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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

Altenew Paint-A-Flower: Fashion Monger Dahlia Outline Stamp Set Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hi there! Today, Altenew is releasing their new Paint-A-Flower: Fashion Monger Dahlia stamp set, and we’re celebrating with a blog hop and giveaway! You should have arrived here from Terri Koszler, and your next stop is LauraJane. You can also start back at the beginning at the Altenew Card Blog. This month’s addition to the Paint-A-Flower family is such a beautiful and unique flower-the Fashion Monger Dahlia:

These beautiful stamps are such a fun addition to your floral collection. You can always subscribe to receive them automatically each month! I have a vibrant blended project for you today, so let’s get started with the details.

The Paint-A-Flower: Fashion Monger Dahlia stamp is so beautifully intricate, with gorgeous details and a lovely, substantial size. I began by heat embossing the main image in the center of a panel of smooth white cardstock using gold embossing powder. I made sure that my embossing ink pad was very juicy, to make sure that I captured all of those gorgeous details in the stamp.

Next, I used blending brushes and Midnight Violet and Magenta inks to add lots of bold, saturated color to the card front, using the emboss resist technique to allow the shiny gold embossing to be the focal point of the card. I did a few layers of ink blending to make sure that the color was really vivid and saturated, then spritzed some plain water into my hand and splattered it onto the blended card front with my fingertips, immediately blotting it up with a paper towel. I also added some gold splatters using the Metallic Watercolor 14 Pan Set. So much shimmer and shine!

To create the sentiment, I die cut the Mega Hope die twice from plain white cardstock, then again from the center of the blended, embossed card base. I adhered the embossed die cut together with the plain white die cuts using liquid adhesive. I added the full blended panel to the card base, then adhered the dimensional die cut to the negative space and covered it with some sparkling clear lacquer pen. The change in texture and dimension added to the card front helps the die cut to stand out a bit from the super vibrant background! Finally, I heat embossed a greeting from Mega Greetings 4 onto a strip of coordinating pink cardstock and popped it up on the card front using foam adhesive. The final touch was to add some shiny gold gems!

Well, that’s all for my project today. Now for some fun giveaway information!

$200 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $20 gift certificate to 5 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 07/28/2021 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 7 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 07/30/2021.

Your next stop is LauraJane. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

My Favorite Things Magnolia Blossom Card Kit!

Hi there! I was lucky enough to have the chance to play with the My Favorite Things Magnolia Blossom Card Kit a few weeks ago and realized that I’d never blogged the projects that I made with it. This gorgeous set was just begging to be watercolored, so I stamped and heat embossed an A2 panel to create my own patterned paper using the beautiful floral images included in the Magnolia Blossom Card Kit. I was able to create two projects with one watercolored panel, so let’s get started with the details!

I stamped and heat embossed the images on an A2 panel of Arches watercolor paper using white pearlescent embossing powder. I then used my Schmincke watercolor palette to color the flowers and add a pale, ethereal wash to the background. I love how the white pearl embossing powder almost gives the look of no-line watercoloring. It’s amazing what a difference your choice of ink/embossing powder can make! This would have had a totally different look with black embossing powder or ink.

My first card features a shaker created with the majority of the watercolored background panel. I wanted to allow the background to stand on it’s own as the focal point of the card after doing all of that watercoloring!

I used an older Hugs die to die cut in the center of the patterned panel. It’s now retired, but you could do this same technique with any of the larger word dies that My Favorite Things carries, such as Twice the Hugs or Huge Hugs. I reserved the die cut pieces, then backed the panel with clear acetate to create my shaker card.

After I backed the panel with acetate, I created a shaker pocket with foam adhesive all around the die cut portion, leaving no gaps in the foam tape so that none of my sequins would escape. I added lots of sparkling sequins in my shaker pocket, then backed the entire panel with some deep green cardstock to help give the greeting lots of contrast.

With the die cut pieces, I was able to create a simple card featuring a tone-on-tone patterned background and a sentiment from the Magnolia Blossom Card Kit. I heat embossed the All Lined Up background stamp on some very pale pink cardstock using some more white pearl embossing powder, then used a blending brush with some pale pink ink to blend around the edges to add just the tiniest contrast to the subtle background.

Using my gridded craft mat, I lined up the patterned die cuts in a straight line, then picked them up with washi tape, flipped them over, and added foam adhesive. I removed the release paper from the foam adhesive, then adhered them to the center of the patterned background panel. I heat embossed the “thinking of you” sentiment from Magnolia Blossom Card Kit on a strip of more deep green cardstock and added it to the card front with some more foam tape. Simple, but the pearlescent embossing and subtle patterns on the background and the die cut letters make it elegant.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Thanks so much to My Favorite Things for giving me the opportunity to play with these lovely products!

Wildflowers + Faux Calligraphy with Watercolors!

Hi there! I’m over on the Honey Bee Stamps blog today, and I have some pretty-in-pink inspiration featuring some of the newest products from the Summer Stems release! I have been itching to get some watercoloring done with the stunning new Wildflowers stamp set. I created some wildflower silhouettes on this card using black gouache, but I wanted to do some no-line watercoloring to showcase all of the gorgeous little details on these fabulous stamps. I paired it with a little faux-calligraphy for this card with many layers and lots of textures. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping a bunch of different images from the Wildflowers onto some Arches Cold Press watercolor paper using the Honey Bee No Line Coloring Ink. I then used a variety of Prima Watercolors (i have several sets and have put them all in one large palette, so I’m not sure which colors I used exactly, sorry!) to watercolor the images. Watercoloring these small-ish, super detailed images seems a little intimidating, but a small paintbrush and lots of patience works wonders!

After I’d finished with the flowers, I turned my attention to the greeting. I have always adored hand-drawn calligraphy, but I absolutely stink at it (believe me, I’ve tried. I’m too controlling haha!), so I stamped the Best Wishes greeting from the Miss You Big Time set using No Line Coloring Ink, then used my small paintbrush and deep maroon watercolor to paint over the stamped greeting to achieve a hand-painted look. This would be super fun to do with rainbow or ombre, too! I was just playing, so one color is all I’ve got to show you today. I can’t wait to play with this stamp set and technique combo some more.

Once I’d die cut all of the stamped and watercolored images, I trimmed down an A2 panel of gingham paper from the Summer Stems Paper Pad, (side note-how adorable are the matching envelopes!?) then lightly blended some Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide ink on each corner. I added some strips of plain cardstock (one pale peachy pink, another white woodgrain) across the front at a diagonal as a way to help ground the flowers, then arranged my wildflower bouquet on the front, adhering it and the sentiment die cuts with foam adhesive. Finally, I added a few gems for some sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today! Some days, you just need to sit and relax with some meticulous watercoloring… or at least I do… and this project was perfect for that! Thanks so much for reading, and have a marvelous day!

Spellbinders Club Kits Blog Hop!

Hi there! I’m excited to be part of the Spellbinders July Club Kits Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Virginia Lu, and your next stop is Jean Manis. You can also go back to the beginning at the Spellbinders Blog. The July kits are absolutely gorgeous! The floral stamp from the Stamp of the Month Club is right up my alley (you know how much I love to color) and the beautifully detailed Small Die of the Month kit is so much fun to play with. I have two projects to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

My first card features some beautifully sparkling glitter paper and watercolored blue flowers from the Stamp of the Month set. I began by heat embossing the beautiful floral spray onto watercolor paper using silver embossing powder, then used various shades of blue and teal Karin markers to watercolor the image and cut it out with my scissors.

I die cut the mini slimline die from the Small Die of the Month kit from some silver glitter cardstock and mounted it on a full size mini slimline (3.5″x6″) panel of pale aqua cardstock using liquid adhesive. I die cut the “for you” sentiment from some black cardstock for lots of contrast, then mounted it in the center of the scrollwork die cut with liquid adhesive. (I find that liquid adhesive works best when working with textured glitter paper.)

Once I had the background die cuts adhered, I cut the floral swag into multiple pieces, then used foam adhesive to add the watercolored floral pieces in a cluster around the sentiment die cut. I added a few black gems and colored the centers of the flowers black, as well, to complete the “rule of three” with the black accents for this card. Elegant, sparkly, and definitely outside of my normal “flowers must be pink” color scheme, ha!

My second card focuses on the beautiful details of the floral image in the Stamp of the Month set. I stamped the image using no-line coloring ink, then used my Copic markers to color the image.

Once I had completed the coloring, I lined up the edge of the Small Die of the Month on the edge of a piece of black cardstock and cut a border. I also die cut the center shape from some white cardstock, then added a sentiment from the Stamp of the Month using black ink.

I added the border strip to the center of the white card front, which not only adds some interest to the card front but also helps to disguise the overlap from the stamped images. I added the sentiment die cut using foam adhesive, then added some black gems to fill in any of the blank spots in the background.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Now for some fun giveaway information:

To celebrate this release, we are giving away a $50 gift certificate to 3 lucky blog readers – selected from the comments on our blog. Giveaway closes on Sunday, July 18th, 11:59 pm MST. The winner will be announced in this blog hop post the following Tuesday. The winner is responsible for shipping costs, duties, and taxes.

Please note, store credit (gift certificate) cannot be applied to Club Subscriptions. Store credit can be applied to shop past Club products, Club extras and regular releases.

Spellbinders Blog
Becca Feeken
Tina Smith
Bibi Cameron
Annie Williams
Becky Roberts
Yasmin Diaz
Jennifer Snyder
Kathy Clement
Hussena Calcuttawala
Marie Heiderscheit
Jill Hilliard
Laurie Willison
Ilina Crouse
Virginia Lu
Emily Midgett
Jean Manis
Sheri Holt
Sandra Nagel
Joy Baldwin
Rosemary Dennis
Henriëtte van Mierlo
Betty Wright
Melody Rupple
Jenny Colacicco
Emily Leiphart
Vera Yates
Tracy Ware
Gemma Campbell
Alanna Moses
Michelle Starcher
Deborah Jenkins
Erin Thompson
Birgit Norton
Michelle Sheler
Sandhya Iyer
Jennifer Kotas
Jessica Vasher
Olga Direktorenko
Karen Brown
Tanya Boser
Martha Lucia Gomez
Amy Kolling

Altenew Craft Your Life Project Kit: Seasonal Blooms Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hi there! Today, I am super stinking excited to be helping Altenew introduce their newest monthly release: Craft Your Life Project Kits! We are, of course, celebrating this new release with a blog hop full of inspiration! You should have arrived here from LauraJane, and your next stop is Tina Smith. You can also start back at the beginning at the Altenew Blog. Monthly kits are so much fun, especially when they’re chock full of products like Altenew’s new Craft Your Life Project Kits. Here’s Altenew’s description for these new kits:

Introducing our first-ever Craft Your Life Project Kit an exciting monthly package that is sure to get the creative juices flowing! Featuring a 6×8 stamp set, coordinating die set, as well as a stencil and embossing folder to fit the theme, this project kit has almost everything you need to start crafting. Just add ink and cardstock, and you’ll be good to go!

This project kit contains the following exclusive products:

– one 6″ x 8″ clear stamp set containing 13 stamps made in the USA from high-quality photopolymer
– nine coordinating dies
– one coordinating simple coloring stencil set containing 3 stencils
– one 6×6 3D embossing folder

Note: These products are NOT sold separately.

If you’re as in love with these kits as I am, you’ll definitely want to subscribe to make sure that you are guaranteed a kit each month! These products are only sold as a bundle, but they all work together so beautifully that you want to have them all! I have two projects to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

The products in the new Craft Your Life: Seasonal Blooms kit work so beautifully together or as separate pieces. One of my favorite elements in the kit is the die cut frame that you can use with the gorgeous main stamp image.

I stamped the main image using some no-line coloring ink, then colored all of the images in a colorful array of Copic markers, trying to keep the overall color palette a little on the cool side to keep things consistent, but lots of vibrant, eye-catching color. I die cut the finished image using the coordinating frame die included in the Craft Your Life: Seasonal Blooms kit.

Next, I heat embossed the greeting from the Craft Your Life: Seasonal Blooms kit (one of my absolute favorite quotes from Winnie-the-Pooh!! So excited to have this in stamp form.) using white embossing powder onto a rectangle of heavyweight vellum.

I added the floral frame to a vibrant pink A2 card base using Instant Dimension Foam Tape, then added the vellum sentiment panel with some clear dimensional adhesive. The final touch was to add some sparkling pink gems! I love the super saturated color on this one… so fun and happy!

My second card is much more simplistic, but so elegant, with so much texture! I am basically obsessed with the 3D embossing folders, and the folder included in the Craft Your Life: Seasonal Blooms kit is totally stunning in it’s incredible detail. It makes for such a simple, quick, sophisticated card.

I placed an A2 panel of lovely blue cardstock in the included embossing folder and ran it through my die cut machine. I then blended Sapphire ink along the edges using a small blending tool. I think this makes the flowers almost glow! I also splattered some white gouache on the panel to add even more texture and interest to the clean area of the background.

I die cut a “thanks” sentiment and its coordinating halo die from some of the newly released Dazzling Diamond glitter cardstock (which I believe is currently out of stock, but will be restocked soon, so be sure to sign up for email notifications when it returns to the Altenew store!) and some more heavyweight vellum. I adhered it to the embossed card front, then added a few iridescent gems to the card front for added sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my projects today. Altenew has some fun giveaways to celebrate this release!

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $25 gift certificate to 8 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 07/18/2021 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 10 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 07/20/2021.

Your next stop is Tina Smith. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!