Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

graceful holiday greetings

Peace and Joy in Pink and Blue with Simon Says Stamp + Thanksgiving Day SALE!

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

Hi friends! I am back with another project using a gorgeous new embossing folder from the Festive Fun release. Simon Says Stamp does these 3D embossing folders so beautifully, with incredible details making the texture absolutely unreal. I love that these embossing folders can work with so very many techniques, depending on what mood you’re in: detailed coloring, simple watercolor, ink swiping, ink blending… the possibilities are endless! As soon as I saw the stunning Wooded Cabin embossing folder, I immediately saw a bright, lightly blended winter sunrise with lots of glittery details. I put that vision in my mind’s eye down on paper and am thrilled with the shimmery, crisp result. Let’s get started on 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!*

I started by running a panel of plain white cardstock through my die cutting machine using the Wooded Cabin Embossing Folder. The impact that these deeply etched embossing folders make is truly unmatched; the designers at Simon have incredible skill at getting those details absolutely perfect. They are beautiful even without any further embellishment! I wanted to create one of those icy winter mornings when the sun hasn’t quite reached the horizon and the whole world is still peaceful and quiet, so I pulled out the new Pastel Pink and Blue Pigment Ink and did some light ink blending around the top of the embossed panel, fading away to white as I got closer to the bottom of the panel.

When working with textured white images, I like to enhance the details with some shimmering accents, so that the minimalistic color palette does not diminish the details. To achieve this, I first used some shimmering iridescent watercolors (the ones that I used are handmade, but I linked some similar in the link list at the bottom of the post) to enhance some of the details where the snow would be thickest, like the roof, snow drifts, tops of the trees, etc., then added some Nuvo Fresh Snowfall glitter accents. I used the tip of my die piercing tool to move the glitter accents around, allowing them to taper off naturally so that they were not in an unsightly glob.

While I allowed the glittery accents to dry, I stamped one of the greetings from the Graceful Holiday Greetings stamp set using the same Pastel Pink ink, then adding some Hero Arts Iridescent Blue embossing powder over the top to create a coordinating iridescent greeting. I popped the sentiment up with some foam adhesive squares, then added a trio of Opal Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for a bit more sparkle. I love the impact that these shimmery, iridescent details add to this relatively simple card. They truly heighten the textures and help the embossed image to come to life!

Well, that’s all for my project today. Now, for an incredible SALE!!!

Simon Says Stamp is offering a whopping 30% off any Simon Says Stamp Brand products today only. This is an incredible savings, and a perfect time to stock up on some of your favorite things or maybe some things (like stamps + coordinating die sets!) you’ve had your eye on but on which you haven’t yet pulled the trigger!! Some of my favorites: my new Old Fashioned Christmas set + dies, Poinsettia Swag + dies, Holiday Blossoms + dies, Festive Bouquets stamps + dies, the last two of which were released last year but are just so pretty!!

This is also a great opportunity to stock up on some essential dies that you can use practically daily like I do! Some favorites: A2 Nesting Frames dies, A7 Nesting Frames dies, the Double Plaid Cover Plate Die, the Perfect Bow die, the Large Happy Birthday die, the Aurora Blooms dies, and the Gift Bag Die, perfect for teacher gifts!

You also can’t miss out on the Pawsitively Saturated Gradient Ink Sets, Pawsitively Dazzling Gems (these are made of glass and have an insane amount of sparkle-they make an incredible impact on your cards!), and the Rose Gold Metallic Mirror Cardstock. This is such a generous sale, such a great opportunity to stock up!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a very Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your day is filled with love and yummy treats!

Belated Songs of the Season: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

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

Hi friends! I know that I am a couple of days late for this month’s installment of Songs of the Season, but Thanksgiving and all of the family festivities surrounding it made me lose track of the date! This month, I’ve created a project using one of my all-time favorite holiday songs as inspiration: “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” from Meet Me In St. Louis. As someone who grew up 20 minutes outside of St. Louis, this movie has always been dear to my heart. It follows the Smith family right at the turn of the 20th century, when, and I quote, St. Louis was “the center of the entire universe!” for the 1904 World’s Fair. The movie takes place over the course of a full year, but somehow, I feel like it is a Christmas movie. The moment when John Truitt surprises Esther behind the Christmas tree at the ball in his tuxedo and they gracefully waltz out together will never not give me butterflies. Esther’s elegant ruby red velvet dress, large silky hairbows, and touches of sparkle seemed to me to be the height of holiday elegance as a child who loved playing dress up and watching historical movies for the fashion as much as for the story.

You can watch the scene with Judy Garland’s classic version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” above or HERE on YouTube. For my card, I tried to pull in several different textural and thematic elements present in the scene: the luxurious red velvet, the silky coat, the snowflakes, the holiday greenery adorning the house, etc.

Today’s card finally gave me an excuse to use a technique that I’ve had in my head for over a year: shiny red foiled snowflakes on Simon Says Stamp Rich Red Matte Metallic foil cardstock. I used shiny Red Glimmer foil to hot foil the Trinity Frosty Foiled Plates snowflakes onto an A2 panel of Rich Red Matte Metallic foil cardstock. The contrast between the shiny foiled snowflakes and the super smooth, brushed red foil cardstock is just enough to create a subtle texture and pattern on the background panel. I am totally in love with this technique and want to try it on everything!!

Throughout the movie, the young ladies adorn their coiffures with huge bows, as was the style in 1904. To emulate this, I die cut the Giant Gift Bow die from Pawsitively Velvet red cardstock, popping up the top layer with foam adhesive to give extra dimension and create a shadow to allow it to be more visible. I also die cut some foliage from the Berry Stems dies, arranging them behind the bow to create a festive, elegant, and traditional holiday greenery arrangement.

After I had finished arranging the bow and greenery, I heat embossed a greeting from the Graceful Holiday Greetings set onto some heavyweight vellum using white embossing powder. I popped the greeting up with clear foam adhesive, nestling it amongst the holiday foliage. Finally, I added a few sparkling red gems for one last elegant touch of sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project for this month’s Songs of the Season. I can’t believe that Christmas is less than a month away! The Songs of the Season series won’t be going anywhere, though, because I love Christmas no matter what month it is. 🙂

Just a reminder: you can get this absolutely adorable freebie with any $25 purchase of Tim Holtz brand products. Here’s a little tag that I created using Walter:

Isn’t he just the cutest? This set is only available at Simon Says Stamp while supplies last, so don’t wait! If you’re new to Tim Holtz, I can’t recommend the Distress Inks highly enough. They are water reactive and marvelous for watercoloring, so if you’re a colorist like me, you definitely ought to check them out. The color palette is wide-ranging and so, so beautiful.

Well, that’s all for me today. Thanks so much for stopping by, and be sure to check back later this week as we dive in headfirst for DieCember! It’s going to be an amazing month! Have a marvelous day!

Holiday Lilies with Simon Says Stamp!

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

Hi friends! I am back today with another project featuring the lily stamp from my new Festive Bouquets illustrations. When researching flowers for my drawing, I always look at different floral arrangements for weddings and holidays, and I was struck by how frequently large lilies are used in holiday bouquets. I couldn’t remember ever seeing a holiday lily stamp before, so I created a large arrangement to use on your holiday cards and was super fun to color!! Let’s get started with the details on my project.

I began by stamping the lily image from the Festive Bouquets stamp set onto some Hammermill white cardstock using Intense Black ink. I then used OLO markers to create vivid red, almost a bright coral, lilies and lime green foliage. This image would be beautiful in no-line style, as well, but I think that the crisp black lines with the vivid red flowers are such a classic pairing that I couldn’t resist using it for this project. I die cut the image with the coordinating die.

To add some subtle, but still festive, texture behind my floral bouquet, I ran an A2 panel of Hammermill white cardstock through my die cut machine using the new Twining Berries embossing folder. This embossing folder has such classic holiday botanical imagery and added such lovely texture behind my floral bouquet. The only enhancement that I made was to add some shimmering gold watercolor splatters to the embossed panel, though this panel would also be gorgeous colored with your choice of medium!! I added my floral bouquet to the bottom corner of my card front and trimmed off the excess from the edges. To coordinate with the gold splatters on the background, I also added some shimmering gold to the centers of the lilies.

For the sentiment, I heat embossed a greeting from the Graceful Holiday Greetings set onto some black cardstock using gold sparkle embossing powder. I die cut the greeting with the coordinating die, then added a sentiment strip from the CZ Design Typed Christmas Sentiment Strips cards. These cards are printed with toner, so they can be foiled using a Minc or a laminator. Such fun to add that little extra bit of shine! I popped up the greeting pieces on the embossed card front using foam adhesive, then added a few iridescent red gems for extra sparkle.

Well, that’s all for my project today! Simple, elegant, and lots of shimmer and shine to make it extra festive. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!