I can hardly believe I am saying this, but I am sending my oldest daughter off to college next week! I am not sure where the time has gone, I am certain it was only last week that I was bringing her home from the hospital. . .
Recently when we were in Chicago for CHA, my daughter Anna went along to help us in the booth. While there, she realized the Office Lingo collection was a perfect match to the color scheme she and her room mate had picked out for their dorm. She immediately began planning what kind of projects we could make for her room.
While in Chicago we snuck in a visit to Ikea. We discovered these amazing and SUPER CHEAP plain cardboard magazine files. They were only 2 for $.50! We knew right away that they would be perfect to embellish with paper for a fun and practical dorm item.
Since the boxes will be sitting on a shelf and the sides won't show, we cut a strip of pattern paper to fit the front only. Each box had a finger hole in the front so we dug into my embellishment stash and discovered the Making Memories' grommets were a perfect fit. Because Anna wanted files like these to store class notes and handouts in so we made a box for each of her classes. We used simple shipping tags stamped with the Vintage Pop Alpha Stamps. We attached the tags with binder clips to carry on the office theme and to also make it easy to change out the tag when the semester is over.
For classes where she has a class and a lab, we made two matching boxes. A really cool thing about using just a strip of paper on the end of the box, we were able to cut several strips from one sheet of paper. When applied and lined up together, the pattern from the strips match up, creating a flow of the pattern from one box to another.
While in Chicago Anna also started thinking of how fun the Pop Fashion Top Siders Shapes would be as magnets. Although it just really doesn't show well in the photo, we covered the circle and star with Glossy Accents to give them an epoxy look.
For the speech bubble, we created a mini dry erase board by adhering clear shrink plastic (unshrunk) to the top of the assembled Top Sider. To adhere the plastic, I covered the top of the Top Sider with a piece of Therm O Web's Mounting Adhesive Sheets (think of it as double sided tape in a sheet). I then adhered the plastic to the adhesive. I trimmed both around the edge with a craft knife and then lightly sanded being careful to not scratch the surface of the plastic.
Add a magnet to the back of each and you have some really fun and fast elements!
The following part isn't really Pink Paislee related, but I wanted to share it anyway, just because. . .
While Anna and I were crafting, my little one, Emma decided that she needed to get in on the fun so we gave her a sheet of plain cardstock to create "art" on. (Emma always calls coloring and drawing "making art".)
She didn't want to just decorate just a strip so we added her whole sheet to the box. What you can't see in the photo is that she drew her and Anna and wrote their names. It was important to her that they were making the project together and that they both be in her picture.
It is moments like this that I really love this papercrafting hobby. I love that it helps create moments like this one, where I can sit with my girls and create and help foster creativity in them. That these stacks of supplies that we amass can be used for more than just creating a project but can also be used to foster creativity in children and provide us with opportunities for special shared moments.
