Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

lined love you

Sunset Valentines For Guys with New Simon Says Stamp!

This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon! *I have gathered links to all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience, using affiliate links at no extra cost to you. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*

Hi friends! I am back with some non-traditional valentines today that are perfect for that persnickety “man’s man” in your life, one who might not love flowers and lace on his valentine! My husband isn’t too bothered by feminine imagery, but he absolutely loves sunsets and has asked me for years to create a watercolored sunset painting for him. I thought this would be a perfect visual to incorporate into his valentine using some of the new goodies from the Heart to Heart Release from Simon Says Stamp (click HERE to check out the entire release!). Let’s get started on the details!

My projects evolved from this leftover watercolored ombré background. I had an extra background from some experimenting that I had been doing, and thought that it would make a perfect sunset valentine for my husband! I knew that I wanted to incorporate stamped hearts, so I selected Pawsitively Saturated Inks in shades of Shell, Lilac, Eucalyptus, and Morning and stamped a bunch of solid heart images using the new Tons of Hearts stamps, then cut them out with their coordinating dies.

For my first project, I started by using the shadow die from the new Love Our Story sentiment die set to cut a window in a panel of white A2 cardstock. I then backed that window with some vellum and added an iridescent white die cut “love our story” detail cut, created with iridescent mirror gloss cardstock. To add a little extra interest, I filled the area behind the vellum window with the new Lavender Hearts Embellishment to create a fun shaker card!

I created a visual cascade down the card front with some of the stamped solid hearts, working in rainbow order from pink to green, and filling in some of the gaps with sparkling white glitter die cuts created using the Tons of Hearts Frames dies. I popped some up with thin foam adhesive, then used liquid glue to adhere the glittering hearts. The final touch was a few sparkling Opal Pawsitively Dazzling Gems! The white space, the muted colors, the shaker component… I think this is a great valentine for a not-super-mushy kind of guy!

This card features the watercolored background that started both of today’s projects. It was from this background that I selected the ink colors to use with the solid stamped hearts with Pawsitively Saturated Inks in shades of Shell, Lilac, Eucalyptus, and Morning. I used some of the leftover stamped hearts from the first card, as well as a die cut Lined Love You. I die cut the shadow of the sentiment die cut using Simon Says Stamp Shimmer Vellum, then cut the detail sentiment layer from some iridescent white mirror cardstock. I love the subtle iridescent shimmer that it brings to the card!

Before I started arranging the die cuts on the watercolored background, I used some sparkling mica watercolors to splatter some shimmer on the background. The color fading from warm blush to muted turquoise definitely puts me in mind of a Caribbean sunset, so I had to add some water “sparkles”! After the splatters were dried, I used clear dimensional adhesive to add the sentiment die cut to the center of the watercolor panel, then tucked stamped hearts in a variety of sizes, as well as a few standalone glitter heart die cuts. Finally, I added a few Opal Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for some added sparkle and texture!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Do you find it easy to make valentines for the guys in your life? I have three boys so I’m going to have to keep working on this genre!! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

A Neon Twofer Using the New Smitten Release from Simon Says Stamp!

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

Hi friends! Have you taken a peek at the new Simon Says Stamp Smitten release yet? It’s full of goodies perfect for making cards to show those you love how much you care!! I have a pair of projects featuring several of the new goodies from the Smitten release. I am still loving my Christmas cardmaking supplies (there are never enough hours in the day to finish all of the ideas that flit through my brain!) but it was super refreshing to pull out some pretty spring time colors. I did tons of ink blending to create this pair of happy cards. Let’s get started with the details!

For both of my projects today, I based my color palette around the colors in the Be Mine sequins. I brought the baggie of sparkling sequins over to my ink wall and pulled out three colors to perfectly coordinate with the sequins: Princess and Canary Rainbow Splash inks and Peachy Pawsitively Saturated ink. I love these colors together; they create the most beautiful neon sunset ombré.

My first card is a sweet shaker card. I ink blended two different panels with blending brushes, using the Princess and Canary Rainbow Splash inks and Peachy Pawsitively Saturated ink color combination for both panels. I wanted to do a layered shaker card, but wanted to keep the color palette continuous throughout the project, so I kept the ink blending the same proportions for both panels. To create the shaker window, I die cut the “bubble” layer of the new Lined Love You die from the center of one of the ombré panels and backed it with acetate. Then, I die cut the sentiment’s detail layer from Simon Says Stamp’s Luxe Glitter Cardstock and adhered it to the center of the acetate window. To create the shaker, I added one long line of foam adhesive around the back open window and filled it with the new Be Mine sequins. It’s delightfully sparkly… and who doesn’t love a shaker, right?

To accent the pretty sentiment and sparkling shaker, I die cut lots of flowers from the whimsical new Plentiful Petals die set. I cut the images from both white cardstock and iridescent white mirror cardstock, using the same Princess, Canary, and Peachy inks to blend some coordinating color to the white cardstock die cuts. I added the flowers and foliage to the card front, nestling them around the sentiment with both liquid and foam adhesive, then embellished the centers of each flower with some sparkling yellow gems. Such a happy, shiny card!

My second project started with the “leftover” bubble die cut, which created the shaker window for my first project. I blended another panel of the using the Princess and Canary Rainbow Splash inks and Peachy Pawsitively Saturated ink color combination to coordinate with the leftover die cut piece, then ran that panel through my die cut machine using the Cascading Hearts embossing folder. I enhanced this pattern by gently swiping a white pigment ink pad over the raised areas, adding a subtle, still-somewhat-transparent white accent to the pattern.

I die cut the detail layer of the Lined Love You die set from some more iridescent white mirror cardstock and adhered it to the center of the “leftover” bubble layer using liquid adhesive. I popped the sentiment die cut up on my embossed background panel using foam adhesive, then added some more Plentiful Petals flowers and foliage around the sentiment, with more yellow gems for sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my projects today. I hope you’ll take a peek at the new Smitten release, even if you’re still in the throes of holiday projects like I am! So many gorgeous and super versatile new products. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!