An artistic daily demonstration of love between a mother and daughter has morphed into an imaginative children’s book now being enjoyed by children who prefer the fantasy genre.

Lindsey Gifford, of Center Township, is the author of “The Misadventures of Minkus the Mage,” a 36-page book aimed at children in first through fifth grades.

All of the characters in the book originated from “lunchbox drawings” that Gifford would create and drop into the lunchbox of her daughter, Palmer, now 10.

Related Article: Book release party unveils Minkus the Mage

The tale follows Minkus, a nondescript frog making little impact in the world.

“Minkus is kind of boring and sad, and he had a sad little accounting job,” Gifford said.

During a walk — or hop — through an enchanted forest, Minkus happens upon a magical hat that he uses to conjure the one thing he has always dreamed of.

“The only thing Minkus ever wanted was a friend,” Gifford said.

Enter Strange, the seven-legged spider, a character who Palmer insisted appear on every page of the book.

“She inspired a lot of my story,” Gifford said of her daughter. “She came up with a lot of the lore.”

Gifford, who has always enjoyed the fantasy genre, said the idea for Minkus the Mage came from a game of Dungeons and Dragons with her friends.

She said one whole campaign during the game was based on a frog named Minkus.

Gifford became enamored with the character to the point that a friend bought her a tiny frog figurine, which was painted by another friend to resemble the character in Dungeons and Dragons.

“I had to bring him everywhere with me,” she said of little Minkus the frog. “When he came to me, I was so inspired by him.”

An avid hiker, Gifford would take pictures of Minkus on various trails in the county and ask “Where are we?” on her Facebook page.

“My friend texted me and said ‘You should write a story about him,’” she said. “So, I wrote a story and it completely blew up.”

Gifford, who is a stylist at her family’s business, Double Image Styling Salon, attended college for two years and wrote lots of poetry in high school.

“I knew I was a good writer, I just never did anything with it,” she said.

She never thought about writing a book until she began creating the story of Minkus.

The book, which also was illustrated by Gifford, took about one year to complete.

“The story came pretty quickly,” she said. “It was more the illustrating (that took time).”

Gifford bounced lots of illustrations off Palmer, who provided invaluable insight.

But Gifford was full of self-critique when she drew the amphibious main character, then revised him over and over.

“I went through about nine different Minkus prototypes before I came up with the final one,” she said.

Gifford has taken many art classes over the years, which helped when it came to illustrations.

“I’m not the best artist, but I wanted a book I could put all my flaws into and still love the story,” she said.

The project was delayed when Gifford broke her elbow on the same side as her dominant hand.

“I couldn’t draw anything,” she said.

The book finally came together, and Gifford self-published and printed it through IngramSpark of La Vergne, Tenn.

“The Misadventures of Minkus the Mage” went on sale April 1.

More information on Gifford and her book, as well as links where the book can be purchased, is available at minkusthemage.com.