Inky Fingers: Variations on a Theme

I decided I needed to send out some "thank you" cards to some people. Here are the cards I made:

and finally, the one I sent to Doug Reilly, the artist for NCIS (the guy who came up with Caf-Pow, among other things) and fellow shuttle fan:
And thanks once again to the actors and writers and artists and producers from NCIS and NCIS-LA who took the time to join us at FanFest 2010!!

No, other than Doug's and the one immediately above it (which went to Daniela Ruah of NCIS-LA), I don't remember which card went to whom. Jesse Stern (producer), Reed Steiner (writer), Daniela Ruah (Kensi on NCIS-LA), Doug Reilly, Peter Cambor (Nate on NCIS-LA), Muse Watson (Mike Franks), Joe Spano (FBI Senior Agent Tobias Fornell), Brian Dietzen (Ducky's assistant Jimmy Palmer), and Rocky Carroll (Director Leon Vance) were the recipients.

It was a test to see how many ways I could use one basic stamp. With the exception of three other stamps (two more shuttle stamps and a USS Enterprise stamp) used on the inside of Doug's card (and, of course, the stamps I use on the backs of my cards), only three other stamps were used. Some solid-colored card stock, some patterned scrapbooking card stock, an assortment of plain and decorative punches, a couple of different "heights" of dimensional adhesives.

And Happy Anniversary to the Mercury Project!

Charity Baseball, Bombing Sites, and the Grassy Knoll, Part the Second

A couple more pictures from the memorial:
The Survivor Tree had been in a backyard before the residence was torn down to build the Murrah building. Arborists struggled to save it after the blast.
The Survivors Wall: one of the last remaining walls of the Murrah building, with the names in granite salvaged from the building (the walkway here is also salvaged from the building).
The building ID, from the side opposite the blast. The plaza here, including a less-than-relaxing water feature, remains essentially the same as it had been before the blast.
Okay, I admit it: I simply forgot to include those in the previous post.

Shopping done, we headed over to a Sonic for a restorative bite (we’d had nothing since breakfast), then caught the bus and the hotel’s airport shuttle (it was very kind of them to provide us with transportation to and from the bus stop!!!) back to the hotel where we freshened up a bit while waiting for J and MC to arrive through the torrential downpours and the road construction from Dallas (although we still haven’t had more than ugly skies and a bit of drizzle here in OKC since the downpours during the night Thursday). Got to the bowling alley in Edmond and a prime parking space, and fortified our kids’ menu Sonic selections with the free offerings from various local restaurants. Possibly the worst “Indian tacos” I’ve ever had, but the pineapple from the fruit trays was at the height of perfection—not too tangy, not too sweet.
I have some better pictures of Harmon from the game. The guitar and the lounge chair are auction items; the guitar was from JAG cast members.

Got through the crowd to Mark Harmon to have him sign my “Chimera” tee-shirt. This is one of the official cast-and-crew commemorative tee-shirts celebrating NCIS’ 100th episode, which I won in a raffle at FanFest a couple of years ago. I’ve slowly but surely been collecting cast (including guest cast, even though they mayn’t have been in that episode and in one case the character's been dead since the third season) and crew and staff and consultant autographs ever since. He commented to me that it was an official tee-shirt and asked where I got it (and if you didn’t catch that part, go back to the second sentence of this paragraph!). Harmon’s is the only Main Cast autograph I have so far. The others are Doug Reilly (who designed the tee-shirt, among other things including Abby’s Caf-Pow cups), Chas F Johnson (producer), Avery Drewe (producer, and a truly outstanding and entertaining production facility tourguide), Muse Watson (Gibbs’ mentor Mike Franks), Rudolf Martin (Ziva’s half-brother and Mossad double agent Ari), and consultant Craig Harvey of the LA County Coroner’s Office. Here's the part where Harmon signed, just above Rudolf Martin's signature (he also renamed the ship "Ari," as you can see on the bow).
And the outside of the card I made to thank Harmon for signing the shirt. It went into the mail Monday.