Horse Frontier Thinking of You

Does anyone else do this? You see a stamp set that you just have to have. Finally, you order it. Then it sits. That's exactly what I did with the Horse Frontier stamp set. And now it's going to be retired as of midnight May 31.

I finally have put ink to stamp to make a card for a friend who loves horses. Admittedly, it was a bit of a challenge. After looking at many, many samples - on Stampin' Connection, a demos-only perk of being a Stampin' Up demo, and on Pinterest - I was finally able to give it a try.

While doing my 'research' - as I call it - I did come across comments from other demos who did not like the look of the horse. I stamped a test on some scrap paper and as I was looking at it, I thought it was missing a few details, such as a mane. So I added one using the Early Espresso marker. I also decided that my horse would have a white blaze down her nose and four white socks - all done with a Signo Jell Pen.

I'm happy with the results. What do you think?

For the background I scribbled on an acrylic block using Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar and Pistachio Pudding markers. Normally when doing this technique, I would spritz a bit on water onto the acrylic block. This time, because I was using Stampin' Up's Watercolour Paper, I spritzed the paper instead and stamped the block onto it.

The horse image was stamped with Black Staz-on ink. I used Baked Brown Sugar, Soft Suede and Early Espresso to colour the body. A little touch of Blushing Bride defines the muzzle and hooves. Added the sentiment using Basic Gray and one of the stamps from the Wetlands set.

I matted the image on a piece of Bermuda Bay cardstock which was in turn matted on a piece of Naturals White CS stamped with the Hardwood background stamp in Smoky Slate and everything is put on a base of Smoky Slate and finished off with Tempting Turquoise Candy Dots.