Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

video

Video: Ombré Shaker Card with New Simon Says Stamp!

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

Hi friends! I am back today with a project and video featuring some fun new products from the Simon Says Stamp Sunny Vibes release. I shared a fun shaker card using the beautiful Modern Medallions stamp set last week and thought that I would create a video sharing the technique that I used. (You can see the project HERE.) I love using this ombré inking technique for pretty backgrounds, and the Sunny Vibes release has some really lovely ones! Here’s the video:

(I am trying to make more videos, but my house is pretty noisy with all four kids home for the summer, so I’m trying this format. Let me know what you think! If you can’t see the video above, you can click HERE to see it on YouTube.)

For this project, I used the Tin Roof background stamp. Using my MISTI, I inked up the stamp three separate times, first inking with Tropic Pawsitively Saturated ink and dabbing the edge of the ink with the new Microfiber Cloth to soften the edges. Using the Microfiber Cloth to dab the edges helps the different ink colors fade smoothly into one another. I inked up the center part of the stamp with Mist, dabbed the top and bottom with the cloth, then finished the bottom off with Dusk. I did ink and stamp each section more than once in order to make sure that I had good coverage on the entire image. After I had finished the colorful stamping, I stamped the entire image with clear embossing ink and covered it with clear embossing powder, which makes the stamped image even more crisp and vibrant!

After I had finished the ombré stamping and heat embossing, I used blending brushes to blend the same ink colors (Tropic, Mist, and Dusk) in a lighter concentration over the stamped background. You might wonder why I heat embossed the image rather than just ombré stamping and blending over the top; I think that additional step of adding the clear embossing powder makes that image look so much more crisp and the colors a bit more vibrant, and then when the clear embossing powder resists the ink blending, it helps it to pop even more! Blending directly over the stamping dulls it a bit and makes the pattern a bit less crisp, in my opinion. After I had finished blending, I trimmed the panel down slightly and created a flat shaker pocket using some leftover stamp packaging. I filled the shaker pocket with Frosty Pines sequins mix, which coordinated nicely with the blues and greens in the stamping and blending.

After mounting the shaker packet on a full sized panel of coordinating teal A2 cardstock, I turned to the sentiment. I die cut the detail layer of the Good Vibes die from Sea Glass cardstock and mounted the pieces on a vellum shadow die cut. I also used some pretty iridescent blue foil to add beautiful coordinating shine to the sentiments from the Bad Day, Good Vibes sentiment cards. Before I mounted these sentiment components, however, I added a pretty white silk bow, orienting it to the left side. I added the sentiment pieces over the top with some foam adhesive to finish the card!

Well, that’s all for my project today. I hope you’ll let me know if you like the video format; I took a poll on Instagram to see if people would be interested in videos with no voice over, just occasional subtitles and music, and the response was overwhelmingly yes. If people like this video, I will plan to make more!! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

VIDEO: Double Letter Press Gatefold Card with Pinkfresh Studio!

Hi friends! I am over on the Pinkfresh Studio YouTube channel today with a old-for-most-people-but-new-to-me technique: Gatefold Cards! I used bunches of new Better Press plates, some fancy folding, and touches of springy color to create this unique project. Here’s the video:

Or you can click HERE to watch it on YouTube.

To create this card, I pulled out a supply that doesn’t get much of a spotlight in my office: my score board. This handy little tool has one basic function: to evenly and precisely score your cardstock, creating crisp creases on card bases, fancy folding cards, and rosettes, and you can even use it to create textural patterns in the background of your card front! It’s one of those tools that you don’t realize how much you’ve needed one until you actually have one.

For my project, I used Garnet ink from the Spellbinders Better Press Jet Set Ink Collection to impress the beautiful floral images from the Breezy Blossoms Press Plate set. The Garnet ink is a lovely match for Peony Ink from Pinkfresh Studio, which I paired with Hydrangea Ink to add some softly blended color to my flowers using the Breezy Blossoms coordinating stencils. I used the 1/2″ blending brushes from Pinkfresh Studio to do some soft, but precise, blending on the flowers and foliage, keeping the color palette light and springy with the pink and purple inks. I die cut the finished florals with the Breezy Blossoms coordinating die.

For the interior of my gatefold card, I used the new Stippled Plaid Press Plate without ink to create some subtle texture. I simply ran a panel of Porcelain Press Paper A7 through my Better Press System without inking the plate, which creates a crisp, but still subtle, impression into the letterpress paper. I love to create these subtle patterns for the background of my focal point, enhancing the pattern with some ink blending. I used some larger blending brushes to blend the same Peony Ink and Hydrangea Ink around the edge of my letterpressed panel, trimming the Stippled Plaid panel down to 4″ x 5 1/4″. This slightly smaller size leaves a tiny 1/8″ frame around the edge to make sure that your belly band slides over comfortably!

For the sentiment, I used Mulberry Ink from the Regal Tones Ink Collection to impress a greeting from the Favorite Things Sentiments Press Plate set directly over the center of my letterpressed background. The dark ink creates a stark contrast on the light, slightly textured background!

To create the gatefold card:
Trim down a piece of 4 1/4″ x 11″ vellum. Using a score board and a bone folder, score the cardstock at 2 3/4″, then turn the cardstock 180* and score again at 2 3/4″. This will leave you with a 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ rectangle in the center, with symmetrical “gates” on either side.

To create the belly band:
Trim down a 1″ x 11″ strip of cardstock, then score at 2 5/8″, flip 180*, and score at 2 3/4″. The two different scoring measurements leaves a little wiggle room on your belly band so that it slides on and off easily.

After I had created the vellum card base, I die cut a Blanket Stitched Circle die from some pearlescent white cardstock to cover up the gap in my belly band as well as the sentiment behind my vellum “gate.” I popped up a greeting from Basic Banners Celebrate, which I had stamped using Hydrangea Ink and heat embossed over the top with some iridescent purple embossing powder for extra shine and die cut with the coordinating Basic Banners Die. I arranged the floral die cuts around the sentiment banner, popping some up with foam adhesive, adhering others with liquid adhesive for different heights throughout the card. For a little added sparkle, I adhered some Twilight Glitter Ombré Drops on the die cut circle and added some sparkling glitter watercolors to the stamens and flower centers.

Well, that’s all for my project today! I hope this inspires you to use your score board for something other than your typical card bases. I am going to have to look for more fun card folds. So fun to do something outside the box! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

VIDEO: Ombré Tone-On-Tone Intricate Die Cut Backgrounds for Pinkfresh Studio!

Hi friends! I have a new video over on the Pinkfresh Studio YouTube Channel, and for this month’s video I wanted to work with the gorgeous new Secret Garden Die. I love using these super intricate dies to create tons of tone-on-tone texture on a background, whether it’s with colored cardstock or with ink blending! For today’s video, I blended a super saturated ombré sunset background…twice! Check out the video:

Watch the video above or HERE on YouTube!

To create this vibrant, super saturated card, I began by blending two separate A2 panels of white cardstock using Peach Fuzz, Coral Reef, Passion Fruit, and Raspberry Bliss inks. I went back over each panel an additional time to ensure super smooth blends and to saturate the cardstock as much as I could with color. Once I had finished blending both panels, I splattered one with rose gold metallic watercolors, then die cut the other using the Secret Garden Die. I also die cut another Secret Garden die cut from some plain white cardstock and layered the two die cuts together to add a little extra height to my intricate die cut without having to fuss with teeny little strips of foam tape!

For the greeting, I used one of my previously-hot foiled greetings. When I’m hot foiling, I like to hot foil several sentiments in a variety of foil colors, and for today’s card I pulled out one of the Happy Birthday Hot Foil Plate sentiments that I’d hot foiled with Rose Gold foil. I lightly blended the Coral Reef, Passion Fruit, and Raspberry Bliss inks on the foiled sentiment die cut so that all of the die cut pieces would coordinate!

After I popped up the foiled, blended greeting on the blended background, I die cut some flowers and foliage using hot pink foil and rose gold glitter cardstock and the Garden Wreath Dies. These standalone dies are great for adding tiny little floral accents to perfectly match your color scheme. Finally, I added a few Butterscotch Glitter Drops to the flower centers and scattered on the card to add another element of sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today! Creating these super vibrant and textured tone-on-tone backgrounds is such a fun way to utilize these beautiful detailed die cuts. I hope you’ll give it a try! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

VIDEO: Using Vellum to Soften Your Background!

Hi friends! I am over on the Pinkfresh Studio YouTube channel today with a video using two of my illustrations: It’s A New Day and Floral Focus! When I was illustrating these two sets, I actually intended for them to be paired together; you can see that the blooms and foliage coordinate! These were released awhile ago, but I haven’t found an opportunity to pair them together until now. The Floral Focus background stamp is a very detailed image, and I love pairing super detailed images with heat embossing and vellum… it reminds me of lace. I still wanted to have some soft color, so I used the coordinating Floral Focus Stencils to add some subtle color on the panel behind the embossing.

You can watch the video above or on the Pinkfresh Studio YouTube Channel by clicking HERE.

I started by heat embossing the Floral Focus background stamp on an A2 panel of vellum using white embossing powder. I adore the effect that this technique has, creating an elegant, delicate, super feminine look. The coordinating Floral Focus Stencils are a super quick way to add color to the stamped image, but they also have very handy tick marks in the corners of the stencil which, when centered over an A2 card panel, allow you to create a colorful background without even having to stamp the image! I used Peach Fuzz, Coral Reef, Meadow, and Emerald City inks from Pinkfresh Studio with the stencils; you can see in the video that the stenciled panel alone would make a pretty background by itself! I wanted to soften those colors a bit, though, which is where the embossed vellum overlay comes in. It helps to make the colors more subtle without getting rid of them completely. I love the effect!

Next, it was time to do some watercoloring. You can see that I used this particular flower from the It’s A New Day stamp set for the Floral Focus background… I love having multiple options to create a coordinated look! I heat embossed the images from It’s A New Day onto some Fabriano Artistico Hot Press watercolor paper using white embossing powder to keep the embossing cohesive between the elements. I used my Karin Brushmarker Pro markers to add color to the images in coordinating shades of peach and emerald. (If you’ve been struggling with Karin markers, I share a few tips in my video on how to get good results with them!) Once I had finished watercoloring the butterfly ranunculus, a bud, and some foliage, I die cut the images with the It’s A New Day die.

Vellum can be a little tricky, because most adhesives will show through the semi-transparent paper, so before attempting to adhere the vellum panel, I first arranged my floral die cuts and a die cut sentiment created using the Wonderful Sentiments Hot Foil Plate and coordinating dies. I adhered the die cuts to the vellum panel using foam adhesive, then flipped over the panel and hid my super strong double sided tape behind the solid die cuts. I carefully placed the vellum panel over the top of the stenciled panel to make sure that the patterns lined up properly. The final touch was to add a few Bubblegum gems for some sparkle!

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

Video: No-Line Watercoloring and Faux Hand-lettered Stenciled Sentiment with Pinkfresh Studio!

Hi there! I am up on the Pinkfresh Studio YouTube channel today with this pretty-in-purple card. I received a lot of positive feedback about the stenciled/faux watercolored sentiment from THIS post, so I thought I would show you how I created it in this month’s video! You can check it out below:

Or click HERE to see it in HD on YouTube.

In case you can’t watch the video, I will share a few of the tricks that I used to create this project!

One of my favorite things about the Pinkfresh Studio dye inks is that they are dye based, so they work beautifully for watercoloring! I used Soft Lilac ink for both the blended, stenciled sentiment from Circle Florals Stencils, as well as the outline of the You’re the Best stamped images.

To start, I simply blended the Thank You sentiment from Circle Florals Stencils onto some watercolor paper using Soft Lilac ink and one of the new Blending Brushes. Because the ink is dye based, my Daniel Smith watercolors glided over it super smoothly. I began by using my slightly-more-than-damp, clean paintbrush to add clean water directly over the top of the stenciled sentiment, then while the paper was still wet, dropped in some amethyst purple watercolor. The damp watercolor paper allowed the watercolor to bloom beautifully, creating that gorgeous, artistic watercolor look that we love so much! Tip: a paintbrush with a nice, sharp point is crucial for this technique as well as no-line watercoloring. The crisp point allows you to get a smooth, sharp edge on your images, thus allowing the definition of the original image to remain.

I die cut the finished sentiment with the Circle Florals Dies. I love that there are dies for nearly all of the sentiments included in the stamp and stencil sets! The entire suite of products works so beautifully together.

I had also stamped the delicate, simple flowers from You’re the Best, again using Soft Lilac ink on some Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper. (The Fabriano Artistico is a nice, bright white, not too creamy or yellowed, but still with great texture and movement on the watercolor.) I used the same vibrant Carbazole Violet watercolor from Daniel Smith to add beautiful purple color to the flower. The key with no-line coloring is to make sure that the wet sections remain separate so that they don’t bloom into each other and muddy your crisp edges, which will cause your image to lose its definition. I worked in three different layers, adding a base layer of purple, going in for a second layer to deepen shadows and clean up the edges of the petals (tip: long brush strokes are your friend for crisp, smooth edges), then a final layer of the same Carbazole Violet mixed with my favorite Indanthrone Blue on a few of the petals that were tucked behind each other. I made sure to allow the topmost petal to have the lightest, brightest white highlights to show that it was the top petal and closest to my light source. I die cut the finished floral swag with the coordinating dies.

I had previously hot foiled the Geo Arch hot foil plate onto some beautiful lavender cardstock using purple foil (tone-on-tone hot foil is basically my most favorite thing ever besides coloring), but it was an A2 panel and I wanted to create a mini-slimline card front (3.5″x6″). I trimmed it down to 3″x4.25″ so that it would fit nicely in the center of a mini-slimline card front, then matted with an ever-so-slightly larger piece of dark purple cardstock, which I mounted on my mini-slimline card front. I also die cut a small white Art Deco Frame. I wanted to have at least 3 elements of white on my card front: the card base, the white outline on the floral and sentiment die cuts, and now the white frame. I adhered all of the die cuts using foam adhesive for lots of dimension, then added a few Glacier gems for one last touch of shine!

Well, that’s all for my project today. We are working on the March release from Pinkfresh Studio, and it’s so beautiful! I am especially excited to have another design coming out this month… it’s one of my favorites! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!