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.

Woody Allen is a creep.

For: Zach May
Occasion: his 21st birthday

Zach is a pretty intense Woody Allen movie buff. I figured it'd been a while since I'd drawn Woody Allen, so I might as well give it a shot.




I think this is creepy. But I had to come up with a way to introduce the following image:




Woody Allen flashing his boxers! (What else?)

It's a DVD cover (and also the image used for the Woody Allen section at That's Rentertainment). Kinda weird, but also kind of fun.

One important thing to note: I don't think Zach or Woody Allen are this odd.
So, happy birthday, Zach!

Cosmic quotes and birthday balloons

For: my friend Anna
Occasion: her fabulous birthday

I was reading a book earlier this summer (Succulent Wild Woman) and I came across a quote that smacked me across the face and said "Anna Hoffman" to me. How perfect that her birthday was a few weeks later and I could use it in her card!



On the front, I created images from the first part of the quote: "Perfect peaches, lilting street musicians, a butterfly landing on your shoulder" (Sark, 74).


And I created a few more on the inside:"children wearing pajamas in the daytime, old women on benches laughing" (74).

What made this quote really speak to me (in honor of Anna) was the fascination it seems to portray for a disparate cross-section of life. Anna has an awesome variety of interests and a real zest for the quirky--I thought this was a good way to convey my appreciation of those qualities.

For: My cousin, Eileen
Occasion: her birthday

Eileen reminds me a lot of myself when I was younger. I decided to make a card that I would have liked (and, quite frankly, still do!).



A totally new take on balloon letters! The inside had "Happy Birthday!" in more balloon shapes. I think it's a really interesting idea, and I hope to work on some ways to perfect the technique!

Father's Day

For: My Dad
Occasion: Father's Day

Plain and simple, I love my dad. He is calm and collected, and I am proud to be his daughter. For this card, I focused on an inside joke between us. We want to circumnavigate, or walk around the perimeter of, our hometown, the Great Lakes, and a variety of locations because we think it would be great fun--and who are we kidding, it so would be!

The inside of the card read: "Thanks--you've saved me from a lot of walking. Happy Father's Day!"

This card represents a break in the trend of my cards for this holiday. Since I was 8 years old, my Father's Day cards have featured, or complained about, the lack of a comparable holiday for kids--something I adeptly titled "Kids Day." Even last year, I made mention of it--though I did so begrudgingly, knowing it was expected and, quite frankly, ridiculous. And this year, with this card, I almost made it without the expected reference.

That is, until I tried to put the "Debbie Dots" insignia on the back of the card.


Maybe next year.

Some sporty birthdays!

Today is two of my friends' birthdays! Here are their cards:

For: Kathleen
Occasion: her birthday




This wonderful young lady is going to USC in the fall to study physical therapy! I thought it would be hilarious fun to use people letters, and have them playing sports and stretching. So here we have soccer and tennis players shaking hands in an "H" and a super flexible guy stretching into a "K!"


The "happy birthday" greeting is a similar story: a surfer and a fencer are making each other's acquaintance in the "H" and the "B" is doing a pretty radical yoga pose. Kathleen is going to be a fantastic physical therapist, and I miss her and wish her all the best in what promises to be a very accomplished career.


For: Nathan Curry!
Occasion: his birthday



Nathan golfs! This card reminds me more of my older style in that I made the image out of paper instead of using a pen sketch. I think it looks fantastic though.



Wah-wah. Cheesy golf puns. But, that's what you get when you're friends with me!

I hope both these wonderful people have a fantastic birthday!

A wholly holy birthday

My cousin Kathy is a cloistered nun-to-be, and it's her birthday soon!

For: Kathy, a.k.a. Sister Cora Marie
Occasion: her birthday



This card was a unique challenge for me, and there were a few pieces I had to consider as I made it. First off, Kathy can only receive three letters a month, and I was not sure if a greeting card would count as a letter. Also, I figured the card should be appropriate with a religious theme, given her career choice and current setting (not the occasion for a stripper card, folks!). And finally, I was not sure if I should call her by her nun name or the name I grew up knowing her by. So I went as religious as possible, following what I hope are the rules.



Being a relatively non-religious sort (I prefer "spiritual," thank you very much) I figured this was a fairly nondenominational birthday wish. Making this card got me thinking about her life choices, and I definitely admire her passion and dedication. I am really excited to see her in August for her official nunning ceremony!

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!