Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

free falling floral embossing folder

Distress Ink Watercoloring with Simon Says Stamp + SALE!

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

Hi friends! I am back today with another purple card, this time watercolored using Tim Holtz Distress Inks. Did you know that Tim Holtz’s Distress product line has been around for twenty years?? Isn’t that amazing? To celebrate Tim’s incredible creativity and the sheer volume of creative energy he and his products bring to the crafting community, Simon Says Stamp is celebrating the Distress product line throughout the entire year of 2024 with sales and giveaways! This month’s focus is the OG: Distress Inks. These inks can be used for so many different purposes, but my favorite way to use them is watercoloring. I love my fancy watercolors, for sure, but the color palette on the Distress Ink line is absolutely divine and makes color selection so easy without having to worry about mixing to create custom colors and running out. I paired Distress Inks with an older-but-still-gorgeous embossing folder for today’s purple project, so let’s get started with the details!

To start my project, I ran a panel of Distress A2 Watercolor Paper through my die cutting machine using the beautiful Free Falling Floral Embossing Folder. The super sturdy and bright white Distress Watercolor Paper holds up beautifully with embossing folders, and you can use either the textured or smooth side! After I had embossed the panel with the pretty floral pattern, I used Shaded Lilac, Wilted Violet, Villainous Potion, Bundled Sage, Iced Spruce, and Pine Needles Distress Inks to watercolor the flowers. When watercoloring with Distress Inks, I like to tap the mini ink pads onto a palette (I have a beautiful ceramic palette for this purpose) and then pick up the color with my damp paintbrush. Picking up the color from the palette with the paintbrush allows me to control the level of intensity for the color, which helps me to achieve those deep shadows as well as the crisp, light highlights.

When watercoloring embossing folder images, I treat it like I would any no-line watercoloring: keep the wet sections separate. Working in sections allows the wet spots to dry and retain their crisp edges and high contrast when working with the area immediately adjacent. After I had finished watercoloring the images, I did go back in with some white gouache to tidy up some of the edges of the petals and add some brighter highlights on the leaves. I also added some sparkling glitter watercolors to the flower centers for added luxury and textural interest!

For the greeting, I die cut the detail layer of the Simple Hello die from some champagne-colored Luxe Glitter Classic Assortment Cardstock and the shadow layer from vellum, adhering the two with liquid adhesive and added some thin strips of clear dimensional adhesive on the back. I also used a sentiment from the Birthday Mail sentiment card set, which I had foiled using Simon Says Stamp Rose Gold Deco Foil and my Minc machine. I popped up the sentiment strip with some foam squares, then added a few lavender-blue gems for added sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today! Now, for the SALE information!!!

Simon Says Stamp is offering 20% off on Distress Inks throughout the month of June 2024!! This includes Oxides and reinkers, so if you’ve been wanting to stock up on reinkers or if there are colors you’ve missed, this is an excellent opportunity. Simply add the items included in the sale to your cart, then use code DSTR20 to take 20% off! You can click HERE to see everything included in the sale!

I have one more project with a purple theme to share with you, so stay tuned later this week. 🙂 Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Simon Say Stamp Season of Wonder Blog Hop-Day 1!

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

Hi friends! I am so excited to be a stop on Day 1 of the two day Season of Wonder Release Blog Hop for Simon Says Stamp! You should have arrived here from Suzy Plantamura, and your next stop is Lisa Addesa. You can also start back at the Simon Says Stamp Blog in case you get lost. This month’s Season of Wonder release is filled with stunning, classic autumn and holiday imagery, and I’ve used a few different products to create these two vibrant holiday cards. Let’s get started with the details!

I am a sucker for a gorgeous floral embossing folder, and the new Free Falling Floral Embossing Folder is an absolute stunner. I began by running an A2 sized panel of Hammermill cardstock through my die cutting machine, which was lovely on its own, but I couldn’t resist using my Copic markers to do some no-line coloring on the pretty flowers. I wanted to create a holiday floral background, so I decided to make them a deep red with beautiful jewel bright greenery to emote that holiday aesthetic. I added some white gel pen to the tips of the black stamens, adding a bit more texture and dimension to the image.

For the greeting, I kept things very simple, die cutting the detail layer of the Fancy Tidings of Cheer die from some Black Glitter Paper Basics by Hero Arts and the larger outline layer from Heavyweight Vellum. I popped the sentiment up with some foam tape, allowing it to hang slightly over the edge. I love the decadent feeling that little extra hanging off creates on your card!

To add to the festive feel and add another element of texture to the super textured and detailed card front, I tied a cherry red twine bow and tucked it beneath the sentiment at a jaunty angle. Finally, I added some more shine with some Onyx gems. I love the simplicity and crazy amount of texture on this card!

My second card features the darling new Deck the Halls set designed by my friend Alberto Gava! His illustrations are so adorable and really capture such a sweet attitude. I tend to try to keep my holiday cards a bit simpler, preferring a more graphic style rather than building a detailed scene, but I couldn’t resist creating a sweet holiday scene, perhaps a group of cousins decorating grandma’s Christmas tree. I stamped the images from Deck the Halls onto a panel of Hammermill using Hero Arts Contour Ink, then used my Copic markers to color the image.

In order to create the baubles on the tree, I used shimmery Star Spark Pens to color little glittering circles on the tree. I love that these pens are opaque enough that they can be layered over the top of colorful cardstock or coloring. I also used the Star Spark Pens to add sparkly details to the bows on the gifts! Once I had finished adding my shimmering details, I adhered clear droplet baubles over the top of the glittery circles to create a 3D effect on the tree. I think it adds such a fun textural element to the scene!

After I had finished coloring and die cutting, I used the Soft Plaid Background with Hero Arts Iridescent Blue embossing powder to heat emboss a subtle pattern on the 5″ square card front. This gorgeous embossing powder creates beautiful, subtle shimmer, perfect for allowing the colorful holiday die cuts to be the star of the show! For the greeting, I stamped the large calligraphy sentiment and sentiment block using Altenew Obsidian pigment ink, then covered it with clear embossing powder to make them nice and crisp. I die cut the embossed sentiments, then adhered all of the die cuts on the embossed background panel using both liquid and foam adhesive. Such a fun and festive card, perfect for a special friend or family member!!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! To celebrate the Simon Says Stamp Season of Wonder release, Simon Says Stamp is doing a special gift with purchase promotion:

Simply enter code HOLLY at checkout to receive the Graceful Holly 3D embossing folder with any $25 or more purchase. This gift with purchase will expire 10/8 at 11:59 pm EDT. While supplies last.

Simon Says Stamp is also sponsoring a $25 coupon giveaway at each stop on the hop! Leave a comment at each stop on the hop for maximum opportunities to win. Winners will be announced on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday the 11th of October. Winners should email Simon Says Stamp to claim his/her prize 🙂

Your next stop on the hop is Lisa Addesa. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and don’t forget to check the Simon Says Stamp blog tomorrow for Day 2 of the hop! Happy hopping!