Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

karin star sparks

Simon Says Stamp All the Joy Release Blog Hop- Day 1!

Hi friends! I am so excited to be a stop on today’s All the Joy blog hop-Day 1. You should have arrived here from Debby Hughes, and your next stop is Keisha Charles. You can find the full hop list here on the Simon Says Stamp Blog. The new All the Joy release is full of absolutely stunning products, including three stamp sets featuring some of my new holiday illustrations: Holiday Blossoms (which I’ve used for today’s project), Festive Bouquets (which you can see in action HERE), and Joyful Anemone (which you can check out in THIS post). I could easily buy my weight in holiday stamps and dies each year, so creating these new illustrations was truly a dream come true for me. I love flowers, and I love Christmas and the crafting that goes with it, so the combination is sublime to me! Let’s get started with the details on my project.

When illustrating these new images, I wanted to create images that were detailed enough that you didn’t have to color them if you were not inclined to do so while also being large enough that you could have a total blast coloring them! I used OLO markers for my previous two projects, and so I thought I’d switch things up a little by doing some no-line watercoloring for today’s project. I stamped my poinsettia image from Holiday Blossoms onto some Arches cold press watercolor paper using Contour Ink.

I have recently rediscovered how much I adore watercoloring with Distress Inks. By nature, they react beautifully with water and come in such a huge variety of super saturated colors. I pulled out my Distress Cubes and selected a bunch of holiday-appropriate colors: Bundled Sage, Lucky Clover, Festive Berries, Aged Mahogany, and Gathered Twigs. After taping down my watercolor panel to my watercolor board, I tapped the ink cubes onto a palette and used a damp paintbrush to pick up the color. As with regular pan paints, you can easily dilute the color with a bit of water, and the Distress Inks move exceptionally well on watercolor cardstock, making them a dream to use for images like this one, with both large, open areas and small, detailed areas!

After I’d finished watercoloring the image and allowed it to dry while still taped down (which helps to reduce warping), I pulled out a Gold Karin Star Sparks glitter gel pen and added some sparkling veins to the poinsettia. I also used the Simon Says Stamp 6″ T-Square to add a sparkly golden frame around the edge of my card front. I love adding simple frames like this to an intricately-colored image; it adds just the right highlight to your card front without adding any extra bulk and also draws your eye to the focal point. To keep the sentiment simple, I die cut the detail layer of the new All the Joy die from some Matte Gold cardstock and backed it with a heavyweight vellum outline layer. Finally, a few shimmering sequins added just a touch of glam and luxury!

Well, that’s all for my project today! (I have tons more inspiration using the new All the Joy release coming, so be sure to subscribe if you would like to see more holiday content!!) Now for some fun giveaway information:

To celebrate their new release, Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $25 coupon to every stop on the hop, selected from the blog comment section. Winners will be chosen and posted on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday the 8th of November. Winners can email Simon Says Stamp to claim their prize!!

Simon Says Stamp is also offering a Free Gift With Purchase! Simply search ssst221647 in the search box, add to cart with the rest of your selections, then enter code STAR at checkout to receive the beautiful Holy Stars Stencil for free!

That’s all for me today! Your next stop is Keisha Charles. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Adding Shimmer and Detail with Karin Star Spark Pens!

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

Hi friends! In the midst of my newfound rainbow craze using the new Rainbow Splash products from Simon Says Stamp’s STAMPtember release, I have found myself itching to get back into my more typical color palette as sort of a palate cleanser. (Don’t worry if you were enjoying the rainbows; I have more Rainbow Splash inspiration to share with you later this week!) I’ve spent most of my creative time this month creating projects that are a little more simplistic, a little more approachable, so as to be easily replicated by both new and seasoned crafters alike. Today’s project combines some simple techniques to create a really vivid, eye-catching card using the gorgeous Lilac Clusters Embossing Folder. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by running an A2 panel of Hammermill cardstock through my die cutting machine using the Lilac Clusters Embossing Folder from Simon Says Stamp. This 3D embossing folder creates such incredibly beautiful details that easily can speak for themselves on your card front. My initial instinct with these gorgeous floral folders is always to reach for my favorite coloring mediums to make as immersive and dimensional a card as possible, but today I thought I’d simplify the process and the amount of time spent by doing some ink blending. For the sky, I blended Cadette and Ocean Pawsitively Saturated inks, the combination of which creates the most luscious, summery blue sky. On the flowers themselves, I blended first Lilac ink with a larger blending brush, then blended Orchid ink with a smaller brush in some of the more shadowed places on the blooms. Using the lighter and darker inks helps to add a little extra interest and dimension to the flowers. I blended some Pearfection ink on the foliage, keeping things simple.

To accent the somewhat simplistic blended “coloring” on my lilac images, I used the new Karin Star Spark pens to add extra details to the individual flower petals, stems, and veins on the leaves. These pens are so shimmery and are basically opaque, so they make adding details on top of your stamped or colored images super easy! I accented the pretty purple blooms with a frame cut from purple foil using my favorite A2 Thin Frames dies, which I popped up using foam adhesive.

For the greeting, I used the Fancy Giving Thanks die, cutting the detail layer from deep purple cardstock and the outline background from heavyweight vellum. I also trimmed down a greeting from the Sassy T-day sentiment cards and lightly blended the strip with some residual purple ink left on my blending brush to help it work more cohesively with my super colorful card front. The final touch was a few shimmering gems for even more sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today! I hope you enjoyed this foray back into my more usual world of secondary colors (instead of primary rainbow colors, haha!). Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!