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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

blog hop

Hero Arts Winter 2022 Catalog Release Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! Today, the fabulous folks at Hero Arts are officially releasing their new Holiday 2022 Collection! This collection features the sometimes beautiful, sometimes whimsical, sometimes creepy (think zombies!), always creative images that you have come to associate with Hero Arts! AND! I am super excited that Hero Arts has released their own hot foil plates! These new plates are absolutely fantastic, filled with classic images, some of which you can use year round for non-holiday projects. You should have arrived here from Daniel West, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. I have two watercolored projects to share with you today using some of the new goodies, so let’s get started with the details!

My first project features the stunning new Finch Greetings stamp and die bundle. I stamped the image on some Arches cold press watercolor paper using Contour Ink, then watercolored the images using the Hero Arts Daniel Smith watercolor palette. I die cut the images with the coordinating dies included in the bundle.

For a subtle background for my winter birds, I used the oldie-but-goodie Greenery Fancy Die, cut from the center of a white A2 card base. I popped it up with foam tape on a solid white A2 card base to add some subtle texture and interest to the background while still keeping a relatively “nature-esque” theme. I love how the foam tape adds so much extra oomph to the background-even the white-on-white! Easily one of my most favorite techniques.

I popped up the birds with some more foam tape, creating a double layer of foam tape in spots for tons of height. For the greeting, I used one of the beautiful scripty greetings included in the Finch Greetings stamp set, which I heat embossed in gold on some of Hero Arts’s Heavyweight Vellum cardstock. I tucked it behind the watercolored bird die cuts, sneaking dots of adhesive in the areas that would be covered by the solid watercolored die cuts.

I have some more watercoloring for my second card, featuring one of the gorgeous, brand-spanking-new hot foil plates: Ornament Border Hot Foil Plate! I first hot foiled the image (I love how detailed and enormous this image is!) onto some hot press watercolor paper using gold foil. The smooth surface of the hot press watercolor paper makes it perfect canvas for the hot foil!

I taped down the hot foiled image to my watercolor board to try to minimize the warping, then added lots of vivid color in muted shades of teal and green, with a few tiny pops of deep berry red for the berries! The hot foil behaves similarly to embossed images, creating a kind of resist technique. So fun to use with so many mediums!

Once I had finished the watercoloring and allowed the image to dry completely overnight (allowing it to dry naturally while taped down rather than forcing it to dry with a heat tool also minimizes warping!), I added a greeting created using the new Christmas Words Fancy Dies. I die cut the top layer from some Holiday Sparkle Glitter Paper, then cut two more layers from plain white cardstock. I adhered all three layers together to create dimensional die cut greetings. Very simple, but very effective, and so sturdy- they would hold up great in the mail!

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

Hero Arts will give away *THREE* $50 gift cards, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Wednesday, August 31st at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

Your next stop is Ilina Crouse. You can also start at the beginning at the Hero Arts Blog. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Altenew June 2022 Fine & Dandy Collection Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in total prizes)

Hi there! Altenew is hopping along today to introduce their gorgeous new Fine and Dandy collection! You should have arrived here from Linda Westfall, and your next stop is Nenette S. Madero. You can also start back at the beginning at the Altenew Blog in case you get lost! The new Fine and Dandy collection is full of stunning new hot foil plates, versatile dies, and beautiful embossing folders. I have four projects to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

Each of my four projects features a similar color scheme to make them a cohesive set: pink-y metallics, crisp white, and lots of beautiful, muted peony pink. It’s tone-on-tone with a twist!

This first project features the beautiful new Delightful Flowers Hot Foil Plate, which I used with some heavyweight vellum and rose gold hot foil. I love how subtle the foil looks on this vellum cardstock; this would also be a fun technique to use with the “stained glass” coloring technique by coloring with alcohol markers on the back of the hot foiled panel!

To allow the hot foiled floral image to be the star of the show, I used the new Fine Rings Hot Foil Plate set with the Coordinating Dies to create a background for my die cut greeting. I added a simple “hugs” greeting from the Simple Greetings die set, cut from some brand new Brushed Copper Metallic Cardstock! These new metallic cardstocks are absolutely gorgeous and perfect for intricate die cuts. They cut so smoothly. I added a few shiny metallic rose gold gems for some more shine.

My second card features the beautiful Delightful Flowers Hot Foil Plate, this time hot foiled onto some Watercolor Paper, again using rose gold foil. The smooth surface of the watercolor paper makes it ideal for hot foiling this intricate image. I watercolored the flowers and foliage using the Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor Set in shades of coral and flamingo pink, with some olive green foliage.

For the greeting, I die cut the Fancy Thanks die from some more of the new Brushed Copper Metallic Cardstock. I added a circular frame created with the Fine Rings hot foil plate and die combo. I mounted both the foiled frame and the die cut sentiment to the watercolored panel using foam adhesive for extra height and dimension, then added a few iridescent coral gems to add more sparkle.

My next card starts with a white-on-white Garden Trellis cover plate die cut background. It was the perfect neutral-but-lightly-textured background for some Itty Bitty Branches die cuts, cut from some more muted peony and jade green cardstocks.

I paired a solid hot foil plate with the Fine Rings hot foil plates and dies to create this iridescent gold foiled frame. I arranged the solid botanical die cuts on one edge of the circular foiled die cut, then added a white Circled Greetings: Thanks die cut over the top, adhering all of it with foam adhesive to make sure that the focal points popped from the white textured background. The final touch was to add a few iridescent white pearls to bring out the iridescent quality of the foil.

My last card pays one final tribute to the monochromatic-with-a-twist color scheme from all of our projects today! I began by die cutting a partial Floral Lace die from some plain white cardstock. I also die cut a new Labels and Tags 1 die cut from some heavyweight vellum.

I arranged the vellum tag on an A2 peony pink cardstock base to determine placement, then before adhering the vellum, I adhered the lacy white die cut over the top of the vellum die cut. I flipped over the two die cuts (now adhered together to create one die cut) and hid small dots of adhesive on the back, essentially hiding the adhesive behind the solid die cut to prevent it from marring my translucent vellum die cut. I added a Circled Hugs greeting, cut from once some Brushed Rose Metallic Cardstock and once from white cardstock, then adhered together to give it a little extra height. Finally, I added one more touch of white and shine with some iridescent white pearls.

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 06/27/2022 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 06/29/2022.

Your next stop is Nenette S. Madero. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Altenew May 2022 Dreams Come True Collection Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in total prizes)

Hi there! Welcome to the Altenew Dreams Come True Release Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Rosie Neustaedter, and your next stop is Amy Hill. You can also start back at the beginning at the Altenew Blog. We have some fun new products to share with you today from the Dreams Come True Release, and I’ve got a springy card to share using some of the beautiful new stamps, so let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping the layers for the new Wispy Joy stamps using my one of favorite pink ink groupings from Altenew: Rose Petal. I love the vivid shades of mauve in this quartet! I also used the lighter inks from the Nature’s Wonders ink quartet for the foliage. The somewhat muted greens in this group are a great foil for the intense pinks used on the flowers. I stamped the flower centers using the darkest green from the Nature’s Wonders ink set, adding some white gel pen from the Gel Pen set to the stamens to help them pop a bit.

For the greeting, I used the new Educators Rule stamp set. I wanted that large and beautiful scripty “teacher” to be the star of my card, so I die cut a Diamond Frame Cover Die from some white cardstock and arranged the die cut flowers approximately where I wanted them. I used my Misti to get perfect placement of the large “teacher” stamp tucked into the corner of the diamond and stamped with Mangrove Root ink to make a deep, contrasting impression on the card front.

I adhered the flowers clustered around the stamped sentiment using foam adhesive, then added a sentiment strip from Educators Rule, stamped on a strip of white cardstock using Mangrove Root ink and popped up using foam tape. Finally, I added a few pink pearls to the card front to tie everything together. I think this will be perfect to tuck into the bag for my big kids’ teacher gift in a few weeks!

Well, that’s all for my projec 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 05/10/2022 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 05/12/2022.

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

And Back Again Release Blog Hop-Day 2!

Hello and welcome to Day 2 of the Simon Says Stamp And Back Again blog hop! I’m so excited to be a part of this month’s hop, particularly because I was lucky enough to illustrate two of the stamp sets in the release that we’re celebrating in today’s hop- To the Moon (released in December 2021) And Back Again (released January 2022)! You should have arrived here from Dilay Nacar, and your next stop is Jennifer Kotas. You can also start back at the beginning at the Simon Says Stamp blog in case you get lost! I have two lovely lavender projects to share with you today using some of the new goodies, so let’s get started with the details!

The new Pantone Color of the Year for 2022 is a lovely shade of purple called Very Peri. I used that color as my inspiration for both projects today.

My first project uses some of the fabulous stencils to create a mini slimline (3.5″x6″) card. I began by placing one of the Heart Stencil Masks offset on a white mini-slimline card base. I blended some Hydrangea ink using a blending brush, concentrating the color around the edges and leaving the center of the heart lighter. While the solid heart stencil was still taped in place on my card base, I centered the detailed Layering Heart Mandala Stencil over the blended heart, then blended some more Hydrangea ink to add a tone-on-tone pattern to the stenciled heart. Lifting the double stencil away was magical!!

For the greeting, I combined the new Birthday die and Sassy Birthday Sentiment Strips. I die cut the detailed layer of the Birthday die three times from some coordinating lavender cardstock, then adhered them together using liquid adhesive to create a dimensional die cut. I die cut the sentiment halo from some vellum, then adhered the dimensional die cut with some more liquid adhesive. I adhered both the sentiment strips and the word die cut using foam adhesive for lots of dimension.

To create a visual cascade down the front of my card, I adhered some leftover glittery heart die cuts and some lavender gems. I love the added texture and sparkle this adds to the card front!

My second project features the Beautiful Bouquet stamp set that I illustrated that was released for the To The Moon release in December, 2021. I previously created some watercolored projects (you can see them both here), so I thought it would be fun to pull out my Copic markers and do some no-line coloring. I began by stamping the bulk of the Beautiful Bouquet image on a full-size white slimline card base using Hero Arts Contour Ink.

I colored the images with my Copic markers, keeping the color palette nice and cool, and allowing that huge anemone and hydrangea to be the focus of my card front. I used Copic shades BV04, B66, BV02, and BV01 with touches of T7 for the anemone, with B28, FB2, and B12 for the hydrangea. Once I had finished coloring, I masked around the edges of the slimline card front using low-tack washi tape, lining up the edge of the card base with the edge of th washi tape to create a nice thick border. I used a blending brush to lightly blend some Blue Jay ink around the edge, tapering off as it got closer to the center of the card and around the colored image. I peeled the masking tape away to reveal a crisp white frame highlighting my Copic colored image!

I didn’t want to cover up my meticulous Copic coloring with a giant sentiment, so I heat embossed the greeting from the new Friend Greetings on some heavyweight vellum cardstock using white embossing powder. I used a vellum adhesive tape runner to add small dots of adhesive to the back of the embossed greeting and adhere it to the card front. Finally, I added a delicate silver thread bow, tucked beneath the sentiment panel and trailing down the card front, just to add a bit of extra texture and some shine to the card front.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Now, I have some fun promo codes and giveaway information to share with you!

Add the code GNOMIE to your shopping cart receive the cute 3×4 Love Gnome stamp set FREE with purchase! This promotion will expire 1/23 at 11:59 pm EST.

Simon Says Stamp is giving away one $25 gift certificate to each stop on the hop. To enter, simply leave a comment on each hop stop. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win!

Your next stop on the hop is Jennifer Kotas. Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy hopping!

Tonic Studios August Release: Christmas Rose- Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! I’m so excited to be a part of Tonic’s Christmas Rose release blog hop! This stamp set was illustrated by my talented friend Maria Willis, and I’m so honored that she asked me to be a part of the hop! You should have arrived here from Maria’s blog, and your next stop is Jen Kray. I love Tonic’s Stamp Club releases, because these stamp+die sets are always such a great value, and you get so many unique extras. Here’s a peek at the Christmas Rose kit:

These kits are exclusive to Tonic, and aren’t really a club, just a small monthly release. The Christmas Rose kit features some gorgeous floral images, as well as a variety of sentiments in a beautiful font, and some fun snowy/frosty images that you can add to your projects! I was in the mood to just sit and watercolor, so I used my tie-dye technique to create this mini-slimline card. Let’s get started with the details!

My tie-dye technique is a fun one that adds a variety of color and interest to watercolored images. I began by heat embossing the main floral images on some Arches Cold Press watercolor paper, one offset on a mini-slimline (3.5″x6″) and then some more on another panel of watercolor paper using white pearl embossing powder. Once I’d finished embossing, I laid down quite a lot of clean water on the embossed panels, then dropped in diluted Daniel Smith paints in shades of blue, green, and a pretty mauve-y rose. I swirled the colors around and pulled them out on the card base, allowing them to fade subtly, but still adding some interest to the background!

Once my tie dye layer was dried, I went back in with more concentrated color using the same mauve watercolor and added shadows and highlights to the flower images. I also mixed the green and blue shades together to create a lovely jungle green for the foliage. The use of the diluted tie-dyed layer first helps to add some different layers of color to the elements of the flower, instead of them being entirely pink or entirely green. After I’d finished watercoloring all of the images, I used the dies included in the Christmas Rose to die cut the rose bouquet and individual flowers.

I layered the die cuts on the mini-slimline card base using some foam adhesive for lots of dimension. For the greeting, I used some of the sentiment dies included in the Christmas Rose die set, with the base cut from vellum and the detail layer cut from Seafoam Mirror Cardstock from Tonic. Finally, I added a few minty green pearls to help fill in the gaps and create a visual cascade down the front.

Well, that’s all for my projec today! To celebrate this new release, Tonic has a giveaway for you!

One lucky winner will win a £50/$50 Giftcard to Tonic Studios and the Christmas Rose bundle! To enter, comment on every blog in the hop by 11:59pm PST on September 1, 2021/ 7:59am GST on September 2, 2021. Winner will be announced on September 3rd, 2021 on IG and FB so make sure you’re following all of the Tonic Studios social media accounts!

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