Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

with sympathy

Blog Party to Celebrate Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember + Free Gift With Purchase!

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

Hi friends! Happy STAMPtember! Today, we are having a huge blog party to share tons of inspiration using the fabulous new goodies from the new Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember release. If you’re new to STAMPtember, every year throughout the month of September, Simon Says Stamp celebrates our wonderful hobby by partnering with many of our favorite companies to bring you exclusive, limited edition stamp sets, as well as contests, prizes, special promotions, announcements, and more surprises! We kicked off the STAMPtember celebration with an enormous Simon Says Stamp-branded release (which you can check out HERE). I shared a project in THIS blog post that features my newest illustration, called Sunflower Dreams, but I thought for today’s blog party, I would share a celebration of autumn with some of the beautiful new autumnal products that were released with this STAMPtember release. Let’s get started with the details!

*I have gathered links to all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience, using affiliate links. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*

To begin, I die cut and embossed a mum from the new Magnificent Mums Embossing Folder using white cardstock, as well as the new Autumn Leaf Branch. I blended Pawsitively Saturated Inks in shades of Cabernet, Terracotta, and Cheeky using blending brushes, creating a unique peach and maroon color palette. I find it challenging to work with the typical red, yellow, and orange autumn colors, so in order to make the autumnal imagery fit my own personal tastes, I try to select colors within the same families but with a bit of a twist. Instead of the typical red, orange, and yellow, I chose maroon, burnt orange, and peachy pink, blending the colors on the white cardstock to create these pretty autumn images.

To accent my embossed and blended die cuts, I also die cut the oak leaves from the new Acorn Bundle from some shimmery chocolate brown cardstock, as well as a few more Autumn Leaf Branch leaves from some shining deep rose colored mirror foil cardstock. For the background, I ran a panel of super pale peach cardstock through my die cutting machine using the previously-released Windswept Leaves embossing folder, which I splattered with some metallic copper watercolors to add additional texture.

For the greeting, I die cut the delicately detailed new Nuvelli Script With Sympathy from some chocolate brown glitter cardstock. I also trimmed a strip of matte pink foil cardstock down upon which to build my bouquet around the detailed sentiment die cut. This strip has the benefit of both stabilizing the super delicate sentiment die cut while also providing a “ground” for the bouquet, as well as a blank canvas for the main focal point images on the textured background. I popped up the strip with some thin foam squares, adhered the sentiment die cut on the strip with liquid adhesive, then began to build my floral arrangement. I adhered the different die cut pieces with a variety of adhesive heights, using double and single layers of foam adhesive as well as liquid adhesive for maximum dimension and interest. Finally, I finished the project off with some Peachy Pawsitively Dazzling Gems to add some subtle sparkle to this multi-textured project.

Well, that’s all for my project today! To celebrate the start of this month-long homage to stamping, Simon Says Stamp is having a scavenger hunt throughout today’s blog party. Each participant in the blog party has a unique promotional code so that you can hop through each blog, decide which promotion suits you best, and take advantage of the fabulous freebies available! You can follow the instructions in the graphic at the top of my blog to receive the fabulous Fancy Birthday die set as a free gift with purchase.

You can see all of the participants in the blog party HERE on the Simon Says Stamp Blog. Be sure to check them all out so that you can figure out which free gift is your favorite!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and Happy STAMPtember!! Let the fun begin!

Bluebird of Happiness with New Simon Says Stamp!

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

Hi friends! I am bursting with inspiration to share with you using products from the brand new Simon Says Stamp Moments in Time release that went live last week! We celebrated over the weekend with a blog hop (which you can check out HERE) with tons of inspiration, prizes, and a freebie, and today I am back with a sweet little bluebird of happiness created using some new and some old goodies from Simon Says Stamp and some good old fashioned white cardstock and ink. Let’s get started with the details on my project!

*I have gathered links to all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience, using affiliate links. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*

Ink blending is such a user-friendly way to add custom colors to your white card stock, proving that you don’t have to be an expert colorist or have all of the coloring mediums (ahem, not that I have ALL of the coloring mediums, just a lot of them, ha!) to create beautifully detailed and vibrant cards! This card was created entirely with white cardstock and colorful inks! I began by die cutting the Dainty Floral Vine, Layered Birdie, and Lush Leaves dies from white cardstock, then took advantage of the super tacky surface of the Simon Says Stamp Craft Tacky Mat to hold my die cuts securely while I did some detailed ink blending on each individual die cut piece. I used Pawsitively Saturated Inks in shades of Violet, Iris, Dusk, Pine, and Honey with the coordinating Simon Says Stamp blending brushes to add gorgeous color to the die cuts, creating a custom bluebird by mixing the purple inks with Dusk ink. Once all of the blending had been completed, I assembled each die cut with liquid adhesive.

For the background, I first lightly blended some Violet Pawsitively Saturated Ink in the center of my white A2 card front, then placed the Delicate Lattice Stencil over the top of the blended area and lightly blended Iris ink over the top to create a subtly patterned background with a hint of a blurple glow. I arranged all of the die cuts on the stenciled background, tucking the birdie amongst the blooms and foliage and adhering the die cuts with a combination of liquid and foam adhesive in both thin and thick depths, creating tons of dimension on this card front!

After I had created the majority of the card front, I used the new Banner Greetings product suite to create this pretty and simplistic sentiment die cut, stamping the banner and sentiment with Simon Says Stamp Nocturne Pigment Ink and adding white satin pearl embossing powder over the top to create a pearlescent gunmetal embossed sentiment. I used the coordinating stencils to add some beautiful color to the banner with some residual blurple ink left over on my blending brush, then tucked the die cut beneath the birdie with some foam adhesive. For some sparkle, I added tiny Gunmetal Pawsitively Dazzling Gems to the center of each flower and to the birdie’s eye, then finished the card off with a Simon Says Stamp Silver Cord bow!

Well, that’s all for my project today! This was definitely one of my more involved projects, but sometimes all of that attention to detail and meticulous die cut placement really pays off. If you haven’t tried creating custom colors with your stamping inks and blending brushes, I highly encourage you to try it out. It’s such fun to see plain white die cuts come to life! Thanks 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!

Simon Says Stamp Just For You Release+New Illustration!

Hi there! I am really excited for this month’s Simon Says Stamp Just For You release, not just because it’s full of fun springy products, but also because I have a new illustration included in the release: Herb Labels! I designed this set to create super cute labels for your herb garden, including Mint, Basil, Rosemary, Dill, and Tomatoes (which aren’t technically an herb, I know). Because I’m a cardmaker and have a black thumb, I also included several super cute, punny sentiments to give you multiple uses for this set! I have a couple of cards using some new and old goodies from Simon Says Stamp, so let’s get started with the details!

The world outside is slowly turning green, the light lasting longer, birds are singing… spring is definitely on the way. My cards today channel that crisp brightness with pops of verdant green. I used Field Paws-itively Saturated Ink as the primary color for both of my cards. This bright green embodies the brightness of the greens in springtime, and it was a perfect fit for both of my cards!

My first card starts by stamping the new Leaf Edges stamp with Field ink onto a panel of white cardstock, then cutting it out with one of the Nested Domed Arches. I blended some more Field ink along the bottom left edge, as well, which covered up a spot that I didn’t get stamped perfectly. (wink wink) As I was looking through my bin of dies from Simon Says Stamp, I discovered that the Privet Branch die was a very close match to the leaves on one side of the the new Leaf Edges stamp. I cut the foliage die from some Meadow cardstock from Hero Arts. You could also use the Field ink to blend your own custom cardstock to make sure it was a perfect match!

To create a background for my leaves, I used Field ink to blend all of the layers of the Radiating Squares layered stencil set. I thought this geometric pattern looked lovely juxtaposed with the graceful movement of the Leaf Edges and Privet Branch images. To prevent my leaf images from being overpowered by the busy background pattern, I trimmed down a panel of vellum slightly smaller than A2 size and layered it directly over the top of the stenciled panel. This helped to soften the pattern without completely covering it. I adhered the stamped, blended arch die cut with some liquid adhesive, then added the branch die cut with some foam tape. I flipped it over and hid my liquid adhesive on the vellum behind the solid die cuts.

I die cut a Handlettered Greetings “with sympathy” die cut from some more Meadow cardstock, snipping the individual words apart with my sharp scissors. I die cut the rectangular Thin Frames die, once for the larger rectangle, and twice for the thin frame and interior rectangle portion, which I adhered together to add a bit of height. I adhered the sentiment word die cuts on the rectangle using liquid adhesive, then popped it up with some foam tape. The final touch was to add a few Opal gems for some subtle sparkle and added texture.

My second card uses the same fresh, crisp green-and-white color scheme, this time with my new Herb Labels. I began by die cutting the large frame from Herb Labels from the center of an A2 panel of white cardstock. I layered a solid A2 piece of white cardstock behind the negative of the frame, then placed them both in my MISTI and used the opening as my guide to place the large label stamp in the center of my full piece of cardstock. I stamped it with the Field ink to create a vibrant, crisp frame behind my die cut frame.

I also stamped the dill bunch from the Herb Labels set, again using Field ink to coordinate with my frame. I used a very fine tipped black pen to outline the string wrapped around the base of my dill bunch. I also used the Field ink to stamp the smaller label, adding one of the punny greetings from the Herb Labels set and die cutting both the dill bunch and the frame using the coordinating dies.

To add a little extra texture to the large frame die cut, I ran the entire panel through my die cut machine using the Pinpoint Starlets embossing folder. I love the sweet texture this provides to this crisp white cardstock! I popped up the embossed panel on the stamped background using some foam squares, then added a double layer of foam squares to the back of the dill bunch. I also popped up the sentiment label using foam squares. The extra height and texture would help to add some interest to the simplistic color scheme of the card!

Well, that’s all for my project today! I have some more goodies to share with you using the Just For You release, as well as some more cards using my new Herb Labels set. Be sure to check back tomorrow! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Monochromatic Sympathy Card Using Pinkfresh Studio November Release + Instagram Hop!

Hi there! Today, Pinkfresh Studio is continuing the celebration of their new November Release with an Instagram Hop. I have this soft monochromatic project up as my stop on the hop, so be sure to check out my post over on Instagram as @eamidgett. I have found that with sympathy cards, less is more, and so keeping the color palette super simple while still muted helps to be respectful to the seriousness of the purpose of the card while also keeping things a little lighter for the eye. The new With Sympathy Stamps, Dies, Stencils, and Hot Foil Plate are, in my opinion, one of the best product suites in the release, as it contains a beautiful variety of products that work seamlessly together while also containing poignant and, sadly, incredibly useful sentiments for sympathy cards. Let’s get started with the details on my project!

I began by hot foiling the new With Sympathy Hot Foil Plate a couple of times on a panel of icy blue Glacier cardstock from Spellbinders using Skybright foil, a lovely light aqua that works beautifully with the Glacier cardstock. If you haven’t tried tone-on-tone hot foiling yet, I highly encourage you to take a look at your colored foils and colored cardstock stash and try it out! (Enabling hint: the Spellbinders cardstock is all marvelously smooth and perfect for hot foiling!) It’s one of my favorite ways to use hot foil; it provides such incredibly elegant results!

Next, I used a blending brush to lightly blend some Ocean Breeze ink using the With Sympathy Stencils over the foiled images. This simple stenciling helps subtly emphasize the beautiful details in the floral image without overpowering the monochromatic color scheme! I arranged a Blanket Stitched Rectangle Die over my hot foiled panel so that the foiled flowers were nestled in the corners.

Next, I die cut the Elongated Lattice Cover Plate die from some more Glacier cardstock, then layered it on a matching solid A2 panel of Glacier cardstock. I love the super subtle texture that this provides the background!

To continue the monochromatic continuity of my card, I heat embossed the greeting from the With Sympathy Stamps onto a scrap of Glacier cardstock using some sparkling aqua glitter embossing powder, then die cut the sentiment with the coordinating sentiment die. Those sentiment dies create such a clean, polished effect on your finished card! I arranged the hot foiled rectangle on my card front using some thin foam tape so that it had just a touch of extra height from the textured background, then added the greeting with a double layer of foam tape to make it pop better from the card front. The final touch was to add a few Aqua Glitter Drops for a bit more sparkle.

Well, that’s all for today’s project. I hope you’ll check out the Instagram Hop; Pinkfresh Studio is giving away the entire release, and there are masses of $25 gift cards up for grabs! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!