Where is . . .

Tin says, KAYA!

My family is often tired of the long wait for me whenever we arrive at the airport of our destination, all because of my passport picture. I swear, the picture is worse in person thank goodness this is virtual!

Journaling:
WHERE IS...Kristine?..." Asks the immigration officer at the Changi Airport in Singapore. "Uuum, I'M Kristine." I say carefully. "Ooohhhh ..." he says quietly as he reaches for his inkpad.

CHINA, March 2005:
"Where is Kristine?" Asks the Chinese immigration officer, his eyes passing me as if I didn't belong standing infront of his desk. It couldn't have been the language barrier but the immigration officer was taking unusually long staring at my passport.
Finally I couldn't help myself "Doesn't look like me?" I ask, "No." he says directly and approves my entry to Shanghai.

HONGKONG, December 2006:
"Where is Kristine?" Asks the immigration officer at the Hongkong International Airport. I raise my hand and smile.
"WHOOAAAA!!!" sayd the immigration officer as he kept on looking at my passport and back at me. He gives me a sly smile and once again, I hear the familiar soft thud of the immigration stamp.

50 pounds and 6 years ago, I had never felt better (or looked better!) as I do now ... but I couldn't say the same about my passport picture. Each time I enter a country, its airport always welcomed me with three words ... "Where is Kristine?"

Wherever it may be it's always the same question and the same confused expression of its immigration officers. I find it amusing but at the same time i'm torn if I should be flattered or fear I could be detained due to falsification of documents!

Materials Used:
Paper: K& Co. Scrap Pad to Go (postcards), Fiskars Country (blue), light yelow vellum, Club Scrap brown cardstock
Embellishments: Acrylic frame and brackets (Simply Scrappy, Hi AU! hehe), flower brad
Stickers: black Thickers
Ink: Stazon Black, Colorbox Sand, Ancient Page Plum Wine, Brilliance Moonlight White, Versacolor (Gold), Zonrox Bleach (yes, bleach :-)
Powder: gold ultrafine embossing powder
Stamps: Postmodern Design (Watches Cube), Uptown Design (Crackle), Hampton Art stamps (Spectators), Bizzaro (Mouth), Ken Brown (Man falling & taking photos), Nick Bantock (Compass), Hero Arts (Asia, London R, African Mark, Shadow Stamps & Stitched Ribbon) & Making Memories foam stamps (Mixed Fonts)
Fonts: FG Elin, FG Adam, FG Maria & FG Adrian

Techniques Used:
Stamped Images:
1. Background paper: used compass stamp and inked it with bleach. This works best with dark colored paper.
2. Acrylic Frame: used Stazon ink on stamps and directly stamped on acrylic frame.
3. Acrylic Brackets: used Brilliance ink with crackle stamp
4. Vellum: stamped images behind vellum to create a soft background yet journaling is still visible.
5. Embossing: used Versamark (pigment) ink with ultrafine gold embossing powder on Mouth image directly on vellum, alongside journaling.
6. Stitching: cutout postcard images, arranged and stamped stitched imaged in random areas

About ME:
I've proven that the only thing that stays the same, is change. We've all gone through our own experiences of sadness and pain. But more so, is the joy and peace at the end of every trial. I welcome every change in my life, the tears, the laughter, yes even the weight gain (and loss!) and the constant movement in not just my life but others as well. Thank goodness I have the means to scrap these moments and seasons in my life :-) Thank you ladies for the constant inspiration!

"But if in your thoughts you must measure time into seasons, let each season encircle all the other seasons, And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing." --- Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet