Skip links

Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

rainbow splash

Back to Basics: Color Mixing with Rainbow Splash Inks!

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

Contrary to the majority of my stamped-and-blended posts this month, I am a watercolorist at heart. While I find it very handy to have as many different shades as possible in my watercolor stash just to simplify things when working, I frequently will mix different colors together, some complementary and some very close together on the color wheel, simply to create a shade as close to the color in my head as possible. I work in secondary and tertiary colors most comfortably, with just the slightest variations on the primary and secondary colors commonly found in the rainbow spectrum, so the primary rainbow cards that I’ve been creating are a bit outside of my normal comfort zone. After working with the colors on their own for awhile, I thought to myself, “why not try to do the same color mixing with the Rainbow Splash ink colors the way you do with watercolors?” So, I did some experimenting with some of the inks and was super happy with how they came out!

For today’s projects, I paired Sea and Lime Rainbow Splash inks to create a lovely shade of turquoise; Princess and Pumpkin to create a beautiful, intense coral; and Buttercream and Ballet inks to create a soft, warm pink. I paired the ink blending with several stencils to do some simple color mixing on each card. Let’s get started with the details!

When I was creating the different rainbow cards for my Rainbow Splash posts this month, I have blended Sea ink and Lime ink next to each other a few times, and the small area where the two colors overlapped and blended together created the most beautiful shade of turquoise. I knew I had to use it as a main part of the color palette for one of my cards today! I began by blending an entire white card panel with Lime ink, laying the base for my turquoise heart. I laid one of the Heart Masks and Stencils over the top of the blended panel, offsetting it slightly over the edge, then blended the Sea ink over the top of the heart stencil. To add some extra interest to the heart, I placed the Circular Lace Stencil directly over the open area and blended more Lime ink. This creates a more intense turquoise pattern on the turquoise heart. I love how the colors blend together and how you can slightly vary the color by adding more green or more blue to your blended area, depending on your preference!

To accent my stenciled heart, I embossed an A2 piece of Lime cardstock with the Cascading Hearts embossing folder from the Rainbow Splash collection. I trimmed down the stenciled panel and butted it on the side of the embossed panel to allow the embossing to peek out from behind. I think showing the Lime-blended panel next to the Lime cardstock beautifully illustrates how closely the cardstock matches the ink in the Rainbow Splash line! I heat embossed a greeting from the Bold Messages stamp set onto some Sea cardstock, then blended Lime over the top to create a deeper version of the turquoise heart. I popped it up with some foam adhesive, then added a strip of coordinating turquoise foil cardstock and some blue Rainbow Splash Gem stickers for sparkle!

For my second card, I combined Princess ink and Pumpkin Ink to create this intense, rich coral color! I started by blending Princess ink over an entire panel of white cardstock, then laid the Fading Florals Stencil over the top and blended both Pumpkin Ink and Princess ink to create this intense, vivid patterned panel.

To accent the simple stenciled floral design, I embossed an A2 panel of Princess cardstock using the Folk Flower Embossing Folder. I trimmed the stenciled panel down on the long sides, adding some intense pearlescent orange cardstock strips on either side to create a barrier between the patterned background and the stenciled panel, and popped it up with some foam adhesive. I added a greeting from the Happy Blooms stamp set, white embossed on a strip of Pumpkin cardstock. A few Pumpkin Rainbow Splash Gem stickers on one of the stenciled berry sprigs added a bit of sparkle to the card!

Finally, I paired Buttercream ink with Ballet ink using the Floral Borders stencil. The Buttercream ink tones down the pink, muting it a bit and creating a lovely shade of petal pink. I paired the stenciled piece with a panel of Buttercream Cardstock that I embossed using the Tiny Florals embossing folder, adding a couple of thin strips of Ballet Cardstock to break up the Buttercream. Finally, I added a heat embossed sentiment from the Everyday Greetings stamp, popping it up with foam adhesive and adding a few pink gems on either side to accent the sentiment and add some sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! I encourage you to think back to your lessons about color mixing and try some experiments with your Rainbow Splash inks to create unique color mixes… the results are such fun!! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Rainbow Splash Inks for Back-To-School!

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

Hi friends! I know that it’s a little late in the year for back-to-school cards, but the new Rainbow Splash inks had me in “rainbow mode” and I couldn’t stop myself from creating bunches of projects with rainbow themes. I have been having fun experimenting with ombré stamping and embossing over the top to create a suitable canvas for emboss/resist technique, and I wanted to try it out with this new rainbow of ink colors in the Rainbow Splash line. I have four young kids, and primary color rainbows are just a part of life. I thought the fabulous School Supplies background stamp would be a perfect candidate to try out the ombré emboss/resist technique with which I’ve been playing, and I created this super fun and colorful shaker card to celebrate the start of another school year! Let’s get started with the details.

This ombré emboss/resist technique is one with which I’ve been playing a lot lately. I started experimenting with this technique earlier this year, and each time I use it, I find it more and more magical! Using my MISTI, I stamped the School Supplies background stamp with Scarlet, Pumpkin, Canary, Lime, and Sea Rainbow Splash inks. To create a smooth transition between each ink color, I tap my stamp with the first ink color, then use a microfiber cloth or blending brush on the edge of the line of ink. This extra step helps to make the ink color fade away without creating a harsh line. I close the door to my MISTI, then wipe the ink away with the microfiber cloth and stamp the next ink color, this time tapping the top and bottom lines to create a smooth fade into the previous and following colors. I repeat this process with each color of ink until I have an ombré stamped image!

While the stamp and paper are still in place in my MISTI, I stamp the image again using sticky embossing ink and cover it with clear embossing powder. This clear embossing layer “seals” the stamped image, and I think it helps to smooth some of the ink lines that I didn’t get quite perfect, as well. The added embossing also helps to maintain the vibrance of the ink color, so that I can ink blend over the top in any color that I want! I also used this technique on a greeting from XL Student Greetings, using the same ink colors and technique as the background.

Once I had finished my rainbow stamping for the background and the sentiment, I used Blending Brushes to lightly blend the same shades of ink around the edge of the stamped card front, creating a lovely rainbow glow on my background. I created a thin white frame using my Fiskars trimmer, backing it with a panel of clear acetate and adding foam tape all around the edge to create a shaker card. I filled the shaker with a ton of coordinating rainbow sequins and star confetti from my stash. (I found my huge box of sequins that has been neglected in favor of gems lately, and have decided that I need to keep making shakers to put the sparkly sequins to use!!) I added the rainbow sentiment to the center of the shaker window, creating a super colorful and fun card, perfect for a student or a teacher!

Well, that’s all for my project today! I promise, I will be back to the regularly scheduled flowers soon, but the beautiful inks and colored cardstock from the Rainbow Splash collection have been so inspiring that I just couldn’t move on to anything else until I got my rainbow fill! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Neon Rainbows for a Tropical Theme!

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

Hi friends! I am back with another card inspired by the new Rainbow Splash line from Simon Says Stamp. As I was swatching the colors in the Rainbow Splash Ink Collection, I noticed that the super bright Lime ink was nearly neon, and that inspired me to create a tropical project using a few inks from the Rainbow Splash line, softening the vivid neon aesthetic with the lovely Peachy ink from the Pawsitively Saturated ink line. Let’s get started on the details for this project!

I began by trimming down a panel of white cardstock to about 5.25″ x 4,” blending around the edges with Lime, Canary, Peachy, and Princess Inks. The Lime, Canary,and Princess Inks are from the Rainbow Splash family, but they work beautifully when paired with the Pawsitively Saturated inks. After I had created the beautiful neon glow on the edges of my white card front, I matted the panel with an ever-so-slightly larger piece of black cardstock to make it pop from the Lime Rainbow Splash cardstock base.

To keep the bright neon colors as vivid as possible, I die cut the Tropical Leaf Bunch die from some black cardstock. The crisp black cardstock contrasts beautifully with the neon background! I nestled one die cut into the corner and trimmed off the excess, then added the second over the top with some black foam adhesive squares for extra dimension and interest.

For the greeting, I heat embossed a couple of the greetings from the Big Old Birthday stamp set onto some more black cardstock using gold glitter embossing powder. I die cut the larger sentiment using the coordinating die and trimmed the smaller sentiment strip with my trimmer. I popped those up on the card front using some more black foam adhesive squares, finally adding a few Onyx adhesive gems for some more sparkle!

Well, that’s all for me today! It was such fun to step outside of my jewel- and pastel-toned aesthetic for this super vivid neon project. Sometimes, all you need is one color to jumpstart an idea for an entire card! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

More Rainbow Inspiration Featuring Simon Says Stamp’s New Rainbow Splash Inks!

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

Sometimes, it can be challenging to come up with the perfect rainbow colors. You can totally change the feel of the rainbow by tweaking even one shade, and finding that perfect traditional rainbow gradient can be a little overwhelming amongst all of the inks available. The new Rainbow Splash line from Simon Says Stamp has the benefit of being curated to be a perfect rainbow! I normally shy away from the typical ROYGBIV rainbow, but I have had the Painted Rainbow stamp set waiting for the perfect project, and pairing it with the new Rainbow Splash inks gave me the opportunity! I was inspired to create another project as well, using those same traditional rainbow colors, so let’s get started with the details!

Both of my projects feature Crimson, Pumpkin, Dandelion, Grass, Lake, Heather, and Princess inks in traditional ROYGBIV order. I love that there’s no guesswork involved in creating a perfect rainbow!!

For my first card, I stamped the different pieces of the Painted Rainbow stamp set using the Crimson, Pumpkin, Dandelion, Grass, Lake, Heather, and Princess inks from the Rainbow Splash line. This background stamp was super easy to use with my MISTI, because all I had to do was stamp, line up the next piece alongside the first, then remove the first and stamp the second in the next rainbow shade! So quick and easy, especially since my ink colors were ready to go. I stamped the rainbow on a 5×5 piece of cardstock, then lightly blended around the edges using the coordinating ink colors to create a rainbow glow. I created a simple shaker frame by using my Fiskars trimmer to trim the center out of a panel of 5×5″ white cardstock, backing it with a piece of clear acetate.

After I had finished the frame, I die cut the Oh Happy Day die from some sparkling, iridescent white glitter cardstock and adhered it to the center of my shaker frame. I filled my shaker with tons of iridescent rainbow confetti (I do wish that I’d added more red to make it look a bit more rainbow-y), and then closed up the shaker! I love the square shape; I need to do that more often. Such an interesting way to change things up, providing different proportions with which to work.

For my second card, I used the same Crimson, Pumpkin, Dandelion, Grass, Lake, Heather, and Princess ink combination from the Rainbow Splash line, this time blending the colors together to create a most beautiful rainbow background! I started by blending the colors ROYGBIV style from the top down on a panel of white cardstock. I then ran the blended panel through my die cutting machine using the Cascading Hearts embossing folder from the Rainbow Splash collection. To help emphasize the hearts a bit, I gently swiped my white pigment ink pad over the top of the raised areas, which helps them stand out a bit more. I trimmed down the panel, matting it on a slightly larger piece of white cardstock, then matting both of those pieces with a super sparkly, A2 sized piece of Simon Says Stamp’s holographic glitter paper, which adds a whole new level of rainbow sparkle to the card!

For the greeting, I heat embossed one of the sentiments from the Happy Blooms stamp set on white cardstock using silver embossing powder to coordinate with the silver holographic cardstock in the background. I die cut the greeting with one of the Nested Round Hearts dies, then used the residual ink left on my blending brushes to add a slight glow to the edges of my heart sentiment die cut.

Before I completely assembled my card, I knew I wanted to add a fluffy red bow to accent my heart die cut, but I didn’t have just the right shade of red ribbon in my stash. Instead of compromising the mental image of this card that I had in my head, I chose to dye some plain white ribbon using an alcohol marker! Having a supply of white ribbon plus your rainbow of alcohol markers in your stash means that you always have a perfectly matched ribbon for your card. I tied my red ribbon in a big fat bow, then added my heart die cut over the top with some foam adhesive. A few Rainbow Splash Gems in a rainbow gradient added the final touch of sparkle!

Well, that’s all for today’s projects! I hope you’re not tired of rainbows, because I am finding the new products in the brand new Rainbow Splash line from Simon Says Stamp so very inspiring!! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

More Rainbow Splash Inspiration with Simon Says Stamp!

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

Have you taken a peek at the new Rainbow Splash line from the Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember release? These beautiful new products are curated specifically to be super approachable for both the newbie and seasoned crafter alike! If you want more information or have questions about this new Rainbow Splash line, I encourage you to watch the replay of the livestream that Heidi filmed; it holds lots of great information and answers some burning questions that you might have about these new products! (You can watch the replay HERE.) In my introductory post, I shared some projects with a less traditional “rainbow” palette, instead focusing on a cool ombré color palette that more closely fits my personal tastes. However, the vivid rainbow colors of the entire ink line for the Rainbow Splash collection intrigued me, despite my general disinterest on the ROY portion of ROYGBIV. (Sorry to the red, orange, and yellow lovers out there!)

I tried to keep my cards a little less challenging to make them more easily replicated by both newbie and seasoned crafters, focusing instead on the resplendent traditional rainbow that you can create using the new Rainbow Splash colors.

My first project is a shaker card filled with a rainbow of flowers and sequins, and framed by a vivid blended rainbow frame! I began by stamping the flowers from the Happy Blooms stamp set on a panel of Rainbow Splash White Cardstock using Scarlet, Pumpkin, Dandelion, Lime, Sea, and Heather inks, working from the top left corner of my A2 panel to the bottom right. I also used those same colors to blend around the outer edges of another panel of A2 cardstock and used my trimmer to create a rainbow frame. I backed the opening with some lightweight vellum, which still allows the super bold colors in my floral rainbow to be visible, but slightly muted.

After creating my frame, I added strips of foam adhesive to enclose the back of the frame and filled it with a variety of rainbow colored sequins that I have in my stash. I heat embossed the greeting from Bold Messages using white embossing powder on black cardstock and adhered it in the center of my shaker window. Such a fun, happy card with so much vivid color! And who doesn’t like a shaker card??

My second card features the same background: a rainbow floral cascade, but this time instead of stamping the images full strength with these super juicy ink pads, I chose to stamp off once to create a more subtle color palette. (If rainbow can even be called “subtle” haha!) I simply inked up my floral stamps from the Happy Blooms stamp set using Scarlet, Pumpkin, Dandelion, Lime, Sea, Heather, and Princess inks, stamping first on a piece of scrap paper off to the side before stamping my pattern on my white cardstock.

After I had finished stamping my background pattern, I matted the panel with a slightly larger panel of Black Cardstock, creating a thin black frame around the outside of my patterned panel. I used the coordinating shade of Rainbow Splash Gems for the centers of each flower, adding some delicious texture and sparkle to the card front. I heat embossed a greeting from the Happy Blooms set and mounted it in the corner of my card front using foam adhesive for a little extra height.

My last card is probably my most involved project for today. I began by blending a full size A2 panel and a slightly smaller panel of white cardstock using Scarlet, Pumpkin, Dandelion, Lime, and Sea inks on the edges of approximately the same areas on both panels. I ran the full size panel through my die cut machine with the Twinkling Stars embossing folder from the Rainbow Splash release, then blended a bit more over the top with the same colors to make those embossed stars stand out a bit more.

After I had finished blending, I stamped the balloons from the Birthday Wishes stamp set on the upper right hand corner of my smaller blended panel, trying to keep the stamped balloon colors consistent with the blended areas. I used the Birthday Wishes Dies to die cut a glittery star-shaped balloon using Luxe Glitter Cardstock-Basic. I love that the holographic glitter picks up on the rainbow colors of the background! I heat embossed a greeting from Birthday Wishes on some black cardstock and trimmed them down into strips. I added an ever-so-slightly larger piece of vellum behind my balloon panel to frame it on the star-embossed background and popped it up with foam adhesive. Finally, I added a few Gems for some sparkle!

Well, that’s all for these projects! I hope you’re loving the new Rainbow Splash line from STAMPtember, as well as all of the fabulous collaborations announced each day! This month is so darn fun and really celebrates the stamping community as a whole. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!