CAS Christmas Challenge & TE July 2020

Hi all! Don't you just love Christmas in July!? I am sure some do and some don't, but I definitely love Christmas all year round (except maybe not January & February!). I wanted to participate in this month's challenge for both CAS Christmas - Nativity 

and Taylored Expressions' Facebook Challenge for July: 

CAS cards are not always the easiest cards to create. You would think they are, but think about it - you need a good focal point, lots of visual imagery and all while keeping plenty of white space and limited embellishments. Not to mention just keeping all the white space clean from ink smudges!

I have had this stamp in my Taylored Expressions stash for a while now and thought this would be the perfect challenge it use it. I stamped the entire image on a piece of Neenah White 100 lb. Classic Crest card stock with Altenew's Obsidian Black Ink. This is a large stamp and fills an A2 portrait card entirely from side to side. 

I wanted to include some "sand" in the image and cut a piece of Bristol Smooth card stock, with a die in my stash which had a hill line. I ink blended 2 Distress Oxides to get a sand color - Vintage Photo and Wild Honey onto the "hill" and glue it to the card front over the word "Rejoice". In order to keep it CAS, I decided to cut the image down and give the 3 Wise Man and the Star the focus.

A simple ink blended background was created with the same Distress Oxides and MFT's Radiating Stencil. I used the same Spellbinder's Gilded Nested Rectangle Die Set to cut this piece as well as the center image. I like the squared off corners.

The outside sentiment is from Simon Says Stamps Tabbed Sentiment Holiday in my stash (not affliated) and the inside sentiment is from Impression Obsession's Kalani Allred:

If you haven't looked at her stamps, give it a look, for she has the best sentiments! They are funny, serious, a mix of all different fonts. If you are a card maker you will enjoy her work.

Taylored Expressions' Challenge is for Masculine/Star/Black and I believe this card fits all 3 requirements. The full "Nativity Background" stamp is beautiful and I hope to use it with a blended night sky with lots of twinkling stars.  Stay tuned!! 

Thanks for joining me today! Be safe, my friends.

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