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.

Serendipitous Danish Plates

For: Mormor (Greg's grandmother)
Occasion: her birthday

Mormor has a variety of Danish plates that are displayed in her kitchen and hallways. I thought it'd be fun to use plates in her card, so I looked up a bunch online. I found one that I really liked, so I based the front of the card off it. In the original, the people had butterfly nets, but it's her birthday! so I made them into balloons.

I showed my design to Greg and he said it was really familiar and he'd seen it before--it's hanging in her hallway! My brain nearly exploded, but I could not be happier with that happy happenstance.

The inside plate is the commemorative 2010 birthday plate with the same characters from the front with a lovely cake. This card was an overwhelming success, and at the party I discovered that not only is the plate on the front of the card in her hallway, it is also the November plate in that particular series. Whoa. 

Mormor is a truly wonderful lady and just so sweet. I hope she has a fantastic year!

Heart Puppy Birthday

For: Rukiyah
Occasion: her birthday

It is no secret that I love Rukiyah. A few weeks ago, I was supervising one of my students' workshops, and while we were debriefing, somehow we started talking about just how wonderful Rukiyah was. I agreed wholeheartedly, and then had a "Debbie fit" full of inexplicable laughter.

I was laughing because, in thinking about how awesome Rukiyah is, the following phrase had run through my head : "She makes the heart puppies fly around." 

I felt I owed it to my students to explain why I was losing it, so I told them the thought. And then I told Rukiyah about it (I figured she should hear it from me first). 

This card features one of the "heart puppies" and his Rukiyah-induced flight. She is a truly talented individual, and I hope she can be my HR lady some day. 

Birthday Blossom

For: Leslie
Occasion: her birthday



Last year, Leslie did a number of representations of flowers for a class that we had together. When I was thinking about what to do for her card, I knew I would make a flower of my own for her. If I remember right, the flowers she had drawn looked like water lilies, so I tried to have my flower resemble them (though it's got a stem). I decided to use a different patterned paper for every layer of petals in the blossom, all with browns, pinks, and oranges. It also has a sweet 3D effect.



On the inside of the card, the flower has blossomed! I could not be a bigger fan of this metaphor, and how perfectly it unfolded in Leslie's card. She is a really wonderful person, and it has been a pleasure to get to know her. I am sure she is going to continue to blossom in her very bright future.

Dr. Quinn Medicine Birthday

For: My Win
Occasion: her birthday



Winokur (-Biegen) loves the show Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman (and I totally agree! People who don't like it are just afraid to embrace their inner Mike). Therefore, on the front of this card I water-color penciled the main buildings and offices in town. I then burned the edges of that image to make it look extra old time-y and Western-y. The calligraphy "My Win" is supposed to make you think of "Dr. Quinn" because they rhyme! And it sets up the inside, so remember it for a few more moments.



Here's Mike and Sully with a slice of cake! The text "magnificent woman" is supposed to be like the second half of the show, "Medicine Woman." Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman <= My Win Magnificent Woman. I'm not sure how successful this gimmick was, but I like it.

It all works on another level because we call each other "Woman" pretty frequently. As in, "Happy birthday, woman!"

I love Win so much and I am pumped to go visit her and Adam in a few months! She's such a nurturing mentor/friend. I'm really blessed to have her in my life.

Shooting Star Birthday

For: My cousin Maddie
Occasion: her birthday



Maddie has a wonderful spirit and a truly kind energy. I spent a lot of time thinking about how I wanted to capture that for her card. I ended up using this classic star with lots of celestial dots as the tails. The bottom of the card has a wavy patterned cut, so the patterned background from the inside would show through.




On the inside, the star picked a direction to shoot in and shared its birthday message with the entire universe. I decided to write "Happy Birthday" in dots because it has been a while since I've used them, and I got a little dot happy. I think it looks neat.
The patterned paper is more visible here, a two-tone paisley that mimics the flow of the stars.

I had lots of fun making this card, and I hope Maddie's birthday is--dare I say it--out of this world.

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!

Psychedelic Ping Pong

For: Uncle Jim
Occasion: his birthday




My Uncle Jim is a bundle of comedy and fun. Back when I was in middle school, he took the time to teach me to play ping pong. I remember hitting the ping pong balls all over his garage in Kentucky and having to fish them out from the tires of bikes, lawnmowers, and fold-up chairs. Eventually, after many, many hours and patient instruction, I figured out how to hit the balls onto the table. This card is homage to that event. (Granted, there weren't so many bright colors involved, but if I were to make a movie about my ping pong past, this scene would totally have a light show involved.)


On the inside, the very intense match is over. The net reads "Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!" which is pretty cool. And, since it is his birthday, you can be sure I "let" him win.

I hope he has a great day and year, and I can't wait to see him some time soon!

Garden Bouquet Birthday

For: Alyssa
Occasion: her birthday



Alyssa has a keen eye for aesthetics, so I wanted to try something that I hoped would look very pretty. I busted out my water colors for this floral scene, using a red and blue spectrum for my flowers. I love how the flowers expand beyond the lines (they were penned in after--that's right, it was totally intentional!). Some of the colors just mix together, and I think it adds some wonderful whimsy.



On the inside of the card, someone (her fiance perhaps?) has gathered the flowers into a lovely bouquet. I just can't get over how cool the flowers look! The penned petal design is based off the paper, with a few differences.

I had a lot of fun using some different materials for this one. I miss Alyssa a lot, and I hope she has a truly beautiful year (and that she comes to visit soon)!

Melon thievery

For: Theresa
Occasion: her birthday

In her office, Theresa has the following quote written on a chalkboard: "Oblivious to the gaze of the thief: Melons in the cool shade."



This is my interpretation of that quote: a few relaxed and happy cantaloupes chillaxing on a nice fall day with their backs turned to a sinister 1950s silhouette-of-a-bad-guy. He's pretty sneaky-looking.



On the inside of the card, the melon thief has acquired his prey, but the cantaloupes are still pretty groovy about the whole thing. The hats indicate that they are one their way to a party--I hope they're not on the menu (fruit trays are a delicious and nutritious alternative to chips and beer, however).

Anyhow, the text reads, "Hope you get everything you want on your birthday!" And I hope she did.

Self-care lesson

For: Myself
Occasion: teaching self-care

I got to teach a lesson on self-care, so I decided to use my favorite self-care activity as a frame for the lesson--that's right, we made greeting cards!



To start, we drew pictures of what self-care looks like to us. My self-care lately has been riding my bike, so here's a (riderless) bike going through a (hilly) field of flowers. I gave us plenty of time to draw and conceptualize, and we also listened to some music (and ate chocolate, and did deep breathing, and did self-affirmations, and-and-and!).

On the inside of our cards (after discussing cognitive distortions and what gets in the way of self-care), we wrote messages to ourselves about how great we are, what a good job we're doing, and to what degree we found ourselves hilarious that day. (I was highly hilarious, no worries.)

I was nervous about it because it was the first lesson I got to teach all by myself, without any help from my supervisor. They seemed to enjoy it, for the most part, and I got lots of positive feedback--phew!

All-in-all, it was neat to let my students in on a very big part of my life!