'Twas the birthday before Christmas

For: Jill, Jackie's sister
Occasion: her birthday

Jackie asked me to make a card for her sister, Jill, whose birthday is always being overshadowed by Christmas. That was the only requirement for the card--I had to represent how Jill's birthday was more important. On the front of the card, Jill has sneakily hidden all the Christmas decorations in the closet. The calendar on the wall shows that it is the 23rd, and the red circle means something special is going on today.

On the inside, and appropriately so, there's birthday decorations and a cake! I hope she has a great birthday and that Christmas didn't steal her birthday thunder this year.

Guinness birthday

For: Charles
Occasion: his birthday

Charles has recently moved to Ireland, the lucky man. In honor of that transition, I made him a birthday card shaped like a Guinness pint. It's my first non-card shaped card--a big day for Debbie Dots, I assure you. 


The inside of the card read the simple Irish blessing, "Sláinte." I miss Charles so much, and I am so envious of his current whereabouts. It's in my five year plan to get out there and see him. I hope his birthday was great and he enjoys the motherland. 

Hot Sauce Birthday

For: Uncle Jer
Occasion: his birthday

My uncle makes his own hot sauces--they are amazing and have been known to make people sweat (if not cry a little). This is a drawing of his hottest sauce, 808 naga jolokia. 

You can learn all about his venture here: http://www.bigfatshotsauce.com/

(OooOoOooh! Looks like there's a Christmas sale!)

On the inside of the card, Uncle Jer is nonchalantly  lighting his own birthday candles with the hotness of his sauces.

I thought of this design concept over a month ago, and I was so happy I got a chance to make the card a little early for his surprise party. He was definitely surprised, but his guests were able to try the full array of his sauces--so we all sweat and cried a little.

Doodle Card

For: Aunt Katy
Occasion: her birthday

My aunt Katy is just wonderful and has had a ginormous influence on me growing up. I struggled with what to do for her card, in part for that reason. Every now and again, I find that these important people are elusive, and so their cards are difficult to conceptualize. I decided to doodle. Tucked into this design, among the hearts and stars, is a cooking pot, a book, an amber ring, and a sail boat. It's like "I Spy!" Did you find them?

On the inside, I decided to mimic the doodle from the front. I really like how the swirlies mimic the design of the background paper--and I did my doodling before I chose the paper--how cool!

Anyhow, I love my aunt very, very much and I sincerely hope we get to hang out a lot this winter break. She's a great role model, and I just can't even express how happy I am to have her in my life.

Library Card

For: Aunt Glor
Occasion: her birthday

My Aunt is pretty much the hippest and coolest librarian there ever was. In honor of her hip awesome-ness, her birthday card is interactive!, a Debbie Dots first. The plaid pouch has a "camouflaged" arrow pointing up to the red tassel on the "date due" card. The idea is that you pull up on the tassel, pulling the card out of its pouch.

The card that you pull out has all kinds of "Dec 15 2010" writing meant to look like date stamps, just like the ones that tell you when your books are due. There is a stamp in the middle of the card that reads "Happy Birthday!"

And on the inside, the card reads "And Many Happy Returns!" Get it? It's her birthday, and you return books to the library! The date stamps now have future December 15ths on them, like Dec 15 2014, Dec 15 2082, and Dec 15 2110!

My aunt just got a job at the library just a few blocks from Greg's Mom's house, and I am so excited to go visit her every day this winter break!

Christmas Mandala

For: Theresa
Occasion: End of Semester/Holiday

Because Theresa has an awesome holisitic wellness orientation, I decided to create a holiday mandala for her card. The mandala is an ancient sacred art form that is used in Buddhist and Hindu religions (that's where I know it from at least!). "Mandala" means circle, so in the spirit of the season, I did a round up (Bah! Pun intended) of various holiday decorations.

And on the inside, a simple wish: "May you find all kinds of beauty this holiday season."
I definitely felt myself relaxing as I made this card. Om.

Zoom in on the mandala to see all the details!

Snowboard Birthday

For: Sarah Bopp!
Occasion: her birthday

Sarah, apart from being a wonderful and fun person, also loves to snowboard. So here she is, in her winter gear, ready to hit the slopes. Her coat is white and green in real life, and her snowboard has an interesting pattern on the bottom, which almost kind of looks like the paper one here. 

On the inside, she's getting some serious air over the snowflake hills! This card was super fun to make, and I previously had no idea how tricky it was to make a little snowboarder. Anything for Sarah though!
I hope she has a wonderful day, and I am seriously looking forward to our ski/snowboard trip in January!

Jersey and Pennant Birthday

For: My cousin Paul
Occasion: his 5th birthday

My cousin Paul comes from a long line of intense baseball players, but he might take the cake for serious MLB hopefuls. To honor his dedication, a paper-cut, personalized jersey and a ball and bat--all the basics for his breakout performance!

On the inside, team-colored pennants reading "Happy Birthday." I hope Paul's birthday is a home run!

The Office Birthday

For: Aunt Kat
Occasion: her birthday

Kat is a pretty big Office fan, and so she may recognize this hilarious scene from "Michael's Birthday" in Season 2.

Toby: Who brought in doughnuts?

Michael: Somebody got doughnuts for my birthday!

Toby: Happy Birthday!

Michael: You didn't know it was my birthday. 

Toby: I guess I forgot.

Michael: Well I guess I forgot to give you a doughnut.

On the inside of the card, the iconic "The Office" button has turned into a "Happy Birthday" button. This card was a lot of fun to make--and I had never realized how hard Michael Scott was to draw! 

I hope Aunt Kat has a wonderful birthday, and she gets everything she wants--doughnuts or otherwise. 

Birthday Wine

For: Kiera
Occasion: her birthday

Kiera is a major wine enthusiast who left the confines of central Illinois for Wine Country, aka California. We all miss her a lot, but who can blame her? Do you have any idea how many wineries there are out there?

I decided to feature a red wine that is so red it's purple. I had a lot of fun picking out the backgrounds and paper colors--I wanted the card to look "swirly" so the background is a sort of French floral in muted purple and red tones. In order to mimic the "swirliness" of the background, I cut the edge with swirly scissors for a swirly trim and put a faded red paper on the inside of the card so it would show. Swirly, swirly, swirly. 

On the inside, a simple "Happy Birthday!" with the various swirly backgrounds. I really like this card, which works out pretty well because I really like Kiera.

I miss her a lot and hope she has a wonderful birthday!

Chinese paper-cutting

For: My aunt Joan
Occasion: her birthday

My aunt spent a lot of time in China last year. The Chinese are pretty famous for their paper-cutting, so I thought I'd give it a whirl for her birthday card! 

Here, we have a girl with ribbons coming out of a lotus-type flower. I x-acto knifed it out of a paisley paper--tricky business, I tell you what! It took me a long time too, but I think it's definitely worth it. (Anything for my aunt Joan! Gawwwwe.)
On the inside, a simple cake cut out of the same paper. My aunt is a truly wonderful lady, and it was really fun to see her over Thanksgiving. She made all kinds of delicious dishes for our festivities, and provided Christmas-themed entertainment (including Christmas song quiz that about kicked my butt).
Anyhow, I hope she has an excellent birthday and I really appreciate all the support she has given me over the years.

Paper Birthday Cake

For: Quam
Occasion: his birthday 

Quam is a master of origami, so I figured I would make his birthday card paper-based (using paper cuts as opposed to pen sketches). 

You may be thinking, "Then why didn't you make an origami-themed card?" The answer is I didn't want to. I wanted to make a plaid cake with jumpy candles. I think it looks fantastic and I won't be convinced otherwise. 

Quam is currently teaching English in Austria, a German-speaking country. Quam is also a master at speaking German. You may be thinking, "Then why didn't you write 'Happy Birthday!' in German?" The answer is that I did, but then I wasn't sure it was right, and after a half hour of trying to figure it out on the interweb (there's a lot of dialects, apparently) I decided to use English. He is teaching it, after all.

I got to talk to him on his birthday, which was lovely, and I can't wait to see him next month when he's stateside for a bit.