My Other Creations: Shakespeare Banner

With this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme being "A Mid-Summer" project, I was overjoyed to be able to take it in a Shakespearean direction (cause I'm nerdy like that)!  I decided to immortalize one of my favorite Shakespeare sonnets (number 29) on a banner, with one section of the sonnet written on each pennant.  

Enjoy this post and when you're done, click here if you want to see my follow-up tutorial on how I made these pennants.


I don't know that we can ever say exactly what an author meant when he/she wrote something, but here's how I interpret this sonnet and what it means to me.  

We start off with a person (a man, I imagine), who's penniless and out of luck and views himself as an outcast:

He's such a loser in his own mind that he thinks heaven ignores him and he curses his fate.

He wishes he could be someone who's more optimistic and who has more friends.

He wishes he was more talented or influential and he finds no joy in the things that should make him happy.

He's to the point of despising himself with all of these depressing thoughts, but then he thinks about someone who loves him.

When he thinks about this person's love for him, his whole mind frame shifts to a happier place.

When he remembers that he is loved by someone amazing, he is filled with so much happiness that he wouldn't want to trade places with anyone, even kings.

Call me a total dork, but I think this sonnet is so romantic!  Not only that, but it reminds me to appreciate what I have (such as the wonderful people in my life) instead of wasting mental energy comparing myself to others or wishing things were different.

I used a ton of great supplies on this banner, which measures about 6 feet in length, including a great new pennant die by Little B that has pennants in different shapes and sizes.  The thing I like about this set of dies is that the pennants all have a fold tab included at the top of them, so it's easy to thread them onto ribbon or string.

I thoroughly enjoyed this week's theme and if you want to read the whole sonnet uninterrupted, here's a link: Sonnet 29.

Here are the supplies I used from Simon Says Stamp for my banner:

Little B Designer Cutting Die Pennants	Sizzix BIG SHOT MACHINE	Lifestyle Crafts Genius Ultimate Platform System	Ranger Non Stick Craft Sheet	Ranger Inkssentials Mini Mister	Mixed Media Sponges Bars	Martha Stewart Daisy Fan Deep Edge Punch
Prima Finnabair Paper	Prima Lifetime Paper	Prima A4 Sunrise-Sunset Paper	Tim Holtz 12x12 Wallflower Paper Pack	Heat Embossing Tool	Tim Holtz Layering Stencil SPLATTERS	The Crafter′s Workshop - Mini Paint Lids 6 x 6 Template
The Crafter′s Workshop Mini Reversed Chicken Wire Stencil	The Crafter′s Workshop Mini Love Post Template	The Crafter′s Workshop Mini Specimens Template	Crafter′s Workshop Mini Rain Stencil	Paper Artsy HP1211 Stamp Set	Paper Artsy Mini 28 Numbers	Paper Artsy Social Butterfly Stamp
Tim Holtz Pattern Pieces Stamp Set	Wendy Vecchi Label It Art Stamp Set	Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 Steampunk Art Stamp Set	Tim Holtz Haberdashery Stamp Set	Urban Grunge Stamp Set	Indigo Blu Script Stamp	Kaiser True Romance Stamp Set
Fiskars Acrylic Blocks	We R Memory Keepers AQUA Washi Tape	We R Memory Keepers Orange Washi Tape	Kelly Purkey Washi Tape TEAL POLKA DOTS KPWS8	My Minds Eye Up and Away Washi Tape	My Mind′s Eye Pretty Things Record It Washi Tape	Hero Arts Basic Alphabet Stamps
Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink Pad	Timber Brown StazOn	Peacock Feathers - Distress Ink	Spiced Marmalade - Distress Ink	Shabby Shutters - Distress Ink	Mowed Lawn - Distress Ink	Picked Raspberry - Distress Ink
Squeezed Lemonade - Distress Ink	Wild Honey - Distress Ink	Barn Door - Distress ink	Colorbox Rain Forest Ink

So how will you be inspired by our mid-summer theme this week?  I can't wait to see what you come up with!  Upload your projects to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $50 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store.  That would be a wonderful mid-summer treat indeed!