Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

berry stems

Color Drenched Ruby Red Holiday Cards with Simon Says Stamp!

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

Hi friends! I have some more color-drenched projects to share with you today featuring some new and old goodies from Simon Says Stamp. The Simon-branded STAMPtember release from the beginning of the month featured some absolutely beautiful new 3D Embossing Folders. The amount of detail that you can achieve with Simon’s 3D embossing folders is absolutely spectacular, and I love pairing them with shining foil mirror cardstock. The coating on the foil cardstock helps make the details that much crisper and more intense. I created a pair of color-drenched ruby red cards today featuring the new Poinsettia Sprays Embossing Folder and the incredibly versatile Thread Plaid embossing folder (which is currently out of stock, but you can always sign up to be notified when it is back in stock!).

Whenever I am working with a color-drenched color palette, my goal is to add as many different textures to the card front as possible. To accomplish this, I went to my cardstock stash and pulled several different types of red cardstock: Crimson glitter cardstock, Schoolhouse Red cardstock, and luxurious Firestone Red mirror cardstock from Tonic. The combination of these three unique cardstocks layered together creates multiple elements of texture, the contrast of which helps keep the differentiation between the different layers.

For my first project, I die cut a large Nested Domed Arches die cut using the Firestone Red mirror cardstock, then ran it through my die cutting machine using the new Poinsettia Sprays Embossing Folder, embossing some gorgeous pattern and texture into the shining cardstock. I also die cut some Nested Domed Arches Frames from Crimson glitter cardstock and layered a glittery frame that was slightly smaller than the embossed mirror panel. The combination of the two different textures in the same vibrant red is so elegant!

I love the generously-sized sentiments in the new Big Holiday Words stamp and die set, so I decided to use that as my focal point for the card by embossing the “joyful greetings” sentiment onto some Schoolhouse Red cardstock with white embossing powder so that it would pop from the red background beautifully! The botanical embossed background lent itself beautifully to some foliage die cuts, so I accented the sentiment with some Berry Stems dies, cut from more Lipstick Red cardstock and accented with Cherry Pawsitively Dazzling Gems. I popped up the sentiment die cut with some foam adhesive and tucked the berry sprigs behind it, accenting everything with a festive bow tied using Vivant Bordeaux Narrow Ribbon. So festive and intense!

For my second project, I used the same Firestone Red mirror cardstock to emboss the Thread Plaid embossing folder, creating lovely, festive texture with the coated mirror cardstock. I repeated the framed theme by die cutting the A2 Nesting Frames dies from more Crimson glitter cardstock, adhering a slightly smaller frame to the embossed mirror panel.

I wanted to put several of the sentiments from Big Holiday Words to use, so I heat embossed “joy, hope, peace” and “sending love & light” onto more Schoolhouse Red cardstock using white embossing powder and die cut them with the coordinating dies. I arranged them from smallest to largest, creating a Christmas tree shape and accenting the images with Cherry Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for added sparkle. Finally, I created a “tree topper” with a fluffy bow tied with Vivant Warm Red Satin Ribbon. These Vivant ribbons are so luxurious!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! I am obsessed with color drenching these days. There’s something so luxurious and elegant about these monochromatic projects, especially for Christmas. I encourage you to give it a try! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Christmas In July Begins!

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

Hi friends! We are more than halfway to Christmas (yikes, right?) and I thought I would share some “Christmas in July” inspiration on my blog this week! I am always up for an excuse to play with my holiday supplies, and dedicating a full week to Christmas cards during this obnoxiously hot week in the dog days of summer seems like a great way to beat the heat! I don’t use much red when working on non-holiday projects, so it seems only appropriate that red be a featured color on these projects. Sometimes, it’s hard for me to get into a holiday mindset when it’s so seasonally opposite of the holidays, but using the color red with some sparkles always helps! Let’s get started on the details for my project.

I began my project by die cutting the different elements of the Berry Stems die set from different shades of red and green cardstock in the Concord and 9th cardstock collection. I assembled the berry branches using two different shades of red berry just to add some extra variety. I also used Welsh Gold glitter cardstock to die cut some additional pine sprigs.

To adorn for my holiday foliage swag, I die cut the Bell die from some Champagne Matte foil cardstock and assembled the images with liquid adhesive, adding a glittery clapper cut from the same golden glitter cardstock used for the pine branches. I die cut a vivid red bow using the Perfect Bow die. It really is perfect; such a sweet size and the shape is wonderful! I just love a good bow.

Before I assembled my holiday arrangement, I ran a panel of white cardstock through my die cutting machine with the Wistful Leaves embossing folder. This somewhat neutral foliage background is the perfect textured backdrop for this arrangement of holiday foliage. I trimmed the panel down slightly and adhered it to the center of a white A2 card base, creating a thin, solid mat around the edges of my textured panel. I added the bells, foliage, berries, and bow to my card front using both liquid and foam adhesive for varying heights and dimension, then added a greeting from Making Spirits Bright, which I heat embossed using Brutus Monroe red glitter embossing powder. Finally, I added a few sparkling Cherry Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for added shine!

Well, that’s all for the first project for Christmas In July week here on my blog! Red, green, and white with some sparkly gold are classic Christmas, I think, and they’re a perfect way to kick off a week of holiday fun. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Belated Songs of the Season: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

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

Hi friends! I know that I am a couple of days late for this month’s installment of Songs of the Season, but Thanksgiving and all of the family festivities surrounding it made me lose track of the date! This month, I’ve created a project using one of my all-time favorite holiday songs as inspiration: “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” from Meet Me In St. Louis. As someone who grew up 20 minutes outside of St. Louis, this movie has always been dear to my heart. It follows the Smith family right at the turn of the 20th century, when, and I quote, St. Louis was “the center of the entire universe!” for the 1904 World’s Fair. The movie takes place over the course of a full year, but somehow, I feel like it is a Christmas movie. The moment when John Truitt surprises Esther behind the Christmas tree at the ball in his tuxedo and they gracefully waltz out together will never not give me butterflies. Esther’s elegant ruby red velvet dress, large silky hairbows, and touches of sparkle seemed to me to be the height of holiday elegance as a child who loved playing dress up and watching historical movies for the fashion as much as for the story.

You can watch the scene with Judy Garland’s classic version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” above or HERE on YouTube. For my card, I tried to pull in several different textural and thematic elements present in the scene: the luxurious red velvet, the silky coat, the snowflakes, the holiday greenery adorning the house, etc.

Today’s card finally gave me an excuse to use a technique that I’ve had in my head for over a year: shiny red foiled snowflakes on Simon Says Stamp Rich Red Matte Metallic foil cardstock. I used shiny Red Glimmer foil to hot foil the Trinity Frosty Foiled Plates snowflakes onto an A2 panel of Rich Red Matte Metallic foil cardstock. The contrast between the shiny foiled snowflakes and the super smooth, brushed red foil cardstock is just enough to create a subtle texture and pattern on the background panel. I am totally in love with this technique and want to try it on everything!!

Throughout the movie, the young ladies adorn their coiffures with huge bows, as was the style in 1904. To emulate this, I die cut the Giant Gift Bow die from Pawsitively Velvet red cardstock, popping up the top layer with foam adhesive to give extra dimension and create a shadow to allow it to be more visible. I also die cut some foliage from the Berry Stems dies, arranging them behind the bow to create a festive, elegant, and traditional holiday greenery arrangement.

After I had finished arranging the bow and greenery, I heat embossed a greeting from the Graceful Holiday Greetings set onto some heavyweight vellum using white embossing powder. I popped the greeting up with clear foam adhesive, nestling it amongst the holiday foliage. Finally, I added a few sparkling red gems for one last elegant touch of sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project for this month’s Songs of the Season. I can’t believe that Christmas is less than a month away! The Songs of the Season series won’t be going anywhere, though, because I love Christmas no matter what month it is. 🙂

Just a reminder: you can get this absolutely adorable freebie with any $25 purchase of Tim Holtz brand products. Here’s a little tag that I created using Walter:

Isn’t he just the cutest? This set is only available at Simon Says Stamp while supplies last, so don’t wait! If you’re new to Tim Holtz, I can’t recommend the Distress Inks highly enough. They are water reactive and marvelous for watercoloring, so if you’re a colorist like me, you definitely ought to check them out. The color palette is wide-ranging and so, so beautiful.

Well, that’s all for me today. Thanks so much for stopping by, and be sure to check back later this week as we dive in headfirst for DieCember! It’s going to be an amazing month! Have a marvelous day!