Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

copic coloring

“Comfort Coloring” with Simon Says Stamp!

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

Hi friends! I am back today with a vibrant Copic card featuring some “comfort coloring.” You know how people have “comfort food” and “comfort shows,” things they eat or watch or listen to when they need to feel better? Well, sometimes coloring fulfills that role for me, especially when things get a little crazy both personally and in the world at large. The last few months have been more than a little stressful for me for a variety of reasons, and I am not sure when that stress will start to abate, but now that the holidays are officially over and my kiddos are all back in school, I’m hoping that things will start to resemble something like normalcy. I needed some stress-relief the other day, so I began looking through my Simon Says Stamp bins and pulling out things that just made me happy to look at, including the beautiful Anemone Cluster embossing folder. I am always up for a gorgeous embossing folder, adding some vibrant color and enhancing the already-exquisite details with some intense coloring.

*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 my project, I ran a panel of white cardstock through my die cutting machine using the Anemone Cluster embossing folder. The detail on this embossing folder is absolutely spectacular on it’s own, but I wanted to add to the incredible texture by doing some really detailed coloring. This kind of intense coloring session is really therapeutic for me; it allows me to get lost in the details, working closely to make sure that I am keeping the edges of each petal as clean and crisp as possible and that the contrast between light and dark is extra visible. I used vibrant shades of purple and emerald green Copic markers to create these lovely purple anemones. Did you know that anemone flowers come in a huge variety of colors? They’re such beautiful blooms, and definitely one of my favorites!

After I had finished coloring all of the images, I used blending brushes to blend both Orchid & Morning Pawsitively Saturated Ink around the edges of the card front, creating an ethereal halo behind the flowers and enhancing the gorgeous purple of the blooms with the combination. Because the color on the blooms is so intense, I did not have to worry about the subtle blending changing the color of my meticulously-colored images.

For the greeting, I used some pewter toner foil with the You Sentiment Strips and a foiling machine to add lovely shine to the simple sentiment strips. I used my guillotine trimmer to trim the strips down, then paired the “wishing” and “love and happiness” strips with a die cut Fancy You. I cut the shadow layer from Simon Says Stamp’s Plum Glitter Cardstock and the detail layer from plain white cardstock, adhering the two together with liquid adhesive. I arranged the three sentiment components on the colorful card front, adhering them with foam adhesive for extra dimension. Finally, I added a smattering of Prism Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for added sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today. If you find yourself in need of some comfort, I highly recommend pulling out your favorite images and your medium of choice and lose yourself in your artistic efforts. It really does help to take your mind off of things that are weighing on you! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Steel Cardstock Spotlight #3: Rose Gold and Mixing Neutrals!

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

Hi friends! I am back with one final project on my Steel Cardstock spotlight, this time pairing the neutral medium gray cardstock from Simon Says Stamp with another neutral cardstock with some metallic flair. I think this combination demonstrates the versatility of the Steel cardstock, for it pairs beautifully with so many different color palettes. I had several images released before Christmas that I didn’t get a chance to use for holiday cards, but I wanted to see if I could use them to create a wintry birthday card with some leftover rose gold snowflakes. Let’s get started with the details on my projects!

*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!*

When working with the DieCember products, I had created THESE projects using the beautiful Snowflake Sensation dies, focusing on the outline images created with the dies and SSS Rose Gold Metallic cardstock. I had several snowflakes leftover, and so for today’s project I decided to use these delicate snowflake die cuts to create a snowy background and had enough left to create a little tag, probably to save for next Christmas.

For my card, I began by stamping the sweet snowman from the Cozy Together stamp set using Altenew’s Permanent Mist Gray ink onto some white Hammermill cardstock, then used my OLO markers to add some subtle shadows to the snowman, ensuring a smooth transition from the pale gray alcohol marker to the white of the cardstock by softening the edge of the colored areas with the Zero marker, aka OLO’s colorless blender marker. I also added some metallic copper stripes to the snowman’s scarf and twirling dust using a metallic acrylic marker and some details to his face with a fine-tipped black pigment marker. I die cut the finished snowman with the coordinating die.

After I had finished the main focal point, I began to put the background together. I first blended some Earl Pawsitively Saturated Ink on one edge of the Steel A2 card front, then splattered it with some rose gold metallic glitter watercolor to add extra whimsy and texture to the background. Once the watercolor had dried, I used the leftover rose gold snowflake die cuts to create a pretty snowflake pattern on the blended and splattered areas, adhering them with liquid adhesive. For the greeting, I die cut the detail layer of the Snowy Greetings word die set from some more Metallic Rose Gold cardstock, then adhered it to a vellum shadow layer with liquid adhesive. I added a pearlescent silver die cut oval frame to the snowflake background with some foam adhesive, then enhanced the die cut sentiment with an embossed greeting from Snow Buddies, adhering all of the different die cuts with foam adhesive. Finally, I added a few Peachy Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for a bit of added sparkle!

I had a couple of rose gold snowflake die cuts leftover, so I decided to layer them to create a simple, pretty tag! I die cut two Label Tag dies from some more Steel cardstock, adhering the two pieces together with the scratched sides facing each other, which ensures that each side of the tag is clean and smooth. I adhered the two snowflake die cuts in the center of the tag die cut, rotating the top snowflake so that it created a beautifully full snowflake. Finally, I added a white silk ribbon loop to the top of the tag and a few more Peachy Pawsitively Dazzling Gems on the snowflakes for added sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! I hope you’ve enjoyed this spotlight on Simon Says Stamp’s Steel Cardstock. It is fun to direct my creative focus on one unsung hero and give it a little extra love. The shade of gray is a true neutral, and it makes it perfect for so many different applications. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Steel Cardstock Spotlight #2: White Roses and Reverse Psychology!

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

Hi friends! I’m back today with another project for my spotlight on Simon Says Stamp’s Steel Cardstock. For DieCember, Simon Says Stamp came out with a collection of really beautiful colored cardstock, featuring lots of vivid, color saturated jewel tones as well as some fantastic neutrals like the Steel Cardstock. I find this medium gray cardstock to be absolute perfection for so many color palettes, working beautifully to complement super vivid colors or as a backdrop for more muted colors, like I’ve created for today’s project. When creating white flowers, I find that it is important to allow room for the absence of color; that is, trying to leaves as much of the white cardstock visible as possible. To achieve this, I like to do some visual “reverse psychology,” allowing the colors surrounding the white image to create visual contrast. Let’s get started on the details for my project!

*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 start, I stamped the lovely rose arrangement and extra flowers and bud from the Beautiful Friend stamp set using Altenew’s Permanent Gray Mist ink onto some Hammermill cardstock. I then pulled a few markers from the OLO alcohol marker collection: a very pale gray, a grayish aqua, and the Zero marker, also known as the colorless blender. The Zero marker is extremely important for this project, because it softens the edges of the coloring while also allowing that white cardstock to shine through, creating that “white” image. I first laid down that pale grayish aqua in the areas where the shadows would be deepest on my white rose, then blended that out a bit with the almost-colorless pale gray marker, then softened the edge of that coloring with the Zero marker. Now for the first part of the “reverse psychology,” I colored the foliage and smaller blooms using some vivid teal and cornflower blue shades, allowing those bright colors to contrast strongly with the lack of color on the white roses.

After I had finished coloring all of the images, I used the coordinating dies from the Beautiful Friend product suite to die cut each of the images, then selected a marker in a coordinating shade of gray to match the Steel cardstock. I used the brush tip of the marker to color in any white space around the edges of the die cuts, creating even more contrast and allowing the white on the roses to become even more crisp and stark. To go along with the cornflower blue blooms, I also die cut a few Eucalyptus Leaves dies from some coordinating blue glitter cardstock. Before arranging the blooms and extra foliage on the Steel card front, I used a blending brush dedicated to only my Simon White Pigment Ink to blend the delicate pattern on the Crochet Blocks Stencil on the background of the card front. I love the simple, sweet pattern on this stencil; it’s the perfect backdrop for the somewhat shabby-chic rose arrangement!


Before adhering everything with foam and liquid adhesive, I heat embossed some sentiments from the new EZ Strips Birthday stamp set, which stamps lots of sentiments in one fell swoop, creating plenty of sentiments to use both now and later! I heat embossed them using crisp white embossing powder on more Steel cardstock, then used the EZ Strips Rectangles to die cut all of the embossed sentiments with one pass through my die cutting machine. I selected which strips I wanted to use on my card today, then arranged all of the different die cuts on the stenciled background. I used both liquid and foam adhesive to adhere all of the pieces, tucking the sentiment strips amongst the floral images, then added a few Dusk Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for added sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today! If you’ve never tried to color white images because it’s a bit intimidating, I encourage you to use this visual “reverse psychology” technique. It really does make a huge difference! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Simon Says Stamp To Love and To Be Loved Release Blog Hop!

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

Hi friends! I am hopping along with my friends at Simon Says Stamp to celebrate not one, but two new releases! The December 2024 To Love release is the companion release to this month’s To Be Loved release, and we are celebrating with a massive blog hop! You should have arrived here from Barbara Tarayao, and your next stop is Amy Rysavy. You can also start back at the beginning at the Simon Says Stamp Blog! I have a project featuring products from both releases, including my newest stamp set called Anemone Wreath, 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 Anemone Wreath stamp from the To Love release onto some white cardstock using Altenew’s Permanent Mist Gray ink, which is great for no-line coloring. I then used Copic markers in cheery shades of sunny yellow and jade green to do some no-line coloring, coloring only a couple of the blooms and foliage. I made sure to select blooms and foliage that were completely intact, not tucked behind another flower or leaf, so that I could do some fussy cutting and create a completely unique arrangement. Selectively using individual flowers is another great way to stretch this stamp set! After I had finished coloring the images, I used my sharp scissors to fussy cut the images, adding a pale gray border around the edges with a Copic marker that coordinated perfectly with the Simon Says Stamp Steel cardstock that I planned to use in the background.

For that background, I ran an A2 sized panel of the Steel cardstock through my die cutting machine using the new Dancing Floral Embossing Folder. The delicate floral pattern on this embossing folder was just neutral enough that it added beautiful texture behind my focal points without distracting from the vibrant yellow flowers!

For the greeting, I die cut the detail layer of the new I’m Sorry die from some more Steel cardstock as well as the shadow layer from some Simon Says Stamp Vellum cardstock, layering the two together with liquid adhesive. The vellum shadow helps the tone-on-tone sentiment stand out from the background a bit. I also stamped a greeting from the I’m Sorry Sentiments stamp set onto a small rectangle of Steel cardstock using Simon Says Stamp White Pigment Ink, then added some White Pearl Embossing Powder over the top of the sticky pigment ink to create a lovely and subtle pearlescent accompaniment to the chunky greeting die cut. I arranged the die cut, sentiment block, and vibrant blooms on the embossed card front, adhering them with some foam adhesive for added dimension. Finally, I added a smattering of Opal Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for a touch of shimmer. Pairing gray and yellow is such an unusual color palette for me, but I am always encouraged to use it more frequently whenever I do use it; it’s such a striking combination, perfect for these dreary gray January days!

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

Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $25 coupon to every stop on the hop from your blog comment section. Winners will be selected and posted on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday the 15th of January. Winners can email the Simon team to claim his/her prize 🙂

To celebrate this release duo, Simon Says Stamp is also offering a fabulous freebie with purchase! Simply follow the instructions in the graphic at the top of the post to receive the Circle Hoops Embossing Folder for free with your order.

Your next stop is Amy Rysavy. Don’t forget to check back on the Simon Says Stamp Blog tomorrow for Day 2 of the hop for even more fabulous inspiration using these new products! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

NEW Simon Says Stamp To Love Release-Now Available! Plus NEW Illustration!

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

Hi Friends! I am so excited to share some inspiration using my newest stamp set that was released tonight with the Simon Says Stamp To Love release, which is now available in the Simon Says Stamp store! Anemones are one of my favorite flowers, so I am always looking for new ways to arrange them, and I came up with this larger wreath arrangement, incorporating the bold blooms amongst a circlet of foliage. I created an appropriately-bold card for today’s project using my new Anemone Wreath stamp set, OLO markers, and a holiday sentiment. 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 the Anemone Wreath stamp with Simon Says Stamp Nocturne ink on a panel of white Hammermill cardstock, offsetting the image slightly so that it hung over the edge of the A2 panel. I added clear embossing powder to the sticky black pigment ink to keep the lines extra crisp and bold while coloring. I used OLO markers to add some vibrant red to the blooms and verdant greens to the foliage, being careful not to brush the marker too intensely on the embossed lines, as the alcohol in the markers can make the embossing powder sticky and cause issues with your marker tip if abused too frequently. After I had colored the vibrant holiday wreath (red anemones are certainly a holiday flower in my estimation!), I used a juicy black alcohol marker to color in any white space around the image to really make those vibrant red anemones pop!

After coloring the entire panel, I decided that it definitely had a holiday vibe to it, so I used the newer EZ Strips Rectangles die to die cut all of the sentiments from the EZ Strips Reverse Joy sentiment card set. This new die makes it so darn simple to cut out each of your sentiments from the sentiment cards without having to fuss with a trimmer to get perfectly straight lines. SO simple! I also die cut the detail layer from the Fanciful Joy die from Simon’s Black Glossy cardstock and backed it with a die cut vellum shadow layer. I popped both pieces up in the center of the wreath with some tiny pieces of foam tape.

After I had completed the sentiment, I embellished the card with a few Cherry Pawsitively Dazzling Gems, creating some “berries” to adorn my holiday wreath. I also tucked a coordinating cherry red bow beneath the sentiment and added the card front to a card base. I just love how vibrant and dramatic this project ended up looking!

Well, that’s all for my project today! You can check out the entire To Love release HERE. We are getting into some lovey-dovey Valentine’s Day themes with these new products, but I’m not quite ready to let go of Christmas yet, so I will still be sharing a few more holiday projects with you! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!