In planning my daughter’s 7th birthday party, a ghost hunter themed celebration, I was called upon to create a treasure map to ghost gold that was apparently buried in our back yard. I constructed the map from memory, sketching it first and then inking it with my micron pens on bristol board. Once I was done, I scanned it, laid out coordinates in Photoshop and embellished it with a few ornaments. After printing out 16 copies, one for each kid, I soaked and then spattered them with coffee and tossed them in the oven for 10 minutes at fairly high heat to weather them. I think the effect worked pretty well. I really enjoyed the process and think I might enjoy making more treasure maps in the future. Props to any of you who figure out the clue at the bottom. It was a little challenging for the seven-year-olds but once I helped them a bit, they were off and running!

