6th graders are a joy.

Luckily for me, I have an abundance of 6th grade girls in my life.

I haven't written in a while, but I am going to skip right past catching you all up... since I am not so sure that anyone noticed the lack of posts except my father! :)

I wanted to share two things: the gifts I made for my sister (6th grade) to give to her friends for Christmas, as well as some of the joys of teaching.

Part one: Super Shawls.


Back in 2008, I made my sister a furry shawl for her birthday. She gratified my creative venture by wearing it all the time, and apparently her friends began to try it out and fell in love. Christmas 2009 rolled around with a plan in her mind: she asked if she could purchase three personalized shawls for her friends.


Armed with cuddle fur fleece, polar fleece, and some scrap felt, I came up withe these quick-to-make and comfy gifts.



I was well pleased with them. I even liked the back side, which featured the stitched outline of the flower on the other side:


Part two: Sugary Science Club

I barely felt motivated to post during the last few months, largely due to the bad quality of my old camera and the feeling I had that talking about my teaching job needed pictoral accents. Luckily for me, I am the proud owner of a new Nikon(!) and can now post pictures.

The girls I teach are amazing and so amusing. I could regale you for hours, but I will content myself to share some evidence of the fun I am having via these shots from today's Science Club.


Our activity of the day was nutrition-focused, in keeping with a recent focus at school on healthy choices. We measured out the sugar content of a few favorite snacks in teaspoons and were shocked and appalled to see the sugar we are eating! Then we made "sugar warning" posters that I can't wait to put up!





Essentially that's what I'm up to these days. You can't seem me anywhere here...but I was behind the camera, in my lab coat! :)

In other news, I am addicted to Christian rock these days. Matt Maher, Chris Tomlin, and John Waller, mostly. I think its improving my overall mood, so I am thinking it's one addiction I don't need to kick.

In hopes I will be posting more soon,

Papermoon

My friend Tim, on Design*Sponge.

My friend Tim is famous.

Tim Mazurek was dazzling through his MFA while I was finishing up my undergrad art career at Northwestern. Despite my being a boring, Catholic, conservative, Tim was always very nice to me and I enjoyed every shared class with him immensely. As I recall, we met in my Installation Art class, for which he was a TA. (A great TA.) My 'art friends' (we called our clique 'the knitting club') and I all latched on to him and he somehow managed not to act annoyed.

I digress. Tim has an outstanding blog! Lottie + Doof has long graced my 'lovely things' side bar, and I ogle his photos daily. He has been picked up by Time Out Chicago, Refinery 29, apartment therapy, the kitchn, good bite, and Pioneer Woman. And today he made it onto one of my all-time favorites, Design*Sponge! It's no wonder, considering his organic, fresh choices are so enticingly displayed courtesy of his photography skills. The work of an artist, indeed.

I couldn't be happier for Tim. And I couldn't feel hipper for knowing him.

Check out Lottie + Doof here: Lottie + Doof
See Tim's artwork here: Tim Mazurek

-Papermoon

Goodbye, Chicago!

Well, it's official. My move has begun. My parents have texted me "On the way!" and the view outside my bedroom window already looks more nostalgic.

I am not going to allow much sadness over this move. I have been here for five years, enjoying what Chicagoland has to offer, and that makes me lucky. I am heading for a lot of good things: great summer jobs, time with my wonderful family this summer at home, and a new, exciting job come September. I will dearly miss my roomie and friends, and this city, but I will be back. I see no point in getting too sad. This isn't a forever goodbye...Chicago, after all, is only a matter of hours (and no oceans!) away.

Time to wrap up the packing, enjoy some sunshine, vacuum the carpet, and then welcome my parents!

Thanks for the fun, Chicago!

I'll likely post next week, when the crazies settle down...

-Papermoon

Progression, at the Dittmar Gallery.

Headed over to Evanston today after work (tomorrow will be my last day at work!) to see the current Seniors' Art Theory and Practice show. It was a great opportunity to see some friends as well as some of my classmates from my college 'artsy' days. I feel very far away from that lifestyle at this point, and certainly haven't found that I am pursuing art-making in a way I might have expected I would while I was still in college.

The show itself was very pleasant to look at. All of the work was actually quite interesting, and their class is lucky enough to have real variation in terms of their media, pursuits, and politics.

My favorite works were some very lovely illustrations and paintings by my friends Yana Myaskovskaya and Lauren Redding; a performance/installation peice involving gauze dragged through the Chicago city streets by one Joyce Kim; and a dazzling glitter painting–something I would never have thought I would like!–by Tiffany Wells. I didn't bring a camera, sadly, but I managed to scoop up some images of a few off of the internet. Here's to Yana and Lauren! :)

One of Yana's illustration works–Untitled.
The ladybug is actual size, printed on a very large sheet of white paper. Clever!

Yana's second illustration–The Sound of Silence.
This really surprised me in person; I hadn't realized how tiny the drawing was!
It is incredibly detailed and beautiful, and only a few inches tall.

Lauren's self-portrait.
A beautiful girl with a beautiful talent!
I love the timelessness of this ...that is the best part about her work, in general.

All in all, the last few years have been a personal tug of war for me over whether or not I would like to continue to involve myself with the art scene. I am often frustrated by the contemporary presentation of art, but I can not deny that I would miss it if I renounced it completely! It was wonderful to see this show.

Off to bed, wishing these friends of mine good luck!

-Papermoon

poladroid fun

don't know how i've missed this: Poladroid

i suppose i am the last to find out, but maybe someone else missed the boat on all this fun, so i will share!

you download the sweetest little polaroid camera, which sits on your desktop, and then you drag your digital files right over to the camera, it makes an authentic polaroid sound, and then your pictures takes full minutes to process, looking for all the world like an actual polaroid!

it's so adorable, i am addicted!!!

-papermoon

happy 2009

we had our family party as usual...

it was great!

we all continued the old tradition of wearing fancy clothes, eating hors d'ouvres for dinner, and putting up our glitzy decorations... and some homemade. i broke out the paper cut out garland we've used for three (?) years now (papa says it's time to laminate)


and maggie had the great idea of making fireworks in front of the fireplace.


some of my pictures act like evidence of the adults only punch in action...


-papermoon

camera issues!

well... something is going wrong with my camera. or my computer. they are not recognizing eachother, and so i haven't been able to post anything i'd been hoping to. i am still alive!
i am troubleshooting the issue today and i am determined to get things working by tonight, and then post like crazy.

for your enjoyment, while i figure this out, the wonderful feist, teaming up another wonderful thing--sesame street. i especially love this because 4 is my life long favorite number.