I just sent my oldest, Miss G. off to college. She has been gone for two whole weeks now. The first week she was on a freshman camping trip and this past week was move-in day and freshman orientation week. The Lieutenant stayed home with the kids, while my sister, Julie and I flew to Boston last weekend to help her on move-in day. I think it’s going to be good…. eventually. She has four suitemates and they all seem like really fabulous girls. Right now, though, she really misses us. I must say, I wasn’t really expecting this. This is my child that would go off to summer camp and come home expressing that she didn’t miss us at all and could have spent even more time away. Unfortunately, she seems to have inherited the awkward shyness gene from my side of the family and is just full of that awkward trepidation awkwardly shy people have in new situations. I am hopeful that she will soon find herself in a comfortable spot. In the meantime, I seem very calm, cool and collected for a mom whose beautiful, sweet baby has flown the nest. However, I have just realized I have been eating everything in sight for the last couple of months and when I look down, I can not see my feet. Lord help me !
To help with the transition to college life, I thought it might be nice to surround her with posters from her beloved home. I discovered that you can make full color posters mounted on poster board from Costco for a very good price (prices as of 8/2012 & you have to pick up in the warehouse) :
- 11″x 14″ – $9.99
- 16″x20″ – $14.99
- 20″x30″ – $24.99
Fedex Kinkos offers a similar service, and has bigger sizes available, but it is much more expensive:
- 18″x24″ – $39.99
- 22″x28″ – $69.99
- 36″x48″ – $89.99
I thought 16″x20″ posters of her favorite quotes and her family would help her with this huge transition. Well, a couple of the posters were a hit, and several were not. I used adobe photoshop elements to add text to the photos. I believe there are some free programs out there that also let you add text to photos. Most pictures do not even need text to make great posters. Here are the posters I made and how I did them.
The Princess Bride Poster
This is Miss G.’s all-time favorite movie quote from The Princess Bride, so I thought it would be fun to dress her little sister up as Inigo Montoya and do a poster with the quote. Coco found an old pirate shirt, we drew on a mustache, made a cardboard sword and took pictures. In photoshop elements I set up the image to be 20″x16″, I placed the photo over digital paper I purchased on etsy (purple is her favorite color) and added the quote. Easy Cheesy. She like this one and it made it on the wall.
Cousins in Paris Poster
Miss G. loves her cousins, so I took an old photo of them taken in front of the Eiffel Tower and in photoshop elements added the french word for “cousins” along the side. She thought all of these people smiling in front of the Eiffel Tower would be a little overwhelming for her roommates. This poster is staying in the drawer for now.
A Wrinkle in Time Poster
A Wrinkle in Time has been Miss G.’s favorite book since second grade. I found a suitably wise quote from the book. In photoshop elements, I set the size to 20″x16″ and added my digital paper purchased from etsy and then the digital paper frame also purchased from etsy. I then added the text. This poster made it to the wall.
Funny brother poster
This is my favorite picture of Mr. D. When he was little, I let him watch too much Oprah and there was an episode about coming out of your box and living your life as your “true, authentic self”. He twisted the message into his own phrase of “Let Your Box Out” and it’s been a family saying ever since. Mr. D. actually lives by this motto (as you might be able to tell from the picture) and is always encouraging his big sister to “let her box out”. Miss G. thought this poster was a little too much for her roommates to see, so it is in the drawer….
Phone Home Poster
Well, Miss G. didn’t see the sense of this poster at all. It is in the drawer. She is phoning home probably too much right now. I can’t wait until the day when she is so busy with school and having fun with a myriad of friends that she forgets to phone home. Then, perhaps, she’ll look in the drawer and this poster will catch her eye…….