A SISTER'S GOING AWAY TO COLLEGE PRESENT

The rite of passage of having a daughter go off to college is upon us. 

 

 

 Yes, I have another daughter at home, but there is no denying that the homestead changes when one leaves the nest.  Now my attention will be completely on her.  I see the look of panic in her eyes when I mention it.  She is afraid of being alone with me.  I'm really not that scary!

 

My little one (she's 15) wanted to send  her sister off to college with a long lasting gift.  She came up with the cutest idea.

 

Let's get started. 

 

'Little one' as she shall now be called went to Michaels and bought a round mirror.  Later that weekend when we were at Home Depot, she caught sight of this black  magnetic board.  I asked Mr. Thrifty if we could attach the mirror to it and he said yes.  He  used Liquid Nails to attach the two pieces.

 

 'Little one'  came up with the idea of buying a round mirror, attaching it to some type of background, attach pictures of my oldest daughter and Mom together and the phrase written on the mirror: 

 

 BE THE WOMAN SHE IS PROUD OF

 

 

Something else that the Mr. showed me while we were at Home Depot were these amazing Super Magnets.

 

With the ability to attach the photos to the frame with magnets, I suggested that we use buttons to give them a little extra color.  In order to create cuter magnets, I bought some flower shaped buttons at Hobby Lobby.  I have a huge stash of buttons at home to add to the floral magnets.  These buttons brought out the colors in her comforter,  as seen below.

Here are the cute combinations that I came up with. Notice the strings of hot glue on some of the buttons? Sorry about that.  I did clean them completely off before attaching them to the magnet board. 

 

 Well--the hot glue did not work.  After we took the oldest to college, the magnets fell off all of the buttons.  We brought them home and Mr. Thrifty used Super Glue this time.  

Here are the button magnets from the back.

My 'Little one' asked me to write the words on the mirror with a Sharpie.  A better script would have been better, but she was pleased with this.  Meanwhile, my youngest picked out favorite pictures of Mom (Grandma) with and without the future college student. As a side note, my oldest daughter was so inspired by Mom that one of her essays that she wrote prior to applying for college was about the one person that inspired her--and that was my  Mom.

 







Here is the finished project.

 

 When 'Little One' gave her sister the present, there were tears. I really think big sister was overwhelmed. 

 

Later in the week, when we were moving the oldest into the dorm, she said that she wanted to hang the mirror picture frame in a spot that she could see it lying down in her bed.  It was to be in a prominent spot in her room.

 

Here it is.  I know not only will this gift be an ongoing inspiration to my oldest daughter to live up to her Grandmother's hopes but also will keep her memories close.

 

A big thank you goes to 'Little one' for the inspiration of this project.