This Be the Tale of Two Intrepid Sailors

Two hearty lads conspire to go on an adventure on the high seas. Jack and Nikki, wealthy royals, have commissioned a new boat, the plans sit on their desk along with a map and a warning from a wizened old buccaneer. “Don’t sail to the West boys,” he wheezes, pointing at the edge of the map, almost off into the space beyond it, “Here there be dragons!!” The boys scoff at the demented old man. They will not allow their adventure to see  any obstacles, but he stubbornly insists he will not leave until they write it down, reluctantly, they indulge him so he will go away. He reaches deep into a filthy burlap bag and pulls out a nail, bent and obviously already used, pulls off a holey, worn shoe and nails the note to the desk. “If ye don’t heed me warning, I’ll not be seeing you again. God be with you.” He shuffles out the door into the busy street.

The boys tell their mother, Duchess Jessica their plans. Agast, she does her best to talk them out of their adventure. But alas, their is nothing she can do. They have inherited their longing for the sea from generations of mariners before themselves and have tidy sums secreted away. The generations before them discovered untold treasures and have left much for the boys so that they may follow their dreams.

This card was a struggle, so many things went wrong it would take pages to tell the tales. Suffice it to say, I am happy with the final result. The map is watercoloured on kraft CS. The saying was done with JustRite Trompe upper and lower case stamps. I did the knots based on real sailors knots but then I tucked the ends back in and through a few times. The brad was distressed with the claw end of my mini hammer, I LOVE how it turned out.

In case you have never seen a really old map, about 14th century, mariners still though the world was flat. They believed that if you sailed far enough West you would fall off the earth but you likely wouldn’t make it that far because dragons and monsters of the deep would get you before you ever got to that point. This is actually written on some maps. This particular map was Nikki’s inspiration piece this week but I couldn’t send him out on an adventure without his brother could I?

I hope you will join the DareDevils in using this photo for inspiration this week. Remember, you don’t have to have nautical stamps to play, take inspiration from anything from the picture (I see beach, ocean, pirates, the colour combo of aqua~olive~red, vintage paper, hula, travel, adventure)! Pretty please visit the rest of the Team to see what they have created. Don’t forget to leave comments with some virtual {{{hugs}}}! Especially for our NEW MEMBER Randi Wall of The Dark Mermaid! Be sure she gets some extra hugs!! This week we are using DDSC7 when uploading to SCS or PCP and don’t forget to link your card’s URL up to the Whimsical Wednesdays blog so we can all find your creations!! I can’t wait to see what you and the team come up with!!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: french bkgd, ship-SU! text-JRS
Paper: not quite navy, confetti white, ruby red, kraft CS
Ink: Memento black, frayed burlap and weathered wood Distress
Accessories: jute rope-CDS, brad-stash