Sixth Street Sundries

Altenew August 2022 Marvelous Monthly Series Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

August 12, 2022

Hi there! Today, Altenew is celebrating their August Marvelous Monthly release with a blog hop! You should have arrived here from Kari VanNoy, and your next stop is Angela Brennan. You can also start back at the beginning at the Altenew Card Blog. I have two springy, peachy projects to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

My first project uses the beautiful new Build A Garden Daffodil Delight stamps. Daffodils are not a flower that one sees frequently in stamp form, especially not in this large size, and I couldn’t resist doing some watercoloring! I stamped the image on some Altenew Watercolor Paper using embossing ink, then heat embossed some pearlescent white embossing powder. In my opinion, the white embossing powder helps to create a faux-no-line coloring look while still allowing the ease of watercoloring with the raised embossed edge. The embossing helps create little wells to protect the edges of your image while still being subtle enough to give the impression of no-line watercoloring.

Because I wanted to keep the daffodils themselves very light, I watercolored the area around the daffodil first. Doing the background first helps me to keep perspective on how light to watercolor the image itself. If I tried to do the flowers before the background, the flowers might end up looking much darker and more intense than the image in my head. I created some unique colors by blending several shades on the Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor paint set. It’s fun to create completely unique color palettes from the colors you already have!

After I’d finished painting the image, I die cut some Fine Frames dies from some Brushed Rose Metallic cardstock and added them to the watercolored panel. To keep things simple, I added a dimensional die cut greeting created by stacking three “hugs” die cuts cut from the Simple Greetings die set together. The final touch was to add a few iridescent yellow gems for some sparkle!

The second project features the new Craft Your Life Project Kit: Magnolia & Blooms. I started by cutting out the image with the coordinating dies, then used the beautiful 3D embossing folder included in the kit to emboss the gorgeous detailed image on the die cuts. I used some detail blending brushes to lightly blend Pastel Sunrise, Hunter Green, and Citrus Burst on the flower centers. I also added some dots of metallic rose gold marker on the flower centers.

I die cut the Moroccan Lattice cover plate die from some more white cardstock and adhered it on a white A2 card front using some liquid adhesive. I added the blended and embossed die cut using some foam adhesive.

I heat embossed a greeting from the Magnolia & Blooms stamp set using some Golden Peach embossing powder, then matted it on a slightly larger piece of Brushed Rose Metallic cardstock. I popped it up with some foam adhesive, then finally added a few gems for some sparkle!

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

$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 08/18/2022 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 08/20/2022.

Your next stop on the hop is Angela Brennan. Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy hopping!

Pinkfresh Studio Challenge August 2022-Beautiful Backgrounds!

August 7, 2022

Hi there! Each month, Pinkfresh Studio hosts a challenge with a different theme, providing everybody with the opportunity to link your projects inspired by the challenge for a chance to win a Pinkfresh Studio shopping spree! This month, the challenge is Beautiful Backgrounds, and Pinkfresh Studio has such a wide variety of options for creating gorgeous backgrounds: hot foil, cover plates, stamps, stencils. I have a cool, crisp project featuring some of the beautiful colors in the inspiration graphic and one of my favorite ways to add interest to the background of floral cards: Dotted Scallops! Let’s get started on the details for my card.

I began by stamping the Cosmos Bunch stamp set that I illustrated for Pinkfresh last year twice onto some alcohol marker-friendly cardstock using black pigment ink. I then covered the sticky ink with some white pearl embossing powder to create my favorite pearlescent charcoal embossing. I colored the images using OLO markers, coloring the foliage and small bunches of flowers around the larger Cosmos first, then using some very light lavender and gray markers with the “colorless” marker to add shadows to the large Cosmos images. I also colored around the edges very lightly with a super pale aqua marker, the combination of which I think helps to create contrast for the bright white Cosmos flowers. I cut the finished colored images with the coordinating dies.

For the background, I used the beautiful Dotted Scallops cover plate to create subtle texture on my white slimline card base. This die is originally formatted to fit an A2 card front, but I ran it through my die cut machine twice, shifting it the second time to cover the bottom portion of my slimline card front. The seam of the two die cuts was slightly visible, but I was able to cover it up later. To coordinate with the blue filler flowers, I added a couple of strips of coordinating blue cardstock, one thin glitter and one textured blue cardstock, die cut using the Slim Lacy Edgers die set.

For the greeting, I used the Sentiment Suite: Hello Hot Foil Plate and coordinating die. I hot foiled the greeting using some metallic graphite colored foil to coordinate with my pearlescent charcoal embossing. I added the floral die cuts with foam adhesive, making sure to partially cover the seam of the background, then added the foiled greeting using a double layer of foam tape, covering the remainder of the background seam. The final touch was to add a few Sky Blue jewels for one final pop of blue on the card front.

Well, that’s all for my project today! The Beautiful Background theme for this month covers so much ground, with so many beautiful options for interesting backgrounds from Pinkfresh Studio. I hope you’ll check out the challenge and enter a project! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day.

Hero Arts August 2022 My Monthly Hero Release Blog Hop + Giveaway!

August 1, 2022

Hi there! The first Monday of the month means the new My Monthly Hero kit and August release from Hero Arts, and this month we are out on the road! You should have arrived here from Daniel West, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. You can also check out the full hop list at the Hero Arts Blog!

This month’s kit features a fabulously easy layering stencil set, complete with coordinating dies, and a super versatile sentiment set. Here’s a peek at the main kit:

The individual contents of the kit are valued at $70, but the retail cost is $34.99! Such a great deal. The kit comes with the ink pads to create a traditionally colored desert scene, but I chose to create a night scene using gray and black ink, allowing the saturation in the deep purple Eggplant cardstock to make the big visual impact, as well as a secret weapon to create that massive, luminous moon. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by blending the stencils traditionally on two panels of Eggplant cardstock using Pitch Black and Charcoal inks. The intense purple cardstock shines through on even the black ink blending! Also, can I just say that these were quite possibly the easiest layering stencils that I have ever used?? Each stencil comes with little squares notched into the corners that you blend a touch of ink over with the first stencil still in place, and as long as you line up your subsequent stencils with those little corner squares, your layering will be absolutely spot on! Such an innovative idea that takes the guesswork out of the layering.

One of the stencils features a nice round moon, and instead of blending the black or gray ink over the top, I used the Hero Tools Palette Knife to spread some White Hero Wax. I was thrilled with how bright the white wax showed up on the purple cardstock, and the slightly pearlescent wax really makes the luminous moon feel almost real. I dotted some white gel pen stars around the moon. Such beautiful contrast to make up that night sky! Looking at the photos now, I wish that I had blended some Nautical ink just on the top of the card panel before doing my stenciling to give the desert night sky an even more authentic look.

I die cut the various cacti from the second blended panel, then used foam adhesive to pop them up. I like to use lots of height and dimension on tone-on-tone cards like this to help make the images stand out. I heat embossed a greeting from the kit on a strip of Eggplant cardstock, then backed it with a slightly larger strip of black glitter paper. I love the touches of bright white on that stark background…. the contrast is so interesting to me! The entire team has shown a ton of different color schemes to use with this month’s kit using such a huge variety of the new Core Ink line. Such versatility!

The add-ons for this month’s kit are fabulous, too! Remember Carrie Bradshaw’s hot pink crocodile luggage from SATC? That’s what I was channeling when I created this project using the new Luggage Fancy Dies. I die cut the different cases using Ultra Pink cardstock, then blended Ultra Pink ink around the edges. I also used a paintbrush to add some white details using more White Hero Wax.

For the card base, I clear embossed the new Road Side Bold Prints onto an A2 panel of Pitch Black cardstock. I love the subtle texture that this gives the background!

For the greeting, I heat embossed a sentiment from the Seaside Heroscape stamp set onto a strip of Ultra Pink cardstock, then backed it with a slightly larger strip of black glitter cardstock. I stacked the luggage on the embossed card front and adhered it with foam adhesive, then added the greeting with a double layer of foam tape for lots of height. I added a few glittery black luggage tags for some extra sparkle.

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

We will give away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, August 7th at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

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

Three Holiday Cards with One Foiled Image+Spellbinders Sale!

July 27, 2022

Hi there! Spellbinders has released some absolutely spectacular holiday products during their July Release, and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to play with some of them. All three of my projects today are based on one product set: Blooming Tree Glimmer Plate and Die. (Waste not, want not!) Let’s get started with the details on my projects!

I began by doing some hot foiling the Blooming Tree Glimmer Plate and Die with my Glimmer machine (which is on sale right now, by the way! If you’re on the fence this would be a great opportunity to pick up a hot foil machine at a discount!) using Champagne foil from Spellbinders. I love the Champagne foil. It’s such a lovely, subtle alternative to gold. A bit cooler, and very elegant and chic. I used the Solid Rectangle Foil Plate to use the negative space created by the Blooming Tree Glimmer Plate and Die on the leftover foil panel. After I’d finished foiling, I die cut the original tree image, the negative space image, and reserved the leftover negative space on the original white cardstock panel. One foiled image, three focal pieces!

My first card uses the original foiled image. After foiling and die cutting, I used Copic markers to color the flowers and foliage on the image with a slightly non-traditional color scheme of hot pink and olive green. Still red and green, ish, but but a more modern twist!

For the card base, I ran the Plaid Tidings hot foil plate through my Glimmer machine without any heat or foil. The result was this lovely, subtly textured background! As a ground for my foiled tree die cut, I added a strip of champagne glitter paper along one side of the card base.

I added a few die cut Evergreen Boughs behind the tree in a coordinating shade of olive green. I die cut a greeting from the Christmas Mix and Match sentiment dies, cut from some more champagne glitter paper. I added the “from all of us” from the Many Merry Christmas stamp and die set, heat embossed using platinum embossing powder. Finally, I added a few matte champagne pearls for one last textural element. I love the pops of color and flashes of shine on this card!

My second card features the negative foiled image from the Blooming Tree Glimmer Plate and Die. I used the Solid Rectangle Foil Plate to use the negative of the original foiled piece, which I die cut using the coordinating die. The champagne foil looks so lovely with the white details!

For the background, I used the Plaid Tidings hot foil plate with some more Champagne foil. Pulling that foil off of the heated panel was magical. (So magical that I repeated the process in 4 other colors haha! You can never have too many plaid backgrounds at your disposal!) The busy background needed something to soften it a bit, so I trimmed down a piece of heavyweight vellum and adhered my foiled tree to it, offset to one side.

For the greeting, I die cut another sentiment from the Christmas Mix and Match sentiment die set, again cut from champagne glitter cardstock, then again from plain white cardstock and adhered together to add a little extra height. I added them to the vellum strip using liquid adhesive, then added a coordinating sentiment strip from the Many Merry Christmas stamp and die set, heat embossed using platinum embossing powder on a strip of white cardstock and adhered using foam tape. I popped up the tree and vellum pieces using foam tape, hiding the adhesive behind the solid die cut to keep the vellum looking nice and clean. Some more matte champagne pearls were the final touch!

My final card features the negative cardstock left by the original foiled die cut Blooming Tree Glimmer Plate and Die. When foiling, I placed the tree hot foil plate as close to the center of the cardstock as possible; then when I die cut the tree, I had a tree-shaped window in the center of my cardstock. I backed it with another textured plaid panel, created by running the Plaid Tidings hot foil plate through my Platinum 6 using the embossing mat sandwich from the Universal Plate System. It creates a much more intense texture than just running the plate through with the foiling sandwich.

For the greeting, I heat embossed the pieces from the Many Merry Christmas stamp and die set using platinum embossing powder. I love how well this shade of embossing powder coordinates with the champagne foiling on the previous cards. I also die cut a few pine sprigs from the Pinecone and Evergreen Bough set in some more olive green cardstock. I die cut a few deep pink “berries” and glittery sprigs using some of the elements from the Be Bold Blooms die set. It’s not traditionally a holiday die set, but it worked quite well for this card!

I arranged all of the die cuts around the plaid tree window, adhering them with liquid and foam adhesive for lots of dimension. A few more matte champagne pearls finished it off!

Well, that’s all for my projects today. I had such fun hot foiling, die cutting, and mixing and matching to create three unique cards that still coordinate with each other. If you needed a little extra inspiration to get started on your holiday cards, I hope you’ll check out the beautiful July release from Spellbinders! So many gorgeous products covering such a wide variety of styles. Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a marvelous day!

Pinkfresh Studio July Release Blog Hop+Giveaway!

July 27, 2022

Hi there! Today, Pinkfresh Studio is releasing their newest collection of stamps, dies, washi tapes, and stencils, and we are hopping along to inspire you with all of the new goodies! This month’s new release has a wide variety of styles and multiple seasons, and I’m super excited to share a new autumnal color variation for the previously-released Sunflowers washi tape set, which I designed and painted for Pinkfresh Studio earlier this year. This new Autumnal Sunflowers features deeper, richer colors that are perfect for autumn and Thanksgiving cards. I have a mini slimline project to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

I began by adhering the Autumnal Sunflowers Washi to plain white cardstock. I used a scraper from my old Cricut days to make sure that the washi was adhered tightly to the paper and that there were no air bubbles. I used the coordinating die to die cut the images. (I love that it is all one piece, so you can run your die through your machine one time and get a ton of pieces to use on your project! There is also a coordinating stamp set, also in one piece, so that you can use the washi tape or the stamp set and color with your favorite medium in whatever color combo you choose!)

When I first saw the images for this month’s release, I immediately knew that I was going to be pairing this new Autumnal Sunflowers washi tape with the new Dainty Plaid Stamp and coordinating Dainty Plaid Stencil. I think plaid epitomizes autumn fashion and style, like a big chunky plaid scarf! I heat embossed the Dainty Plaid Stamp on some white cardstock using gold embossing powder, then used blending brushes to blend Marigold, Clementine, and Sunshine inks to create a sunny yellow plaid background. I die cut a large circle from the plaid panel using the Nested Circles dies. I also die cut a gold foil Blanket Stitched Circle frame and adhered it around the edge of the plaid circle.

Once I had the die cut components complete, I trimmed down a coordinating deep purple mini slimline card base (3.5″x6″) to help make those purple berries in the washi tape pop. I arranged the floral washi die cuts around the edge of my plaid circle in a bouquet, adhering them with liquid adhesive and single and double layers of foam tape for tons of dimension. I adhered the entire piece to my mini slimline card base with foam adhesive, allowing some of the pieces to spill over on each side. (You can easily mail this in an A7 envelope, even with the overhanging bits!) For the greeting, I wanted to highlight some of the beautiful foiled accents on the Autumnal Sunflowers washi tape, so I used one of the Foiled Sentiments 3 from last month’s release, the edges of which I lightly blended some Marigold and Clementine inks to help it coordinate further. I popped the greeting up on the plaid circle using foam adhesive, then added a few Espresso jewels for one last element of shine!

Well, that’s all for my project today. To celebrate this new release, Pinkfresht Studio has lots of giveaways! They will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel. They will be giving away a total of TEN $25 gift cards along the hop. As per usual with blog hops – the winners will be picked from the comments. The winners will be selected and posted on August 5, 2022 on the GIVEAWAY PAGE. Winners must check that page & claim your prize within 2 weeks.

Here’s the full hop list:

Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy hopping!

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