Western Flavor

Begin with a fantastic image from
Wildlife Enterprises stamped
with black Ranger's Archival ink.
Why archival? So when you smooth
out the colored pencil with a stump soaked
in baby oil the black ink doesn't run.
A non archival water based ink
will "move" and smear when it get
wet with the baby oil.

Cut the finished image to a rectangle,
punch the corners and sponge the edges
with a dark brown ink.
Layer onto a dark brown card stock,
trimming the left side with a decorative scissors.

The faux snake skin is also layered onto
dark brown card stock with
the bottom edge cut with the
same decorative scissors as the
hat and gloves image.
Place three brads at the top and
some type of decorative western
embellishment at the bottom.

Attach the faux snakeskin and
stamped image as shown in the picture.
I used a beige parchment card stock for
my card base. The edges of
the card have also been sponged with
dark brown ink.

Leaves Everywhere

A beautiful scrapbook paper attached to the
entire front of the card base will
be the beginning of this design.
The "friends" stamp is from Art Impressions
and is stamped in black.
An Art Impressions leaf border has been
stamped in a pale green.
Then die cut it all with a Spellbinders label
and sponge dark green around the edges.
The dark green die cut flourish leaves are
an extended cut border from Sizzix.
The finishing touch - a dragonfly brad.

Elegant Horse

Inkadinkado has the most marvelous set of clear stamps. These horses are so elegant and so easy to work with.

I used a Spellbinders Label die to cut out the image after it was stamped in black ink. The edges of the piece are sponged in black as is the edge of the card. Mini brads are place at the top and bottom of the label.

Very very simple and very easy design.

Birthday Card

Three Spellbinder's Labels were used on this card with the small center two being the same die cut but in different sizes.

The papers are from the Linen Closet stack from DCWV. A plain white card with sponged edges becomes a pleasing base when the edges are sponged. The Bosskut flourish in tan matches the sponging on the edges of the card base.

The Happy Birthday is computer generated. There are also brads on the middle die cut.

Not a hard card to make, lots of layers, but basically simple elements stacked up!

Using Corrugated Cardboard

Yesterday I showed you a quick and easy way to turn your cardboard boxes into great embellishments. Today I am showing you how to use that corrugated cardboard on a card.

One side of the corrugated cardboard is torn. I gently rubbed a dark brown ink pad over the corrugations and then sponged the torn edge heavily. This was layered over a striped vellum. The vellum was cut with a mega Fiskars decorative scissors, then the cut edges were lightly sponged.

The image of the fisherman and the phrase are by a fantastic Montana stamp company, Sweet Grass Stamps. Stampers Quest showcased the quality and versatility of their stamps in their last Design Challenge. The image and the phrase were both stamped with black Archival ink by Ranger.

The fisherman was colored with Rose Art colored pencils. Yes, Rose Art, the inexpensive ones that you find with the school supplies. As you can see from the picture of the card the fisherman image was cut out on three sides and torn on the fourth. The phrase was torn on all sides. Lighter brown inks were "swirled" in a short distance on both with the final touch being a heavy sponging of dark brown ink and the very very edges "burned" with black ink sponging.

Pheasant feathers were placed at both ends of the phrase. Three bronze colored brads were used as a masculine accent on the fisherman.

Ink Blocks Indian

Ink Blocks has some fantastic Indian images.

This one was stamped with VersaMark

and Distressed Embossing Powder by Ranger was

used to create a rough carved woodsy look.

The embossed image was cut out in a square with

the corners then being rounded with Fiskars corner scissors.

The edges were sponged for depth and drama.

The three brass brads add a little interest.

The paper on the card base is a gift wrap.

It was glued to the card base and then sponged with

dark brown ink for that vintage look.

The two narrow bars of faux snakeskin have

been mounted on dark brown card stock

that has been trimmed to a narrow border.

I used a clear glitter pen to accent the eyes of

the Indian and the eagle.

Faux Tooled Leather

It really does look like tooled leather.

Supplies you will need to make tooled leather:

black pigment ink

brown fun foam

heat gun

stamp

1. cut the fun foam about 1/2" to 1" larger than your stamp

2. ink the stamp with black pigment and keep it in your hand

3. heat the fun foam until it start to curl

4. immediately place stamp on heated foam and press down HARD

5. keep pressing that stamp into the fun foam until it has cooled

6. now pull up you stamp and admire the 3D image

7. trim the foam as close as desired to the 3D image

A few hints:

Let this stamped 3D piece of art work sit at least over night, WHY? because it is stamped with pigment ink and pigment ink takes a long long time to dry. If you have two people you could probably have one heating the foam and one stamping AND get away with using dye inks. I found that after I stopped heating and inked up my stamp with dye ink, that the foam had cooled. It does not reheat well. You will get the best image from HOT foam.

This technique is fun with medallion stamps. I have a nice collection of multiple colors of fun foam. Great say to get a 3D effect without a lot of hassle. The foam also mails well.

Happy Stamping and God Bless,

Shelly N.

Cowboys and Cowgirl "Cards"

While in the local farm and ranch supply store I spotted two decks of playing cards on sale AND some wonderful gift wrap.

The gift wrap is the background paper on both cards.
The edges have been softened by sponging on black dye ink. This also adds depth.
I measure and punched on the back side of the cards to achieve good corner spacing when placing the black brads.

The barbwire stamp is by Sutter Enterprises, while the Cowboy Up stamp is unknown.

I did a little distressing with a sanding block on the cowgirl playing card. Smaller black brads were used on this version.

The floral flourish is by Inkadinkado and the barbwire is by Sutter Enterprises.

The "Cowboy Up" and the floral flouish were stamped with VersaMark and embossed with fine line embossing powder.

STAMPER BASICS - many everyday items, such as gift wrap and playing cards make wonderful embellishments for your creations.

Gum wrappers, pages from magazines, dried flowers, ribbons, old postage stamps and leaves are just a few more ideas. You will never look at a hardware or gift store in the same way again.

God Bless, Shelly N.