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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

simon says stamp

Champagne Snowflakes and White Sparkles!

This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thank you, Simon!

Hi friends! We are officially into October now, and so I have started shifting into holiday mode! I have several autumnal projects to share with you still, but starting now, I have no shame in sharing as much holiday cardmaking as my Christmas-loving heart desires!! Today, I have some icy inspiration using one of the newer embossing folder + die combinations from the Simon Says Stamp release for STAMPtember! Let’s get started with the details.

I love that you can use the Icy Snowflakes Embossing Folder + die on its own to create a beautifully textured background, or you can use the included die to create wonderfully dimensional focal points with the individual snowflakes! And if you haven’t tried embossing folders with metallic cardstock, let this be your sign to try it out. The effects are absolutely stunning! So crisp and detailed.

For my first project, I ran a panel of Champagne Matte Foil through my die cutting machine using the Icy Snowflakes Embossing Folder. The shiny coating on the cardstock really brings the embossed details to life without overpowering the rest of the card or needing to do any additional techniques! I butted the panel up to the left side of my A2 card front, leaving a strip of white on the right side. To add a little more fun texture, I trimmed down a strip of sparkling white glitter cardstock and added it along the edge of the embossed panel.

For the greeting, I die cut the detail layer from the Large Joy die from some more white glitter cardstock and the outline layer from some heavyweight vellum cardstock. I also heat embossed a greeting from the Good Cheer stamps + die set using Platinum Sparkle embossing powder on a strip of vellum. I adhered the Joy die cut and sentiment strip with small dots of liquid adhesive. The final touch was to add a few White Gloss Gems for one last touch of texture!

For my second card, I put the Icy Snowflakes Embossing Folder + die to use! To start, I created a textured white background using plain white cardstock and the full embossing folder, splattering it with some sparkling handmade watercolors. I also die cut a few snowflakes from some more Champagne Matte Foil, then used the Icy Snowflakes Embossing Folder to emboss them and add marvelous texture and dimension to the individual die cuts. I like to nestle them down inside the coordinating negative space (upside down, if your mind works like mine) to make sure that they’re in exactly the right spot.

I adhered a glittery white frame cut using the A2 Thin Frames die set, then arranged the die cut and embossed snowflakes over the top, adhering them with small dots of liquid adhesive. I heat embossed a greeting from Good Cheer stamps + dies onto some more vellum using the Platinum Sparkle embossing powder on a panel of vellum. I popped the greeting up using dimensional adhesive, hiding the adhesive behind the solid areas of the embossed image. Finally, I added a few shimmering sequins for sparkle!

Well, that’s all for these projects! I am so excited to get my holiday craft on for a while instead of whenever I can squeeze it in. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Gold Accents and Muted Colors for Fall Flowers!

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

Hi friends! I always feel a change in the atmosphere as we wind down the month of September. September juxtaposes crisp autumnal mornings with warm summery afternoons, and this combination of temperatures always lets me know that the short and cool days of autumn are just around the corner. I wanted to create another floral project as an homage to those last gasps of summer, but adding in some rich, warm tones to provide a sneak peek at that autumn weather. I really love how this card turned out, and I can’t wait to share all of the details with you! Let’s get started.

I cannot overstate my love for standalone flower dies. It’s so simple to switch up a color combination or cardstock type to completely change the look of your project. I chose to die cut the Etched Layered Daisy die , Etched Meadow Flower & Leaves die. and Alstroemeria Stem die from white Hammermill cardstock and add Copic coloring to the die cut pieces, creating a dusty rose pink daisy and warm orange floral sprigs, paired with gorgeous olive green for the foliage. When working with floral die cuts like this, I always place the die cut pieces where they will end up being adhered so that I can get a better idea of where to place shadows and to which pieces I should add brighter, lighter highlights. This allows me to create more depth and dimension on these layered floral die cuts.

After creating my focal point, I ran a panel of Palm cardstock from Hero Arts through my die cutting machine using the Leaf Tumble embossing folder (which is currently out of stock, but should be restocked soon! Be sure to sign up for email updates so that you don’t miss it when it comes back!). To add some extra interest and dimension to the textured background, I used a blending brush to blend Artichoke Ink from Concord & 9th around the edges and gently swiped the raised areas with the Enchanted Gold pigment ink pad from Altenew. I think the combination of embossing, blending, and gilded leaves makes the perfect backdrop for my colorful flowers!

After arranging my colorful flower die cuts on my richly embossed and colored card front, I adhered them with liquid and foam adhesive. I die cut the Enjoy die from some gold glitter cardstock to complement the gilding on the background, then gold embossed a greeting from the coordinating Enjoy Phrases set, die cutting it with the coordinating die. I adhered both of the sentiment pieces to the card front, tucking them amongst the flowers and foliage, and finally added a few shimmering Topaz Twinkle gems for one last sparkling touch!

Well, that’s all for my project today! I am shifting into autumn- and holiday-mode for the next couple of months (though I can’t guarantee that I won’t throw the odd floral card in here and there!), and I can’t wait! This is definitely my favorite time of year. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Last Gasps of Summer with Lisianthus and an Autumnal Color Palette!

Hi friends! I have had the distinct pleasure of illustrating several stamp sets for Simon Says Stamp, and the Lisianthus stamp set is one of my absolute favorites. These fluffy blooms look like a cross between a rose and a peony, two of the prettiest flowers in existence (in my opinion, anyway!). I’d never seen any in real life, just in photos, and was always enchanted with them. A few weeks ago, my husband very sweetly brought me a bouquet of these gorgeous blooms from a local grower, and my obsession was renewed!! I immediately set out to create an end-of-summer-beginning-of-fall card with a more autumnal color palette, featuring deep magenta and vivid plum as the two main colors. As frequently happens in my craft room, I ended up with enough components to make two separate projects, but I’m not complaining! Let’s get started with the details!

When I started stamping the Lisianthus stamp, I stamped a background pattern on a piece of 5×7 cardstock as well as a separate Lisianthus on a separate piece of cardstock, intending to color all of the images and use them on one card. That ended up looking a bit too busy for my taste, so I created two different cards!

For my first project, I stamped a background pattern on a panel of 5×7 Hammermill cardstock using Intense Black ink from Hero Arts. I then colored the images using Copic markers in a vivacious magenta, lovely jade green, and delicate lavender color palette. I used a very dark maroon and black Copic to color the background, as well, and I just love the subtleties of the maroon and black blending into each other! The warm maroon makes the black a little less stark and, in my opinion, more autumnal! I trimmed the panel down slightly and matted with an ever-so-slightly larger panel of Dragonfruit cardstock from Concord & 9th.

To create a shiny frame around my meticulously-colored blooms, I trimmed down a panel of Tonic Purple Rain cardstock to 5×7, then mounted the colored panel with it’s vivid pink mat in the center. I added a simple, pale celery green die cut Fancy Thinking of You, cut twice and adhered together to create a dimensional die cut greeting. A few coordinating pale celery green gems finished everything off and added some sparkle!

The second project makes use of the standalone Lisianthus that I colored with the intention of adding it to the colored panel, but decided that it would do better as a focal point on a separate project. After I had finished coloring the image and cut it out with the coordinating die, I used the RV99 marker to color around the edge of the die cut. I knew I wanted to have a deep maroon background, and taking away that white edge makes the vivid and bold color palette that much more impactful! I trimmed down an A2 panel of some more Purple Rain cardstock and ran it through my die cutting machine using Simon Says Stamp’s Leaf Tumble embossing folder. If you haven’t tried embossing folders with metallic or mirror cardstock, this is your sign to do it… the results are absolutely exceptional.

I mounted my vivid pink Lisianthus die cut floral spray on the embossed mirror card front using foam adhesive. I then die cut the Fancy Thanks die from some more of that lovely celery green cardstock that complements the jade green eucalyptus leaves so beautifully. Again, I cut the die cut sentiment twice from the pale green cardstock and adhered them together to create a bit of extra height for the greeting to allow it to stand out even more from the bold background. Finally, I added a few more green gems for sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! I am getting these last few gasps of bright, summery colors in now, because fall and winter crafting will be full of muted tones, traditional red and green, metallics, and icy pastels, and I am so ready for it! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Songs of the Season- September 2023: Feliz Navidad!

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

Hi friends! It’s the 25th of the month, which means that today I am sharing inspiration for my Songs of the Season series, where I share a project inspired by the music of the holiday season. Last month, I shared some vivid, majestic snowflake inspiration inspired by the Christmas classic Silent Night (check it out HERE). This month, I was inspired by a song that reminds me so much of my adolescent years. My had mom found a Christmas ornament that played “Feliz Navidad” by José Feliciano, and it became sort of a silly refrain at our house, not just during the holiday season, but throughout the year. Any time we needed a little giggle or to lighten the mood, the “Feliz Navidad” refrain would inevitably spring to mind and we would start playfully singing it, sometimes dancing along. My mom went through phases with her Christmas decor, sometimes using elegant, color-coordinated baubles, carefully collecting ornaments throughout the year for our Christmas tree, but during my teenage years, I remember a brightly colored Christmas tree with lots of electic, vibrant ornaments, so that’s what my project embodies today. Let’s get started with the details!

My project started with the “Feliz Navidad” sentiment from the Elegantly Modern Christmas Hot Foil Plate set. I hot foiled the sentiment using Spellbinders’s Rainbow Confetti Glimmer Hot Foil, then die cut the greeting using the coordinating die (the stamps and dies that match this hot foil plate set are currently out of stock, but be sure to sign up for the email notifications for when they come back!). I used the colors in the foil as the color palette for the rest of my project.

Try as they might, the modern Christmas lights just cannot compare to that incandescent glow of the Christmas lights of my youth! In order to recreate that eclectic, colorful Christmas tree that I remember so vividly from my adolescent years, I die cut a bunch of the Christmas Bulbs dies from Hammermill white cardstock. I could have used alcohol markers to add color and make them super detailed, but I decided to keep things simple so that if someone wanted to mass-produce this project, they would have a good idea of which colors to use. I pulled out Rose, Cherry, Dandelion, Fairway, Cadette, and Amethyst inks from Simon Says Stamp, then used small blending brushes to blend them on the Christmas bulb die cuts. Tip: in order to keep your connectors with the appropriately-sized bulb, use a small piece of washi tape to keep them together before adhering them to the solid backer for your light bulb die cuts.

To create the tree branch for my strand of Christmas lights, I die cut several pine boughs from white cardstock using the Pine Needle Trio die set. To quickly and easily adhere them to my white A2 card front, I used the Micro Dot Adhesive Sheets from Simon Says Stamp. These sheets make adhering super delicate, intricate die cuts like these pine boughs a breeze! I simply sandwiched them between the two sheets of release paper, rubbed my bone folder on the back of the sheet with the adhesive on it, and then pulled the die cuts off, adhering them to my card front with ease! I popped up the hot foiled sentiment die cut with some foam squares (another excellent time saver so that you don’t have to worry about cutting up foam tape!), then arranged my string of lights along the “branch,” popping them up with foam squares as well. After I had adhered all of my holiday lights, I used the residual ink left on my blending brushes to add a colorful glow to each of the bulbs. I love the effect!! Finally, I added a few shimmering iridescent gems for some sparkle!!

Well, that’s all for this month’s edition of Songs of the Season. Prepare yourselves, because starting in October, I’m going into full Christmas mode, and I am so excited about it! I have been working with holiday product since last spring, but now I can really let my Christmas-loving flag fly high! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember with Colorado Craft Company!

Hi friends! I have a sickly little guy tonight (booo stomach bugs… going to be a long night, I fear!) so I’m just popping in quickly to share my project for the Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember collaboration set with my friends over at Colorado Craft Company! This sweet set features a darling illustration from Anita Jeram, full of the charm that you would expect from Anita’s precious illustrations!

You can purchase this stamp set, featuring lots of lovely sentiments perfect for crafty friends or anybody needing encouragement, both on it’s own as a standalone stamp set or as a product suite with the coordinating dies.

I stamped the main image and some extra flowers with black pigment ink onto Arches Cold Press watercolor paper, then covered them with clear embossing powder to make the lines nice and crisp, reminiscent of Anita’s storybook illustrations. I used Daniel Smith watercolors to add some soft pastel colors to the stamped background, creating a soft rainbow over the entirety of the panel, then adding details to the images with more concentrated color. I used a couple of gray OLO markers to add simple color to the mouse. I fussy cut the individual flowers, popping them up on the watercolored panel, then matted the entire panel with a slightly larger piece of black glitter cardstock, matting that with a full size A2 panel of black cardstock. The final touch was a few gems for sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today! If you love these limited edition STAMPtember collaboration sets, don’t hesitate on them, because they frequently sell out very quickly, and once they’re gone, they are not restocked! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy STAMPtember!