Good Luck Race

 For: Twin
Occasion: Good Luck!

To wish Twin luck on her running race, I did an illustration of her looking at her watch that is telling her to "Have Fun!" We have such a funny relationship with racing--I hope she did great and was able to enjoy the glorious movement of trail running!

Dissertation Defense Good Luck

 For: Quam
Occasion: Dissertation Defense

Quam defended his German dissertation(and passed, and did such an incredible job!), so to help pump him up before the big dance, I made this card featuring all the best Google translation I could find. There's a sports crowd with a few signs being hoisted! From left to right: "This is very good!" "Let's Go Quam! Fight and win" and "Yes!" with the classic D and Fence for a good thesis defense. It was such an honor to witness Quam's defense, and I look forward to seeing what Dr. Q gets up to!

D-Fence Good Luck Card

For: Uncle Vince
Occasion: Good Luck

My uncle is defending his thesis today, so to wish him luck, I created this clever card featuring the sports fan signs of a D and a fence--put it together and whatdaya got? Defense! UV has worked so incredibly hard on his PhD and I am so psyched for him to officially become a doctor. 

Good Luck Fortune Cookie

For: Jackie
Occasion: Good Luck

Jackie is coming up on her last architecture exam, so to encourage her and wish her well on the test, I did a drawing of a fortune cookie with an accurate fortune: "You'll be great!" With a Good Luck! wish on a green background, I think this card looks really sharp. I'm so proud of Jackie-town, and I bet she can't wait to be done next week!

Unicorn Good Luck

For: Richardson
Occasion: Good Luck

To wish Chris well on his second Iron Man race, I continued the tradition from last year and did another unicorn. This one has an Iron Man tattoo on its rump and is wearing four running shoes on its hooves. The "Good Luck" message has a bike in the Os, and for the swimming portion, I figured a unicorn would probably swim naked? I had fun making the card and was happy to hear that Chris successfully finished the race!

Good Luck Unicorn

For: Richardson
Occasion: Iron Man

Chris has a real penchant for unicorns pooping rainbows, so to help cheer him on in his big race, I created one just for luck. It got there just in time and it sounds like Chris crushed the event, which is not surprising at all given how hard he trained. I'm so proud of him and can't wait to crush the Triple together next month!

Well Wishes Hair

For: Laura
Occasion: Good Luck

Laura is moving to New York to start a new adventure, and I wanted to send her off with a card. I created this watercolor featuring her beautiful hair with some messages drawn in: "Take chances," "Live with intention," "Love freely," and "Be yourself." Laura has been such a blessing, and I will really miss her. I wish her well on these next steps!

Good Luck Tea

For: Theresa
Occasion: Good Luck

Theresa is just weeks away from destroying her licensing exam. To help with prep, I made this card that has a real tea bag in it! The text reads, "Thought it'd be nice if you relaxed with some tea before you got LICENSED!" I also sent along a few other teas so that she can have days and days of relaxation leading up to the big test.

I know she is going to do awesome, and I'm sure she can't wait to get it over with!

I4k Birthday

For: Greg
Occasion: Illini 4000/birthday

Greg leaves for his 4500 mile bike ride across the US today. I made him a hybrid good luck/happy birthday card, as he will be riding (in Oregon) on his birthday.  This card depicts his route, with some New York hills to start off, Assembly Hall in Champaign, the Sears Tower (with a heart because I will see him in Chicago), some farms, more hills, then the Rockies (with a cake!) and finally, the San Francisco bridge.

On the inside, a simple "enjoy the ride." I am so proud of him and I am going to miss him so much!

Marathon Bubble

For: Christy
Occasion: The Marathon!

Christy ran her first marathon, and did an absolutely amazing job! I gave her this card, featuring us as bubble people. She's the pink one running across the "26.2" line--I am the red one on the sidelines cheering her on.

On the inside, the bubble twins are hugging, and the Christy-bubble has a medal that's a smiley face. The text reads "I'm so proud of you, twin!"

I was really happy to be able to give her a big bubble hug once she finished the race!

Fundamentals...

For: Nathan
Occasion: Good luck on the Fundamental Engineering Exam



Letters, basic addition, colors, and shapes: "Nathan, you've got the basics..."



"Good luck!"
This bridge is constructed out of K'nex, the engineer's first building blocks. As it's the fundamental, or basic, engineering exam, and Nathan's a bridge man, this construction seemed a fitting next step from the front of the card. I'm sure after the 8 hour long exam, Nathan wished it were all this simple!

He studied hard and I'm sure he did very well--one step closer to building bridges out of steel and concrete!

GREat luck

For: Christy
Occasion: Good luck on the GRE



My dear twin is taking the GRE tomorrow. A totally defunct image, the Scantron sheet of yester-year and number 2 pencil harken back to a simpler time when standardized testing was not done on a computer. (Isn't it fun to reminisce?) The text here reads "You don't need luck..."


"You've already got all the answers."

Christy wants to be a park ranger. Here she is, dancing among the trees in her fancy new olive green jacket. She was talking to me the other day and shared some thoughts with me. Advanced degrees and scores on tests and GPA points do not necessarily signify intelligence: what is more impressive than a PhD in Quantum Everything is the knowledge of what makes one happy, and the realization that these other numbers (GRE scores included) don't weigh in on that happiness.

Much more poetic and poignant than going "Office Space" on a printer/copier, this thought leaves me with a similar inspiration, which of course leads me directly to dancing in forests.

Good luck to all those taking the GRE in the coming weeks and months--may it lead you to your happiness.

A real luck wish

For: Greg
Occasion: Good luck

Greg is working for State Farm doing data mining and statistical modeling and lots of other things that I don't fully understand. He's got a big presentation to do for all the corporate heads this week.


As an intern, Greg has a shirt that reads "real research. real experience. real pay." We make fun of it all the time, and so I changed it here to "real preparation. real talent. real confidence." as a good luck twist. The shirt is gray with red lettering, and State Farm's logo is red and white, hence the color choices.


The HR motto for State Farm is, "State Farm: a great place to work." We also make fun of that a lot. My good luck twist this time is, "Greg Bopp: a great presenter at work."

I am so proud of him being all adult and successful. Go, Greg, go!

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.

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...