Special College Graduation Gifts

When our daughter graduated from college last month, we struggled with ideas for what we could give her. Suddenly, it dawned on me...DUH! I should make her an album! That's probably the most obvious thing in the world but for some reason it did not occur to me until just a few (very few!) short weeks before the big day! Somehow I managed to get it done, and I'm happy with how it came together. More on that project in another post!

I had also been looking online for some type of wall hanging for her, but I couldn't find quite what I envisioned. DUH! Why not make it myself? So I shared my vision with Spouse and got to work. I opted for a smaller format so it could sit on a shelf instead of hang.

I wanted to use a "roots and wings" quote, because I had included "Find Your Wings" in a portrait album I made for her at high school graduation. College was all about finding her wings...and she did! I wanted to find a new quote for college graduation that would refer back to that very special poem and reflect both her future and her past.
 

When I found the quote "Remember your roots...trust your wings", I knew it was perfect for this project.

So with that theme in my mind, I settled on a font and mocked up a 5x7 document in Word. I added the word "home" as a reminder of her roots and the plane to symbolize not only her own wings, but the sense of adventure as she begins the next chapter in her life...wherever it may take her, as depicted by the winding, twisting lines.

 I substituted digital images for the state and airplane (not shown here) and once I had everything set, I printed the document on cardstock. I cut the state, heart, and plane using my Silhouette Cameo in the same size as my digital images and glued them on. Simple as that! I put the completed piece in a black 5x7 frame (not shown). This was an easy project but lots of Mom Tears went into it!

Speaking of Mom Tears (and Dad Tears), we also gave her this book, which is an amazingly touching story about a child growing up. I wanted to personalize it, so Spouse and I used different colored Post-It notes to write memories to go along with the story on each of the pages. That was a fun exercise for us, and it was interesting to see what each of us remembered about her younger years.

I also made a card for our daughter...

...and her longtime boyfriend. Luckily I still have plenty of IU paper left! (Yes, I still have lots of IU scrapbooking to do!)

I cut out the "Indiana" state shapes with my Cameo and added the IU stickers to the front of them.

I loved working on these projects, and we both loved sharing them on graduation weekend! These very personal gifts were a nice way to celebrate this big milestone.

jp