Just call me Pig Pen

Hey Peoples!! I've been working on a card that combines 6 of the Dare to Get Dirty challenges!! I'm tellin' ya~~I'm getting so Dirty that you are going to start calling me Pig Pen!  (rolling in the dirt on that one!!) Today's card combines Bev's, Kim's, Julie's, Amber's, Betty's and Suzanne's  challenges (again~for those of you just joining, details on the challenges will be very vague as these are special challenges for Fan Club Members on SCS.) 

Enough jibber jabber, let's move on to the goodies!!

(eeeeaaakkk!! in this photo the background to the horse and star look a much brighter blue than they are in real life....I SWEAR that in my preview it looked the dark dusty blue that it really is!!)

AnyHoos!! The beginning inspiration was any of the western TV shows that I watched growing up (Bonanza, Wild, Wild West, Lone Ranger, old western movies).  I started with a 5x5 base of SU's River Rock and stamped over it with SU's background Sanded in Blue Bayou ink.  The edges were then sponged with the same ink.  The "design" paper is faux.  I stamped another piece of River Rock with SU's Wanted set medallion in craft ink and embossed using white embossing powder.  The star is from the same set and was stamped between the medallion images with blue bayou ink.  The edges were also sponged with the blue bayou.  The "design" paper was then matted on a piece of Blue Bayou that was distressed and sponged with the same ink. 

The main image (again, from the Wanted set) was stamped with white craft ink and embossed with white embossing powder.  The generation stamping with done with (guess!! come on!!) blue bayou.  The oval was cut  and embossed with my  classic oval Nesties from Spellbinders. 

Now the fun part!! I used a piece of my much hoarded Brrrr Blue Metal from TenSecond Studios and cut it with a slightly larger classic oval die.  I then ran a tiny dot wheel around the edges and sanded off the color to make the dots "pop".  I made the star from the star  5 nesties and traced a small circle in the middle which was then puffed out.  The "squiggles" were added using a fine tip refiner.  I used the same small dot wheel around the embossed edge of the star (all metal products from TenSecond Studios).  The embossed edges were lightly sanded to remove the color. Metal backing paste was used behind the star to keep it from being smooshed flat. 

The suede ribbon strip is also faux.  I took a scrap strip of Blue Bayou paper and ran it through my crimper several times to start the process of breaking down the fibers in the paper.  I then see-sawed it several times over the edge of my desk until I was able to pull apart the layers.  I then sponged lightly with blue bayou ink to darken the roughened fibers. 

The "Wanted" sentiment was the most frustrating!!  There is a "WANTED" stamp in the set, but it was too large for my layout.  I tried to download a western font but could not for the life of me figure out how to open it into a document (have I ever mentioned that I am VERY computer challenge?!).  I finally gave up and found a so-so replacement on my Word program.  THEN my printer jammed several times while trying to spit out the River Rock card stock.  FINALLY I got the sentiment printed , torn and sponged.  Both the sentiment and star embellishment are on dimensionals. 

I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out!  It will make for a great card to give to my father in law for his birthday (HEY!! That isn't until October!! For ONCE I'll be ahead of the game!! LOL!!).

I wish I could say that I'm almost caught up with all the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges, but I'm still behind 11!  With my messy house and having to get ready to leave for Flagstaff, AZ at the end of the week for a continuing education class, I don't think that I'll ever catch up!! Oh well!!

Thanks for dropping by again today!!  Remember to make time for some type of creativity in your day today!!  I'm off to get creative with hiding my messy house!! hehe