WWC231 - Tristan's "All About Occasions" Challenge

Consider this my contribution to Christmas in July.  I just received this stamp set and am dying to use it.  I love the four-step camel in this lovely Gina Marie set, don't you?  It seems so real, it's almost like a sepia photograph.  And the sentiment?  Perfect!

I began with a base of Heavy Very Vanilla followed by a layer of Early Espresso.  I stamped the camel on a piece of Sahara Sand, layering first some Sahara Sand ink, then some Crumb Cake ink, next some Grey Granite ink and finally some Soft Suede ink.  The finished image turned out even better than I had hoped.

Since I wanted to stamp the town of Bethlehem behind the camel, I stamped another single image of the camel onto a piece of copy paper, fussy cut it out and used it to mask the completed camel image and thus protect it.  The stamp of Bethlehem is Stampin' Up's Night In Bethlehem, stamped using Early Espresso ink while the star is from the retired Star of Light set, heat embossed using Gold Embossing Powder.

For the sentiment I cut a piece of Sahara Sand and stamped it using Early Espresso.  After adding a matte of Early Espresso, I added it to the left of the card.

I love the way it turned out, don't you?

I hope you'll check out the wonderful creations by the Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I've entered my card into the following challenges:

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #52 - Anything Christmas

Cute N Crafty Challenge #29 - Christmas in July

Crimbo Crackers Challenge #189 - Anything Christmas Goes

Crafting by Designs - Get Ready for Christmas

Addicted to Stamps & More #351 - Anything Goes