It's weird how things converge sometimes. My sister is a member of the Pastel Society Of Austin, and she forwarded me an invitation for one of their meetings, where the guest speaker was a book designer. She was going to talk about self-publishing. I was interested. I went.
Her presentation was mostly about Blurb.com - her chosen self publishing site. I filed it away under someday.
However, I also subscribe to ModernCat, which is where I learned of a book contest, sponsored by Blurb. One of the three categories was pets. Put your hands together.
To enter the contest, you had to design, upload, publish and purchase a book. It was a great learning experience. Now I am in the contest.
I decided that the book should not really be about Maddie and Splotchy. It should be about why any of you even know about them. The sad truth is, you know them because some unknown person was unspeakably cruel. A difference of ten seconds and they might have been two out of millions of kitties and puppies who are dumped, neglected, abused and never seen by any of us. Thank God a sweet, sweet woman (thank you Amanda) did see them, didn't miss the window, and they are part of me now. But it can't remain unsaid that our culture needs to value and protect vulnerable things, because I believe the heart and soul of America does. And I'm certain that culture gets built one person at a time. So I decided just to say a little something about it.
So yes, it's a contest, and yes, you can vote for me and make me happy, but the message is this:
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man" -Mahatma GandhiThe preview shows you just a few pages of the book, because unfortunately, each preview page shows up in search engines, including my photos, which are unprotected by watermark.
However, if anyone wants to purchase the book for a Christmas gift, I will donate $1 from each book sold on Blurb from now until December 31 to
A Place to Bark, because you guys know how much I love my dear friend Bernie who, as much as anyone on this earth, understands compassion and kindness to the furries. And I know the book is really expensive, but that is because this is on-demand publishing - so they make each book when it's ordered instead of printing tons.
So you wanna see? If you like what you see,
please cast a vote and leave a comment!! If you love it, buy one!
A Tale of Two Rescues
By Lydia B. Fiedler
Now, art.
I heard a joke on Twitter the other day and I'm dedicating this post to it. "I went to the doctor today and I'm senile but hey - at least I'm not senile."
Yeah, what he said.
Anyway, I totally forgot to post the projects I entered for the Artisan Awards at convention. Or maybe I did and I just forgot. There's really no way to know for sure, so I'm going to try to find them and post them. Where did I leave those things??? Oh, here's one..
Remember my technique of stamping a silhouette image and then coloring it with pencils?
Well that's what I did here. I stamped on kraft cardstock with Sahara Sand ink, and then colored with white, aqua and charcoal pencils. I also took micron pens and outlined the petals because you do lose some detail when you add pencil.
I know you are all very happy it is Friday, as am I. :)
Loveyameanitbye
Have you signed up for the UBlue Cyber Club? Attended one of my Webinars?? Come on - get your geek on! :) Want to see my other
blog? Have you signed up for the UBlue Cyber Club? Attended one of my Webinars?? Come on - get your geek on! :) Want to see my other
blog?
I love these little images. They are from a wonderful girl on Etsy - Niko Art. They are so whimsical and sweet. I thought maybe this wouldn't scare you too bad tonight.
