Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

Altenew Artist Watercolors

Altenew: A Year In Review: Crafters’ Edition Blog Hop #2 + Giveaway 

Hi there! Today, Altenew is continuing the fun with Day 2 of their Year In Review: Crafters’ Edition Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Altenew Card Blog, and your next stop is Penny Pynnonen. When Altenew asked me to select my four favorite projects from 2022, I certainly had a difficult time coming up with only four. Being part of the design team means that I get to work with utterly marvelous products every single month, and the giant flowers and innovative products that Altenew produces make working with them seem more like fun than actual work!

My four favorite projects feature my favorite way to craft: with lots of flowers, color, and coloring with my favorite mediums!

Watercolored Christmas Rose Hot Foil Card

This first card is one of my favorite holiday cards from this year, and it uses the Wild Rose Hot Foil Plate and Dies and the Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor set. I love the softness of the watercoloring in the background paired with the bold hot foil and glittery branches.You can read all of the details on how I created this project HERE.

Hot Foiled Alcohol Marker Card

This next card features one of my biggest obsessions for 2022: hot foil. Altenew has some truly gorgeous hot foil plates, not to mention a line of beautiful matte metallic foil rolls, and combining hot foil with alcohol markers is one of my most favorite new techniques! I used the Flowery Bouquet Hot Foil Plate with alcohol markers to create this incredibly vibrant card. This card features another of my favorite techniques that can be seen frequently on my cards: accenting a floral image with multiple sizes of die cut frames. The frames help to draw the eye to the focal point, while the varying widths of the frames lend an air of elegance and class (at least I think so!). You can read all of the details on this card HERE.

Ethereal Watercolored Card

My third card features more watercoloring using the Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor and the Craft Your Life Project Kit: Always Sunshine. I adore the graceful draping of the flowers on this card, as well as the ethereal watercolor wash in the background. The lilac and bluebell watercoloring with the rose gold embossing just makes me swoon! You can read more details about this card (and another coordinating project!) HERE.

Preppy Watercolored Embossed Peony

My final card features another technique that I grew to really love over the last year: watercolor on 3D embossed images! This project uses the Peony Sunshine 3D Embossing Folder, paired with the Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor. (Can you tell that I really love those watercolors? They are a fantastic price point and give amazing results!) The combination of the detailed watercoloring with the incredible depth and texture of the 3D embossed image create such a unique, tactile look. It reminds me of stucco or Italian sculpture. You can read all of the details on this particular project HERE.

This card gets an honorable mention because… who doesn’t love utterly massive, violently pink peonies and shiny gold? I paired the Gracious Peonies stamp set with the Sunshine Valley Garden Artist Markers to create this bold, vibrant card. You can read all about it HERE on the Altenew Blog!

Well, that’s all for this walk down memory lane! I can’t believe another year has gone by. I guess time flies when you are working with some of the most beautiful flower stamps that you can find anywhere! (Also, four energetic and kinda nutty kids, so there’s that, haha!) Now for some fun giveaway information:

Over $500 in total prizes! Altenew is giving away a $100 gift card to 1 lucky winner, 3 $50 gift cards, and 27 $10 gift cards. Winners will be chosen from both blog hop #1 and blog hop #2. Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog HERE by 12/28/2022 for a chance to win. 

(Feel free to share your favorite projects using #Altenew and #AltenewBest2022 when you share blog hop projects on social media. Don’t forget to tag Altenew!)

Wait, there’s MORE!

We would also LOVE to see YOUR favorite handmade cards, layouts, home decor, etc. featuring Altenew products! Feel free to share them on social media or on your blog using the hashtag #AltenewBest2022. You may also add a link by clicking the blue button below.

FOUR lucky crafters will each win a $15 gift certificate to our store! Winners will be announced on the Altenew Winners Page on 12/30/2022. We are looking forward to seeing your beautiful creations!

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

Altenew July 2022 Marvelous Monthly Series Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in total prizes)

Hi there! Altenew is releasing a slew of stunning new products today for the July Marvelous Monthly release! You should have arrived here from Soraya Maes, and your next stop is Karen Brown. You can always start back at the beginning at the Altenew Blog in case you get lost. I created a pair of cool lilac and lavender cards with beautiful rose gold metallic accents using the new Build A Garden: Tulip and Friends and the new Craft Your Life Project Kit Always Sunshine. Let’s get started with the details!

For both projects, I heat embossed the images onto Altenew Watercolor Paper using Golden Peach embossing powder. The lovely, subtle metallic embossing powder is a beautiful complement to the shades of cool lilac, lavender, and hydrangea blue watercoloring, which I painted using the Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor Set.

My first project features the jaw-dropping new Craft Your Life Project Kit: Always Sunshine. I have been having a lot of fun trying to mix and match the incredibly vivid, vibrant colors in the Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor Set to create more muted, but equally intense, color palettes. For this project, I created a cool lilac, raspberry, and hydrangea blue color palette by adding touches of diluted black to my color palettes. This slightly tones down the vibrancy of the colors while still allowing them to be beautifully intense. I taped an A2 panel down to my watercoloring board, then spritzed it with a light mist of clean water and dropped the colors that I’d mixed up on my palette onto the wet watercolor paper to create this beautiful background. I kept dropping and swirling the colors until I was satisfied with the background. I allowed the piece to air dry while still taped to the board to minimize warping. After it was dry, I splattered some rose gold metallic watercolors in the background to further continue the artistic feel of the background and tie into the rose gold heat embossing.

I had already heat embossed the image from Craft Your Life Project Kit: Always Sunshine onto the corner of an A2 watercolor paper card front so that I knew exactly where to place it. The large size of the main image allows you to maneuver it at different angles to create tons of different looks. I also heat embossed another little sprig of greenery in the leftover space of the watercolor panel so that I could have some ivy dripping down behind the main bouquet. I watercolored the heat embossed and die cut images using the same color palette that was used for the background.

I adhered the finished watercolored images to the watercolored card front using foam adhesive, tucking the extra sprig of greenery behind the main floral arrangement using liquid adhesive. I also die cut a frame from some Brushed Rose Metallic Cardstock using the Fine Frames die set. I added a rose gold embossed greeting from the kit, matting the sentiment strip with some more metallic rose gold cardstock. The colors and layout of this card with the vibrant florals just dripping down the front make this card seem so dramatic to me!

My second project features the new Build A Garden: Tulip and Friends stamps. This set comes with coordinating layered stencils, but I was having one of those days where the watercolors were working exactly how I wanted them to work, so I just went with it. I heat embossed the image twice on my A2 panel of watercolor cardstock, again using rose gold embossing powder. I love how subtle this embossing powder is with the bright blues and greens and purples of the finished card. Just enough pink to warm the cool color palette up a little!

Once I had heat embossed the images, I used some 1″ wide washi tape to mask off around the edges of the entire card front, covering some of the embossed images. I used that washi tape to create a frame around the edge of my card and created a Monet-inspired background of blue, purple, and a couple of touches of lime green.

I removed the washi tape around the edges after the center section had dried completely, then watercolored the hydrangeas and greenery, leaving the tulips for last. I wanted the tulips to be very light in color, and it helps me to keep perspective on how many shadows and how much pigment I’m adding to the image if the areas surrounding it are darker and more vibrant. I added very diluted mixture of pink, purple, and black to just the areas of the tulip that were near the base and curled over in the shadows, smoothing the edges and pulling them out with lots of water to keep some of the white card base shining through. I finished the project off with a few sentiment strips, heat embossed in rose gold on some strips of white cardstock, and popped up using foam adhesive.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! I’m marginally obsessed with this color palette and want to watercolor everything in these shades. Now for some fun giveaway information!

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $25 gift certificate to 8 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 07/18/2022 for a chance to win.

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

Altenew NEW Sweet Moments Collection Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in total prizes) ($300 in total prizes)

Hi there! Today, Altenew is releasing a brand new collection of stamps, dies, and some fabulous new hot plates and embossing folders, and we are celebrating with a blog hop! You should have arrived here from Dana Joy, and your next stop is Mindy Eggen. You can also always start back at the Altenew Blog in case you get lost! I have two projects featuring some of the new goodies today, so let’s get started with the details!

(affiliate links used where possible)

My first project features one of my most favorite new techniques: watercolor on 3D embossing folders, and the Playful Blooms 3D Embossing Folder is absolutely a joy to paint. These massive blooms are so detailed, and when you add the additional dimension of the watercoloring, it’s just a knockout! I began by running an A2 panel of Arches Cold Press watercolor paper through my machine using the Playful Blooms 3D Embossing Folder. The Arches paper is super thick, so you get almost a reverse letterpress effect, and it holds up beautifully to the intense embossing.

I used the Altenew Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor to watercolor the roses and alstroemeria images in a sunny yellow and orange palette. I always love the finished result of yellow flowers, but I seem to only gravitate towards pinks and purples. The trick with watercoloring these embossed images is to treat it like no-line watercoloring: work in sections to keep the wet areas separate to prevent them bleeding into one another. I added some metallic gold splatters and details to the finished panel using gold paint from the Metallic Watercolor Pan set.

Once all of my watercoloring had been completed I turned my attention to the sentiment. I used gold embossing powder to heat emboss the greeting from the new Inside and Out: Thanks on a piece of vellum and a strip of coordinating coral cardstock. I added the greeting on the embossed card front using some Instant Dimension Foam Tape and finished everything off with some shiny gold pearls!

My second project is a simple one, but I think the new All Kinds of Amazing hot foil plate doesn’t need much help to make a stunning card. I used my Gemini Jr Hot Foil System to add super shiny gold foil to this kelly green cardstock. The contrast of the shiny gold foil with the bright green cardstock is so pretty, and the embossing plate embossed beautifully on this cardstock.

I trimmed the foiled panel down a bit to allow a shiny gold foil mat around the edge. I adhered the green foiled panel to the A2 sized gold foil card front using some more Instant Dimension Foam Tape. A simple card, but I think that the shiny gold foil is super effective on it’s own! A little foam tape, et voilà!

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

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $25 gift certificate to 8 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 12/09/2021 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 10 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 12/11/2021.

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

Altenew Build-A-Flower: Tree Peony Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hi there! June 1 means it’s time for a new Build-A-Flower from Altenew! This month, we are focusing on one of my most favorite flowers-the Tree Peony! You should have arrived here from the Altenew Card Blog, and your next stop is Sandhya Iyer. Build-A-Flower: Tree Peony features a large, beautiful bloom, some foliage, and some dainty sprigs to help you round out your bouquet!

I love that Altenew gives you the option to use the layered stamps or take some time to do some coloring. You can always subscribe to the Build A Flower series to receive the sets each month at a discounted rate!

Of course, I couldn’t resist watercoloring the beautiful outline images in the Build A Flower: Tree Peony set, so I heat embossed the main peony, some foliage, and a bunch of the floral sprigs onto some Watercolor Paper using Golden Peach embossing powder, then went to town watercoloring! I used the Altenew Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor set. Such a great quality, and the colors are gorgeous. If you’re looking to dive into watercoloring, this is an amazing set to work with!

I also taped down an A2 panel of the Watercolor Paper to my watercoloring board, then added some very diluted watercolor to the background in the same shades that I used on the flowers themselves, but in extremely pale versions. I wanted some very subtle color for the background. After it had dried, I splattered some rose gold metallic watercolor (from the Metallic Watercolor Pan set) on both the background and the watercolored flowers to add a bit of an artsy look to it, while also tying in to the rosy metallic embossing powder used for the flowers.

I die cut a deep maroon Fine Frames: Diamond and adhered it to the center of the watercolored background panel. I arranged the watercolored Build A Flower: Tree Peony die cuts in a pretty swag, then adhered them with both liquid and Instant Dimension foam adhesive for lots of dimension and texture. I heat embossed two sentiment strips from the Build A Flower: Tree Peony on some more maroon cardstock and popped them up on the card front. The final touch was to add a few metallic gems.

As always, Altenew is hosting some great giveaways to celebrate this release:

$200 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $20 gift certificate to 5 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 06/07/2021 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 7 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 06/09/2021.

Your next stop is Sandhya Iyer. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Altenew 8”x11” Majestic Bouquet Stamp Set Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hi there! Today, Altenew is releasing the most gigantic stamp set I’ve ever seen…. Majestic Bouquet! It’s 8″x11″, with absolutely huge blooms and foliage, with stamps to layer as well as the simple outline stamps so that you can use all kinds of fun ink combinations or do some coloring!! You should have arrived here from Linda Westfall, and your next stop is Sandhya Iyer. You can also start back at the Altenew Card Blog to see the entire hop list.

Make a huge statement with this 8″ x 11″ stamp set! This is our first-ever stamp set in our largest stamp size category. We hope it inspires you to create projects that are bigger, bolder, and drop-dead gorgeous!The set features two beautiful layering flowers illustrated in a loosely painted style, plus a collection of leaves. The matching flowers and leaves from the Majestic Bloom 3D Embossing Folder perfectly coordinate in size and will allow you to take your gorgeous flower to the next level by giving it extra dimension! This is a 8″ x 11″ clear stamp set containing 41 stamps made in the USA from high-quality photopolymer.

I can only imagine the incredible color combinations that a person could do with these gorgeous layering stamps…. what an amazing design, right? But you all know me… watercoloring is my jam, and I couldn’t wait to watercolor these beautiful flowers. I had a coral/pink/hunter green/lime/gold color combo in my head, and I couldn’t wait to translate that into a card. The sheer size of these beautiful blooms from Majestic Bouquet were just begging to be created into a slimline card. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by heat embossing three of the blooms and several leaves onto some Altenew Watercolor paper using gold embossing powder. The details of this beautiful stamp set look incredible heat embossed-wow! I then used the Altenew Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor set and Altenew’s Artist’s Brushes to add lots of vibrant color to the images, using a bit looser watercoloring style than I normally use. The incredible detail on these stamps means that I don’t need to work so hard! I die cut the finished images using the coordinating dies.

Next, I trimmed down a hunter green card base to 3.5″x8.5″. I used a blending tool to blend some Graphite ink around the edge of the hunter green card base to give it a bit of dimension and even more intense color. The dark gray just adds a hint of shadow and intensity to this already-color saturated card base. I then used the Altenew Metallic Watercolors to add two different colors of metallic splatters to the background. I love the extra shine and texture that this adds to the blended, vibrant card front!

I arranged the flowers cascading down my slimline card front, then adhered them using a combination of liquid and Instant Dimension Foam Adhesive. I also added a greeting from Majestic Bouquet, heat embossed in gold on a thin strip of hunter green cardstock, then added with some more dimensional adhesive. Finally, I added a few shiny gold pearls for a bit of extra texture and to help draw the eye down the card front.

Well, that’s all for my project today! Of course, Altenew is hosting some marvelous giveaways to help celebrate the release of Majestic Bouquet:

$200 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $20 gift certificate to 5 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 5/16/2021 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 7 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 5/19/2021.

Your next stop is Sandhya Iyer. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!