Not sure if I would entirely call this post a bonus, but after all the birthday celebrations were said and done last year a terrible thing happened to us on the evening of November, 13^th that same week. After a wonderful dinner in Sycamore, we came home to discover our apartment was broken into.

I cannot fully express the chills that went through me as we saw our front door frame shattered in pieces with light spilling out onto the front lawn. We called the police who were there in no time. After they gave us the all clear, we were allowed to survey the damage. In many respects were very fortunate. Most of our possessions were untouched with one exception – our computer.

While this may not seem like a big deal, in an unfortunate twist of events we were in the process of researching a backup for our computer. The thief took all of our photos, videos and memories with the computer with no way of getting any of it back. Suffice to say I was devastated by the loss and still at times today feel very sad of what we cannot get back. My mom said something very wise at the time, while we cannot get back the memories we have lost we can only go forward and create new ones.

It took many weeks of staring at a blank journal page before I created this entry. I knew I wanted to get my feelings of the event on paper but I wasn’t sure how until my husband posted a JK Rowling’s quote on Facebook. It was then that I knew what I wanted to do for my journal page and I think it says it all:

Materials used: Ranger Mini Distress Inks, Sakura Gelly Roll Pens, Derwent Inktense Pencils, Sakura Pigma Micron Pen

The process: I started with a light pencil sketch of the treasure chest and sandy floor. For the background I used Ranger Mini Distress inks in hues of brown, gold and purple. Using a soft makeup sponge, I blended the inks in a circular motion starting with the darkest colors then shifting subtly to the lighter ones. With my Sakura black and sepia micron pens, I went over the pencil sketched lines and added chocolate shadows to the treasure chest. With a white Sakura white Gelly Roll pen I wrote out the JK Rowling’s quote. Since the distress inks are water-based and reactive, the Gelly Roll pen picked up subtle colors from the background for a ghost-like appearance. While the subject of the journal page saddened me, I ended up liking the way this entry came together and perfectly depicts how I felt at the time.