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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

my monthly hero

Hero Arts September 2022 My Monthly Hero Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! Today, Hero Arts is releasing their latest My Monthly Hero and coordinating product collection, and we are celebrating the imminent arrival of autumn! (We will just ignore that it’s still most likely sweltering outside haha) You should have arrived here from Daniel West, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. Here’s a peek at this month’s kit:

This month’s kit includes: • Clear Stamp Set, 4” x 6”, • 6 Coordinating Frame Cuts, • Rub-On Transfer Sheet, • Cling Background Stamp, 6“ x 6”, • 2 Sheets Each of Cardstock in Sand & Antique Ivory, 5.5” x 8.5”, • Rose Gold Metallic Floss, 5 yds. The contents of the kit retail individually for $70, but the cost of the kit is $34.99! These kits are limited edition, so once they’re gone, they won’t be restocked! To keep from missing out on future kits, you can always subscribe to be guaranteed to receive your My Monthly Hero kit each month!

I have a couple of vivid projects using an oft-neglected color in my typical color palette: burnt orange. Both of my projects feature lots of watercoloring and saturated color, mimicking the intensity of the colors of autumn. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by gold embossing the main floral bouquet from the September My Monthly Hero kit onto some watercolor paper. This is an extremely detailed image, so I made sure to stamp my embossing ink multiple times to ensure that I captured all of that beautiful detail. I then wet the entire embossed panel, both in and around the image, and dropped in lots of diluted color in shades of burnt orange, hot pink, and mustard yellow from my Daniel Smith palette. After the watercoloring had dried, I went back and added some details and more intense color to the larger flowers and foliage. The initial layer of watercolor helps to make sure that all of the little areas in the middle of the busy bouquet are attended to. I knew that I wanted a vivid, color saturated project, so adding the color around the edges of the bouquet helps to avoid those pesky white die cut edges, as well!

Next, I used the background cling stamp that is included in the My Monthly Hero kit with some tone-on-tone stamping to create a subtly interesting background. I stamped the background on Pumpkin cardstock using the coordinating Pumpkin ink, then used a blending brush to blend some more Pumpkin ink around the edges to create a vintage, almost distressed look.

I die cut an Oval Woodgrain Infinity Die from some more Pumpkin cardstock and popped it up on the card front using foam tape. I added a double layer of foam tape to the bouquet to give it lots of height and really make it the focal point from the textured orange background, placing it in the center of the frame. I added a gold embossed greeting from the My Monthly Hero kit. I am kind of in love with this card, and it makes me want to use orange more often in my crafting. The monochrome background is saturated without detracting from the pretty floral bouquet, while the extra height and texture added from all of the foam tape keeps things super interesting.

My second project uses the new Fall Leaves Cover Plate die. I die cut the background from some more watercolor paper, then taped it down to my watercolor board. I saturated it with plenty of clean water, then dropped in more of the same color palette that I used for the first card: burnt orange, hot pink, mustard yellow, and added in a bit of deep violet. I swirled and maneuvered the colors until I was satisfied with the color meld and movement. Some of the color pooled around the edges of the die cut areas, highlighting the pattern and details of the leaves. I splattered some metallic Glimmer paints on the dry watercolored background for extra texture!

I heat embossed the previously-released Grateful Pumpkin images using gold embossing powder on some watercolor paper. I used the same colors to do some more wet-on-wet watercolor on the leaves and around the edges of the pumpkin. I love the way the watercolor works on the wet watercolor paper. It creates such life-like color on the leaves, especially! I added lots of intense orange to the pumpkin, then die cut all of the images.

I trimmed the edge of the Fall Leaves Cover Plate die and mounted it on an Eggplant card front, then gold embossed a greeting from Grateful Pumpkin on a strip of Eggplant cardstock. I arranged all of the die cuts and sentiment strip on the card front, adhering them with lots of foam tape. I added a few iridescent gems from my stash to add one last element of shine!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Now for some fun giveaway information:

Hero Arts will give away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, September 11th 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 today, and happy hopping!

Hero Arts August 2022 My Monthly Hero Release Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! The first Monday of the month means the new My Monthly Hero kit and August release from Hero Arts, and this month we are out on the road! You should have arrived here from Daniel West, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. You can also check out the full hop list at the Hero Arts Blog!

This month’s kit features a fabulously easy layering stencil set, complete with coordinating dies, and a super versatile sentiment set. Here’s a peek at the main kit:

The individual contents of the kit are valued at $70, but the retail cost is $34.99! Such a great deal. The kit comes with the ink pads to create a traditionally colored desert scene, but I chose to create a night scene using gray and black ink, allowing the saturation in the deep purple Eggplant cardstock to make the big visual impact, as well as a secret weapon to create that massive, luminous moon. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by blending the stencils traditionally on two panels of Eggplant cardstock using Pitch Black and Charcoal inks. The intense purple cardstock shines through on even the black ink blending! Also, can I just say that these were quite possibly the easiest layering stencils that I have ever used?? Each stencil comes with little squares notched into the corners that you blend a touch of ink over with the first stencil still in place, and as long as you line up your subsequent stencils with those little corner squares, your layering will be absolutely spot on! Such an innovative idea that takes the guesswork out of the layering.

One of the stencils features a nice round moon, and instead of blending the black or gray ink over the top, I used the Hero Tools Palette Knife to spread some White Hero Wax. I was thrilled with how bright the white wax showed up on the purple cardstock, and the slightly pearlescent wax really makes the luminous moon feel almost real. I dotted some white gel pen stars around the moon. Such beautiful contrast to make up that night sky! Looking at the photos now, I wish that I had blended some Nautical ink just on the top of the card panel before doing my stenciling to give the desert night sky an even more authentic look.

I die cut the various cacti from the second blended panel, then used foam adhesive to pop them up. I like to use lots of height and dimension on tone-on-tone cards like this to help make the images stand out. I heat embossed a greeting from the kit on a strip of Eggplant cardstock, then backed it with a slightly larger strip of black glitter paper. I love the touches of bright white on that stark background…. the contrast is so interesting to me! The entire team has shown a ton of different color schemes to use with this month’s kit using such a huge variety of the new Core Ink line. Such versatility!

The add-ons for this month’s kit are fabulous, too! Remember Carrie Bradshaw’s hot pink crocodile luggage from SATC? That’s what I was channeling when I created this project using the new Luggage Fancy Dies. I die cut the different cases using Ultra Pink cardstock, then blended Ultra Pink ink around the edges. I also used a paintbrush to add some white details using more White Hero Wax.

For the card base, I clear embossed the new Road Side Bold Prints onto an A2 panel of Pitch Black cardstock. I love the subtle texture that this gives the background!

For the greeting, I heat embossed a sentiment from the Seaside Heroscape stamp set onto a strip of Ultra Pink cardstock, then backed it with a slightly larger strip of black glitter cardstock. I stacked the luggage on the embossed card front and adhered it with foam adhesive, then added the greeting with a double layer of foam tape for lots of height. I added a few glittery black luggage tags for some extra sparkle.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Now for some fun giveaway information:

We will give away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, August 7th 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 today, and happy hopping!

Hero Arts July My Monthly Hero Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! We’re celebrating the new Hero Arts My Monthly Hero kit a day late because of the holiday, but boy is this one worth the wait! We are hopping along to share all kinds of inspiration with you. You should have arrived here from Debi Adams, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. This month’s theme is celebrating all things tropical, including the main kit with a stunning flock of layering flamingos. (Side note: did you know that a group of flamingos is called a “flamboyance”? How very appropriate!) Here’s a peek at this month’s My Monthly Hero Kit:

This month’s kit includes: 6″ x 8″ Clear Stamp Set, 7 Coordinating Frame Cuts, 5 Ink Cubes (Cotton Candy, Peony, Azalea, Arctic, Paradise), Self-Adhesive Pink & Teal Gems, Teal Hero Pearls (0.6 oz), all valued individually at $75, but can be yours for $34.99! You can also subscribe to make sure that you receive your kit each month without having to worry about them selling out before you snag one!

My first project uses several of the components of the kit! I began by heat embossing the flamingo base layer on some vellum cardstock using gold glitter embossing powder. The sparkling flamingos are so trendy! I die cut the image with the coordinating die, included in the main kit.

Next, I used blending brushes to blend three of the inks included in the kit on two A2 panels of cardstock: Peony, Azalea, and Paradise. I emphasized the Peony ink in the center area on both panels to look like the skyline, where the sun meets the water. I used the Beach Frame Fancy Die to cut the frame from the center, trimming a few of the more detailed images from the bottom but leaving the palm fronds hanging down to create lots of tone-on-tone texture. I also stamped just the detail layer of the water included in the main kit using Paradise ink over the top of the blending. I love how the ripples in the stamp look even more realistic picking up the colors of the sunset blended on the card base!

I popped up the beach frame die cut using foam adhesive, then stamped the greeting from the main kit using Intens-ified Black ink in the center of the blended base layer. I popped up the glittery gold flamingos using a double layer of foam adhesive. So much fun color and sparkle on this project! I don’t know if I should pick a favorite, but I think this kit is one of my most favorite My Monthly Hero kits this year!

My second card features the beautiful new Monstrera Bundle. My initial instinct was to watercolor the heck out of this set and give it tons of detail, but I was in a glittery embossing powder mood, and I wanted to show how beautifully detailed this main image is just by itself! I heat embossed the main image from the Monstrera stamp set onto some of my favorite Adriatic cardstock using the gold glitter embossing powder. I die cut the heat embossed images with the coordinating fancy cuts.

Next, I blended some Nautical ink on the corner of my A2 Adriatic card base to help further highlight the beautiful gold-embossed leaves. I also splattered some Gold Glimmer Paint on this beautifully saturated card base. I think that the splatters of gold look like fireflies! Once my paint had dried, I trimmed one of the Monstrera embossed die cuts in half and arranged them on the corner of my card front, adhering them with lots of foam tape for extra dimension.

For the greeting, I used some more gold embossing powder on the Adriatic cardstock, then matted it with a little Nautical cardstock to add a touch of contrast, but not enough to really distract from the detailed monstrera leaves. So much sparkle, so much saturated color, but still tasteful. Love it when things don’t have to be complicated to make a dramatic statement!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Now, for some fun giveaway information!

Hero Arts will give away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, July 10th 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 My Monthly Hero June 2022 Release Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! It’s time for another fabulous My Monthly Hero release from Hero Arts! This month, we’re going under the sea with beautiful mermaids, jellyfish, and all kinds of oceanic beauty. We are hopping along to share all of the new products with you. You should have arrived here from Debi Adams, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. Here’s a peek at this month’s kit:

This month’s kit includes: 6″ x 8″ Clear Stamp Set, 8 Coordinating Frame Cuts, Mermaid Reactive Palette Ink Pad, Self-adhesive Pearl Gems, Water Flow Brush. Individually, the products would retail for over $70, but the kit is available for only $34.99! These kits sell out frequently very quickly, so you can make sure to receive one each month by subscribing here.  I have two projects to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

I began by heat embossing several of the undersea images from the new My Monthly Hero kit using Moonstone pigment ink and heat embossing them with White Satin Pearl embossing powder to create a pearlescent charcoal finished look. I embossed all of the images on white cardstock, then used blending brushes and several different shades of ink to create a beautifully ethereal and mottled look for the coral, plants, jellyfish, and seashells. I tried to capture the light dancing through from the top of the water to create movement and color variation with the ink blending. I die cut the blended images with the coordinating dies included in the kit.

Next, I trimmed down a panel of Adriatic cardstock to A2 size and blended some Deep Ocean ink around the edges of the card base. I splattered some sparkling metallic watercolors from my stash that had green and blue glitter over the blended card base to add even more magical sparkle to the card front. I also trimmed by hand some “sand” using scissors and some silver glitter paper, which I popped up using foam tape on the bottom of my blended card front to create a ground for my little underwater scene.

I arranged the blended die cuts on my ocean floor, adhering them with both liquid adhesive and foam tape, then silver embossed a sentiment from the main kit on a small strip of Adriatic cardstock. To make sure that the pearl in the sentiment was super visible, I dabbed a drop of the new White Hero Pearls in the center of the clam, and I made sure that the white of the pearl was the only white on my card front! The final touch was to add some shimmer to a few of the die cut elements with my shimmer pen, mainly some of the coral and the jellyfish, just to add even more textural interest to the card front.

For my second project, I used a couple of the add-ons to create this colorful underwater scene! I used a similar concept to the first card, allowing colorful ink blending and colored cardstock to convey the blue light that you see below the surface of the ocean. I began by heat embossing images from Mermaid Wishes and Mermaid Cove on some Arctic cardstock using Moonstone pigment ink and heat embossing them with White Satin Pearl embossing powder to create a pearlescent charcoal finished look. I cut the images out with my sharp scissors, then used several different colors of ink to blend on the embossed images to add lots of interest and color to the images. I then added a bit of sparkle to the underwater foliage with some colorful sparkle pens.

For the card base, I trimmed down an A2 Arctic card base, then blended colors from the Tropical Waters Ink Cube set around the edge. I also used Copic markers to add some deep blues and purples to the mermaid’s hair, as well as some sparkle to her fishy friend using more sparkle pens. The sparkle pens blend together similar to watercolors; you can lay down some colorful sparkle, then use the colorless sparkle pen to pull the color out and blend it into an ombré.

I adhered all of the colorful die cut pieces to the blended card base with lots of foam tape, some with double layer of foam tape to add lots of height and dimension. The colorful cardstock base used for all of the die cuts helps to maintain the flow and feel of the underwater scene from one die cut piece to the other.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! To celebrate this release, Hero Arts is giving away a $50 shopping spree to the Hero Arts website. All you have to do to enter is leave comments along the hop. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win! Enter by Sunday, June 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 My Monthly Hero May 2022 Blog Hop+Giveaway!

Good morning! Today, Hero Arts is releasing their new May collection, and it’s such a fun and unique release, filled with all things cooking and foodie! We’re hopping along today, and you should have arrived here from Debi Adams, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. This month’s kit has so many fun elements included in it, all featuring a foodie theme. Here’s a peek at this month’s kit:

The May My Monthly Hero kit features: • 4″ x 6″ Clear Stamp Set, • Cover Plate Fancy Die, • 6 Additional Fancy Dies, • Cling Background Stamp (4.625″ x 5.875″), • 12 Sheets of Cardstock – 4 each of Pink, Mint, White (5.5″ x 8.5″), • Watermark & Embossing Ink Cube, • Cast Iron Embossing Powder (0.5 oz.), and • Blue Baker’s Twine (10 yards). The total kit value is $70, but is yours for only $34.99! These kits sell out frequently very quickly, so you can make sure to receive one each month by subscribing here. I have a crisp white-on-white project to share with you today, as well as a modern-but-vintage-inspired card, so let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping an A2 card base using the May My Monthly Hero kit using Moonstone Pigment Ink from Hero Arts, then embossing over the top using White Satin Pearl embossing powder to create a pearlescent charcoal. (Did you know that you can heat emboss over the Hero Hues pigment inks? SO fun!)

Next, I die cut the fantastically detailed fancy die included in the May My Monthly Hero kit from some white cardstock. I trimmed off some of the sections to create a shelf just on the one side of the stove. I wanted to add a window to my scene, so I placed the Greenhouse Fancy Die to the left of the stove and die cut from the embossed tile background, then die cut a window from a separate piece of white cardstock. I backed the tiled background with another piece of A2 white cardstock, then mounted the window frame to it.

I backed the base of the kitchen cabinets with another panel of white cardstock (lots of layers on this card!) that I’d added some dark gray Copic to, which created the contrast for the handles of the drawers. I adhered the stove and shelves to the tiled background using foam adhesive to help make it stand out, then added a greeting from the sentiments included in the May My Monthly Hero kit, again stamped with Moonstone ink and embossed with pearlescent embossing powder. Visually crisp and simple, but with all of those layers of cardstock and details, it’s definitely not boring!

For my second card, I used the new Egg-celent stamps and coordinating frame cuts. I began by heat embossing the large image from Egg-celent onto some watercolor paper using the same White Satin Pearl embossing powder used in the previous project. I then used my Tombow markers to add lots of bright color to the images. I originally planned to go a bit more traditional with the color scheme, using reds, bisque, brown, etc. But once I took a closer look at that chicken, it reminded me of my “hen on nest” glassware that I collect, and I couldn’t resist making a jadeite breakfast set, complete with salt and pepper shakers, egg cup, and hen-on-nest glassware! Once I’d finished coloring the images using my Tombow markers and a damp paintbrush, I used the coordinating dies to cut the stamped image out.

For the background, I wanted to keep things subtle to allow the jadeite chicken to be the star of the show. I heat embossed the new Kitchen Shelf Background using some more white pearl embossing powder on an A2 white card base. I love how the pearly embossing adds subtle texture and interest to the background without overwhelming the focal point!

I die cut a white Oval Woodgrain Infinity Frame die and popped it up on the background using foam adhesive. I adhered the vivid breakfast scene with some more foam tape, then added a greeting from Egg-celent (using the same Moonstone/White Satin Pearl combo from earlier) using some more foam adhesive for lots of dimension. I love that these images can be so super traditional or vibrant and modern depending on your color choices!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Now for some fun giveaway information:

Hero Arts is giving away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, May 8th 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 today, and have a marvelous day!