Journey Border

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This card was made a year ago. Or a year and a half ago. I really liked this card so I wanted to make a good post about it. Perhaps sell the background digitally. Oh well, i let the dream of a webshop go, as it doesn’t fit my other ideals of less waste and less controbution to waste and posession in this world. I am kind of tired of things revolving around selling things people don’t need, just to make profit to grow bigger and to sell more… I do not want to empower that even more (I know I do by buying things, but hey, I’m trying hard on other areas in my life to be living a sustainable, ecofriendly life!)

Anyway, this wasn’t about the card. Or perhaps it was? In my mind the card was named Journey, as the little dots were making a journey across the card. Like microorganisms travelling. Oh this picture really doesn’t do it justice.

The background was made with the paint and kitchen foil technique, as mentioned here. It didn’t need much more, i didn’t want to cover this background a lot so I just made little dots with perlen pens and marbled those a bit.

The card needed a frame, but not an ordinatry one. It should fit with the journey/stone like feeling. So this was the start:

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Distress ink pumice stone and forest moss through the cell theory stencil of TCW. Then with the marker spritzing / airbrush tool from ranger add the specks to the stones while the mask is still laying down.

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I’m not sure anymore what I did here, but I know it involved clear embossing one layer. Eventually all layers were clear embossed but I can’t remember in which order.

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Which way is up?Daqadoodles140924wo123139

 

Below: After clear embossing the layers, add more distress ink.

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See how the center lights up? I loved this stoney effect of the border! Like an opening in  a strange cave you look into. Or out of.Daqadoodles140924wo124619

I tried this again on another piece of paper.

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Also made a a frame with modeling paste. Looked better on the other ” frame”  card then on the turqoise and violet/purple card.Daqadoodles140924wo121102 Daqadoodles140924wo121110

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So as often is the case, I made a less attention attracting border with distress ink and sponges and distress markers and the airbrush tool.

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Oh the card looks so.. different on the pictures. The dark purple spots look very random (they are), but the focus is on the little microbes and their journey. They change colour while travelling, as they encounter things that change them. Let’s see if I can find a closeup.Daqadoodles141026zo133103CU1

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That doesn’t help either. It’s just one of those cards you have to see in real life. And maybe to you it’s nothing special, to me it was.

Come to think of it… these pictures are taken 24th of September 2014, my niece was still in a coma after a severe accident in June where she suffered a major headinjury. She had had another major surgery two weeks before (a piece of her skull that had been removed in June because of swellings was placed back, so she was ” whole”  again), and I  think I was hoping that her cells were regenerating and filling the gaps. New connections being made. Lost connections being restored or regrown. We still didn’t know wether she would a.) wake up. and b.) if she did, would she be a “vegetbale”? How much of her was still there? My youngest son was 3 months old then, and he was growing. His cells were regenerating, dividing, expanding. I hoped hers  would too.  She did wake up, slowly, and slowly became more conscious of the world around her again. She couldn’t move a thing, could only watch. With extensive training she learned a lot again. Nowadays she’s in an electric wheelchair. The left side of her body still doesn’t function easily, and she hasn’t gotten her speech back yet, but lately she’s making more sound / saying words. We’ve got good hopes that she will speak again without a computer. See here for the Dutch episode of ” Geef om je hersenen”  for the Brainfoundation. From 36:00 there is a story about Vanja, it’s almost the same story as my neece her story, only she has rehabilitated more.

A journey. Through memories and emotions. A journey to healing, full of hope.

 

 

A year’s journey

No, not a journey of a year. This card was made in October 2014, and has stayed put since, ever waiting for that day to be posted. Should I rename the post to: Waiting for departure?

This is the card, made with the Sizzix die “Valise” and a Quietfire Design text stamp.

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And inside is a Chocolate Baroque text stamp.Daqadoodles141005zo173041

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I made the card with someone in mind who has a lot of luggage that needs to be shed, but decided it was not up to me to give the message. One must start the journey themselves, I cannot start it for them. So this card is still waiting for the right person. Maybe I should give it in to “Lost and Found”?

 

Journey through an exotic reef

A short post this time, as I’m tired. No interesting text this time, so just sit and relax and watch the aquarium. Uh photo’s.

 

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(Was also made for the Vandicrafts Artistry challenge: birthday, but I am too late for that one. Hmm maybe I am on time for anything goes?)(Oh too late for that one too, but the current theme fits as well: make your own background.)

The reef is printed. The origin is a background I made earlier. (See the post about marbled pearls). I scanned it and edited it digitally, then printed. This will be available in my shop too.The fish is from Designs by Ryn, the seaweed is a crafter’s workshop stencil, and the text is Stampendous. (could be wrong there).

After printin the background I stamped the fish with Stazon Pumpkin or Crimson red. Then I took my distress inks (ripe persimmon, wild honey, dried marigold, rusty hinge, and maybe a few more), dabbed them onty an acryllic block and took a waterbrush to colour the fish. I also went over the edge of the reef and a bit in between the stones with that brush – the ink of the printer is watersoluble so the colours brighten a bit.

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I then masked off the fish and coloured the water around her, using a distress marker and a waterbrush. Then I placed the stencil and coloured it with various green/red colour distress inks. Only after that did I remove the mask from the fish.

To finish it off I added paper/gloss/perlen pearls to the overhanging of the reef. (Now that I look at it, next time I should make bubbles from them!). I did some marbling in them. The eye of the fish is made with the gloss/paper pen first, then let it dry and cover the pupil with glossy accents.

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Last, I stamped the sentiment. To make it stand out more I outlined the text with a white pen.

Ink the edges a bit and glue onto a card – this could be quite a fast card! Looks lovely, doesn’t weigh too much (to keep the postage costs in check) and looks cheerfull.

I’d like to enter this card into the following challenges: