Tea and Star Wars

For: My aunt Mary
Occasion: her birthday

My aunt is a pretty magnificent tea and coffee connoisseur. She has lots of different kinds and impeccable taste and one of those really fancy coffee machines. For her birthday card, then, I thought I would do a twist on my tea/coffee card.



And here's the twist! I don't normally have the punch line of the card in the rising steam (and the punch line isn't normally so tea-related). I think it worked out smashingly though. I am particularly fond of the detail of the tea bag. (I'd like to thank my Lipton Green Tea for being a model for this card.)

For: My cousin, Tommy
Occasion: his birthday


When Tommy got married last Spring, he and his new bride walked back down the aisle to the Star Wars theme. This Star Wars joke made me laugh so hard I cried the first time I heard it. Therefore, it had to be used in Tommy's card.
Darth Vader says, "Luke, I know what you're getting for your birthday." Luke says, "Oh yeah? How?"




Darth: "I felt your presents."

Trees and Butt Jokes

For: Christy
Occasion: Research and poster presentation

All summer, the twin has been working hard on a research project she came up with all by herself. As seen in the picture, she had to do lots of tree measuring and wearing really high boots and not getting bitten by snakes in the swamp. The whole study was about the buttresses (the flared out parts of the trunk at the base) of a specific kind of Cypress tree. I got to help with some of the measurements at one of the sites, and it was super fun to be a part of SCIENCE.



The funny thing about the word "buttress" is that it looks and sounds an awful lot like "butt rest." And, as a support for the tree, it is kind of like a butt. So, I basically had no choice in the matter--butt jokes it was. Look how relaxed and groovy she is, resting her butt on the buttress!

And, it turns out she did great with her presentation and got the attention of some important people! I am so proud of her. She is very skilled at SCIENCE.

Media birthdays!

For: Brenda
Occasion: her birthday




Brenda was a fellow English major in a program full of psychology majors, so it was super awesome when we got to be workshop partners. Because of our literature-loving background, I thought it would be fun to make her card book-themed!



Her favorite color is purple, but I added the red and yellow in the background because (to me) they are the colors of passion and political equity--two things that Brenda is all about. She is really an inspiration, and is going to make a kick butt professor--I'll probably have to creep on her classes in the future.


For: John, my cousin
Occasion: his birthday




John is pretty much a wiz-kid in my book. He is really intelligent and energetic (once while baby-sitting him, I challenged him to jump up and touch the ceiling 100 times in an attempt to wear him out. He did it, and with energy to spare!). I haven't seen him in a few years, but I know he loves video games, and thus: video game card.




It's a generic game system (I'm the world's least knowledgeable gamer) but I did base what's on the screen off my memories of NES Mario. Boxes, and jumping off cliffs...and then a cake appears. Well, why not? Anything can happen in video game world.

Hup, hup, Holland!

For: Our neighbors
Occasion: World Cup Final



We've got some Holland fans in our neighborhood who have gone all out decorating their house for the World Cup final. They have flags and banners and little lion faces all over their porch, and it has been fun walking by their house and absorbing their enthusiasm for the tournament! Christy and I made this card together, and decided that a soccer playing lion was appropriate. (Number 7 on the Dutch team is Kuyt, which I like to incorrectly pronounce as something close to "cute." Hence, our cute lion is Kuyt.)




We're very excited for the game, so we figured we'd let them know we're pulling for them tomorrow! Hup, hup!

A blast from the past

I was able to get my hands on a card I made months ago, thanks to my twin's Crafty McSneak plan to borrow it from her boss while he is in Alaska. So, get ready, it's time to incriminate ourselves!

For: Ryan, Christy's boss
Occasion: Encouragement, quitting smoking

That's one nasty looking cigarette! (I edited the image to try to give it an old-timey feel...it is really a normal brown and a bright red. I just thought it looked awesome this way.)


"Hope kicking this butt doesn't kick your ass!" TOO FUNNY, RIGHT? I was not sure how appropriate this particular phrasing would be, but Christy believed it would be perfect. And apparently, it was a big success--it's still on his desk after all these months! So now we just have to return it without him noticing...

Grandma's birthday and my stranger

My grandmother passed away just over a year ago, just before I started making cards seriously. One day, I (tearfully) realized that she would not get a Debbie Dots birthday card from me--a truly indescribable bummer because I know she would have loved a card in that special way only grandmothers can love your work.
So, in order to quell my sadness, I decided that I would make a card in her honor and mail it to a stranger.

For: my stranger
Occasion: Grandma's birthday




I had known that I was going to make this card for months, but the week of, I was not sure what design I would use. Two days before I had wanted to send the card, I was in a Borders and saw an image similar to this one on a book cover. I could feel that it would be Grandma's card.



Inside the card, I explained why I had made this card, and why my stranger had gotten it (she had my Grandma's maiden name and my first name...when I was flipping through the phone book, I knew that she was my stranger). I hope she likes it (or at least isn't too weirded out by it), and of course, I hope my Grandma likes it too.