A Summary of Little Pleasures: Soap, Football, Happy Owners & A Flattened Turkey

I received DennisAnderson's Jasmine Soap Bar (that pretty pink soap in the first photo) a few weeks ago. It has been sitting on the little table beside my bed, its scent just tempting me to use it! Finally, this weekend I felt like pampering myself, so I opened it up even though my present bar of soap was still about three quarters of the way through. The oatmeal side was just the right roughness and I had such a lovely time scrubbing away.

On Saturday, I was at the Homecoming Game. Although the Fighting Illini lost to the Gophers, the atmosphere was so full of energy! The last few minutes kept me on my feet, cheering on top of my lungs.. hoping for just one more touchdown from the Illinois side. It didn't happen though :) Even so, I had a nice time. It's just a great feeling seeing so many people wearing orange, uniting to support their team.

Another little pleasure is the feedback I've been receiving for the Halloween Pop-Ups. Their new owners are pleased with them and it always makes me smile to hear that.

On Sunday, I was browsing through Treasuries on Etsy and came across this amazing shop. I've seen Polymer Clay used in many creative ways, but this one made me go wow! Robin, from NothingLikeIt makes coasters, and these are no ordinary coasters. They are clever, cute and colorful! The toasters are 'flattened' critters and they have the funniest sayings on them. One of my favorites would have to be the flattened turkey in the photo which says "Eat More Ham!" :P

Go Illini

I finally managed to get a ticket for the Illini vs Minnesota tomorrow morning. It's our Homecoming game, and it's going to be very exciting in Memorial Stadium.

The Mummy

The Mummy, originally uploaded by desireux.

I have a friend who LOVES the Mummy. Probably should give her this card for Halloween :)

The Mummy takes longer to make compared to most of my pop-ups because he needs to be wrapped! I use double sided tape on white paper, cut them into strips, and slowly bundle up this mummy. Initially I wanted to make the whole card into a 'tomb' shape, but after a few prototypes of various sizes, it still looked much better as a rectangle.

Today I went to a career cafe where alumni from different scientific fields outside academia meet with graduate students and post docs for a round table type discussion. My first session was with a scientist working in a start up and it was very enlightening talking to him. Although I'm a few years away from graduation, I'm starting to go to different career events or fairs to get an idea of what lies outside the 'grad school' world. I enjoy meeting people and hearing their experiences in the industry and the different paths they took to get there. Some are really passionate about their jobs and talk about the satisfaction being directly involved in bringing a product to the market. I can relate to that and love that feeling, having a product that will directly impact the customer- be it designing a card that will make someone very happy or working on a drug that will improve someone's quality of life.

Meow!

Meow!, originally uploaded by desireux.

This kitty has been getting some attention over the weekend. Some lovely Etsians, curlyfrysc , AzureGrackle and recycledideas have featured An Encounter with a Cat in their treasuries.

This card is constructed based on my basic arch for 180 degree pop-up cards, but is different in that the tree branches in each arch is not identical to the other. This gives the overlapping branches more depth, making it even more interesting visually. One of the new owners of my pop-up cards mentioned that she enjoyed playing with the shadows cast by by the cuts and it really made me happy to hear that. When I am making the cards or taking photographs of them, my illumination is a pretty strong halogen lamp and I too enjoy looking at the interplay of light and shadow.