TMR - Theme & DT Call ....

.... Good afternoon! I'm running rather late with my DT card for our new challenge at The Male Room - TMR#34. Our theme for the next couple of weeks is SHAKESPEARE. This is not as difficult as it might seem - you can pick anything about Shakespeare from his place of birth, the theme of theatre, titles of plays or sonnets, or quotes, or any of the numerous words that he introduced to the English language. However, your project must has a masculine feel. I actually picked a couple of quotes from two of his plays. Here's my first card:

Stamps: Judikins - Dia Muertos Sun; Stampin' Up! - Making Spirits Bright
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Die-namics - In and Out Diagonal Square Stax #5
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Basic Grey; Copics; Clear Embossing Powder

I think you can probably guess the quote I picked here. It's "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy." from Hamlet, Act 5, scene 1. At this point in the play Hamlet has picked up a skull of his father's court jester. I decided to play on the fact that the skull was that of the jester and used this wonderful sugar skull stamp as the focal image on my card. I coloured it with Copics in neutral tones. I die cut the finished image with a square fancy edged die and added very clean and crisp sentiments. Obviously, this is a Halloween card. On the inside I cut another mat layer of grey card and die cut another white square on which I stamped a fun image.

As I've used die-cut panels on this card and it celebrates Halloween, I'm submitting this card to the current challenge over at Time Out Challenges - TOC#55 where they want cards with any celebration and the option of die cutting.

There are so many wonderful quotes from Shakespeare plays, some of which people don't even realise come from his plays. There is no doubt where this quote comes from:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Halloween Party, Spooky Tree Background, Vintage Witch
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress - Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire, Weathered Wood, Shabby Shutters, Mowed Grass; Hero Arts Neon - Green, Pink, Orange; Memento - Grey Flannel
Dies: Waltzingmouse - Halloween Party
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Clear Embossing Powder; Graphic 45 DP - Rare Oddities; SU Punch - 1¼" Circle, Modern Label

It's another Halloween card, this time based on the quote "Double, double toil and trouble, Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." Macbeth, Act 4, scene 1. The three witches recite this spell over a cauldron as they await the arrival of the man they say would be king - Macbeth. I started by stamping the images in black versafine and heat embossing with clear powder, then I cut them out with the matching dies. I used some neon colours to stamp the bubbles and sparks from the cauldron. I stamped the spooky tree in grey, lightly sponged on pale grey ink and then adhered a die cut circle to create a moon. I added more ink to create the ground and sky. Once finished, I removed the circle to reveal the full moon shining down on one of the witches at the cauldron. I completed the front by adding the actual quote which I punched out, edged and adhered with dimensional tape. On the inside I cut a piece of design paper for the mat layer, adding ink to match the front of the card. I finished by added a sentiment and some bats.

I'm submitting this card to the current challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More! - ATSM#191 where it's Anything Goes.

My team mates have created a super selection of cards covering all sorts of occasions. You've got plenty of time to play along, deadline for submission is midnight (BST) Tuesday 10th May (7.00pm EDT).

Finally, we're having a DT Call at The Male Room. If you would like to apply to join the team, you must play along with this week's #34 theme AND the next challenge #35. Full details on The Male Room post.

And now I must stop crafting and get on with some house stuff - specially ironing! Ugh! See you soon.

Halloween wishes ....

....  Good afternoon from a rather grey Northville!  It's beginning to look like autumn really has arrived.  We had more storms and high winds yesterday and today, it's dull and much cooler than lately!  Still, that's a good excuse to play in my craft room and I've been busy, but can't share them just yet!!!

I had fun making a Halloween card this morning.  I found a new challenge blog last week - A Step in the Dark - ASID#10 Anything Goes.  It is a bit different from other challenges; they are appealing to our darker side - emo, punk, goth, steampunk and just plain creepy, but I rather like it!  Here's my card:

Stamps: Rick St Dennis Digi - Strange Doll; Waltzingmouse - Hocus Pocus, Halloween Party, Ciecly at Halloween
Inks: Archival - Jet Black; Distress - Antique Linen
Accessories: Cream Lustre Card; Graphic 45 DP - Steampunk Spells; EK Success - Cobweb Punch; Copic Markers; Ribbon

I love this digi by Rick St Dennis - not too creepy, but definitely not cute!!  I printed her onto white card, coloured with Copic marker and then cut her out.  It doesn't show very well in the photo, but I soften the white by shading with Antique Linen.  I used the sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping - FTL#306, but I turned the sentiment panel so that the sentiment is at the top.  I covered the card with the texty paper, cut a panel of cream card and punched a cobweb edge.  I cut a smaller piece of patterned paper to go on top.  I edged the paper before adhering it to the punched panel.  I stamped the sentiment in black and finished the panel with some black ribbon.  I attached Strange Doll with dimensional tape.  On the inside I cut another panel of design paper.  I added a touch of colour to the cream panel, stamped the verse and added a few bats!

That's all for now.  See you soon.