Memorial Day Weekend

Busy with a birthday, a graduation, and a bachelorette party, this weekend saw a lot of cards!


For: My cousin, Lydia
Occasion: her birthday



Lydia's got some pretty sweet style, so I thought a little vintage music might be a fun feature in this card. The record is called "Hey Lydia!"



And since it's her birthday, the record plays "Happy Birthday!" How fun is that?

For: Sarah, Greg's sister
Occasion: her high school graduation



I'm a firm believer in positive praise--what better way to mark an accomplishment than with a bombardment of encouragers?



That's the thing! One word just doesn't cut it. I'm excited to see where this wonderful young lady goes in her future.

For: My Win
Occasion: Jen appreciation party

The flower on this card is a representation of one she made for me out of pipe cleaners during a pretty rough patch of mine in high school. I still carry it with me--it was a very simple gift, but indescribably appreciated. To put it simply, Win is my life force. I am going to ball my eyes out at her wedding in a few weeks.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

Volleyball B-Day!

For: my aunt Sioux
Occasion: her birthday



Sioux plays and coaches volleyball, so here she is, about to win the game. (Fun fact: this gym is based off my memories of my middle school gym, colors aside). She has the number 27 on her jersey because her birthday is the 27th.
But wait!, a carefully trained eye will find that there is something a little off with the ball...


It's actually a cake! And, Sioux totally served it right into the corner--perfect placement, despite the cake-y consistency. Her team wins the game, and she gets an awesome birthday (and some of the cake may be able to be salvaged, too!).

To be honest, this card cracks me up! I love that the cake has the volleyball lines on it. I came up with the inside idea first, and did quite a few sketches of what the front should be. It was great fun to make.

Many Thanks!

I graduated this past weekend, and my parents threw me a party at my house at school. Despite my embarrassment at such a fuss, I truly appreciated everyone coming down (or up!) to help celebrate this transition in my life.

I got to make quite a few cards, so I thought it would be fun to explain my process.

For: my wonderful family and friends
Occasion: Thanks!


When I am privileged enough to make a lot of cards all at once, I try to use my supplies as economically as I can. In this case, it meant getting two cards out of each sheet of paper. As you can see, that meant the card on the left was a side-fold and the right a top-fold. They end up being the same size, but I waste much less card stock. There was a little piece left over from each sheet, however. Here's how I used those:



By gluing the paper scraps over the names on some of the store card envelopes I had gotten, I was able to reuse the envelopes, save paper, and keep my costs down.



For the design of the card, I knew I wanted to accomplish a few things: First off, I wanted to make all the cards with the same design. Second, I wanted the design to look a little stately and academic, to be reminiscent of graduation pomp. I also hoped that each card could be detailed enough to require a little special effort. To satisfy all these requirements, I came up with this design: a scroll with a little plant life behind it on a yellow-orange with light blue. The UofI is an ag school, so the foliage seemed appropriate; the cards' colors are just off the school colors as well.

I think these cards came out great, and it was a fun challenge to be mindful of cost and supply! That college degree is already coming in handy--problem solving, for the win!

Hats off to the class of 2010

Comin' at you with high distinction and a Bachelor's degree in paper crafts, it's graduation card time!

For: Greg
Occasion: Graduation



Greg now has a BS in statistics! I am so proud of him. Because he is pretty epic at all things math, the owl in this card is drawn on a Calculus textbook answer page I scanned (since Greg now has all the answers!). I think it's such a cool idea--it may be one of my favorite cards.

For: Kelly, Tom's girlfriend
Occasion: Graduation



Kelly went to the University of Iowa, and she is super interested in journalism and health. Tom told me her dream job would be to work for a health magazine of sorts, so I drew the Iowa hawkeye on a gray-scaled page of an exercise magazine! The hawkeye has a mortarboard, too.

Tom was such a good sport about this--I had the idea, and basically told him I was going to make it for her! Woops--definitely more fun than studying for finals.

A sincere congrats to the class of 2010!

Mother's Day: Glee edition

Ryan asked me to make his mom a (belated) Mother's Day card!

For: Ryan's Mom
Occasion: Mother's Day



Turns out Ryan's mom loves Glee! So I found out what her favorite characters are and put them all in the "Brady Bunch" style grid. There's Kurt, Sue Sylvester, Finn, and a special guest star Ryan "RaRa" Jameson!




I did some research (I don't watch the show because I'm indescribably lame) and saw that some of the ads have the characters doing the "Loser L" to spell out Glee. I figured it'd be fun to have all the regulars do that, and have Ryan's L be part of a special "I love you!" for his mom.

This card took a while to complete--it was hard to draw all these faces, let alone two times. But, I am pretty pumped about it and I can't wait to hear how it's received! (I also think I need to start watching the show.)

Momma's day...

For: my mom
Occasion: Mother's Day



This is my first attempt at a calligraphic Japanese lotus blossom!



And here's my second attempt!

My mom is spending the day before Mother's Day (today!) in Champaign helping with her students' state science fair competition. We will get to meet up for lunch (in a half hour!) and I can give her her card on time. I hope she likes it--I know these events can be very stressful (especially on the teacher) so maybe she'll be able to find some of the peace and quiet of the flower.

My CCPs

The Counseling Center Paraprofessionals (CCPs) are my amazing group of talented and wonderful friends who have inspired me, and challenged me to be a better person. We had our closing ceremonies today, and I made everyone cards.

For: my fellow CCPs
Occasion: end of program



I made 18 of these cards. The summery sun is for those who are juniors; the "Block I" diploma cards are for those who are graduating from the UofI. I love all of these people very much, so naturally the cards were filled with mushy sentiments and threats about staying in touch.

For: Kiera, our Graduate Assistant
Occasion: end of program



Kiera is starting her internship out in California, so I used a beach scene with "Thanks Kiera!" written in the sand. Some rocks make the shape of a heart, and then "your CCPs" is written in the sand as well. Since she is going to Cali, we pooled some money and got her a nice necklace and earring set, along with a gift card to Penneys so she can stock up on some beach wear/business casual clothes!


For: Theresa, our instructor
Occasion: end of program



Theresa had mentioned, casually, that she has wanted a kindle for quite some time. We gave her a gift card that she could put towards her eventual kindle purchase! Fun details on this card: the page is loading 19% (there are 19 of us) and it's on page 09-10, which is our class year. (Also, the correct number of buttons, the logo, a battery symbol and network bars, but who's counting?)

In short, I love my CCPs, and I'm going to miss everyone more than I could ever write.