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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

olo markers

Holiday Lilies with Simon Says Stamp!

This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!

Hi friends! I am back today with another project featuring the lily stamp from my new Festive Bouquets illustrations. When researching flowers for my drawing, I always look at different floral arrangements for weddings and holidays, and I was struck by how frequently large lilies are used in holiday bouquets. I couldn’t remember ever seeing a holiday lily stamp before, so I created a large arrangement to use on your holiday cards and was super fun to color!! Let’s get started with the details on my project.

I began by stamping the lily image from the Festive Bouquets stamp set onto some Hammermill white cardstock using Intense Black ink. I then used OLO markers to create vivid red, almost a bright coral, lilies and lime green foliage. This image would be beautiful in no-line style, as well, but I think that the crisp black lines with the vivid red flowers are such a classic pairing that I couldn’t resist using it for this project. I die cut the image with the coordinating die.

To add some subtle, but still festive, texture behind my floral bouquet, I ran an A2 panel of Hammermill white cardstock through my die cut machine using the new Twining Berries embossing folder. This embossing folder has such classic holiday botanical imagery and added such lovely texture behind my floral bouquet. The only enhancement that I made was to add some shimmering gold watercolor splatters to the embossed panel, though this panel would also be gorgeous colored with your choice of medium!! I added my floral bouquet to the bottom corner of my card front and trimmed off the excess from the edges. To coordinate with the gold splatters on the background, I also added some shimmering gold to the centers of the lilies.

For the sentiment, I heat embossed a greeting from the Graceful Holiday Greetings set onto some black cardstock using gold sparkle embossing powder. I die cut the greeting with the coordinating die, then added a sentiment strip from the CZ Design Typed Christmas Sentiment Strips cards. These cards are printed with toner, so they can be foiled using a Minc or a laminator. Such fun to add that little extra bit of shine! I popped up the greeting pieces on the embossed card front using foam adhesive, then added a few iridescent red gems for extra sparkle.

Well, that’s all for my project today! Simple, elegant, and lots of shimmer and shine to make it extra festive. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

It’s Just a Bunch of Hocus Pocus!

This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!

Hi friends! I have something unusual to share with you today… I rarely make Halloween cards, because I think my Grammy was the only person from whom I’ve ever received a card for Halloween, and to be honest, I don’t do “spooky” very well. However!! I could not resist the darling little witches in the marvelous new Hocus Pocus set, illustrated by my friend Alberto Gava! He illustrates the most adorable stamp sets, and while I don’t do cutesy very well, I absolutely adored all of the cute little witches, pumpkins, and that precious little kitty! My daughter is going to be a witch for Halloween, so this set is just perfect to make a little card or tag for her, too! Let’s get started with the details.

To start, I stamped several of the images from the Hocus Pocus stamps set onto some Hammermill cardstock using Intense Black ink. I then used OLO markers to add color to the images, creating these orange pumpkins, black kitty, and a witch that looks just like my little girl in her Halloween costume! I die cut the finished images using the coordinating dies (purchase as a bundle HERE). I also stamped the darling greeting using Altenew Obsidian Pigment Ink, embossing it with clear embossing powder before using the coordinating die to cut it out.

One of the reasons that I don’t do “cute” very well is that my imagination doesn’t seem to stretch to creating scenes very easily. To get around this, I like to create a smaller “canvas” upon which I can build my scene, making a less intimidating space to have to fill with images. I placed one of the Simon A2 Stencil Masks over the top of my A2 Hammermill cardstock card front, then used blending brushes to blend Cayenne, Clementine, and Nectar inks from Concord & 9th in a smooth ombré down the front of the card, creating a pretty ombré background that matched the colored pumpkins beautifully! While the Simon A2 Stencil Mask was still in place, I splattered some coordinating metallic watercolors on the background to add extra sparkle to the card.

After removing the mask, I arranged all of the colored and die cut elements on the blended area, adhering them with both liquid and foam adhesive to create extra dimension and interest. I love how the kitty looks like he’s pointing at the sentiment! Finally, I added a few shimmering gems for some more sparkle and texture.

Well, that’s all for today’s project! If you’re like me and find yourself creating with the same style of stamps each time you craft, I encourage you to go take a look at stamp sets that are outside of your typical wheel house. It’s such fun to stretch your creative legs with something new, especially when the results are this cute! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember + Altenew!

Being able to play with the different collaboration stamp sets for Simon Says Stamp’s STAMPtember celebration is such a joy and helps reinforce my love of this hobby-turned-job, which is basically the entire point of STAMPtember!! The Altenew STAMPtember collaboration set is indicative of Altenew’s general aesthetic: elegant. I had such fun coloring this beautiful rose arrangement, adding a few special touches to make it really pop. Let’s get started with the details!

To start, I stamped the Altenew STAMPtember collaboration stamp set using Contour Ink from Hero Arts onto a mini-slimline card front of Hammermill cardstock. I wanted to highlight the beautiful and detailed stamp with a simple layout, so I stamped the bouquet smack dab in the center of this mini-slimline card front. I colored the images in some lovely shades of coral and red, with warm green foliage, using OLO markers. When working with alcohol markers, I always try to make sure that I have at least four markers in a gradient to ensure that I have maximum contrast and depth. No-line coloring can be a bit fussy, but the only part that I find truly challenging is the flower centers. Those tiny areas are a bit difficult to get perfect, so I have a trick to share with you: opaque pens. I used the Karin Star Sparks Deco Gel Pens and Karin Milky Way Deco Gel Pens to add the stamens to the center of each flower, using a few different colors to add variety and interest! I just love how this turned out!

Because I wanted to keep things simple to allow that beautiful floral bouquet to stay the star of my card, I created a simple frame around my colored image using 1/4″ masking tape right up against the edges of my mini-slimline card front. I used a blending brush to lightly blend Altenew Dusty Rose Fresh Dye Ink around my colorful image. The light shade of warm pink accents the red flowers beautifully without altering the colored image.

For the greeting, I heat embossed one of the sentiments from the Altenew STAMPtember collaboration set onto some white cardstock using Rose Gold embossing powder from Altenew. I trimmed the sentiment down and popped it up on the colored, blended panel using foam adhesive. I added a few shimmering gems for one last sparkling touch!

Well, that’s all for my project today! The gorgeous Altenew STAMPtember collaboration set also comes as a set with dies so that you can easily create beautiful cards with dimensional die cuts, as well! If you love this set as much as I do, I wouldn’t wait too long, because these sets usually sell out very quickly, and once they’re gone, they won’t be restocked. Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy STAMPtember!!

Moody Blue Cosmos with Simon Says Stamp!

This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!

Hi friends! I feel like I have been a little quiet lately, as I’m prepping for all of the upcoming STAMPtember fun at Simon Says Stamp as well as packing/preparing to move into my new studio space! (EEK!) My husband has been working so hard to give me a beautiful new space, and I can’t wait to share it with you. In the meantime, I have a few projects to share with you. Today’s project features a gorgeous background stamp from Simon Says Stamp that I’ve had for quite awhile and for some reason have never used: Cosmos Background. I fell in love with the beautiful details in the background, which could easily be used on it’s own to create a gorgeous pattern, but I wanted to do some coloring! (Shocker, right?) Let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping the Cosmos Background on Hammermill cardstock using Intens-ified Black ink. I then used OLO markers to color the cosmos flowers in brilliant shades of blue. We do not have enough blue flowers, in my opinion, especially this vivid, almost fluorescent shade of blue! To create maximum contrast between the bright blue flowers, I used a black OLO marker to fill in the background of the stamped image. I particularly like to use OLO markers for super color saturated areas like this; they’re very juicy and provide great, even coverage.

After I had finished coloring the blue flowers, I used some shimmering handmade watercolors to add some extra special sparkling highlights to the flowers. I also added some of the shimmering silver watercolors to the center of the flowers. The shine is nigh impossible to catch in a photograph, but it adds such a special detail to the card!! I trimmed down the final product to a thick strip for the center of my card front, placed it on my black card front with double sided adhesive, then added a couple of coordinating blue foil strips. The blue foil helps to add a bit of textural interest as well as create a visual barrier between the colorful patterned section and the crisp black background!

For the greeting, I heat embossed a sentiment from Spring in my Step onto some heavyweight vellum using sparkling embossing powder, then die cut it with the coordinating die. I also heat embossed a greeting strip from the same stamp set onto a strip of black cardstock using silver embossing powder. I popped both of the sentiment pieces up on the colorful floral background, then searched my stash for some coordinating gems. The black base with shimmering blue coating over the top of the Midnight Blue crystals from Studio Katia worked exceptionally well with this moody blue card!

Well, that’s all for my project today! Do you have any stamps that you just had to have but haven’t used yet? I encourage you to take a look at your stash and see which sets need a little love! It’s so satisfying to finally put your crafty purchases to use! Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a marvelous day!

Daisies for Babies-Adding Gilded Accents to your 3D Embossed Images!

This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!

Hi friends! Today, I have some inspiration using the utterly gorgeous Fresh Daisies Embossing Folder + dies. I have become obsessed with adding color to embossing folder images in a variety of ways, including ink blending, alcohol markers, and watercolor, and today I combine a few of those techniques for a two-fer. When I first saw the Fresh Daisies Embossing Folder + dies, I thought that the little baby’s breath flowers and daisies reminded me of a sweet baby card. White daisies are so innocent and clean, so friendly (“Don’t you think that daisies are the friendliest flowers?”), that I thought this embossing folder would make some beautiful and elegant baby cards. Let’s get started with the details!

Both of my cards today feature the Fresh Daisies Embossing Folder. I used two different techniques for these cards, though I kept the color scheme similar for both projects, using Lake Shores Ink for my main color addition.

Oh, Baby + dies

A2 Thin Frames

Lake Shores Ink

My first card pairs the Fresh Daisies Embossing Folder + dies with the Leafy Greens Embossing Folder + dies. I recently added this Leafy Greens folder to my stash with the intention of using it in conjunction with the several different embossed floral dies that are available in the Simon Says Stamp store. The leaves are beautifully delicate and a lovely, graceful shape. I die cut the daisies and the foliage from plain white cardstock, intending to add some alcohol marker coloring to them.

To achieve good results with the die cut embossed flowers, I first die cut the images from my chosen cardstock, then place the die cuts inside the embossing folder in the correct spot for that image, then run it through my die cut machine. If you tried to die cut the embossed image, you would flatten out all of the embossed dimension, so it works best to start with a clean, smooth die cut. Using my OLO Markers, I colored the daisies and foliage die cuts, using BV2.0 and the Zero markers on the “white” daisies, keeping the color mainly on the petals tucked behind the top layer of petals in order to enhance the shadows while still keeping the color a crisp white. I added golden yellow to the daisy centers and colored the leaves a lovely shade of aqua that coordinates nicely with the Lake Shores Ink.

For the background, I used Simon Says Stamp’s Very Very Low Tack Tape and some Post-It Notes to mask off the top and bottom of my white A2 card front. I lightly blended Lake Shores Ink in the center of the card front, then, keeping the masks intact, added the Daisies and Leaves Stencil, which I had lightly spritzed with Pixie Spray to keep the delicate stencil in place while blending. I blended more Lake Shores ink over the top of the stencil to create a very subtle, tone-on-tone pattern in my blended area. I also spritzed the colorful strip with some Hero Arts Iridescent Shimmer Spray. When I removed the masks, I was left with a strip of subtle, but lovely, aqua. Before adding my die cut flowers, I splattered some beautiful, sparkling warm white watercolors to add even more interest to the background.

I arranged the die cut embossed flowers on the card front, adhering them using foam tape. I also stamped a greeting from Oh, Baby onto some white cardstock using Lake Shores Ink, then, keeping the stamps and cardstock in place in my MISTI, stamped again with clear embossing ink and sprinkled some white satin pearl embossing powder over the top. This combination created a beautifully soft color-coordinated sentiment, which I die cut using the coordinating dies. I adhered the sentiment with a double layer of foam tape and added a few gems and some twine for more texture. Once I had everything arranged properly, I “gilded” the flower petals and foliage with the same sparkling white watercolor that I had splattered on the background, adding it only in the highlighted spots to add just a touch of sparkle. I am totally in love with this card; the sparkle is unreal and *so* difficult to capture in a photograph.

My second card also features the Fresh Daisies Embossing Folder and Lake Shores Ink. After embossing my white panel with the full Fresh Daisies Embossing Folder, I blended Lake Shores Ink with a blending brush over the entirety of the embossed panel. I also went back over the raised areas with the ink pad, lightly swiping the panel with the ink pad to add extra color saturation to the raised areas.

Once I’d finished blending and swiping on the panel, I used the same golden white sparkly watercolors to enhance some of the raised embossed images. Leaving the monochromatic color on the background would be fine in itself, but adding the sparkling highlights kicks it up a notch! I also splattered the entire card front with more sparkly watercolors, which I think almost creates a raindrop effect. I added a glittery white frame cut using some white glitter paper and the A2 Thin Frames dies.

For the greeting, I used another pair of die cuts from the Oh, Baby + dies, stamped again using Lake Shores ink + clear embossing ink, and embossed using White Satin Pearl embossing powder. I also lightly blended some more Lake Shores ink on the die cuts to keep them cohesive on the blue background. I popped the greeting up on the card front using foam adhesive, then added some gems and a twine bow. I think the addition of the twine bow helps to enhance the idea that this elegant card is a sweet baby card!

Well, that’s all for my projects today. If you have any iridescent or sparkly watercolors, I would encourage you to try adding some sparkly highlights to your embossed images and backgrounds. It’s super easy, and the effect is absolutely stunning! Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a marvelous day!