Forgiveness

In honor of Valentine's month, I was thinking of incorporating a heart into my February mindfulness cards.  I had been playing with smaller chipboard hearts and chains and liked this look.  However, the die-cut hearts I had were too small for a 4 x 6 size card.  So, I cut a larger freehand heart to use on my cards.

I painted the hearts a bronze-copper color and rubbed the edges with a black ink pad for a distressed look.  I then draped a chain around the heart and connected the ends with a lock and key charms.

The background is chipboard covered with aluminum foil tape.  I used a retracted ballpoint pen to create "rivets" along the borders and seams.

The word that I zeroed in on for this month's card was "forgiveness."  I searched for a quote to put on the back of the card but in the end I decided to use just the word.  I had a set of metal alphabet stamps to deboss metal.  These worked like a charm to imprint "forgiveness" into a piece of aluminum foil tape.  To make the letters pop, I wiped black acrylic paint over the letters.

When I showed this card to a friend of mine, she said "I understand this card.  We hold onto the pain or anger to protect the heart but then we are not free."  I responded, " and forgiveness releases us from the chains that bind."  I have been trying to practice forgiveness.  It is a hard thing to do, but I am hoping it gets easier with practice.

Mini Mermaid

I picked up a few of these 2" x 3" frames a while ago and decided to create miniature alcohol ink pieces for them.  Here is a mermaid--or part of a mermaid--I made for a friend of mine who loves mermaids.  I used Citrus (body), Raspberry (tail) and of course, Mermaid (water).    The "bubbles" are created by spritzing with 91% rubbing alcohol to remove color.  I embellished the bottom outline of her tail by applying dots with a silver gel pen.

Accountable

As the new year got underway, I was talking with a friend about my chosen word for 2018.  She shared with me her word for the year:  Accountable.  

Many people choose different things to help remind them of their word throughout the year.  One idea I liked was creating a bangle with your word stamped onto it.  One year I made a small paperweight that I kept on my desk in my office (where I needed it the most!)  I thought I would make an "accountable" paperweight for my girlfriend, but when I could not find the blank paperweight, I decided to make her an ATC.

Accountable...the word brought to mind ledger paper (which I have plenty of!).  then I thought about using the letters of the words in place of numbers that would normally be found on a ledger.  The numbers in the different columns add up to the bottom line.  For my card, the letters add up to spell the word accountable.

I looked for a quote on accountability, and when I found this quote, I knew that was the one.  I typed the quote and ran it off on vellum.  Since I have an inkjet printer, I needed to spray a fixative on the vellum so it wouldn't smudge.  I adhered the vellum with spray glue.  I just know that my girlfriend will be tickled when she receives this!