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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

Adding some sparkle with Shimmerz!

Hi friends! Recently, I was given the opportunity to play with some of the different varieties of paints from Shimmerz. I’m always up for playing with new watercoloring mediums, and if they have sparkle…. well, let’s just say I was excited at the prospect. 😉 Now, if you’re not familiar with these paints, check out their website. SO many fun colors and styles, and so.much.sparkle!

For the next three days, I will have a sort of “mini-series” devoted to my projects created with these fabulously shimmery paints.

For my first project in this little series, I chose to work with one of the new-to-me sets from Honey Bee Stamps: Zen Bouquet. I’ve been dying to watercolor this beautiful set since I first laid eyes on it, and this was the perfect excuse to do so! Now, as with any new medium, I wanted to just practice a little and kind of play around with them, find the little quirks and unique properties about the paints. So, for this project, I just heat embossed the main Zen Bouquet image on some watercolor card stock (I just used a scrap that I had lying about) and dabbled paint here and there, not really trying to focus on shading or anything, just enjoying adding color. For this image, I focused on some pretty purples, silvers, and blue-y greens to match the Fresh Lilac Mix from Honey Bee Stamps. I used Corney Flower Blue, Spotlight White, and Blue Lagoon Inklingz from Shimmerz, as well as Hi Ho Silver Blingz and Orchidstra Shimmerz to add color to this super detailed image.

After I had added all of the color to my background, I decided to take the sparkly nature of the paints one step further and make it into a shaker card. I die cut a pretty teal frame from some card stock using the A2 Stitched dies from Honey Bee. I added acetate and dimensional adhesive behind the teal frame, then filled it with the Fresh Lilac sequins mix from Honey Bee.

For the greeting, I die cut the layered Happy die in coordinating shades of lavender, teal, and shimmering silver card stock and added an “anniversary” on a strip of pale gray card stock over the top to create a floating sentiment across the top of the shaker.

 

And that’s it for my first project using these delightful little paints! I hope you enjoyed it, and if you’ve never heard of Shimmerz (which somehow I hadn’t haha!), definitely go take a look at their website. I’ve barely scratched the surface here with what they offer! Have a marvelous day, and I will see you back here tomorrow!

One giant leap.

Good morning! Happy Monday! I’m here with you today to share something that is a little petrifying for me, but has been on my bucket list for quite a while…

my first video.

I really hope you like it. I’ve had a few people (here’s looking at you, Donna! 🙂 ) request a video of my Zig marker coloring, and so this is my first attempt to explain why I do what I do. I hope it’s clear and maybe useful to someone!

In case you can’t watch the video or would like to have some written instructions on how to make the card showcased in the video, I started by heat embossing one of the peonies, a bud, and some foliage from Ellen Hutson’s Mondo Peony stamp set onto some Canson Montval watercolor paper with gold embossing powder. I then used Zig markers in shades of Light Violet, Purple, and Violet (and I explain exactly what I do with them in the video!) along with my damp paintbrush to add color, depth, and shading to my blooms. The leaves were colored with Turquoise Green and Persian Green Zig markers. After I had finished coloring, I fussy cut the flowers out, but you could easily use the dies and save yourself some time. 😉 I arranged my flowers in a little bouquet on an A2 card front, then picked them all up using the ever-helpful Press ‘n Seal so I wouldn’t have to fiddle with them later.

I have soooo many 6×6 (and 8.5×11 and 12×12…) patterned paper pads in my stash that I hardly ever use… it’s nice to know they’re there when I need a sheet or two, like the one sheet I used for this card! I trimmed down this black and white striped panel from a stack from Hobby Lobby and added a thin strip of fuchsia colored glitter paper at the bottom, then added several strips of dimensional adhesive. I adhered a piece of lavender card stock to my card base, then adhered my striped dimensional panel to it. After adding both liquid adhesive and dimensional adhesive to my peonies, I laid them down on my card base. My greeting is from Concord and 9th’s Kindhearted stamp set. I simply cut a strip of vellum and heat embossed the greeting using the same gold embossing powder that I used on the peony.

And that’s it! A fairly simple final layout for the semi-involved coloring.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my first foray into video making. It was definitely a process, and something I would probably never have even attempted if my friend Jess hadn’t pushed me (and guided me so well). I hope you will subscribe to my channel, because I have a few more projects up my sleeve! Hopefully, I will get more comfortable with the whole process and be able to create videos even more quickly in the future. Practice makes perfect!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a marvelous week!

Edited to add: I have had a few people ask about the Absorber that I use in my video to dab my paintbrush on. This is one of my most useful items in my craft room, and it’s economical, too! It’s basically a car chamois…. automotive types use them to dry their cars after giving them a wash. I use mine to clean my stamps off in addition to using it to dab excess water from my paintbrush. When you buy an Absorber, they are relatively large; I cut mine down into 4 squares and rotate them. I just throw them in the washing machine when they’re looking too grungy!!! I hope that helps answer any questions you might have! 🙂

Where Creativity Meets C9: Layers!

If you’re looking for my Blog Hop post for The Ton’s Summer 2017 release, please click here. 

Good morning again! Today also marks the start of a new challenge over on the Where Creativity Meets C9 blog! This month, the challenge is:

Create something layered using your Concord and 9th products! For my project, I used the Pretty Petals stamps and dies to create a layered, dimensional project. I started by die cutting the main flower die from some plain white card stock, then using my blending tools to blend Worn Lipstick and Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide inks on the die cut, adding some shimmer spray over the top to create the “velvety” effect achieved with the Oxide inks. I stamped the detail layer using Versamark ink, then sprinkled holographic embossing powder over the top and heated it with my heat gun. The pink center really pops even more with the added sparkly heat embossing! I also die cut the center of the Pretty Petals die from some sparkly gold glitter card stock and adhered it to the center with some dimensional adhesive.

For the greeting, I used the pretty new All About You dies to cut “thank you” from some aqua card stock. I stamped some of the flower centers from the Pretty Petals stamp set onto the white card base using Delicata Gold ink, then adhered the flower with dimensional adhesive. I finally added yet another layer by adhering the sentiment die cuts with more dimensional adhesive.

It’s a little outside of my normal color scheme and style, but I like the sunny, happy colors! Definitely something different. Now, it’s your turn! Create a project with at least two layers using your Concord and 9th products, then be sure to link it up to our blog to be entered to win the $25 gift certificate generously donated by Concord and 9th!

The Ton Stamps Summer Release Blog Hop!

Good morning again! Welcome to the final day of The Ton’s Summer Release. We are concluding this week of inspiration and product debuts with a fabulous blog hop with some fabulous guests. You should have arrived at my blog from Svitlana’s post, and your next stop is Dana’s blog.

For The Ton’s Summer 2017, Effie has released 24 new stamp designs and 1 new couture mix! There are four new gifts with purchases that you can obtain with this new release. This promotion does not apply to prior purchases. The threshold amount is calculated before taxes and shipping. This promotion will continue until June 22 at 11:59pm EST or until supplies last. Limit one incentive package per order. No coupon code needed. All incentive products will be added to qualified orders.

Spend $75 or more: Receive a free pack of our new Summer Soiree Couture Mix
Spend $100 or more: Receive a 2×3 Floral Mini Banner Stamp (and Summer Soiree Mix)
Spend $150 or more: Receive a 2×3 Anemone Cluster Mini Stamp (and Floral Mini Banner Stamp and Summer Soiree Mix).

Spend $200 or more: Receive a 3×4 Watercolor Bouquet Set (and an Anemone Cluster Mini stamp, Floral Mini Banner Stamp and Summer Soiree Mix).

**Incentive products will not be available for purchase in our shop until July***

Now, let’s get started on my final projects for this week’s festivities! The second I saw the artwork for the new Anemone Wishes set, I knew I wanted to use my pencils for some no-line coloring. Using my pencils on colored card stock is one of my absolute favorite techniques. I started by stamping the image using Hampton White pigment ink onto my lavender card stock panel. Next, going petal by petal, I colored the image first with a white colored pencil, then over the top with the colored pencils, using my blender pencil to smooth everything out. It’s amazing what adding that first layer of white pencil beneath the colored pencil does to make the colors really pop off of the colored card stock. After I had finished coloring the entire image, I used my T-ruler to add a white box around the edge to create a frame.

For the greeting, I used the beautiful new Penned Sentiments set. I simply heat embossed it with silver embossing powder. I trimmed a bit off of the bottom of the lavender panel and added some strips of pretty turquoise foil to the top and bottom of the card base. The final step was to mount the lavender panel on the card base with some foam tape.

This next card is a bit outside of my normal color scheme, but I kinda love it! I figured that, since I’d done pink and purple anemones all week, I should do some that were more traditionally colored. When I think of anemones, I think of red anemones with black centers, but anemones come in nearly every color of the rainbow! For my last card for this week, I started by stamping the beautiful Anemone Background onto some watercolor paper and heat embossing it in gold, then watercoloring it with my Daniel Smith watercolors, adding a dark gray/light black background wash. After it had dried, I used the largest of the Stitched Rectangles to die cut from the watercolored background.

I die cut the Brushed Love die from some glossy black card stock that I had in my stash, then added two more layers of plain black card stock die cuts and adhered them all together. I heat embossed a coordinating sentiment from the Brushed Love sentiment set using the same gold embossing powder onto some strips of black card stock, then popped them up on the card front. The final step was to add some Matte Gold sequins to create a visual cascade across the front of the card.

Now, for some giveaway fun:

Three $25 gift certificates to The Ton’s shop will be given away to random commenters from the hop participant blogs. To qualify, you must leave a comment on The Ton Blog Hop post. The comment period will close on Monday, June 12th at 11:59pm. Winners will be announced thereafter on The Ton’s blog. **Gift certificates can only be applied to The Ton stamps, dies and gilding categories.

Be sure to hop along to see all of the phenomenal inspiration that our guests have created for you!

The Ton
Laura Sterckx
Tae Eun Yoo
Laurel Beard
Mayline Jung
Svitlana Shayevich
Emily Midgett-YOU ARE HERE
Dana Gong
Vera Yates
Svetlana Pavlova
Eunji Jung
Amy Tsuruta
Laura Jane Head
Justine Hovey
Sveta Fotinia
Janette Kausen
Marika Rahtu
Jenny Lee Yamasaki
Amy Kolling
Lisa Harrolle
Lydia Fiedler
Brenda Noelke
Olga Matyushevskaya
Chris Dayton
Anna Kutsenko
Kay Miller

“The Ton’s June Challenge is now live! For this month, we have a fun color palette challenge so head over now for a chance to win a $50 spree to The Ton’s shop!” *Gift certificates only apply to The Ton stamps, dies and gilding.

Well, that’s all for this post! I hope you’ve enjoyed my release posts this week. It’s been a pleasure sharing all of the new products and (hopefully) some inspiration with you! Have a marvelous weekend, friends!