#the100dayproject : handmade card 69/100 : the best teacher
what an awesome weekend of so many people supporting me and my small business! [i'm careful not to say little business, because as one of my favorite etsy masterminds says - "...referring to a "little business" or "little shop" ... language matters. it's important to respect the validity of the operation the creator [you] is/are running." - danielle from the merriweather council. i believe this with every ounce of my being.]
it was a looong day of picking and pulling product, double checking invoices, packaging orders, weighing and labeling everything and updating the system to send shipping alerts. jon stayed up with me til 4 am and was an excellent helper!
as for the card for the day - i took some extra time to do some coloring and enjoy the process of creating as a little break. the inspiration wheel landed on die-cut element and so i added a few of them on this handmade card.
2020 has certainly been rough and one of the groups of people who deserve so much credit and so much love are teachers - especially those who are managing all that comes with distance learning. just hearing friends talking about their kids and how amazing the teachers have been is so heartwarming to me. [my daddio was a teacher for 35 years and i struggle to think how or if he would have been able to do a lot of the activities he did as a physical education teacher - virtually. if the schedule is even allowing for those very special classes - including art and music as well.]
back to the card - there's a computer in the center of the card front that's been die-cut, along with two small speech bubbles, each with a tiny human in them. all of the images were hand colored with prismacolor markers. this was my first time coloring humans and so there's a bit of a learning curve, but i think that i did okay. the hair is something i want to improve on - there's many incredible examples out there. i guess that means i just need to make more cards - and buy more stamps with humans in them?
i elevated the speech bubbles with the students in them with foam tape for some added dimension. believe it or not, during this whole pandemic commotion, i haven't participated in a single zoom call. i've seen a replay of one but i imagine when a new person starts talking that their face or bubble pops up a little - similar to a text message. this is the reason why i elevated them [even though i have no idea if anything remotely like this happens!]
the saying is one of my favorite elements on this card - "even from a distance you're still the best teacher" and i think that it is extremely accurate for many teachers. i'm hoping that people take care of teachers this holiday season - maybe not the generic gifts like coffee mugs and candles [not that they aren't great gifts, but you can only have so many of both] and maybe think about the mental health and well-being of the teachers - give them things they can enjoy on their down time; books, coffee, [wine!], succulents - or giftcards for any and all of these things. [for my teacher friends, if you've got other requests, let me know and if i know small businesses who make those items, i'll happily share some details and links!]
i think the somewhat simple design of this card works well with the details and colors that are included. the color of the card base is one i don't gravitate towards very often, but when i do, i'm thrilled with the result. it's a beautiful color - soft, and split-pea-ish.
there's a bunch of stamps in this set that i haven't yet used so i'm already scheming ideas of what to do with them. i think that teachers should always be celebrated and am trying to figure out if there's a way for me to do some sort of monthly challenge or project with some of the ideas i'm tossing around in my head. stay tuned for that.
tomorrow's december already [finally?!] and day number 70 - woot woot! thank you for continuing to join me on this journey - you are awesome.