Simon Says Stamp’s Monday Challenge, Simon Says Stamp’s Wednesday Challenge combined with Stay Crafty with Hero Arts Challenge

For the these two cards, I started with Simon Says Stamp’s Wednesday Challenge – Christmas Critters and one of my favorite stamp sets is Hero Arts’ Color Layering Cardinal. I then looked at Stay Crafty with Hero Arts Challenge and went on the hunt for an inspiring card for my cardmaking. I chose Shari Carroll’s card, shown below, from this post. Lastly, I picked an icy inspired background for use Simon Says Stamp’s Monday Challenge – Ice Cold.

I was inspired by the white textured background with the bright pop of color from the cardinal. I used embossing folders to create a similar textured background for my cards. For my first card, I used stickles to make icy branches for the cardinal to rest on and be surrounded by. For the second card, I used white shimmer cardstock for a ice cold backdrop for the cardinal, a bit more subtle style when compared to the first. I was really happy with how the cards turned out! Hope you get some time to craft during the holiday season! Supplies for each card are listed in the captions.

My card for Simon Says Stamp’s Icy Cold Monday Challenge, Simon Says Stamp’s Christmas Critters Wednesday Challenge, and Stay Crafty with Hero Arts Challenge. The card uses Hero Arts Color Layering Cardinal stamp and die sets to create the beautiful cardinal and Papertrey’s Vintage Ornaments II stamp set for the sentiment. The pine twigs were die cut using Memory Box’s Pine Twig die. The twigs were coated with stardust stickles. The white background was created using the Stampin Up’s Softly Falling embossing folder.

I used Curious Metallics’ Ice Gold shimmer cardstock and embossed it using Carta Bella’s Christmas Delivery embossing folder for the card front. It makes a beautiful ice background scene. The cardinal was created using Hero Arts’ Color Layering Cardinal stamps and dies. The sentiment was stamped using Papertrey’s Vintage Ornaments II stamp set and Ranger’s gold tinsel embossing powder on a velum strip. The twig wreath was created using Hero Arts Branch Wreath Fancy die that was decorated with red pearls.