How could I possibly resist a washi tape challenge???
Love the Moxie Fab World and their fun challenges, including the current washi tape challenge. I made this card as a thank you for some wonderful support a friend extened toward me.
Washi and a stache - it was a fun card to make! :)
Hello blog friends!
Wow - a two month hiatus! Perhaps that gives you some indication of how crazy the start of the school year has been for me. Hardly any time to craft or even check out the blogs of my friends. The good news is I'm emerging and back today for a very special post.
I got to see the Space Shuttle Endeavour on the streets of LA baby!!!!
And not just see it, I got to get up close and personal. Amazing experience! An old friend of mine is an employee of the California Science Center and sent out a request for volunteers to help bring the shuttle to its new home on a journey called "Mission 26" (the 26th mission of the shuttle). I was so lucky to be able and share the experience with some colleagues and friends whom I had fun making a special card for to commemorate the occasion :)
Our shift was Friday night (as the shuttle was being prepped to travel down a freeway overpass while being towed by a Toyota Tundra). We had a chance to take a few of our own photos before "getting to work" (acting as a docent to the many spectators that were patiently waiting for a view of the shuttle).
One of my favorite Instagram photos of the buisness end of the shuttle.
A fun sign and view of the rig that the Tundra would tow (the blue components were a part of the amazing "over land transporter" which carried the shuttle on the rest of it's journey). The Tundra tow rig was necessary to reduce the overall mass as the shuttle as it passed over a freeway overpass.
It was a great evening and wonderful seeing so many excited and happy families. We got lots of questions, but mostly worked as "papparazi" for the visitors, taking photos for them with their phones and cameras (as we could approach the shuttle for photographs).
I LOVE this bumper sticker :) It was attached to the Tundra truck that carried the shuttle over the freeway. I was a little dissapointed to hear some folks commenting, "how come it's not an American truck", which I feel compelled to explain. First of all, most of the truck is made domesically, Toyota is a major employer in the state. In addition, Toyota is a huge, note: HUGE supporter of science education in California. They are a long-time sponsor of the California Science center (the new home of Endeavour) as well as numerous programs to improve the quality of science education in the state. In fact, I've personally worked on a grant aimed to improve science teaching of elementary teachers, funded by Toyota. This was a great choice and a nice nod to Toyota.
It was an honor to be a part of history :)
My good friend and I, positively *giddy* over the experience!
...just keep swimming! You can do it!
This is a good reminder for me after the last few days. At least there is another Shark Week episode tonight to cheer me up :)
Are you enjoying these shark posts? Will try to get another one in tomorrow, pending how the day goes!
I hope you are all having a wonderful Shark Week! I do have another special card for all my CHUMS out there (haha... had to do that Tracy!)
I do believe this is my first time ever using this diver stamp and I'm quite pleased. I'm pretty happy with how this card turned out. Could be the diver. Could also be the fabulous mica glitter... or maybe that cute shark... Or maybe that I would seriously dive to see sharks. Goodness all around :)
More fin-tastic shark week goodness awaits you... check back later!
I've slept in for 2 DAYS STRAIGHT!!!! Hello summer break - I'm a happy girl (well, at least for a couple weeks until the summer jobs kick in). I've been busy tackling some projects around the house I've been meaning to get to since about {forever ago} which also feels great.
Before school got out, however, I was in a frantic state trying to acknowledge all those awesome folks who make my job a million times easier. Besides my fabulous 8th grade TA's (see their card here) I wanted to give a huge shout out to a few other amazing people too. I did a variation of the TA card for my awesome custodians:
I also made several thank you's for the awesome teachers and awesome volunteer Mom's who helped me run our character building program this year:
I just printed our logo onto cardstock (designed by our student's with the help of a volunteer graphic designer), added some washi and bling, piece-o-cake!
Finally, I made some personalized stationary card sets for our fabulous office staff:
Again, I kept it REALLY EASY {thank you washi tape} so it didn't take me too long, but yes, I've appreciated the extra sleep these past couple days :)
For all my friends still teaching - I do feel your pain. I've felt it all year long when you got that extra few days at Thanksgiving or that extra Spring Break week or those snow days. It's all a wash in the end right? A break from the norm at any time of the year is appreciated. I wish you a speedy race to the end and students who take mercy on you in your fragile-almost-summer state.
I have a rather special card to share with you today. I was actually pretty excited about it when I made it (and spent a loooong time on it - LOL). As a life-long So-Cal girl, I feel lucky to live at an intersection of so many cultures, particularly Latino. My own city pays special homage to this and has a marvelous Museum of Latin America Art, murals painted in numerous places around the city (especially around schools), and wonderful restaurants that do amazing authentic cooking - it's just a beautiful thing to be immersed in. Perhaps because of this and my own love for biology (and specifically, images that remind me of biology) I've had a long-time love affair with Catrinas. I've just always found them to be intriguing, whimisical, and beautiful.
My good friend Glenda had a chance to visit New Mexico a while back. I had heard there were wonderful stores that have stamps with artwork of Catrinas. I BEGGED her to hook me up and hook me up she did! :) One of the stamps she sent me was an interpretation of perhaps the most famous Catrina, La Calavera Catrina ("The Elegant Skull") made by Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada in 1910. (His original work lacked the chili pepper "outfit" though - perhaps that was the "New Mexico" touch? LOL). I had SO MUCH FUN playing with the stamp!
Now, reds aren't at the top of my personal preferred color palate, but I know how much Glenda loves red and I know that red would be an appropriate color to partner the image with. Thinking about the beautiful dresses in folkloric dancing, I decied to pick a paper and add some fussy elements to give the card a more ornate feel.
And then I decided to add some flags :) I had a chance to visit Manzanillo, Mexico a few years ago (and perhaps important to note I was in the part of Manzanillo where the "locals" live, not the touristy areas). My favorite thing about the city was taking a long walk up through the windy neighborhoods (on a quest to get to a black sand beach) where I found them decked out for the holidays. There were flags everywhere - it was so charming (hence, my adding some "flags" to the card)!
Needless to say, I thought way to long and hard about this card, I'm kind of crazy like that, but I love how it turned out. Almost kept it for myself (shhhh.... don't tell Glenda).
Thanks for stopping by my blog! I hope you find some fun inspiration today too :)
Oh... happiness!!!!
I can't tell you how happy I am that I was actually able to participate in this week's Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World!
I had such a crazy week - rushing rushing to get ahead at work as I had to take Thursday and Friday as sub days from the school I teach at so I could chaprone a four-day trip with our music department. Our amazing musicians headed to a big music competition this weekend (where they were gold winners, these kids ROCK!). I incidentally checked out the Moxie Fab World web page from my iPad while on the 8-hour bus ride and my heart sank when I saw that this week's inspiration was Orla Kiely!
I wish I could tell you the depth of my love for Orla Kiely (the love affair goes a ways back - see this post here). I'm generally not a "name brand girl" (well, unless it's called washi), but there's something about her wonderful patterns, swanky feel, and bold layouts that speaks to my heart. In fact, my graduation gift to myself was a fabulous Orla computer bag (can you just feel my heart racing????)
Honestly, my heart SANK - I knew we wouldn't get home until Sunday evening and I didn't think I would have time to participate in the challege - I was genuinely crushed!!! (Why couldn't this week be a 2-week Trigger???) Turns out, we had a great ride home (and a supa dupa bus driver), making it back to our hood in record time, and I actually had an hour to throw a quick card together. Ideally, I'd have more time to get it exactly how I'd want it, but this will have to do as I must now sleep for 2 days straight.
I played off of Orla's multi-stem signature pattern and fabulous retro colors. Hopefully Orla will approve :)
edited 4/2 - I noticed the photo I took last night showed the organe as being way brighter than it truly was, so I re-shot this morning (hope that's ok!).
Just a little reminder that we are all lucky for those we call friends!
And lucky for washi tape - no questions! And lucky for realizing I could emboss on it - haha!
And lucky I still had a stash of these fun glittered clover embellishments!
I realize I'm sending you the luck early, but hope you all have lots of it this St. Patrick's Day!
Just a little card for a friend who puts a lot of bounce into a lot of lives...
Why is it my favorite cards have a cocktail glass and washi tape??? :) This card just *had* to have purple and really needed a bouncy cocktail. Hopefully this was a sight for sore eyes for my friend who had to leave a happy warm place to return to her chilly home. Love ya sista!
When you got the blues, you just gotta keep on swimming!
I had fun making this card for the Moxie Fab World "Cure for the Winter Blues" challenge (which is on until March 12th). There is something so gratifying about navy blue to me - I almost always think "nautical" and it's one of the few times I like a punch of red. Fun challenge!
Made with a•muse|studio products.
