Here is a little bit about Emily, in her own words:

My name is Emily Niehaus (stampingout on SCS). I am married with three boys, and work part time as a RN at a local hospital. I live in the Cincinnati area (Ohio). I LOVE to stamp and scrapbook! I am inspired by color. My must have embellishment is ribbon!

Not only is Emily talented, she is so sweet! She wrote some lovely things on her blog about Artful Inkables after having purchased from us. It sure is nice to see a customer so satisfied!

Now please check out her blog because this card isn't the only lovely creation she has made and be sure to leave her some love either here or on her blog.

Would you like to be a Featured Stamper? All you have to do is email me a link to your creations with Artful INKables Rubber Stamps or add a link to a comment on the blog.

Don't forget: Our new Release Blog Hop is this Friday, June 19th!! Be there to be part of all the fun and prizes!~

A Sneaky Peeky-

It is getting to be that time again...time for an Artful INKables New Release. We will have 3 Fun and somewhat different, new sets to share with you soon....along with a great grouping of pewter charms to go with them. We are planning our release and blog hop for Friday, June 19th, with another special treat happening on the 23rd. In the mean time, I have a little Sneak Peek for you all.



I made this card yesterday for the SCS sketch challenge. The layout was just screaming for the diamond background that is part of one of our new release sets so I had to give it a try. I used 2 stamps from the soon-to-be-available Into The Moonlight set. (Seven stamps in this set in all) I colored the main image with copic markers and stamped the diamond background with black ink on red cardstock. The white and black DP is from the Basic Grey Scarlett's Letter collection. The apple charm is a sneak peek too, I suppose, since it is part of our new charm set and it is tied on with silver cord.

Let me know what you think!

Please Note: The Bare Rubber sale is still going on...for now...but the animals collection is now sold out. The flora & fauna collection and the silhouettes collection is still for sale, WHILE SUPPLIES LAST.

Our First Featured Stamper

As I promised on Saturday, today we will Launch our new Featured Stamper Program. And to start it off right I have a real beauty of a card to show you using the Artful INKables set Paradise Island:



This gorgeous creation was made by Diane Pomerleau from Montréal, Québec. (Her name is Miss Apple on SCS...be sure to check out her gallery the next time you are over there!) She has been a stamper for almost 15 years and writes, "When I started stamping it was on a white envelope that I embossed with the heat of a light bulb! Times have changed..." They sure have but look what Diane has done with a few stamps and some ink! I love all the little details on this card and that is why it caught my eye in the SCS gallery!

Diane has shared her recipe for her card with us here:
I stamped the Paradise Island images on watercolor paper and painted it with Twinkling H2O's. I put glossy accents from Ranger on the eyes of the fish and on the rocks in front of the hut. I just added a little accent of Waterfall Stickles on the body of the fish to give them that fishy look. I used glossy accent as glue and put gold microbeads under the hut to look like sand. I passed my Krylon gold metal pen around the border and layered it on metallic paper. Then, I took cheese cloth and sprayed green glimmer mist from Tattered Angels on it and heated it to dry. I layered it all on Coral Reef paper from Sandylion and then on green Bazzill CS. To finish it off, I embellished it with a gold star fish.

Thanks Diane! We really appreciate you letting us all enjoy your beautiful card. And I am so glad you agreed to be our very first Featured Stamper! Now, everyone leave Diane a nice comment or 2 here or in her gallery and show her the love!!

Get Caught Stampin' with AI

Most of the Stampers I know, love to be recognized for their creative works. There is just something about having another person praising their creativity that makes a Stamper glow with pride. So with this knowledge in mind, we will be starting a new program next week...The Weekly Featured Stamper.

This program will work in 2 ways. The first is, we may come across a card or project we love that someone has made using Artful INKables rubber stamps. In this case we will contact the person, ask permission to showcase their work along with a short bio or inspiration dialog. The second way is having our customers submit cards and projects for consideration. You can mail the card in, email us a link or just link to a comment you post on our blog. The only catch is your project must use our line of stamps.

I already have 2 WONDERFUL cards lined up for this program, but we will be needing more submissions soon. Wouldn't you like to be recognized for your creativity? Well get out your AI stamps and start creating...we want to see what you make!

I always share what I make here, and I love creating for you when I get a chance. Today, I made a cute little western card featuring the Rodeo Rodent stamp set. Hope you like it!



BARE RUBBER SALE is still in full swing! Get your while they last! (See June 2nd post below for details.)

Last Day of School

Today is the last day of school for my middle schooler and I'm SURE, this is the way she will be spending alot of her summer...that way she doesn't have to listen to us! LOL The other kiddos have another week to suffer through but they will be out soon enough as well.

This card was made using the recently released Music in my Heart set. It was colored using copic markers...as is my usual choice. Hard to believe that a year ago those fun markers use to scare me, huh? I was very intimidated by them, I have to admit! The DP is from Rusty Pickle and the ribbon was taken off of some packaging from one of my mother's day presents...talk about recycling! *grin* Oh and the colors for the solid cs are close to cocoa and sage shadow from SU.

REMINDER: Solid Rubber SALE going on now! I am blowing through my supplies for this sale fast! Especially for the animals set so if you want yours, be sure to order SOON!!

Artful INKables BARE RUBBER SALE

It's time for some Spring Cleaning over at Artful INKables. Some of the overstock on our older sets, really needs to find a new home. This is GREAT NEWS for you. Why? ... Because you can get images from many sets for about the price of one set! Our Bare Rubber Lots are just that, bare rubber only...no foam, no case, no trimming...but you sure get a deal if you dont mind a little extra work. (Sorry, there are no substitutions.) Though each lot is as listed in our Stamp Store, I have listed them here along with pictures for your convenience.

Animal Themed Lot includes: All stamps from Top Dog, Lion's Pride, Stay Cool, Phoenix Rising, Sweet Snail, Pretty Parrot, Leapin' Lizards and the Dragonfly and Fish ONLY from the Pond Friends set. Total stamps in this lot: 24 Approximate Value $30.00 Sale Price $10.00

Silhouette Themed Lot includes: All stamps from New Mother Silhouettes, Shop-a-thon & Nature's Heritage plus the Father and Son image, the Wine Bottle with Glasses image and a Stack of Presents image. Total stamps in this lot: 17 Approximate Value $24.00 Sale Price $8.50


Flora & Fauna Themed Lot includes: All stamps from Autumn's Flowers, Plant Prints, Pressed Petals, Friendship Flowers and a sentiments saying 'congratulations' in a curly script. Total stamps in this lot: 26 Approximate Value $32.00 Sale Price $10.50


If you want to order just follow this link to the store HERE or on our main site. This is a limited Time Offer, while supplies last...so be sure to get yours NOW. Grab your self a Great Deal!

Wonderful Things

Today I have a card to share with you using our new Boys will be Boys stamp set. We've gotten alot of positive comments about this set and I thank you all for your enthusiasm. Apparently good boy sets are hard to find and this one does work for boys of many ages.

When I use this set, I cant seem to help making the boy look like my son...right down to the red hair and worn jeans. I do have to say he usually isnt this clean though, especially if he has been out hunting 'critters'! He even helped out with this set some, writing 2 of the sentiments (including the one on this card) in his own boy-child writing.

The details of this card are pretty self explainatory. I colored using copics, did alot of cutting, used some great old dp from a SU scrapbook kit, some 1/8" stitched ribbon and some buttons. The escaping froggy is popped up on dimensionals as he hops away. And for the photo, I had to take the card out to our playground for the most appropriate setting, lol.

Hope you enjoy it and your day!