Flutterby Special

Two posts in two days? There's some excitement here on the old blog-o this week! I know I haven't been here for a while. I was dealing with a few personal issues that left the mojo in a ditch. Not to mention a lost camera battery so photography was also on hold.

Then, wonder of wonders, I learned my mom was being honored for her contributions to education over the course of her career. So it was off to Jamaica for some family time and a little "sun in the fun". I got to see my sister and her kiddos, and of course, watch my mom receive her award. At this point, the camera battery had been found and charged and... left at home! LOL. Luckily I had my phone and my momma's camera so I was still able to get some photos of the happy event. Hurray. Hurray. But... if I share those photos I may lose "preferred daughter status", so here are a few cards instead.

The sentiment on this first card is absolutely meant for my amazing mom. I feel so lucky to have her in my life. And I hope I make her feel the same - when I'm not making her crazy. LOL.

I tried a little inlaid die-cutting using the SSS Devonshire and Paulina butterfly dies, white cardstock, and my Touch Twin markers. There is also some Distress inking and a|s Splash! spray on the top panel.

Here's my second attempt:

And, yes, this one also goes out to a very special lady. Love you momma!

Supplies Used
stamps: HA year round sentiment, flower bursts pattern, thank you definition
cardstock: PTI white, CTMH grey wool
ink: Memento london fog, SSS black, Distress dried marigold, a|s Splash! in bermuda & winter sky
other: SSS devonshire & paulina butterfly dies, ShinHan Art touch twin brush, glossy accents, corner chomper

Hugs and Kisses.

SOG September 2013 Sketch

I found a little time to colour the adorable Big Pressie Tia and create a card for a friend's granddaughter.

My starting point for the layout was the Some Odd Girl sketch for September. I used some EP Hello Summer papers to cover a white card base, cut some a|s sugar cardstock with a Spellbinders Labels 8 die and spritzed it with a|s Splash ink in lemon whip. The sentiment was stamped on a Wplus9 banner die cut. Tia was trimmed out, covered in Versamark ink, and embossed with a half & half mix of clear embossing powder and Prisma glitter.

Sharing my colour combos for all the Touch Twin users out there:

Supplies Used
stamps: SOG Big Pressie Tia, PTI  Fillable Frames 4
ink: touch twin alcohol markers, versafine onyx black, a|s lemon whip splash, versamark
cardstock: Crafter's Companion White, a|s sugar
other: Spellbinders labels 8 die, Wplus9 banner trio dies, Ranger super fine detail clear embossing powder, Prisma glitter

Hugs and Kisses.

CAS on the A|S Challenge Blog

Here's a little inspiration for the current challenge on the blog.

I had an idea to make the chevron paper into more of a herringbone pattern, so I trimmed the paper into strips which were attached to my sugar card base. Next, I added a thin strip of wasabi cardstock. The sentiment is from the April spotlight set "Hand Scripted", and is stamped in wasabi and seattle inks. A few drops of wasabi splash! finishes off the card.

There are still a few days left to link up your creation for our challenge.

Hugs and Kisses.
TraceyJ

Supplies Used
cardstock: sugar, wasabi, wasabi chevron
stamps: Hand Scripted
ink: seattle, wasabi, wasabi splash!

CAS Gets Down and Dirty

I love the shabby chic and Tim Holtz vibe that so many papercrafters seem to pull off so effortlessly, however when I try, all I do is make a mess. I know! My blog is called Sticky Inky Fingers and my peeps can find ink on my face and elbows (huh?) without looking too hard. But for some reason it all translates to exploding pen on my cards.

That mean ol' Princess Judy over at the a|s challenge blog has made it her mission this week to take me far outside of my comfort zone (thanks a lot, Judy) to make some dirty/distressed/inky. I gave it the old college try and this is my creation:

First, let's talk oops. So, after a few practice squirts that did exactly what I was hoping, I got up the nerve to add the first spritz of wasabi Splash! to my card. BLURP! Immediately the ink came gushing out, covering almost the entire surface with just one spray of the pump. Aaargh! Nevertheless I gamely pressed on, spraying a little winter sky Splash! towards the top and some lemon whip Splash! towards the bottom, zapping the whole thing with my heat gun. A bicycle from Enjoy the Ride was stamped with StazOn Jet Black and some holiday washi stamped with Polka Dot Patterns was added below. Next, I opened the bottle of slate Splash! and tapped the pump so that a few large drops would fall on the card. The (retiring) cloud duo dies were cut from sugar cardstock and sponged in sky ink.

This project didn't turn out at all like I pictured it would, but in a way it's better, because it kinda looks a little like kraft cardstock (which I love). I guess I need some Splash! spritzing practice...

Head over to the challenge blog and try your hand at something inky and maybe a tiny bit dirty.

Hugs and Kisses.
TraceyJ

Supplies used
stamps: Enjoy the Ride, Polka Dot Patterns
cardstock: sugar
ink: sky, StazOn Jet Black, Splash! in wasabi, winter sky, lemon whip, and slate
other: holiday washi, cloud duo dies

Celebrate 2013 with Something New

Happy New Year! It's the first challenge of the year over on the A Muse Studio Consultants Challenge Blog and I'm hosting! Of course the challenge had to be: use something new. But then I thought I'd add a little twist, so this week we have combine something new with a papercrafting fave. Here's what I came up with:

I started with my favourite technique - heat embossing, which was done using the Venetian Background stamp on watercolour paper. Since I knew I'd be getting out my new Splash! inks and there was a good chance I'd oversaturate the paper, I thought it best to use some paper that was made to get wet. I was right. I sprayed and dabbed with a paper towel over and over, trying to get a perfect blend of the two colours. Then I proceeded to spray the backside with water, spritzed a little water on the front, and stood the whole thing up in a box overnight to allow the lemon whip to slowly blend into the grapefruit.

When everything was dried the next day, I proceeded to matte the inked paper with some onyx cardstock and mount it on a sugar card base. The sugar was a little too stark, so I went for my go-to colour - kraft - and it was perfect. I used a sentiment from Contemporary Greetings, stamped in Versamark and embossed in onyx, and trimmed it out. The sentiment strip looked a little plain, so I jazzed it up with some onyx baker's twine that I sprayed with both lemon whip and grapefruit Splash!

I hope you'll head over to the challenge blog and play along with our first challenge for 2013. The prize is 2 bottles of that gorgeous Splash! ink. So get your craft on and link a project before 11:59 pm on January 26.

Hugs and Kisses.
TraceyJ

A Muse Studio Supplies Used:
stamps: Venetian Background, Contemporary Greetings
cardstock: kraft, onyx
ink: Versamark, lemon whip Splash!, grapefruit Splash!
other: watercolour paper, onyx embossing powder, onyx baker's twine