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

Hi friends! I am hopping along with Simon Says Stamp for Day 2 of the Sugar and Spice Release Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Sandi MacIver, and your next stop is Lisa Addesa. You can check out the full list over at the Simon Says Stamp Blog for Day 1 and Day 2! This new Sugar and Spice release (check it out HERE) is filled with gorgeous holiday dies, which are one of my favorite products with which to create. I love customizing standalone die cuts with various mediums, especially alcohol markers. I am entering my vintage Christmas era, so I selected a mint and fire engine red color palette for my card today, pairing lush holiday greenery with that most ubiquitous winter bird: the cardinal! Let’s get started on the details for 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!*

To begin, I die cut the new Beautiful Cardinal and Ho Ho Holiday Greens die sets from plain white cardstock. I then used my OLO Markers to add lots of vibrant color to the plain die cuts, keeping the colors crisp and bright with that vintage mint and red color palette. I used the colored guide on the die packaging to know where to add shadows and highlights to the finished images before assembly. I used both liquid and foam adhesive to assemble the cardinal, giving him lots of dimension and texture!

For the background, I embossed a panel of Simon Says Stamp Mint cardstock using the new Festive Wreath embossing folder. I then used a blending brush to blend Pawsitively Saturated Spring ink around the edges of the embossed panel, leaving the center that soothing pale green and creating a kind of reverse halo. To help enhance the gorgeous 3D embossed imagery on the card front, I swiped my White Pigment Ink Pad directly over the raised areas, then splattered the entire card front with some iridescent glitter watercolors. So much gorgeous texture and sparkle on this card front!

Before I began assembling my greenery and feathered friend on my card front, I die cut the new Loopy Bow from some Crimson Glitter Cardstock, as well as the “joy” from the new Holiday Duo, cutting the shadow layer from vellum and the detail layer from Rich Red Matte cardstock before layering them together with liquid adhesive. I arranged all of the die cuts on my blended and embossed card front using both liquid and foam adhesive, tucking greenery beneath the bow to create a festive swag and adding the greeting directly over the top of the arrangement. Finally, I added a smattering of Cherry Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for an additional pop of sparkling red!
Well, that’s all for my project today! Now for some fun giveaway information:
Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $25 coupon to every stop on the hop, to be selected from each blog’s comment section. The more comments you leave along the hop, the more chances you have to win! Winners will be selected and posted on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday the 15th of October.
You can also receive a fabulous, not-yet-released freebie with any purchase from the new Sugar and Spice Collection! Click HERE to see the full collection and your freebie will be automatically added to your purchase after checkout!
Your next stop on the hop is Lisa Addesa. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!
