still celebrating graduation!

 I know....I know. This is old news to some who have been hearing about graduation for over a week now. BUT, we are still celebrating Tyler's graduation from Mater Dei high school. That's him....the handsome strapping lad in the photo on the left. Stephanie had all of us over yesterday for food, swimming & ping pong {a family favorite as many of you know}.  It was the official "family graduation party" for Tyler...her son, Bob & my grandson...the "family hero" if you will. He is on his way to either UCLA to play baseball or the draft to play MLB baseball. If you follow her blog...again, this is old news...but it's my news so here it is. I think Tyler is the first kid in our family to actually attend a major University....so it's a BIG deal to us.

I finished my mini-album that I made for him and I could not believe how long it took me to wrap it up. I  worked on it all last week when I was home sick. Recall, I had pneumonia last week? It was a nostalgic walk down memory lane for me, searching through all the photos and remembering all the great times we spent together through the years. I loved doing it...but it was my FIRST attempt at this type of album.


I really think he liked it! Thats my other grandson, Marlon sitting on my lap.
Can you believe how adorable both of my grandsons are? I know I'm a bit prejudiced.



I love the "sealing wax" on the front...like using that. Just covered a chipboard "t" with coordinating paper.
I also gave him a letter that I've been writing over the years...for this occasion. I'm thinking it was more for me than for him....but, it is my hope that years from now, he will look at this again and remember some fun memories from his young years with me. What a gift a grandson is!!!!! I hope you all have one some day.


I used the MAMBI Costal Collection papers....they are so well coordinated and easy to work with. Also, some alphabet stamps that I bought at a stationery store while in NY. I got a bit carried away with the stamping.....should have used more MAMBI Soft Spoken, but I was home with limited supplies...had to make due with what I had at the house....I always do my creative work at the office.



For the tabs, I cut a piece of 12" x 12" scalloped paper, covered it with Coastal paper and inserted it between the chipboard and stripe paper. I am going to add an eyelet there to strengthen it.

My album was 14 pages and I used three sizes of chipboard just to make it funky....8"x8", 6"x6" and 5"x8". I just learned how to use photoshop to add text to my photos....so I also went crazy with that.

Pounded lots of holes and connected the finished pages with rings.

The nice thing about the Costal Paper collection is that the papers all are weathered and textured to look old....and that worked well with my theme.
Several of the papers are flocked, some have metallic foil {like the silver stars on the cover} and some have speciality UV coated designs too. 




There you have it! That's what I have been working on for the past week.

Tonight I'm working on a new line for a presentation we are making next week in Minneapolis.
Tomorrow Stephanie has surgery and ofcourse, I will be there. There is an all-star baseball game tomorrow night and a year-end baseball awards banquet on Wednesday night....it will be a busy week for me!

So check back with me to keep up with the "highlights". I will be posting tomorrow night when Stephanie gets out of surgery just to let you know she is okay. I will leave the details to her.

See ya

Comments

[Joanne]

What a beautiful album and treasure for your grandson! WOW...Steph's kids are gorgeous! Your littlest grandson looks like he is on the way to being a lady killer too! Hope you are feeling better.