Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

my monthly hero

More fun with the My Monthly Hero kit!

Good morning! I have another project using the September My Monthly Hero kit. The kit has SO many gorgeous images, including several vases for creating your own floral arrangements, as well as many different options for foliage and branches. The options are really endless! Today, I combined the images from the kit with some of the beautiful add-ons, so let’s get started with the details!

I started by die cutting and stamping the vase and some of the foliage from the main kit onto some watercolor paper using Intense Black ink. Next, I used the Hero Arts watercolors to add color to the images. I also stamped and die cut some of the gourds from Autumn Bounty and watercolored them, as well.

For the background, I embossed the beautiful new Patterned Lanterns Bold Prints background using Gold Sparkle embossing powder. I arranged the die cuts in a cluster and adhered them using both liquid and dimensional adhesive. I added a greeting: a heat embossed thankful from the main kit on a strip of red card stock.

Well, what do you think? I love this September My Monthly Hero kit… it’s got so many fun bits and pieces. There are still a few kits left, so if you’re on the fence about purchasing this month’s kit, be sure to head over to Hero Arts and get your kit on! These kits are limited edition, so once it’s sold out, it’s gone for good!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a marvelous day!


September My Monthly Hero Blog Hop+ Giveaway!

Good morning! Today is the monthly Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Blog Hop celebrating the fabulous new My Monthly Hero kit! This month, we are featuring a beautiful autumnal kit, chock full of gorgeous botanical images with a bit of Asian influence! For today’s hop, you should have arrived from Jennifer McGuire‘s blog, and your next stop is Caly Person‘s blog! The My Monthly Hero kits are always an excellent value, and this month is no exception.

This kit, including a large 6×8 stamp set, coordinating dies, beautiful fancy oval frame die, and accessories is valued at over $70, but is available for purchase now for $34.99! These kits frequently sell out, so it’s always a good idea to subscribe if you want to ensure that you’ll get your hands on one! The kit & add-ons go live in the Hero Arts store on Tuesday, September 4th at 1pm eastern/10am pacific. The main kit is available for a limited time only – once it’s gone, it’s gone. Kits begin shipping from Hero Arts on Friday, September 7th.

I combined the gorgeous autumnal fancy frame die with the new Glimmer Metallic Inks in my countdown post here, but today I wanted to show some of the beautiful botanical images included in the main stamp set. There are some stunning florals included, which the ever-knowledgeable Jessica Frost-Ballas informed me are Chinese lanterns. These plants have a bright red bulb-like flower that drip off of the main stems so gracefully… I knew I needed to do some watercoloring with these gorgeous flowers.

I began by stamping and die cutting several of the Chinese lantern images from the kit using Hero Arts’s Intense Black ink,  a waterproof ink that stays nice and crisp even on watercolor paper. I then watercolored the images using the new add-on Orange Liquid Watercolor, followed by some shadows created with the Red Glimmer Metallic Ink. I used the Glimmer Ink instead of just using Strawberry Liquid Watercolor because the Glimmer Inks are a bit more bold and slightly more intensely pigmented than the regular liquid watercolors…. plus, they’re metallic, so yay! They react similarly to the watercolors in that, when you lay down the concentrated color, you can create a nice fade with a clean, damp paintbrush. I added touches of the Red Glimmer Metallic Ink over the top of the orange, then pulled the color out with my wet paintbrush to create almost a glaze of metallic shimmer. I added some Moss Liquid Watercolor to the foliage, as well.

For the background, I used the new Patterned Leaves Bold Prints, stamped in Red Royal on some red card stock. I love the subtle texture that the tone-on-tone background provides for the floral bouquet. It’s just enough to add interest to the background without distracting from the beautiful floral images. I adhered my bouquet of exotic flowers to the card front using liquid adhesive, then added a stamped sentiment strip to the bottom of the card front using dimensional foam adhesive.

Now for some fun giveaway information! Hero Arts is giving away a September My Monthly Hero kit to one lucky winner (and if you purchase a kit and then win, they will reimburse you!). All you have to do to enter is comment on the blog hop posts. The more comments you leave, the more chances to you have to win! Here’s the full lineup in case you get lost:

The Hero Arts Blog
Ilina Crouse
Lydia Fiedler
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Libby Hickson
Janette Kausen
Amy Kolling
Kelly Latevola
Jennifer McGuire
Emily Midgett<— you are here!
Caly Person
Michelle Short
Jenn Shurkus
Yana Smakula
Nichol Spohr
Julee Tilman

Well, that’s all for me today! Happy hopping, and good luck!


Man Card Monday: August Edition!

Hi there! Popping in today for August’s Man Card Monday! I missed last month’s Man Card Monday installment, so I thought I’d create two projects for this month to make up for it! Every month, I try to set aside at least one day in the month to create some masculine cards to build up my stash in case an unexpected (ahem, inadvertently forgotten) man-birthday comes up. I hate buying a card from the store when I have an office stuffed with stamps. The My Monthly Hero kit and add-ons for the month of August were absolutely perfect for masculine cards. No flowers, no frills, just a nice, strong cup of coffee is perfect to create a card for that uber masculine guy in your life. There are a few of these kits left, so if you’ve been on the fence, hurry over and grab one, because once they sell out, they’re gone for good! You can also subscribe if you are afraid to miss out on any future kits, as well.

For my first card, I wanted something simple and quick, something easily replicated and easily mailed. I used the updated Infinity die Teapot and Cups, both newly updated with inserts to cut out the handles! I cut both from some Pool Layering Paper, then used the new Doily background stamp to heat emboss a super detailed design onto the cup to add fabulous texture. I added the greeting from the new Spill The Tea add-on stamp set in black ink, then used liquid adhesive to adhere the teapot and foam adhesive for the teacup to add a bit more dimension. Simple, but effective! I could see this easily replicated with lots of different Bold Prints backgrounds and in all sorts of colors!

For my second project, I used the August My Monthly Hero kit to create an eclectic little cluster of coffee cups, like you’d see on a cafe table. I can just picture a group of friends, clustered around one of those tiny cafe tables, a variety of cups spread out in front of them because they all have different caffeine desires. 😉 I started by stamping and masking the coffee cups onto some watercolor paper, then left the masks on to clear emboss the new Doily Background to create some subtle texture. I then used the Daniel Smith Hero Arts Dot Palette to watercolor the cups, adding a coffee stain around the coffee cups using the new Cocoa Liquid Watercolor to help emphasize that pretty texture from the clear embossed background. I finally stamped a sentiment from the new kit onto a strip of white card stock and adhered it to the card front. Nice and flat and easy to mail!

Well, that’s all for this month’s Man Card Monday! I hope you enjoyed these projects using the new Hero Arts products from this month’s My Monthly Hero release, and that they inspired you to create some masculine cards of your own. It’s nice to have a little stash of man-friendly cards hanging out in my card container. Thanks so much for dropping by today! Have a marvelous week!


August 2018 My Monthly Hero Blog Hop+Giveaway!

 

Good morning! Today is the monthly Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Blog Hop celebrating the fabulous new My Monthly Hero kit! You should have arrived from Clare’s blog and your next stop is Ilina’s blog.  This month’s kit is coffee themed, with some fabulous coffee images and coordinating dies, as well as a fantastic fancy die that I used in this post. So many fun images, accessories, and that fabulous fancy die… here’s the breakdown of the items included in the kit:

6″x8″stamp set
3.5″x4.5″ window fancy die
11 coordinating frame cuts
Crystal Clear Lacquer Pen
White Puff Embossing Powder
2 8.5″x5.5″ sheets of coffee and tea hand dyed decorative paper

There are so many amazing coffee themed images included in this kit, and it’s a bargain at $34.99 (valued at over $70!). These kits frequently sell out, so it’s always a good idea to subscribe if you want to ensure that you’ll get your hands on one! The kit & add-ons go live in the Hero Arts store on Monday August 6th at 1pm eastern/10am pacific. The main kit is available for a limited time only – once it’s gone, it’s gone. Kits begin shipping from Hero Arts on Friday, August 10th.

For my project today, I wanted to invoke those lovely chalkboards that you see so frequently in cafes and coffee shops. I love creating chalkboard cards with my colored pencils and black card stock, so I thought I’d recreate that feel with my stamps, some white ink, and a white colored pencil. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping the tall, footed coffee cup and some whipped cream from the main kit onto some black cardstock using Unicorn White pigment ink, as well as a few images from the new add-on stamp set Tea Time. I die cut all of the images using the coordinating dies.

I arranged my cluster of coffee shop goodies on my card front in approximately the spots that they would be on the final card, then began work on my custom sentiment. I love accenting certain words in sentiments with die cut letters, so I trimmed off the “coffee” of the “You’re the cream in my coffee” sentiment included in the main kit, then die cut the letters from white card stock. I stamped the partial sentiment in white pigment ink. I then used my gridded mat to arrange my die cut letters in a nice straight line, used washi tape to pick them up and add adhesive to the back, then adhered them to my card front.

I adhered my coffee die cuts using foam tape, then used my T-square to create a white frame around the edge of my card panel. Looks just like a sandwich board that you’d see outside a coffee shop, right? Love this technique!

Now for some fun giveaway information! Hero Arts is giving away an August My Monthly Hero kit (and if you purchase a kit and then win, they will reimburse you!). All you have to do to enter is comment on the blog hop posts. The more comments you leave, the more chances to you have to win! Here’s the full lineup in case you get lost:

The Hero Arts Blog
Amy Kolling
Amy Tsuruta
Clare Prezzia
Emily Midgett<— you are here
Ilina Crouse
Janette Kausen
Jennifer McGuire
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Julee Tilman
Kelly Latevola
Laurie Willison
Libby Hickson
Lydia Fiedler
Michelle Short
Nichol Spohr
Wanda Guess
Yana Smakula


June My Monthly Hero Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Good morning! (Or maybe afternoon, depending on where you are reading this!) Today is the day… the absolutely amazing June My Monthly Hero kit is now available for purchase! This particular kit is absolutely fantastic… the beach theme is so appropriate for the start of summer, and the kit has some absolutely fantastic components, not to mention stunning add-ons. To celebrate, we have an amazing blog hop with some fantastically creative guests. You should have arrived here from Clare Prezzia’s blog and your next stop is Ilina Crouse’s blog.

The main kit includes:

6″ x 8″ Clear Stamp Set
12 Coordinating Frame Cuts
4 Ink Cubes (Deep Ocean, Summer Sky, Soft Sky, Soft Granite)
Sand Embossing Powder 0.5 oz
Sea Foam Shimmer Spray 0.5 fl oz
Beach Enamel Stickers

There are so many amazing beachy images included in this kit, and it’s a bargain at $34.99 (valued at over $70!). These kits frequently sell out, so it’s always a good idea to subscribe if you want to ensure that you’ll get your hands on one! The kit & add-ons go live in the Hero Arts store on Monday June 4th at 1pm eastern/10am pacific. The main kit is available for a limited time only – once it’s gone, it’s gone. Kits begin shipping from Hero Arts on Friday, June 8th.

I had such fun using the main kit contents in my countdown post on the Hero Arts Blog that I created two different cards! I decided, however, to use some of the absolutely marvelous add-on stamps and dies today. Hero Arts really outdid themselves with this release!

For my first project, I used the new Abstract Wave Bold Prints stamp with an older stamp to create this beautiful under-the-sea mermaid scene. I started by stamping the Abstract Wave onto some white card stock and heat emboss it using White Satin Pearl embossing powder. I then used my blending tools to blend Deep Ocean, Summer Sky, and Orchid inks in a halo on the card front. I absolutely love this color combo… almost psychedelic! Just to make things even more magically mermaid-ish, I spritzed some Iridiscent Shimmer Spray on the card front and allowed it to dry completely.

Next, I stamped the beautifully detailed Mermaid woodblock stamp onto some watercolor paper, then die cut it out with the coordinating frame cuts. I used my Tombow markers to do some quick watercoloring in similar shades of purple and blue, then popped her up on my card front with some dimensional foam adhesive. I stamped the greeting from the new Seal of Approval stamp set onto some white card stock using black ink. I trimmed it down to a strip, then popped it up next to my mermaid. The final touch was a few iridescent gems that reminded me of pretty bubbles!

For my second project today, I wanted to feature that adorable seagull wearing a hat in the Seas the Day Seagulls set. I just couldn’t resist. I started by stamping and die cutting a few seagulls and some logs upon which they could stand. I then used my Copic markers to color both the gulls and their logs.

Next, I die cut one of the new Wave & Sea Confetti Dies from some Sea Mix layering paper, then backed it with a lighter shade of blue layering paper. Next, I pressed my Versamark pad down directly onto a piece of card stock and added some of the super unique sand embossing powder included in the main kit. I popped up my gulls, their seats, and the sandy strip with some dimensional foam adhesive, then wrapped some twine around each of the logs to create those super rustic and beachy “fences” that you might see at the beach or on a boardwalk. The last step was to stamp a coordinating greeting from the Seas the Day Seagulls set onto a strip of white card stock and pop it up with dimensional foam adhesive.

Now, for a giveaway!!! We are giving away one kit as a prize to one blog reader – selected from the comments across all of the blogs in the hop. The giveaway closes Sunday, June 10th at 11:59pm, and the winner will be announced the following week. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win! (If you purchase a kit and then win the contest, Hero Arts will reimburse you for your purchased kit!) Here’s the full hop lineup, so you can leave your comments:

Jennifer McGuire
Jenn Shurkus
Laurie Willison
Lydia Fiedler
Nichol Spohr
Wanda Guess
Amy Tsuruta
Clare Prezzia
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Janette Kausen
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Libby Hickson
Yana Smakula
Michelle Short