The Great Adventure

The Great Adventure...

I am NOT talking about skydiving into an active volcano crater...although, that would be quite an adventure (albeit a very short one).

The adventure to which I am referring is...reading.

One would think I'm an avid reader (being that I am a writer), wouldn't one?

I'm actually...not so much.

I do read--cereal boxes, candy wrappers, and the occasional Chinese food delivery flyer that gets stuck to my front door. Other than that, I only manage to read about a book every couple of months or so. I'm a painfully slow reader. It takes me FOREVER to get through a book. I'm not dyslexic or anything...I'm just...slow. I read at about the speed at which I speak...and when I read, I hear my voice in my head saying the words. Not only that, but I actually have different voices in my head for each character...so it makes it really fun, but really S L O W.

I just finished reading "A Sweethaven Summer" by my crafty friend Courtney Walsh. It was an awfully good read! Yes, there was tearing and Kleenex was used. I'm very impressed with her first novel, and can't wait to read its sequel, "A Sweethaven Homecoming". It's a story about love, forgiveness and...scrapbooking. You can find it in Kindle-form on Amazon for 99 cents right now! That's an incredible deal!!

Ok...now onto my latest project. Over at A Day For Daisies, they're hosting a challenge called: "Add Some Script". They want us to incorporate script or some sort of typography. I chose this beautifully simple vintage-style image of a boy reading. I printed him out on Kraft cardstock and then colored him with my Prismacolor pencils (they're back, by the way, from a vacation--they tell me they were having SUCH a good time that they forgot to send a postcard. Typical. I suppose their next excuse is gonna be that they couldn't find anything to write with).

I digress.

I had a VERY detailed idea of what this card was going to look like...in my head. So, like Dr. Frankenstein, I went searching for images to bring my creation to LIFE. And also like the "good" Dr. F, I ended up having to combine several images--public domain (clipper ship, octopus, waves, thought bubble) to accomplish what I envisioned. I then drew a paper boat in Photoshop...'cuz he needed a boat. The script behind him is a passage I wrote just for this card--because I couldn't find what I wanted. I didn't just want random, decorative script. I wanted it to have meaning. I wanted it to be real. So, here is the script in its entirety--if you're curious as to what it says:

...and up from the depths

rose the giant beast--a

monstrous octopus as big

as the ship itself. Its

tentacles slowly creeped 

over the side of the deck

and fingered their way up

the masts. A horrible

sound screamed out as the

masts broke under the 

crushing pull of the beast.

The mighty ship splintered

as its sails, ripped free, took

flight in the wind like an

eerie flock of ghosts set free.

I nestled the text in a digital stamp from Bombshell Stamps. I fussy-cut everything out and really popped the boy/paper boat/thought bubbles off the background. Ok, enough description. Here it is.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

• A Day For Daisies - #49 "Add Some Script" 
• Robyn's Fetish - # 18 "Summer Fun" 
• The Kraft Outlet - Make it Monday "Use Any Sketch" 
• DT Call at A & T Digital Designs Challenges
• Simon Says Stamp & Show: "What Do You Say?" 
• Parables of a Crafter: Week #5 Pub call 

Ingredients:
"A Classic Book" image - A Day For Daisies
"Wanted Poster" image - Bombshell Stamps
Prismacolor Colored Pencils
star brads - Creative Impressions
cardstock - cranberry, black, Kraft