Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

slimline

Regal Purple and Colorful Ornaments: More DieCember Inspiration!

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

Hi friends! My color-loving heart is so excited to share this card with you today. I have a Pinterest board entitled “Holiday Color Combos” (which you can see in its entirety HERE), and on it is pinned tons of unusual Christmas color schemes. After making cards with lots of traditional colors for the last several months, I found myself perusing this board for color palettes before creating my projects for the DieCember release for Simon Says Stamp. One color combination jumped out at me: deep plum, bright teal, vivid magenta, and amethyst purple. The multiple layers of the new Elegant Ornament dies were perfect for using this interesting color combination. Let’s get started with the details!

The Elegant Ornament die set includes five different dies so that you can customize the different layers in tons of unique combinations! I chose to die cut the pieces from Eggplant and Peacock solid cardstock from Concord and 9th, reserving the die cuts from each layer to be used later. I also die cut the super delicate detail layer from some magenta glitter cardstock, cutting enough to create three different ornaments.

Because none of the layers of this die are completely solid, I made sure to keep the solid center section from the super detailed top layer of Eggplant cardstock. I then added this piece behind the windows on the teal layer so that the medallion would be completely solid and there would be tons of contrast between the different layers.

The three ornaments were the perfect size for an elegant slimline card, so I trimmed down a Fig slimline card front and blended some Fig ink around the edge of the card front. I also splattered the background with some handmade iridescent watercolors to add a touch of sparkle. I popped up the ornaments on the card front using foam adhesive, then added a foiled sentiment from the Sentiment Strips Reverse Christmas Greetings with some more foam tape. For a touch of added sparkle, I placed a shimmering gem in the center of the outer two ornaments. This was quite a simple card, merely die cutting and gluing, but I think these look so elegant and sumptuous with the rich colors and textures.

Well, that’s all for my project today. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Alex Syberia Designs One-Year Anniversary Release Blog Hop | Giveaway | Over £800 ($1000) in prizes

Hi friends! Today, I am ever so excited to be joining a blog hop to celebrate one year of fabulousness from Alex Syberia Designs!! You should have arrived here from Raquel, and your next stop is Erin. You can also find the full hop list over on the Alex Syberia Designs Blog Post. To celebrate this impressive achievement, tons of your favorite companies are joining in on the fun and have sponsored marvelous giveaways. Read all the way to the bottom to find out how you can be one of the winners of these fabulous prizes!

I have a thing for birthday cards. I love to go all out on them and make them crazy festive, with tons of layers, sparkles, textures… the sky is the limit! I think going all out on the birthday card makes the recipient feel extra loved, and who wouldn’t want that? Balloons with flowers are certainly having a moment on my blog (remember this project??), and I fell in love with these beautiful, sketchy floral clusters from the Floral Balloon Extravaganza Stamps (ASD | SSS) and Dies (ASD | SSS), so much so that I created two different cards using two different techniques using these gorgeous balloons! Let’s get started with the details.

For my first project, I wanted to create some transparent balloons to make them look as life-like as possible by adding color with some light ink blending. I also wanted to test out my Karin Decobrush Pigment Markers on vellum to create the opaque flowers! I am absolutely in love with this technique and can’t wait to play with it some more.

I started by heat embossing the different balloons included in the Floral Balloon Extravaganza Stamps (ASD | SSS) set using gold embossing powder on some lighter weight vellum paper. I then die cut the individual images with the Coordinating Dies (ASD | SSS). Once I had each of the individual components ready, I flipped them over and began using the opaque Karin Decobrush Pigment Markers on the flowers only. Adding this opaque color on the back of the die cuts allows the details of the embossing to still be visible from the front. Because the floral images are on the small side, you don’t need to worry much about adding details and shading, because the embossed details on the front do the work for you. The opaque paint is solely adding color to the image, as well as a sneaky place to hide your adhesive!

After the paint had dried, keeping the balloons with the embossing face down on my work surface, I used a blending brush to blend Cheeky and Blush Pawsitively Saturated Inks. The semi-transparent vellum combined with the water-based dye ink allows the ink to simply dye the vellum without compromising the transparency! I think the balloons look positively weightless and so unique. It’s such a fun technique! I also heat embossed some balloon strings on some more vellum to allow them to “float” on my card front, as well.

For the background, I die cut a slimline panel of white cardstock using the new Slimline Nested Stitched Die (ASD | SSS). I then used the same Cheeky and Blush Pawsitively Saturated Inks with the super festive and fun new Carnival Party Stencil + Die (ASD | SSS) set from the Alex Syberia Birthday Release. I blended the two part streamer stencils on the top of my die cut panel, then lightly blended the Cheeky ink around the upper edges of the panel. I splattered the entire piece with some super sparkly gold watercolors, as well.

For the greeting, I hot foiled the sentiment strips using the new Celebrations Sentiments Hot Foil Plate (ASD | SSS) onto some white cardstock using shining gold foil, then die cut the sentiments with the Thin Stripes Cover Die (ASD | SSS). (I have a bunch of birthday sentiments ready to go-love these one-and-done hot foil plate and die sets!) I also die cut the “wish” portion of the Birthday & Wish Die Set (ASD | SSS) from some super shiny gold mirror cardstock. I arranged the balloons on my blended card front, hiding the clear dimensional adhesive behind the opaque floral bouquets, then added my sentiment pieces. The final touch was to add a few shimmering gems to this super festive card front! I love that you can still see the streamers through the balloons. So much fun!

My second card is a bit more traditional. I heat embossed the balloons and the gorgeous floral bouquet from the Floral Balloon Extravaganza Stamps (ASD | SSS) set on some watercolor paper using pale rose gold embossing powder. I then added lots of beautiful pink, peach, and jade watercolor to the images using my Karin Brushmarker Pro watercolor markers. I glazed the finished pink balloons with some super shimmery, handmade glitter watercolors from Etsy, as well. Birthday cards, especially super feminine pink floral birthday cards, need as much sparkle as you can pack on, in my opinion!

For the background, I cut down an A2 panel of Dragonfruit cardstock from Concord and 9th and blended it with the coordinating Dragonfruit Ink around the edges of the card front. I splattered some more rose gold metallic watercolor on the background to add extra interest and shimmer to the background.

For the greeting, I heat embossed one of the beautiful scripty sentiments included in the Floral Balloon Extravaganza Stamps (ASD | SSS) set using the pale rose gold embossing powder. I used the coordinating dies (notice the sentiment dies for each individual sentiment, including the tiny sentiment strips! Now that is some attention to detail! Well done, Alex!) to die cut the sentiments. I then arranged the floral bouquet and balloons on my blended, splattered card front using foam adhesive for extra dimension. I heat embossed some more balloon strings on vellum so that they were as floaty and ethereal as possible, then added them to the card front with tiny dots of liquid adhesive. I added the greeting pieces using more foam tape, finally finishing the card off with some sparkly gems!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Now for the fun giveaway information I promised at the beginning of the post:

To celebrate their birthday, Alex Syberia Designs has collaborated with a ton of wonderful sponsors to give away a grand total of £800 ($1000) in prizes!

Alex Syberia Designs: 5x £40 ($50) Gift Cards

Altenew : $50 Gift Card
Auzz Trinklets n crafts : $30AUD Gift Card
Crafty Purple Frog: £25 Gift Card
Dies to Die For : £25 Gift Card
Doeading : 50€ Gift Card (only for EU)
Gina K  : $100 Gift Card
Glitter and ink : $50 CAD Gift Card (only for Canada)
Jennifer McGuire Ink : 1 Share Handmade Kindness goodies bag -$75value
Kit & Clowder : $15 Gift Card
Mennys Bastelshop : 2x 20€ Gift Cards (EU)
Online Card Classes : 3 x free spots to any classes
Paper & i : $25 Gift Card (only for USA)
Pear Blossom press : $25 Gift Card
Scrap Shotz : $25 CAD Gift Card (only for Canada)
Seize the Stamp : 2x CHF 25 Gift Cards
Simon Says Stamp : $100 Gift Card
SCT Magazine : $50 Gift Card
The Glitter Hubb : $25 CAD Gift Card
WOW Embossing : 2x $25 Gift Cards

Be sure to leave comments by midnight BST (London, UK time) on September 17th, 2023, for a chance to win!

Start your comment by telling us where you’re from (USA, Canada, Europe, or Australia) and what your favorite product is from this September Anniversary release.

All the winners will be chosen at random from the comments left on any of the posts in the blog hop, upcoming YouTube hop, and the three upcoming Instagram hops. Winners will be announced on the Alex Syberia Designs GIVEAWAY WINNERS PAGE on September 18th, 2023.

Make sure to come back and check if you are a winner! Prizes not claimed within two weeks will be forfeited.

To increase your chances of winning, be sure to comment on this blog hop, the upcoming Anniversary Video Hop that starts on the 9th of Sep on Alex Syberia Designs YT Channel, and the three consecutive Instagram Hops on Alex Syberia Designs  Instagram starting on the 11th of September.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, friends, and happy anniversary to Alex Syberia Designs! May this be the first of many years of success!

Pinkfresh Studio July 2023 Stamp, Die, and Stencil Release

Hi friends! I am hopping along with Pinkfresh Studio today to share inspiration using the beautiful new July 2023 Stamp, Die, and Stencil Release! You can see the full hop list at the bottom of this post. There’s a little something for everyone in this release, but I was particularly enamored with the gorgeous new Dotted Chevron Cover Plate Die (PFS | SSS) and Thanks For Being There Stamps (PFS | SSS), Stencils (PFS | SSS), and Dies (PFS | SSS). I created two different projects with coordinating colors to create a sweet little card set, so let’s get started with the details!

When I am working with new product, one of the first things that I figure out is a color scheme. I went to my Pinterest color combo board searching for something unique and stumbled upon a gorgeous, warm sunset gradient. I matched the colors to 5 of Pinkfresh Studio’s inks: Warm Buff, Peach Fuzz, Sparkling Rose, Candy Violet, and Soft Lilac. I based both of my cards around these beautiful colors!

For my first card, I began by blending a gradient using blending brushes and Warm Buff, Peach Fuzz, Sparkling Rose, Soft Lilac, and Candy Violet inks onto a full size slimline card front. I always seem to forget about Warm Buff, but it really does go with so many different and unexpected color combinations. After I had gone over the blending a couple of times to make sure that the colors moved smoothly into each other, I used the new Dotted Chevron Cover Plate Die (PFS | SSS) to create a textured patterned background.

This die is technically sized for an A2 card front, so I had to do a little finagling to get the entire slimline panel covered with the pattern. I basically die cut the entirety of the cover plate over as much of the cardstock as possible, then placed the panel approximately where the pattern would work seamlessly and kept it in place with some light tack tape while I ran it through my die cutting machine. I didn’t get it perfect, but I was able to cover up the imperfect spots sufficiently with other die cuts! After die cutting, I splattered some sparkling gold watercolors on the background for some added texture and shimmer.

To adorn my colorful textured background, I gold embossed the beautiful floral image from Thanks For Being There (PFS | SSS) several times onto some heavyweight vellum. I love using detailed images like this on vellum; the embossing is super smooth, and the details are heavenly! I die cut the embossed images using the Coordinating Die (PFS | SSS). To add another element of sparkle, I used my trimmer to cut down a glittering gold frame for the background, which I popped up on the blended slimline card front using foam adhesive.

For the greeting, I heat embossed one of the beautiful sentiments from Thanks For Being There (PFS | SSS) onto some coordinating fuchsia cardstock using more gold embossing powder to coordinate with the gold floral images. I arranged the floral die cuts so that they were dripping down the card front and adhered them with clear foam adhesive. I tucked the greeting die cut amongst the flowers on the peachy top side of the background so that it would pop!

My second card features the same ink shades, this time used with the Thanks For Being There Stamps (PFS | SSS) and Stencils (PFS | SSS). I began by stamping a patterned background using the outline stamp from the Thanks For Being There Stamp set (PFS | SSS) and Warm Buff ink. To create a full background pattern using one stamp, I make sure to rotate the stamp and stamp the image at different angles, allowing it to fall off the edges of the cardstock to ensure that the pattern doesn’t become repetitive.

Once I had finished stamping the background pattern, I used Warm Buff, Peach Fuzz, Sparkling Rose, Soft Lilac, and Candy Violet inks with the new Thanks For Being There Stencils (PFS | SSS). This color combination with the floral pattern reminds me of a classy, kinda groovy pattern from the 70’s! I used the Pinkfresh Studio 1/2″ Blending Brushes to add some extra details to the centers of some of the flowers and on the smaller images. Once I had finished blending, I used the Coordinating Die (PFS | SSS) to cut out the flowers. Because I had stamped them along the edges of my card front, I knew exactly where to place them when I assembled the card!

I wanted to add extra dimension to my card front, so I trimmed down a 3.75 x 5″ white panel of cardstock, then adhered my stenciled floral die cuts to the panel with foam adhesive. I used some more foam tape to adhered this smaller panel to a full size A2 panel of white cardstock, creating tons of height and dimension. I heat embossed another greeting from Thanks For Being There (PFS | SSS) using gold embossing powder onto heavyweight vellum, then popped it up using some more clear dimensional adhesive.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Now for some fun giveaway information:

Pinkfresh Studio will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel. 
They will also be giving away a total of TEN $25  gift cards along the hop. The winners will be selected from the comments, so be sure to leave a comment on each stop along the hop for maximum entries and chances to win! Winners will be announced on August 4, 2023 on our GIVEAWAY PAGE. Winners must check that page & claim their prize within 2 weeks.

Here’s the full hop list in case you get lost:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Pinkfresh Studio June 2023 Monthly Challenge-Sunshine On My Mind!

Hi there! The new theme for Pinkfresh Studio’s June 2023 Challenge is live, and this month we’re focusing on all things summertime with “Sunshine On My Mind!” (You can read all of the details of the challenge HERE) My kiddos just started their summer vacation, and what could be more appropriate for the start of summer than a party with rosettes and rainbows? I pulled out the Rosettes Stencils and Coordinating Dies, a bunch of pretty ink colors, a hot foil “cheers” sentiment, and created this super festive summer celebration card!

The colors for this month’s challenge are: Coral Reef, Sparkling Rose, Sunshine, Storm, & Meadow. I pulled out all five colors to create this festive rainbow card. Though there are two layers in the Rosettes Stencil set, I used only one shade of ink on each, blending one layer a bit softer and the second layer a bit harder and more intense. The contrast between the two intensities helped to create that 3D effect with the layered stencils!

After I’d finished blending my party rosettes, I die cut them with the Coordinating Dies, which adds stitching details and small die cut holes to make them look extra realistic. I also die cut a slimline card front from some white cardstock using the Essentials Blanket Stitched Slimline Die. I arranged the stenciled rosette die cuts down the front in ROYGBIV fashion, popping some up with foam adhesive, adhering others with liquid adhesive, to create lots of dimension and interest.

To emphasize the rainbow feel of the card, I pulled out my hot foiled sentiments that I’d previously foiled using Aura hot foil from Spellbinders. This foil has a lovely iridescent rainbow sheen to it, which perfectly coordinates with the rainbow theme on my card! I thought the Cheers sentiment from the Modern Script Sentiments Hot Foil Plate set worked perfectly to complete the festive theme of the card. I popped it up with some more foam tape to help it stand out from the busy background, then added some gems down the card front in coordinating colors to complete my summery, cheerful rainbow!

Well, that’s all for my project today! To enter a project of your own, check out all of the details on the Sunshine On My Mind challenge over at Pinkfresh Studio. You could be selected to win a $50 shopping spree to the Pinkfresh Store! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Altenew 9th Anniversary Blog Hop Day 1 + Giveaway (over $2,200 in Total Prizes)

Hi there! I am so excited to be a stop on Day 1 of the Altenew 9th Anniversary Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from the Simon Says Stamp blog, and your next stop is Mindy Eggen. You can also start at the beginning at the Altenew Card Blog. One of the best parts about the anniversary festivities each year, aside from the fabulous blog hop filled with wonderful prizes, is the special large scale Anniversary stamp set. These enormous stamp sets (seriously-enormous. 8.5″x10″!!!) are so unique and beautiful. This year’s set, called Billowing Peonies, is extra special because the large scale of the images works beautifully with the new Stampwheel! And, bonus, Tasnim has designed a set of coordinating layering stencils that are absolutely phenomenal and totally massive. So if coloring isn’t your jam, you have incredible options at your disposal with these spectacular stencils! I have two projects to share with you today using the stunning peony arrangement in Billowing Peonies, so let’s get started with the details.

The Billowing Peonies stamp set features a pair of spectacular floral stamps that are so big and sooooo much fun to color. I find that large-scale stamps are the most fun to color, because they give you the room to really work on enhancing those details that might be too small to notice on a smaller set. I created a pair of peony projects (say that three times fast!!) using the new Billowing Peonies stamps: a slimline card and a piece of wall art, both watercolored using my favorite Artists’ Watercolor 24 Pan Set, which is hands down my favorite coloring medium in the Altenew catalog. I’ve had my set for several years and use it more than any other Altenew coloring medium. I’ve barely made a dent in the pans, so it’s a fantastic, long-lasting investment! If you are looking for an economical and good quality watercolor set, I cannot recommend the Artists’ Watercolor 24 Pan Set highly enough.

I began my slimline card by heat embossing the large peony duo from Billowing Peonies on a piece of watercolor paper that I’d trimmed down to slimline size. Even though I knew that I wanted to die cut the finished watercolored image, I started with the card size so that I could better visualize the final layout of the card. (Tip: if you don’t have the Stampwheel or are still waiting for your Stampwheel to arrive, you can use the back of your MISTI for this huge stamp. Tape the base of your MISTI to your work surface, then tape your paper next to your MISTI on your work surface. Place your large stamp on your paper, then close the *back* of your lid for your stamp positioner over your stamp. This hack gives you a bit of extra room to use those really large scale stamps, at least until you can get your hands on a Stampwheel!) I heat embossed the beautiful peony image using pearlescent white embossing powder, which I find creates a lighter, less severe aesthetic than using black stamped/embossed lines.

After I had heat embossed my image, I taped the panel down to my watercolor board with Satin Masking Tape and covered the entire panel with clean water. I then dropped in some diluted pink, green, coral, and yellow watercolors from the Artists’ Watercolor 24 Pan Set, which bloomed together beautifully on the damp watercolor paper. The wet watercolor will work with the wet watercolor paper to allow the colors to meld together beautifully and create some extra colorful interest to your floral images.

After speeding up the drying time with my heat tool, I went back in with more concentrated color to watercolor the beautiful peony images, adding depth and dimension to the flowers. The base layer of mottled color helps to create some color variation, mimicking the color variation found in nature. No real-life peony is only one color, so don’t be afraid to add touches of extra color! After it was completely dry, I went in with the coordinating dies and cut the image out. Because I had started on a slimline card base, the finished die cut image will fit perfectly on another slimline card base without needing to do any trimming.

To create the textured card base, I trimmed down a white slimline card front from some white cardstock, then used the Dotted Swirls Debossing Cover Plate Die at the top and bottom of the card front. Because the Dotted Swirls plate only pierces the cardstock and doesn’t actually cut anything, you can use it easily with a large scale card front like this! Simply line up where your plate ends with the previously-cut image to create a continuous pattern. I popped up the die cut watercolored image with Instant Dimension Foam Tape.

For the greeting, I stamped one of the chunky sentiments from the Billowing Peonies stamp set using Razzleberry ink onto some white cardstock, then while the stamp was still in place, stamped directly over the top with embossing ink. I sprinkled more pearlescent white embossing powder over the stamped greeting and heated it up, creating a pearlescent pink sentiment. I backed it with some Dazzling Diamond glitter paper so that the sparkle peeked out from the top and bottom of the sentiment panel, then layered that over the center of my watercolored peony and added a few shimmering pink gems for sparkle!

My second project using the new Billowing Peonies stamps is more of a home decor piece. I initially planned on watercoloring the entirety of the peony image, then chopping it up to create multiple card fronts, but after I had finished it… I decided I didn’t want to chop up those hours of meticulous watercoloring into something that would probably be thrown in the garbage.

I started by stamping the entirety of the image onto a 7″x7″ panel of watercolor paper using no-line coloring ink. You can see just how massive this image is; it’s even hanging over the edge of the 7″x7″ watercolor paper! I wanted to create a very pale lavender, almost white, peony (which I don’t think exist in real life, but it’s my garden so who cares, right?) so I mixed up some bright blue and purple watercolor from the Artists’ Watercolor 24 Pan Set, diluting the color with quite a bit of clean water to make it very subtle, and began adding that pale lavender to the shadowed areas of the first peony. I worked my way around the peony, keeping the wet sections separate from each other to ensure that those edges stayed nice and crisp, using the sharp point of my paintbrush to clean up any rough edges.

I used the same technique with the pink peony, this time mixing up some of my favorite bright pink with some of the purple to create a lovely shade of vibrant mauve. After I had completed the main watercolor on my peonies, I pulled out some yellows, pinks, and greens from my paint pans and diluted them on my palette so that they were the subtlest of washes. I used these subtle washes to “glaze” the edges of my petals, which is basically adding a watercolor wash over the top of an area of completely dry watercoloring. It helps to add some interest and color variation to your flowers. This technique is especially noticeable on the lavender/white peony; the white highlights on this super pale peony are picking up reflections of color from the neighboring flower as well as the foliage. I encourage you to try this technique on your next watercolor project!

Once I had finished watercoloring the flowers, I mixed some deep green and lime green watercolor to add pigment to the foliage. I like to think of each half of each leaf as it’s own unique petal, which allows me to visualize giving it the shape and shadows in the same way that I would on flower petals clustered together. After my initial painting, I mixed some black paint into the hunter/lime mixture, then enhanced the shadows on the leaves tucked behind the top layer of foliage. I matted the finished watercolored piece with some plain black cardstock, then mounted it on a panel of 8″x8″ white cardstock. It will fit perfectly in an 8″x8″ frame! Something like this would make a lovely Mother’s Day gift. 🙂

Well, that’s all for my projects today. To celebrate their 9th Anniversary, Altenew is offering some wonderful special gifts with purchase!

  • 4/5/2023-4/6/2023: Enjoy FREE U.S. shipping with code HAPPY9TH or $9 OFF shipping on international orders over $29 with code ANNIV23 at checkout and receive a FREE brand-new Playful Wildflower 3D Embossing Folder ($8.99 value) on orders over $69.

Here’s the full hop list:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

It’s such an honor to be part of the Altenew Design Team. Working with beautiful flower stamps is the closest I will ever come to having a garden, and Altenew’s floral designs are truly unique and such a pleasure to color. Thank you so much for stopping by today, and happy 9th Anniversary to Altenew!