ARC May

Welcome to the May meeting of Arc, I hope you have all had a great month. It has been an exciting week for me as I have been a guest blogger over on the PaperArtsy blog. See my previous posts from Sun thru to yesterday to find out what projects I made for them. 

So onto the review..

One Day by David Nicholls

I bought this book a couple of years ago, after it was recommended. I saw on the cover it had won a literary prize, and it was half price. I had no clue what it was about, and did not even read the blurb on the back...until this month.

The general story is this...

Chapter one. boy meets girl on a specific date, they spend a day together.

Chapter two. We find out what they are both doing on that same date, one year later.

Chapter three. The same date another year later...

and so it goes on, each chapter is a year later in the story, and each chapter only focusses on that one specific date.

The idea is quite intriguing, can you glean enough interest in just one day, does it leave you wanting to know more about the days in-between, the days you never find out about...is this going to be a good thing or annoying?

It was dull. No actually it was really DULL.

You know when you go to watch a film and you find out that it is based on a true story and your heart sinks because you know that is is going to be boring....well that’s because real life is boring. Real life is not a wild action movie, or a Hollywood glamour location. For the most part life is routine. Not that life isn't enjoyable, but how interesting is it for other people to watch?

This book is not based on a true story, but it could have been. These 2 characters are dull, and their lives are dull. I read a third of the book and then put it down. I had to force myself to sit 'one day' ... see what I did there lol... and on that one day I read the remaining 297 pages. Not because it was thrilling and I couldn't put it down, but that I had to get it done and I knew if I stopped I would never ever pick this book up again.

It really is such a shame, because the idea is so simple and it could have been amazing.

So onto my journal page. This page in my journal already had a bit of texture on it, just some old scrapings of wall filler. I sprayed over this with some Dylusions inks.

I then marked on a calendar, as this book centres around dates. I also add some left over tissue tape, for no reason other than to add texture and background interest. I was really pleased with it at this point. 

Then I got stuck, I just had no motivation or inspiration from the book, and I was really clutching at straws when it came to adding focal images. 

One of the characters rides a bike, so i added that using a black promarker. 

The characters first meet in Edinburgh, so I added a gel transfer of the castle in Edinburgh. This was done using a photo that I took last time I was there. 

Again I was stuck, and tried several things on the left page, hated each of them and peeled them back off. 

Finally I went with the romance theme, which is never really much of a romance.. but anyway I stamped a heart on black paper and coloured it with Mega Flakes. 

Both stamp and flakes are from INDIGO BLU...

Only the lower part and edges of the heart are stuck down, so my printed review could slip inside at the top. 

So here is the finished page, complete with title, which is a phrase from the book. 

Now over to you, if you are playing along with the book review then link up. Please link the specific blog post so that it is easier to find. Then go visiting and leave some love.