For me, summer is both relaxing and stressful. I have a hard time transitioning from working a high energy, fast moving school day to the slower pace at home. Finding things to do is not the problem – there are plenty of lessons to prep and personal projects that need attention. I easily get restless and managing time is something I’ve always struggled with and am still trying to figure out. Sometimes I wish I had people working around me to keep me motivate!

Besides playing around with jewelry, I’ve been interested in working with patterns. We got this little Marimekko cup recently, and I love the organic design. I signed up my mom, sister, and I for a shibori class this week, so I’m looking forward to learning something new.

I love learning about illustrators like Maija Louekari. I first was drawn to this album cover in the Musikraphics book, and when I checked out Maija’s website I was happily surprised to recognize her other work for Marimekko. Some of my favorite images I posted a long time ago were her designs. Like these two:

And I bought a set of towels a year ago with this print, but I never knew who designed it until now.

For my class, I’m thinking of showing her work as a visual reference for a hand drawing + design exercise. She actually makes it look fun!

I think this came out some time ago, but, while searching for patterns, I came across these Marimekko desktop wallpaper. I love patterns that follow a more organic arrangement. For my next project with my students, I’m thinking of using these designs and the book Over & Over for inspiration and references. Yay, my desktop is no longer boring!

My cousins came down with their kids this weekend, which meant tons of food every day—sushi, crawfish, Blue Bell Coffee ice cream, etc. But the best part was holding and playing with babies. I also got a haircut, and it was funny how some of my kids at school reacted. My favorite comment from a 9th grade boy:

“Miss. It looks way better! Before it was…”

“Frizzy?” (Motioning like I had a huge puffy ball on my head)

“Yeah…”

My first year has been going by so fast that I wish I wrote down all the funny things I hear everyday. One of my favorite has to be when I asked students to design their resume and one shy girl pulled me over and asked,”When you say dates, does that mean we have to write how many dates we’ve been on or something?” She looked so relieved when I explained what I meant. :)

Working on: Save the Dates