A Horse, A Horse....

New challenge at The Male Room this morning and I was quite excited about this one...so much to choose from. You will know, unless you have been hiding in a cave, that it was the 400 year anniversary of Shakespeare's death last weekend. Love his work or not he is still a huge influence in our lives if you are an English speaker as so many of his phrases are in daily use. I wasn't a fan until I started to see his plays, mostly in The Globe in London, a recreated Shakespearian theatre which is an absolute must-see if you are there. Now I try to go as often as possible. They are equally good in his home town of Stratford, which is much closer for me.
So, what to do? I went for a well known line from Richard III, "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"  But, if you look carefully you might see "Out, damned spot! Out, I say!" From McBeth!

I wanted a good background for my galloping horses, and went for brayering. I am still very much an amateur at this technique but I watched a great YouTube clip which helped, the link is 

here 

After brayering the sand and sea/sky using Indigo Ink, Baja Breeze and Hello Honey and Crushed Curry I stamped the horse image in Early Expresso multiple times? The hardest decision was where to place the sentiment. Using a Stamp-A-Ma-Jig meant that I could look at it in several positions, I finally settled on the mid-page. 

My card is tent-fold and is quite big, A5 size. It will be for my Dad. To finish off I used a black mat and foam pads to give the image a lift off the front of the card, it was in danger of being just a little too flat.

I hope you enjoy the Shakespear theme, there really is so much you can do with it!

Lovely Leopard.

For the sketch challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches we have the 'brother' to our previous sketch for February.....




See what I mean?
I wanted to do something different and came up with a card suitable for a male relative and so, even though I'm a few months too early, I made it into a Fathers' Day card.

 On this one the golden foil leopard is a little indistinct, so I've added another photo, where you can see him better.  I've added some shading with a Warm Grey Promarker to ground him, as he slinks across the card.
But, the animal print banner is clearer than in the picture below -one day I'll take a good picture first off!

The DP is from K&Co, I have had it a while and I used gold mirri card for the mat. My Dad is going to love this one!