Traveling Without Moving: June 2009

Monday, June 1, 2009

First Post!

Listening to: I'm Yours by Jason Mraz

I've tried to start a blog several times, but it always seems to die in its embryonic stages. This is my latest project - I'm trying to be somewhat... crafty. Also, I'm kind of looking for a place to upload photos and take those silly zillion question surveys (I don't know why I like them!), but not quite at Facebook level. You probably won't learn too many neAbout the name - I was listening to Jamiroquai while thinking about traveling and making cards when the song Traveling Without Moving came up on my iTunes. Catchy title, yeah?

Now that we've got the basics out of the way, onto entry number one!

Like I mentioned earlier, I've randomly been taken by world of crafty endeavors these past two weeks...

Exhibit A: Study Abroad Scrapbook!

After four months of being in China collecting ticket stubs, flight tickets with my name misspelled (Jay forgot to change my name to its correct spelling on his various lists), and six months later since I was last in China, the scrapbook has finally been made... and completed, too! I spent a gross amount of money on it, but it was totally worth it cause I had so much fun making it. What I will say, however, is that I spent over 50 hours in creating 40+ pages...

First page: Keeping it simple - short story of the complicated process
that was leaving New York and getting to Hangzhou...

Sample of a "big trip spread" (Shanghai III): a mix of Shanghai items, fancy schmancy stickers, trip summary, etc. I even pasted my open bar bracelet from a club and the background for the entire spread is actually made up of a mix of origami paper and two pamphlets from the Shanghai Museum (no room for error. I'm becoming slightly anal...)

Just a corner of the first Sichuan spread to show off the detailing... vellum quote, stickers, hostel card, Leshan ticket, photos... I tried extra hard on this spread cause it was my favorite trip. I used a map of Sichuan province as the background :)

Random piece from the second Beijing spread: I cut up a page in my first Chinese textbook JUST to get that little picture of Ma Da Wei! Ahh, best moment ever...

I finished the book last week. I thought I was craft-ed out, BUT the urge to finally make cards materialized. I love, love, LOVE handmade cards... eat your heart out, Papyrus (and maybe now you can stop eating my money)!

Exhibit B: Cards! Birthday card for my aunt

Made with tender, loving care. And stickers, ribbon, tissue and gold foil!

Making cards was pretty quick, only downside was that making them wasn't as cheap as I expected. Luckily, I had lots of origami paper from years ago that I wasn't using for anything else, so... who's got a birthday coming up? I miss my art days... I will DEFINITELY create something this summer. Summer in Boston + oil pastels?! Possibilities, possibilities...

I'm coming back up to Boston next week and am pretty excited. I have this romanticized view of summer which involves lots of old movie watching, patio parties at dusk, lots of cooking, a trip to Cape Cod and mango salsa-making. The reality? = sweaty, humid house, job hunting, free labor for a non-profit. If no one shows up to my event at the end of the summer, I'm going to blame it on swine flu - not the greatest year to be arranging a mass gathering.

What I really AM excited for is a trip to the Keys in a few weeks!

We used to go on family trips every summer, but college kind of got in the way of that. Our last family trip was in... 2006? EVERGLADES! I can already see myself focusing my camera a little too closely at an alligator's open mouth. Must remember to not get overly excited.

And now to finish the entry, here's some more eye-candy: