c-o-n-g-r-a-t-s

My roommate took her final set of medical board exams this week and we threw her a surprise party to celebrate.  After studying almost every waking hour for weeks on end, she was quite surprised to find her closest friends waiting to celebrate with her.  On a random rainy day in June, we set up a carnitas taco bar and decorated our living room for the occasion.  With leftover streamers to use, I set out to make a congratulations banner to run across the room.  With a busy week at work and a deadline the same day, this is the banner that resulted.

Congratulations!

My sister graduated from UC Davis this month and I kept up our tradition of making each other a lei from ribbon.  I opted for a less intensive and meticulous method for this lei compared to the one I made for her high school graduation.  My sister is headed to a PhD program on the East Coast, which means at least one more ribbon lei in her future.  As for me, I may find myself in a graduate program somewhere down the road, but if I don't, my sister is off the hook for making another lei.

Magazine Collage

This project sprouted after finding two lovely tiles while at SCRAP one Saturday afternoon.  Organic in its texture, the tile inspired the design, created with ribbon and magazine cutouts.  Sitting in my living room cutting through a stack of National Geographics, I stayed up later than I should have with work the next morning,  But, it was a refreshing break from the my daily routine to create something spontaneously.  Another motivating factor lies in the redecorating of my living room.  One of my roommates moved out lastmonth and I've been slowly decorating our living room to pull together the various pieces of furniture.  This collage sits on the wall in my living room and helps us get closer to establishing the character and color scheme of our living room.

Dying Easter Eggs

A little under a year ago, a fellow volunteer at Project Open Hand planted a seed in my head when he described his silk-dyed Easter eggs.  Full of paisley and other intricate patterns, his eggs looked hand painted and borderline relatives of faberge eggs.  For my monthly art night last Friday, I set us up with silk ties and scarves and more eggs than one can imagine.  I remember dying eggs in elementary school with cups of dye, wire metal loop carriers, wax crayons, heat shrink plastic sleeves and all sorts of glue-on accessories.  With that list of supplies, I cannot imagine achieving the level of detail and color saturation provided by the silk. 

Boston Cream Pies

A week in Boston with my sister inspired this baking project (and that I should bring something "back" from my trip to share with my coworkers).  For all the various anddelicious foods we consumed,we only had one Boston Cream Pie on our trip and it was from "Flour", a bakery recommended by my friend who is baking her way through their cookbook.  Her delicious multi-layer Boston Cream Pie inspired me to return to the days of college when I made cupcakes by the dozens.