Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

ornamental fine leaves

Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember Collaboration: Pinkfresh Studio!

Hi friends! The new limited edition Pinkfresh Studio STAMPtember-Edged Floral stamp set is now available, and it’s a stunner! This 6×6 set features a large botanical corner stamp perfect for creating a lovely textural adornment on your background or as a corner focal piece! I used both techniques with some of Pinkfresh Studio’s vibrant, unique inks to create a pair of pretty-in-pink cards. Let’s get started with the details on my projects!

Both of my projects features the gorgeous Pinkfresh Studio STAMPtember-Edged Floral heat embossed with Iridescent Lavender embossing powder from Hero Arts; these iridescent embossing powders are so unique and versatile, and I love using them with intricate stamps like these! I pulled from the lovely shades in the iridescent embossing powder to select Cherry Blossom, Begonia, Candy Violet, and Regal Kiss Pinkfresh Studio inks to create a gorgeous sunset-inspired ombré.

For my first project, I heat embossed the main image from the Edged Floral set onto some vellumusing the Iridescent Lavender embossing powder, then used sharp scissors to fussy cut the image (but you have the option of using the coordinating dies to save your wrists and quite a bit of time!). From straight on, the embossing on the vellum looks like delicate texture, but from certain angles, the iridescent embossing powder shows off so beautifully, as you can see in the photo below. I wanted to create some contrast behind the embossed vellum piece, so I blended Cherry Blossom, Begonia, Candy Violet, and Regal Kiss Pinkfresh Studio inks on the diagonal on a panel of white cardstock, then ran the panel through my die cutting machine with Pinkfresh Studio’s Intricate Stitched Ovals die, adding pretty texture to the blended panel.

To add some interest around my sentiment, I die cut the Cherry Blossoms dies from Pinkfresh using some coordinating bubble gum cardstock, as well as Pinkfresh Studio Rose Gold glitter cardstock. I heat embossed the greeting onto some deep magenta cardstock, stamping it first with white pigment ink, then again with sticky embossing ink, finally sprinkling the Iridescent Lavender embossing powder over the top to create a unique iridescent sentiment. The initial layer of white pigment ink helps to make the iridescent embossing powder stand out a bit better on the vibrant cardstock. I fussy cut the sentiment, (again, you could use the coordinating die-they cut out the sentiments, too!) then arranged the sentiment and flowers on my fussy cut floral vellum corner, popping some of the pieces up with foam adhesive squares and adding some with liquid adhesive. I added some more foam adhesive on the back of the vellum piece behind the solid die cuts to hide them, then adhered it to the blended background. I tucked a Nested Domed Arches Frames cut from some Simon Says Stamp Rose Gold Metallic cardstock, finally adding a few Pinkfresh Studio Clear Drops: Magenta to the flower centers for a bit more shine and color!

For my second card, I set up the Edged Floral stamp in my MISTI, stamping it once using Cherry Blossom ink, then again with sticky embossing ink, finally adding some more of the Iridescent Lavender embossing powder, then rotating it 180* and repeating the process, so that I had the floral design in each corner. Stamping the pale pink ink first and adding the iridescent embossing powder creates the prettiest effect, especially when paired with some soft, tone-on-tone ink blending using Cherry Blossom, Begonia, and Candy Violet Pinkfresh Studio inks around the edges.

The somewhat simplistic nature of the individual images themselves from Edged Floral gave me some freedom when selecting botanical dies to add to my card; I selected Ornamental Fine Leaves and Etched Meadow Flower & Leaves dies, both from Simon Says Stamp, which I die cut from pearlescent blush cardstock and Magenta glitter cardstock. I also die cut the Big Hugs die from some brushed pink foil cardstock and enhanced the large sentiment die cut with another sentiment from the Edged Floral set, stamped with white pigment and embossing inks, then heat embossed with the Iridescent Lavender embossing powder. I arranged the die cuts on a small rectangle of vellum, allowing the flowers and foliage to peek out from behind the large sentiment die cut, finally adding a few shimmering gems for added sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! These STAMPtember collaboration sets are limited edition and usually sell out very quickly, so if you’re on the fence, don’t wait too long! To sweeten the deal and make it even easier for you to shop, Heidi at Simon Says Stamp has offered free shipping for purchases over $25 for a limited time!!

This limited edition stamp set is so gorgeous, and the added option to have the coordinating dies for both the image and the sentiments makes it a must-have. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and Happy STAMPtember!

Gorgeous Denim Blue with New Embossing Folders from Simon Says Stamp!

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

Hi friends! The new Simon Says Stamp Celebrate Release is now live, and some of my most favorite items are the new Ink Trio 25 and the wide variety of new embossing folders! I have become absolutely obsessed with the embossing folder+ink pad swiping craze, and the dark blue in the Ink Trio 25 is absolutely perfect for use with this technique. It’s dark enough that it can easily cover up most lighter colors (as I showed in THIS post last night). I loved making that navy and coral card so much that I wanted to try it out with all three blue inks from the Ink Trio 25 and the new gender-neutral embossing folders to create some more masculine-friendly projects. I have two blue-tiful cards to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

The trick for the ink swiping technique is to make sure that your blending inks are significantly lighter than your swiping ink. You want to make sure that any blending that gets “outside the lines” is covered up by the ink swiping. Luckily, the Night ink from Ink Trio 25 is practically navy blue, so it works beautifully for this purpose! And the super springy foam pad gives great coverage on your debossed panels, almost creating a suction effect to get intense and vibrant inking.

For my first card, I embossed the new Flower Buds Unfolding Embossing Folder onto some Hammermill white cardstock, then flipped the panel over so that the pattern was debossed rather than raised. I then used blending brushes to blend the lighter two inks from Ink Trio 25 randomly all over the pattern, simply adding color to the debossed images. Once I had finished blending, I pressed the Night ink pad directly to the paper and swiped, being careful not to press down too hard to avoid ink smudges inside my patterned debossed areas. I love that this technique picks up the details within the debossed image!! I trimmed down the finished panel slightly and mounted it in the center of an A2 sized dark blue glitter cardstock card front, creating a sparkly mat around the edges of my textured and patterned panel.

For the greeting I chose to heat emboss the “anniversary” from the Happy Combos stamp set, using white embossing on navy blue cardstock, which I paired with the coordinating Happy Die cut from iridescent white mirror cardstock and a vellum shadow. I popped these die cuts up on my debossed and inked panel, then die cut the Ornamental Fine Leaves die from some more dark blue glitter cardstock. These delicate leaves are just simple enough that they can easily be used for a masculine card. You could definitely switch out the “anniversary” die cut for “birthday” and cut the leaves from plain navy cardstock to have a perfect masculine card! Finally, I added a trio of Clear Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for a bit more sparkle.

For my second project, I used the same technique with the new Feather Spiral embossing folder to create a simple Father’s Day card. I first embossed a panel of white A2 cardstock with the embossing folder, flipped the panel over, and blended the lighter two inks from Ink Trio 25 in the debossed areas. I swiped the entire panel with my Night ink pad, again putting the pad directly to the paper and picking up those details beautifully!

For the greeting, I heat embossed a poignant sentiment from Papa and paired it with the new Fancy Father die set, cutting the detail layer from some more navy blue cardstock and layering it with a vellum shadow. To accent the sentiment and ground it a bit so that it wasn’t just floating in the center of the card, I trimmed down a strip of Ocean Breeze glitter cardstock and thinner strip of navy blue cardstock, adhering them to the right hand side of my card front with liquid adhesive. I popped up the sentiment pieces with some foam adhesive, orienting them over my accent strips.

I absolutely love this technique; I think that the possibilities are endless when you change up your ink colors. I think it would be fun to try with watercolored images, too! I can’t wait to experiment more! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and don’t forget to come back tomorrow for Day 1 of the Celebrate Blog Hop. Inspiration abounds with these blog hops, so you won’t want to miss it!

Autumnal Thinking of You with Simon Says Stamp!

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

Hi friends! It’s finally the weekend, and I am so happy about that! We are in the complete throes of autumn here, with incredibly beautiful autumnal foliage making it a feast for the eyes every time I look or go outside! I am reading Anne of Green Gables with my big kids, and we just read the line “I’m so glad that I live in a world where there are Octobers.” It’s so true! It took a while for our trees to start impressing the world with their colors, but the oranges, yellows, peaches, reds, and magentas are finally here. Nature is surely showing off! This card is an embodiment of the view outside, filled with colorful foliage and a bit of sparkle and shine. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by creating a vivid ink blended base panel using Concord & 9th Cayenne, Pawsitively Saturated Blush and Cheeky, and Rainbow Splash Buttercream inks. (Side note- Rainbow Splash Buttercream ink is my new favorite color. It blends so beautifully with such a huge variety of colors, and is a little bit of a chameleon, changing the tone a bit with different color pairings. You should check it out of you haven’t yet!) The Buttercream ink worked beautifully as the lightest shade of my red and peach autumn ombré background.

Next, I heat embossed the new Autumn Leaf stamp from the Season of Wonder release onto some vellum with some sparkling metallic embossing powder. I fussy cut the image with my sharp scissors so that I could pop it up with some foam adhesive on my blended background. I also die cut some coordinating colorful foliage using the Etched Berry Branch and Ornamental Fine Leaves dies, using colored cardstock for the fine leaves and Tonic’s Purple Rain cardstock for the berry branch.

To coordinate with the warm, iridescent purple foil foliage die cuts, I die cut the detail layer of the Fancy Thinking of You die from some super dark maroon cardstock and backed it with a peachy outline layer. I popped the sentiment up on my huge glittery vellum leaf image using foam adhesive, then arranged the foliage die cuts to be peeking out from behind the sentiment. Don’t be afraid to cut your leaf die cuts apart; by doing so, you allow yourself the freedom to create fuller, more lush bouquets (or leaf clusters, in this case). After I had arranged all of my foliage pieces, I added some Topaz Twinkle gems for one last bit of sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today! The leaves will probably be blown away this weekend, as we are expecting a cold front (just in time for trick-or-treating on Halloween… darn it!), so I am going to enjoy the beautiful views while they last. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!