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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

copic coloring

Guest Post: Simon Says Stamp and Copics on Neenah Desert Storm!

Hi there! I’m so excited to be a guest for Simon Says Stamp this month, and I’ve got a couple of projects to share with you today featuring some new goodies from the January And Back Again release, as well as one of the stamp sets I illustrated, Orchid Rose Bouquet (which also was part of the February Card Kit). I have never colored on Neenah Desert Storm cardstock, and I love the look of red with Kraft cardstock, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do some experimenting! Let’s get started with the details.

The Orchid Rose Bouquet is a huge stamp, great for cutting into pieces and use on multiple projects. I stamped the entirety of the bouquet on a panel of Desert Storm cardstock using Hero Arts’ Intens-ified Black ink. I used Copic markers in several RV shades: T6, RV29, RV25, RV13, RV21 for the orchids, and V06, RV14, RV13, and RV21 for the roses. I had never worked with Desert Storm cardstock before, and I was absolutely stunned at how vibrant the coloring was on this relatively dull color of cardstock! So much fun to work with something different than my usual crisp white cardstock. I fussy cut the entire piece and trimmed it into a few different pieces, edging around the orchids that were fully visible.

My first card is an A7. It takes full advantage of the size of the Orchid Rose Bouquet stamp. I began by die cutting the XO with the Big XOXO die from some glittery red cardstock. I also trimmed one of the fabulous sentiment strips from the Sassy Love Sentiment Strips. (This is my first time using these pre-printed sentiments; they are so much fun and make adding a greeting so darn simple!)

I am a bit of a stickler for cohesive color scheme; once I decide on a color scheme, I like to do my best to make sure that there are no other colors to detract from the overall color palette, like an unseemly white edge to a die cut piece on a colorful cardstock background. Keeping this in mind, I cut an A7 card base from some more Desert Storm cardstock upon which I could arrange my different die cut and colored elements.

I arranged the different elements on the large card front and adhered them using both liquid and foam adhesive to add lots of dimension to the project. The final touch was to add some iridescent red jewels for some more sparkle.

My second card features the leftover portion of the Copic colored Orchid Rose Bouquet as an accent. This piece was trimmed from around one of the fully visible orchids in the bouquet, so portions of the flower were missing. In order to cover this up, I heat embossed one of the greetings from XL Love Greetings on Desert Storm cardstock using Brutus Monroe Poinsettia Embossing Powder. I die cut the sentiment using the coordinating die.

For the card base, I created a subtly textured background by running an A2 panel of Desert Storm cardstock through my die cut machine with the Exotic Vines Embossing Folder. This delicate texture is a perfect backdrop for the brightly colored flowers and sparkly cherry red greeting!

To add a touch more texture and some sparkle to the card base, as well as to create a sort of ground for my greeting and florals, I trimmed a few strips of glittery red cardstock and mounted them vertically on the textured card base. I added the floral piece and greeting die cut using foam adhesive, then added some more sparkling jewels for one last hint of sparkle.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! I hope that you will give Desert Storm cardstock and Copics a try if you haven’t already… what an unexpected delight! Thank you so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Introducing Orchid Rose Bouquet from Simon Says Stamp!

Hi friends! I am incredibly excited today to share that my newest stamp illustration for Simon Says Stamp, Orchid Rose Bouquet, is part of the February 2022 Card Kit, called Season of Sentiments! I am so honored to have my design used in this card kit. I have a project to share with you today using the new Orchid Rose Bouquet, so let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping the Orchid Rose Bouquet from the Season of Sentiments kit on Hammermill cardstock using Hero Arts’s Contour Ink for some no-line Copic coloring. I used some vibrant pink, purple, and green Copic markers to add lots of intense color to the image, allowing the large orchid to be the star of the show!

Once I had finished coloring my image, I lightly blended some Hollyhock and Deep Purple inks from Simon Says Stamp in the opposite corner to coordinate with the shades in the colored bouquet. I then stamped one of the sentiments included in the Orchid Rose Bouquet using Obsidian black pigment ink from Altenew to get a really crisp stamped image over the top of the ink blending.

Before mounting the colored panel on my A2 glitter paper card base, I adhered it to a slightly larger panel of some deep purple cardstock to add a bit of contrast between the edge of the colored panel and the similarly-colored pink glitter paper, appropriately named Opulent Orchid. The shades were a similar level of vibrancy, so without that contrasting deep purple edge, the two cardstocks would have blended into each other. The final touch was to add some iridescent purple gems for some added sparkle and texture!

Well, that’s all for my card today. I am so thrilled that my illustration was included in the Season of Sentiments card kit. The Simon Says Stamp team have absolutely knocked it out of the park with their own projects; I highly encourage you to go check them out on the post on the Simon Says Stamp blog! Thank so much for reading, and have a marvelous day!

Craft Your Life Project Kit: Feathered Lilies Blog Hop+Giveaway!

Hi there! Today, Altenew is adding the Feathered Lilies to their Craft Your Life Project Kit lineup, and we’re celebrating with a blog hop! You should have arrived here from Teri Wilson and your next stop is Mindy Eggen. You can also start back at the Altenew Blog if you get lost! This month’s kit is absolutely gorgeous. The main image from Feathered Lilies is gigantic, and so, so fun to color! Here’s a peek at this month’s kit:

I love that all of the components work beautifully individually but seamlessly together. And check out how massive that coordinating die is!! Wowzers! If you are finding these kits irresistible month after month, you can always subscribe to ensure that you get first dibs on them when they’re released and, bonus, you get them at a discount with your subscription! Check out the details here. I chose to do some Copic coloring with those gigantic flowers, so let’s get started with the details!

I began this project by stamping the large main image in the corner of a white A2 card panel using Copic-friendly black ink. I was in need of some artistic “comfort food” recently, so I chose my all-time favorite Copic blend for pinks: RV99, RV69, RV17, RV09 and went to town on these huge flowers. The bigger the flower, the more fun they are to color! (If coloring isn’t your thing, the kit includes some fabulous layering stencils, as well.) I colored the foliage using BG75, YG45, YG41, G12. Don’t be afraid to mix your color families; they just take a little extra care when blending.

I die cut the finished colored image using the gigantic coordinating die. I love that they included a coordinating die for the entirety of the large image, so that you can orient it any direction you want and still have those crisp die cut edges!

I blended some Minty Mint and Sweet Leaf inks on the corner of an A2 white card base using blending brushes, then adhered the colored floral die cut using Instant Dimension Foam Tape. Having die cut the image exactly in the corner of the card made placement super simple-just match it up with the corner! I added a greeting from the Feathered Lilies stamp set using Obsidian ink. The pigment ink showed up perfectly crisp over the top of the blended ink in the corner!

Well, that’s all for my project today. Now for the giveaway details!

$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 01/18/2022 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 01/20/2022.

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

January 2022 Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Blog Hop+Giveaway!

Hi there! Today, Hero Arts is releasing their first My Monthly Hero collection for the new year, and we are hopping along to give you lots of romantic Valentine’s inspiration! You should have arrived here from Debi Adams, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. You can also start back at the beginning at the Hero Arts Blog. This month’s kit features a beautiful layering stamp set and dies, in addition to a gorgeous, super detailed cover plate die. Here’s a peek at the contents of the January 2022 kit:

This month’s kit includes : 6″ x 8″ Clear Stamp Set, 3 Coordinating Frame Cuts, 4.25″ x 5.5″ Fancy Cover Plate Die, 1 Key Fancy Die, 4 Ink Cubes (Key Lime Fizz, Taffy, Green Apple, Cup O’ Joe), and Red Iridescent Gems. So many beautiful products in this month’s kit, valued at over $80, but is available to you for $34.99! You can also subscribe to be guaranteed to receive these beautiful kits each month. I have a pair of projects using this month’s kit, so let’s get started with the details!

The beautiful fancy dies included in this month’s kit are so gorgeous that they can easily stand on their own, and I thought they’d be perfect to create some valentines for my big kiddos! I used some fancy glitter and foil cardstocks to really allow the details in the cover plate die to shine. I cut the fancy keyhole cover plate once from red glitter cardstock and once from shiny purple foil and backed it with some leftover stamp packaging to create a pocket for a shaker card. I adhered some coordinating Hero Hues colored cardstock on the back (Cherry for the red glitter card, Amethyst for the purple foil) and filled it with some coordinating sequins.

I heat embossed one of the darling greetings from the main kit onto some more coordinating Hero Hues cardstock using white embossing powder so that the sentiment would really pop. I also die cut two white keys using the fancy key die included in the kit.

I adhered the sentiments and the key die cut to the flat shaker card fronts using foam adhesive to help them stand out even more. I love the simplicity of the color schemes for both of these projects! I was going to try to do my favorite white-on-white, but I thought it would be more fun for Valentine’s Day for my minions to make things sparkly, shiny, and colorful.

My next project uses one of the sweet add-on sets: Flower Girls. The sweet images in this set are perfect for Valentine’s Day or just to send a sweet card to a friend or loved one! I began by stamping one of the little girls on some white, Copic-friendly cardstock using Intens-ified Black ink, then colored her in with my Copic markers, adding little black polka dots to her tights using a fine-tipped black pen. I cut the finished image out with the coordinating Flower Girls Frame Cuts.

I wanted to allow her bright raspberry colored frock to really pop from the card front, so I die cut a Paper Layering Floral Heart with Frame die cut from some more white cardstock. I offset the die cut to the right side of my card front, trimming off the edge with my sharp scissors. I adhered the white die cut to the white card base using foam tape to really allow those lovely details in the die cut to pop on the monochromatic background.

I stamped a greeting from Flower Girls on a strip of white cardstock, then trimmed around the sentiment using my sharp scissors to help keep things super delicate. (Isn’t that sentiment just precious?) I adhered the Flower Girls die cut and sentiment over the top of the heart die cut with some more foam tape, creating a double layer of foam tape in some spots and helping to create tons of dimension on this project!

Well, that’s all for my projects today. To celebrate this release, Hero Arts is hosting a giveaway!

Hero Arts will give away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, January 16th at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

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

Flat Shaker Card and Childhood Christmas Inspiration!

Hi there! I’m up on the Honey Bee Stamps blog today, and I have a bit more holiday inspiration for you! I have always loved the book Santa Mouse. It was one of my favorites as a child, and my kiddos love to read it at Christmas, too! As soon as I saw the Merry Little Mice stamp set, I knew that I needed to use it to create a Santa Mouse-themed card. The book is so sweet; a little mouse realizes that Santa might not receive any gifts himself, so he gives him the piece of cheese that he’s been saving for himself all year. So precious, and such a lovely lesson about the spirit of giving! I am loving these flat shaker cards right now, but I decided to change mine up just a tad to incorporate the darling Snow Globe Shaker dies. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by die cutting the components for the Snow Globe Shaker from some white cardstock. I backed the topper with some spare clear stamp packaging. You know, the kind that we normally throw away? I love how light and thin it is for shaker cards… makes the finished card feel so much less bulky! I stamped a tree from Merry Little Mice on the white snow globe base using Honey Bee Stamps’ No Line Coloring Ink and colored it using Copic markers. I also blended a little aqua blue ink around the edges using a blending tool, then added some snowflakes from Merry Little Mice to add some more interest to the background of my snow globe.

Next, I stamped several of the images (including some cheese wedges to create a little tower of cheese to put under the tree!) from Merry Little Mice on some white cardstock using Honey Bee Stamps’ No Line Coloring Ink. I colored the images using my Copic markers. I die cut the colored images using the coordinating Honey Cuts.

I added strong adhesive tape all around the window of my shaker and removed the release paper everywhere but at the bottom so that I could fill my shaker with sparkly glitter. Once my shaker was filled, I removed the final piece of release paper and sealed it up, then added my colored die cuts (including a teeter-tottery tower of cheese for Santa!) to the front using both liquid and foam adhesive for some extra dimension. Using the strong adhesive tape instead of foam tape makes the card nice and flat and much easier to mail. I added the darling greeting from Merry Christmouse that I stamped with teal pigment ink and embossed with white pearl embossing powder, then die cut using the coordinating Honey Cuts. Finally, I adhered the card front to a shaped card that I created by die cutting a top-folding A2 card using the base of the Snow Globe Shaker die set.

Well, that’s all for my project today! I hope you’ve enjoyed my little trip down memory lane! Santa Mouse is such a sweet book, and if you haven’t read it, I highly encourage you to find a copy. My kiddos always leave a piece of cheese for Santa Mouse when we leave out cookies for Santa, and I love the added magic it adds to Christmas Eve night! Thanks so much for reading, and have a marvelous day.