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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

my monthly hero

Hero Arts September My Monthly Hero Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! It’s Tuesday, but the My Monthly Hero release for September is happening today due to the holiday… and it’s such a great release! You should have arrived here from Debi Adams, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. This month’s kit is absolutely stunning, featuring one of the most autumnally-iconic flowers: sunflowers.

This month’s kit features: • 4″ x 6″ Clear Stamp Set, • Coordinating Frame Cut, • 2 Fancy Word Dies, • 5 Color Layering Stencils, • 1 Ink Blending Brush, • 4 Ink Cubes (Butter Bar, Caramel, Root Beer, Key Lime Fizz). The kit is valued at $87, but is available for only $34.99! I love the amount of value that you get with these kits. If you love the Hero Arts My Monthly Hero kits, you can always  subscribe to ensure that you get your own kit every month. I have two projects to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

My first project features some of the main elements of the September kit, including that absolutely stunning sunflower bouquet. I began by cutting a panel of white, Copic-friendly cardstock down to slimline size (3.5″x8.5″). I then stamped the image in a cascade down one side of the card front using Intens-ified Black ink. I used my Copic markers to add lots of and shadows to the beautiful illustration.

Once my coloring was complete, I used Hero Arts Blending Brushes to softly blend Butter Bar and Soft Apricot inks in the opposite corner of the sunflowers. I love how it looks like the sun is shining brightly on the sunflowers and they are turning their faces to it!

In order to highlight the pretty sunflowers and provide a focal point for the greeting, I die cut a black frame using the Slimline Infinity Dies from some Pitch Black cardstock. I didn’t want to cover up the pretty, sunny ombré blending too much, so while the “thanks” sentiment die from the main kit and halo were still attached, I die cut the greeting, reserving the center of the “a” and adhering it in the negative space. This technique allows the pretty, sunshine-y blending to be highlighted in the sentiment! To round out the “rule of threes” for the black accents, I added some black gemstones to add a touch of shine.

My second card features the new Autumn Messages stamp set, paired with the recently released Halloween Icons dies! I die cut the little scene using Papya and Pitch Black cardstocks, as well as the Holiday Sparkle and Basics Glitter Papers.


On a plain white A2 card base, I blended a little textured background using Soft Apricot ink using a stencil that I now realize is retired. (Whoops!) You could achieve a very similar look without the stencil. I just wanted a little halo to give some background to my Halloween scene. I adhered all of my Halloween die cuts to the stenciled area using both liquid and foam adhesive to help add dimension to the flat die cuts. I love how the different textures of the glitter paper and the plain cardstock work together to help keep the die cuts from blending into one another!

I stamped the greeting from Autumn Messages onto a rectangle of white cardstock using Intens-ified Black ink, then added it to the card front using foam adhesive to help it stand out even more. The final touch was to add some clear gemstones, which I think look like bubbles rising from the cauldron! It’s a kinda-cute-kinda-spooky Halloween card, which I am totally down for!

Well, that’s all for me today! To celebrate this month’s release and all of the autumnal goodness it brings, Hero Arts is having a giveaway!

We will give away one $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, September 12th at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

Your next stop on the hop is Ilina Crouse. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Hero Arts August 2021 My Monthly Hero Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! Hero Arts is celebrating their August 2021 My Monthly Hero release today with a blog hop, and we’re all about loving all of the colors this month! You should have arrived here from Debi Adams, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. This month’s kit is so much fun, great for use with so many different coloring mediums, color schemes, and techniques!

This month’s kit features 4″ x 6″ Clear Stamp Set, Coordinating Fancy Dies, 5.4″ Square Cling Stamp, 5.25″ x 6.5″ Stencil, three Liquid Watercolors (Pink, Indigo, Dandelion), and six 5.5″ x 8.5″ Sheets Watercolor Paper. The contents are valued individually at $70, but the kit is for sale for $34.99! If you love the Hero Arts My Monthly Hero kits, you can always  subscribe to ensure that you get your own kit every month. I have two projects to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

My first card today features several elements from the main kit, focusing on the cling background stamp and die cut letters included with the stamp set. I began by stamping the cling background on some white cardstock using Embossing Ink, then added some clear embossing powder and heated it. I then blended the rainbow using different shades of ink and blending brushes, using one shade of ink for each circle in the patterned background. Ink colors (in ROY G BIV order, of course): Pale Tomato, Fresh Peach, Soft Vanilla, Mint Julep, Soft Pool, Passion Flower, Soft Purple, and Bubble Gum. Once the blending was complete, I spritzed some White Iridescent Shimmer Spray over the top to add some extra shimmer and shine to the card base.

Next, I die cut a vellum heart using the Heart Infinity Dies to place in the center of the blended background on top of which I placed my sentiment. The vellum provides a grounded area for the sentiment die cuts to rest, so that they’re not just floating out on the front of the card. For the greeting, I die cut the “love” included in the main kit from some Pitch Black cardstock, as well as white embossing the “sending” on a strip of Pitch Black cardstock. I used my gridded craft mat to line up the die cut letters, then adhered them to the vellum heart. I love the crisp black die cuts on that bold, colorful background!

I adhered the sentiment die cuts on the vellum heart using foam adhesive for lots of dimension. Adhering the die cuts to the vellum first also gives you a spot to hide the foam tape so that it’s not visible through the vellum! Sneaky sneaky. 😉 I added a few black adhesive gems to help finish off my rule of threes for the black accents!

My second project features the new Rainbow Heroscape. I don’t love primary colors as a general rule, so I was very specific in choosing non-primary colors for my rainbow, and I just love the result! I began by stamping all of the stripes of the rainbow using Bubble Gum, Orchid, Dusty Blue, Mint Julep, and Soft Vanilla. I then stamped the clouds using Soft Sky, and using my Misti, added a layer of Embossing Ink over the top, then sprinkled Sparkle Embossing Powder over the top and heated it up to create sparkly, iridescent clouds! Such a fun effect with this technique. I also stamped a couple of single clouds using the same technique and fussy cut them all out using some sharp scissors.

Next, I die cut some white and vellum clouds using the Cloudy Sky Scene dies. After determining their placement on my Periwinkle card base, I blended some Passion Flower ink so that it would just peek out of the corner where the clouds would be adhered. I added the vellum cloud with some liquid adhesive, then added the white cloud over the top with some foam adhesive.

I added one of the several curved greetings to the rainbow, then stamped a “happy birthday” (I just love that typewriter font included on the sentiments in the Rainbow Heroscape!) on a thin strip of white cardstock. I adhered the rainbow, clouds, and sentiment using lots of foam adhesive for tons of dimension on the card front. It’s so cheerful and sparkly!

To celebrate this release, Hero Arts is hosting a giveaway!

We will give away one $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, August 8th at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

Your next stop on the hop is  Ilina Crouse. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Hero Arts June My Monthly Hero Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! The new My Monthly Hero kit is here and we’re hopping to celebrate! This month we’re focusing on all things birthday, with the sweetest little festive critters. You should have arrived here from Debi Adams, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. Here’s a sneak peek at the June 2021 kit:

This month’s kit features some darling little critters all ready to par-tay! The kit includes: 6″ x 8″ Clear Stamp Set, 17 Coordinating Frame Cuts, Light Mint Dye Ink Cube, Round Clay Sprinkles, Sparkle Lacquer Pen, and it’s valued at $72, but is yours for only $34.99! These kits frequently sell out very quickly, so don’t hesitate to purchase, because once it’s gone, it’s gone! You can also subscribe to ensure that you get your own kit every month. I have two projects to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

My first card is a shaker card featuring the sweet, sneaky little cake-eating kitty and one of the fantastic backgrounds available as an add-on! I started by stamping the kitty, the cake, a gift, and balloon (all from the main kit) using Intens-ified Black Ink on some Copic-friendly white cardstock. Using the confetti as my guide, I colored the images using Copic markers in shades of neon pink and bright blue.

I wanted to create a shaker using the confetti included in the kit, so next I embossed the new Candles Bold Prints background onto some Hero Arts vellum using silver sparkle embossing powder. I added heavy duty adhesive tape all around the edges of a white A2 card base, then placed some sprinkles from the kit in the center and adhered the sparkly vellum background over the top to create a thin shaker pocket filled with sprinkles! I also die cut a frame using another panel of A2 white cardstock and the Nesting Rectangles Infinity Dies, which I adhered over the top of my vellum shaker pocket to help hide the adhesive.

FInally, I arranged my Copic-colored kitty party scene atop a stamped sentiment strip (also from the main kit), using lots of foam tape for dimension. Who wouldn’t like to get this card for their birthday? Shaker cards are so much fun!

For my second card, I focused on the fantastic new Balloons Bold Prints stamp. This is one of those stamps that can look completely different depending on what color scheme you use with it. I chose to make this card kind of ethereal, but still with lots of color. I began by embossing the Balloons Bold Prints background onto some watercolor paper using white satin pearl embossing powder, then taped it to my watercolor board and used wet-on-wet technique to add a light wash of color (using Karin Brushmarker Pro markers) over the entire panel.

Once that initial wash of color had dried, I went back in withmore concentrated color to add details to the balloons to help them stand out further. I just love the way these balloons almost glow with this technique! Once my panel had dried, I trimmed it down to 3.25×5.75″, then mounted it on a 3.5×6″ panel of Paradise cardstock.

For the greeting, I used the new Birthday Stamp & Cut XL to die cut “celebrate” once from white cardstock and once from white iridescent glitter cardstock, adhering both pieces together to create a dimensional die cut. I white embossed the “it’s time to” on a strip of Paradise cardstock, then mounted both to the balloon background. Finally, I added a few iridescent gems to add a bit more texture and sparkle to the card front. So fun and festive!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! To celebrate this latest My Monthly Hero release, Hero Arts is sponsoring a giveaway!

We will give away one $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, June 13th at 11:59pm pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

Your next stop is Ilina Crouse. Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy hopping!

Hero Arts May 2021 My Monthly Hero Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! Today is the Hero Arts May My Monthly Hero release and blog hop to celebrate it. You should have arrived here from Debi Adams, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse.

This month’s kit is a marvelous one-full of beautiful marine images: coral, jellyfish, seahorses, fish (even Nemo!)… and some darling punny sentiments with beautiful fonts. This month’s kit contents are valued at $70, but can be purchased for $34.99! These kits frequently sell out very quickly, so don’t hesitate to purchase, because once it’s gone, it’s gone! You can also subscribe to ensure that you get your own kit every month.

The images in this month’s kit are quite substantially sized; I wanted to use the main coral reef image as the base for my scene, and since it is such a large image, I decided to create a slimline card (3.5″x8.5″). I began by trimming down a panel of Arctic cardstock to slimline size, then used the new Water Flow Slimline Stencil to blend Tide Pool and Pool inks using blending brushes. I then spritzed some White Iridescent Shimmer Spray over the top of the stencil as well to create an extra shimmery background.

Next, I heat embossed several images from this month’s kit onto some white cardstock using White Satin Pearl embossing powder, then die cut them with the coordinating frame cuts and used a huge variety of inks and ink blending tools to add a rainbow of color to the embossed die cuts. (I’ll link the individual colors below.)

Finally, I used Moonstone pigment ink and more White Satin Pearl embossing powder to emboss the cute sentiment from this month’s kit. I adhered all of the pieces using foam adhesive, sometimes using a double layer to add lots of extra dimension. The final touch was to add some “bubbles” with iridescent gems. Lots of sparkle and shine on this one!

Now, for a completely different style. I have always fancied super high end stationery, and the new Seashells Fancy Dies are perfect for creating a quick, elegant card with just two shades of cardstock. I began by die cutting the scalloped shell from the Seashells Fancy Dies set from some pearlescent gold cardstock. The details in the die cut are so beautiful!

I trimmed a panel of Nautical cardstock down to slightly smaller than A2-sized, then used one of the Square Infinity dies to to die cut a window from the center of the panel. I heat embossed a greeting from the new Color Layering Abalone stamp set using Brass embossing powder.

I popped up the embossed frame panel on another full size A2 panel of Nautical cardstock using foam adhesive, then popped up the seashell using some more foam tape. The final touch to add a touch more gold to this overall simple card was to add some golden pearls.

Now for some fun giveaway information!

Hero Arts will give away one $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, May 9th at 11:59pm pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week. The more comments you leave, the greater your chances to win!

Your next stop on the hop is Ilina Crouse. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Blog Hop+Giveaway!

Hi there! Today, Hero Arts is releasing their newest My Monthly Hero kit and coordinating Add-Ons! We have a fun blog hop with lots of fantastic, super graphic inspiration for you. You should have arrived here from Debi Adams, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. This month’s kit features super fun, chunky images in a neat graphic style.

This month’s kit includes: 6” x 8” Clear Stamp Set, 16 Coordinating Frame Cuts, 3 Geometric Rotating Stencils, 3 Ink Cubes (Tangerine, Grape Juice, Raspberry Jam), 1 Ink Blending Brush. The total contents are valued at $83, but you can purchase the kit for only $34.99!  These kits frequently sell out very quickly, so don’t hesitate to purchase, because once it’s gone, it’s gone! You can also subscribe to ensure that you get your own kit every month.

I am always in need of fun birthday cards for both kids and adults, and I thought that the super chunky and graphic images in this kit would lend themselves well to creating some fun background paper for both a feminine and a masculine color scheme. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping a variety of images from the main kit stamp set on two white card fronts. For the feminine card, I used Neon Pink, Rose Madder, Pale Tomato, and Fresh Peach inks; for the masculine card, I used Ocean, Tide Pool, and Antigua inks, all from Hero Arts, and all linked below.

For both cards, I started with the largest images and stamped them randomly, but somewhat evenly spaced on my card front, then chose another slightly smaller image, and stamped it in a different ink shade, filling in the gaps with a smaller image in another shade. I frequently rotated my paper to try to keep the pattern from looking repetitive.

Once I had stamped my patterns, I white heat embossed the Happy Birthday greetings from the main kit (featuring that luscious graphic font!) onto some Pitch Black cardstock, then mounted them on some silver glitter cardstock. I also used the tiniest coordinating dies (the star and the heart) to die cut some silver glitter die cuts, which I added to the card front with some gems to add a bit more sparkle and texture to the card front. I mounted the A2 stamped panels on some more Pitch Black cardstock to create a bold black mat around the edge.

My second card features the new Graphic Reef stamp set, along with the new Flowy Stripes stencil. I began by silver embossing several of the images from the Graphic Reef onto some white cardstock using silver embossing powder, then coloring them with Copic markers and die cutting them with the coordinating Frame Cuts.

On the card base, I blended some Sapphire ink on the edges of a panel of Paradise cardstock. (I love blending on colored cardstock-the color saturation in the cardstock makes it so much easier to get a beautiful, color-saturated background!) I also used some sparkling glitter paste with the Flowy Stripes stencil to create a graphic “under the sea” vibe.

Once my stenciled background had dried completely, I used white embossing powder to emboss a greeting from Graphic Reef on a strip of Sand cardstock, which I adhered to the stenciled background panel using foam adhesive. I added my colored, embossed images using a combination of liquid and foam adhesive for a sparkly, colorful birthday card!

Well, that’s all for me today! Hero Arts is giving away one $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, April 11th at 11:59pm pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Your next stop is Ilina Crouse. Happy hopping!