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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

my monthly hero

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!

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

Good morning! Today, Hero Arts is releasing their latest My Monthly Hero kit, and this one is great for creating the perfect card that bibliophile in your life! You should have arrived here from Debi Adams, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. This month’s kit is absolutely darling… Perfect for the book lover in your life!

This month’s kit contains:

6″ x 8″ Clear Stamp Set
7 Coordinating Frame Cuts
Reactive Palette Ink Pad
Water Flow Brush
6 Bookmarks, Pure White Cardstock
Rainbow Hemp Cord, 6 meters

The kit is valued at $73, but is priced at $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!

The main kit and the add-ons have a wonderful library theme. For this first card, I combined the main kit with one of the add-ons to create this card featuring a sweet girl engrossed in her book, leaning up against a huge stack of books.

I began by die cutting the stack of books from some aqua cardstock using the new Stacked Books Fancy Die. I then used my gold gouache to add some shiny gold to the edges of the books. Not much is more luxurious to me than a book with gilded edges! I added some Copic color to the book covers, as well. On the card base, I blended some Aegean ink with a blending brush, then splattered some more gold paint for a whimsical feel.

Next, I stamped and die cut the reading girl from the main kit, adding color to her using Copic markers. I love the “imagination” stamps included in the kit; after deciding on where to put my stack of books and reading girl, I stamped her little whimsical thought bubble using some more Aegean ink.

I stamped and gold embossed a greeting from the main kit on some Adriatic cardstock, then popped all of the pieces up on the card front using dimensional adhesive. Finally, I added a few golden gems to the imagination bubble.

My second card features the new Library Card Stamp and Cut XL. The die set creates a fun little card and pocket (that is perfect to fit a gift card, as well!), and the sentiments are so fun and versatile! I created a pocket out of some more Adriatic cardstock, as well as a card for the inside, which I stamped using the coordinating stamps. I also added a sentiment from the new Literally the Best stamp set.

For the card base, I stamped the new Novel Prose Bold Prints background on some more aqua cardstock using Aegean ink, then lightly blended around the edge with a blending brush.

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, March 14th 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!

February 2021 My Monthly Hero Release Blog Hop+Giveaway!

Hi there! February is upon us… finally! Welcome to the perfectly rectangular month that is February, 2021! (Look on your calendar if you don’t know what I mean, haha!) The Hero Arts My Monthly Hero kit is launching today, and we are visualizing a tropical vacation with some super fun vintage Hawaiian/tiki images and all things beachy and tropical! You should have arrived here from Debi Adams and your next stop is Ilina Crouse.

This month’s kit is full of fantastic goodies, including:

• 6” x 8” Clear Stamp Set
• 21 Coordinating Frame Cuts
• Tropical Flower Washi Tape
• Sand Embossing Powder, 0.5 oz.
• 6 5.5″ x 8.5″ Cardstock Sheets (2 each in Turquoise, Marrs Green, Coral)

This month’s kit is valued at $70, but is available 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.

When searching for inspiration for my project, I turned to Pinterest and typed in “vintage tiki” and found a plethora of fun imagery to help jumpstart my creativity. One of the images that I found was a tiki mask and flowers with a bright red, khaki, and turquoise color scheme, which was super fun to translate into a card using the main kit and the Water Ripples Bold Prints background stamp!

I began by heat embossing lots of the different images from the main kit onto some Sand cardstock using white embossing powder. I then used Caran D’Ache Luminance colored pencils to add lots of vibrant color in a red, white, and turquoise color scheme. I absolutely adore the look of vibrant colored pencils on kraft paper. So striking! After I’d colored everything, I die cut the images with the coordinating dies, included in the main kit.

For the card base, I used the new Water Ripples Bold Prints background stamp to create a tone-on-tone card base. I stamped the image on some Paradise cardstock using Blue Raspberry ink. It looks just like the bottom of a swimming pool to me! Such a fun background!

I die cut a Oval Woodgrain Frames Infinity Die from some white cardstock and popped it up on the patterned card front using foam adhesive. I then arranged the Hawaiian die cuts in a cluster and adhered them using both liquid and foam adhesive. For the greeting, I heat embossed the coordinating sentiment from the main kit on some strips of Sand cardstock using white embossing powder, then added those with some more foam adhesive. The final touch was a few white Neutrals Enamel Dots for a few more pops of white.

Well that’s all for my project today! Now, we have some fun giveaway information for you!
We will give away one $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, February 7th at 11:59pm pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win!

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

My Monthly Hero January 2020 Blog Hop+Giveaway!

Hi there! Today is the first Monday of 2020, which means a new My Monthly Hero kit (and fabulous add-ons) is now available for purchase! We are celebrating with a blog hop and giveaway. You should have arrived here from Debi Adams, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. This first kit for the new year is one of the prettiest kits I’ve seen, featuring a huge branch of cherry blossoms, beautiful sentiments, a fun honeycomb die, and the cutest little chubby bumblebees that you ever did see!

This gorgeous kit contains: 6″ x 8″ Clear Stamp Set, Coordinating Frame Cuts, Honeycomb Window Die, Honey Lacquer Pen, six 5.5″ x 8.5″ Sheets of Paper (2 each in Pale Yellow Glitter, Black Glitter and Gold Brillanca). The kit is valued at $70, but is available 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.

For my project today, I couldn’t resist doing some coloring with that absolutely gorgeous cherry blossom branch from the main kit. I stamped it on Copic-friendly cardstock using Intens-ified Black ink, then used my Copic markers to color the blossoms and foliage. I also stamped that cute, chunky little bee and colored him a pretty shade of gold.

In order to highlight the black on the stamped images (and as an excuse to use that beautiful glitzy black paper included in the kit), I die cut the honeycomb window die from some plain white cardstock and backed it with the black glitter paper.

I stamped a greeting from the main kit on a strip of white cardstock, then adhered the die cuts and sentiment using foam adhesive. I finally added some black enamel dots to the card front to complete the “rule of three” (i.e.- three different uses of black) and also add some more texture ot the card front.

Well, that’s all for my project today! I hope you check out the add-ons for this kit (I tore my craft room apart last week in an attempt to get organized for the new year and ran out of time to play with the absolutely darling add-ons!), because they’re so, so cute.

Now for some fun giveaway information!

We will give away one $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, January 10th at 11:59pm pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win!

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

December 2020 My Monthly Hero Blog Hop+Giveaway!

Hi there! Today is the first Monday of the new month, which means a new My Monthly Hero kit (and fabulous add-ons) is now available for purchase! We are celebrating with a blog hop and giveaway. You should have arrived here from Debi Adams, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. This month’s kit is filled with absolutely gorgeous images that project the hopeful feeling I think we can all admit that we feel for 2021!

The kit includes: 6″ x 8″ Clear Stamp Set, Hope Word Fancy Die, Cloud Fancy Die, Cloud Window Die, 4 Reactive Ink Cubes (Early Dawn, Morning Mist, Yellow Chartreuse, Thistle), Yellow Prisma Embossing Powder 0.5 oz.. The kit is valued at $78, but retails 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, one using the main kit, and one using a couple of the lovely add-ons. Let’s get started with the details!

I started my card using the main kit by die cutting the beautiful cloud window from some plain white cardstock. I also die cut a couple of the standalone clouds from some more of the same white cardstock.

I placed the cloud window over another A2 panel of white cardstock, then used that as a guide to blend a lovely morning sky using Pool and Bubble Gum inks with blending brushes. I also spritzed some Iridescent Shimmer Spray on the blended card front to add some glimmer.

After the blended panel had dried, I added the sunshine rays using Silver Shadow Ink. I adhered the cloud panel using liquid adhesive, then added the clouds and a greeting from the main kit using foam adhesive for extra dimension. The final touch was a bit of glitter on the clouds to add extra emphasis on the die cut dimension on the clouds!

For my second card, I used the absolutely beautiful Sea and Sky stencil as my focus. I blended Pool, Bubble Gum, and Butter Bar inks to create my morning sea background. While the stencil was still adhered to my white card front, I spritzed it with some more Iridescent Shimmer Spray. The spray has the added benefit of kind of smoothing out the blended background.

After the background had dried completely, I applied my anti-static tool to the center of the sun, then heat embossed the cheerful greeting from You Shine.

I trimmed the blended panel down just slightly and adhered it to a Canary card base. Simple, subtle, but some pretty shimmer and shine to help the background pop!

Well, that’s all for my projects today, and we have some fun giveaway information for you!

We will give away one $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, December 13th at 11:59pm pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win!

Your next stop is Ilina Crouse. Happy hopping!