Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

copic markers

Floral Flashback Week: Dogwood Bleeding Heart with Simon Says Stamp!

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

Hi friends! I am back with another installment of my Floral Flashback Week, in which I play with some of the older flower sets that I have illustrated for Simon Says Stamp. There’s always a chance that these sets won’t be around for much longer, so I wanted to take another opportunity to share some inspiration. As my style has evolved over the last several years, I always enjoy revisiting old favorites with fresh eyes to see if I can come up with something interesting. Let’s get started with the details on my project for today featuring the Dogwood Bleeding Heart Background stamp!

*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 stamped the Dogwood Bleeding Heart cling stamp on some white cardstock using Altenew’s Permanent Gray Mist Ink, which is a great ink to use with no-line alcohol ink coloring. Pulling colors from my Copic and OLO marker collections, I colored these blooms and foliage in vibrant shades of fuchsia, lime, and “white” for the dogwood flowers. To achieve these “white” blooms, the trick is to use a little “reverse psychology” by surrounding the white blooms with vibrant colors, as well as using very pale colors on only the shadowed areas, blending them out with the colorless blender marker. As with all no-line coloring, keeping the edges crisp and maintaining the contrast on the images on top versus the images beneath them is the key to achieving shape and dimension on those white images.

After I had finished coloring the images themselves, I used a pale aqua OLO marker to color the background, creating a soft, yet vibrant, full-color panel. I think it looks almost screen-printed! I am in love with the color palette, as well; the pale aqua with fuchsia and white reminds me of something from Lilly Pulitzer.

For the greeting, I used a simple white Scripty Thanks die cut adhered at the open space on the bottom of the card using liquid adhesive. I tied a thin white silk ribbon around the top of the card front before adhering it to my card base, then added a few Opal Pawsitively Dazzling Gems near the greeting for a touch of extra sparkle and texture!

Well, that’s all for my project today. I hope you’re enjoying this walk down memory lane with me! I am having so much fun! I hope it encourages you to look at your older products with fresh eyes to see what new life you can breathe into them. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember Collaboration: Alex Syberia Designs!

Hi friends! The STAMPtember celebration continues! I am back today with another STAMPtember collaboration. Today’s company spotlight is Alex Syberia Designs! This company is relatively new in the stamping community, but Alex’s designs are an absolute delight to work with. I’ve had the pleasure of geusting for them a few times, and the products and designs are so unique and beautiful that they are a joy to use! I used the beautiful new Alex Syberia Designs Close At Heart STAMPtember collaboration set to create a custom stamped and Copic-colored background. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping the large floral image from the Close At Heart set on an A2 panel of white cardstock using Contour Ink so that I could do some no-line coloring using Copic markers. I used a group of beautiful cool reds and eucalyptus greens to color the all of the images, creating a super vibrant floral patterned panel. To add a little more interest and fill in the blank spaces on the card, I used a black fine tipped pen to add delicate dots in the white spaces around the colored images. I think this is so fun and such a neat way to add interest to the background!

After I had finished the background, I turned my attention to the greeting. I heat embossed one of the sentiments from Close At Heart onto some black cardstock and used sharp scissors to cut it out. (You can use the coordinating dies to speed that process up, though!) I also die cut a delicate friend die cut from some black cardstock and vellum, layering them together with liquid adhesive. I popped them up with foam adhesive on the patterned background.

To accent the sentiment and add some extra texture, I tied a bow from some 1/4″ white ribbon and tucked it beneath the sentiment with liquid adhesive. I also accented the flower centers with some white gel pen. Finally, I added a few sparkling Clear Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for added sparkle!

Well, that’s all for today’s STAMPtember collaboration! These STAMPtember collaboration sets are limited edition and usually sell out very quickly, so if you’re on the fence, don’t wait too long! To sweeten the deal and make it even easier for you to shop, Heidi at Simon Says Stamp has offered free shipping for purchases over $25 for a limited time!!

This sweet set is sure to sell out quickly, so if you’re on the fence, don’t wait too long… these limited edition sets are gone forever once they sell out!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy STAMPtember!!

Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember Collaboration: Brutus Monroe!

Hi friends! I am back today with another collaboration set for the STAMPtember celebration! Today’s set features another fantastic company with a fantastic owner: Brutus Monroe! While I have never met Christopher Alan, the owner of Brutus Monroe, in person, I know that he has incredible integrity and masses of creativity, in addition to his intrinsic kindness and generosity. We are Facebook friends, and his posts about the decor put out in his physical store (definitely one of my goals to get to his storefront!!) are so inspiring. His imagination is truly magical!

The STAMPtember Brutus Monroe Collaboration set: Holiday Mugs set features beautifully illustrated images of vintage holiday-themed mugs that will take you right back to your childhood! I definitely had a reindeer mug just like the one in the set, along with a Santa and Mrs. Claus! So cute. I used both the pumpkin and reindeer mugs from the Holiday Mugs set with some fun stencils to create this pair of cards. Let’s get started with the details!

*I have linked 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!*

For the autumnal card, I stamped the pumpkin mug from Holiday Mugs, along with some accessories, onto some white cardstock using Rainbow Splash Black ink, which is alcohol marker-friendly. I then used Copic markers to color the images, creating a vibrant ceramic pumpkin with verdant greenery, some cinnamon sticks, and a sweet little candy corn! I used my sharp scissors to cut the images out, but you could certainly use the dies that are included in the Holiday Mugs product suite.

After I had colored the images, I blended Sherbet Pawsitively Saturated Ink onto a white card front with the Chunky Knit stencil, continuing the autumnal vibe onto the crisp white background. I white embossed a greeting from Holiday Mugs onto a strip of black cardstock, then popped it up on my stenciled background using foam adhesive. I arranged the colored and cut images above the sentiment strip, then used a fine tipped black pen to add some “steam,” adding some Unicorn Dust fine glitter with a Quickie Glue pen for added shimmer. Finally, I finished the project off with some Mandarin Pawsitively Dazzling Gems tucked amongst the focal point to add extra sparkle!

For the second card, I stamped the darling reindeer from Holiday Mugs again on white cardstock using Rainbow Splash Black ink and colored the images with alcohol markers. I added some Unicorn Dust fine glitter with a Quickie Glue pen to the Christmas lights artfully wrapped around the handle and base of the mug for a touch of shimmer and shine! Isn’t this little mug so adorable? I need a set of them for my kitchen during the holidays!

For the background, I used some painters tape to mask off a rectangle in the center of my white card base and blended Punch ink over the entirety of the open area. While the masking tape was still in place, I placed the Christmas Star Stencil at an angle over the blended area, then blended some Cabernet Pawsitively Saturated Ink, which is a darker version of the Punch ink used for the initial blended layer, creating a pretty tone-on-tone patterned ground upon which I could build my scene once the tape was removed. I popped up the mug, candy canes, and snowman marshmallow with some foam adhesive, finally adding a white embossed greeting and some Cherry Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for added sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! These STAMPtember collaboration sets are limited edition and usually sell out very quickly, so if you’re on the fence, don’t wait too long! To sweeten the deal and make it even easier for you to shop, Heidi at Simon Says Stamp has offered free shipping for purchases over $25 for a limited time!!

This sweet set is sure to sell out quickly, so if you’re on the fence, don’t wait too long… these limited edition sets are gone forever once they sell out!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy STAMPtember!!

Epic Embossing Folder Flowers with NEW Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember products!

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

Hi friends! I am back with another project featuring some of the goooorgeous new products from the Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember release! If you haven’t heard, STAMPtember is a month-long party in which we celebrate our collective love of stamping. There are limited edition collaboration sets released nearly every day of the month that feature our favorite brands, as well as tons of fun surprises sprinkled throughout the month! Today, I am featuring one of the utterly gorgeous embossing folders that was released as part of the Simon Says Stamp brand release for this month: Delicate Blooms. I absolutely love coloring embossing folders with coloring mediums, and the depth that you can achieve with alcohol markers on these super detailed embossing folders is absolutely incredible. Let’s get started with the details!

I began my project by embossing a panel of white cardstock using the new Delicate Blooms embossing folder. I selected some rich and vivid magenta and plum Copic markers, as well as some muted bottle green markers for the gorgeous foliage. I love the combination of the opulent purple-pink of the blooms paired with the gentle greens. I used some acrylic paint markers to add the flower centers; the opacity of the acrylic markers helps the flower centers to pop from the vibrant flowers. To further enhance the subtle area around the blooms and help the vivid flowers pop, I used a blending brush to blend Aspen Pawsitively Saturated Ink around the edges. This pale shade of muted green worked beautifully to subtly enhance the greenery of the bouquet and allow those blooms to take center stage!

The new STAMPtember release has several “extras” in it, including these new Reverse You sentiment strips. All of the sentiment strips from Simon Says Stamp are super handy to have in your craft room, simply because they make adding a sentiment so efficient and simple! I find it particularly fun to pair these toner-printed sheets with toner-reactive foil and run it through my Minc machine. For the sentiment for today’s project, I used DecoFoil Rose Quartz toner-reactive foil to create a lovely, subtly metallic coordinating sentiment strip to use in conjunction with the new Fancy You die.

To finish off the greeting, I die cut the detail layer of the new Fancy You die from some Rose Gold glitter cardstock and the shadow layer from vellum. I adhered the sentiment pieces to the finished card front with some thin foam adhesive squares. I tucked a twine bow beneath the greeting to add some extra texture and finished it off with some sparkling Lilac Pawsitively Dazzling Gems.

Well, that’s all for my project today! Don’t forget that each day at noon, Eastern time, a new, limited edition STAMPtember collaboration set will be released over on the Simon Says Stamp website. It’s a surprise each day as to which company is being featured that day, so be sure to set your alarm to remember to check out the website. It’s a good idea to act quickly on purchasing these limited edition collaboration sets, because once they’re gone, they’re gone!

To sweeten the deal, Heidi has offered a fabulous deal: spend over $25 and use code FRSHP to receive free USA shipping!!! Isn’t that amazing?! Free shipping makes it so much easier to shop, doesn’t it? Offer is valid for a limited time, so take advantage while you can! I have plans to use some of the new collaboration sets later throughout the month, but I’m just going to tell you right now, there are some absolutely darling sets this year… You won’t want to miss out!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Fiery No-Line Dahlia with Simon Says Stamp!

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

Hi friends! I have a project to share with you today using one of my most favorite stamp designs that I’ve ever illustrated: Blissful Bouquet. I absolutely love using bouquet builders to create unique bouquets, and so I made sure to add lots of options for foliage and filler flowers to create interesting arrangements with the larger peony and dahlia images. Dahlias come in such a huge range of colors, and so I wanted to create a late-summer bouquet that would also work for early fall using some vivid orange, a shade that doesn’t see much love in my studio! Let’s get started with the details on my project.

I began by stamping the dahlia flower and foliage and some eucalyptus branches from the Blissful Bouquet stamp set using Contour Ink onto Hammermill white cardstock so that I could do some no-line coloring with Copic markers. I used some fiery and vibrant yellow and orange markers for the dahlia image, then used some warm greens to add color to the foliage, as well. Because the dahlia is generously sized, I was able to add a bit more dimension and depth to the main floral focal point using some colored pencils directly over the top of the alcohol marker coloring. It can be tricky to add shadows and shading to orange, for me at least, so lightly coloring the most deeply-shadowed petals with a mahogany brown colored pencil helps to create more contrast and make the flowers practically jump off of the paper!

After I had finished coloring, I die cut each of the images with the Blissful Bouquet coordinating dies and added some deep orange marker around the white die cut edges to coordinate with the orange background. I also used a white gel pen and Autumn Bronze paint marker to create the center of the dahlia. With no-line coloring, those super delicate flower centers can be a bit of a challenge, so ignoring the flower stamens on the stamped image while coloring the petals makes things a bit less tricky. I like using opaque coloring mediums over the top of the finished alcohol marker coloring to make sure that I don’t lose those details.

After I’d finished adding all of the details to the colored floral die cuts, I die cut the Thank You cover plate from some vibrant deep orange cardstock, then used a blending brush to blendAllspice Pawsitively Saturated Ink around the edges, tying in the deep mahogany pencil details to the background. I backed the die cut with some brown glitter cardstock and popped the entire panel up on another panel of the same deep orange cardstock using foam squares. I arranged the flower and foliage die cuts along the edge of the card front, overlapping the sentiment die cut slightly but leaving enough of the letters visible to make the “thank you” easily legible. I also heat embossed a coordinating greeting from Celestial Wishes using white embossing powder on the same deep orange cardstock, popping it up on the card front with more foam adhesive. Finally, I added some additional sparkle with some Mandarin Pawsitively Dazzling Gems.

This layout is so different from my typical symmetrical layouts… I kinda love it! Going to have to try it again with a different project. I hope you enjoyed this floral bridge between summer and fall. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!