Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

mix and match holiday greetings

The Flower Challenge: Guest Designer

Hi there! I’m honored to be back as a guest designer for The Flower Challenge this month. The theme is Use A Sentiment, and so I dug out one of my older finished coloring panels (from a set called Lo How A Rose E’er Blooming) and one of the newer holiday sentiment die sets from Spellbinders: Mix & Match Holiday Greetings. These medium-sized sentiment dies are a great complement to the bold poinsettia flower on my holiday card. Let’s get started with the details!

I had already colored this image using Copic markers for my holiday coloring panel release last year (be sure to subscribe to my blog in the box in the upper left hand corner to be notified about my new coloring panel release later this month!), so I used some sharp scissors to fussy cut the image. It’s already helpfully tucked into the corner, so I just had to carefully cut around the bottom edge of the image.

For the greeting, I die cut the Mix & Match Holiday Greetings “Holiday Hugs” from Red Glitter Foam from Spellbinders. Spellbinders’s Glitter Foam is such a quick (not to mention sparkly!) way to add some quick dimensionality to your sentiment die cuts, and it comes in a huge range of beautiful colors. I find myself reaching for it constantly. If you haven’t checked it out, I encourage you to do so! You can see all wide variety of colors that they have available HERE.

I had a shiny foiled background that I had previously created with the Spellbinders Plaid Tidings hot foil plate and Crimson Stars hot foil tucked into my stash, just waiting for the right project. The red foil matched the red poinsettia perfectly, so I popped up the colored poinsettia corner using some foam tape, tucking a strip of vellum behind. The vellum helps ground the sentiment from the busy, shiny background. I adhered the foam sentiment die cuts using liquid adhesive, then added a few iridescent white pearls for some more shine! This project is quintessentially Christmas, I think!

Well, that’s all for my project today! To celebrate The Flower Challenge’s 6th Birthday, I am donating two sets of coloring panels to the winner of the challenge-winner’s choice! All you have to do to be eligible to win is create a project using the prompt (Use A Sentiment) and some flowers, then upload your project to the inLinkz list. The dates for the new challenge, as well as all of the details, can be found on the The Flower Challenge‘s blog post! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Bold and Dramatic Holiday Cards with Spellbinders!

Hi there! Spellbinders has recently released some absolutely stunning new holiday products, and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to play with some of them! Creating holiday cards is one of my most favorite crafting themes, and finding ways to infuse classic, elegant looks with modern color palettes makes my heart so happy! I love a bold and unique color palette for holiday cards, something besides the traditional red and green, and today’s cards definitely fit that bill. Let’s get started with the details!

Both of today’s cards feature the beautiful Pretty Pine clear background stamp from the August Spellbinders release. I love creating subtly interesting backgrounds with super detailed stamps like this by using tone-on-tone stamping. Both of these cards feature Pretty Pine stamped onto some Blue Spruce cardstock from Spellbinders using a super dark green ink. These backgrounds were the starting point for my cards!

This first card is one of my favorite holiday cards that I’ve made (so far) this year. After I’d stamped the Pretty Pine background onto the Blue Spruce cardstock, I blended around the edges of the card front, first using the same deep green, followed by the slightest touch of black (yes, black) ink blended very shallowly around the edge of the card. Adding those dark neutrals to your dark, vivid colors can really intensify them and make them even more dramatic! I also splattered some handmade silver metallic watercolors on this background to look like snowfall. The blending around the edges of the card front helps to highlight the focal point in the center of the card.

For the greeting, I die cut the “Merry Christmas” from the Mix and Match Holiday Greetings die set using Brushed Silver Cardstock. I die cut some berries and sprigs of foliage from some more Blue Spruce, Brushed Silver, and Onyx cardstock using the flora from the Holiday Label Motifs die set. I silver embossed a sentiment strip from the Many Merry Christmas Sentiments stamp set onto a strip of black cardstock. I layered all of the components in the center of the blended card front. The subtle stamped background surrounded by the intense, jewel green and black ink blending really helps that greeting to pop! I added a few Opal gems for one last bit of shine and texture on this dramatic card.

My second card features another panel created using the Pretty Pine background stamp. I stamped it first on a full size panel of Blue Spruce cardstock using that same dark green ink, then die cut the tag from the newly-released Winter Label Motifs die set. I again blended around the edges of the stamped panel to create a focal point in the center. I layered this stamped and blended die cut on a full size A2 panel of Blue Spruce cardstock with some foam tape.

I die cut another greeting from the Holiday Label Motifs with some more Brushed Silver cardstock, adding the sentiment and some more foliage and berries in coordinating colors to the stamped and blended die cut. The Opal pearls were a perfect finishing touch to this simple, but elegant, project!

Well, that’s all for this pair of projects today! I have another set of cards using some of the new Seasonal Label Motifs dies from Spellbinders that I will hopefully share later this week. I am so excited for the Christmas crafting season to be in full swing! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!