Wednesday, November 21, 2012

When Gandalf the Grey Comes Calling

One thing you should know about me is that I'm a huge JRR Tolkien fan.  And I loved everything about the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.  It would be hard to beat in my books, but I am looking forward to the release of the new Hobbit movies.  Peter Jackson knows how to do Tolkien right!

 
 
Of all the beautiful scenes from Lord of the Rings, one of my favourite is of the Shire, land of the Hobbits.  It's peaceful, idyllic setting is delightful.  And hobbit houses with their round doors are so charming.
 
 
My son-in-law is a bigger Tolkien fan than I am, and, as his birthday is at the end of this week, I decided to try to design a Hobbit card for him.  First, I searched the internet for some inspiration, but I couldn't find any cards with Tolkien designs, so I had to design it myself.  Here it is:
 
 
It features Gandalf the Grey, a wizard, knocking at the door of Baggend - Bilbo Baggins' home in the Shire.  Now, I used the MOJO Monday sketch for this week, but I must say, I took quite a bit of artistic licence with it!!!  Can you see any resemblance?
 

It's funny, because the first thing I thought, when I saw Carole Burrage's sketch was:  Hobbit Door!
Didn't you?  Of course you did!  Whew!  I'm not the only one with an overactive imagination!!





 The card base is Crumb Cake card stock, embosses with the Argyle embossing folder, which was the nearest I could find to a stone or brick look for the front of the house.  I added some Old Olive card stock to the top of the card and embossed it with the square lattice folder to be the sod roof.  The door is the 3" Circle die embossed with the Woodgrain folder.  I added a frame of Early Espresso embossed with the same folder.  I made it by die-cutting a 3" Circle out of card stock and then centering the leftover card stock on the 3 1/2" Circle die.  I got the circular arc trim under the roof the same way and then just added some straight pieces, all embossed with the Woodgrain folder.  The window was created by hand-cutting a circular section of the Lattice Bigz die cut of Early Espresso embossed in Woodgrain.  I punched out a  1 3/4" circle of Very Vanilla and glued the lattice section on it, but I had to trim it to fit.  I sponged it in Crumb Cake, as I did all the parts of Gandalf.

 
Gandalf's hat was made from the Large Oval punch and the Petite Pennants punch, from Baja Breeze card stock and sponged with Crumb Cake.  His beard was the Petite Pennants punch again in Basic Gray.  The wizard's sleeve and arm are the larger pennant with the scallops trimmed off and the Word Window punch.  His gown in Baja Breeze was made from a 1 1/4" piece of paper rounded at the top with a circle punch and another layer free-handed to make folds in the gown.  His staff was free-handed with an antique brad at the top.  I added a couple of Naturals Designer Buttons just for whimsey's sake.  It was a blast designing it.  I don't get to do that enough!
 
See you at the movies!
 
Stamps: From My Heart (w126555; c126557)
Paper:  Crumb Cake (120953), Early Espresso (119686), Very Vanilla (101650), Basic Gray (121044), Always Artichoke (105119), Baja Breeze (111352) and Old Olive (100702) card stock
Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Baja Breeze (126960) and Crumb Cake (for sponging) (126975)
Accessories:  Antique Brads (117273), Naturals Designer Buttons (127554)
Tools:  Argyle (127750), Square Lattice (119976) and Woodgrain (127821) embossing folders;  Lattice Bigz die (115958); 3" Circle die (122125); 3 1/2" Circle die (121811); Large oval (119855), Petite Pennants builder (122361), 1 3/4" Circle and Word Window (119857) punches.


 Argyle Embossing folder
                             
Word Window Punch
                                                                   Square Lattice Punch

                                                              Woodgrain embossing folder
                                                         Petite Pennants Builder Punch
  

5 comments :

  1. OMGosh!! I just LOVE THIS!! Love the round door and the little round window!! WOW and that punch art is AMAZING!! really GREAT JOB!!

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  2. what an amazing card that is, and as a tolkien fan i love it, what an imagination you have

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Ali! I must say it was a joy to design!

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  3. Another Tolkien fan. I LOVE THIS CARD!!!!! OH my GOODNESS you did a great job! The door, the window, Gandalf, it's all my favorite part! WOW!

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