Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

peaceful trees

Peaceful Rose Gold Christmas Trees with Simon Says Stamp!

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

Hi friends! We are past Halloween, and while Thanksgiving is our next holiday, many cardmakers are in full holiday cardmaking mode! The last year or so has added some felt and embroidery techniques into my holiday crafting repertoire; I so enjoy being able to use my papercrafting supplies to make unique handmade gifts out of felt and cloth that make the recipient feel really special. (At least, I hope they do!) With each new release, I find myself examining the dies and stamps to see which products I can pair with felt and/or embroidery to create those meaningful gifts that will last beyond this single holiday season. The gorgeous details on the newer Frosty Nordic Tree die coupled with the fact that each layer of the tree is separate makes it the perfect die to use in a variety of ways and with a variety of mediums. Let’s get started on the details for my gift set!

*I have gathered links to all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience, using affiliate links. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*

As you all know, I can’t get enough of unique, non-traditional color palettes for the holidays, and rose gold is such an exquisitely feminine way to bring in that festive holiday shine. I found some rose gold metallic felt in my stash, along with some lovely printed snowflake fabric, and used those as the basis for my felt project, which in turn became the inspiration for the matching card. I love that the Frosty Nordic Tree die set comes in three individual dies, making it possible for you to use them in a variety of ways! While the original intention of the dies is to layer one complete die cut above another, I used die cut each layer of the tree individually, then used the die for the layer above to cut off the top of the die cut. This results in a die cut with the perfect spot into which the above die cut can snuggle neatly, creating a seamless, flat image!

Once I had adhered the felt die cut tree onto the center of my fabric in the embroidery hoop using felt glue, I used a pen to draw some flourishes around it, which I then embroidered with a satin stitch using coordinating embroidery floss. I added some Opal Pawsitively Dazzling Gems as well as a coordinating blush bow for a tree topper. For some final sparkling touches, I added a few sequins and seed beads to create “berries”! Wouldn’t this be so pretty as an ornament on a Christmas tree?

Inspired by my felt project, I decided to pair the Frosty Nordic Tree dies with one of my favorite cardstocks from Simon Says Stamp: Metallic Rose foil cardstock. Again, I took advantage of the fact that each layer of the tree is an individual die in order to create a trio of trees that are different heights and shapes. I die cut one tree as intended, with three different-sized layers, then die cut a short and squat tree with just the top two layers, then cut one tall and slim tree with only the smallest die! I adhered the layers for each tree with dots of liquid adhesive and set them aside.

Behind the trees, I wanted to create an elegant, snowy backdrop, so ran a panel of blush colored cardstock through my die cutting machine using the Fanciful Flakes Embossing Folder. I swiped the Simon Says Stamp White Pigment Ink Pad over the raised areas, adding a touch of definition to the textured snowflakes, then splattered the background with iridescent metallic watercolors. After this had dried, I mounted the textured panel in the center of a full size A2 card front, creating a white frame around the background. I arranged the trees in a trio, adhering them with liquid and foam adhesive in varying heights, then added a Simple Peace die cut for the greeting, enhanced with some embossed sentiment strips from the Peaceful Trees stamp set. Finally, I added one last touch of sparkle with some Opal Pawsitively Dazzling Gems!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! My husband’s birthday is at the end of this month and gets a little grumpy about putting up holiday decorations too early, so I will have to content myself with holiday spirit in my craft room! Have you started making your holiday cards yet? We’re getting ever closer to that big day!! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Christmas In July: Icy Birdhouse with Simon Says Stamp!

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

Hi friends! I am back with another holiday project for my Christmas In July series, this time featuring some new, non-holiday products paired with a few older holiday products to create this icy holiday card. I love a good birdhouse die; there are so many ways to customize it: dress it up, dress it down, make it the focal point or a supporting player, add texture or sparkle… it’s really a great product to have in your stash! I used the new Cozy Birdhouse die to create this wintry scene. Let’s get started with the details!

*I have gathered links to all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience, using affiliate links. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*

To begin, I die cut the Jolly Birdie, Cozy Birdhouse, and Snowflake Burst Pinpoint Plate from white Hammermill cardstock. Before layering the pieces for the bird and bird house, I decided to use two pale aqua Copic markers to add some icy aqua to the accents on the bird house and create a layered ombré birdie. I love that the Jolly Birdie and Cozy Birdhouse’s sizes work so beautifully together! The proportions are just perfect! Once I had finished adding color to the images, I adhered the different layers together with liquid adhesive.

Before I began assembling my card, I wanted to create a little nest of holiday greenery from two different kinds of white specialty cardstock. I pulled out some white glitter cardstock as well as some iridescent white foil cardstock to die cut the Branching Corner Holly and Budding Branches holiday foliage dies. When working with an almost-monochromatic card like this, I find it essential to add many elements of texture to the project to keep things visually interesting. One of my secrets to adding texture is to add specialty papers, whether it’s glitter cardstock, vellum, pearlescent papers, or shining foil papers in my chosen color palette. It keeps things interesting without adding any additional colors to my color palette!

Once I had completed cutting all of the die cuts, I used a combination of thin and thick adhesive squares as well as liquid adhesive to adhere all of the die cut pieces on my Snowflake Burst Pinpoint cover plate die cut. (Another element of texture!) I added a simple Happy Holidays sentiment from Peaceful Trees, stamped with silver metallic pigment ink and die cut with the coordinating die. Finally, I added one last element of sparkle with some Opal Pawsitively Dazzling Gems.

Well, that’s all for my project today! I love a good white-on-white project with a pop of color, don’t you? This card is so sparkly in real life; it’s so hard to capture that sparkle in photos!! I think the sparkle is just perfect for the holidays! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Simon Says Stamp DieCember Blog Party + Fabulous Freebie!

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

Hi friends! So remember the crazy amount of fun we had in STAMPtember? Well, we’re about to turn our attention to that other, incredibly versatile and wonderful product that we all love to use in our craft rooms: dies! Yes, it’s time for the marvelous DieCember release with Simon Says Stamp, in which we celebrate all things dies and die cutting! I love stamping, of course, which inevitably led to die cutting with coordinating dies for stamped images, but I have grown to love standalone dies almost as much as I adore stamping. You can use standalone dies in so many ways and with so many techniques; they’re wonderful for creating vibrant, color-saturated projects when paired with brightly colored cardstock, but I have also been loving pairing them with felt lately to create a completely different and gorgeously textured finished product. I have a pair of projects to share with you today using some of the marvelous new products from the Simon Says Stamp DieCember release, so let’s get started with the details!

I have always had a special place within my heart for cardinals being from St. Louis, and I have really loved seeing them out in my yard especially since I lost both of my grandparents. I am sure you’ve heard that “cardinals are visitors from heaven,” so I always like to think of them as my Grammy and Papa stopping by to say hi. When I saw the beautiful new Winter Cardinal dies, I knew that I wanted to use it straightaway. I recently have become obsessed with using felt to create projects that will last a little longer than just a card made of paper, so I pulled out some beautiful shades of red felt and a few stitching supplies, as well as some coordinating cardstock to create a beautiful ornament and matching card.

To start, I die cut the different layers of the Winter Cardinal from some cherry red and deep maroon felt, adding accents of black and pale yellow for the face on the cardinal. My stitching skills are still something upon which I am working, so I used felt glue to adhere the layers together to create a lovely layered cardinal. I also used glue to attach a shimmering Gunmetal Pawsitively Dazzling Gem for the cardinal’s eye.

To create the ornament, I filled a small embroidery hoop with navy blue fabric. I used some sage green felt from my stash to die cut the new Whirl Bay Leaves die, then adhered it to the navy blue fabric in my embroidery hoop using more felt glue. I nestled the cardinal amongst the leafy branch with the fabric glue, then used a needle and thread to add some sequins and beads to the little scene, tying in some more red to the color palette and adding a bit of shine and sparkle. Finally, I added a coordinating sage green velvet bow with my glue gun and a sage green velvet loop to be able to hang the ornament on the Christmas tree! This is going to be a perfect gift for my mom as she recovers from a shattered ankle injury; she needs some encouragement right now, and my grandparents (her parents) always helped to give her the support that she needed.

To create the matching card, I die cut the Winter Cardinal again, this time from some incredibly vivid red cardstock. I think that this shade of red perfectly matches the vibrant crimson of the real cardinals that I just saw in abundance today; they really stand out so beautifully amongst the dreary winter landscape! I also die cut the new Whirl Bay Leaves die twice from some of the new Simon Says Stamp Sage cardstock. (The new cardstock colors are absolutely luscious and coordinate so beautifully with the Pawsitively Saturated Inks! So thick and luxurious and super smooth!) To add a bit of variety to my foliage bouquet, I die cut the older Budding Branches die from some deep green glitter cardstock from the Altenew Shimmering Shores Glitter cardstock pack. The combination of large and small leaves really helps make a full and lush “bouquet” of foliage amongst which I can nestle my regal cardinal!

After I had die cut all of the different components for my card, I used a blending brush to blend Night Pawsitively Saturated Ink on an A2 panel of Lawn Fawn Blue Jay cardstock, helping to add some interest behind my foliage bouquet. Before adhering my die cuts, I also splattered the blended background with some gold watercolor to add some shimmer to the card, as well as to mimic the tiny golden beads that I sewed amongst the leaves of my ornament. For the greeting, I heat embossed a sentiment from Peaceful Trees onto some more Blue Jay cardstock using Hero Arts Iridescent Gold Embossing Powder. I love how shimmery this gold embossing powder is; it’s so unique and full of shine, especially compared to other gold embossing powders. I adhered the die cut sentiments to the little scene, tucking a golden thread bow beneath it and adding a few iridescent red “berries” to the berry stems for added sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my projects today. To celebrate the start of DieCember, Simon Says Stamp is giving you a fabulous freebie! Simply follow the instructions on the graphic at the top of this post to receive the truly elegant Fancy Ornaments embossing folder, which is a $24.99 value. The addition of the coordinating die really makes this free gift an excellent and versatile addition to your craft room…. and who doesn’t love a freebie?

We aren’t doing a traditional blog hop today, but instead having a blog party. You can check out the wealth of inspiration using the excellent new DieCember release HERE on the Simon Says Stamp blog. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!