Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

Archives for November 2022

November 2022 Trailblazing Inks Release + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!) | Dye inks with a brand new look and adjusted formula

Hi there! Today, I am thrilled to be part of the new Trailblazing Inks Release Blog Hop introducing these beautiful new inks from Altenew! You should have arrived here from Mindy Eggen, and your next stop is Nathalie DeSousa. You can also start back at the beginning of the hop at the Altenew Blog in case you get lost! These new Trailblazing dye inks feature a brand new shape, screw on tops, and a brand new ink formulation, and they come in three color families, each containing four shades that layer beautifully together: Frosted Foliage, Woodland Escape, and Blue Mountains. Here’s a peek at all of the colors:

Aren’t they just the most beautiful subtle shades? I particularly adore the greens in Frosted Foliage; they are a charming, muted silvery green that is a gorgeous addition to the Altenew color family.

I’ve used all three new sets of ink for these two cards using two different techniques to showcase how beautifully the colors work together! I kept the colors simple to allow the beautiful new colors from the Trailblazing inks to be the stars of the show. Let’s get started with the details!

My first card highlights the stunning greens from the Frosted Foliage quartet. I used blending brushes to blend the Frosted Foliage inks with the Meadow Burst layering stencil on a mini slimline card front. This stencil has lots of foliage, which makes it a perfect companion for the silvery green Frosted Foliage inks. Don’t they layer beautifully? Such gorgeous shades of green that will surely be staples at my desk with all of Altenew’s floral layering sets! I also added some charming blue flowers using the new Water Hyacinth and adding touches of Crystal Violet ink to add some color variation for the flowers.

I also created some custom colored cardstock (say that three times fast!) for my greeting using the Indigo Skies ink, which is the darkest shade of the Blue Mountains ink quartet. I simply die cut both the detail and background layers of the “for you” sentiment from the Sweet Sentiments die set, reserving the negative outline. I placed my sentiment detail layer back inside the negative space, then used a blending brush to blend Indigo Skies on the entire die cut. Placing this intricate die cut back inside of the negative space helps to keep it stable when you’re ink blending! I adhered them together and added them to my stenciled card front using some foam adhesive, adding some simple accents with some shiny sequins.

My second card features the Woodland Escape inks, this time blended onto each layer of a layering flower die cut! This is a great way to create your different layers if you don’t keep a ton of colored cardstock around. I simply die cut each of the layers from the small peony from the Peony Dream layering dies, then used a blending brush to blend each of the four inks from Woodland Escape on the four die cut pieces. Because these inks are designed to layer together, they work beautifully for the layers on layering dies, as well! I used the same technique on the foliage, using the lightest two shades of the Frosted Foliage quartet and adhering all of the die cut pieces together using liquid adhesive.

To create a simple background for my colorful peach peony, I hot foiled the frame from Adorned Frame Hot Foil Plate + Die set using some metallic gunmetal hot foil. I adhered it to a white card front using some thin foam tape squares. I added my peony and foliage with some thicker foam adhesive to add some extra height, then added a foiled greeting from the Sweet Sentiments Hot Foil and Die set, foiled using the same gunmetal foil as the frame. A simple card, but I love how that peach peony just pops from the simple background!

Well, that’s all for my projects 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 11/19/2022 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 11/21/2022.

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

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

Hi there! Altenew just released their beautiful new additions to the Marvelous Monthly family, and we are hopping along to share tons of inspiration with you today! You should have arrived here from Seeka, and your next stop is Sadia Ashraf. You can also start at the beginning at the Altenew Blog. I have projects to share with you today using the new Craft A Flower Sulfur Cosmos and Craft Your Life: Bewitching Rose series installments, so let’s get started with the details!

I kept the color palette for both of my projects for today relatively simple: bright, crisp white with pops of beautiful, intense mauve and emerald green.

My first project features the new Craft A Flower Sulfur Cosmos. I die cut the layers for the flowers twice from some dusty rose cardstock, then used a blending tool to lightly blend Midnight Violet ink around the edges to add some extra depth of color to the flowers. I adhered the layers all together using liquid adhesive, adding a golden yellow die cut center for each flower. I also die cut some emerald foliage using the coordinating foliage dies, on which I lightly blended some Hunter Green to add more depth to these otherwise-flat die cuts.

For the background, I used one of my most favorite cover plate dies: Circle Quilt. This die adds the loveliest, most subtle texture to a floral background, especially when used with tone-on-tone color schemes. It almost looks like an embossing folder! I layered the white die cut on a white A2 card base using liquid adhesive.

I arranged the die cut flowers on a vellum tag die cut, cut from the Terrific Tags die set. I added a white raffia twine bow to the hole on the tag, then popped up the floral tag die cuts on the textured card front using foam adhesive. I added a greeting from the Sweet Sentiments hot foil plate and die set, which I had hot foiled using charcoal foil. I nestled it amongst the foliage on my card front, then popped it up using more foam tape, creating a double layer of foam tape to give it extra height. The final touch was some coordinating metallic charcoal gemstones for more shine!

My second project features the beautiful new Craft Your Life: Bewitching Rose. What’s not to love about an enormous stamped bouquet, especially when it features this beautiful rose image that’s so fun to color? I stamped the main image on some A2 sized white cardstock, offsetting it so that it would cut off on one side, then used Rock Garden markers to add that beautiful mauve to the rose. I die cut the finished image with the coordinating die, which is included in the Craft Your Life: Bewitching Rose kit.

For the card base, I used the incredibly beautiful 3D embossing folder included in the Craft Your Life: Bewitching Rose kit. I made sure that the embossed area would extend beyond my colored and die cut image to add extra texture and detail to the area behind my colorful bouquet. I popped up my bouquet die cut over the top of the center of the embossed area using foam adhesive, allowing just the embossed foliage to peek out from behind the colorful die cut.

I added a greeting from Craft Your Life: Bewitching Rose, stamped on a strip of white cardstock using black ink, then popped up using a double layer of foam tape. I added a few shiny black gems to coordinate with the black stamped images and to add a bit of shine to this almost entirely-matte card front.

Well, that’s all for my projects 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 November 20, 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 November 21, 2022.

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

Simon Says Stamp Holiday Sparkle Release Blog Hop + Giveaway- Day 2!

Hi there! Today, I am thrilled to be taking part in the second day of the Simon Says Stamp Holiday Sparkle Blog Hop. We are celebrating the stunning new release and hopping along with tons of inspiration to share with you using the new products. You should have arrived here from Heather Hoffman, and your next stop is Jennifer Kotas. You can also start back at the beginning at the Simon Says Stamp Blog.

I am a huge fan of monochromatic projects, and I am an even bigger fan of non-traditional holiday color palettes. I was searching through my Simon Says Stamp product when I was brainstorming my projects for today, and I came across the stunning Rose Gold Metallic Foil cardstock from Simon Says Stamp and thought how fun and unique it would be to create some shining rose gold snowflakes using the new Sparkling Snowflake Frame and Trio dies. I have a pair of cards to share with you today using these new dies and beautiful foil paper, so let’s get started with the details!

My first card focuses on the frame part of the Sparkling Snowflake Frame and Trio. I began by die cutting it from the Rose Gold Metallic Foil cardstock, as well as cutting a few extra individual snowflakes to create a lovely organic background pattern.

For the card base, I pulled some super pale blush cardstock from my stash and cut it down to an A2 card base size. I then blended some Rosie Cheeks ink around the edges using a Simon Says Stamp Cheeky blending brush. I also splattered some shimmery pearlescent watercolors. I love the effect of the splatters behind the die cut snowflakes; it creates the illusion of different levels of perspective, with large snowflakes close to you and tiny snowflake pinpricks farther away. Before adhering the foil frame over the blended and splattered card base, I placed the frame on the card front and used some of the tiny snowflake stamps in the Holiday Sparkle Greetings stamp set to stamp a mid-size group of snowflakes to my card front using Rosie Cheeks ink.

I adhered my foil snowflakes on my blended, splattered, and stamped card front using liquid adhesive. I heat embossed a greeting from Holiday Sparkle Greetings onto some more of the same blush cardstock using coordinating rose gold embossing powder and die cut it using the coordinating dies. I popped the greeting up on the card front using foam adhesive. Adding that little extra pop of height helps to keep the sentiment die cut from fading into the background!

My second card uses the same color scheme, but features a completely different layout! I began by die cutting several of the standalone snowflakes from the Sparkling Snowflake Frame and Trio from both white cardstock and the Rose Gold Metallic Foil cardstock.

I knew that I wanted to create a focal point in the center of the blush card front, so I used the Simon Says Stamp Cheeky blending brush to lightly blend some Rosie Cheeks ink in the center of the card front. I also added some more pearlescent watercolor splatters using shimmery pearlescent watercolors. (Tip: drop some clean water onto your pearlescent watercolors and allow to sit for a few minutes. This allows the watercolor to activate so that you are able to more easily pick up the shimmery goodness with your paintbrush!) I arranged the snowflakes in a cluster in the center of the blended card front, adhering them with liquid adhesive.

For the greeting, I die cut the detail layer of the Snowy Greetings die several times: once from some sparkling white glitter cardstock, then twice more from plain white cardstock, adhering them together with liquid adhesive. I added the dimensional die cut to a vellum background layer, then added it to the center of the snowflake cluster using some clear dimensional adhesive. The final step was to add some Trinity Stamps Milk Glass gems to add one more element of sparkle and texture to my snowflake cluster. These gems have the added bonus of helping to further create the visual cascade from the top left to the bottom right of the card.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! You can check out another project that I shared using the new Holiday Sparkle release HERE.

Now for some fun giveaways and freebies!

Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $25 gift card to one winner selected from the comments on each stop on the hop! Simply leave a comment on each stop of the hop for maximum chances to win, then check out the Simon Says Stamp blog on November 16, 2022 to see if your name was selected. You can also enter on all of the stops from Day 1 of the hop, as well, for tons of chances to win!

Simon Says Stamp is also offering a super fun free gift with purchase! Simply enter code CUTEBAG at checkout for your purchase of $50 or more to receive the super cute Holiday Zipper Pouch for free with your order!

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

New Release: Simon Says Stamp Holiday Sparkle!

Hi there! Simon Says Stamp is releasing a whole slew of marvelous new holiday products tonight for their Holiday Sparkle release! You can check out the entire release HERE. Sooo many gorgeous new holiday goodies, both secular and religious, winter and holiday-specific. Something for everyone!! I have an icy holiday card to share with you tonight, so let’s get started with the details!

Die-cut-and-emboss combos are allll the rage right now, and Simon Says Stamp has some absolutely stunning additions to that product category, including the new Pine Landscape folder/die combo! Watercoloring these beautiful three dimensional embossing folders is one of my most favorite ways to use them, so I couldn’t resist adding some color to this beautiful, snowy landscape.

I began by trimming down two pieces of Fabriano Artistico Cold Press watercolor paper to A2 size. I then die cut one section of one panel using the die from the Pine Landscape folder/die combo. The key to these die/folder combos is to do your die cutting first, then run your die cut through your machine with the embossing folder. It’s super simple to line up and stays in place nicely, though you can use a piece of washi tape to hold it if you’re worried about the die cut shifting. I wanted to offset the trees in the background of my die cut, so I made sure to check my placement on the full size panel of watercolor paper so that the embossed and die cut trees in the front were slightly shifted from the embossed trees in the background.

Once I had both sets of embossed trees finished, I taped my panels down to my watercolor board and used my Daniel Smith watercolor paints to add beautiful greens and blues to the images. This technique is similar to no-line watercolor, in that you have to keep your wet sections separate in order to maintain the integrity of the individual images (or in this case, branches). Once the paint had dried completely, I splattered the background with some shimmering white watercolor to create subtle, sparkling snowfall. I also used Fresh Snowfall Nuvo Glitter Accents to add some sparkling snow to the tips of the branches on the trees. The entire effect is so realistic… all it needs is a tiny sledder going down the slope between the trees!

To frame my trees and ground them a bit, I die cut one of the large arches from some white cardstock using the Simon Says Stamp Nested Domed Arches dies, reserving the die cut and keeping the negative A2 sized frame. I also die cut the Simon Says Stamp Season’s Greetings die twice from white cardstock and once from white glitter cardstock that I had in my stash that was simply sparkling white-no iridescence or color of any kind on the glitter! I adhered all of the die cuts together using liquid adhesive to create a dimensional die cut. I popped up the arched frame using foam tape over the top of the full embossed and watercolored A2 panel and added the die cut trees in the front of the frame using more foam tape. Finally, I added my dimensional die cut greeting using more liquid adhesive. The curve of the die cut sentiment matches the curve of the arched frame so beautifully!

Well, that’s all for my project today! I have a few more projects to share with you, so I hope you’ll come back soon. You can check out the entire Holiday Sparkle release HERE. Thanks so much for reading, and have a marvelous day!

Hero Arts November My Monthly Hero Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! The first Monday of the month means a brand new My Monthly Hero release from Hero Arts, and this month we have an absolutely scrumptious new die-centric kit that has so. many. options! You should have arrived here from Daniel and your next stop is Jessica! This month’s kit has such a marvelous array of dies to make your card- and tag-making super simple, and so many of these dies can be used beyond your holiday crafting! Here’s a peek at this month’s kit:

The November My Monthly Hero kit includes: 3″ x 4″ Clear Stamp Set, 31 Ornament-building Fancy Dies, 6 Sheets of Acetate Panels, 10 Sheets of Deluxe Smooth White Cardstock, 5.5″ x 8.5″, Scarlet Satin Ribbon, 1/4″ wide, 3 yds., Snowflake Sequins. The value for all of these items individually is $71, but the kit is yours for only $34.99! These kits frequently sell out quickly, so if you’re loving them as much as I do, you can always SUBSCRIBE to guarantee that you receive your kit each month. I have a card and tag duo today using the main kit, so let’s get started with the details!

My fellow Hero Arts Creative Team-mates totally have rocked the traditional holiday color schemes, so I thought I would throw a little twist into my projects with some hot pink!

My card project features several of the foliage die cuts from the main kit, but instead of using my beloved colored cardstock, I pulled out my Karin watercolor markers and added some watercolored goodness to the die cuts. I die cut all of the elements from some Fabriano Artistico Watercolor Paper, then used the Karin Brushmarker Pro markers and a damp paintbrush to add lots of vibrant color to the different images.

I heat embossed a greeting from the 3×4″ stamp set that is included in the main kit using gold embossing powder, then trimmed each piece out to create two different sentiment strips.

I adhered the main watercolored wreath portion to the Deluxe White card base using Precision Glue, then added the rest of the elements using foam adhesive for lots of dimension and texture. I added a few sparkly pink gems to add some festive holiday sparkle!

My second project using the November My Monthly Hero kit is a simple tag that I was able to throw together super quickly using several cardstock scraps that I found in my scrap box! I hate spending a ton of time on holiday tags, because they just get thrown away so quickly with the rest of the wrapping, so I was super excited at how quickly and prettily this came together! I cut the base from Hero Arts’s Azalea cardstock, then used a Blending Brush to lightly blend some Plum ink around the edge to give it a vintage feel and add some extra dimension. I added several of the same die cut elements from my holiday card, this time cut from colored cardstock! The combination of the Palm, Plum, Azalea, and Cup O’Joe creates such an unexpected but pretty color palette! This tag would surely stand out beautifully on a card front. I heat embossed a To: and From: from the main kit’s stamp set using white embossing powder, then added a simple white raffia loop to make a quick tag.

My next projects feature the beautiful new Holiday Foliage Messages stamp set paired with some of the new tag dies for some more quick and lovely tags to adorn your holiday gifts! I began by die cutting the new Stocking Fancy Die and the Light Fancy Die from some more watercolor paper. I then heat embossed greetings from the new Holiday Foliage Messages using gold embossing powder. I love how beautifully the details are picked up on the embossed greetings!

After I’d added the embossed greetings to the centers of my tags, I again used my Karin Brushmarker Pro markers and a damp paintbrush to add lots of vibrant pinky reds and plums to my tag die cuts. I die cut the topper for the holiday bulb from some gold glitter cardstock, then added it to my tag with some more liquid glue. I added simple white raffia loops to the top of each tag to make it easy to add them to gifts. I love how quickly these came together with the help of the beautiful, intricate greetings from the Holiday Foliage Messages!

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

Hero Arts is giving away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, November 13th at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

Your next stop is Jessica. You can check out the full hop list and more details about this month’s release on the Hero Arts Blog. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!