Once upon a time, dad was a Cowboy...

Back in the 20's and 30's Western movies were a big deal. Kids would save their pennies to catch a matinee with Buck Jones, Ken Maynard, Tom Mix and many other cowboy movie stars. These "horse operas" brought action and adventure to children and adults alike. The shows were full of riding, roping and of course a lot of shooting. 

When I was a kid, my dad told me stories of him going to the movies to see his cowboy heroes, one of his favorite was Hoot Gibson. Hoot was such a big movie star at the time he has his own “star” on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

As a teenage dad was a cowboy too...I don't think he ever moved a heard of cattle, but he did ride bucking broncs in the rodeo. And he was an "extra" in the 1952 movie "Half Breed". If you blinked you'd miss him.

So this cowboy card is for you dad...and all the Cowboys out there.

Yippie!

I enjoy making cards...I can whip up a card for just about any occasion to send to family and friends. But when it comes to making cards for men I have a real creative block when it comes to ideas. Why it should be any different, I don't know, but it is. So in my portfolio there are very few masculine cards. I have some birthdays and graduations coming up in the next few months that are going to need "man" cards. Now was the time to overcome the block! I went through my images, paper and ephemera with the goal of coming up with at least three cards that could be sent to nephews, brother, sons, uncles or dad.

I have paper that I have collected over the years in my stash so there was a lot to choose from. I found an image of a great uncle dressed to the hilt in his cowboy duds, I cut him out and inked him up with Versa Color "Split Pea" ink.

The galloping horses patterned paper is from K&Company that has been around for a while. I sanded it and added the "Split Pea" ink and some "Old Paper" distress ink. The brown background paper has the texture of leather, just the thing for a cowboy. The green trim made everything pop. I found the frame in Dover, cut around it and inked it up. What else would a cowboy say on a special occasion but...Yippie-Yi-Yo-Ki-Yay?

What do you think, is it "manly" enough?