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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

my monthly hero

July My Monthly Hero Blog Hop+Giveaway!

Hi there! Today’s the day…. it’s the first Monday of the new month, so we have the newest My Monthly Hero release and blog hop to share with you today! This month’s kit is perfect for those difficult-to-create masculine cards. Let’s get started with some of the details!

In this month’s kit, you’ll receive a large 6×8 stamp set, coordinating frame cuts, 2 fancy dies, 5 ink cubes, 4 5.5×8.5 sheets of two new Hero Hues cardstock colors, and new blue pearl embossing powder, valued at over $75, all for $34.99! These kits frequently sell out, and once they’re gone, they’re gone… so don’t wait and miss out! You can also subscribe to make sure that you get first dibs every month. The kits will begin shipping from the warehouse on Friday, July 5th. I have two projects to share with you today, so let’s get started!

I will admit something… I struggle to create scenes on a full card front. The “canvas” almost seems too big and is intimidating to my mind’s eye. I have found that I can create scenes if I limit the canvas size, and my favorite way to do this is to create a die cut frame. I began by masking the edge of a white panel, then stamping the mountains from the main kit on the horizon, then lightly blending a sky above. I masked the bottom of the mountains with some Post-It notes and blended some blue water towards the bottom of the framed in area.

After the stamping and blending was finished, I removed the masks to reveal a rectangular scene. I used that scene to create a white die cut frame with the Infinity Rectangle dies. I also die cut a line of trees using one of the fancy dies included in the main kit, cut from some dark green card stock, as well as stamping the little boat with it’s captain and first mate. 😉 I also stamped a greeting from the main kit on a rectangle of white card stock.

After I’d die cut and stamped all of the pieces, I adhered them to the blended and stamped card base using foam tape to create lots of dimension! Perfect for that outdoorsy guy in your life, right?

For my second card today, I wanted to put to use my favorite of the add-ons: Camper Fancy Die. There are some really fun add-on stamps and dies that coordinate beautifully with the main kit, but as soon as I saw the Camper Fancy Die, I wanted to pair it with the Paper Layering Desert Cactus and Paper Layering Prickly Cactus. I used the new Meadow card stock for both cacti, die cutting them both and doing a bit of blending around the edges for dimension using Moss ink and some blending brushes.

Next, I die cut the new Camper Fancy Die from some plain white card stock, ink blending some pale gray ink around the edges and adding details with Copic markers. (I have no idea if campers have red doors like that, but if they don’t they really should! Such a fun detail!)

I trimmed down a panel of the new Lapis card stock and blended some Stone Wash ink around the edges. I layered the die cuts using foam tape and added a greeting from the main kit heat embossed in white on a rectangle of Pitch Black card stock.

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

Hero Arts is giving away one kit to a lucky commenter (and if you’ve already purchased one, they will reimburse you!). All you have to do to be eligible is leave a comment on each stop on the blog hop. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win!

Your next stop is Ilina Crouse. Here’s the full lineup in case you got lost:

The Hero Arts Blog
Caly Person
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Janette Kausen
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Michelle Short
Amy Kolling
Debi Adams
Julee Tilman
Laurie Willison
Lydia Fiedler
Mariana Grigsby
Libby Hickson

June 2019 My Monthly Hero Release!

Hi there! Today is the release of the latest My Monthly Hero kit from Hero Arts, and this month’s kit is SO fun! We have a jungle theme this month, and the huge stamp set in the kit features an abundance of flora and fauna that are great for creating scenes in a variety of styles. Here’s the full contents of the kit:

In this month’s kit, you’ll receive a large 6×8 stamp set, coordinating frame cuts, Daniel Smith Watercolor Dot card, Intense-ified Black ink cube, and fantastic stencil, valued at over $75, all for $34.99! And, bonus– Hero Arts is donating 10% of the profits of these kits to the WWF to promote jungle conservation! You can shop and do a good deed at the same time! These kits frequently sell out, and once they’re gone, they’re gone… so don’t wait and miss out! You can also subscribe to make sure that you get first dibs every month. The kits will begin shipping from the warehouse on Friday, June 7th. I have a fun watercolored project to show you today, so let’s get started!

For today’s project, I wanted to use one of the absolutely gorgeous add-on dies: Jungle Frame Fancy Die (HA|EH|SSS). I die cut it from some Arches Cold Press watercolor paper, then used my Daniel Smith watercolors to watercolor the beautifully detailed die cut in a variety of greens and browns.

I also stamped two flamingoes from the main kit on some more watercolor paper using some very pale ink. The lack of black stamped outlines on the super detailed jungle die cut had a no-line coloring feel to it, so I wanted to continue that feel with the flamingoes to create an overall hand-painted look. I watercolored the flamingoes in a pretty shade of coral pink, then die cut them with the dies included in the kit.

I created my own sunset background, drawing a line with a half circle to create my sunset, then watercoloring it with some more Daniel Smith watercolors. I layered the watercolored die cuts over the top of my sunset using foam tape, then added a greeting from the kit that I’d heat embossed on Kiwi Hero Hues card stock with white embossing powder and trimmed with detail scissors. I am kind of in love with this card…. so many fun details and that die cut frame was an absolute blast to watercolor!

Well, that’s all for me today! I hope you’ve enjoyed another peek into the latest My Monthly Hero kit! Check out the Hero Arts Blog for even more inspiration and prizes! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous week. 🙂

May 2019 My Monthly Hero +Giveaway!

Hi there! Today is the first Monday of the month, so that means that the new My Monthly Hero kit is available for purchase! This month’s kit is just plain fun, featuring a unique Art Deco theme, and an absolutely gorgeous cover plate die included in the kit itself, along with lots of fun add-ons. You should have arrived from Caly Person’s blog, and your next stop is Jessica Frost-Ballas’s blog. This month’s kit features a fabulous crafter-of-all-trades theme, and I am absolutely in looooove with it! So many different types of crafting represented with this kit!

This month’s kit features: 6″ x 8″ Clear Stamp Set, 20 Coordinating Frame Cuts, 2 Fancy Dies, Purple Sparkle Embossing Powder 0.5 oz., Clear Embossing & Watermark Ink Cube, Lavender Washi Tape, and 5 Mini Clothespins. The contents of this kit are valued at $70, but is priced at a very pocketbook-friendly $34.99! Seriously, you aren’t going to want to pass this kit up… it’s so. darn. cute. The add-ons are great too:

These kits frequently sell out, and once they’re gone, they’re gone… so don’t wait and miss out! You can also subscribe to make sure that you get first dibs every month. The kits will begin shipping from the warehouse on Friday, May 10th. I have a couple of projects to show you today, so let’s get started!

For today’s project, I wanted to use the fantastic fancy die that is included in this kit. I love that the My Monthly Hero kits have so many fantastic dies with them, especially these fancy dies that are standalone and so intricate!! I die cut the gorgeous heart yarn ball from some Azalea card stock, then blended Raspberry Jam ink with blender brushes around the edges of both die cuts. I also die cut the knitting needles from some silver foil card stock to give them some authentic shine.

Next, I used the new Knitting Pattern add-on to heat emboss a subtle background on an A2 panel of Peony card stock. I trimmed a strip of white card stock and added it slightly off center on the heat embossed panel as a sort of ground for my hot pink yarn die cut.

I stamped a greeting from the main kit on a strip of white card stock, then layered all of the die cuts on the card base using foam tape. I love that bright pop of the hot pink yarn die cut on the subtle pale pink and white background!

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

Hero Arts is giving away one kit to a lucky commenter (and if you’ve already purchased one, they will reimburse you!). All you have to do to be eligible is leave a comment on each stop on the blog hop. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win! Here’s the full lineup in case you got lost:

For the MMH Blog Hop:

The Hero Arts Blog
Michelle Short
Caly Person
Emily Midgett
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Janette Kausen
Ilina Crouse
Yana Smakula
Lydia Fiedler
Julee Tilman
Laurie Willison
Amy Kolling
Debi Adams
Jennifer McGuire
Nichol Spohr
Libby Hickson

April My Monthly Hero+Giveaway!

Hi there! Today is the first Monday of the month, so that means that the new My Monthly Hero kit is available for purchase! This month’s kit is just plain fun, featuring a unique Art Deco theme, and an absolutely gorgeous cover plate die included in the kit itself, along with lots of fun add-ons. You should have arrived from Caly Person’s blog and your next stop is Julee Tilman’s blog.

This month’s kit features a Mediterranean theme, with really beautiful intricate dies and a lovely English and Italian sentiment set, as well as some great basic supplies, including a sampler of some of the gorgeous new card stock that Hero Arts released in the latest catalog!

The add-ons this month are particularly great, too!! These kits frequently sell out, and once they’re gone, they’re gone… so don’t wait and miss out! You can also subscribe to make sure that you get first dibs every month. The kits will begin shipping from the warehouse on Friday, April 5th. I have a couple of projects to show you today, so let’s get started!

For my first project, I used one of the dies included in the main kit and combined it with a rectangular die cut frame to create a little village on the Mediterranean coast. You know the photos of those bright white villages where the buildings almost seem stacked on each other up the hillside? I was trying to create that same look by staggering the multiples of the same die cut within the frame. I die cut one of the dies included in the kit four times from white card stock, then used the Picket Fence Studios blending brushes to lightly blend Soft Vanilla ink along the top of each die cut to help age the white buildings a bit. I also die cut a frame using the Rectangular Infinity dies from some more white card stock.

Next, I masked off the edges of a white card base and blended some Soft Sky ink to create a sky background using the same blending brushes. I adhered the die cuts to the frame, staggering them to create a unique line for each row of buildings. I adhered the die cuts on the blended card base using foam tape. I also added a greeting on a white strip using foam tape.

For my next project, I wanted to use one of the beautiful add-ons to make a quick, colorful card. The Carnevale stamp set has a variety of gorgeously detailed images, and I gold embossed the traditional Carnevale mask and coordinating sentiment onto some Adriatic card stock (which is one of the colors included in the sampler in this month’s kit). I then used my Luminance pencils to add some quick color to the mask and its feather.

After I’d trimmed the edges of the dark teal panel, I splattered some Glimmer paint on the panel to add some sparkle and whimsy, also stamping some little stars from the Carnevale stamp set using gold sparkle ink. I used the Life Changing Blending Brushes to add some subtle tone-on-tone blending on two corners of the card front to help draw the eye down towards the mask and sentiment. I mounted the panel on some gold metallic card stock that I had left over from a previous My Monthly Hero kit for a gold frame on the edge.

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

Hero Arts is giving away one kit to a lucky commenter (and if you’ve already purchased one, they will reimburse you!). All you have to do to be eligible is leave a comment on each stop on the blog hop. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win! Here’s the full lineup in case you got lost:

The Hero Arts Blog
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Janette Kausen
Ilina Crouse
Nichol Spohr
Michelle Short
Caly Person
Emily Midgett
Julee Tilman
Laurie Willison
Amy Kolling
Debi Adams
Lydia Fiedler

My Monthly Hero February 2019 Blog Hop+Giveaway!

Good morning! Today is the first Monday of the month, so that means that we have the first My Monthly Hero blog hop for the new year! This month’s kit is just plain fun, featuring a unique Art Deco theme, and an absolutely gorgeous cover plate die included in the kit itself, along with lots of fun add-ons. You should have arrived from Caly Person’s blog and your next stop is Ilina Crouse’s blog.

The main kit this month features a large 6×8 stamp set full of fabulous stylized images from the 1920’s, coordinating frame cuts, an absolutely stunning Art Deco cover plate die, and some fun embellishment options, including some utterly fabulous gold and silver foil papers!

The add-ons this month are particularly great, too, and I’ll have a post later this month with some fun things that you can do with them!! These kits frequently sell out, and once they’re gone, they’re gone… so don’t wait and miss out! You can also subscribe to make sure that you get first dibs every month. The kits will begin shipping from the warehouse on Friday, February 8th.

Today, I kept my project fairly easy, with some Copic coloring, some blending, and some heat embossing. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping some of the fabulous images included in the main kit: the silhouette of the beautiful flapper and super fun sentiment, flanked on the top and bottom by the sunburst image to help add some interest and balance. I eyeballed it, but you could use a T-square if you were really wanting to be precise. 😉 I stamped them with Versafine and heat embossed with clear embossing powder to really make those black lines stand out. I then used Copic markers to color in the details using a coral and pistachio color scheme that screamed 1920’s to me.

Copic colors used: R20, R21, R22, E000, E00, E23, YG61, G46, G94, N1, N3, 0

After I had finished coloring the image from the February My Monthly Hero kit, I trimmed it down to a long rectangle, then mounted it on a very slightly larger panel of black card stock.

For the background, I chose to heat emboss the new Deco Flourish Bold Prints using Silver Pearl embossing powder on some plain white card stock. I then used the Picket Fence Studios Life Changing Blending Brushes to blend some Fresh Peach ink around the edge to coordinate with the peach sash on her dramatic and gorgeous chapeau. Finally, I mounted the black-matted Copic panel with some foam adhesive to add some extra dimension!

Now, for some fun giveaway information! Hero Arts is giving away one kit to a lucky commenter (and if you’ve already purchased one, they will reimburse you!). All you have to do to be eligible is leave a comment on each stop on the blog hop. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win! Here’s the full lineup in case you got lost:

The Hero Arts Blog Caly Person Emily Midgett Ilina Crouse Janette Kausen Jessica Frost-Ballas Michelle Short Nichol Spohr Yana Smakula Amy Kolling Debi Adams Jennifer McGuire Julee Tilman Laurie Willison Lydia Fiedler Libby Hickson

Thank you for stopping by, and have a marvelous Monday!