Polymath Craft from the Past

What a weekend!

Surprise for father-in-law was definitely a surprise. Beer was flowing, food was consumed, and it was an all-around good time. Eric was victorious in all games played, too, which did not surprise me; he is ruthless on the gaming field. I even returned home with a paper bag full of fabrics, which I will show/regale for one of my posts tomorrow.

For now, it is 07:30, and I start my new job today. I am quite excited about it, but seeing as I will spend the morning getting ready and probably crafting/cleaning, I didn’t feel like taking pictures and uploading and all that nonsense today. So instead, I am copping out and showcasing a crafty project I took on about a month ago.

The Story

Eric’s youngest sister graduated from high school this year (hooray!). Also, just as a major kudos, she graduated with so many honors and is just a super great kid; she got a full ride scholarship and everything, which goes to prove that she is way smarter than me because she took the time to apply for scholarships and all of that really smart stuff. I am very happy that she will be one of the people leading the country in whatever field she goes into one day

So anyway, she graduated. One of the perks of living much closer now is that we can attend such momentous events, which of course we did. That was another fun weekend, actually.

When I graduated from high school, I already had a year of college under my belt, and it wasn’t such a big deal for me. But when I graduated from college, we had a pretty big to-do; granted, that was partially because, in addition to graduating from college, I had ended a bad relationship and turned 21. We had a lot to celebrate that Spring.

I digress.

The gifts that stayed with me and meant the most were the personal ones. That’s always been true for me – I have more hand-made trinkets than beach souvenirs. I like it that way. So when Eric was wondering what to get an 18-year-old starting out in life, I suggested he think of memories that they share and give her something that would help her remember her roots. While he struggled with that, I went about making something in my craft room that I hoped would be helpful.

My freshman year, one of my friends on the hall went about making some of us door signs with our names. And yes, I still have it. It was on my door each year I was in the dorms, so I decided that something along those lines would be best.

I coaxed some information from Eric, as well as his folks, and used my own conversations with her to put together a list of some of her interests. I bought some magazines and used my ever-expanding supply of paper goods and cut out some words and pictures. (By now, you can guess I did what I’m best at.)

I also stopped by Michael’s (see? This is why I am excited to work there. I spend a LOT of time there. Might as well get paid for it.) and picked up some wooden letters and a plaque. Please keep in mind that, like so many of my bright ideas, I was doing this pretty much last minute. As in the daybefore we left to go up north.

I painted the letters with her school colors, both high school and college, and I traced them on the background, so I would have a better idea where to paste words and what not. That proved to be invaluable; I’m glad I did that rather than put the letters on first.

I had fun with the project, for sure, and it was a success. Eric, by the way, made a mix CD with some great songs that I understand she listens to on the way to work some days. Good thing he listened to me…a-hem.

I want to do this again, perhaps as a sign to put on the porch, like our house number or something to that effect. We’ll see. I’ll just put that on the list with everything else.