Our boy Jacob moves into his college dorm next week.  He was actually home yesterday when we were out at Kim's for dinner, since they had all been at a benefit all day for a friend of his that had been in a very serious motorcycle accident and it struck me again that how grown up he is. 

So today's page (page-s) just highlight the changes between freshmen year of high school to graduation day...

They were just skinny, gawky boys here at their very first high school function (homecoming dance, freshmen year).  Jacob cracked up over the page---and even commented , "Look how young we looked."  Then he whipped out his phone, snapped a pic of the page and sent it to his friend (in the photo).  Seemed they especially liked the "studly" part... 

Most of the papers I used are super old---the pale blue alpha print and the multi colored strip with the masculine phrases were a lighter text weight and they had a pearlized finish to them.  I had kept them for years, cuz I just loved the pattern, the colors and that pearl-y finish.  So glad they finally found a home on a page.  I still have a bit of each (I printed a couple of these photos, since Nana here wants one in her own album!).

Layered the photo with gold textured paper and vellum, added a bit of metallic washi tape, some paper and chipboard banners and epoxy dots and stars (along with some stamped stars).  Then drew in some sketchy lines with a blue pen, not quite a border, but kind of. 

The title letters came from a Cloud 9 pack and my very favorite set of Thickers--an Amy Tangerine set that is a pale gray with an off-white grid pattern on them.  (I so hope they re-release these or come up with something very similar, cuz I just love this alpha set.) 

And this is our Jacob on graduation day before he donned his cap and gown.  What a difference four years makes. 

This page was done with two partial sheets--one was from DCWV (the tapestry looking one) and the other is the backside of a Basic Grey travel related paper (I just wanted that deep turquoise color).  The layering papers are from Prima and Creative Imaginations.  (These were clipped together when I cleaned out the last of the scrap bin and made up my own mini page kits.)  I outlined the layering pieces and bent the edges up, made a little tear here and there.  Then added a few punched butterflies, tucked in a scalloped brown cardstock border, plus a piece of ivory lace.  Used a piece of sequin waste as a stencil and applied some beige pearl-y ink.  The alpha set is a wood grain print Thickers set, that I kind of snipped and overlapped so the letters would be more joined together.

The journaling piece was a punch out from a My Mind's Eye Christmas sheet, but the color was right, the size was right--and there you go.  Also stained the wood veneer chevron pieces and the little camera to balance out the dark brown and hand cut the large brown "photo corner" pieces at the right side of the page.  The "hello there" piece was from Basic Grey, but that was it for adding in ephemera, tabs or words.  Still wanted a touch more dark brown though, so I splattered some brown paint and added the coppery-brown pearls. Thought I better quit here, before it got over-worked.   

My goodness he really is ... all grown up. 

Cheryl