Graduation Decorations

Hello! It's almost graduation time! Can you believe that summer is almost here already? It makes me feel old when I say how fast time flies, but I'm saying it anyway!

My youngest son, Jacob, graduated from highschool last June. We had an open house for him and had such a wonderful time. I decorated the tables outdoors and totally forgot to get a picture of them. =( That's so frustrating. But, I did remember to get a few pictures of the banner that I made and hung in our dining room. We had his photo albums and memorabilia on display there too. We have a tiny house, so it worked well to spread people out between the house, the screened porch, and the yard.

The banner was cut with my Cricut machine and layered with lots of cardstock and patterned papers in his school colors (blue and yellow). I also added some forest green, because the school he attended through his junior year was blue and forest green. That was my way of tying in both his old and new schools.

I fringed the tassle on the graduation cap and used a giant blue brad in the center. Fiskars notebook paper border punch worked well on the top layer of decorative paper. I punched holes at the top and strung it together with black cord. I was concerned it might not stay up without putting nails in my shelf, but Scotch tape held it up nicely and came off  clean when the party was over.

I also made a shadow box of Jacob's soccer memorabilia for his senior year. The coach had taken some excellent pictures of all the senior players. The shadow box is something he can keep for his whole life, or he can change it out for college memorabilia in four years.

I found blue argyle patterned paper to use as the backdrop to everything. I used Adtech to attach the pictures, but his varsity letters, soccer patch, and graduation year numbers are all attached with pins. His letter jacket and other sports memorabilia were from his other school, so this was my way of honoring his success at the school he graduated from. It was pretty incredible how he fit right in there and made some great friends! There were so many blessings that came from the trial of having to find a new school as a senior!!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!!! Who is scrapping this weekend? MEeeee!!! It's been awhile so I hope I can get my "mojo" going quickly and get a lot of pages done.

Eagle becomes Brave - soccer layout

Sorry for the long delay...crazy life...stress at work...on to the scrappy!

This one is my last soccer layout for Jacob...Maybe the last one ever unless he plays at college. The first picture is the left side. The title is my favorite part. I'fve blogged before about the change in schools this year (his senior year). All new uniforms, mascots, etc. and it has been a little strange to say the least. So my Keystone "Eagle" became a Blackhawk "Brave".
I had a lot of pictures to fit in so I used a flip flap from Stampin Up to fit in 2 more on the bottom right. I am so sorry the pics tured out bad, I didn't realize that until just now as I'm posting and it's too dark outside to take new ones. I'm so sorry!
Then I also added a page extender so that I could somewhat hide, but still include a great note to my son from his coach (shown in last pic). Maybe I can take more pics and re post...We'll see how that goes.

Double click on this and read the note. It's awesome and made me cry!! These are words every parent loves to hear about their kid! We are blessed!

Blackhawk Christian Soccer layout - Senior Night

Howdy! Got some scrappin done last weekend and it's time to share!

I've blogged before about Jacob having to change schools in his senior year. While it was not what any of us wanted (his small Christian school closed due to financial reasons), the transition is going fairly smoothly. He made the varsity team and this layout is pictures of Senior recognition night. It was really odd to walk out on the field and meet him amongst relatively new acquaintances. We've met a few parents and students and they have been very welcoming. However, it wasn't "my" plan for Jacob in his senior year, so it has just taken some getting used to on our part.

The first is the left side of the layout featuring the senior recognition. I believe the papers were from Bo Bunny "Roughin It" collection. The back side of the papers are all about camping, but this side is perfect for these colorful soccer pictures. The sketch is one from Lets Scrap
I didn't win the prize drawing at Lets Scrap, but it is always fun to paticipate! Here is the right side of the sketch. I've done 3 x 3 grids like this before, but the differnce with this sketch is the square that is under the striped paper in center of the layout. Mine is in Kraft. It gives it kind of a tic tac toe look. I'm kinda liking it, but the picture of the layout may not be showing it clearly. I used Sports Mania Criucut cartridge to cut the soccer ball and I rounded it up in the middle a little bit with a foam square to make it look more like a ball rather than flat. And...who is that awesome keeper???? He did a good job with the little bit of field time that he got this year. Again, a little frustrating, but definitely a good character-building experience.
Here are the two pages together. Thanks for looking! I'm looking for more followers for my blog. So, if you enjoy what you see, please click on the "Follow" button and you'll get an email every time I update! If you know anybody else who might enjoy the blog, feel free to pass it along! The more the merrier!