Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

copic coloring

STAMPtember Begins + New Illustration!

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

Hi friends! Simon Says Stamp’s month long STAMPtember celebration has officially begun, and we are kicking everything off with a massive release filled with tons of fabulous goodies. (You can check out the full release HERE.) I am especially excited to share this project, because it was created with my newest illustration: Sunflower Dreams. For my first project with it, I thought I would share a vibrant piece of artwork that I created using this new sunflower background. Let’s get started on the details!

*I have gathered links to all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience, using affiliate links. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*

To begin, I stamped the entirety of the Sunflower Dreams image on a panel of white Hammermill cardstock using Contour Ink from Hero Arts. I love using Hammermill for alcohol marker coloring; its smooth surface works beautifully with alcohol markers! I then spent a few enjoyable hours coloring the images with vivid golden yellow, deep marigold, and emerald green OLO Markers. Coloring large, detailed images like this one is a time commitment, but I think it is so worth it.

Once I had finished coloring the entirety of the image with the alcohol markers, I used colored pencils to add some additional shading to the images, creating even more vibrancy and dimension. To keep the shading subtle, I make sure to keep the tip of my pencils extremely share and use a very light hand. I also use a white pencil to add some extra highlights and clean up the edges of the petals a bit to make each petal unique.

After I had completed the pencil coloring, I trimmed the panel down slightly to about 5.5″ square and matted it with a 6″ square panel of Simon Says Stamp’s So Very Black cardstock. I placed this finished piece in an 8″ square frame to create a piece of wall art that is sure to brighten up any wall!

Well, that’s all for my project today. I have *so much* inspiration to share with you using these exceptional new products… it’s going to be fabulous! And we’re not stopping there, because throughout this month, so many of your favorite crafty companies will be collaborating with Simon Says Stamp to release fantastic, limited edition stamp sets. You’re not going to want to miss out! Be sure to pop by on Tuesday, September 2, 2025 to take a peek at the Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember Blog Party. Fun freebies and fabulous inspiration abound! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy STAMPtember!!!

Christmas In July: Icy Birdhouse with Simon Says Stamp!

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

Hi friends! I am back with another holiday project for my Christmas In July series, this time featuring some new, non-holiday products paired with a few older holiday products to create this icy holiday card. I love a good birdhouse die; there are so many ways to customize it: dress it up, dress it down, make it the focal point or a supporting player, add texture or sparkle… it’s really a great product to have in your stash! I used the new Cozy Birdhouse die to create this wintry scene. Let’s get started with the details!

*I have gathered links to all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience, using affiliate links. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*

To begin, I die cut the Jolly Birdie, Cozy Birdhouse, and Snowflake Burst Pinpoint Plate from white Hammermill cardstock. Before layering the pieces for the bird and bird house, I decided to use two pale aqua Copic markers to add some icy aqua to the accents on the bird house and create a layered ombré birdie. I love that the Jolly Birdie and Cozy Birdhouse’s sizes work so beautifully together! The proportions are just perfect! Once I had finished adding color to the images, I adhered the different layers together with liquid adhesive.

Before I began assembling my card, I wanted to create a little nest of holiday greenery from two different kinds of white specialty cardstock. I pulled out some white glitter cardstock as well as some iridescent white foil cardstock to die cut the Branching Corner Holly and Budding Branches holiday foliage dies. When working with an almost-monochromatic card like this, I find it essential to add many elements of texture to the project to keep things visually interesting. One of my secrets to adding texture is to add specialty papers, whether it’s glitter cardstock, vellum, pearlescent papers, or shining foil papers in my chosen color palette. It keeps things interesting without adding any additional colors to my color palette!

Once I had completed cutting all of the die cuts, I used a combination of thin and thick adhesive squares as well as liquid adhesive to adhere all of the die cut pieces on my Snowflake Burst Pinpoint cover plate die cut. (Another element of texture!) I added a simple Happy Holidays sentiment from Peaceful Trees, stamped with silver metallic pigment ink and die cut with the coordinating die. Finally, I added one last element of sparkle with some Opal Pawsitively Dazzling Gems.

Well, that’s all for my project today! I love a good white-on-white project with a pop of color, don’t you? This card is so sparkly in real life; it’s so hard to capture that sparkle in photos!! I think the sparkle is just perfect for the holidays! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Fiesta Dahlias with New Simon Says Stamp!

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

Hi friends! I have another project featuring my new Dahlia Background stamp illustration, this time with some incredibly vibrant dahlias with my favorite “fiesta” color palette: fuchsia, burnt orange, and lime! One of the reasons that I am so happy when I have a new illustration released as a stamp set is that it gives me an excuse and opportunity to color it with all of the mediums without having to redraw it over and over. Simply stamp and go! These large dahlias are great to use for a simply stamped background, but they are so much fun to color, particularly if you love coloring. I couldn’t resist combining the Dahlia Background with OLO Markers, so let’s get started with the details!

*I have gathered links to all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience, using affiliate links. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*

To begin, I stamped my new Dahlia Background using Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink on some alcohol marker-friendly white cardstock. I then used OLO Markers to add vivid, incredibly saturated color to the blooms, creating vibrant burnt orange florals with a hint of peach, adding verdant lime green foliage, then coloring the empty space between the blooms with a deep, intense fuchsia to add color to the entirety of the panel.

After I had finished coloring, I trimmed the long sides down and added some vibrant pink coordinating foil cardstock strips to peek out from behind the colored panel, then added strips of Simon Says Stamp’s So Very Black cardstock to complete the entirety of an A2 card front. The black cardstock helps make those black lines of the stamped image pop!

For the greeting, I used the coordinating EZ Strips die with the new EZ Strips Reverse Get Away to die cut some sentiment strips. I used thin foam adhesive squares to adhere the sentiment strips right in the center of the colored panel, then added a few shimmering Rainbow Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for just a touch of sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today! I always love a super color saturated project with crisp black lines and vivid color palette. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Egg-stra Special Two-fer with Simon Says Stamp!

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

Hi friends! It’s Easter week, and I have some fun and sparkling inspiration to share using some new and some old goodies from Simon Says Stamp! I have been really busy with family and then was able to take a much-needed vacation to visit some crafty friends over the weekend, so I am a little behind on sharing some Easter inspiration. Today, I have a two-fer: a fun, sparkling shaker card and a matching tag embellishment created using the leftovers! Let’s get started with the details.

*I have gathered links to all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience, using affiliate links. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*

I love creating fun shaker windows embellished with adorable images. I feel like the storybook images in the Hoppy Easter set work perfectly for shaker cards; they are sweet and innocent and work splendidly for a card for a child, and what child doesn’t love a shaker card? I began by stamping the bunny image from Hoppy Easter using Rainbow Splash Black ink, then used my OLO Markers in vibrant shades of pink, purple, and coral to add vivid color to the stamped image. I used a white gel pen and a sparkling DecoArt shimmer pen to add some extra interest to the polka dots on the bottom of the Easter eggs, then used the coordinating dies to cut out the finished colored image and stamped sentiment.

To create the shaker background, I began by stamping the Pepita Background onto some white cardstock using Bubblegum Pawsitively Saturated Ink. I then die cut one of the Nested Egg Dies from the center of an A2 panel of Clematis Glitter Cardstock and backed it with some leftover clear stamp packaging. (Reduce, reuse, recycle!) I used some strips of foam adhesive around the egg-shaped opening and filled the shaker with the new Clematis Embellishment Pack. Shake, shake, shake! I added the die cuts on the front of the shaker and added one final touch of texture with some Iridescent White Cord from Simon Says Stamp!

With the leftover glittery egg die cut, I added some strips of coordinating colored carstock and a pretty bow, which I die cut using the Pretty Bows die set and some deep plummy purple cardstock. I used a mini clothespin to add the embellished egg die cut to a glassine bag of jelly beans. Isn’t this such a cute and simple way to dress up a bag of sweets?

Well, that’s all for my projects today! I have to work on filling my kiddos’ Easter eggs this week… four kiddos means lots and lots of Easter eggs to fill. Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a marvelous day!

Ducky Hugs with New Simon Says Stamp!

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

Hi friends! I have been super busy the last couple of weeks getting my mom to various medical appointments and celebrating my little boys’ fifth birthday (my goodness, how time has flown!), but I’ve taken some time to slow down and do some creating with the new Simon Says Stamp Rain or Shine release! The utterly precious little ducky in the new Darling Duckling die set immediately spoke to me; my theme for the baby shower for my older set of twins was based on the book “Make Way for Ducklings,” a favorite of mine as a child and a good representation of my own journey through motherhood with a gaggle of duckling-kiddos trailing behind me! I pulled out some white cardstock, botanical dies, and my OLO markers and got to work creating this sweet card. Let’s get started with the details!

*I have gathered links to all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience, using affiliate links. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*

To begin, I die cut the pieces of the new Darling Duckling, Pretty Poppies, and Windswept Leaves dies from plain white cardstock. I then used vibrant OLO Markers to add lots of vibrant yellow and green to the ducky and foliage, as well as creating some almost-white poppies with a super pale yellow marker and using the Zero marker to soften the edges of the yellow so that they faded into white along the edges of the petals. Customizing solid white die cuts with alcohol markers is one of my favorite ways to make simple die cut shapes super special and bold!

To ground my die cut images, I decided to do some simple stenciling. After placing a white A2 card front on a Simon Says Stamp Craft Tacky Mat, I centered one of the Nested Domed Arches Stencils on the card front, then used blending brushes to lightly blend Pawsitively Saturated Ink in shades of Cadette and Butter at the top and bottom of the arch to insinuate a sunrise towards the bottom and blue sky above. The background doesn’t need to be super involved; the suggestion of colors is enough for your brain to fill in the blanks!

After I had finished creating the background, I used liquid and foam adhesive to adhere the flowers, foliage, and sweet little ducky on the blended area. I tucked the foliage around the flowers and added a bloom and leaves around ducky to complete the visual cascade, finally adding a greeting from Bold Smiles that I’d stamped with Cadette ink over which I added a layer of Iridescent Blue embossing powder, creating a subtle and beautiful shimmer. Finally, I added a few Butter Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for added sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today! I love the fresh springtime colors. We’ve had a cold snap after some endlessly rainy weather, but I’m hopeful that we will have warm temps by Easter so that the flowers can bloom and have a nice day outside. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!