Cowboy Wisdom

There are a number of phrases that come
from the cowboy, cowgirl and western experience.
Life on a ranch leads to a very practical blunt wisdom
that sometimes has to lived to be understood fully.
It's a lot like living the Christian life. You
just can't completely comprehend it until you have lived it.

This phrase is very appropriate for any new venture.
Once you are on that bronc the are only two final
results. You are either eating dirt or you
tough it out until the bronc is no longer bucking.
So when you mount up, you had better
be real sure it's worth the effort, cause
comin' down is not going to be a painless thing.
Is it worth it?

The background on this card is faux snakeskin.
For a basic tutorial go to Stampers Quest and do
a search for faux snakeskin. The edges
of the card have been sponged with black ink.

The bucking bronc image is from Bear Rubber.
It is stamped on ivory card stock and metallic fleck rust
embossing powder makes the image stand out.
Tearing out the image and "burning" the edges
with brown and then black ink adds to the
worn western look.

I cut closely around the PSP X computer generated
phrase and burned the edges on it as well.

The "ribbon" an EK Success punch layered over
light kraft card stock. The edges of the light
layer have been sponged with dark brown ink.

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.

Ink Blocks Indians

Here is the same image done using different Distressed Embossing Powder (by Ranger) finishes. This embossing powder has a dull finish and feels sandy to the touch. Perfect for the carved look of these stamps.

The brown background on the left is a leather look gift wrap. I love using this gift wrap for backgrounds and accents on masuline and woodsy type cards.

Please note the faux snakeskin strip. A short tut for creating this paper can be found in an earlier post on this blog.

Finishing touches for the design are sponging in black around the card base on the leather look gift wrap, around the Indian image and the faux leather strip.










On this card the background attached to the card base is again gift wrap. There is sponging with dark brown ink around the card base, and the Indian image. The faux snakeskin strip is layered onto dark brown cardstock.

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 Snakeskin Closeup

This is as good a picture as I could get. While that sheen is lovely in person, it is a real pain to try and get a decent photo of.

I have seen some cowboy boots that had this patterning on them. They are gorgeous. (and expensive)

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.