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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

no line watercolor

Wildflowers + Faux Calligraphy with Watercolors!

Hi there! I’m over on the Honey Bee Stamps blog today, and I have some pretty-in-pink inspiration featuring some of the newest products from the Summer Stems release! I have been itching to get some watercoloring done with the stunning new Wildflowers stamp set. I created some wildflower silhouettes on this card using black gouache, but I wanted to do some no-line watercoloring to showcase all of the gorgeous little details on these fabulous stamps. I paired it with a little faux-calligraphy for this card with many layers and lots of textures. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping a bunch of different images from the Wildflowers onto some Arches Cold Press watercolor paper using the Honey Bee No Line Coloring Ink. I then used a variety of Prima Watercolors (i have several sets and have put them all in one large palette, so I’m not sure which colors I used exactly, sorry!) to watercolor the images. Watercoloring these small-ish, super detailed images seems a little intimidating, but a small paintbrush and lots of patience works wonders!

After I’d finished with the flowers, I turned my attention to the greeting. I have always adored hand-drawn calligraphy, but I absolutely stink at it (believe me, I’ve tried. I’m too controlling haha!), so I stamped the Best Wishes greeting from the Miss You Big Time set using No Line Coloring Ink, then used my small paintbrush and deep maroon watercolor to paint over the stamped greeting to achieve a hand-painted look. This would be super fun to do with rainbow or ombre, too! I was just playing, so one color is all I’ve got to show you today. I can’t wait to play with this stamp set and technique combo some more.

Once I’d die cut all of the stamped and watercolored images, I trimmed down an A2 panel of gingham paper from the Summer Stems Paper Pad, (side note-how adorable are the matching envelopes!?) then lightly blended some Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide ink on each corner. I added some strips of plain cardstock (one pale peachy pink, another white woodgrain) across the front at a diagonal as a way to help ground the flowers, then arranged my wildflower bouquet on the front, adhering it and the sentiment die cuts with foam adhesive. Finally, I added a few gems for some sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today! Some days, you just need to sit and relax with some meticulous watercoloring… or at least I do… and this project was perfect for that! Thanks so much for reading, and have a marvelous day!

Colorado Craft Company June Anita Jeram Release!

Hi there! Colorado Craft Company has a brand new Anita Jeram release available right now… and it’s so gosh darn cute!! We are celebrating all things adorable with a blog hop, so you should have arrived here from Nichol Spohr and your next stop is Amy Tsuruta. These darling new sets are perfect for people like me, who like the look of sweet little storybook critters, but are terrible at scene building. The new Happily Ever After stamp set has a variety of individual images that are already “laid out” for you, so no masking is required, or you can also use the beautiful (and huge!) wedding scene. Let’s get started with the details on my cute little wedding card!

I started by stamping the little mice sitting by the tree and the wedding cake from Happily Ever After on some Arches Cold Press watercolor paper using Hero Arts’s Contour Ink so that I could do some no-line watercoloring. I then watercolored the images using Schmincke watercolors. I just love the two little mice in this scene; they remind me of my biggest twinkies- waiting patiently for the cake to be cut, but keeping an eagle eye on things so that they don’t miss out!!

I added a pale blue halo around the topmost portion of the scene, allowing the blue sky to fade organically away by adding lots of water to my brush and pulling the color out. One of the things that I love most about watercolor is that you can be super detailed and specific, or you can make just the merest suggestion of a shape, a color, a shadow… and the brain will supply the intended effect. (Usually-ha!) I used a flicking motion to add grass to the bottom of my scene, allowing various intensities of color and going over the same spots I’d already painted a few times as they dried to make the grass look fuller.

Once everything had dried, I heat embossed a greeting from Happily Ever After using Altenew’s Obsidian Black and clear embossing powder. The crisp black with the clear embossing powder helps the sentiment really pop over the soft watercoloring.

Well, that’s all for my project today! To celebrate this latest release, Colorado Craft Company has some fun giveaways:

Colorado Craft Company is giving away one of each of the new stamp sets. In order to be eligible for the giveaway, leave a comment on each blog. The comments will be open until midnight Eastern time on the 16th and winners will be announced by us on the 17th on the Colorado Craft Company blog.

*****(If you can’t find the comment box on my post, click on the title of the blog post, then scroll down to the end of the post, where you should see a comment form.)*****

That’s all for my post today! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping! Here’s the full hop lineup:

Colorado Craft Company- Adrienne Kennedy
Jenn Gross
Bibi Cameron
Jennifer Kotas
Kelly Griglione
Angelica Conrad
Daniel West
Caly Person
Sandy Allnock
Mansi Bhatia
Kassi Hulet
Erin Thompson
Melissa Andrew
Donna Hitz
Nichol Spohr
Emily Midgett
Amy Tsuruta

Hero Arts 2021 Summer Catalog Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! Today, Hero Arts is releasing their Summer Catalog for 2021, and we are celebrating all things summer with a blog hop! You should have arrived here from Debi Adams, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. You can also check out all of the links to the hop at the Hero Arts Blog. I have two projects to share with you today, one featured in the new catalog, one not, so let’s get started with the details!

This first project was such fun to watercolor! Hero Arts has released their no-line coloring ink, called Contour Ink, and I used this ink to do some no-line watercoloring with the stamp and Hero Arts’s Liquid Watercolors! I stamped their new Succulent Bouquet stamp on some cold press watercolor paper using the new Contour Ink. I then taped my stamped watercolor A2 card panel down on a watercolor board using some washi tape and began watercoloring.

Succulents are so gorgeous; they’re like flowers, but green, which I find to be so much fun and so different! I used a variety of the Hero Arts Liquid Watercolors in shades of green, brown, and the super versatile Mulled Wine, which can be used on its own as a pretty, muted raspberry shade, or added to green or brown to created your own custom shades, perfect for creating shadows. I watercolored the entire image, gave it some time to dry, then while my watercolor paper was still taped to the board on all four sides, added kind of a reverse halo of Mulled Wine, laying color down at the taped edges, then cleaning my brush and using the clean brush to pull the color in towards the center of the card front, allowing just the tiniest hint of color to get near the watercolored image, leaving the halo around the image almost completely white.

Once my image had dried completely (I like to leave panels that have had a lot of water added to them taped down overnight to reduce warping), I removed the tape and splattered some concentrated Mulled Wine all over the panel to embrace the “artistic” look of the card front! I added a heat embossed greeting from the Succulent Bouquet stamp set, which I heat embossed in silver on a small square of Plum cardstock, then popped up with some foam adhesive for extra dimension.

My next card features the new Hero Florals Strawberries Line Art stamps and dies. This little set packs a big punch. Strawberries are my favorite fruit, so I couldn’t wait to color these beauties up! I stamped them a few times on some white cardstock using Intens-ified Black ink, then used my Copic markers to color the images ink bright red and green, leaving the little flowers white with just a touch of yellow to the centers. I cut out the images with their coordinating Frame Cuts.

For the card base, I trimmed down an A2 panel of Cherry cardstock, then placed the Graphic Deco Stencil over the top and blended some Unicorn white pigment ink over the top. I love the look of the white stenciled background on the bright red card base! I also splattered a bit of White Liquid Watercolor on the background to add some more fun texture.

I layered the die cuts over the stenciled and splattered card base, adhering them with foam adhesive, and added some sentiment strips stamped using the new Message Strips Stamp & Cut XL, then die cut them with the coordinating Frame Cuts. (These are SO handy.) The final touch was to add some white enamel dots to tie in to the white stenciling and white splatters in the background!

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

We will give away THREE $50 gift cards, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, May 30th 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!

New Anita Jeram from Colorado Craft Company!

Hi there! Colorado Craft Company has some absolutely darling new sets illustrated by the talented Anita Jeram that are releasing today, and I’m so happy to be helping them celebrate! There are lots of fabulous designers helping to inspire you with these new goodies, and you can find the entire list over on the Colorado Craft Company Blog. I’m not normally very good at creating scenes with critters. Something in my imagination hits a bit of a creative wall when it comes to scene building, ha! Luckily, the new Home Sweet Home stamp set has an absolutely darling little scene already built for you, so that you can just stamp and color with your choice of medium! I have a cool blue project for you today, so let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping the sweet scene from Home Sweet Home on some Arches cold press watercolor paper using no-line coloring ink. I then used my Sennelier watercolors to add lots of cool blues, grays, and purples to the scene, keeping the overall feel nice and loose to help maintain that sweet, storybook feel that Anita Jeram’s illustrations have. (PS-I love that there are coordinating dies for the individual elements of the scene! You could easily add lots more dimension to the card with the addition of some die cut elements. So much fun!)

I maintained a cool cornflower blue and gray color scheme throughout the card, thinking in my mind’s eye of an English summer cottage surrounded by a lovely garden full of beautiful flora and graceful fauna. When doing a larger scale no-line coloring piece like this, I like to do a large wash on the biggest section (in this case, the walls), then allow it to dry completely so that I can add the details without worrying about the paint running or blooming into each other. The Sennelier watercolors are very pigmented, and maintaining a light and airy feel requires lots of water so as not to add too much pigment to the card front.

Once I had completed my painting, I trimmed the panel down (the large size of the Home Sweet Home stamp means that it covers almost an entire A2 card front) and mounted it on a panel of Lapis cardstock from Hero Arts. I white embossed the greeting from Home Sweet Home (how apropos for these crazy covid times) and popped it up on the card front using foam adhesive.

Well, that’s all for this project! I hope you’ll check out the new Anita Jeram release, as well as the blog hop happening now! Your next stop is Amy Tsuruta. We also have some fun giveaway information for you:

Each designer will be giving away a $25 shopping code to one lucky commenter on their blog. All you need to do is visit each designer’s blog or IG page and leave a comment saying which of the new release is your favorite. You have 23 chances to win by leaving your comment. Giveaway ends on May 19th, 2021. Winners will be announced by each designer on May 20th, 2021.

Please be sure to subscribe to my blog (just enter your email address on the top left hand side of my blog) so that you receive email notification when I announce the winner. If you don’t contact me, I won’t be able to get your prize to you!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Cherry Blossoms with Picket Fence Studios!

Hi there! Today, I have a project made with some lovely products from Picket Fence Studios. They were kind enough to send me some of their stamps and dies, including Que Sera Sera and More Fancy Sentiments, which I used with some older stencils to create today’s pretty-in-pink project!

I began by stamping a few of the floral clusters from Que Sera Sera on some watercolor paper using Ink On 3’s Fadeout Ink. I then used my Holbein Watercolors to watercolor them pretty shades of pink and jade green. Once I’d finished watercoloring the images, I used the coordinating dies to cut them out.

Next, I trimmed down an A2 panel of pale pink cardstock, on which I arranged a Blending Stencil and used a Blending Brush with some violet ink. While the Blending Stencil was still attached to the card front, I added the Fancy Flourish stencil over the top and blended some more violet ink to create a tone-on-tone pattern that faded into the top left corner of the stenciled circle.

I stamped a greeting from More Fancy Sentiments, then die cut it with the More Fancy Sentiments Dies. I arranged the flowers on the stenciled panel and adhered them using foam adhesive. I trimmed the bottom 1/2″ of the stenciled panel and added a strip of violet cardstock to the bottom so that it was peeking out the bottom. I added a few iridescent white pearls for some extra texture and shine!

Well, that’s all for my project today. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!