My daughter walked up to me the other day with the cutest puppy dog eyes ever and said, “Daddy, are you gonna make me something on the Glowforge today?” Now, let me just preface this interaction by informing you that she’s cute and she knows it, and she often uses these tactics to manipulate people to get what she wants. My wife and I have built up a pretty strong resistance to her unique powers over the years and I’m basically immune, but this was simply to much. I wanna 
everything, and this sneaky little girl knows it and used it to her advantage. Which is why I find this particular piece so ironic.
When I asked what she wanted, she thought long and hard before touching her necklace and saying, “Can you make me the Heart of Tafiti?” For those of you who don’t know, that’s the Mcguffin from Moana—a powerful stone that she must return to save her people. I quickly got on Netflix and screenshot a close-up of the stone, then simply placed the file in Illustrator, grabbed the blob tool, and traced over the lines.
It wasn’t the most accurate way to do it in the world, but it was quick & dirty and got the job done for her fast. Added a circle to the top so she could tie it to a necklace and squeezed the design into the last decent open space on my first sheet of 
Maple Plywood. She was so excited. As it cut, she pulled out her fake Barbie phone from McDonalds to get a video and snap some pictures which she then “texted” to mommy who was at work (wonder where she’s seen that?).
When it was done, she was staring at it like it was the real thing. I warned her to be careful because that stone was very powerful, and she looked at me in wonder, giddy with excitement. I handed it to her and said, “My daughter… the Ocean chose you!” She was eating it up! Who needs Disney World to bring a movie to life when you have a ?! She’s worn that necklace everyday since, showing-off proudly what her daddy made to anyone in public she talks to.
I can’t wait to get my hands on some green acrylic and engrave some texture onto one so her stone can get an upgrade!
