Fantasy books

I haven't done a book post in a while. I've been on a fantasy kick lately, which may or may not have to do with the unpublished manuscripts I've been critiquing.

I finally got around to reading Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass last fall. The polar bears should have been enough to captivate me, but I loved the premise of everyone having a daemon companion that expresses their inner self. The book was fun and insightful, but I have yet to go back and read the rest of the series.

I read Lucienne Diver's Bad Blood. I liked the way she worked the Olympian gods on earth trope. The next in the series is out, but I didn't jump on it yet. Most recently, I read Richelle Mead's Succubus Blues. It was fun, full of spunk and voice, but I'm not sure I felt invested enough to finish the series. I guess I'm not into series as much as I used to be...

On a more philosophical side, I read Peter Ackroyd's The Plato Papers. I might have read it too fast and I'm still not sure I got all the minutia. But I found it a great allegory of Plato's cave.

My favorite of all the books I read in the past 6 months was K.M. Weiland's Dreamlander. I loved the how she meshed the real world with the fantasy/dream world. I highly recommend it.

Next on my list is Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife.


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S:CY is back!

I was really happy to hear that Ali would be reopening the Sketches: Creatively Yours blog and I was even more delighted when she asked me to join the new design team.

The new team was announced today and my layout posted on the S:CY blog is this one:

For this LO, I used Jillibean Soup Country Pumpkin Chowder papers, die-cuts and stickers from the Card Kitchen October '12 kit. The Maya Road linen trim is also from the kit. Other: Jillibean pin; WRMK Sew Easy and floss; SRM sticker sentiment; October Afternoon buttons (Campfire); Bic marker; unknown cardstock. This LO was inspired by Ali's sketch 1-13:

I hope you get a chance to check out the rest of the team's beautiful layouts at the  Sketches: Creatively Yours blog :)

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Butterfly wish card

This is the card I made with the last scraps of Little Yellow Bicycle Hello Fall papers.

Jillibean Soup note card, SRM sticker sentiment, Ranger emboss ink, AC white embossing powder, EK success edge punch, Stampin' Up! Papillon Potpourri stamp set and matching butterfly punch.

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Send it soaring

For this page I used October Afternoon Sasparilla papers from the Apron Strings STBB MAy '12 kit. Button, twine and journaling card are also from the kit. Other: OA alpha stickers (The Thrift Shop), rubber charm (Daydream) and word sticker (Fly a kite); Ranger distress ink (tea dye); SU! marker; unknown washi tape.

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