Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

craft your life

Altenew 10th Anniversary Blog Hop Day 1 + Giveaway (over $3,500 in Total Prizes)

Hi friends! I am so excited to be part of Day 1 for Altenew’s Tenth Anniversary Blog Hop!! How thrilling is that? What a fantastic milestone! I have loved Altenew’s designs for almost as long as they’ve been around, and so being a part of their design team for the last three years has been nothing short of a dream come true. You should have arrived here from the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog, and your next stop is Svitlana Shayevich. You can also start at the beginning over at the Altenew Blog. (I highly encourage you to start at the beginning, because there are masses upon masses of prizes to be had throughout the hop!!) I have two projects to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

When I was perusing my Altenew bins to figure out which products to use for today’s hop, I realized that I had not put the incredibly lovely Craft Your Life Project Kit: Graceful Gardenia to use yet. These kits come with such wonderful coordinating products, from traditional stamps and dies to embossing folders and coordinating stencils that work with both the stamps and the embossing folder images. I employed some of my most favorite of the new Fresh Dye Inks and the new Firewood Garden alcohol markers to create these pretty pink cards. The embossing folders are great to use as a focal point or to add texture to the background!

For my first project, I started by embossing a panel of white cardstock using the embossing folder from the Craft Your Life Project Kit: Graceful Gardenia kit. I then used some of the colors from the Dried Petals Fresh Dye Ink set to blend around the edge of the card front. Embossing the panel first and then ink blending over the top enhances the incredible embossed details. To further enhance the details, I swiped the Cloud White pigment ink pad over the raised areas to help them stand out even more.

On top of my embossed background, I die cut a large scale sentiment from the new Timeless Sentiments 2 die set using the Rhodolite Garnet glitter paper from the Pink Brilliance Glitter Gradient cardstock set. I enhanced the die cut sentiment with some sparkly, shimmery flowers from the Lovely Floral Hat die set, which I cut with some specialty papers, including more Rhodolite Garnet glitter paper and some iridescent white mirror paper, paired with vellum foliage. I tucked a greeting from the One Go Sentiments Bundle around the glitter die cut sentiment and arranged the flowers and foliage around the sentiment. Finally, I added a few shimmering gems for sparkle!

For my second project, I used one of my favorite techniques with embossing folders: alcohol marker coloring! The Craft Your Life Project Kit: Graceful Gardenia kit comes complete with dies that coordinate with both the stamped image as well as the embossed image. I die cut the floral image that coordinated with the embossing folder using the correct die, then lined it up on the embossing folder and ran it through my die cutting machine. I then used the Firewood Garden alcohol markers to add lots of vibrant color to the embossed image. I am always amazed at how much dimension you can achieve when you combine coloring with the embossed images!!

Because this embossed, colored image was on such a large scale, I decided to create an A7 card. I trimmed down an A7 card front, then masked the edges with Satin Masking Tape and blended some mauve inks around the edges using inks from the Dried Petals Fresh Dye Ink set. While the masking tape was still in place on my card front, I used the stamps included in the Graceful Gardenia kit to stamp a tone-on-tone background around the corner of my masked area. I also splattered the blended and stamped background with some metallic watercolors for added texture and shimmer. I removed the masking tape around the edges, revealing a crisp white frame around my blended background. I popped up the embossed colored sentiment with some foam adhesive, then added a glittery greeting cut from the Sweet Sentiments set and an ethereal vellum sentiment from the new One Go: Words & Banners set. I finished the project off with a few sparkling gems!!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Now for tons of fun giveaway information:

Over $3,500 in total prizes! We are giving away a $50 Altenew gift certificate to 10 winners, a $20 ArtistrybyAltenew gift certificate to 5 winners, and an online papercrafting class($39.99 value) from Altenew Academy Online Class to 14 winners. There are also 28 awesome companies/crafty friends who are celebrating with us, and they are offering the following prizes:

Be sure to leave comments by 04/16/2024 for a chance to win one of 68 prizes! To make the hop more exciting, start your comment with “Hi from (city or country where you’re from)!” 68 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 04/19/2024.

Anniversary Special Offers

  • 20% Off Crafter’s Must-Have: Stampwheel on 04/01/2024 from 12:01 am EDT until 11:59 pm EDT. Shop here: https://altenew.com/products/stampwheel
  • Receive a FREE Zip ‘n’ Stash – Teal (1/pack) ($6.99 value) on orders over $69 on 04/01/2024 from 12:01 am EDT until 11:59 pm EDT. While supplies last, the free gift will be added to your cart automatically. Shop here → https://altenew.com/
  • Plus, get FREE U.S. shipping on orders over $29 (no code needed) or $10 OFF international shipping on orders over $129 with code HAPPY10TH at checkout. Valid from 04/01/2024 at 12:01 am EDT until 04/05/2024 at 11:59 pm EDT. Not valid on prior purchases. Shop here → https://altenew.com/

Here’s the full hop list in case you get lost:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Altenew March 2023 Marvelous Monthly Series Release Blog Hop #1 + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

Good morning! Today, the folks at Altenew are hopping along to celebrate the newest Marvelous Monthly release for March, 2023! These monthly subscription series are always such fun and a great value, providing so many different elements to create a huge variety of stunning cards. I have two cards to share with you today, featuring the new Build-A-Garden: Dancing Poppies and Craft Your Life Project Kit: Delicate Garden. Here’s a peek at the two different sets that I’ll be using today:

I love that you receive so many different elements in each kit so that you can mix and match, depending on what kind of coloring medium (or none at all!) that you feel like using that day! If you are loving these kits as much as I am, you can always SUBSCRIBE to be sure that you receive a kit each month (and at a discount!). Let’s get started on the details for my projects today!

I love the juxtaposition of crisp black accents and softly colored flowers, and it was this color combination that I had in mind when creating both of these cards. I used Spicy Yogurt cardstock with coral, peach, and mint with intense black accents to create this pair of cards!

For my first card, I stamped the images from Dancing Poppies onto some watercolor paper using Obsidian pigment ink, then clear embossed over the top, which helps to add a level of crispness to the stamping. I used the Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor Set to add some soft pinky coral to the poppy flowers and some pale minty green to the leaves. I used the one-and-done die to die cut all of the watercolored flowers.

For the background, I wanted to highlight those shiny black lines and dramatic black centers on the watercolored poppies, so I layered together the Rattan Stripes Cover Die twice from some black cardstock, then the Garden Trellis cover plate cut once from black cardstock, to create this unique, super textured, layered background. I adhered all three pieces to a Spicy Yogurt cardstock base using liquid adhesive.

For the greeting, I die cut the “thanks” Sweet Sentiment dies from black and Spicy Yogurt cardstock to coordinate nicely with the creamy background and the watercolor paper itself. I arranged the flowers on my rattan card front, popping them up with Instant Dimension Foam Tape, then added the greeting at the bottom. The final step was to add some gems for sparkle!

My second project features the stunning new Craft Your Life Project Kit: Delicate Garden. I began by stamping all of the floral images in the stamp set using Obsidian pigment ink, then clear embossed over the top to again create those super crisp black lines on my white cardstock. I used the coordinating stencils included in the kit to do some subtle, soft ink blending, creating peachy and minty bouquets using Strawberry, Pink Pearl, Coral Bliss, and Coral Berry inks for the flowers, and Green Meadows inks for the foliage. I die cut all of the blended flowers using the coordinating dies, included with the kit.

I loved each of the floral bouquets so much that I couldn’t bear to leave one off of the card, so I expanded my canvas and created a slimline card front to display them all properly! I created the base from more Spicy Yogurt cardstock, then die cut a large Nesting Slim Labels panel, upon which I stamped some of the floral bouquets again using Obsidian pigment ink, then clear embossed over the top. I popped up the embossed label die cut on the slimline card front using some more Instant Dimension Foam Tape, then arranged the blended florals in a pretty swag down the front of the card. I adhered the bouquet with more foam tape, to create a double layer of foam tape along the edges of the die cut. So much height!

I heat embossed the greetings from the Delicate Garden using the Obsidian and clear embossing powder combination, then fussy cut them with my sharp scissors. I popped those images up from the card front using yet another layer of foam tape, for a grand total of three layers of foam tape in the center of the card! Definitely a card to be hand delivered or placed inside a package, ha. Finally, I added a few black crystals for one last pop of black and touch of sparkle.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Now for some fun giveaway information:

$300+ in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a FULL RELEASE BUNDLE to 1 grand prize winner and a $25 gift certificate to 4 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by March 23, 2023 for a chance to win.Altenew will draw 5 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on March 24, 2023. *The grand prize winner will be chosen from comments left on the Altenew Card Blog.

Here’s the full hop list:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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

Altenew November 2022 Marvelous Monthly Series Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

Hi there! Altenew just released their beautiful new additions to the Marvelous Monthly family, and we are hopping along to share tons of inspiration with you today! You should have arrived here from Seeka, and your next stop is Sadia Ashraf. You can also start at the beginning at the Altenew Blog. I have projects to share with you today using the new Craft A Flower Sulfur Cosmos and Craft Your Life: Bewitching Rose series installments, so let’s get started with the details!

I kept the color palette for both of my projects for today relatively simple: bright, crisp white with pops of beautiful, intense mauve and emerald green.

My first project features the new Craft A Flower Sulfur Cosmos. I die cut the layers for the flowers twice from some dusty rose cardstock, then used a blending tool to lightly blend Midnight Violet ink around the edges to add some extra depth of color to the flowers. I adhered the layers all together using liquid adhesive, adding a golden yellow die cut center for each flower. I also die cut some emerald foliage using the coordinating foliage dies, on which I lightly blended some Hunter Green to add more depth to these otherwise-flat die cuts.

For the background, I used one of my most favorite cover plate dies: Circle Quilt. This die adds the loveliest, most subtle texture to a floral background, especially when used with tone-on-tone color schemes. It almost looks like an embossing folder! I layered the white die cut on a white A2 card base using liquid adhesive.

I arranged the die cut flowers on a vellum tag die cut, cut from the Terrific Tags die set. I added a white raffia twine bow to the hole on the tag, then popped up the floral tag die cuts on the textured card front using foam adhesive. I added a greeting from the Sweet Sentiments hot foil plate and die set, which I had hot foiled using charcoal foil. I nestled it amongst the foliage on my card front, then popped it up using more foam tape, creating a double layer of foam tape to give it extra height. The final touch was some coordinating metallic charcoal gemstones for more shine!

My second project features the beautiful new Craft Your Life: Bewitching Rose. What’s not to love about an enormous stamped bouquet, especially when it features this beautiful rose image that’s so fun to color? I stamped the main image on some A2 sized white cardstock, offsetting it so that it would cut off on one side, then used Rock Garden markers to add that beautiful mauve to the rose. I die cut the finished image with the coordinating die, which is included in the Craft Your Life: Bewitching Rose kit.

For the card base, I used the incredibly beautiful 3D embossing folder included in the Craft Your Life: Bewitching Rose kit. I made sure that the embossed area would extend beyond my colored and die cut image to add extra texture and detail to the area behind my colorful bouquet. I popped up my bouquet die cut over the top of the center of the embossed area using foam adhesive, allowing just the embossed foliage to peek out from behind the colorful die cut.

I added a greeting from Craft Your Life: Bewitching Rose, stamped on a strip of white cardstock using black ink, then popped up using a double layer of foam tape. I added a few shiny black gems to coordinate with the black stamped images and to add a bit of shine to this almost entirely-matte card front.

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

$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 November 20, 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 November 21, 2022.

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

Altenew September 2022 Marvelous Monthly Series Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

Hi there! Altenew’s new Marvelous Monthly series sets for September are now available, and we’re hopping along to celebrate! You should have arrived here from Dana Joy and your next stop is Kelly Taylor. You can also start back at the Altenew Card Blog to start from the beginning! I have two projects featuring some cheerful sky blue, bright pink, and rose gold to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

Both of my projects feature some beautiful sky blue backgrounds, with beautiful, feminine rose gold metallic accents. I love how the bright blue backgrounds and feminine pinks make the pretty florals from the Build-A-Garden Pristine Peonies and Craft Your Life Project Kit: Floral Acanthus pop!

To start, I heat embossed the large floral image from Build-A-Garden Pristine Peonies using some Golden Peach embossing powder and colored the images using Sunshine Valley Artist Markers. I die cut the image with the coordinating Pristine Peonies add-on die.

I die cut a Nesting Slim Rectangles die from some beautiful robin’s egg blue cardstock, embossing another of the floral images from Build-A-Garden Pristine Peonies in the corner. I blended a bit of Turquoise ink over the top to highlight it, then added some rose gold watercolor splatters. I popped it up on a full size slimline card base with some foam tape, then added a Fancy Hugs greeting cut from some Brushed Rose Metallic Cardstock. A few rose gold gems helped finish it off!

My second card features the beautifully detailed embossing folder from the Craft Your Life Project Kit: Floral Acanthus kit. I ran the embossing folder through my die cut machine using some more of that gorgeous turquoise cardstock. Then, I swiped my embossing inkpad over the raised embossed areas and sprinkled more Golden Peach embossing powder over the top. This highlights the stunning detail in the embossing folder! I also blended a bit of Turquoise ink around the edges to help highlight the embossed area even more.

For the greeting, I used the hugs die included in the Craft Your Life Project Kit: Floral Acanthus kit. I die cut the outline from some heavyweight vellum, while I cut the more intricate sentiment layer from some Brushed Rose Metallic Cardstock. I added a couple of sentiment strips from the Craft Your Life Project Kit: Floral Acanthus stamp set, heat embossed using more Golden Peach embossing powder. I popped up the greetings on the embossed card front using foam tape, then added some more rose gold gems to finish it off. I love how beautifully each of the elements included in the Craft Your Life Project Kit: Floral Acanthus kit work together *and* separately!

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

$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 09/18/2022 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 09/19/2022.

Your next stop is Kelly Taylor. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Altenew July 2022 Marvelous Monthly Series Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in total prizes)

Hi there! Altenew is releasing a slew of stunning new products today for the July Marvelous Monthly release! You should have arrived here from Soraya Maes, and your next stop is Karen Brown. You can always start back at the beginning at the Altenew Blog in case you get lost. I created a pair of cool lilac and lavender cards with beautiful rose gold metallic accents using the new Build A Garden: Tulip and Friends and the new Craft Your Life Project Kit Always Sunshine. Let’s get started with the details!

For both projects, I heat embossed the images onto Altenew Watercolor Paper using Golden Peach embossing powder. The lovely, subtle metallic embossing powder is a beautiful complement to the shades of cool lilac, lavender, and hydrangea blue watercoloring, which I painted using the Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor Set.

My first project features the jaw-dropping new Craft Your Life Project Kit: Always Sunshine. I have been having a lot of fun trying to mix and match the incredibly vivid, vibrant colors in the Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor Set to create more muted, but equally intense, color palettes. For this project, I created a cool lilac, raspberry, and hydrangea blue color palette by adding touches of diluted black to my color palettes. This slightly tones down the vibrancy of the colors while still allowing them to be beautifully intense. I taped an A2 panel down to my watercoloring board, then spritzed it with a light mist of clean water and dropped the colors that I’d mixed up on my palette onto the wet watercolor paper to create this beautiful background. I kept dropping and swirling the colors until I was satisfied with the background. I allowed the piece to air dry while still taped to the board to minimize warping. After it was dry, I splattered some rose gold metallic watercolors in the background to further continue the artistic feel of the background and tie into the rose gold heat embossing.

I had already heat embossed the image from Craft Your Life Project Kit: Always Sunshine onto the corner of an A2 watercolor paper card front so that I knew exactly where to place it. The large size of the main image allows you to maneuver it at different angles to create tons of different looks. I also heat embossed another little sprig of greenery in the leftover space of the watercolor panel so that I could have some ivy dripping down behind the main bouquet. I watercolored the heat embossed and die cut images using the same color palette that was used for the background.

I adhered the finished watercolored images to the watercolored card front using foam adhesive, tucking the extra sprig of greenery behind the main floral arrangement using liquid adhesive. I also die cut a frame from some Brushed Rose Metallic Cardstock using the Fine Frames die set. I added a rose gold embossed greeting from the kit, matting the sentiment strip with some more metallic rose gold cardstock. The colors and layout of this card with the vibrant florals just dripping down the front make this card seem so dramatic to me!

My second project features the new Build A Garden: Tulip and Friends stamps. This set comes with coordinating layered stencils, but I was having one of those days where the watercolors were working exactly how I wanted them to work, so I just went with it. I heat embossed the image twice on my A2 panel of watercolor cardstock, again using rose gold embossing powder. I love how subtle this embossing powder is with the bright blues and greens and purples of the finished card. Just enough pink to warm the cool color palette up a little!

Once I had heat embossed the images, I used some 1″ wide washi tape to mask off around the edges of the entire card front, covering some of the embossed images. I used that washi tape to create a frame around the edge of my card and created a Monet-inspired background of blue, purple, and a couple of touches of lime green.

I removed the washi tape around the edges after the center section had dried completely, then watercolored the hydrangeas and greenery, leaving the tulips for last. I wanted the tulips to be very light in color, and it helps me to keep perspective on how many shadows and how much pigment I’m adding to the image if the areas surrounding it are darker and more vibrant. I added very diluted mixture of pink, purple, and black to just the areas of the tulip that were near the base and curled over in the shadows, smoothing the edges and pulling them out with lots of water to keep some of the white card base shining through. I finished the project off with a few sentiment strips, heat embossed in rose gold on some strips of white cardstock, and popped up using foam adhesive.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! I’m marginally obsessed with this color palette and want to watercolor everything in these shades. Now for some fun giveaway information!

$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 07/18/2022 for a chance to win.

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