Simon Says Stamp Special Holiday Release blog hop (+GIVEAWAY!)

Busy day on the blog today!  For the 25 Days of Christmas Tags – Concord & 9th and giveaway please scroll down or click here.  

Good morning!  I am SO honored and excited to be joining in a hop to celebrate all of the fabulous products that Simon Says Stamp released this week!!  And every stop on the hop is another chance to win a $50 gift card to Simon Says Stamp!  Talk about getting in the holiday spirit! 😉

It’s a big hop so I’ll only share two cards today but make sure to stop by next week when I share everything else I’ve made with products from the December card kit, the Limited Edition Holiday card kit, and the Advent Plus release!  The December card kit has sold out but I’ll link to most of the individual supplies below…also, just a heads up that the Limited Edition Holiday card kit is almost sold out so don’t delay if you want to purchase it!  You should have arrived from Yana’s blog and Wanda is your next stop.  There’s a full hop list at the bottom of my post in case you get lost along with giveaway details!

My first card uses the December card kit!

That reindeer is so stinkin’ cute!  I absolutely adore him!  I started by stamping my gift boxes and Christmas tree onto white cardstock with copic-friendly ink.  I used post-it notes to mask the boxes so that I could layer them.  I stamped my reindeer on a scrap piece of white cardstock with the same ink and then colored all of my images with copic markers.  I added spectrum noir clear sparkle to the ornaments on the tree, the reindeer’s collar, and the gift boxes.  I also added white dot detail to the tree with a signo gel pen.  I stamped the sentiment onto the card with versafine and heat-embossed it with clear embossing powder.

Next I fussy cut my reindeer and punched a tiny hole in the middle of his nose.  I adhered him to my scene with foam mounting tape and carefully punched the hole all the way through the background cardstock.  Then I used the Chibitronics kit to create a circuit to light up Rudolph’s nose!  I love that you can color the LED lights with copic markers to create colored lights.  I added a strip of paper between the battery and copper tape to break the circuit and conserve the battery for mailing.  When the recipient removes the strip his nose will light up!

In general I love interactive cards and these lights definitely add a fun element to a handmade card!

Next I used products from the Limited Edition Holiday card kit to create an elegant monochromatic card with touches of gold!

This kit is jam-packed with all kinds of awesome card-making goodies!  I think my favorites are that darling deer die, the patterned papers, the envelopes, and the stencil!

For my card I started by laying my stencil on a piece of black cardstock.  I used a dauber tool to apply white pigment ink over my stencil.  Then I applied the grit paste from the kit over the trees and sprinkled the paste and wet pigment ink with rock candy distress glitter.  I love how the mix of pigment ink and paste gives the appearance of dimension.  I let that dry while I die-cut the deer from gold glitter paper.  Once the paste was dried I stamped the sentiment with versamark and heat-embossed it with Antique Gold embossing powder.  Finally I adhered the deer with foam mounting tape.

I love the mix of textures and dimension on this card.  Simon Says Stamp really knocked it out of the park with this kit!

So what’s a hop without a giveaway, right?  Simon Says Stamp has generously offered a $50 gift card FOR EVERY HOP STOP!!  All you need to do is visit and leave a comment on each blog.  You have until 11:59 PM, Sunday, November 20th to leave your comments.  The winners will be randomly selected from each blog and announced on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Monday, November 21st!   In case you encounter a broken link here is the full hop list:

• Simon Says Stamp
• Tim Holtz
• Shari Carroll
• Kristina Werner
• Debby Hughes
• Nichol Spohrs
• Laura Bassen
• Yana Smakula
• Jessica Frost-Ballas —> You are here!
• Wanda Guess
• Nina-Marie Trapani
• Heather Ruwe
• Amy Rysavy

Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful day!  If this is your first time visiting my blog I hope you’ll come back!  ? Happy Hopping!

Interested in the products I used?  To make them easy for you to find, I have listed them below. (Affiliate disclosure can be found here). Your purchases help keep my blog running and I thank you for the support!)