Spike Milligan (1918-2002) was well know for his crazy comedy and nonsense rhymes. Ironically he also suffered from severe depression.
For this rhyme I decided I would focus on one of the instruments mentioned and settled on guitar as I had a stitched card pattern that I could use, so went with the line my Brother plays guitar.
The pattern used is from Stitching cards, a beaded pattern, which I love making. The beads are tiny and get dropped all over, I’ll be finding them for weeks. The background paper is printed from my library of papers. The wording is drawn on the Cricut Joy Extra using LD Music font.
The Tuesday Colour challenge for June is based on this image
The image reminded me of these beach huts at Scarborough in North Yorkshire
Straight away I knew I had some stitching thread with those colours combined. I have a stitched pattern I have used before and considered using, it has a palm tree and a deckchair and I thought I could do the deckchair in the stripes, but then I saw a beach hut pattern at Form-a-lines stitched in the colours, perfect for this challenge.
I stitched the image with Trimits Jester metallic embroidery thread, the mounted on pink card (my last sheet), with yellow and blue backing. I couldn’t decide whether to add wording, like life’s a beach or I do like to be beside the seaside, but decided to leave it blank as wording would be easy to add if required.
Looking forward to the next challenge, it’s an interesting one.
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.
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 current Sunday Song & Rhyme challenge is set by me and I chose the rhyme Bed in Summer by Robert Louis Stevenson. I liked this rhyme as a child and I am sure that I stitched it onto a pillow case.
In winter I get up at night And dress by yellow candle-light. In summer, quite the other way, I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see The birds still hopping on the tree, Or hear the grown-up people’s feet Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you, When all the sky is clear and blue, And I should like so much to play, To have to go to bed by day?
As someone who used to work shifts I was used to
“In winter I get up at night And dress by yellow candle-light.”
and also
“In summer, quite the other way, I have to go to bed by day.”
For the last 25 years I have suffered from ME and spend a lot of time in bed so very much feel
“And does it not seem hard to you, When all the sky is clear and blue, And I should like so much to play, To have to go to bed by day?”
I decided to create a Get well Card
The cat in bed is a die from cottage cutsz, the window is also a die, the sun, moon and rainbow are created on my Cricut Joy as is the wording. Mounted on pearlescent pink card.
The rhyme for thisOutlawzchallenge 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.
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
