Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

sweet sentiments

Altenew 10th Anniversary Blog Hop Day 1 + Giveaway (over $3,500 in Total Prizes)

Hi friends! I am so excited to be part of Day 1 for Altenew’s Tenth Anniversary Blog Hop!! How thrilling is that? What a fantastic milestone! I have loved Altenew’s designs for almost as long as they’ve been around, and so being a part of their design team for the last three years has been nothing short of a dream come true. You should have arrived here from the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog, and your next stop is Svitlana Shayevich. You can also start at the beginning over at the Altenew Blog. (I highly encourage you to start at the beginning, because there are masses upon masses of prizes to be had throughout the hop!!) I have two projects to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

When I was perusing my Altenew bins to figure out which products to use for today’s hop, I realized that I had not put the incredibly lovely Craft Your Life Project Kit: Graceful Gardenia to use yet. These kits come with such wonderful coordinating products, from traditional stamps and dies to embossing folders and coordinating stencils that work with both the stamps and the embossing folder images. I employed some of my most favorite of the new Fresh Dye Inks and the new Firewood Garden alcohol markers to create these pretty pink cards. The embossing folders are great to use as a focal point or to add texture to the background!

For my first project, I started by embossing a panel of white cardstock using the embossing folder from the Craft Your Life Project Kit: Graceful Gardenia kit. I then used some of the colors from the Dried Petals Fresh Dye Ink set to blend around the edge of the card front. Embossing the panel first and then ink blending over the top enhances the incredible embossed details. To further enhance the details, I swiped the Cloud White pigment ink pad over the raised areas to help them stand out even more.

On top of my embossed background, I die cut a large scale sentiment from the new Timeless Sentiments 2 die set using the Rhodolite Garnet glitter paper from the Pink Brilliance Glitter Gradient cardstock set. I enhanced the die cut sentiment with some sparkly, shimmery flowers from the Lovely Floral Hat die set, which I cut with some specialty papers, including more Rhodolite Garnet glitter paper and some iridescent white mirror paper, paired with vellum foliage. I tucked a greeting from the One Go Sentiments Bundle around the glitter die cut sentiment and arranged the flowers and foliage around the sentiment. Finally, I added a few shimmering gems for sparkle!

For my second project, I used one of my favorite techniques with embossing folders: alcohol marker coloring! The Craft Your Life Project Kit: Graceful Gardenia kit comes complete with dies that coordinate with both the stamped image as well as the embossed image. I die cut the floral image that coordinated with the embossing folder using the correct die, then lined it up on the embossing folder and ran it through my die cutting machine. I then used the Firewood Garden alcohol markers to add lots of vibrant color to the embossed image. I am always amazed at how much dimension you can achieve when you combine coloring with the embossed images!!

Because this embossed, colored image was on such a large scale, I decided to create an A7 card. I trimmed down an A7 card front, then masked the edges with Satin Masking Tape and blended some mauve inks around the edges using inks from the Dried Petals Fresh Dye Ink set. While the masking tape was still in place on my card front, I used the stamps included in the Graceful Gardenia kit to stamp a tone-on-tone background around the corner of my masked area. I also splattered the blended and stamped background with some metallic watercolors for added texture and shimmer. I removed the masking tape around the edges, revealing a crisp white frame around my blended background. I popped up the embossed colored sentiment with some foam adhesive, then added a glittery greeting cut from the Sweet Sentiments set and an ethereal vellum sentiment from the new One Go: Words & Banners set. I finished the project off with a few sparkling gems!!

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

Over $3,500 in total prizes! We are giving away a $50 Altenew gift certificate to 10 winners, a $20 ArtistrybyAltenew gift certificate to 5 winners, and an online papercrafting class($39.99 value) from Altenew Academy Online Class to 14 winners. There are also 28 awesome companies/crafty friends who are celebrating with us, and they are offering the following prizes:

Be sure to leave comments by 04/16/2024 for a chance to win one of 68 prizes! To make the hop more exciting, start your comment with “Hi from (city or country where you’re from)!” 68 winners will be chosen at random from the comments left on any of the blogs listed below and will be announced on the Altenew Card Blog on 04/19/2024.

Anniversary Special Offers

  • 20% Off Crafter’s Must-Have: Stampwheel on 04/01/2024 from 12:01 am EDT until 11:59 pm EDT. Shop here: https://altenew.com/products/stampwheel
  • Receive a FREE Zip ‘n’ Stash – Teal (1/pack) ($6.99 value) on orders over $69 on 04/01/2024 from 12:01 am EDT until 11:59 pm EDT. While supplies last, the free gift will be added to your cart automatically. Shop here → https://altenew.com/
  • Plus, get FREE U.S. shipping on orders over $29 (no code needed) or $10 OFF international shipping on orders over $129 with code HAPPY10TH at checkout. Valid from 04/01/2024 at 12:01 am EDT until 04/05/2024 at 11:59 pm EDT. Not valid on prior purchases. Shop here → https://altenew.com/

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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Altenew March 2024 Release Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi friends! I am hopping along with Altenew today to celebrate their newest release for March 2024! You should have arrived here from Amanda, and your next stop is Jaycee. The new release features Altenew’s iconic floral designs, but I was especially entranced by the new layering stencil sets from this month’s Marvelous Monthly subscriptions: Dynamic Duo: Painted Blossoms and Stencil Art: Amorous Dream. I kept the color palettes to a muted and luxurious mauve with lots of crisp white textures to accent the gorgeous floral arrangements. Let’s get started with the details on my projects!

For both of my projects, I paired the layered stencils with the stunning Dried Petals Fresh Dye Ink, with Plum added for the fifth layer of color for those super intense shadows! These spectacularly gorgeous shades of mauve are so elegant and delicate to my eye and worked beautifully with both Dynamic Duo: Painted Blossoms and Stencil Art: Amorous Dream.

For my first project, I blended the Stencil Art: Amorous Dream on some crisp white cardstock using blending brushes with the Dried Petals Fresh Dye Ink and Plum ink combination. This stencil set had a very unique method, utilizing a lightly engraved outline of the surrounding flowers as a guide for where my stenciled layers should be placed! These lightly engraved lines on the stencils allowed for perfect and easy placement. I love these clever innovations that make our crafting lives a bit simpler!

After I had die cut my stenciled bouquet with the Amorous Dream Coordinating Add-On Die, I kept the background quite simple, choosing to add some lovely texture to a panel of letterpress paper with the Essential Textures: Wood Press Plate, then used a blending brush to blend some light pink ink from the Dried Petals family over the center of my letterpressed panel. Adding the ink blending after impressing the texture helps to pick up some of that textured pattern! I adhered the die cut stenciled bouquet using some foam adhesive, then added a dimensional die cut greeting from the Sweet Sentiments die set, with the detail layer cut three times from white cardstock and adhered together and popped on top of a vellum shadow layer. I finally embellished the card with a few Dried Petals Enamel Dots for more texture and shine!

My second project features the same luxurious color combination paired with the new Dynamic Duo: Painted Blossoms. I used the same inks to blend the sumptuous floral swag twice on some white cardstock, then die cut the finished blooms with the Dynamic Duo: Painted Blossoms Add-On Die.

To add some subtle texture to the background of my vivid floral arrangement, I embossed the Rustling Leaves 3D Embossing Folder onto some crisp white cardstock, offsetting the circular medallion in the center to the left side. I arranged the stenciled floral swags around the circular frame, trimming some of the excess off and tucking it amongst the greenery, which creates a fuller floral arrangement. I heat embossed a greeting from the coordinating stamp set from the Dynamic Duo: Painted Blossoms set using Obsidian ink and embossed with pearlescent white powder, creating a pearlescent charcoal greeting. I die cut the sentiment with the coordinating Add-On Die and tucked it amongst my stenciled flowers, finally finishing off the project with some Dried Petals Enamel Dots.

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

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $100 gift certificate to 1 lucky winner and a $50 gift certificate to 4 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 03/12/2024 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 5 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 03/14/2024.
*The winner of the $100 gift certificate will be chosen from comments left on the Altenew blog. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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

Altenew February 2023 Boho Chic Stamp, Die, Stencil & More Release Blog Hop #1 + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

Hi there! Today, we are celebrating the release of Altenew’s new Boho Chic collection, a new array of products that have so many unique subjects/styles and can work seamlessly together or on their own! You can check out the full hop list HERE on the Altenew blog or check out the link list at the bottom of this post.

My projects for today’s post feature an interesting, new-to-me color combination: rose gold, blush, and teal. I began by doing some hot foiling with the new Delicate Floral Motif hot foil plate. I loved the look of the contrast of Altenew’s Rose Gold Hot Foil roll on some intense teal cardstock, so I used that as my color inspiration for both projects today, keeping the colors intense and vibrant on the hot foiled card, juxtaposing it with a lighter, more pastel version for the second project. Let’s get started with the details!

To start, I hot foiled the new Delicate Floral Motif hot foil plate with the Rose Gold Hot Foil from Altenew on some intense teal cardstock from my stash, centering it a bit to the left of the center of the A2 card front and using some low-tack tape to keep it in place when using my hot foil machine. I love how beautifully the contrast of colors showcases details from the new Delicate Floral Motif hot foil plate. To highlight the details even further and direct the eye towards the hot foiled focal point, I blended some Emerald ink around the edges of the card front, then splattered some coordinating rose gold metallic watercolor around the edges.

While my panel was drying, I hot foiled greetings from the Versatile Greetings and Sweet Sentiments hot foil and die bundles. I used the same teal cardstock and Rose Gold Hot Foil to keep the color scheme completely cohesive. I love the combination of fonts with these two sentiment sets; the chunky type font contrasts beautifully with the delicate script of the handwritten font. Once I had hot foiled and die cut the greetings, I popped them up on the card front using some foam adhesive.

Once I had added the foiled sentiment die cuts, I almost called it good, but the more I looked at it, the more it felt like I needed just one more element of that metallic rose gold. One of my favorite ways to accent a focal point is to add a rectangular frame around the edge of my card front, and the Fine Frames Cover Die creates perfectly delicate accent frames that fit so many different styles of card. I die cut the Fine Frames Cover Die from some glittery cardstock in a shade almost identical to the rose gold foil. I adhered one around the blended edge of my card front using some liquid adhesive. The rose gold foil, rose gold splatters, and rose gold frame contrast so beautifully with the dark teal background!

My second card is a light and airy version of the same color scheme used before. I know that the new Swamp Buttercup is probably meant to be done in shades of yellow, but I was in “rose gold mode,” so I took some artistic license and blended the flowers using the muted pinks of the Woodland Escape Fresh Dye Ink collection. I blended the leaves using Lagoon and Emerald inks, lightly blending a touch of the darkest shade from the Woodland Escape quartet on the edge of the foliage to add extra dimension and interest. I die cut the finished floral bouquet using the coordinating die.

For the background, I die cut the new Rattan Stripes die from two A2 panels of pale peach cardstock, rotating it 90* the second time to create a plaid pattern. I adhered them both to a white A2 card front using liquid adhesive around the edges. The pale peach cardstock creates such a subtle background, but with tons of texture to keep things interesting. I added the die cut stenciled bouquet to the plaid card front using foam tape.

For the greeting, I used the Sweet Sentiments dies to die cut a glittery greeting. I die cut the solid background piece from some heavyweight vellum, then die cut the detail layer once from plain white cardstock and once from the same glittery rose gold cardstock used on the previous card. I adhered it to the card front, nestling it amongst the flowers with some dots of liquid adhesive. The final touch was to add a few peachy gems for some sparkle.

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

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a *$100 gift certificate to 1 lucky winner and a $20 gift certificate to 10 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 02/07/2023 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 11 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 02/08/2023.
*The winner of the $100 gift certificate will be chosen from comments left on the Altenew blog.

Here’s the full hop list:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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

November 2022 Trailblazing Inks Release + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!) | Dye inks with a brand new look and adjusted formula

Hi there! Today, I am thrilled to be part of the new Trailblazing Inks Release Blog Hop introducing these beautiful new inks from Altenew! You should have arrived here from Mindy Eggen, and your next stop is Nathalie DeSousa. You can also start back at the beginning of the hop at the Altenew Blog in case you get lost! These new Trailblazing dye inks feature a brand new shape, screw on tops, and a brand new ink formulation, and they come in three color families, each containing four shades that layer beautifully together: Frosted Foliage, Woodland Escape, and Blue Mountains. Here’s a peek at all of the colors:

Aren’t they just the most beautiful subtle shades? I particularly adore the greens in Frosted Foliage; they are a charming, muted silvery green that is a gorgeous addition to the Altenew color family.

I’ve used all three new sets of ink for these two cards using two different techniques to showcase how beautifully the colors work together! I kept the colors simple to allow the beautiful new colors from the Trailblazing inks to be the stars of the show. Let’s get started with the details!

My first card highlights the stunning greens from the Frosted Foliage quartet. I used blending brushes to blend the Frosted Foliage inks with the Meadow Burst layering stencil on a mini slimline card front. This stencil has lots of foliage, which makes it a perfect companion for the silvery green Frosted Foliage inks. Don’t they layer beautifully? Such gorgeous shades of green that will surely be staples at my desk with all of Altenew’s floral layering sets! I also added some charming blue flowers using the new Water Hyacinth and adding touches of Crystal Violet ink to add some color variation for the flowers.

I also created some custom colored cardstock (say that three times fast!) for my greeting using the Indigo Skies ink, which is the darkest shade of the Blue Mountains ink quartet. I simply die cut both the detail and background layers of the “for you” sentiment from the Sweet Sentiments die set, reserving the negative outline. I placed my sentiment detail layer back inside the negative space, then used a blending brush to blend Indigo Skies on the entire die cut. Placing this intricate die cut back inside of the negative space helps to keep it stable when you’re ink blending! I adhered them together and added them to my stenciled card front using some foam adhesive, adding some simple accents with some shiny sequins.

My second card features the Woodland Escape inks, this time blended onto each layer of a layering flower die cut! This is a great way to create your different layers if you don’t keep a ton of colored cardstock around. I simply die cut each of the layers from the small peony from the Peony Dream layering dies, then used a blending brush to blend each of the four inks from Woodland Escape on the four die cut pieces. Because these inks are designed to layer together, they work beautifully for the layers on layering dies, as well! I used the same technique on the foliage, using the lightest two shades of the Frosted Foliage quartet and adhering all of the die cut pieces together using liquid adhesive.

To create a simple background for my colorful peach peony, I hot foiled the frame from Adorned Frame Hot Foil Plate + Die set using some metallic gunmetal hot foil. I adhered it to a white card front using some thin foam tape squares. I added my peony and foliage with some thicker foam adhesive to add some extra height, then added a foiled greeting from the Sweet Sentiments Hot Foil and Die set, foiled using the same gunmetal foil as the frame. A simple card, but I love how that peach peony just pops from the simple background!

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

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $25 gift certificate to 8 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 11/19/2022 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 10 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 11/21/2022.

Your next stop is Nathalie DeSousa. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!