Code of the West

The phrase is computer generated.
After that I had a blast trying different backgrounds.
The card above uses scrapbook paper
as the background.

The wood background is one that I printed up on my computer.
It really does fit well with the western theme.
B & J Art Stamp's barbwire image is
stamped in dark brown.
Sutter Enterprise's cowboy on a horse image
has been stamped with one of the
lighter brown Distressed Inks from Ranger.

A narrow border of faux snakeskin is
a great accent. Made by using the Fiskars
snakeskin embossing plate with tan or cream
card stock. Next steps depend on the desired
color of your snakeskin. I usually use a very
light brown ink, sponging heavily to get in the creases.
The dust the raised portion with a darker ink.
The final step is to apply a glossy top coat.
I happened to have a water based glossy varnish.

This leather look background is a scrapbook
paper from Karen Foster.

A "Big" Happy

This was an idea that I saw over a year ago at
a stamp convention at the Morning Star Stamps
booth. Both words are stamps from their line.

The large happy is stamped in the center of a
4.25 x 5.5 piece of card stock. Now you center
a Spellbinders label die over the "happy" and cut.
Select an appropriate embossing folder to add the desired
texture. In this case I have used the Cuttlebug
Happy Birthday folder.

The smaller birthday stamp has been cut with
an oval die cut. I sponged around the edges to
make is stand out a little more from the embossed
"happy" piece. I tried two different version and have
to say that I much prefer the top card.

The black and white polka dot background is
scrapbook paper attached to a white card base.

My husband got a "happy" card for our 40th anniversary.
Morning Star Stamps has a whole line
of tiny word stamps to put with your happy stamp.
I also have a thanks stamp that is the same
size and font and the happy shown here.

Faux Snakeskin

Not long ago there was an article in Stamper's Quest by Kittie Caracciolo. This very talented lady did a card called "Faux Everything". I was totally intrigued and of course printed off the directions.

Here is my version of the "Faux Snakeskin". As I had almost none of the supplies that Kittie used I had to wing it. (as usual).

The Indian Stamp is by Ink Blocks. Check under Southwest and Native American to find this image and several other by the same artist. Ink Blocks is now owned by I Brake For Stamps.

The Indian is stamped with black pigment ink and embossed with Ranger Walnut Distressed Embossing Powder. A coluzzle was used to cut out the circle and the edges were sponged with black dye ink to add depth.







The feather is from a wild turkey.

Faux snakeskin!!!!!
1. Cut a sheet of kraft paper colored cardstock in quarters.
2. Lightly mist both sides to soften paper and get a sharper deeper texture when embossing with the texture plate.
3. Using the Fiskars snakeskin texture plate, place the plate on your mat, paper on top of the texture plate and then the embossing sheet. The embossing sheet is soft clean rubber that when pressure is applied by the die cut machine will push the paper down into the texture of the plate. Now put mats and shims over this until you have the correct recipe to achieve a nice texture on your dampened paper. Dry completely.
4. Use a brayer to apply Archival Ink. By using even light pressure the ink will only color the top of the snakeskin, accenting the texture. On some of my pieces of faux snakeskin I used some green and rust inks as well as several shades of brown, applying them lightly with sponges. I liked the results.
5. Snakeskin has a sheen to it. My sheen came from a coat of water based polyurethane. Again let it dry completely. You now have snakeskin.

Using archival permanent inks will keep the ink in place when you apply your "sheen" layer.
Remember that waterbased dye inks will be reactivated with most water based products you apply over them. They will "move" causing you to see part of your ink coming off the paper as you apply that polyurethane. Kittie used Modge Podge on her snakeskin. I didn't have any, so used what I had on hand that would give my snakeskin that shine of real snakeskin.