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

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.

Mr. Owl was on Explore!

Mr. Owl's Haunted Castle, originally uploaded by desireux.

Mr. Owl was really thrilled to be on Flickr's Explore. I was just as thrilled. Of all my Halloween Pop-Ups he's my favorite!

Experiment 10-31: The Results

The EyeBall Experiment, originally uploaded by desireux.

After the teaser, here are the results of my experiment. My hypothesis held its ground, the eyeballs really do float in Pink Potion #5 =)

Initially I wanted to make an "eyeball" martini ... replacing the classic olive with an oh so juicy eyeball. But I've been toying with the idea of pop-up cards with colorful potions in various test tubes and beakers, so I thought why not incorporate it into a Halloween theme. After all, a crazy scientist with his potent chemicals, not to mention eyeballs! always makes a good horror show :P

This is also my first pop-up card where I've incorporated some hand-drawn elements onto the card itself. The red veins on the eyeballs are done with a red sharpie. I'm quite pleased with how they make the eyeballs a little bit more spooky.

All that glitters

All that glitters, originally uploaded by desireux.

It's been a wonderfully productive weekend so far. I love three day weekends.

I woke up Saturday morning, feeling very happy that I could wake up without the alarm clock for two more days. Went to lab, and saw results that gave me hope. Finally, the long hours and multiple trouble shooting steps of the past few weeks are paying off. It was then off to a potluck BBQ with great food, old friends, new acquaintances and a short, fun game of frisbee. And great sunny weather!

I came home and continued working on a set of gold and wine pop-up wedding invitations. The color combination looks really classy, the bride-to-be has great taste! I'm in the finishing stages of this custom order and things are going great. Can't wait to see the rows of finished cards. I always get a thrill out of lining up the cards and admiring them before shipping them out =)

Before sleeping last night, I was in a semi-lucid state and ideas for my Halloween line of pop-up cards just kept coming. I love it when that happens. So today, I spent some time with the music playing in the background, lying on my bed, sketching them out. I can't wait to see them take a three dimensional form!

And yay, I can wake up late tomorrow ... life is good.

Things people do.

:O
Originally uploaded by desireux.

I was going out this morning when I looked down at my car and saw this! One of my neighbors must have been too free/ too loving/ drunk!

The past two days were kind of snowy. But it was nice because for once, the 'feel like' temperature was actually warmer than the real temperature. It was -1 Celcuis but felt like 1 C. I couldn't have been happier after the few super freezing days. There's supposed to be freezing rain tonight and through the weekend, so that's not too good. Hopefully the roads won't be trecherous because I need to do groceries and run some errands.

Finals week is next week and it's going to be tough. I feel like I haven't had a chance to breathe since the beginning of October with school, experiments, the Halloween rush, a commission, Christmas ... But this winter break I think I need to go somewhere and do something fun just to re-charge for the next semester.

Anyway, I'm probably going to set up my Christmas tree tonight. Will post photos!

Happy Halloween!

Originally uploaded by desireux.

Have a blast treat-or-tricking, dressing up, scaring people, getting spooked!

Daddy Long Legs ... finally becomes a reality

Daddy Long Legs ...
Originally uploaded by desireux.

For the past two weeks, daddy long legs has been swimming in my head. I had the idea and was looking for the spider- either a sticker, small plastic toy or even a small spider puncher but I just couldn't find a suitable one. They were either too big, too crude, too expensive, or just plain ugly. Then, I was playing around with making it out of wire.. and so on. Finally, I just 'saw' how daddy long legs could be made in an efficient way, not to mention so adorable! Well, I made him and his web earlier tonight, took some photos and now it's on Etsy. I'm happy :)

Also, I'll be in the Etsy Halloween Showcase today, for 24 hours so do check it out. There'll be other cool Halloween creations too.

PS: look at daddy long leg's eyes.. the punch (see last entry) is proving useful.

In preparation

Many uses of Miller lite
Originally uploaded by desireux.

My exams are finally over (for the time being) so I used the weekend to shop around for supplies, get up to date on figures, make more cards, and prepare packaging materials. I'm now using empty cereal & beer :P cardboard boxes (which have never been in direct contact with food, of course) to protect my handmade cards. It's a good way to recycling, they look nice and colorful, and best of all are not too heavy, which brings down the shipping cost. The cardboard, pop-up card, name card and a little note of thanks all go inside a ziplock bag for further protection against the elements; and of they go to their new home.

Tomorrow is October and only 30 more days to Halloween! I want to dress up as a decapitated ghost like this very cool Marie Antionette I saw on Gizmodo last year. If I'm serious about doing it, I better start soon as it looks rather complicated.

Also, I'm very happy that more people are showing interest in my Bats In The Dark and Cats In The Dark pop-ups. Do have a peek at them ... and they'll all be looking back at you :)

Bats In The Dark

Bats In The Dark
Originally uploaded by desireux.

This is the second design in my Halloween series of pop-up cards. I have to say, this is my favorite so far. Will be going to cut another card I designed last night, this time it's for sweethearts ...

Once when I was living in the dorms, I opened my door and lying outside was a baby bat! I had no idea how it got in there, the whole place is air-conditioned and the windows are hardly opened, and there is netting too. It was rather adorable, furry body and beady eyes, but it was dying. I didn't know what to do so I reported it to the front desk, but no one seemed to think it was a big deal that there was a sick little bat lying outside my door. Unfortunately, it died soon after that.

By the way, I just discovered a new group, Plain White T's and I love their song Hey There Delilah!

Pop-Up Cards for Halloween

Cats in the Dark
Originally uploaded by desireux.

Last night I designed two new cards for my Halloween pop-up card line. I wanted something unique and remembered a design from ages ago when I was probably 10 or 11.

When I was a little girl, I used to join art competitions and was rather serious about them. My parents were very supportive, and rather serious about it too. Before the actual competition, there would be brainstorming and practices. One competition was organized by the Sarawak Cat Museum and of course the theme was "Cats". I remember trying to draw cats, but my cats were not the pretty cats that would win competitions. My mum came up with a brilliant idea of having a totally black background and just having the eyes glowing. Oh what a great idea that was, and I had a great time drawing and giving those cat's eyes different colors, shapes and sizes. And "Cats In the Dark" won the first prize. It even was made into a post card sold at the museum. So if you go to the Sarawak Cat Museum and see a child's drawing of "Cats in the Dark" on a postcard, its most probably mine :)

Stay tuned for more halloween pop-up cards. I'm excited!