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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

copic coloring

Honey Bee Stamps Let’s Celebrate Release!

Hi friends! Earlier this week, Honey Bee Stamps released their latest collection: Let’s Celebrate. It’s chock full of fantastic new stamps, dies, and stencils all with a fabulous birthday theme! I have three cards to share with you today using several of these new products, so let’s get started with all of the details!

Making card sets is basically my new favorite thing. I have always loved being “matchy-matchy” as my BFF used to say, to make everything in my outfits coordinate as perfectly as possible, and that is now extending to my cards, ha! This pair of celebratory cards uses images from the new Fancy Frosting stamps and coordinating Honey Cuts in a pretty, super feminine lilac and mint color scheme with a pretty Farmhouse Check background using Thistle ink from Simon Says Stamp.

I stamped the cake, stand, and florals from Fancy Frosting stamps using the new Intense Black ink released by Honey Bee Stamps, perfect for Copic coloring! I colored the images in shades of lilac, deep magenta, and mint using my Copic markers.

I trimmed down a Farmhouse Check background panel to slightly smaller than a mini-slimline and adhered it to a minty card base using foam adhesive. I added the cake die cuts using more foam adhesive, then stamped a greeting using the banner from Fancy Frosting and sentiments from Cake Banner Sentiments. I added some toothpicks with liquid adhesive, then added the banner greeting with a double layer of foam adhesive to make it really pop! Lots and lots of dimension on this one.

The second card uses the same lilac-magenta-mint color scheme, but this time focuses on the cake accessories in Fancy Frosting. I stamped some balloons, peonies, and foliage again using the Intense Black ink and colored them with Copic markers.

I stamped a greeting from the new Inside: Birthday Sentiments on a strip of white cardstock, as well as a Cheers greeting from Fancy Frosting. I adhered them to a slightly smaller than A2 Farmhouse Check background panel using foam adhesive, adding a few Moonlight gems for some sparkle.

My last project features Fancy Frosting paired with the new Bitty Buzzwords stamps and coordinating Honey Cuts. I stamped the cake, happy, and candles using Intense Black, then added some light shadows to the cake using pale gray Copic markers and ensuring a smooth blend with the use of the colorless blender marker. I added some rainbow Copic coloring to the Happy, then adhered it to the top of the cake along with the candles.

I die cut and heat embossed a sparkling birthday sentiment using the new Bitty Buzzwords stamps and coordinating Honey Cuts.

One of the fun new arrivals from this release was a new paper pad that was designed in part by several of the members of the Honey Bee Design Team: Team Tie Dye. I trimmed one of the lovely rainbow patterned papers to A2 size, then layered a strip of sparkling glittery cardstock and added the die cuts with foam adhesive. I added a few rainbow gems to coordinate with the paper and rainbow happy die cut.

I hope you’ll check out the Let’s Celebrate release from Honey Bee Stamps… there are some really wonderful new products! That’s all for my projects today. Thank so much for stopping by, and have a marvelous day!

Pinkfresh Studio April Release+Giveaway!

Hi there! I am so very excited to be a part of the Pinkfresh Studio April Release Blog Hop today, as I have illustrated two new stamp sets debuting in today’s release: Miss Your Smile (and coordinating stencils) and It’s A New Day (plus coordinating dies and stencils). I have two projects to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

For my first project, I wanted to show the details and fun stencils in the It’s A New Day stamps, coordinating dies, and stencils. I follow several florists on Instagram, and from their beautiful photos I get lots of inspiration. One of the photos featured some beautiful, fluffy blooms whose name I didn’t know; I asked the florist and was told that they were butterfly ranunculus. Well, my head kind of exploded with inspiration, and I used these beautiful flowers as the inspiration for both my Floral Focus background stamp and today’s new It’s A New Day stamp set. (I tried to make it so that they coordinate with each other as kind of a “set.”) While the Floral Focus set is a background, the It’s A New Day set features individual blooms and foliage so that you can build your own bouquets and wreaths. The stamps and dies are super user-friendly; they are all grouped together as one piece, so that you can stamp and die cut all of the images in one pass! I began by heat embossing the images from It’s A New Day on some white cardstock using platinum embossing powder.

Next, I used the It’s A New Day stencils with some Peach Fuzz, Coral Reef, Meadow, and Mint inks from Pinkfresh Studio to add shading and details. (The stencils are conveniently grouped in the same formation as the stamps and dies. Love the ease of these new products!) I die cut the individual images in one pass through my die cut machine with the coordinating die. The geniuses over at Pinkfresh Studio used the same “one pass” concept for the new Perfect Sentiments stamps and die (and even an awesome hot foil plate if you have a hot foil machine!)-one large stamp with tons of sentiments on it and one large die to cut them all out in one pass through your machine! I heat embossed the sentiments again using Platinum embossing powder and die cut them with the coordinating die.

I also die cut a Essentials: Diagonals Stitched Plaid cover plate die from some more white cardstock, then cut the Essentials: Inverted Scallop Circle die from another piece of white cardstock to create a frame upon which I could arrange my stenciled blooms. I adhered the blooms and circular frame using foam adhesive, then added the greeting with a double layer of foam adhesive to make it pop up even further from the floral arrangement. The final step was to add a few Essentials: Jewels in some iridescent, creamy yellow for a bit of sparkle.

For my second project today, I used just the new Miss Your Smile stamps to do some no-line Copic coloring. I designed this stamp set to be huge to fit on a slimline card front… and I don’t know about you, but I just adore coloring massive, gigantic, oversized blooms. It’s just fun for me to get down into the nooks and crannies and really dig in to get as much depth and shadows as I can.

I stamped the image from Miss Your Smile onto some white Copic-friendly cardstock using no-line coloring ink, then used Copic markers to color the images. (I’ve shared the swatches above so that you can use the color combinations, if you wish!) Bonus: if coloring isn’t your thing, there are some fabulous coordinating layered stencils available so that you can add lots of color and details with your favorite inks and blending brushes!

One of my Copic tricks is similar to my watercoloring techniques: add multiple layers. Copic markers react with each other differently depending on which color you lay down first. You can create an entirely different overall blend if you lay down one color vs another, then use that as the base to blend your colors. For detailed coloring like this, I like to start out with the lightest three shades in my quartet of Copic colors, coloring all of the petals using only those three colors. I then go back in with the darkest shade to add just hints of deep shadow in what I think would be the darkest areas and blend that out with the lightest three shades. I try to keep the top petals as light as possible, usually keeping them the “original” three shades and not adding any extra shadows.

After I’d finished my coloring, I used a black fineliner pen and my T-square to add a frame around the edge of the card front, as well as the stamens on my cherry blossoms. I heat embossed a greeting from Miss Your Smile (how perfect is the “I just miss you” sentiment for these strange Covid times?) using white embossing powder onto a strip of black cardstock, popping it up and adding a few black jewels to add of sparkle and make the black accents look intentional.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! I am so very excited for these latest designs that I illustrated for Pinkfresh. I’d love to know what you think of them!!

Now for some fun giveaway information!

Pinkfresh Studio will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel! They will also be giving away a total of TEN $25  gift cards along the hop. As per usual with blog hops – the winners will be picked from the comments. The winners will be posted on May 6 , 2021 on the GIVEAWAY PAGE. You must check that page & claim your prize within 2 weeks of the winner’s announcement.

The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win! Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a marvelous day!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Altenew Paint A Flower: Chamomile Blog Hop+Giveaway!

Hi there! Today is Altenew’s monthly Paint A Flower blog hop, and this month’s flower is the Chamomile! We are celebrating with a blog hop. You should have arrived here from Michelle Short and your next stop is Nichol Spohr. You can also start at the beginning of the blog hop at the Altenew Card Blog. These darling daisy-like flowers are so cute and cheerful, perfect for an encouragement card. Let’s get started with the details!

For today’s card, I decided to keep things simple with a little masking, a little blending, and a little coloring to create an almost-flat card that’s easily mailed. I began by stamping the image of the chamomile in the pitcher from the Paint A Flower: Chamomile stamp set, first on some Copic-friendly cardstock, then again on a piece of masking paper, which I fussy cut. I adhered the mask over the stamped image and blended some Rouge ink with blending brushes over the top to create a peachy halo around the image. I wanted to keep the flowers white (or as near to white as I could), and adding that contrasting color around the flowers helps to keep the petals looking more white.

Once I’d finished blending, I removed the mask and used my Copic markers to color the image, making the pitcher a pretty shade of light turquoise and adding the most subtle of lavender to the flower petals in the background.

I’d stamped the pitcher of flowers using a Copic-friendly dye ink, and so wanted to ensure the sentiment (also from Paint A Flower: Chamomile) stood out and was crisp. To achieve this, I stamped the greeting directly onto the colored and blended card front using Obsidian ink. This black pigment ink is perfect for maintaining that crisp detail in your stamped sentiments. I trimmed the panel down slightly and adhered it to a black A2 card base, orienting it to the top left corner to allow the black to peek out around the bottom. The final touch was to add a few black gems to help the black accents pop even more!

Well, that’s all for today’s project. As per usual, Altenew is celebrating this release with a giveaway!

$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 04/27/2021 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 04/30/2021.

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

Altenew 7th Anniversary Blog Hop

Good morning! Altenew is celebrating their 7th Anniversary this month, and we are kicking things off with a multi-day blog hop with masses of prizes! You should have arrived here from Kathy Racoosin’s blog, and your next stop is Amanda Baldwin. You can also start at the beginning at the Altenew Blog.

I have a project to share with you today using one of my all-time favorite Altenew sets: Poppy Garden. In fact, I love this set so much that I even used it in my Altenew Anniversary post from last year! (How’s that for a coincidence, lol) I created some vibrant, cool red poppies for my project today, colored with my Copic markers. Let’s get started with the details!

To start, I stamped several of the images from Poppy Garden using Permanent Black ink, on white cardstock. I used my Copic markers to color the images.

I die cut the colored flowers using the coordinating dies, then turned my attention to the card base.

I die cut the Leaf Frame Cover Plate die from some black cardstock, then mounted it on a white A2 card base. I love the stark contrast the cover plate creates on the card front! The simple black pattern of the die cut is the perfect foil for the black outline on the stamped flowers.

I arranged the die cut Poppy Garden flowers on the card front, then adhered them using foam adhesive for lots of dimension. I white embossed a greeting from Many Thanks onto a strip of black cardstock. The final touch was to add some metallic gunmental gems for some sparkle.

To celebrate their 7th anniversary, Altenew and crafty friends have a huge variety of prizes to give away!

Over $1,400 in total prizes! Altenew is giving away a $70 gift certificate to 5 lucky winners and one Altenew Academy class to 15 lucky winners. There are also 19 awesome companies/crafty friends who are celebrating with us, and they are offering the following prizes:

Be sure to leave comments by 4/18/2021 for a chance to win one of 41 prizes! To make the hop more exciting, start your comment with “Hi from (city or country where you’re from)!” 41 winners will be chosen at random from the comments left on any of the blogs listed below and will be announced on the Altenew Card Blog on 4/24/2021.

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

Pinkfresh Studio March Release+Giveaway!

Hi there! Today, I am especially excited to be hopping along with Pinkfresh Studio for their March release. You should have arrived here from Dilay Nacar, and your next stop is Heather Hoffman. This release is full of fantastic, innovative products (the kind that we’ve come to expect from the designers at Pinkfresh) and…. Pinkfresh is releasing another of my illustrations! I have to say: it’s one of my all-time favorites that I’ve ever drawn! Floral Focus is a detailed A2 background featuring butterfly ranunculus and more traditional ranunculus flowers, with some big, beautiful leaves and just enough blank space! I am in love with these new-to-me butterfly ranunculus. They’re so big and fluffy and totally great for coloring, because there is plenty of room on the petals to really work the shadows and add lots of depth.

Floral Focus is designed to cover an entire A2 card front and made of deeply etched red rubber. I used my Misti to stamp the image on some Neenah white cardstock with some no-line coloring ink, then colored the image using Copic markers to create some ethereal pale lavender butterfly ranunculus and deep mauve ranunculus. (I’ve listed the specific colors above.) The Copic colors in the lavender ranunculus are a bit unorthodox, but I find that if you blend enough and work the colors, they will blend nicely to create a really unique shade!

Once I had finished coloring the image, I wanted to maintain focus on the pretty flowers, so I kept the rest of the card fairly simple. I trimmed the edges of the colored panel slightly, then mounted it on a full size A2 panel of deep maroon cardstock. This dark mat coordinates nicely with the deep maroon shadows in the smaller traditional ranunculus blooms.

For the greeting, I die cut the “hello” from the Phrase Builder Hello die set using some more deep maroon cardstock and some heavyweight vellum cardstock. I also white embossed a greeting from the Simply Sentiments Hello on a strip of the same maroon cardstock, both of which I popped up on the card front using foam adhesive. Finally, I added a few iridiescent gems from the Essentials Jewels set from Pinkfresh Studio for a hint of sparkle.

For my second project, I wanted to feature the Floral Focus Layering Stencils that are designed to work with or without the Floral Focus stamps! I began by stamping the image from Floral Focus onto some white cardstock using Ocean Breeze ink from Pinkfresh Studio. I then used only the inks from the Island Oasis ink quartet to finish blending all of the layers using the Floral Focus Layering Stencils. I love how totally different the illustration looks with the non-traditional aqua color palette!

In order to soften the super graphic and colorful background a bit, I die cut a vellum panel using the Slimline Ornate Banner die set using some heavyweight vellum, then used my score board to score about 1/8″ from the top, which I then folded over the slightly-smaller-than-A2 stenciled panel in order to hide the adhesive. I also die cut from some pale aqua cardstock one of my all-time favorite dies from Pinkfresh: Essentials Ornate Oval Frame, which I mounted to the vellum panel, again hiding some adhesive behind the solid die cut.

For the greeting, I used the Phrase Builder: Sending dies die cut from some deep teal cardstock, which I also used to mat the floral stenciled panel to create a nice contrasting frame. A few iridescent aqua gems from the Essentials Jewels set finished it off.

Now, Pinkfresh is sponsoring some wonderful giveaways to celebrate their latest release!

–We will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel. (They will also be giving away the release on their Instagram page during the Instagram hop, so keep your eyes peeled on Instagram for that!)

–We will be giving away a total of TEN $25  gift cards (also note the change here) along the hop. As per usual with blog hops – the winners will be picked from the comments.
Pinkfresh Studio will pull the winners & post them on April 5 , 2021 on the GIVEAWAY PAGE. You must check that page & claim your prize within 2 weeks.

Your next stop is Heather Hoffman. Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a marvelous day!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter