Our cards are going to Greg in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Greg has just finished his third round of chemotherapy. Greg and his wife Audrey are both English teachers, they love books, travelling and their little mini poodle. Our challenge is to bring books!!
Sheri gave us a great story about bookshops, libraries and book-a-holics. I used to be a book horder until I discovered BookCrossing. It is where you leave a book in a public place and release it in the wild. If you want to, you can download a label which explains about BookCrossing, it also has an ID number and you can track your books if the finder enters the info into the BookCrossing website. Sometimes I am a bit lazy and I just write on the inside cover saying "Free to a good home - please release me when you finish reading me".
I once found a book with a BookCrossing label in it at the Melbourne Airport, I checked it's history and this book commenced its travels in Ireland. It then went to Denmark, Singapore, New Zealand and eventually Melbourne. I released the book in East Timor, the last time I checked it was back in Singapore.
I just checked BookCrossings website and there are currently 10 million books travelling through 132 countries. How cool is that!!
I have babbled on long enough so I had better keep the next bit brief. Here we have the book jacket cover of the latest saga of Inspector Greg. As you can see Inspector Greg is carefully checking in the bushes for Esmiralda the missing mini poodle. The fog is rolling in........
Ok I call it fog but really I had a little crisis with my colours. Have you ever put the wrong lid on the wrong ink pad. I had the Walnut Stain lid on my Stormy Sky ink pad!!!! The challenge went live again this week so there was no spare time to fix this. The background was done with sponge and distress inks, finished off with a squirt of water. Oh I forgot to say I embossed the reeds first with clear EP. I coloured the inspectors hat with a couple of pencils and his coat is coloured with Gellatos and a water brush.
Thank for looking, I hope to see you at the Teaparty. Have a great week everyone.
Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2014 GMT Views: 1053
Favorited:8
Registered: May 23, 2009 Location: sunny california Posts: 9825
Tue, Sep 23, 2014 @ 9:44 PM
Susie, your mistakes always end up as gorgeous creations. The colors on this card are fantastic...you don't know what will pop out of the "fog". I love the face on your chunky little detective. Thanks for the book tip. I love to read "real" books and I am always looking for something to do with them when I am done. Another card faved.
Registered: March 31, 2008 Location: Eastlake, OH Posts: 22598
Tue, Sep 23, 2014 @ 9:54 PM
I have to agree with Francie! The first thing that caught my eye is the soft coloring on the inspector! Love these colors and your amazing work with darker hues! Not sure what color you intended but these are gorgeous. Love those reeds in the background! Yep, I even do the lid swap with copic markers and have no clue what goes where!
I love your colors! The first thing I thought was, "wow! she is really good with those alcohol inks!" Then I saw that shiny belt buckle and fell in love with the detail in this card! I am sure Greg and Audrey will LOVE this card! We have a project here called "Little Free Library" where you take a book and leave a book. People put the library boxes in their front yards. I live on a quiet street so we don't have one but there are several near my job. I think Little Free Library originated in Middleton, Wisconsin. But enough rambling........ no one would recognize that you put the wrong lid on an ink pad with this beautiful card! Great job Susie!
Registered: April 1, 2012 Location: Rogers, AR Posts: 28836
Wed, Sep 24, 2014 @ 6:54 AM
HOW CUTE!!! I love a good mystery too!
------------------------------ Jan 'Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ'. Philippians 1:6
Registered: February 28, 2010 Location: Eastern Ohio Posts: 6253
Wed, Sep 24, 2014 @ 8:19 AM
Susie, a really sweet card as per usual and with you each mistake turns out to make the card even better if that were the case but as is they are always great---love it-----WHEW--that was a long sentence for sure---LOL--- loved your story as was very interesting and a nice thing to do.
Registered: October 21, 2010 Location: in the okanagan in b.c. canada Posts: 13012
Wed, Sep 24, 2014 @ 4:11 PM
Awesome recovery of a slight mistake...I think fog is perfect for a great detective....kind of like a foggy day in London with Sherlock homes. Hoping detective Greg finds his poodle...has a great start. Love the coloring and the cute little detective.
I love the idea you showed about the books traveling, how neat is that. I read a bit but my son reads a LOT....should tell him about this, he might find it neat...TFS both stories...:0)
------------------------------ We as people are raindrops of colorful ink , falling down Crisp and Clear, each a different shade more vibrant then the last, but once we realize at the bottom of an endless abyss we all fall into the same inkpot forming one color, only then can we come together as one My son.
Registered: March 7, 2009 Location: Where the corn is knee high by the 4th of July Posts: 17498
Thu, Sep 25, 2014 @ 3:29 AM
Darling card for Greg! Like your book cover, investigator concept. Cool! Fantastic coloring, too. It is sooo neat to look back at your first, mainly paper-pieced cards and see how you've diversified and how you have taken ink to new limits. A big talent for a person with an even bigger heart! We luv ya, Sweet Susie!
Registered: April 9, 2010 Location: Arizona Posts: 714
Thu, Sep 25, 2014 @ 3:19 PM
Susie, It seems that no matter what crisis you may encounter in the creative process of your card, the finished product is always wonderful. I applaud your ability to recover, redirect and create a masterpiece. I, on the other hand am happy to have three dogs, for which I can blame for eating potential mistakes and spitting them out in the trash basket. Poo-Chi, being the oldest is the biggest critic. I love the idea of book tracking. I usually try to find someone to give my books to.
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Registered: July 27, 2007 Location: Dublin, Ireland Posts: 131503
Fri, Sep 26, 2014 @ 1:02 PM
What a fascinating story about BookCrossing, Susie. I have indeed heard of it - but since I like to re-read most of my books I still buy my favourites - and rely on the library for the rest. Our library has a shelf outside where people can leave old and unwanted books - a great source for books suitable for card-making .
And oh yes, I've put the wrong lid on distress inks more than once. You ended up with a wonderful outcome, though - it enhances the masculine feel of the card.