Showing posts with label College Boy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label College Boy. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Say Cheese: Mini Insta Photo Fun Album


As I mentioned during Friday's party, I have not been very creatively active lately. Part of that is because I wanted to maximize time w/ College Boy while he was home on Winter break. So now that he's been back in school and all of the Christmas craziness has been put away ( yes you read that right...we keep it up until he goes back!) I had time to play with some fun new goodies from DCWV.


Disclosure: I am a guest designer for DCWV. Supplies were provided to me. Design and opinons are my own. 

College Boy has become quite the coffee connoisseur so while he was home we made quite the tour of indie coffee shops. I also got a new phone so was having fun taking pics everywhere we went. These days I don't do a lot w/ my pics so I decided this mini album would be a perfect way to capture the memories of his visit.  I like these small album sizes 6.25 x 5.5 and there are 4x4 photo sleeves that fit the 4x4 cardstock that coordinates with the album colors.


Since CB is an old soul who likes old things, I decided to do all the photos in black and white and kind of retro using photo corners. I mixed and matched the papers from the pack which all coordinate. 


I kept the pages pretty simple letting the papers and the photos speak for themselves but added some camera and film strip themed washi tapes and journaling stickers. 


For the cover, I used a page from the Chalk Art stack and cut it to size to fit the front of the album. I also had some camera charms in my stash that went perfectly with this project: 


Forgive the blurry photo! I added these to the front along with some of the washi tape, again keeping it simple and letting the paper speak for itself. 



I haven't decided yet whether I'm sending to him or keeping it but either way, memories saved! 

DCWV products used in this project: 
DCWV 4"x4" Insta Photo Fun 2 ring album: Blue, , hi-resDCWV Insta Photo Fun 4"x4" Printed Cardstock Stack: Blue and White, , hi-resDie Cuts With A View Chalkboard Premium Stack, , hi-res

Sharing At: 

















Monday, June 23, 2014

Special Order and Everyday Note Cards

Pink Paislee Card

College boy texted me the other day asking if I would mind making a card for a friend of his. LOL.  Me? Mind making a card? Especially one that's a special order from my son in another state? HA.  His friend’s academic adviser had undergone some major surgery so I wanted to make it extra special.

I used a sheet of paper  from Pink Paislee and a coordinating torn scrap as the background, and added torn corners from an embossed scrap I had from a previous project. The paper is heavily patterned so I decided to accent what was already there with Stickles Liquid Pearls.

The wood spiral flower and grey paper roses were from some bargain finds at Michaels. To finish, I layered alphabet sticker letters to make the word “HI” onto punched squares of scrap cardstock and added a strip of washi tape.

Since I was mailing this to CB, I decided I’d send him some notecards that he could use as thank yous or whatever. I’ve always been a stickler about thank you cards, and despite some resistance along the way, now that he’s an adult he actually appreciates why.

Basic Grey Periphery

I used this paper pad from Basic Grey ( busting my paper hoarding stash) and these oversized We R Memory Keepers eyelets as my focals.

Enjoy Notecard

Each card has a flattened bottlecap with a sentiment sticker in the middle. “Enjoy”, “Live”, “Smile” , “Laugh”.

Smile Notecard


Live Notecard

Laugh Notecard

I finished each card off with a strip of printed washi tape. He's doing a Summer research project at school and has some opportunities to do some extra things via his Professors so these will come in handy.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

I Have My Own Castle: The Story of My "VIntage Romance" Necklace

Fit For A Queen Necklace

This necklace all started with a charm. A very special charm, from a very special person. It was my birthday present back in September from College Boy.

Castle Charm

There are so many things about this charm that just made my heart soar. The fact that it was from my son away at school who has a crazy busy schedule and took the time to pick out something with meaning. The fact that he found it at a little shop that specializes in creative and handmade things , and  that he knew that would mean a lot to me. But the part of it that brought me to tears was what he wrote in the card :
“I found it fitting that on this day, and each day after, a queen should have a castle as a reminder of the challenges you conquer”
The past couple of years have had some challenges.  Lots of changes, some planned, some not, and some right on top of each other. Not a lot of time for breath catching shall we say?  So when I read what he wrote in the card and saw this charm ( after melting into tears and slobbering all over myself) I knew I had to wait until the right idea popped into my head. One worthy of his gift.

Vintage Romance Pendant

I was poking around Michaels after Christmas and found this pendant and string of beads from the “Vintage Romance” line by Debby Anderson. My eyes landed on the pendant and it was the perfect backdrop for the charm.
Vintage Romance Necklace

I randomly strung some of the beds on wire and joined them in the middle of silver chain. I added another strand of beaded chain to the bottom portion of the necklace that joins the pendant.

I may never be queen of any country, but it’s more than enough for me that my son think’s I’m queen enough to deserve my own castle that now hangs from the end of the Vintage Romance pendant.



Sharing At: 

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Warning: Mushy Post! Happy Birthday College Boy

21 years ago today, the most creative project I've ever made came into the world. There was no Mod Podge or glitter or hot glue involved. There wasn't even any chocolate. Our baby, who's no longer a baby, was born.

It still doesn't seem possible that it's 21 years later and that he's officially an adult! He's been an old soul since the day he was born, always older than his chronological age in some ways and completely age appropriate in others.

We tried not to read too much into the fact that by all accounts I had an easy labor. My BFF never lets me forget that I delivered wearing earrings and even a little lipstick.

What did that mean for the days ahead? Turns out that pattern continued. Sure there were all the normal childhood boundary tests and moments of counting to 10 before saying something (us, not him). Even middle school, which I think is the hardest age as kids really test their boundaries in that limbo stage between being little kids and burgeoning maturity wasn't too bad. HS, we've since come to learn, was far more stressful than he ever let on (and from what we knew it was stressful enough), a testament to his very cool calm demeanor. We are still not sure where that comes from!

In college he's come completely into his own. From the nervous guy we left in front of his dorm ( and the parents who were a wreck in the car driving away) to the confident young man who still chooses to come home on breaks and hang out with his parents.

Whatever the future holds, we know he will meet any challenge head on with a smile, quiet confidence, and a focus on what's important. We've now entered the stage of parenting where the student is often the teacher.

Every parent feels like they couldn't be more proud of their child and we are no exception. It's been an amazing 21 years and we can't wait to see what lies ahead.

Happy Birthday College Boy!

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Empty Nest Musings and A Chalkboard Printable

I am feeling a little melancholy today since after a wonderful and fun month long break, College Boy is on his way back to school. I'm so proud of the adult he's become /  becoming,  and it was fun to watch him over break be more naturally independent and comfortable in his own skin. There was a time when we'd go out to dinner and Mr. C and I did most or all of the interacting and question asking with our servers and "suddenly"  the tables have turned. Little day to day differences that you blink and they take place.  I'm not even sure he realizes the changes but they are the kind of things that make mama and papa bears smile inside and out.

It's that kind of confidence and independence we want for our children right? After all that's the job we signed up for or at least my interpretation of it. We have always been parents first (vs wanting to be his friend) and I know there were times when we were more strict than other parents, especially in HS. On the other hand, we also accepted that as he grew into adulthood, the pendulum would begin to shift and we wanted him to be equipped with the skills to make his own good decisions because he knew they were good decisions.  It's more fun than I thought seeing that take place and it means the world to us that we have the kind of relationship where he wants to spend time with us.

All of this introspection reminded me of this quote which I think sums up our whole parenting journey and my mood today. So I made it into a  chalkboard printable.



 Can anyone else relate?

 

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Fangtastic Treat Bags

Fangtastic Goodie Bags

I still can’t believe College Boy is a Sophomore but he is. And if I’ve learned one thing as a parent of a college student, even though they’re all “grown up” they still love to get treats from home.

At my son’s college, freshmen are assigned to small groups of 12-14 called Sponsor Groups based on their housing forms which puts them as closely together with people who share similar interests etc. He loved this so much as a freshman, that he applied and was accepted to be a Sponsor this year.He and his “Co-Spo”  have a group of 14 freshmen they help get acclimated, used to college life, are a resource for questions etc.

Last year I decided that I could still have fun with the kinds of things I used to do before he left for college and sent goodies to his “Spiblings” as they’re called. So why should this year be any different?

Fangtastic Treat Bags

It’s also mid-term time for them so I included some things to lighten the intense mood and remind them to be silly. Jumping frogs and glow in the dark Vampire fangs.

Fangtastic Tags

I made the graphic for these labels in PicMonkey, imported to my graphics program,  and printed them on card stock.

Starbucks Hot Cocoa

Got some double chocolate and salted caramel hot cocoa packets.

Fangtastic Treat Goodies

And of course candy…all chocolate of course. I used black and white polka dot paper bags by Whisker Graphics, placed one of each thing in the bag and sealed with red and white dotted Washi tape.

Fangtastic Closeup

Finished off each bag with one of the tags and off to school! Here’s the card I made to go along with the goody bags,  also using my label :

Fangtastic Card

I used some red crepe paper to make a ribbon for the card, mounted the label on red glittered cardstock and went over the letters with red Stickles glitter glue.

Fangtastic Card Closeup