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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

simon says stamp

Simon Says Stamp Yay You Release Blog Hop+Givewaway!

Hi there! I’m so excited to be part of Simon Says Stamp’s Yay You blog hop today, celebrating their newest collection release. You should have arrived here from Bibi Cameron, and your next stop is Miriam Prantner. You can also start back at the beginning at the Simon Says Stamp Blog in case you get lost! I have a trio of wedding-themed projects to share with you today, all with a coordinated feel but each their own unique finished product. Let’s get started with the details!

My first projects feature several of the stunning new hot foil goodies from the Yay You release. I came a little late to the hot foil game, only recently becoming slightly obsessed with the magic that is hot foiling, and these gorgeous new floral hot foil plates are just making me love it even more. I have found that the Pinkfresh Studio Solid Hot Foil Plate is an absolute game changer when it comes to hot foil. It allows you to get twice as much mileage from your hot foiling products, and it creates such an incredibly unique look with the solid foiled pieces.

For this first project, I wanted to create some bold matte gold floral images, so I combined the new Sketched Anemone hot foil plates with the Solid Hot Foil Plate to create some matte gold foil ephemera for my card front. I also created some foliage using the Eucalyptus Stem hot foil plate, as well as a few vellum Sketched Leaf Branches for some textural variety.

I die cut a Domed Arches die from some Lawn Fawn Pencil Eraser cardstock, which I find to be a most unique shade of pink-something that I truly have never seen before amongst my (somewhat copious) collection of colored cardstock! I placed the arch die cut on the Detail Mandala die and ran it through my die cut machine to add some subtle interest to the background. I popped the pierced dome die cut up on an A2 card base made from Pencil Eraser cardstock with some foam tape. I arranged the foiled floral swag on the dome die cut, then added a greeting from the new Happily A Lifetime. Such a gorgeous sentiment set! A few iridescent pearls finished the project off and added one final bit of textural contrast.

My second project features several of the same products used on the first project, as well as an identical color scheme, but this project features a completely different layout. I began this project by hot foiling the beautifully detailed new Intricate Floral hot foil plate onto some more Pencil Eraser cardstock using Aura foil from Spellbinders. This was my first occasion to use the Aura foil, and its iridescent gold shimmer does not disappoint in the slightest! The combination of the iridescent foil impressed into the unique melon pink background makes my heart flutter.

I trimmed the foiled background down slightly and added a strip of glittery gold along the edge, then mounted that on a full size A2 Pencil Eraser card base using foam adhesive. I heat embossed another greeting from Happily A Lifetime onto some more pink cardstock using white embossing powder for maximum contrast, then popped the greeting and some golden foiled eucalyptus die cuts up using a double layer of foam adhesive for tons of height and contrast. A few more iridescent pearls finished the project off.

My last project for today features the gorgeous, gigantic new Happily Ever After die. I thought the romantic font and sheer size of this die would work beautifully with my Celebrate Rose Corner stamps. Roses+weddings go together like peanut butter+jelly, right? I stamped the Celebrate Rose Corner using Contour Ink from Hero Arts, then did some no-line watercoloring on the roses using Holbein watercolors and Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper. Once I’d finished watercoloring, I die cut the large image using the coordinating die.

For the card base, I trimmed down an A7 card front from some more Pencil Eraser cardstock, which coordinated beautifully with the muted mauve-y pinks in the roses. To add a bit of interest to the background, I blended some Magnolia ink using a blending brush, then splattered some handmade shimmery gold watercolor on blended the background. I popped up the watercolored roses using foam adhesive, then added the glittery gold Happily Ever After die cut. I also tucked a couple of Eucalyptus Stem hot foiled vellum die cuts for added textural interest, as well as a few rose gold gems for even more sparkle. The sparkles and size make it super festive for a wedding card, but the soft colors and pretty flowers are so romantic, don’t you think?

Well, that’s all for my projects today! To celebrate their latest release, Simon Says Stamp is generously giving away a $25 coupon to every stop on the hop, selected from the blog comment section. Winners will be chosen and posted on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday, the 18th of May. The more comments you leave along the hop, the more chances you have to win!

Simon Says Stamp is also offering a fun gift with purchase freebie! Simply add code BEAUTY at checkout to receive the Beautiful die set for free!

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

Simon Says Stamp Yay You Release!

Hi there! My friends over at Simon Says Stamp are releasing a brand new collection of products tonight, and I was lucky enough to get to play with them last week! The new Yay You collection has a wide variety of products and styles, but I particularly fell in love with several of the new hot foil plates. I have a card to share with you featuring one these gorgeous new floral hot foil plates, so let’s get started with the details!

My first project features the absolutely stunning new Sketched Peony Blossom Hot Foil Plate + Die. I love that these hot foil plates come bundled with the coordinating die so that you can use them with or without the dies! I used my Glimmer hot foil machine with some Pewter Foil to hot foil the beautiful Sketched Peony Blossom Hot Foil Plate. I used the OLO Markers to add lots of intense color to the large bloom. It’s big enough to really get down into the nooks and crannies to create lots of dimension.

I hot foil the Sketched Leaf Branches Hot Foil Plate + Dies using the same Pewter foil. I also used the Pinkfresh Studio Solid Hot Foil Plate to use the leftover foil to create some solid foliage, which I die cut with the coordinating die.

I arranged the flower and greenery on a white A2 card front, adhering the pieces with some foam adhesive. I added a greeting from the CZ Sentiment Strips Wedding, which I popped up using a double layer of foam tape to make it really stand out. I added a few Graphite gems to coordinate with the charcoal foil.

Well, that’s all for me today! I will be back later this week with some more inspiration using the new goodies from the Yay You collection from Simon Says Stamp. Thanks so much for reading, and have a marvelous evening!

Simon Says Stamp Happy and Joyful Blog Hop-Day 2!

Good morning! I am delighted to be a stop on Day 2 of the Simon Says Stamp Happy and Joyful blog hop celebrating the gorgeous new release that went live earlier this week! You should have arrived here from Barbara Tarayao, and your next stop is Miriam Prantner. You can also start back at the beginning at the Simon Says Stamp Blog.

I am extra excited for this Happy and Joyful release, as I have illustrated four different stamp sets that were released this week! (You can see my blog post introducing each set here.) It’s seriously such a thrill to be able to stamp my designs using so many different techniques, but I am not being hyperbolic when I say what an utter thrill it is to see the talented designers who work with Simon Says Stamp share their creations made using my illustrations. It’s mind blowing to think of where I started over a decade ago to where I am right now, and I’m so grateful for the opportunities that I’ve had, not the least of which is working with Simon Says Stamp! I have three projects to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

One of the sets for which I am most excited is the Celebrate Rose Corner. I get inspiration for my illustrations from lots of different places, including florists and gardeners that I’ve found on Instagram. Grace Rose Farm shared the most stunning rose photo last summer, and I couldn’t resist making it a centerpiece on a floral bouquet. Thus, Celebrate Rose Corner was born! I have a video sharing some watercoloring tips and process on how I made this super vibrant card. Watch the video below or on YouTube by clicking HERE.

If you can’t watch the video, I’ll share a brief synopsis here.

I started by heat embossing the Celebrate Rose Corner image on some Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper using silver embossing powder. I trimmed the watercolor paper down to A2 size, then oriented the image so that it was creeping across the front and would be perfectly sized after die cutting to fit across an A2 card base. I used Tombow markers to add lots of vibrant color to the image.

When working with watercolors, I find it very helpful to have a ceramic palette available for color mixing and for diluting the intense watercolors down to help stretch the shades that I can achieve, as well as allowing me better control over where the color goes and how intense it is. For this card, I began by scribbling some of the deep magenta pink from the Tombow markers onto my ceramic watercolor palette, then adding quite a bit of water to dilute the color down to a soft pastel, then using that for my first layer of color on the roses. The second layer was a mixture of deep teal and the same pink, creating a lovely shade of amethyst. Finally, I put the marker directly to the watercolor paper to add some incredible intensity in just those super shadowed areas. The combination of diluted color mixed with the marker-direct-to-paper makes for some intense dimension on these large blooms! I also added an icy blue halo around the outside edges of the image, just far enough out so that the die cut edge would be blue.

Once I’d finished my watercoloring, I die cut the image using the coordinating die (I love that there is a die for this set!), then mounted it on an icy blue card base using foam tape. I added a greeting from the Celebrate Rose Corner, which I silver embossed onto some more icy blue cardstock and mounted with foam tape for lots of height, finally adding a few aqua blue gems for some sparkle. This card is so vibrant. I just love those vivid colors!

My second card is a bit softer and features some of the beautiful hot foil products that were released this month. I began by hot foiling the Intricate Rose and Blooms Bouquet onto some hot press watercolor paper using gold foil. I then used my Gansai Tambi watercolors (for the first time-I’ve had them for years and just have never used them!) to add some soft peachy pink and pale blue to the image.

I also hot foiled the new Sketched Leaf Branches onto some heavyweight vellum using some more shiny gold foil. I love the effect of foiling on vellum; it creates such an elegant and ethereal look. I also love that these new hot foiling sets come with the coordinating dies, so that you don’t have to buy the die and the foil plate separately.

The bouquet itself is pretty large, and the addition of the vellum foliage made it even longer, so I decided to create a slimline card. I added a bit of ink blending in the center of the white slimline card base using Twirling Tutu and Rose Apple inks, then added some tone-on-tone texture using the Fanfare stencil. Some shining gold pearls finished it off!

My last card is bright and clean, with that vivid pop of intense fuchsia, again painted with Tombow markers using another of my new sets for this release: Just A Note Pansy. When I began illustrating this set, I originally intended for it to have an arch outline, similar to my Framed Florals coloring panel series. I decided against that, and so decided to create a card using something close to my original design by adding an arch die cut using the Domed Arch dies!

I silver heat embossed the pansies from Just A Note Pansy onto some Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper using silver embossing powder. I again used the Tombow markers to add lots of intense color to these flowers, but instead of concentrating the color in the center of the flower, I kept the center light and added color around the edges of the flowers, pulling the color towards the center with my clean, damp paintbrush. The intense pink and touches of deep purple make these flowers almost pop off of the card front!

Once I had finished watercoloring and die cutting the completed image, I used the beautiful Detail Mandala cover plate die to add some subtle texture to a white A2 card base. I die cut a Domed Arch from some more vellum to create an ethereal background upon which to ground my pansies, and popped them up with some foam adhesive. I heat embossed a greeting from Just A Note Pansy onto some more white cardstock using silver embossing powder, then die cut and trimmed them, adding them with some more foam adhesive for tons of height. The final touch was a few iridescent white pearls.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! To celebrate this release, Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $25 shopping spree at each stop on the hop. Simply leave a comment at each stop on the hop to receive maximum entries into the giveaway!

Simon Says Stamp is also doing a Gift With Purchase promotion to celebrate the new Happy and Joyful release. Simply add code GRDPTY at checkout to receive a free sheet of Garden Party stickers!

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

Simon Says Stamp Happy and Joyful Release- FOUR New Stamp Sets!

Hi friends! I am utterly thrilled tonight to share that I have not one, but four new stamp sets that I designed being released in Simon Says Stamp’s new Happy and Joyful release for April 2022! We are still pretty chilly and not terribly green here (weird for mid-April), so I’m coloring up a garden full of flowers with these new stamps: Thankful Magnolia, Just A Note Pansy, Celebrate Rose Corner, and Lisianthus!

In the video below, I share some tips on how to get incredible dimension using Thankful Magnolia. I discuss how I achieve depth and shadow using the new OLO markers, as well as how to make intentional choices with my cardmaking. You can watch below or on YouTube by clicking here.

For those who can’t watch the video, here’s a brief summary of how I created this card:

I began by stamping the huge magnolia image from Thankful Magnolia onto some white cardstock using Intens-ified Black Ink from Hero Arts. I then used the new OLO markers (which you can read more about here-the special introductory pricing is still available until 4/24!) to add lots of beautiful depth and dimension to this gigantic flower. And when I say gigantic, I mean gigantic haha-this is a 5×7 card! I designed the image so that you could use the entirety of it on an A7 card, or just have a corner peeking out on an A2 card, or you could orient it so that just the foliage and the filler flowers create a wreath around the outside of the card front. But above all, as with all of my illustrations, I wanted a large bloom that was a blast to color.

Once I had finished coloring and die cutting the Thankful Magnolia (love love love that there is a coordinating die to go with this massive bouquet!), I used the Tin Tile stencil with some Merlot ink to create a textured background for the magnolia. You can see in the video how I manipulated the stencil to be able to extend it beyond the typical 6×6 to fit almost the entirety of the 5×7 card front. I added a greeting from Thankful Magnolia stamped with black pigment ink and heat embossed with pearlescent charcoal embossing powder. A few plum gems added some more sparkle and texture.

My second card features the new Just A Note Pansy stamps. I heat embossed this pretty swag of pansies using silver embossing powder on some Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper, then used Tombow markers to add tons of vibrant pinks and purples, working from the outer edges towards the center, rather than my usual work from the center out. I die cut the finished flowers with the coordinating die.

Next, I die cut the new A2 Marquee dies from some coordinating pink cardstock, then backed the die cut with some sparkling silver glitter cardstock to help coordinate with the silver embossing powder. I love that little sparkle peeking out around the edge of the rectangular die cut!

For the greeting, I silver embossed a few of the coordinating greeting stamps from Just A Note Pansy onto some more bright pink cardstock, then die cut and trimmed them. I added the marquee die cut to a coordinating pink A2 card base using foam tape, then added the watercolored pansies and greetings with even more foam tape. (So much height on this one!) I finished it off with some pink gems for sparkle!

My next card features my new Celebrate Rose Corner stamps. I used these in a bit of a non-traditional way to create this chalkboard card. This is one of my favorite ways to use super detailed images; adding some subtle white shading to the white embossed images is relatively quick and creates a neat impact on the overall card. I white embossed the Celebrate Rose Corner onto some black cardstock using white embossing powder, then added some white highlights to the flowers only using a white pencil. Such a neat effect!

For the greeting, I embossed the new XL Stacked Greetings using white embossing powder on the same black cardstock. I used the new Paws-itively Everything T-square to add a white pencil frame around the edge of a black slimline card base. I also blended a bit of white pigment ink on the one edge and splattered it with a bit of white gouache to add some extra texture and touches of white. I popped up the sentiment and the rose bouquet die cut using foam tape, then added some white iridescent pearls for some sparkle and shine.

My final card was a labor of love, for sure. I used my new Lisianthus stamps and dies with the Caran D’Ache Luminance pencils to create this super saturated and brilliantly purple card! I began by stamping the Lisianthus image onto some pale lavender cardstock using no-line coloring ink, then used the colored pencils to add lots of intense color to the image. Colored pencils are always a bit time consuming, but I am so pleased with the result! I die cut the finished image using the coordinating die.

Next, I stamped the new Soft Plaid Background stamp using some Deep Purple ink onto some more pale lavender cardstock. I used a blending brush to lightly blend the same Deep Purple ink around the edges of the plaid card base to create a kind of vignette for the background of my flowers. I love the tone-on-tone look with all of the different layers of purple!

Once my card base was complete, I adhered the flowers to the card front using foam adhesive. I white heat embossed a greeting from Lisianthus onto some strips of the same pale lavender cardstock, then popped them up wtih some more foam tape. Finally, I added a few pale purple gems for some sparkle.

Whew! Have you made it this far? That was a long one! I am so very excited to be sharing all of these new products and the projects that I created with them… such a thrill to see my illustrations come to life! I hope you’ll take a peek at the entire Happy and Joyful release-so many fun new products!

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

Simon Says Stamp Hello Gorgeous Blog Hop, Day 2!

Hi there! I’m thrilled to be part of the Simon Says Stamp Hello Gorgeous blog hop on Day 2 of the hop! You should have arrived here from Tina Smith, and your next stop is Jennifer Kotas. You can also start back at the beginning at the Simon Says Stamp Blog. This new Hello Gorgeous release is chock full of fantastic new products perfect for springtime crafting, and I am so excited to have designed a new stamp set for this release: Mother’s Day Tulips. I shared a Copic colored project in this blog post using the new Mother’s Day Tulips set, but today I thought I’d share some inspiration doing some no-line watercoloring, as well as another watercolored project using the Mom’s Spring Flowers set. Let’s get started with the details!

I designed the main floral image in the Mother’s Day Tulips set to cover most of a slimline card front. In my book, the bigger the flowers, the more fun they are to color! These huge tulips are great for really digging down into the nooks and crannies of the image. I began by trimming a panel of Arches cold press watercolor paper down to slimline size, then stamped the Mother’s Day Tulips image using Contour Ink from Hero Arts.

Next, I used the Altenew Artists’ Watercolor 24 Pan Set to paint the tulips a beautiful coral-y red. I love adding lots of touches of contrasting color around the edges of the petals of large images like this, hoping to convey reflections of surrounding colors and add some variation to the images. After I’d painted the flowers their main shades of coral, with touches of lavender shadows, I added some very diluted glazes of bright yellow to the edges of the petals. I also added a wash of cerulean blue behind the flowers, just in the opposite corner and allowing it to fade out completely so that the flowers had a white halo around them.

Once it was dry, I trimmed and mounted the watercolored panel onto a navy blue full size slimline card base. I added a greeting from XL Spring Greetings, which I embossed in silver on some heavyweight vellum and die cut with the coordinating die. The final touch was to add a few Something New iridescent white pearls from Trinity Stamps.

My second project features another new floral: Mom’s Spring Flowers. I thought these looked like wild roses, so I decided to color them in shades of vivid fuchsia and plum using Karin Brushmarker Pro watercolor markers. I began by heat embossing the beautiful floral swag image onto the back of a panel of Arches cold press. I used the slightly less textured “backside” of the super textured cold press paper so that the detail in the flower image would be nice and smooth!

I used some super vibrant shades of purple and pink Karin markers to add tons of intense color to these flowers. With the Karin markers, I like to keep a ceramic palette nearby, so that I can scribble the color onto the palette and pick the color up with a damp paintbrush, then apply it to my watercolor paper. I find that I can get better control over the color and intensity by starting out with the first layers in this way, then going directly to paper with the marker for any areas that I want to make super intense and vibrant, like the petals tucked behind and underneath. I trimmed the watercolored image with my sharp scissors, but there are coordinating dies available!

For the card base, I wanted those beautiful, intense blooms to really pop, so I embossed the floral bouquet a couple of times on a a hunter green card base using platinum embossing powder, the same embossing powder that I used to emboss the flowers themselves, so that they were peeking out from behind my watercolored bouquet. I then used a blending brush to blend Concord and 9th’s Evergreen ink over the embossed corner, adding a touch of extra contrast between the embossed image and the deep green card base. I adhered the flowers to the card front using foam adhesive, then added a greeting from Spring In My Step, which I heat embossed using some more platinum embossing powder onto vellum. The final touch was to add a few Sparkling Champagne Metallic pearls for some shine!

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

To celebrate the new Hello Gorgeous release, Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $25 coupon to every stop on the hop. The winners are selected from the comments section, then announced on the on Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday, the 30th of March. Be sure to check back on the Simon Says Stamp blog and email them if you’re the winner! The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win!

Your next stop is Jennifer Kotas. You can also check out the Simon Says Stamp Blog for all of the hop stops, as well as the Day 1 Blog Hop! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!