This Is Where The Cowboy Rides Away...

Morning everyone...

Hope you all had a great weekend and today, I'm so excited to be sharing my first Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge post for the brand new weekly challenge. This week's fun challenge is called "This Is Where The Cowboy Rides Away" and for my piece, I wanted to encapsulate everything that reminded me about the Wild West and this is what I created...I hope you like it!

To begin with I took some corrugated cardboard from some old packaging and tore off some of the outer layer of the card to reveal the corrugation. I then painted it with Distress Paints to create a rustic wood effect as the background to my piece.

I applied small amounts of Black Soot, Pumice Stone and Weathered Wood Distress Stain to my craft mat and spritzed it with water before "swooshing" a size 8 Manila tag through the ink. Next, I distressed and inked the edges of the tag with Black Soot Distress Inks. I added a strip of Film Ribbon down the side before applying some Olive Bronze Treasure Gold onto Newsprint Alpha Parts to spell out the word Wanted, which I layered over the top of the film strip.

Next, I stamped the image of the cowboy on the horse from Tim Holtz's Wild West stamp set with black Archival Ink and masked the image off before stamping the saloon behind him, to give depth to my artwork. I watercoloured the image with Distress Markers and used Distress Inks on the background. I then distressed the edges before inking them with Distress Inks.

Once I was happy with that, I attached the image to a second piece of corrugated card and set it aside.

Because no cowboy is complete without his belt, I made a belt to wrap around the image using twill ribbon dyed with Distress Stains and then, punched holes and added eyelets to the ribbon. I attached one of Tim's Idea-Ology buckles and then put the belt in place before attaching the image onto my painted corrugated background, with the inked tag tucked behind.

I then stamped the Wild West word stamp onto a further piece of card which was inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and coloured the wording with Festive Berries and Fired Brick Distress Marker Pens. I clipped the wording to the piece with a Hinge Clip, again covered with Treasure Gold to give a tarnished look to the metal. Finally, I added a Idea-Ology Cash Key and threaded some thick twine through the loop to give the appearance of rope.

I really look forward to seeing all your fabulous creations and hope you will join us in this week's challenge. You can visit the blog for more great ideas and inspiration from the wonderful Design Team. Also every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp.

Products used:

Alpha Parts Newsprint

PaperArtsy Olive Bronze Treasure Gold

Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Wild West Stamp Set

Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Belt Buckles, Cash Keys and Hinge Clips

Distress Marker Pens ~ Faded Jeans, Festive Berries, Fired Brick, Brushed Corduroy and Gathered Twigs

Distress Inks ~ Black Soot, Walnut Stain and Frayed Burlap

Distress Stains ~ Frayed Burlap, Black Soot, Pumice Stone and Weathered Wood

Distress Paints ~ Picket Fence, Gathered Twigs, Black Soot and Walnut Stain

Non-Stick Craft Sheet

Black Archival Ink

Ranger Speciality Stamping Card

Ranger Size 8 Manila Tags

Thick twine and twill ribbon from my stash

Thank you for stopping by today and I can't wait to read all your comments.

See you soon...love Emma xxx