Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

Archives for March 2022

Altenew Craft-A-Flower: Sunburst Azalea Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($200 in total prizes)

Hi there! We’re hopping along today to celebrate Altenew’s newest Craft-A-Flower addition: Sunburst Azalea! You should have arrived here from LauraJane and your next stop is Hussena Calcuttawala. You can also start back at the beginning at the Altenew Card Blog. This month’s Craft-A-Flower is totally gorgeous, featuring two sizes of bloom and multiple sizes of foliage. Here’s a peek at the kit:

If you love layering dies, you should definitely subscribe to the Craft-A-Flower series to receive each month’s die set at a discount! I’ve got a super vibrant card that is absolutely saturated in color for you today, so let’s get started with the details!

I began by die cutting the pieces for the Sunburst Azalea blooms in a few shades of shocking pink and deep maroon for the centers, then adhering them together using liquid adhesive. Because the foliage is only single pieces, no layering, I die cut them from some bright kelly green cardstock, then used a  Small Ink Blending Tool to blend some Hunter Green ink around the edges of each leaf to help add a bit of shape to them.

For the greeting, I die cut the “hugs” using Dazzling Diamond glitter cardstock and the Tall Alpha dies.

Because I wanted the Sunburst Azalea flowers to pop off of the page, almost literally, I used a green card base as my background for the die cut flowers so that it looked as though the flowers were exploding from a lush green garden. I used the Altenew Metallic Watercolor to splatter some shimmery green paint on the background for a bit of interest, then arranged my die cut flowers and foliage and adhered them using foam tape. I added the glittery greeting, then added a few iridescent white pearls for some shimmer and shine, complementing the shimmery accents of the metallic splatters and the glittery sentiment.

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 03/13/2022 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 03/15/2022.

Your next stop is Hussena Calcuttawala. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Altenew March 2022 Folktales & StoriesCollection Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in total prizes)

Hi there! Welcome to the Altenew Folktales and Stories release blog hop! You should have arrived here from Hussena Calcuttawala, and your next stop is Colleen Balija. You can also check out the full hop list at the Altenew Blog. As always, there are some stunning new flowers in this release, including the Endless Florescence set that I’ve used to do some no-line watercoloring. Let’s get started with the details of my project!

I began by stamping the beautiful floral image from Endless Florescence onto some watercolor paper using no-line ink, then used the Artist’s 24 Pan Watercolor set to add some soft watercoloring to the images. I usually go bright and bold, but this time I wanted to embrace a more muted color palette. I die cut the finished watercolored piece with the coordinating die.

Next, I began work on the card base. I blended some Emerald ink on a coordinating green card base, then splattered some metallic gold watercolor on the blended area. I added a matte gold frame around the edge cut using the Fine Frames Rectangles dies and some matte gold foil cardstock.

I adhered the watercolored bouquet using some Instant Dimension Foam Tape. I also heat embossed a greeting from Endless Florescence on a rectangle of vellum cardstock using gold embossing powder. I adhered it to the card front, tucking one corner behind the die cut and using tiny dots of liquid adhesive. Finally, I added a few metallic gold 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 03/10/2022 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 03/12/2022.

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

VIDEO: Easy Watercoloring with Stencils!

Hi there! I’m up on the Pinkfresh Studio YouTube channel today with this fun stenciled watercolor technique:

Or you can click here to watch the video on YouTube.

If you like the look of watercoloring but aren’t sure if you want to invest in all of the “stuff” that goes along with watercoloring, this technique is for you! I know that I’m not the first person to use layering stencils to create watercolored look, but it’s the first time that I’ve tried it, and I have to say: I’m obsessed! Watercoloring this image was just so quick that I almost feel like I cheated!

I started by embossing my new Chrysanthemum Slimline stamp from the February 2022 release with some silver embossing powder. The key for this project is in the paper; I used watercolor paper that was specially made for liquid watercolor mediums, which I will link below, but I am sure that this would work brilliantly with most watercolor papers. You want something that will stand up to lots of liquid without pilling or falling apart. I then used the coordinating layering stencils and Slumber and Blue Jay inks to add some pretty blue to the bloom, Mint and Meadow inks to the foliage. I tapped some Blue Jay ink onto my mini media mat from Waffleflower, then used a damp paintbrush to add a few touches of extra intense shading. I also used a clean, damp paintbrush to smooth out the layered stencil lines to create a smoother fade from dark to light. I think the “watercoloring” looks almost like I watercolored it for real!

For the card base, I stamped and die cut a pretty crosshatch background using the Pop Out Diamonds stamp and Simply Diamonds die, cut from white cardstock and stamped with Blue Jay ink. I also stamped some of the greetings from the Chrysanthemum Slimline stamp set and cut them with the coordinating dies. A few matte silver pearls finished it off!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this technique! It was a new one for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed trying something new. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!