Sunday, July 20, 2014

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:




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!

http://www.simonsaysstamp.com/