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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

simon says stamp

Elegant Christmas Cards in 20 Minutes or Less: Volume 2 with Simon Says Stamp!

Hi there! I’m back again today with another idea for my “Christmas Cards in 20 Minutes or Less” series, this time featuring a gorgeous stamp from Simon Says Stamp called Center Cut Holiday Floral and a fun chalkboard technique that is super easy and quick but adds that extra special touch to create a beautiful Christmas card!

Here’s the video:

Or you can watch in HD here.

One of my favorite quick-but-high-impact techniques is to create a “chalkboard” card. It’s basically some heat embossing with a few extra additions of white. In the video, I talk about adding different values of white, basically meaning different intensities of white to create that white halo left behind on a chalkboard. To achieve this, I utilize a white pencil, white gouache splatters, and some white ink blending around the edges, which totally reminds me of when I was in grade school and the erasers needed to be taken out back (ha) and beaten together to clean them! These different intensities of white help to add to that overall chalkboard look and are quite quick to pop on your card front!

I began by heat embossing the gorgeous Center Cut Holiday Floral with white embossing powder on some Charcoal cardstock cut to 5×7. (Such a large, beautiful stamp deserves to be shown off in it’s entirety!) I then used my white pencil to add some light shading on the larger poinsettia leaves and added a few splatters of watered down white gouache. After the gouache had dried, I added some white blending around the edge using Simon Says Stamp White Pigment Ink and a foam blending tool. After I’d finished all of my chalkboard additions, I die cut the Simon Says Stamp’s Season’s Greetings die twice from white cardstock, then adhered it to the center with some liquid adhesive. The final touch was to add some red “berries” using the Studio Katia Scarlet Red gems to add some extra sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my “Christmas Cards in 20 Minutes or Less” project today. I hope these videos are giving you some useful tips for your last minute holiday cardmaking! We all are so busy this time of year that any little tricks to simplify things a bit helps! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Simon Say Stamptember with Hero Arts!

Hi there! I have the pleasure of helping introduce this year’s Stamptember collaboration with Hero Arts: Park Scene! This sweet stamp set is full of images perfect for building an idyllic park scene in a huge variety of styles, scenes, and layouts. Here’s a peek at this exclusive stamp set:

I was running a little short on time this week, but I was able to create this super cute card in under an hour using the Park Scene stamps and the older Nesting Wood Frame Cuts to create this charming little card. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping the bench, trees, and sentiment from Park Scene on an A2 panel of white cardstock using Intens-ified Black ink. I then used Pine and Fresh Lawn inks with the solid leaf stamps to add foliage to the treetops. I also added some Copic shading to the bench and tree trunks.

Next, I used an ink blending brush to add some Soft Sky ink to the background. I die cut a Nesting Wood Frame Cuts from some Pitch Black cardstock. I adhered the stamped scene to the back of the frame, then popped it up on a white A2 card base to add some dimension.

Well, that’s all for me today! I hope you’re enjoying all of these super fun Stamptember releases. Remember, if you like something, be sure to grab it ASAP-once these babies are gone, they’re not coming back! Thanks so much for dropping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Stamptember with Honey Bee Stamps!

Hi there! I have the pleasure of helping to introduce the next collaboration set for Simon Says Stamp’s Stamptember celebration: On My Mind with Honey Bee Stamps! You can purchase the stamp set or stamp & die combo right now, and these exclusive stamp sets have been selling out quickly- once they’re gone, they’re gone, so be sure to get your order in lickety split if you are at all interested!

For my project today, I used the beautiful new On My Mind stamp set with my Luminance colored pencils to create this somber sympathy card. You can never have too many sympathy cards on hand, and the sentiments in this set are beautiful and poignant.

I began by stamping the main wreath image from On My Mind onto some Pitch Black cardstock using Simon Says Stamp’s White Pigment ink. I then used my Luminance colored pencils to do some no-line coloring. The Luminance pencils blend beautifully on the black cardstock, and they remain amazingly vibrant on the dark background. I added a few dots here and there with a white gel pen for accent.

I heat embossed one of the sentiments on some more Pitch Black cardstock using white embossing powder, then fussy cut them using some very sharp scissors. I trimmed the colored pencil panel down slightly so as to be able to mat it on an A2 panel of Hero Hues Mustard cardstock. I added the greeting to the card front using foam tape for extra dimension.

The final touch was to add some pretty black gems with an autumnal iridescence for a bit of added texture and subtle sparkle.

Well, that’s all for my project using On My Mind, today’s collaboration set from Simon Says Stamp and Honey Bee Stamps! As I said, these sets have been selling out super quickly, so don’t hesitate if you love this set. Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a marvelous day!

Stamptember with Picket Fence Studios!

Hi there! I am super excited to help introduce the next collaboration in the Stamptember lineup for Simon Says Stamp and Picket Fence Studios: Happy Water! This set has a detailed cluster of adult beverages and some cheeky sentiments that are so much fun!

I began by stamping the adult beverages in the center of a panel of white cardstock using Intens-ified Black ink, then colored it with Copic markers in a green, pink, and white color scheme. I added some Hero Arts Crystal Lacquer over the top to make the drinks shiny and inviting.

Next, I used Picket Fence Studios’s Life Changing Blender Brushes to blend the Brocade Stencil around the edge of the Copic colored panel with Mint and Meadow inks. I trimmed the stenciled panel down and added black and green mats using Concord and 9th cardstock.

For the greeting, I white embossed the super fun sentiment on a strip of black cardstock, then added it to the card front using foam adhesive.

Well, that’s all for my project! You can purchase the Happy Water stamp set or the Happy Water Stamp and die set for a limited time, while supplies last.  The exclusive collaborations are selling out in record time this year, so act fast if you can. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Simon Says Stamptember with Studio Katia and a birthday freebie!!

September is here, and with it comes all things pumpkin, scarves, annnndd…. Stamptember with Simon Says Stamp, where the stamping community celebrates all things stampy and wonderful! This is the 11th Stamptember for Simon Says Stamp, and not only do they design wonderful new products for their own brand during this month, but they also have fabulous collaborations with the other stamp companies that we know and love! Today’s collaboration set comes to you from Studio Katia, for whom I had the pleasure of designing for almost a year before my little guys were born. Studio Katia is known for their beautiful floral designs, perfect for coloring (and right up my alley!), and the Stamptember collaboration sets are just charming! I only had time to make one project, but there are two sets available tonight, and to celebrate Heidi’s birthday…. they’re doing a buy one, get one free! That’s right; if you buy the exclusive Stamptember Studio Katia set, Floral Bunches …

… you will receive the Birthday Floral for free! What a wonderful way to celebrate Heidi’s birthday!

For my project today, I used the free gift with purchase stamp set, Birthday Floral Bunches to create a card that screams September to me: not quite summer, but not quite autumn yet, either. I paired deep mustard and olive with coral and fuchsia to create this pretty project. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping the main floral image three times, first on a panel of white, Copic-friendly cardstock, then again on a Post-It Note and fussy cutting to create a mask, then again on the white cardstock panel with the mask applied. I used Hero Arts Intens-ified Black Ink to stamp the image to completely cover the long end of a panel of A2 cardstock. I used my Copic markers to color the images in this unique combination!

After my image had been colored completely, I used very sharp scissors to fussy cut around the long edge of the cardstock panel. Next, I used Studio Katia Blending Brushes to blend some beautiful gold and orange inks along the straight edge of my white cardstock: Marigold and Clementine, both from Pinkfresh Studio.

After ink blending, I used foam adhesive to pop up the colored and blended panel on an A2 panel of Hero Hues Plum cardstock to help bring out the fuchsia in my floral swag. I heat embossed the greeting from the Birthday Floral Bunches on a rectangle of black cardstock using some rose gold embossing powder. The final touch was to add some black gems for a hint of sparkle!

Well, that’s all for today’s project! Keep your eyes trained on Simon Says Stamp this month; they’ve got loads of fantastic new products revealed throughout the month, and many of them are limited edition…. once they’re gone, they’re gone! Today’s promotion is no exception. The promotion lasts only on 9/3/20, so if you want to receive the gorgeous freebie, purchase your Floral Bunches early-it’s only while supplies last.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Happy birthday, Heidi, and happy Stamptember!