To craft or not to craft?

To craft or not to craft? Is that actually a question?! No, not really, the answer is always to craft!

‘tis the year to celebrate all things Shakespearean but as if some of us even needed an excuse.  I have a very lovely friend, who has a rewarding job working for the Royal Shakespeare Company, teaching the works of the bard to children. I wanted to make her something extra special for her birthday, so I decided to create a large decorated box in which she could keep her treasures. I was going for an aged look and applied several layers of brown acrylic paint, a shade which I mixed myself, on top of this, in the centre of the lid, I heat embossed gold flourishes. I’ve been in the possession of a Spellbinder’s ivy die for a while now, I love it and use it often. It takes time to cut out as the leaves are individual dies but it is worth it, the reason being, you can cut out as many as you like, in which sizes you like and can apply them where you choose, an option you would lose in one large die. It’s just a matter of preference. I do like some of the all in one ivy dies I have seen and hope in the future to invest in one, for easier projects, (if I ever happen to do those.) lol.

Anyhew, a swirly flourish die later and I had the vines which I would attached the purple flowers too, (you know the ones that make people fall in love with the first thing they see, be it a person or a donkey?) I think the Sheena Douglass Anemone flower stamp worked very well for these. I was so pleased that Sheena also released her ‘Day of the Dead’ collection, this allowed me to have the perfect skull stamp and die, and incorporate another iconic image associated with Shakespeare, into my design. And, I thought it was only fitting, to have a jar of ink, a scroll and a writing quill, which I made myself. I also wanted a Shakespearean quote for the scroll too, something thought provoking, so I chose this one from a speech by Ophelia in Hamlet, “We know what we are, but not what we may be.” The box was finished with ornate wooden corners, which I painted gold and added golden jewels too, the flowers were completed with a golden pearl in the centre.

After all that, I absolutely had to make a Shakespearean themed birthday card for her too. For this I decided to enter the realms of the little folk, by bringing Titania, Queen of the faeries to life.  I was able to use a Sheena Douglass stamp for this, again, turning to her ‘Day of the Dead’ collection. It was another Sheena stamp, that actually came as a freebie with the Crafter’s Inspiration magazine, that helped to create her butterfly wings. These, along with the flowers, were glittered with a Crafter’s Companion Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen (clear.) I created the gold speckled background with mica sprays. 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is my favourite Shakespearean play and I was lucky enough to see an excellent production of it only recently. And, with all the wonderful celebrations of the bard taking place this year, we are reminded how great and important he still is and this is a very good thing indeed.  

Adele

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