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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

talavera vine

The Festival of Lights with Simon Says Stamp!

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

Hi friends! I was recently asked to create some Hanukkah cards using the Light the Menorah set from Simon Says Stamp’s Season of Wonder release, and I’ll be honest… I was a little nervous. I don’t really have much, if any, experience with Hanukkah, so I was afraid of being disrespectful of the imagery and general feeling behind the holiday. But I received some inspiration photos from a friend and used those as my starting point for my cards today, focusing on pale blue and shimmering gold. Let’s get started with the details!

For my first project, I started by heat embossing the beautiful Talavera Vine cling stamp from Simon Says Stamp onto some Harbor cardstock from Concord and 9th using Hero Arts Iridescent Gold embossing powder. The shining gold embossing powder contrasts beautifully with the pale blue cardstock. I trimmed the panel down and placed it on full sized A2 panel of a slightly darker blue cardstock, separating the two pieces with a thin strip of gold foil cardstock.

Next, I heat embossed a greeting and the menorah image from Simon Says Stamp’s Light the Menorah set, again on Harbor cardstock from Concord and 9th using Hero Arts Iridescent Gold embossing powder. I added some light blue Copic marker to the candles and some gold sparkle pen to the flames of the candles. I die cut the finished images using the coordinating dies, then popped them up using foam adhesive. To accent the color scheme and add some additional texture to my card front, I added some sparkly gold twine and iridescent aquamarine gems.

For my second card, I created a custom background panel by stamping several sizes of the 6 point star included in the Light the Menorah set using Harbor Ink on Harbor cardstock to create a subtle tone-on-tone patterned paper. I also blended the Harbor Ink lightly around the edges using a blending brush and splattered some metallic gold watercolor on the background for extra texture and sparkle. I die cut the A2 Thin Frames dies from a pale gold shimmer cardstock that I found in my stash and added a thicker and thinner frame to my card front. (I leave my frame dies intact, rather than snipping them apart, so that I can get multiple sizes and thicknesses of frame with one pass through my die cut machine!)

For the greeting, I stamped two of the sentiments and the flame from the Light the Menorah set on Harbor cardstock and embossed them using Iridescent Gold embossing powder. I die cut the images with the coordinating dies, adding some more gold sparkle pen to the flame of the candle. I popped the images up on my card front using foam adhesive, then added some gold foil Star of David die cuts from the 5 Stars dies set. Finally, I added a few more aquamarine gems for more sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my projects today. I hope that I was able to create these cards in a respectful way of both the Jewish culture and the Hanukkah celebration. If you are Jewish and you see something that I should have/could have done differently, please feel free to email me and educate me! I am always willing to learn! Thank you so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Serene Blue with Spellbinders!

Hi friends! It’s the last day of July… where has the summer gone? My kiddos will be starting school in a few weeks, (even my little guys will be going to preschool for a couple of hours a day) and I am simultaneously longing for it and dreading it. School brings with it a special brand of chaos to temper the peace of when the house is quiet. I am trying to mentally plan the days so that I can still get my work done without my big kids offering their wonderful assistance with their little brothers in the mornings (they get rewarded with an increased allowance and lots of trips to the pool)…. but I won’t lie; I’m a bit worried. It will all fall into place somehow, but those first few weeks will surely be a challenge! In an effort to calm my anxious mental state, I have been using lots of serene blues and greens in my color palette, and I have a card to share today that embodies the calm that I’m trying to keep in my head. Let’s get started with the details!

Spellbinders generously sent me the gorgeous Hello Blooms layering stencil and die set (SB | SSS), which creates a large cluster of blooms that remind me so much of Rifle Paper Co designs! I love the wide variety of unique color palettes used within the Rifle Paper Co aesthetic, so I pulled out the Silver Sage ink from Altenew and Aspen, Sage, Morning, Twilight, and Galaxy Pawsitively Saturated Inks from Simon Says Stamp. I used blending brushes to blend these soft and serene ink colors over the Hello Blooms layering stencil. The stencils are super easy to use and line up like a dream! I used the coordinating die from the Hello Blooms layering stencil and die set (SB | SSS) to die cut the large bouquet and set it aside.

Because the general aesthetic of the floral bouquet is fairly simple and graphic, I wanted to continue that feel onto the background of the card. I stamped the Talavera Vine background stamp from Simon Says Stamp using Silver Sage ink to create a lovely, subtly patterned background. The shape of the leaves match the shape of the stenciled leaves almost exactly! I trimmed down the panel on one side, then mounted it to a sheet of coordinating pale blue Sea Glass cardstock. I also added a strip of white glitter paper between the patterned background paper and the blue cardstock to add another level of texture and shimmer.

I popped up the floral bouquet in the center of the card front using foam adhesive, then turned my attention to the greeting. I used the “hello” die included in the Hello Blooms layering stencil and die set (SB | SSS). I die cut the detail layer from white iridescent cardstock and the background layer from heavyweight vellum cardstock and layered them together. The vellum helps to soften the area around the white sentiment die cut to help it stand out a bit from the patterned background. I also stamped a sentiment strip from the Well Wishes stamp set from Simon Says Stamp. I popped both of the sentiment pieces up on the card front directly on top of the stenciled floral die cut to help them both stand out from the background. Finally, I tucked a few Milk Glass gems amongst the floral die cut for a bit of added sparkle and texture!

Well, that’s all for my project today. See you back here tomorrow for my first post for August! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!