Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys

Today's entry is a combination of a couple of challenges. I belong to a fantastic stamping group known as (Sensational SU Swappers) or (SSUS) and our fearless leader Kerry challenged the group to a sketch challenge with a bit of a "twist" in that we had to use designer paper and stamp on it (sentiment excluded). Then I happened to be browsing some of my favorite blogs today & saw where Anna (Sweet Miss Daisy) and, Lindsey (Jacksonbelle) had done one of their fabulous "Showdowns" with each other. They both did Western Themed projects but had to use "leather" of some form in their project. It could be real leather, faux leather, leather lacing etc...so once again I thought why not do a card that also matched their challenge to each other.

You can see their great creations here: http://sweetmissdaisy.typepad.com/sassy_sweet_notes/2007/09/jacksonbelle-sh.html

and here: http://jacksonbelle.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2007/09/29/its-a-showdown-with-anna/

I so admire their artwork and while my card isn't near the caliber of theirs I do like how it turned out.

I chose Chocolate Chip for my card base & followed that up with a layer of this cool leather looking card stock called (Football) by The Paper Company which I just happened to purchase at a JoAnn Fabric's store a couple of years ago and had yet to use it. I added some extra matting layers to Kerry's sketch to complete the overall look that I wanted. The left hand side layer is Sage Shadow with a piece of Outlaw Designer paper stamped with the spur image from the retired set (Wild Wild West) in Sage Shadow ink. Then I layered the reverse side of the designer paper onto a piece of Really Rust card stock & stamped the swirl image from (Bronc Buster) with Chocolate Chip ink and added 3 brads (Little Black Dress) that I dyed with a brown permanent sharpie marker to match the rust tones. I colored the Cowboy image with various colors of ink pads and a blending pen and then added a small amount of Aztec Gold pearl ex powder to the vest and sealed it. It's hard to see in the scan but it has a slight shimmer to it. I matted that to a slightly larger piece of Chocolate chip card stock and then raised the image with foam mounting tape. I couldn't decide if the card needed a sentiment or not so I left it blank.

This was a lot of fun & I say thanks to Kerry, Anna & Lindsey for the great challenge.