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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

Clean up, clean up….

Hi there!

Just popping in with a quick post to say that I have been doing some cleaning in my craft room. I recently purchased some new storage units from IKEA, and for my Mother’s Day gift, my sweet husband put them together for me and helped me totally rearrange my office! As a result, I realized how very many craft supplies I have that don’t get nearly enough love from me and thus began setting items aside to sell. I had so many that I decided to do some fun mystery packages chock full of brand new or very gently used stamps and dies.

I have priced these bundles to sell…. all of the items included are at least 50% off retail. These would be marvelous for a stamper who is just starting out or is looking for a great deal! Several of the companies included in my packages very rarely, if ever, have sales, so getting these items at 50% off is an absolute steal and a great value.

You can view all of the information on how to purchase here on my For Sale page.

Thanks so much for visiting, and happy shopping! 🙂

Spellbinders May 2018 Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Good morning! I am excited to be a part of the Spellbinders May Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Keeway’s blog.  This month features several new designs from Becca Feeken and Debi Adams. I was given the opportunity to play with some adorable products from Debi Adams, and I have two completely different projects for you, so let’s get started!

For my first project, I wanted to use that absolutely darling little gift box to create some gift packaging for my kiddos’ preschool teachers. I started by die cutting the gift box pieces twice from heavy weight vellum, then used Scor-Tape to adhere the flaps together. These would be adorable for shower or wedding favors, in addition to just gift packaging!

I added a few watercolored flowers from Simon Says Stamp that I had watercolored with my Daniel Smith watercolors. I adhered those with Scor-Tape as well. I wrapped some pink twine around the box a few times, then added a tag that I’d created by stamping a greeting from an Altenew set onto a strip of pale pink card stock, then flagging then ends and punching a hole in the opposite end. Perfect size for a gift card an a Ghirardelli chocolate! 🙂

For my second project, I pulled a complete 180* and played with the adorable Shake It Up stamp and die combo. I started by stamping a random pattern using Soft Granite ink on white card stock base, adding in a few random dots with my Micron .01 pen. (I think they look like little flecks of salt and pepper! Ha!) I also stamped and die cut a little salt and pepper set using Copic friendly black ink. 
After I had colored the salt and pepper shakers, (or as my little ones would say, Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper…. they went through a Blue’s Clues phase!) I added some more little black flecks to each container. I fussy cut the greeting, then popped everything up using dimensional foam adhesive. The final touch was to add a few jewels to add some sparkle! (You know I can’t have a card without some sparkle, right?!)

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Now, for some giveaway information! Spellbinders is offering a $50 shopping spree on their blog; be sure to leave a comment there before May 20 at 11:59 pm! And the folks at Spellbinders have generously provided a $25 shopping spree for my own blog subscribers! All you have to do to be eligible to win is 1) be a blog subscriber and 2) comment on this post to let me know if you are a new or old subscriber! Leave your comment by Sunday, May 20 at 11:59 PM CST. I will choose a winner next Monday, May 21 and announce it here on the blog! (The winner will be  responsible for shipping costs, duties and taxes.)

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

Spellbinders

Becca Feeken

Yana Smakula

Melissa Phillips

Elena Salo

Hussena Calcuttawala

Olga Direktorenko

Jacquie Dean

Nichol Spohr

Enza Gudor

Zsoka Marko

Jennifer Gallacher

Keeway Tsao

Emily Midgett <— you are here!


Hero Arts 2018 Summer Catalog Blog Hop!

Good morning! Today is an exciting event in the Hero Arts family… we are officially debuting the new 2018 Summer Catalog with a fantastic Blog Hop featuring the Creative Team and some utterly fantastical guests! You should have arrived here from Clare’s blog and your next stop is Ilina’s blog. You can find the full hop list here. We have some amazing inspiration for you today using new products that can be found in this beautiful catalog (which you can peruse here in PDF form), as well as two $50 Hero Arts shopping sprees up for grabs!

For my first project, I wanted to use the darling new Cowboy Life stamp and frame cuts set. When I first met my husband, he fancied himself a cowboy…. boots, belt buckle, tight cowboy jeans, multiple hats, weird caped duster thing… (Did I mention we live in Illinois? Not exactly cowboy territory. Anyway.) The new Cowboy Life and Cowboy Adventure sets called to me, which I found interesting since these sets are not my usual style! I’m blaming my 19 year old self, the one who fell in love with a cowboy. 😉 I particularly liked the Cowboy Life set, because it includes some sweet little floral bouquets…. Flowers=instant Emily magnet.

I started by black heat embossing the cow skull and some flowers onto Arches watercolor paper using black embossing powder, then used the Hero Arts Liquid Watercolors to do some soft watercoloring. (Can you believe how soft and subtle you can make those super pigmented colors?? Amazing.) I die cut all of the pieces using the coordinating Frame Cuts and black embossed a greeting from the Cowboy Life stamp set onto a flagged strip of card stock. For the card base, I did some soft tone-on-tone blending using the new Scrollwork Stencil and Soft Purple ink onto some Floral Mix Layering Papers. I popped up all of the components with dimensional adhesive.

For my second project today, you knew I wouldn’t be able to resist the absolutely stunning new Peonies stamp set. It’s unbelievably beautiful… and so big. Gah. I love it. One of my favorite things about watercoloring flowers is that you can get so many different looks with them, depending on which mediums and colors you decide to use. Here, I’ve paired white heat embossing with mauve watercoloring, but I created another project (which I’ll share soon! ;)) using no line pencil coloring and it looks totally different.

I started by white heat embossing one of the new Peonies stamps in the corner of an A2 panel of Arches card stock. I then taped it down to a cutting board, because I knew that I wanted to do a heavy watercolor wash around my peony, and I wanted the panel to stay nice and flat. I watercolored the peony using a combination of Purple, Moss, Black, Dandelion, and Strawberry Liquid Watercolors. I began by watercoloring the peony using only the Strawberry shade, then adding layers of Purple and a Strawberry/Purple/Black mixture to get lots of depth and dimension. I love that you can see undertones of the bright Strawberry but still have the cool, mauve-y overall look from the additions of the Purple and Black watercolors.

After I’d finished coloring the peony, I added some more washi tape to the top so that I could add my black watercolor wash around the edges. I did a “wet-on-wet” technique, first wetting the card stock, then dropped the color in and letting it bloom organically. I did go back in and manipulate the color a bit to cover bare spots, as well as dissipate out into a nice fade. The final step was to add the greeting from the Love Stamp and Cut.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! We have a stellar lineup of inspiration for you today. Here’s the full hop list:

The Hero Arts Blog
Amy Tsuruta
Clare Prezzia
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Janette Kausen
Jessica Frost-Ballas
May Sukyong Park
Michelle Short
Yana Smakula
Kathy Racoosin
Kelly Latevola
Lydia Fiedler
Wanda Guess
Cynde Whitlow
Ericka Strange
Jeanne Jachna
Juhi Khanna
Karen Bull
Kim Hamilton
Lisa Stein
Meghan Peterson
Michelle Yuen
Libby Hickson
Jennifer McGuire

Now, for the GIVEAWAY. Hero Arts is giving away two $50 shopping sprees to the Hero Arts Store! All you have to do to be entered win is leave comments on the blog hop stops. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win! You have until 11:59 P.M. PST on Sunday, May 20 to leave your comments. The winners will be chosen the following day! Thanks for dropping by, and have a marvelous day!



Long Overdue Thanks.

Good morning!

Confession. I am shockingly awful at sending out cards. Like, I am terrible at it, regardless of the occasion or recipient. You can be assured that if you’re my friend and I’m intending to send you a birthday card, it will invariably be 2-3 weeks… months… late. It’s the thought that counts, right? I hope… Anyway, I started this project weeks ago after attending the Daily Marker 30 Day Road Trip in St. Louis with the absolutely fabulous Kathy Racoosin. Our sponsor for the day was Marcella Hawley of Power Poppy Stamps… and boy, oh boy, does that sweet lady have some raw, unbridled talent, not to mention the fact that she’s just one of the nicest people I’ve had the pleasure to meet. I (finally) finished this card last week, and I have grand intentions of sending it to her… but it might be so long before she receives it that she forgets who I am haha! I used one of her beautiful stamp sets to create this bouquet: Peony Muse.

I started by stamping the Peony Muse stamps using white pigment ink on very pale blue card stock (this is Bazzill Icy Mint) in a pretty bouquet in the center of my card front. I then used my Polychromos pencils to add color.

I am always so inspired by the color combinations and beautiful floral arrangements in the Rifle Paper Co prints (I know I’ve talked about this before!), and one of their prints has bright, cobalt blue leaves. I am a big fan of unusually colored foliage, so I thought I would try something new for this project.

I’m not going to lie, the coloring on this card took me quite a few hours… over the course of several different days. Not something I wanted to mess up or cover up, so I opted to use a simple, dimensional die cut “thanks” using one of the beautiful sentiment dies from Simon Says Stamp cut from Ellen Hutson’s Slate Gray card stock.

Power Poppy has a new release, with some absolutely GORGEOUS new florals in it… I am salivating. Can’t wait to color up some new peonies!! Keep your fingers crossed that I will remember to send this card to Marcella for helping to host such a wonderful event…. so grateful for being able to attend! Hope you have a marvelous day!


More Essentials By Ellen May 2018 Release!

Good morning! I have another post using some goodies from the new May 2018 Essentials By Ellen release! I’ve paired the new Block Alphabet dies with one of my favorite older Essentials By Ellen sets: Bokeh Dots. I love creating bokeh backgrounds with bold greetings!

To create my background, I started by creating a “smooshed” background using Distress Oxide inks. I started by tapping Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry, and Faded Jeans inks onto a craft mat, then spritzed them with water and placed my A2 watercolor card front face down on the ink and “smooshed” it around a little. I let the first layer dry, added some more ink to the craft mat and spritzed it with water, and laid the watercolor paper face down again. The properties of the Oxide inks allow the inks to layer over the top of each other instead of sinking down into the layers beneath. So cool! I then added the Bokeh dots with both white pigment and silver pigment inks.

I die cut the “You got this” sentiment using the new Essentials By Ellen Block Alphabet dies and some silver glitter paper. Using my T-square, I adhered my greeting to the card front and added a few Pansy jewels to add some more sparkle. The final step was to trim down the bokeh panel and add some silver washi tape along the edges of the card base to tie in the silver glitter die cuts.

Well, that’s all for me today! I hope you’ve enjoyed the new release from Ellen Hutson…. SO many fun new products!