Skip links

Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

karin

Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember with Pinkfresh Studio!

Hi there! STAMPtember continues, tonight featuring a collaboration with Pinkfresh Studio! This particular set, called Just Start, is extra exciting for me to work with, because I happened to have illustrated these floral images. This peony-ranunculus-berry cluster was designed to work in the corners of a slimline card, but I have two different cards with two different layouts using the same stamps. Let’s get started with the details!

For my first card, I used both clusters from Just Start in the way that I had originally intended when I illustrated them: tucked up in the corners of a slimline (or mini slimline, in this case) card. I stamped them using Intens-ified Black ink from Hero Arts onto some Copic-friendly white cardstock. I have been entranced with bright tangerine and burnt orange lately, so I did my favorite “fiesta” color combination with bright orange peonies and burnt orange ranunculus, accented by intense magenta berries and deep green foliage. I fussy cut the finished images, but there is a stamp+die bundle available, too!

For the background, I wanted to keep things relatively simple to keep the focus on the flowers, so I die cut a gold glitter frame using the Mini Slimline Scalloped Rectangle die. I backed it with a panel of white cardstock that I had die cut using the Dotted Scallops cover plate die to add some extra texture. I popped this panel and frame up on a white mini slimline card front using foam adhesive.

Next, I added the colored floral images to the corners, trimming off the small areas that spilled over the sides. I adhered them using a double layer of foam tape so that they had extra height and would really pop off the page beautifully. I added a greeting from the beautiful Brushed Sentiments Hot Foil Plate and coordinating dies, which I hot foiled using Matte Gold foil from Spellbinders. I also added a sentiment strip, heat embossed with a greeting from Just Start. The final touch was to add a few shining hot pink gems!

My second card features both of the stamps included in Just Start, as well, but this time I did a little simple masking to create one large floral cluster. I began by stamping the largest image slightly off center of my A2 Fabriano Artistico Hot Press card base using Contour Ink from Hero Arts. Using some Post-It tape, I masked off the bottom of the large flower cluster and stamped the smaller cluster, as well, creating a large floral swag that covered a large portion of the card front.

I taped down the panel to my watercolor board to minimize warping, then watercolored the finished stamped image using Karin Brushmarkers. I kept the colors intense and feminine, working with a couple of different shades of pink, purple, and coral. Karin markers work well with the Fabriano Artistico paper, and I find that I get great results with them when I use plenty of water to help keep the color moving around. If I don’t use enough water, then the color sinks into the paper and creates harsh lines. I also like to work with a ceramic palette; I scribble some color on the palette, then pick it up with my damp paintbrush. When I’m adding really intense shadows, I will put the marker itself to the paper, but very sparingly, as a little of this pigment tends to go a long way. I added lots of layers of color to get tons of depth and intensity to this floral swag.

Once I’d finished my watercoloring, I die cut the Bold Thanks die from Simon Says Stamp three times from Hero Arts’s Eggplant cardstock, adhering all three together using liquid adhesive to create a dimensional die cut. I added this die cut to the card front, then added a few purple gems for the tiniest bit of sparkle.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! The Stamptember collaboration sets frequently sell out quickly, so if you’re at all interested in Just Start, don’t wait too long to purchase! The STAMPtember sets are limited edition, so you won’t see them again once they sell out. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy STAMPtember!

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 Hello Gorgeous Release-Introducing Mother’s Day Tulips!

Hi there! I’m super excited to help Simon Says Stamp introduce their fantastic new Hello Gorgeous release for March 2022. This release features a huge variety of products, many Mother’s Day themed, as well as beautiful sentiments and lovely spring florals. I am also pleased as punch to introduce a new set that I’ve designed for Simon Says Stamp, called Mother’s Day Tulips! This large 6×8 stamp set features a large and beautiful tulip corner, sized to fit a slimline card front, but also could be adapted to fit other sizes as well! I have a few cards to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

My first project features my new Mother’s Day Tulips. I stamped the large image on a mini slimline card base using Hero Arts Intens-ified Black ink. I love the wide variety of colors that you can find with tulips, and I find the the deep purple tulips to be enchanting. I colored the image using Copic markers V09, V17, V15, V12, and V01 to add lots of intensity and shadows to the large images. I love coloring large images like this; the extra space allows you to really get down into the tiny areas and add lots of contrast and depth.

Once I had finished coloring the image, I blended some Blue Violet and Deep Purple inks around the edge opposite the floral arrangement using the new Flat Blending Brush. The blending brush does a beautiful job of blending these intense colors softly on the card base, leaving a halo around the flowers themselves and helping them to shine!

For the greeting, I used the new Reverse Foundations preprinted sentiment strips. I trimmed the sentiment down to three separate pieces using my trimmer, then popped them up on the colored panel using foam adhesive. The final touch was to add some shimmering purple gems for a touch of sparkle!

My next cards features the beautiful new Delicate Floral Frames stamps and dies. I contemplated going light and bright with these, but the pretty frames were just begging to be made into some chalkboard style projects! I stamped both of the frame images onto some Pitch Black cardstock using white pigment ink, then used Karin Decobrush Pigment markers to add some bright color to the black cardstock! Because these images are not terribly detailed, these opaque pigment markers made it super simple to add some quick pops of color to the images. This is the first time that I’ve tried this technique, and I absolutely love how they turned out.

To back this arched frame image from the Delicate Floral Frames stamps and dies, I die cut one of the beautiful new Detail Mandala Cover Plate dies from some more Pitch Black cardstock. The subtle pierced detail on this cover plate die is stunning; it’s surely going to become a staple in my craft room!

To accent the greenery on the arched frame, I die cut a few leaves from some Glossy Black cardstock using the new Olive Leaves dies. I popped up the frame with some foam tape, then added the shiny black leaves with some liquid adhesive. I added a greeting from the marvelous new All About Mom sentiment stamp and die set. I love the bold, chunky font on this set! These sentiments are large enough to make a really big impact on your card front. I added a few iridescent gems for a touch of sparkle.

My second card features the same technique, but places the die cuts on a plain black card front. I adhered the oval Delicate Floral Frames stamped and colored die cut to an A2 black card front using foam adhesive, then added more glossy black leaves behind the floral swag to add another element of texture to the card front.

I popped up the white embossed greeting from All About Mom. When I’m working with limited color palettes and tone-on-tone textures, I like to use tons of foam tape to add as much dimension and interest as possible, so these black and white projects have lots of height and variations in texture! I added a few more sparkling gems for an additional textural element as well as adding some sparkle.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! I hope you’ll check out the rest of the products from the Hello Gorgeous release. So many beautiful new pieces. I’m so excited that my Mother’s Day Tulips illustration is a part of it! Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a marvelous day!

Fruity loveliness with Colorado Craft Company!

Hi there! Happy Monday! I have a cheerful, fruity project to share with you today. Colorado Craft Company is swiftly becoming one of my favorite companies; they offer such a wide variety of styles, with something sure to please even the pickiest of stampers. I personally adore their Big and Bold line. You all know that coloring is just about my favorite thing to do, and coloring the Big and Bold line of stamps from Colorado Craft Company is so. much. fun. The images are large enough that you can really dig down deep into the little nooks and crannies of the image to create really fantastic shading and depth. They have been kind enough to share with me some of their products, including last month’s release of gorgeous fruity stamps, and I had a blast coloring up this beautiful set of images from the Sending Hugs and Pears stamps and die set. I had intended to make a second card using the Lemon Zest stamps and dies, but with four kiddos, finding time for the things I want to do sometimes is a bit of a challenge. Sigh.

Anyway, let’s get started with the details on this pretty project, shall we?

I began by stamping several of the images from Sending Hugs and Pears onto some Canson Montval watercolor paper using Intens-ified Black ink from Hero Arts. I chose Canson Montval papers because I wanted to use my Karin markers, and the Montval paper works well with the Karins. I had seen several talented crafters use these pear stamps to create traditional green pears, so I went a different direction and decided to do a red Anjou pear!

I absolutely love the scale of the Big and Bold line. Even on this relatively-simple image, I was able to use *five* different colors of Karin marker to achieve a huge amount of depth and shine: Cerise, Burgundy, Cocoa, Almond, and Black. The leaves were done using Lime Green and Lush Green. The flowers were done using the same colors, but much more subtle washes of color. After watercoloring, I used the coordinating dies to cut everything out.

For the card base, I wanted a very subtle pattern, so I stamped the beautiful Big and Bold Italian Tiles using Pinkfresh Studio’s Peach Fuzz ink on an A2 panel of white cardstock. To make the pattern even more subtle, I then used a blending brush to blend some more of the Peach Fuzz ink around the edges of the background panel to create a bit of a halo. I popped all of the die cuts up with foam tape and added a greeting (heat embossed using rose gold embossing powder on a piece of Plum cardstock). The final touch was a few metallic rose gold gems to add some sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today. If you haven’t checked out Colorado Craft Company’s products, you absolutely should do so! They’re simply marvelous! For my friends who have been affected by the wildfires on the west coast, I have been thinking of you and hoping for rain and safety. Stay safe, stay well, and have a good week, friends!

Beachy Thanks with Honey Bee Stamps!

Hi there! I’m back again… I know, three posts in one week?! I was able to put together several cards using stamped and colored die cuts, including this beachy scene using some new goodies from the Honey Bee Stamps Hello Summer release to create a super beachy thank you card! Let’s get started with the details.

I began by stamping and die cutting several images from the Hello Summer stamps and dies onto some watercolor paper using waterproof black ink. I then used Karin watercolor markers in shades of peach, cobalt, and pale gray to add some pretty, super coordinated coloring to the images. (I love when everything matches!)

Next, I trimmed down a panel of pretty medium-blue cardstock for my card front and used the Oval Spotlight Stencils with some sapphire blue ink and blending brushes to create a more controlled area for the background of my little beach scene.

I trimmed down a strip of sandy beach patterned paper from the Beach Vibes patterned paper pack and adhered it at the bottom of my blended blue background panel using liquid adhesive. I adhered all of the die cuts to the card base using a mix of liquid and foam adhesive, then finally added a sentiment die cut from the Slimline Honey Cuts Sentiments Eyelet die set, which I cut from some sparkling white cardstock. I love how the sentiment pops so nicely against that bright blue backdrop!

Well, that’s all for my project today! Hopefully, I will get the opportunity to get back to regular blogging…. My biggest littles start remote learning for first grade in a few weeks, so I’m not sure what that’s going to require of me. I love having the opportunity to create just for fun, as well as share what I’m creating! Thanks so much for stopping by, and stay well!