There's something about horses...

I've loved horses since I was a kid.  I read any book about horses that I could find whether it was fiction or non-fiction.  And if the book happened to have photographs or drawings, so much the better.  My dream was to own a horse of my own someday.  Well, some dreams don't come true, but my love of horses has never diminished.

Of course, under the circumstances, the Horse Frontier stamp set was on my "first pick" list when the new Annual Catalogue came out last year.  Strangely enough, months and months later, I still hadn't touched the set.  Oh, I saw some very nice cards made by other stampers but somehow I didn't feel the urge to use the stamps.

That all changed when I challenged myself to use those poor, neglected stamp sets that have been sitting there, on the shelves, whining to be noticed.  In fact, I didn't just limit myself to one card.  I made three.  By the time I finished, I had used all four stamps in the set.

I kept to the same colours in all three cards and also the same Designer Paper: Comfort Cafe.  Just by switching them around, using different framlits, layouts, and embellishments, all three cards are totally different.

For this card I chose to use Chocolate Chip for my base cardstock, then a layer of Crumb Cake onto which I adhered a two pieces from the Comfort Cafe Designer Paper.  Before I mounted those layers onto the base, I ran them through the Big Shot using my Chevron embossing folder.  Then I added a strip of 7/16" Natural Trim ribbon to hide the join and mounted the whole thing on the Chocolate Chip base.  I stamped the horse on Naturals Ivory cardstock using Chocolate Chip ink and cut it out using one of my Windows framelits.  The Summer Starfruit banner was added just for fun and the "feathered" look was achieved by using a damp sponge and Chocolate Chip ink.

So I wanted to stay within the same colour scheme when I made the next card.

This time I used Crumb Cake for my base cardstock and then a layer of Chocolate Chip and then a layer of Summer Starfruit, but before adding the Summer Starfruit I used my Big Shot and the Chevron embossing folder on it and then sponged it lightly using Chocolate Chip.  For the horse this time, I had in mind just seeing a portion of it, almost as if it was looking out of its stall and discovered that by using the rectangular Designer Frames embossing folder on Chocolate Chip cardstock and then cutting a rectangle of Naturals Ivory out to fit in the frame, I got exactly the effect that I was looking for.  I stamped the horse on the small rectangle using Chocolate Chip ink.  Then,. after adding a couple of banners cut from the Comfort Cafe Designer Paper, I mounted the framed horse with dimensionals.  A banner with horseshoes finished it off quite nicely.

For the third card I stayed within the colour scheme but went all out with the rest of it.

My base cardstock for this card is Chocolate Chip just like the first card, but that's where the similarity ends.  For my next layer I chose to use Summer Starfruit which I ran it through the Big Shot using my Argyle embossing folder.  Then I used my new Distressing Tool (love the way it fits my hand) and had a go around the perimeter of the cardstock.  A bit of sponging with Chocolate Chip ink finished it off nicely and I adhered it to the base using snail.  Next I took a 3 1/4" x 3 3/4" piece of Comfort Cafe Designer Paper and distressed it all around the perimeter.  Then I took a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock about the same size and stamped the horse on it using Chocolate Chip ink.  I decided to make this one a pinto using my Stampin' Markers.  After colouring it, I tore the edge off the piece all the way around and then sponged with Chocolate Chip ink to emphasize the torn edge.  I adhered the horse to the Comfort Cafe and then mounted that onto the Summer Starfruit using dimensionals.  The horseshoe was heat embossed with silver and the sentiment was cut out using one of my Labels framelits.  

I had a lot of fun meeting this challenge.  Having all three cards use the same Designer Paper and colours made it a lot of fun.