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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

pinkfresh studio

Video: Unexpected Holiday Anemones with Pinkfresh Studio!

Hi friends! I am over on the Pinkfresh Studio YouTube channel today with this vibrant holiday card featuring the gorgeous new Nothing But the Best stamps + dies and Karin Brushmarker Pro watercolor markers.

Watch the video below or HERE on YouTube.

In case you can’t watch the video, here are some of the highlights:

I started by heat embossing the Nothing But the Best stamp onto some Fabriano Artistico cold press watercolor paper using silver embossing powder. I taped the panel down to my watercolor board, then used Karin Brushmarker Pro markers in jewel-toned shades of red and green to create a stunning holiday floral arrangement. A friend of mine had deep red anemones with black centers for her bridal bouquet, and since then I’ve adored the idea of these intense flowers as an addition to a holiday bouquet! After watercoloring, I die cut the image with the coordinating die.

To add some texture behind the watercolored floral arrangement, I ran an A2 panel of plain white cardstock through my die cut machine using the Diagonal Stitched Plaid cover plate. This die adds a hint of texture and pattern to the background, and I think that plaid is the quintessential holiday pattern, don’t you? I also die cut a vellum tag from the Shaker Tag Book die and a black glitter bow from the Wrap Around Elements die set to accent the hot foiled “peace and joy” sentiment (from what I now realize is a discontinued set- but a heat embossed greeting from the Holiday Large Sentiments Stamps + Coordinating Dies product suite would be a good replacement!)

After fiddling with my die cuts to decide the best arrangement, I decided to be brave and chop my watercolored flower bouquet in half so that I could create a visual cascade running down the front of my card. Before adhering the two floral die cut pieces, I adhered a glittering Ornate Rectangle Frame die cut with some foam adhesive, then added my remaining die cuts with some more foam adhesive, hiding the foam tape behind the solid die cut adhered to the vellum tag. The final touch was a few Matte Silver Pearls to add one more element of silver to my card front!

Well, that’s all for my project today. I love using unexpected combinations to create unique holiday cards. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Pinkfresh Studio November 2023 Stamp, Die, Stencil, and Embellishment Release

Good morning, and welcome to the November 2023 Pinkfresh Studio Release Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Cheryl, and your next stop is Heather. The November 2023 Release features a variety of goodies to share with you, including a fabulous new alphabet set, some snowy holiday beauty, and of course, some gorgeous flowers. I have two projects using some non-traditional holiday colors to share with you, so let’s get started with the details!

While I tend to use red a lot for holiday cards, I couldn’t resist using some totally non-traditional pinks, greens, and sparkling metallics for these cards today! I thought that the whimsical and unique aesthetic of the new Folk Snowflake set would lend itself beautifully to some intense, vibrant pink.

For my first card, I began by blending Bubble Gum, Raspberry Bliss, and Regal Kiss inks on a plain white card front using blending brushes, then stamped the Snowflakes background stamp using Calico White ink. I was amazed at how well the white pigment ink popped on the super vivid blended background. If you haven’t tried out the new Calico White ink, you definitely should! It’s awesome! I die cut a large Ornate Rectangle Frame die from some Dazzling Diamond glitter cardstock and popped it up around the edge of the blended and stamped background.

Next, I heat embossed the large snowflake image from the new Folk Snowflake stamp set onto some Dragonfruit cardstock from Concord and 9th. I used the coordinating Folk Snowflake stencils to add some deep pink and purple details to the image, accenting them with some glittering handmade watercolor. I also heat embossed a greeting from Folk Snowflake onto some more vivid pink cardstock, die cutting both embossed images with the coordinating Folk Snowflake dies. I popped them up on the card front using foam adhesive, then accented the shimmering white details with some new Ice clear drops. So much vivid color and shine on this project!

My next project uses the large snowflake image from the Folk Snowflake set to create a patterned background. I began by silver embossing the large snowflake a few times on a 4″ x 6″ piece of cold press watercolor paper. I then used regular pan watercolors as well as sparkling glitter watercolors from IUILE (on Etsy) to add tons of vibrant pink and green to the panel. It’s super bright and shimmery, but I think that Christmas is the perfect time to layer up on the sparkle for your holiday cards!

To create the greeting, I die cut “joyful” using the beautiful new Kaitlin Alpha die set and some green mirror foil cardstock. I also silver embossed a sentiment from the Folk Snowflake stamp set onto some pale pink cardstock, die cutting it with the coordinating die. I popped up the greeting components using foam adhesive, then tucked a few die cut snowflakes on the card front, created using the smallest of the Large Snowflakes dies and some Silver glitter cardstock. I matted the watercolored panel first with some more green mirror foil cardstock, then a full size A7 piece of pale pink cardstock. Finally, I added some shiny Leaf Clear Drops for more texture and gloss!

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

Pinkfresh Studio will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel. They will also be giving away a total of TEN $25  gift cards along the hop. The winners will be selected from the comments along the hop. Winners will be posted on November 21, 2023 on our GIVEAWAY PAGE. Winners must check that page & claim their prize within 2 weeks.

Here’s the full hop list in case you get lost:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

VIDEO: Using Cardmaking Dies and Inks for Easy Custom Tags with Pinkfresh Studio!

Hi friends! I am up on the Pinkfresh Studio YouTube channel today with some holiday tag inspiration using a ton of dies and the new Pinkfresh Studio Inks from the September 2023 release.

Watch the video below or HERE on YouTube.

Not everybody has the room or the budget to have an extensive stash of colorful cardstock, so being able to make custom colored cardstock using white cardstock, your inks, and blending brushes opens up a whole new host of possibilities! The new ink colors are exceptionally unique and beautiful, and I used some of them to create these festive tags that you won’t feel too guilty about tossing in the trash on Christmas morning. Let’s get started with the details!

To start, I die cut 6 of the large tags from the Shaker Tag Book dies set. Two tags fit on one panel of A2 cardstock. I don’t know about you, but my die cutting plates are very well-used, which makes the back of my die cuts look a little rough. Cutting two tags and putting the scratched back sides against each other helps to keep your tags nice and clean on both sides!

This first tag features some light Waterfall ink blending around the edge of my top tag, which I die cut using the Snowflakes Cover Plate die . This die features both a stitching detail and cut outs to create this lovely, textured background pattern. I die cut some of the smaller snowflakes from white glitter cardstock using the Large Snowflakes dies and layered them directly over the die cut background tag. I stamped a sentiment from the Holiday Large Sentiments stamp set and sandwiched both the back and front together with liquid adhesive, adding a white paper twine loop and Aqua Glitter Drops for some more sparkle!

For my second tag, I used a blending brush to blend Paradise ink from the bottom up, fading away to white as the ink reach the top of the tag. I created some custom coordinating Curvy Leaves dies foliage using Paradise and Atlantis inks, as well as a pretty pink bow by blending Peony ink on some white cardstock and die cutting it with the Artistic Bows dies. I arranged all of the die cuts on my blended tag and added some Blush Glitter Drops for “berries” amongst my holiday foliage.

For my final tag, I blended Waterfall, Turquoise, and Paradise inks down the front of my blank tag die cut. I then die cut the large and medium sizes of the gorgeous Large Snowflakes dies from some more sparkling white glitter cardstock. I layered the two snowflakes together, adhering the smaller snowflake to the center of the larger snowflake with a small square of foam adhesive.

Each tag has a different greeting from the Holiday Large Sentiments stamp set stamped on the back in Atlantis ink. You could totally make this simpler by using your MISTI and one sentiment for all of your tags!! I am in love with the beautiful sentiments and fonts in the Holiday Large Sentiments stamp set.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! I encourage you to try making your own custom colored cardstock using your inks and blending tools. You can create such a huge rainbow of cardstocks with your inks and a little elbow grease! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Guest Designing for The Flower Challenge’s 7th Birthday!

Hi friends! I was honored to be asked by my friend Aileen (@huhwhatpardon over on Instagram) to again be the guest designer for the The Flower Challenge Blog‘s 7th Anniversary! This month, the challenge is “Anything Goes”! I love flowers so much and have such a wide variety of products from which to choose that I was slightly overwhelmed when trying to come up with a project for today’s post, but I pulled out my favorite blush cardstock and some products from a few of my favorite companies, including one of my own illustrations for Pinkfresh Studio, to create this monochromatic blush card. Let’s get started with the details!

To start, I heat embossed my Wonderful In Every Way illustration for Pinkfresh Studio onto Hammermill cardstock using Rose Gold embossing powder. I then combined some of the new inks from Pinkfresh Studio with the coordinating Wonderful In Every Way stencils to add simple color to the image. These stencils are a great way to add color to these lined floral images if you don’t feel super confident in your coloring skills! I will link all of the individual ink colors that I used below. After I’d finished stenciling, I used the coordinating Wondeful In Every Way die to cut the image out.

For the background, I started by lightly blending some pale pink ink around the edges of a blush A2 card front, adding some interest to the card front and creating a vignette to enhance my floral arrangement. I also die cut the beautiful Laurel Leaves cover plate die from Simon Says Stamp from some blush cardstock, layering it directly over the top of the blended background panel. I love the tone-on-tone texture that this detailed die cut provides behind the floral arrangement.

For the greeting, I used Blush foil to hot foil some greetings on more of the blush cardstock from the Hello Friend Sentiments set, die cutting the “wonderful” using the coordinating outline die from the Wonderful Script Sentiments die set (love that those two sets coordinate so perfectly!). I adhered the floral bouquet to the textured and blended card front using foam adhesive, then added the foiled greetings over the top of the floral arrangement. The final touch was a few shimmering blush gems for sparkle.

Well, that’s all for my project today! I hope you will check out the challenge over at The Flower Challenge. Using flowers is second nature to me, and what more perfect excuse to use your floral stamps and dies than to enter your card in The Flower Challenge Blog‘s 7th Anniversary! Thanks so much to Aileen and Viv for inviting me to be their guest, and Happy Anniversary to The Flower Challenge!

Pinkfresh Studio September 2023 Ink Release

Hi friends! Today happens to be an incredibly exciting day, not just because it’s my birthday, but because the looooong-awaited Pinkfresh Studio September 2023 Ink Release is finally here!! With so many delays, it felt like these beautiful inks were never going to arrive, but here they are in all of their glory! This new release adds so many beautiful additions to the already-gorgeous Pinkfresh Studio rainbow of ink colors. You can purchase the large pads individually HERE on the Pinkfresh Studio website, or as an Ink Pad Bundle (PFS | SSS). Pinkfresh Studio also offers their ink pads in cubes to accommodate everybody’s storage needs, and you can check them out HERE on the Pinkfresh Studio website. You can also purchase the entire bundle of new ink cubes (PFS | SSS) as well!

Pinkfresh Studio is releasing an absolutely scrumptious addition to their Studio Essentials line with the release of their new 72 Ink Cube Holder (PFS | SSS) and 48 Ink Cube Holder (PFS | SSS). These ink cube holders are the epitome of elegance, with pale blush pink vegan leather and a crisp white velour interior, accented with shining gold hardware. I don’t have many ink cubes, but let me tell you… I want to get some just to store them in these stunning cases!! They would make great holiday gifts for your crafty friends, too!

I was particularly enamored with the Rose Garden and Green Gables ink sets, and so chose to use those as the color palette for my holiday cards today! For my first project, I wanted to put those beautiful and unique new shades of red to good use. The Rose Garden ink family is a stunning ombré of peachy blush to a unique cool, deep red. I am not kidding when I say that Begonia (PFS | SSS) and Mulberry Blush (PFS | SSS) are my two favorite ink colors in this new release. So different from anything that I have in my (extensive) ink collection!

To start, I heat embossed the Dainty Plaid Background (PFS | SSS) onto some white cardstock using Hero Arts Iridescent Gold Embossing Powder (SSS | HA). I then used the coordinating Dainty Plaid Stencils (PFS | SSS) and Cherry Blossom (PFS | SSS), Begonia (PFS | SSS), and Mulberry Blush (PFS | SSS) inks to create this lovely and festive tone-on-tone red plaid background. Depending on your pressure with your blending tools, you can make these colors more or less intense, creating a whole array of shades!

After I had created my plaid background, I used the Winter Berries Frame Hot Foil Plate (PFS | SSS) with Speckled Aura hot foil (SB | SSS). I cut out the images with the coordinating dies (PFS | SSS), then used the Waffle Flower Grip Mat (SSS) with the coordinating Winter Berries Stencils (PFS | SSS) to blend Begonia (PFS | SSS), Mulberry Blush (PFS | SSS), Sage (PFS | SSS), and Eucalyptus (PFS | SSS) inks to create these lovely and festive floral die cuts that coordinated beautifully with the plaid background. I also die cut the pieces of the Artistic Bows (PFS | SSS) from white cardstock and blended Cherry Blossom (PFS | SSS), Begonia (PFS | SSS), and Mulberry Blush (PFS | SSS) inks on each piece before assembling to create a bow that perfectly matched the colors of the rest of my card!

For the greeting, I heat embossed a sentiment from Holiday Large Sentiments stamps (PFS | SSS) using more of the Hero Arts Iridescent Gold Embossing Powder (SSS | HA). I die cut the finished sentiment with the coordinating die (PFS | SSS). To accent my plaid background and coordinate with the white on the die cuts, I die cut a white frame using the Blanket Stitched Oval dies (PFS | SSS), popping it up on the plaid background using foam adhesive. I arranged my berries, bow, and sentiment on the card front, popping them up with single and double layers of foam adhesive to add lots of dimension. Finally, I added a few Sparkle & Shine Glitter Drops (PFS | SSS) to add one more sparkling touch, making this card super festive!

My second card is an homage to the gorgeous Green Gables ink set. These shades of green are such a beautiful and unique addition to the Pinkfresh Studio ink line! Green normally plays second fiddle to whatever pinks, purples, and corals I am using for my flowers, so I thought I’d allow these beautiful, verdant shades to be the star of the show for this project! I began by hot foiling the Lush Vines Hot Foil Plate (PFS | SSS) using Speckled Aura hot foil (SB | SSS) onto some white cardstock. I then used large blending brushes to blend Sage (PFS | SSS), Eucalyptus (PFS | SSS), Spruce Tips (PFS | SSS), and Lush Forest (PFS | SSS) inks in an ombré down the front of the hot foiled background. I am in love with these gorgeous greens!! I trimmed the blended, foiled panel down slightly and mounted it on a full sized A2 panel of Midnight Green cardstock from Simon Says Stamp.

Next, I hot foiled the negative leftovers of the Winter Berries Frame Hot Foil Plate (PFS | SSS) from the previous card using the Solid Hot Foil Plate (PFS | SSS) and die cut the images with the coordinating dies (PFS | SSS). I blended Lush Forest (PFS | SSS) over the white lines to create a bit more contrast and to coordinate more perfectly with my shiny green background. I also heat embossed the JOY Hot Foil Plate (PFS | SSS) using Aura hot foil (PFS | SSS | SB), then die cut it with the Coordinating Die (PFS | SSS). Using the same green inks, I blended over the white areas around the edges of the die cuts, as well, to keep everything completely cohesive.

Sage (PFS | SSS), Eucalyptus (PFS | SSS), Spruce Tips (PFS | SSS), Lush Forest (PFS | SSS) inks

I die cut a crazy sparkly frame using the Nested Hexagon dies (PFS | SSS) and some fabulous Luxe Glitter cardstock from Simon Says Stamp, which I backed with clear acetate and enclosed with foam tape. I filled my shaker with coordinating green and gold sequins from my stash and added it to the front of my blended, foiled card. Over the top of my shaker, I arranged my foiled and blended die cuts, popping them up with foam adhesive to add extra height. The finishing touch was a twine bow to add extra textural interest to this detailed and super color-coordinated project!

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

We will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel. 

Pinkfresh Studio will be giving away a total of FIVE $25  gift cards along the hop. As per usual with blog hops – the winners will be selected from the comments.Winners will be announced on October 9, 2023 on our GIVEAWAY PAGE. Winners must check that page & claim their prize within 2 weeks.

Here’s the full hop list below:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!