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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

Hero Arts

Hero Arts Summer 2023 Catalog Release Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! Today, Hero Arts is officially releasing their Summer 2023 catalog, and it’s full of a huge variety of beautiful new products perfect for traditional cardmakers and mixed media lovers alike! You should have arrived here from Dana Joy, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. I have a pair of cards for you today, both totally unique in both color scheme and composition. Let’s get started with the details!

My first card uses my favorite product from the catalog, hands down: Peony Hot Foil Plate. You might recognize this image from the Artistic Peony stencil that Hero Arts released a few months ago; this hot foil plate takes that main image and turns it into an enormous floral focal point rather than a full background pattern. I adore pairing hot foiling with different coloring mediums, and felt moved to color this giant peony bloom a vivid magenta like my favorite real peonies! I hot foiled the image onto some Hammermill cardstock (my preferred cardstock for hot foiling) using some satin platinum hot foil.

I colored the image using my OLO Markers. When working with large floral images like this, I like to use at least four markers to ensure a large contrast of colors and shadows, creating great dimension and shape on the images. I also like to add a dark gray or black to the deepest crevices of the flower petals; this helps to enhance the shadows and make it pop off of the page that much more! I also don’t have to worry about the alcohol marker reacting badly with the foil. I find that the alcohol marker glides off of the hot foil quite nicely with the use of a colorless blender.

After I had finished coloring the incredibly vibrant image, I wanted to keep the rest of the card simple. For the greeting, I used the new Together Stamp & Cut, cutting the “together” die cut three times from some more crisp white cardstock and adhering them together to create a dimensional die cut sentiment. I also heat embossed the coordinating greeting onto a strip of white cardstock using some coordinating platinum embossing powder. I adhered the dimensional die cut greeting down with liquid adhesive, then added the greeting strip with some foam tape. No additional gems or sequins needed… I just wanted that giant pink peony to be the star of the show!! That sentiment is perfect for a wedding card, don’t you think?

My second card features the pretty new Beautiful Day stamps, as well as the lovely new Ornate Flourish Stencil. I began by stamping the floral images from Beautiful Day onto some white cardstock using Intens-ified Black ink, then used my Copic markers to color them in a pretty combination of warm pink, coral, and peach, with some minty green leaves for good measure. I die cut the finished images using the coordinating dies included in the Beautiful Day bundle.

For the card base, I began by blending the edges of a white card panel with Peony ink using a blending brush. This super pale pink ink creates an almost antiqued look on the white cardstock. I then laid Ornate Flourish stencil over the top of this blended panel and blended Soft Blossom ink over the stencil, creating this pretty, feminine pattern for the background of my card front.

I arranged the flowers in a swag on the left side of my stenciled card front and adhered them with foam adhesive. I stamped a greeting from Beautiful Day onto some more white cardstock using black ink, then popped it up with some more foam tape. Such a pretty, feminine card with some simple flowers and a softly patterned background!

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

We’ll be giving away two $50 gift cards, drawn from the comments left along the hop. Comment on all the blogs for more chances to win! You have until Sunday, May 28 at 11:59pm to enter. The winners will be announced on the Hero Arts blog.

Your next stop is Ilina Crouse. You can also start back at the beginning at the Hero Arts blog. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Hero Arts May 2023 My Monthly Hero Release Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! Hero Arts is releasing their newest collection today, and we are hopping along to celebrate! You should have arrived here from Channin Pelletier, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. You can also start at the beginning of the hop at the Hero Arts Blog for the full hop list. This month, we are celebrating the carefree joy of childhood. Remember those long summer days where you didn’t come inside until it was dark outside? The ice cream truck rumbled through your neighborhood, bicycles were the fastest mode of transportation to your next adventure, and the skies were a fluorescent blue. Here’s a peek at the Classic My Monthly Hero kit:

And the Premium Kit, which contains everything in the Classic kit, plus a few fabulous extras:

The value of the individual items in these kits is well over double the cost! You can purchase the Classic kit for $36.99 or the Premium Kit for $49.99. We also have a huge variety of Add-On items that coordinate beautifully with the My Monthly Hero kits and themes! (You can always subscribe to be guaranteed a kit each month, because they sell out frequently and are not restocked!) I’ve created a colorful card with colors utterly reminiscent of summertime using the Classic kit, so let’s get started with the details!

I began my project by stamping the darling little bicycle and accessories using the Floral Palette Reactive Ink Cubes. I did add the streamers directly to the bicycle, and so ended up fussy cutting the bicycle, but the dies were used for all of the other elements. The Classic kit includes Frame Cuts to coordinate for all of the different images in the stamp set, including the two different bicycles and all of the accessories!

To create the background for my bicycle, I wanted to invoke that vibrant blue sky that you see in the deep summer, so I first blended Splash ink from the Sea Palette Reactive Ink cube set towards the top of my white panel. I added some Grape Slush ink from the Floral Palette to add a touch of color coordination with the purple bicycle and to deepen the vivid blue of the sky! I stamped several clouds with the Grape Slush ink, stamping a few of them full strength to make them vivid purple, and a few more stamped off once to create just the lightest shadow of a cloud on the blended background.

I stamped some grass at the base of the card front, then again on a scrap of cardstock and die cut it with the coordinating die. I arranged all of the elements on an A2 panel of the lovely pink glitter cardstock, which is also included in the Classic kit. I stamped a greeting from the Classic kit (this kit has some adorable sentiments included!) using the same gray ink used for the bicycle tires and trimmed it down to a sentiment strip. I added all of the elements using foam tape to add lots of dimension to my little summer scene!

My second project features a couple of the new add-on products: Kite Fancy Die and Color Layering Cloud Stencils. I love mixing and matching new goodies with older product, as well, so I pulled out the older Meadow Heroscape stamp set and a bunch of purple and green inks. I stamped the layers of the Meadow Heroscape using Moss, Pine, Amethyst, and Passion Flower inks.

To create the sky background, I used blending brushes to lightly blend Dusty Blue and Passion Flower inks towards the top of my card front. Using my dedicated Unicorn White blending brush, I blended some white clouds using one layer of the new Color Layering Clouds stencils. While the stencil was still in place, I spritzed some Iridescent White Shimmer mist, which helps the clouds pop even more!

After I had stamped and blended the background for my idyllic garden scene, I die cut a kite using the new Kite Fancy Die from some Passion Flower cardstock, lightly blending some Passion Flower ink around the edges. I also heat embossed a clever greeting from Dream Messages (that tiny gnome is very ambitious with his giant kite!) on some more Passion Flower cardstock. I popped up all of the die cuts and sentiment pieces using foam adhesive to add extra dimension to the card.

Well, that’s all for my project 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, May 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!

Hero Arts My Monthly Hero April 2023 Release Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! The first Monday of the month means a new My Monthly Hero release from Hero Arts, and this month we are introducing a gorgeous new collection with super fun graphic flowers, patterns, and textures to create cards in a variety of styles, including mixed media! You should have arrived here from Dana Joy, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. Here’s a peek at this month’s Classic Kit:

The contents of the Classic Kit (shown above) retail individually for over $75, but is available for only $36.99! Such a great bargain. And, if you want even more value and incredible products with which to play, you can purchase the Premium Kit, shown below:

The contents of the Premium Kit retail individually for $107, but are available as a kit for a great value of $49.99. You receive all of the elements of the Classic Kit, plus a huge set of amazing standalone dies, stencil, and colorful enamel dots. I have two projects, featuring elements from both kits, to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

I kept things crisp with black and white for these cards, adding some fresh pops of blue and minty green to complement the crisp black and white.

This card uses only elements from the Classic Kit. I stamped the flowers and foliage with Intens-ified Black Ink using stamps from the large 6×8 stamp set, then used my OLO markers to color them in a beautiful shade of periwinkle blue with some minty green foliage. I die cut them with the coordinating Frame Cuts, which are included in the Classic Kit.

To create the accent strip, I used the little decorative flourish stamp (which I think is intended to decorate the pitcher stamp) to stamp a pretty black and white pattern. I trimmed the strip down and backed it with a slightly wider strip of Pitch Black cardstock (which is currently in stock-hooray! This is hands down the best black cardstock I’ve used.) I popped up the strip on my white A2 card front with some foam tape, then arranged my flowers in a graceful swag and adhered them with some more foam adhesive. I heat embossed a greeting from the Classic Kit onto some vellum using black embossing powder, then die cut it with the coordinating die (love that the sentiments are included with the frame cuts!) and added it to the card front with some more foam tape. A few iridescent gems finished it off.

My second card features the fabulous standalone dies found in the Premium Kit. We all know how expensive dies are, and there are a *ton* of standalone dies included with the set in the Premium Kit. I used them to create this sweet floral bouquet, cutting the foliage from some Shamrock cardstock and the blue flowers from Lapis and Periwinkle cardstocks. I die cut a vase from some more Pitch Black cardstock and arranged a bouquet inside this super tall vase. The Premium Kit die set includes vases in a wide variety of sizes and shapes, as well as several different sizes and styles of flowers and foliage to give you so many options for layouts and combinations!

To accent the vase, I stamped one of the textured background stamps included with both kits. I inked up the linen textured background with Cornflower ink and stamped it on an A2 card front. I popped up the floral bouquet with some foam tape, then added a simple black and white stamped and die cut greeting. A few iridescent white gems finished off the card!

Not to be outdone by this beautiful kit, the April Add-Ons are absolutely marvelous. I used the brand new Arches Infinity Dies to create this framed, shaped card. To start, I inked up the beautiful new Color Layering Bold Flowers Stencils with Dusty Blue, Stone Wash, Nautical, Kiwi, and Fresh Lawn inks using the super soft Blending Brushes from Hero Arts. I used the largest of the new Arches Infinity Dies to cut a large patterned arch die cut background panel.

I thought the pretty blue and white patterned background would be perfect for a Mother’s Day card, so I die cut the Mother’s Day Window Fancy Die from some white cardstock, trimming the die cut sentiment out from the oval window to create a standalone sentiment die cut. I also die cut a few flowers using the Shoes and Hat Fancy Die set to accent the flowers in the background.

To create my shaped card base, I created a regular A2 card with a side fold, then placed the largest Arches Infinity Dies on the card front, making sure to offset the die so that the card’s fold was within the die itself, keeping the fold intact. I ran the entire thing through my die cut machine, which created a shaped card! I adhered the patterned arch background to the shaped card base, then die cut a coordinating navy blue frame using the Arches Infinity Dies and some Nautical cardstock. I popped up all of the die cut elements on the patterned background using foam tape to create lots of dimension on this project. I added a few iridescent gems to the flower centers for some sparkle!

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

Hero Arts will give away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, April 9th at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

Your next stop is Ilina Crouse, or you can start at the beginning at the Hero Arts Blog. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Hero Arts My Monthly Hero March 2023 Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! Hero Arts is releasing their newest collection today, and we are hopping along to celebrate! You should have arrived here from Dana Joy, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. You can also start at the beginning of the hop at the Hero Arts Blog for the full hop list. This month, we are focusing on all things fruity! Think fruit, veggies, farmer’s market, farms… there’s even a cute little farm puppy! The March My Monthly Hero kit features some beautiful fruit images, as well as some of the new neon liquid watercolors. Here’s a peek at the Classic Kit:

The Classic Kit includes: Clear Stamp Set, 6″ x 8″, 10 Coordinating Dies, Fruit Cling Stamp, 6″ x 6″, Intens-ified Black Ink Cube, Clay Fruit Embellishments, 2 Sheets each of Kiwi and Coral Cardstock, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 5 Sheets of Watercolor Paper, 4.25″ x 5.5″. This the main kit that you’ve come to know and love over the years, filled with amazing products for an amazing value at $36.99! (You can always subscribe to be guaranteed a kit each month, because they sell out frequently and are not restocked!)

Last month, Hero Arts debuted the new My Monthly Hero Premium Kit, which features all of the wonderful products previously mentioned in the Classic Kit along with the Fruit & Veggie Window Die, 3.7″ x 4.5″, 2 Liquid Watercolor Neon Brights in Orange & Green, and 5 Mini Brushes. The My Monthly Hero Premium Kit contents retail for $106, but the kit is yours for $49.99. Such an incredible value!! I have two projects to share with you today featuring the new kits, so let’s get started with the details!

The release of the new Neon Watercolors with the Spring 2023 catalog (you will receive Neon Orange and Neon Green with your Premium Kit) meant that I pulled out the Neon Ombré ink pads! I kept things bright and cheerful with the ombré colors, adding some dramatic flair with intense pops of black.

For this card featuring the Classic Kit, I did some watercoloring with the new Neon Watercolors. I black embossed several of the images from the Classic Kit onto some watercolor paper, then used the Neon Watercolors to add lots of bright color to the fruity images. I die cut the finished images with the coordinating frame cuts, also included in the kit. While I had my watercolors out, I also black embossed a greeting from the main kit’s stamp set and did a light neon watercolor wash over the top, fussy cutting it with my sharp scissors.

To coordinate with my super bright fruits, I used the Ombré Red to Purple and Ombré Yellow to Orange ink pads to blend a super bright background. I splattered some Black Liquid Watercolor on the blended panel to add a little mixed-media artistic feel to the background and break up some of the super bright color.

I die cut a frame using the Looking Glass Square Frame from some Pitch Black cardstock (which is in stock right now, so if you’ve been wanting to purchase… now is the time! It’s the best black cardstock everrrrr). I popped up the frame on my neon blended background using some foam adhesive, then added my fruit in a cluster around the frame using a double layer of foam tape for extra height. I die cut a few leaves from the Tropical Florals Fancy Die set with black glitter paper and tucked them in amongst the fruity cluster-cutting them from black reminds me of tropical jungle silhouetted against a saturated tropical sunset. The final touch was to add a few iridescent black gems for some sparkle!

My second card features the gorgeous, detailed frame from the Premium Kit, still juxtaposing the super bright neon colors with crisp black. I began my card by black embossing the background cling stamp included in the Premium Kit onto some watercolor paper, then taping it down to my watercolor board. I did a neon rainbow wash over the embossed background using the Neon Watercolors, then left my background to dry while still taped down to my watercolor board to reduce warping.

To create the front for my shaker card, I die cut the beautiful fruity frame die included in the Premium Kit twice: once from a full sized A2 Pitch Black card front, and once from a smaller square of black glitter paper. I trimmed the detailed die cut image from the black glitter paper to create a frame, which I adhered directly over the top of the Pitch Black frame. It subtly helps to emphasize the details on the fruity frame! This one would be gorgeous watercolored or colored with alcohol ink markers, but I wanted the fruity background to be the star of the show today.

I trimmed down some stamp packaging and adhered it to the back of the die cut black panel, then filled my flat shaker with the darling clay embellishments that are included in the kit. I pulled out an older word die set, Friend Words Fancy Dies, and die cut it from some white cardstock. I left the die cuts inside of the negative space and blended some more Ombré Red to Purple and Ombré Yellow to Orange over the die cut, then die cut another set from some plain white cardstock to layer beneath the blended die cuts, creating extra height. I adhered the dimensional die cut words to the front of my card. Because the shaker bits are thin and flat, we can have a flat shaker with no extra foam tape required!

Now, to completely switch gears, I have created this soft, vintage-y card using only die cuts, some soft ink blending, and white cardstock! The new March Release has a ton of gorgeous detailed fancy dies that are marvelous cut from colored cardstock, or, as I’ve done here, with a little subtle ink blending that makes a massive impact! I die cut the pieces from the new Cabbage Corn Crate Fancy Die and Grocery Bag Fancy Die from white cardstock, as well as the previously released Bouquet Accessories Fancy Dies, also from white cardstock.

After die cutting all of the components from white cardstock (the exception was the wrap for the bouquet, which I cut from Hero Arts’s heavyweight vellum cardstock), I pulled out Sand, Orchid, Soft Blossom, Kiwi, and Moss inks, as well as small blending brushes and went to town adding color to the plain white die cuts. All of the color on my card was created by using small blending brushes with several shades of ink to add subtle ink blending to the die cuts. It’s amazing what you can achieve with a few ink pads, a brush, and some white cardstock!

To add extra dimension to the ink blended die cuts, I employed a Post-It note as a mask. To get the mask exactly where I wanted it, I lightly bent the partially die cut areas and tucked the Post-It note beneath the partial die cut, as shown in the photo above, so that I could get the darker green ink precisely where I wanted it. I also used this technique with the husks of white corn to keep the Sand ink where I wanted it, as well as on the crate, to add extra shadows behind the cross piece.

After I had completed all of the ink blending, I partially inked up the Burlap Bold Print background stamp using Sand ink. I wanted a softer, more vintage feel to the card and didn’t want the background to be completely perfect, so I didn’t worry about using my Misti for perfect inking this time. I left my stamp on my work surface facing up, casually inked it up, and pressed my paper into the inked up background. I arranged the blended die cuts on the burlap background, placing the flowers and corn into the shopping bag and the cabbage into the crate. I love how it looks like you just came from the farmer’s market! I popped the die cuts up with foam adhesive for extra dimension. For the greeting, I used the new Produce Labels Stamp & Cut XL, die cutting the rectangle from white cardstock and adding the sentiment in Wet Cement with the accents in Sand ink.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! As you can see, these new products work well with a range of styles and color schemes. Super versatile and oh so fun! I don’t normally like “punny” sentiments that much, but I think the fruity puns are just so cute.

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, March 12th at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

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

Happy Love Day!

Good morning, friends! It’s Valentine’s Day, which as I age has meant finding the cutest pink or red shirts for my kiddos, sweet treats, heart shaped pizza, and Baby Yoda valentines and juice boxes for school parties, maybe some good Dove chocolate (thanks to my redhead for the yummy tin of chocolates!), and less about flowers, fancy meals, and expensive (sparkly?) gifts. I’m fine with it! Love is something that should be celebrated every day, but I will happily take the nudge to celebrate today. I have a project featuring some of the beautiful Valentine’s Day products from the January Hero Arts release. I was over on the blog a couple of weeks ago with this pair of cards:

While I was creating these cards using the beautiful Love and Florals Fancy Dies, I was on a pink-and-white kick. The two cards on the Hero Arts blog used lots of white space with pops of pink, but while I was on a roll, I created a third card using the same colors in reverse!

I started with an A2 panel of Azalea cardstock, upon which I blended some Raspberry Jam ink around the edges and over the top of the Stripe Stencil using a Blending Brush. The tone-on-tone ink blending is super subtle, but I love the texture and interest that it provides to the super bright background!

To contrast with the intensely vibrant background, I die cut the Love and Florals Fancy Dies from crisp white cardstock. I love the juxtaposition of the bright white die cuts with the saturated Azalea card front. I popped up the LOVE letters in a straight line (rather than stacked as the original die cut indicates-no reason you can’t customize your die cuts to fit your own style!) with some foam adhesive, then arranged the different die cut flowers around the sentiment die cuts.

My initial instinct was to do some super detailed coloring on the flowers, but I love the simplicity of the bright white! I popped a few of the flowers up with foam tape for extra dimension, then added a stamped sentiment strip from the Loving Sentiment Strips stamp set, stamped using more Raspberry Jam ink and popped up with a double layer of foam tape. I added a few milk glass gems for some more sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today! I hope you’re feeling loved, and if not, I’m sending you a giant hug and lots of love. Thanks so much for reading, and have a marvelous day!