Skip links

Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

ombre

Hero Arts Winter 2020 Catalog Release Blog Hop+Giveaway!

Hi there! Are you ready for some Christmas spirit today? Hero Arts is officially unveiling their Winter 2020 Catalog today, and we are celebrating all of the gorgeous new products with a blog hop and giveaway! You should have arrived here from Debi Adams’s blog, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. I have two non-traditional holiday projects for you today, both an homage to my favorite shade of ink from Hero Arts: Raspberry Jam. (It’s just the perfect shade of pinky red, and something so fun and different for holiday cards!) Let’s get started with the details on my projects.

For my first project, I combined the new Christmas Rose Bold Prints background stamp with the beautiful Color Layering Poinsettia Tree and dies. I began by stamping the Christmas Rose background on a panel of Peony Hero Hues cardstock using Soft Blossom ink. I then used a blender brush to blend some Unicorn White ink in the center to soften the pattern a bit and create a more solid background for my floral Christmas tree!

I stamped the beautiful new Color Layering Poinsettia Tree on some more Peony cardstock using Raspberry Jam, Bubble Gum, and Unicorn White inks, as well as some gifts. I cut everything out with the coordinating Frame Cuts. For the greeting, I heat embossed the “Happy Holidays” on a strip of Plum cardstock using white embossing powder. I trimmed down the floral, tone-on-tone background panel and matted it on an A2 panel of Plum cardstock, then mounted the tree and gift die cuts in the center using foam adhesive.

For my second project, I used the fabulous new Snowflake Swirl Bold Prints for my background, doing some ombre inking using the Hero Arts branded MISTI. To achieve this look, I first stamped the top third of the Snowflake background using Rose Madder ink, softening the edges of it a bit with a microfiber towel. I stamped it on my white cardstock and repeated the process again to get a good saturation of color. Next, I did the same thing across the center segment of the stamp using Raspberry Jam ink, softening the edges at top and bottom to create a seamless blend between the two cards. Finally, I added Grape Juice ink on the bottom, creating a lovely, non-traditional snowflake ombré on my white cardstock! The formulation on the Hero Arts inks make techniques like this so much easier, because the formula actually spreads and smooths as it dries, so the colors change smoothly, as well.

To create the shaker window, I die cut the new Joy Ornament Fancy Die from the center of the snowflake card front, as well as from some white cardstock. I backed the circular cutout on the card front using acetate, then inlaid the Joy die cut on the acetate using liquid adhesive. I added foam adhesive around the shaker opening, then added some fun iridescent sequins, finally backing it with a full A2 panel of Plum cardstock.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! These new holiday products are absolutely marvelous. Totally will get you in the holiday cardmaking spirit, even if it is super hot outside haha! Now, for some fun giveaway information:

Hero Arts will give away three $50 gift cards, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by leaving a comment between now and Sunday, September 6th 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!

Watercolor Blog Hop with Avery Elle and Ellen Hutson!

 Good morning! Today, the Ellen Hutson Design Team has a special treat for you today… we are partnering with the Avery Elle Design Team to bring you a blog hop featuring the new Avery Elle Liquid Watercolors!

For today’s hop, I have created a fairly whimsical card… a far different aesthetic than the card that I created for my video. I love how Avery Elle has such an eclectic collection of styles! I have really enjoyed playing with these liquid watercolors recently. I had a video up on the Ellen Hutson blog earlier this week (which you can see here or watch here on YouTube) in which I discuss my thoughts on these new watercolors. They are great fun, especially if you’re new to watercoloring. They have a great price point for just getting your feet wet, too.

For my project, I use the absolutely darling Pixie Dust stamp and die set from Avery Elle and combined it with a pretty ombre wash background to create a whimsical fairy card! To create the ombre wash, I taped my Arches A2 sized panel to a cutting board, then used a wide wash brush to add Sapphire Liquid Watercolors to the top of the panel and Cherry to the bottom, mixing the two in the center to create a sunset effect. (You can watch the technique in action in the video mentioned above!)

For the fairies, I die cut and silver heat embossed the fairies and some clouds onto some more Arches Cold Press watercolor paper, then watercolored them with a variety of the Liquid Watercolors, mixing and matching to create the hair and skin tones. For brown, I mix colors on the opposite sides of the color wheel, mainly oranges and greens. For the silvery black haired fairy on the bottom, I mixed Sapphire with Mimosa and Sea Glass. I don’t know that I could replicate these exact shades again… there was a lot of mixing and matching going on until I got what I wanted haha!

I also die cut some vellum clouds (the Avery Elle clouds that I used are discontinued, but I’ve linked some comparable dies at the bottom!) and arranged my little scene on my card front. I adhered everything using dimensional adhesive, hiding the adhesive behind the fairies and solid clouds so that it wouldn’t show through the vellum. I also silver heat embossed the greeting from Pixie Dust onto the ombre card front. The final touch was some jewels from Pretty Pink Posh.

Well, that’s all for my project today! You definitely don’t want to miss any of the stops on this hop; the inspiration and tips on these new watercolors are absolutely fantastic! What’s a blog hop without prizes, right? Head on over to The Classroom to learn all of the details on how you can win some blog candy!!

World Cardmaking Day!

Hi again! I hope you all are enjoying the festivities for World Cardmaking Day! To see my collaboration project with Honey Bee Stamps and Chibitronics, click here. 

One of my absolute most favorite companies, Concord and 9th, is hosting a celebration for World Cardmaking Day, as well! To enter, you just have to post a Concord and 9th project on social media using the #C9WCMD. Here’s my project:
I’m starting to get a little anxious that I have so few holiday cards completed… like truly, it gives me anxiety lol. I have a long list of people to whom I send holiday cards, and for some reason, I haven’t been in the holiday cardmaking spirit yet. I usually start listening to my holiday Pandora station in August to get myself ready for it… maybe it has something to do with the limited snatches of time I get to work in my office. Anyway, I’m trying to build up my stash. I love the fonts in the Concord and 9th word dies… I’m a sucker for a beautiful font. The Season of Cheer stamps and dies immediately called to me. I started by stamping the pine boughs in an ombre color scheme using the lightest three of the Sea Shore inks from Altenew and my MISTI.

I wanted my sentiment to pop on those pretty greens, so I die cut the greeting from some cranberry red card stock and adhere dit to the card front, then covered it with Icicle Stickles. Finally, I added a few of the greenery sprigs and berries (included in the Season of Cheer dies) and covered them with Stickles, as well.

That’s it! Simple, easily mailed… that’s like the biggest challenge of my Christmas cardmaking. “How can I make this flat enough to be mailed without extra postage?” Ha!

I hope you’ve had some fun today on World Cardmaking Day! Have a fabulous weekend!