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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

Pinkfresh Studio May 2022 Stamp and Die Release Hop + Giveaway!

Good morning! Today is the Pinkfresh Studio May 2022 Stamp and Die release, and we have a fabulous blog hop to inspire you with all of these amazing new goodies! You can see the full link list down at the bottom of this post in case you get lost. This release is full of all of the beautiful, innovative products that you’ve come to associate with Pinkfresh Studio, and I have two projects to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

I seem to always gravitate towards pink, coral, or plum these days, so I thought it would be fun to really switch it up and do some gorgeous cool tones with periwinkle blue, lilac, and a few pops of pink. Both of my cards feature the stunning new Stained Glass cover plate die, which is a perfect background for the gorgeous new floral sets: Painted Daisies and Grant Yourself Grace!

For the Painted Daisies project, I began by stamping the main image onto some watercolor paper using no-line coloring ink. I then used my Sennelier watercolors to add lots of cool lilac, periwinkle, and jade, with a few pops of bright fuchsia to add extra interest. Once I’d finished watercoloring, I die cut the image using the coordinating die.

I trimmed down a periwinkle blue A2 card base, then die cut the stunning new Stained Glass cover plate die from some holographic blue cardstock. The gorgeous holographic cardstock picks up the beautiful variety of colors in the painting, but also is tone-on-tone enough to create subtle texture for the background, allowing the flowers to be the star of the show.

I arranged the flower bouquet in the corner of the card, trimming off the excess and arranging the leftovers to create a cascade down the card front. I popped all of the pieces up using foam adhesive, then added a greeting from Modern Sentiments, heat embossed in white on some more periwinkle cardstock and die cut with the coordinating (one piece!) die. The final touch was to add a few Sapphire jewels!

My second project features the same color palette, this time focusing on the gorgeous individual flowers from the Grant Yourself Grace product suite. I stamped the outline stamps for Grant Yourself Grace on some white cardstock using Stargazer ink, a bit more subtle than typical black ink, then used the Grant Yourself Grace Stencils with Sapphire, Blue Jay, and Slumber inks for the roses, Candy Violet and Lavender for the pops of lilac, and Meadow and Emerald City for the greenery. I die cut all of the finished stenciled images with the coordinating one-piece die (love how convenient that is! So clever!) and turned to my card base.

For the card base, I again die cut the fantastic Stained Glass cover plate die from some periwinkle cardstock and layered it over a full size A2 periwinkle card base. This tone-on-tone texture is absolutely marvelous! I had reserved the negative die cuts from my holographic blue Stained Glass die cut from the previous card, so I adhered those in some of the spaces to help add even more subtle, but gorgeous, interest to the background.

Once I’d finished creating the different components to the card front, I began to assemble the card. I die cut a circle from some more periwinkle cardstock, then began to arrange the roses around it as a ground for my flowers. I adhered the circle and flowers using foam adhesive, then added a greeting (leftover from the previous card) from Modern Sentiments with another layer of foam adhesive, giving it a double layer of foam adhesive in total to help it really stand out. Some more Sapphire gems help bring out those iridescent blue foil accents on the die cut background!

Well, that’s all for my projects today. Pinkfresh is hosting a giveaway to celebrate their new release! They will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel. They also will be giving away a total of TEN $25  gift cards along the hop. The winners will be selected from the comments. The more comments you leave along the hop, the more chances you have to win! Winners will be announced on June 3, 2022 on our GIVEAWAY PAGE. Winners must check that page & claim your prize within 2 weeks.

The full hop list is included below, and you can check out the full May 2022 Release HERE. Thanks so much for reading, and happy hopping!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Altenew Paint-A-Flower: Magnolia Rustica Outline Stamp Set Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($200 in Total Prizes)

Hi there! Today, Altenew is celebrating their new Paint-A-Flower: Magnolia Rustica release with a blog hop! You should have arrived here from the Altenew Card Blog, and your next stop is Ann Taylor. In my book, the bigger the bloom, the better for coloring, and these beautiful blooms from the Paint-A-Flower: Magnolia Rustica are gigantic and so fun to paint! Let’s get started with the details on my project.

I began by heat embossing the gorgeous Paint-A-Flower: Magnolia Rustica in the center of an A2 panel of watercolor paper using gold embossing powder. I knew that I wanted to paint a dark, vibrant, intense background for some light pink magnolias, so I taped my panel down to my watercolor board using some painter’s tape, then mixed some vivid maroon-y fuchsia using the Artist’s 24 Pan Watercolor. The colors included in the Artist’s 24 Pan Watercolor set are gorgeous in and of themselves, but I have found myself wanting to stretch my color palette even further lately by mixing and matching various shades to create completely unique custom colors. I created this intense deep pink by mixing Cherry Blossom (bright pink), Shades of Purple (amethyst purple), and a touch of Rock Collection (black). I encourage you to try mixing different shades on your own watercolor palette. It opens up a world of possibilities!

After I had created the deep pink halo around my floral image in the center of the watercolor panel, I worked on the Magnolia image itself. I painted the area around it first because I wanted to do some reverse artistic psychology on my eyes and make stark the contrast between the intense halo surrounding the flower and the flower itself. I diluted the same shade of deep pink used on the halo down a bit using clean water, then painted the flowers, keeping the color concentrated in the center of the blooms and using lots of water to pull that small amount of color out in a smooth fade to white. The contrast between the background and the flowers helps to keep me from adding too much color to the flowers and keeps them to light.

While my painting was drying (still taped to my board to keep it from warping) I die cut the detailed Handwritten Hello die twice from some scrap white cardstock and once from some matte gold foil cardstock. I layered all of the pieces together using liquid adhesive to create a dimensional die cut greeting. I also gold embossed a greeting from Sentiment Strips 3 onto a thin strip of maroon cardstock, adhering it to the card front using some foam tape.

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 05/28/2022 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 05/30/2022.

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

Hero Arts 2022 Mixed Media Release+Blog Hop!

Hi there! Today, Hero Arts is celebrating the release of their new Mixed Media Catalog with a blog hop, and we are hoping to inspire you to step outside of your comfort zone. You should have arrived here from Debi Adams, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. I will admit, my initial thought was that Mixed Media was a bit too far of a departure from my normal style, but guess what I learned? For a project to be considered “mixed media,” it only needs to mix more than one medium-embossing, painting, stamping, ink blending, pastes, pearls… something that we do frequently as cardmakers!! I combined some of the new products from the Mixed Media Catalog with some older products and art supplies to create this card/tag combo, so let’s get started with the details!

Both of my projects feature the Floral Silhouettes stamps as the base of the projects. I love using colored pencils on vibrant colored cardstock, and thought it would be great fun to combine the Hero Arts Liquid Watercolors with white gouache to do some painting on Nautical cardstock. I stamped the images from Floral Silhouettes onto Nautical cardstock using Unicorn White pigment ink, then created a lovely pastel palette by mixing gouache with Strawberry, Mulled Wine, and Jungle Mist liquid watercolors. The opacity of the gouache makes it stand out perfectly on the dark navy blue cardstock.

Painting with gouache is a bit different than my normal painting technique. I painted the images flat, then added highlights to create definition on the individual areas, which is a bit of a departure from my usual technique of adding shadows to my images. The Floral Silhouettes stamps are solid silhouettes, so they leave some room for imagination when it comes to adding details. I fussy cut the finished images using my sharp scissors.

For my card base, I used White Satin Pearl embossing powder to emboss the new Calligraphy Bold Prints on a full size A2 panel of Nautical cardstock. I trimmed down a thick strip of more Nautical cardstock, adding a thinner strip of silver glitter cardstock on either side, then adhering it to the embossed card base. I added the greeting on a strip of cardstock using some foam adhesive, then arranged my flowers above the sentiment strip like they were exploding from the top of the sentiment strip. I love how the colorful gouache painting pops so beautifully from the dark blue cardstock. This is an experiment that I definitely will try again!

My tag features some of the leftover gouache flowers and another embossed background from the Calligraphy stamp, this time backing a Looking Glass Fine Art Frame, die cut from more navy blue cardstock. I arranged the flowers and foliage, as well as a sentiment, then punched a hole in the top and threaded a ribbon through to create a tag. Simple, and would look so lovely adorning a plain gift bag!

Well, that’s all for my projects today. I so enjoyed stepping out of my comfort zone creating these projects-I can’t wait to try more gouache/liquid watercolor experiments! Solid silhouette stamps are just the foundation for some really fun techniques!

To celebrate this new catalog release, Hero Arts is giving away a super fun prize pack. You can check out the Hero Arts Blog for all of the details on the items included in the prize pack from the new release. Simply leave comments along the hop to be entered to win. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win!

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

New Video: Adding “Iridescent” Details to your No-Line Watercoloring!

Hi there! I am up on the Pinkfresh Studio YouTube channel today with this video featuring my new Magnolia stamps and some “iridescent” watercoloring. Take a peek at the video here on my blog or watch HERE on YouTube to see how I created this iridescent look!

If you can’t watch the video, I’ll give a quick rundown of how I created this pretty card!

When I’ve got all of the stuff out for hot foiling, I will hot foil a bunch of different pieces to use at a later date for projects. I hot foiled the super versatile new Nested Hexagons hot foil frames using Aura foil, which is an absolutely stunning iridescent gold foil from Spellbinders, and I thought that the new Magnolia stamps would be perfect to do a video with some more no-line watercolor tricks, as well as showing how I create an “iridescent” look to my watercolored images!

I began by stamping the Magnolia images onto some Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper using Contour Ink from Hero Arts. I used my Karin Brushmarker watercolor markers to add some light pink color to the images, keeping the pinks and lavender shadows concentrated towards the center of the flower, making sure to keep the edges nice and crisp by keeping the wet sections separate, as well as using plenty of water to allow the pink to smoothly fade into white around the edges of the petals.

After I’d added the main color to the pink flowers, I added some very diluted washes of coral, lime green, and aqua blue Karin markers to the edges of the petals, mirroring the iridescent shine on the Nested Hexagon foiled frame. I was able to make the colors super pale and translucent by scribbling them onto my ceramic palette and adding lots of clean water to create the subtle wash. I die cut the finished watercolored images using the coordinating Magnolia Dies.

To create the background for my watercolored images, I die cut a Nested Hexagon die the same size as my foiled frame from the center of a Floral Tiles cover plate die, cut from some white cardstock. I nested the foiled frame inside of the die cut opening, then added both pieces to a solid white card base using foam adhesive. I arranged the watercolored magnolia flowers to the front of the card in a bouquet, then adhered them with more foam adhesive, creating a double layer of foam adhesive. For the greeting, I added a sentiment from Brushed Sentiments, which I heat embossed in white on some heavyweight vellum and die cut using the coordinating dies. The final touch was to add a few iridescent white gems for some sparkle!

Well, that’s all for this project! It was so fun picking up the rainbow colors in the iridescent foil in my watercoloring. It’s subtle, but I think it adds so much interest to the finished painting. Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a marvelous day!

Simon Says Stamp Yay You Release Blog Hop+Givewaway!

Hi there! I’m so excited to be part of Simon Says Stamp’s Yay You blog hop today, celebrating their newest collection release. You should have arrived here from Bibi Cameron, and your next stop is Miriam Prantner. You can also start back at the beginning at the Simon Says Stamp Blog in case you get lost! I have a trio of wedding-themed projects to share with you today, all with a coordinated feel but each their own unique finished product. Let’s get started with the details!

My first projects feature several of the stunning new hot foil goodies from the Yay You release. I came a little late to the hot foil game, only recently becoming slightly obsessed with the magic that is hot foiling, and these gorgeous new floral hot foil plates are just making me love it even more. I have found that the Pinkfresh Studio Solid Hot Foil Plate is an absolute game changer when it comes to hot foil. It allows you to get twice as much mileage from your hot foiling products, and it creates such an incredibly unique look with the solid foiled pieces.

For this first project, I wanted to create some bold matte gold floral images, so I combined the new Sketched Anemone hot foil plates with the Solid Hot Foil Plate to create some matte gold foil ephemera for my card front. I also created some foliage using the Eucalyptus Stem hot foil plate, as well as a few vellum Sketched Leaf Branches for some textural variety.

I die cut a Domed Arches die from some Lawn Fawn Pencil Eraser cardstock, which I find to be a most unique shade of pink-something that I truly have never seen before amongst my (somewhat copious) collection of colored cardstock! I placed the arch die cut on the Detail Mandala die and ran it through my die cut machine to add some subtle interest to the background. I popped the pierced dome die cut up on an A2 card base made from Pencil Eraser cardstock with some foam tape. I arranged the foiled floral swag on the dome die cut, then added a greeting from the new Happily A Lifetime. Such a gorgeous sentiment set! A few iridescent pearls finished the project off and added one final bit of textural contrast.

My second project features several of the same products used on the first project, as well as an identical color scheme, but this project features a completely different layout. I began this project by hot foiling the beautifully detailed new Intricate Floral hot foil plate onto some more Pencil Eraser cardstock using Aura foil from Spellbinders. This was my first occasion to use the Aura foil, and its iridescent gold shimmer does not disappoint in the slightest! The combination of the iridescent foil impressed into the unique melon pink background makes my heart flutter.

I trimmed the foiled background down slightly and added a strip of glittery gold along the edge, then mounted that on a full size A2 Pencil Eraser card base using foam adhesive. I heat embossed another greeting from Happily A Lifetime onto some more pink cardstock using white embossing powder for maximum contrast, then popped the greeting and some golden foiled eucalyptus die cuts up using a double layer of foam adhesive for tons of height and contrast. A few more iridescent pearls finished the project off.

My last project for today features the gorgeous, gigantic new Happily Ever After die. I thought the romantic font and sheer size of this die would work beautifully with my Celebrate Rose Corner stamps. Roses+weddings go together like peanut butter+jelly, right? I stamped the Celebrate Rose Corner using Contour Ink from Hero Arts, then did some no-line watercoloring on the roses using Holbein watercolors and Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper. Once I’d finished watercoloring, I die cut the large image using the coordinating die.

For the card base, I trimmed down an A7 card front from some more Pencil Eraser cardstock, which coordinated beautifully with the muted mauve-y pinks in the roses. To add a bit of interest to the background, I blended some Magnolia ink using a blending brush, then splattered some handmade shimmery gold watercolor on blended the background. I popped up the watercolored roses using foam adhesive, then added the glittery gold Happily Ever After die cut. I also tucked a couple of Eucalyptus Stem hot foiled vellum die cuts for added textural interest, as well as a few rose gold gems for even more sparkle. The sparkles and size make it super festive for a wedding card, but the soft colors and pretty flowers are so romantic, don’t you think?

Well, that’s all for my projects today! To celebrate their latest release, Simon Says Stamp is generously giving away a $25 coupon to every stop on the hop, selected from the blog comment section. Winners will be chosen and posted on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday, the 18th of May. The more comments you leave along the hop, the more chances you have to win!

Simon Says Stamp is also offering a fun gift with purchase freebie! Simply add code BEAUTY at checkout to receive the Beautiful die set for free!

Your next stop on the hop is Miriam Prantner. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!