Leap Year

 The Sunday song and rhyme challenge poem for this time is chosen by me. This year is a leap year, so at the end of this month we get an extra day.

“Leap years are years where an extra day is added to the end of the shortest month, February. This so-called intercalary day, February 29, is commonly referred to as leap day.

Leap years have 366 days instead of the usual 365 days and occur almost every four years.” (https://www.timeanddate.com/date/leapyear.html)

I came across this rhyme by Brian Bilston, in his book Days Like These which rings very true;

Bilston is a modern poet born in 1970 and his rhymes are very relatable.

I chose this particular rhyme as my challenge falls over Feb 29th, I thought it very clever and so true, a whole 24 hours extra, it feels like we should be able to do so much with that time, but in fact it just becomes another day and we don’t feel any benefit to it.

When it actually came to creating something with a link to the rhyme I realised it was going to be harder than I had thought! I thought about a canoe, an Oscar, a Cello, but ended up taking the relatively easy option and using Bees.

The pattern is from Stitching cards, mounted on black card on Adorable Scorable Bee card depicting bees, honey comb and flowers.

My next challenge in mid May so already trying to find inspiration, so many songs and rhymes to chose from.

Looking like Halloween

 For the current Outlawz Challenge the poem chosen is The Hag by Robert Herrick;

The Hag is astride,
    This night for to ride;
The Devill and shee together:
    Through thick, and through thin,
    Now out, and then in,
Though ne'r so foule be the weather.

    A Thorn or a Burr
    She takes for a Spurre:
With a lash of a Bramble she rides now,
    Through Brakes and through Bryars,
    O're Ditches, and Mires,
She followes the Spirit that guides now.

    No Beast, for his food,
    Dares now range the wood;
But husht in his laire he lies lurking:
    While mischiefs, by these,
    On Land and on Seas,
At noone of Night are working,

    The storme will arise,
    And trouble the skies;
This night, and more for the wonder,
    The ghost from the Tomb
    Affrighted shall come,
Cal'd out by the clap of the Thunder.

I did struggle with this one as it is not a poem I have ever heard of and it was written in 1648 so it's difficult to work out what is it saying. Anyway a Hag is an "ugly old woman" or a witch, so I went with the witch theme. Using an image of a witch astride a broomstick, which I believe echoes the first lines "The Hag is astride, This night for to ride;", the witch of course has a black cat as we have a black cat! The image also has a moon against the night sky for the lines "At noone of Night are working," and "This night, and more for the wonder," and finally lightning for "The storme will arise, And trouble the skies;" "Cal'd out by the clap of the Thunder."

The image was cut using my Cricut Joy and is mounted on a dark sky effect background then layer with dark grey on dark grey card.  The witch is cut in sparkly black card and the moon and lightning in glow in the dark card.

The second image is trying to show the glow in the dark effect

I was pleased to see some of the other members of the design team also used witches.

Halloween is only a month away so feels like an appropriate design.

Challenge Feb 5th

 The rhyme for this Outlawz challenge is Wordsworth’s I wandered Lonely as a Cloud;

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

The poem was written in 1804, apparently inspired by an event on 15th April 1802 in Ullswater UK

It’s a long time since I did any poem analysis, so this is what I think and what inspired my card. Daffodils and clouds are obvious. The words in the clouds are the feeling I get from the poem, that he is dreaming, imagining and wishing, he uses the words pensive and thought. The stars and hearts are words in the poem; “Continuous as the stars that shine” “And then my heart with pleasure fills”

The daffodil pattern is from Form A Lines and is part of their Birth Flowers collection. Daffodil is the Birth Flower for March and is the National Flower of Wales. The clouds, stars and hearts are cut with my Cricut Joy and are in the subscriber images. Card is Hunkydory Adoarable Scorable. it’s a perfect card for a spring birthday or for someone taking exams or starting a new job or even a new baby.

 

Tyger, Tyger

POSTED ON 22ND JANUARY 2023 BY JANESHAW

The Outlawz challenge for 22nd January is to take inspiration from William Blakes poem The Tyger, written in 1794.

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat.
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp.
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears
And water’d heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

At the moment I don’t have access to my normal craft stuff due to having decorating and new carpet so I chose an image from Patties Creations and coloured with water colour markers. I still need to get the hang of blending. We have to take inspiration from the poem, mine was very simple a tiger and flames for burning bright. The flames are a piece of vellum wrapped around the card. A greeting Burn Bright meaning shine and be authentic.

Check out the other cards from the design team https://theoutlawzchallenges-sunday.blogspot.com/2023/01/sunday-song-and-rhyme-challenge-january.html