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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

OLO markers

Strawberries for Summer!

This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!

Hi friends! Happy Independence Day to those in the United States, and happy summer to those elsewhere! Very little embodies summertime more to me than juicy red strawberries, and the Strawbeary stamp set designed by my friend Alberto Gava for Simon Says Stamp is absolutely darling… almost too cute for words! I have been hoping for an opportunity to do one of my favorite things with this stamp set: create custom patterned paper! Let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping my custom patterned paper on an A2 panel of Hammermill cardstock using Intens-ified Black Ink from Hero Arts. I started with the largest strawberry from Strawbeary, rotating the stamp slightly each time that I stamped it, sometimes stamping it entirely, sometimes stamping off of the edge, to create the illusion of a continuous pattern. Next, I used a smaller strawberry, stamping in some of the blank areas on the card front, then a leaf, then a flower, working my way down the selected individual stamps from largest to smallest and filling in the open spaces, all the time rotating the stamps to create a random, playful pattern. I also stamped the sweet little bear marching along with his strawberry on a separate piece of cardstock.

I used my OLO markers to color the images, adding in some white gel pen dots to the strawberry seeds.

After I’d finished coloring the background and die cutting the sweet bear, I stamped a greeting from Strawbeary on some white cardstock strips using black pigment ink and clear embossing powder. I like to use this combination when stamping greetings; the embossing helps to make the sentiment super crisp and dark!

To help make the sentiment and bear die cut stand out from the busy, colorful patterned background, I trimmed a wide strip of heavyweight vellum down and laid it in the center of the patterned paper, then arranged my die cuts and sentiment strips on the vellum. Before adhering the vellum portion, I adhered the die cut and sentiment pieces to the vellum and flipped it over, adding dots of adhesive behind the solid die cuts. I adhered the vellum strip in the center of the patterned panel, then added a black frame cut with the A2 Thin Frames die and some Pitch Black cardstock, directly over the top of the vellum. This adheres the vellum even more securely to the card front without marring it with globs of adhesive. Score! The final touch was a few shimmering iridescent green gems.

Well, that’s all for my project today! Have you tried stamping your own custom patterned background? It’s so fun! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy summer!

Accenting Focal Points with Thin Frames!

This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!

I have really been trying hard to use stamps in my stash to which I haven’t given much love, especially stamps that I have illustrated. This enormous Beautiful Bouquet stamp that I illustrated for Simon Says Stamp early last year has not seen enough love from me, and I am determined to change that! I get so much inspiration for bouquet arrangements and color combinations from the wedding florists that I follow on Instagram, and one of my favorite things about coloring a bouquet like this is that the overall look can change completely depending on the color selections that you make! I created a completely different aesthetic on THIS card by using brighter colors, but today I wanted to focus on some more muted shades of lilac and periwinkle, with a “white” rose. I also pulled out one of my favorite unsung heroes from my die collection: A7 Thin Frames dies. Let’s get started with the details.

I began by stamping the ginormous bouquet from Beautiful Bouquet onto a 5″x7″ panel of Hammermill cardstock using black pigment ink, then clear embossing over the top. Normally, I would use alcohol marker-friendly dye ink, but I wanted those lines to be super stark and black, and the clear embossing powder over the top really defines the crisp black lines and makes them pop.

I colored the images using my OLO markers in shades of periwinkle and lilac for the large anemone and hydrangea blooms, then used some grayish purple markers with my Zero marker to create the “white” rose. I simply concentrated the light purple and almost-transparent gray markers towards the center of the flower to create shadows, then softened the edges with the Zero marker to allow the shadows to fade to the white of the cardstock.

After I had finished coloring the images, I used a blending brush to very lightly blend Heather ink around the edges of my card, creating the softest of halos around my vividly colored image. I recently added the A7 Thin Frames dies to my stash. I find myself reaching for the A2 Thin Frames constantly, so I added the and the Circle Thin Frames to my stash. The thin frames are the perfect clean accent for your focal point, whether it is a large floral like this, critters, or a more graphic background. They are an investment up front, but I find them totally invaluable on so many styles of card!! The addition of a thin frame around the edge of your focal point creates such an incredibly clean and polished look; I use it constantly. I die cut the A7 Thin Frames dies from some Pitch Black cardstock, further accenting the crisp lines of the black embossed lines of the floral image.

For the greeting, I kept things simple with a dimensional black Big Hugs die. I die cut the Big Hugs die three times from more Pitch Black cardstock and adhered them together using liquid adhesive. I adhered the dimensional die cut to the center of the lower third of my card. The black sentiment, black frame, and black lines of the image tick the boxes to complete the “rule of three” for the embellishments! The final touch was to add some sparkling gems for a bit of sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today. If you haven’t checked out the Thin Frames dies at Simon Says Stamp, you’re missing out! They’re a staple at my craft desk, for sure. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Colorado Craft Company June 2023-Anita Jeram Release!

Good morning! The new Anita Jeram Colorado Craft Company release is now available, and it’s full of darling cats and dogs paired with uplifting and encouraging sentiments that are sure to make you smile! You should have arrived here from Daniel West and your next stop is Jenn Shurkus. You can also start back at the beginning of the hop at the Colorado Craft Company blog.

I don’t know how anyone can resist these sweet little critters. I don’t normally do well with critters, but these storybook illustrations are darling and usually come already grouped in a scene together so there’s not much masking or layout planning involved-just stamp and color! Anita Jeram brings out the CAS cardmaker in me, because the images and the sentiments lend themselves so beautifully to this style. I have two projects to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

My first project features the sweet felines in the Lift You Higher stamp set. I stamped them using Intens-ified Black ink, then colored the images using my OLO markers. The images are so precious and beautifully arranged that the coloring doesn’t have to be super involved. I tried to color a striped orange kitty for the first time… hopefully it comes across that way haha! Once I’d finished coloring, I die cut the image with the Coordinating Dies. I wanted to create a sky behind the die cut, so I also colored around the edge of the die cut scene with a coordinating pale blue marker.

For the background, I masked off around the edges of my white card front and lightly blended Morning ink from Simon Says Stamp. I made sure that the blended area was fairly narrow so that the tree could slightly spill over the sides. I stamped the uplifting greeting from the Lift You Higher stamp set on a strip of white cardstock using black pigment ink and clear embossed over the top. The embossing helps to make the crisp black sentiment stand out that much more. I trimmed the background panel down slightly and mounted it on a full size A2 panel of cardstock so that there was a thin black frame around the edge to accent the crisp black lines of the image and the sentiment. I mounted the sentiment and the die cut image with foam adhesive for a simple card!

My second card features the Stay Paws-itive Stamps and Coordinating Dies. This sweet little puppy was absolutely irresistable. Some dogs have the most expressive faces; my dog Barney has such expressive eyes and eyebrows that you can always tell what he’s thinking. This little pup conveys so many emotions depending on the sentiment with which you choose to pair him! I stamped him, his bowl, and his dog bone again using Intens-ified Black ink and colored the images with my OLO markers. I die cut the images with the Coordinating Dies.

The Stay Paws-itive Stamp Set features several wonderfully meaningful greetings, and it was very difficult to choose just one! In the end, though, I selected the “everything comes to you at the right time.” It worked perfectly with the patient expression on the dog’s face as he awaits his dinner. I stamped the sentiment again with black pigment ink and clear embossed over the top to make the sentiment that much crisper, then added all of the images and sentiment strip to a white card front using foam adhesive. The final touch was a few black gems to fill in some of the white space!

To celebrate this release, Colorado Craft Company is hosting a few different promotions:

June 2023 Anita Jeram Release-Stamps Only at 5% off!

June 2023 Anita Jeram Release-Complete Bundle at 10% off!

They are also hosting a couple of different giveaways:

#1. One complete bundle or equal value gift card will be given away to a randomly drawn order placed using one of the designers’ affiliate links. (If you use my links at any time, at no extra cost to you, I thank you so much for your support! It helps me keep my blog running smoothly. Plus, a purchase using an affiliate link enters you for the giveaway!)

#2. Each stop on the hop will also give away one stamp set selected from the comments on the posts, either on the blogs or on Instagram. The more comments you leave across the hop, the more chances you have to enter!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Your next stop is Jenn Shurkus. Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy hopping!

OLO Marker Artists’ Picks!

Hi there! Today, I wanted to share with you some interesting (and exciting) news: I have curated a collection of markers for OLO Markers! I have been working with the OLO markers for a little over a year, and I find them to be extremely user-friendly, not to mention vibrant, with super smooth blending. I have no trouble recommending them to both novices and experienced colorists alike! For the Emily’s Picks Color Collection, I selected a wide variety of colors that create a large spectrum of color values, from light to dark, with a color palette that is especially perfect for working with florals!

Each color family that I’ve selected is meant to allow you freedom to blend in gradients from super dark to super light, so that you can achieve great depth of shadow and lightness of highlight. I primarily work with florals, and these are the color families for which I find myself reaching the most! I tried to select a color family from each area of the rainbow so that you would have plenty of colors to choose from just with this one marker collection.

For the illustration above, I used four of the color families from the Emily’s Picks Color Collection. You’ll notice the great depth of color in the largest peony; this was colored using the RK-RG.7-R5.7-R5.5 family. I find that adding touches of black or gray to your large images helps to increase the drama and add incredible depth of shadow; OLO markers have RK (which is red-black) and BK (blue-black), both of which are included in my collection and are perfect for adding extra dimension and depth to your projects when added into the appropriate color family.

There are also quite a few very light markers, which are perfect for using to “glaze” your other color families to create completely custom colors. (You can check out a project that I created using OLO glazing HERE) You can see in the detail photo above the incredible range of colors that you can achieve with these Emily’s Picks markers-and this is only four of the seven color families in the collection!

If you were contemplating purchasing OLO markers, this collection would be a great starter pack! The folks at OLO have also given me a 10% discount code for use with my collection. Simply input code emilycolorpicks at checkout for the Emily’s Picks Color Collection to receive the discount!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

OLO Marker Colors of the Month + Honey Bee Stamps!

Hi there! Each month, OLO Markers comes out with a trio of colors that you can purchase (or use the markers that you already have) to participate in their Color of the Month Challenge! These Color of the Month markers (which you can check out HERE) are always three different colors that, when blended together or used separately, help to expand your blending trios and create a new perspective on your markers!! I found the May 2023 Colors of the Month markers to be extremely inspiring; they were colors that I would not normally have used together, certainly not for coloring, but I thought the blue, turquoise, and lime green were so modern, chic, and fresh that I started creating with them and couldn’t stop! I have been carefully collecting different products from Honey Bee Stamps over the last several months and was inspired to pull a bunch of them out to create a quartet of cards using this fun color combination. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by pulling coordinating ink and cardstock colors that would match the May 2023 Colors of the Month. I grabbed Limeade, Teal Cave, and Desert Night inks from Altenew, as well as Teal Topaz and Peridot cardstocks from Spellbinders and Nautical cardstock from Hero Arts.

For my first project, I used the absolutely beautiful Lovely Layers: Spring Greenery standalone dies from Honey Bee Stamps with the May 2023 Colors of the Month. I die cut the images from plain white cardstock, then used only the May 2023 Colors of the Month to add color to the images. Being limited to only the three markers meant that I had to get creative in order to create multiple colors that still worked with the images themselves. I did some “glazing” to create custom colors, laying down one solid layer of color, then adding another color over the top to create a completely unique color. I also was able to increase the intensity of the colors by adding multiple layers of the same color (as I did on the sprigs of lavender). I used all three colors on the larger eucalyptus leaves, laying down the blue in the center of each leaf, blending out with the aqua, then glazing the entire leaf with the lime green marker. The only additional marker that I used was the zero marker from OLO, which I used to add highlights and to lessen the intensity of some of the colors, as well as add tiny dots of white on the Queen Anne’s Lace flowers. I was amazed and really pleased at the variety of colors that I was able to create using just four markers that I would never have normally put together!

After I’d finished coloring the images, I die cut the largest detail frame from the breathtaking Spring Vine Layering using Nautical cardstock, backing it with Teal Topaz cardstock to coordinate with the turquoise tones in the coloring. I die cut a Sentiment Frames frame from some matte silver foil cardstock, which I adhered with foam tape for extra dimension, then arranged my colored floral die cuts around the frame, adhering them with both liquid and foam adhesive for lots of different dimension and height. I added a greeting from the Best of Everything stamp set, heat embossed in silver on navy cardstock and die cut with the coordinating die. Finally, I added a few gems for some sparkle!

For my second card, I blended the three shades of ink (Limeade, Teal Cave, and Desert Night) to create a crazy vivid background. After I blended the three colors together on a panel of plain white A2 cardstock, I ran the entire thing through my die cut machine using the Clover Petals embossing folder from Honey Bee Stamps and spritzed it with some iridescent shimmer spray to enhance the pattern even further.

I die cut the Lovely Layers: Anemone, cutting the flower layers from white cardstock and the foliage from two different shades of green cardstock. I swiped the lime green marker from May 2023 Colors of the Month in the center of each layer of the white flower, smoothing the edges with the zero marker to create just the lightest hint of lime green in the center of the anemone. I die cut some leaves in coordinating shades of bright green.

To create the frame around which I could build my bouquet, I used the Layering Vintage Labels die to create this uniquely-shaped frame, cutting it from Nautical cardstock to coordinate with the navy blending on the background and adhering it with some foam adhesive to give it extra height and help it pop from the background. I arranged the flowers and foliage in a bouquet around the edge of the frame and added a greeting created with the Foil Script: Wishes hot foil plate and die, creating the reverse sentiment using the leftover foil with a solid hot foil plate. The final touch was to add a few bits of bling in a coordinating shade of iridescent lime green!

For my next card, I paired the three ink shades (Limeade, Teal Cave, and Desert Night) that coordinate beautifully with the OLO Colors of the Month with the Folk Art Daisy layering stencil set. I use blending brushes to blend the layers, keeping the flowers that lovely shade of pale lime green, with turquoise leaves and deep navy accents. I trimmed the stenciled panel down and matted with an ever-so-slightly larger panel of navy cardstock, creating a very thin navy blue frame around the edge. I popped these two layers up on a Peridot cardstock card front.

For the greeting, I stamped one of the sentiment strips and a large scale sentiment from Big Time Kindness using the Desert Night ink, then die cut it with the coordinating die. To help the greeting stand out from the busy patterned background, I die cut one of the Stacking Art Deco Label dies from some vellum, slightly offsetting it to the right. I used dimensional foam adhesive to adhere the sentiments to the vellum piece, then hid my liquid adhesive behind these solid die cuts so as not to mar the semi-transparent vellum. Finally, I added a few iridescent gems for some sparkle!

My last card is an homage to the beauty of the Spring Vines Layering Frame die set. I cut the different layers from Teal Topaz, Peridot, and Nautical cardstock, layering them together in a striking combination, using foam adhesive for the largest interior label layer and liquid adhesive for the remaining layers.

I also heat embossed a simple but poignant greeting from the Best of Everything stamp set, heat embossed in silver on some more navy cardstock and die cut with the coordinating die. I used one last layer of foam adhesive to add the sentiment, giving it a little bit of extra height amongst all of the die cut layers. Finally, I added some gems to the four corners for a tiny bit of sparkle!

Well, have you made it this far? That was a lot of cards for one post! I got rolling with that beautiful color ocmbination from OLO and just couldn’t stop! I love when something simple brings on such a flood of inspiration. You can check out more information about the May 2023 Colors of the Month challenge by clicking on the link. Thanks so much for reading today, and have a marvelous day!