Pinterest Projects

I never considered myself to be a particularly artistic person. Yes, I enjoyed photography and music which are forms of art. But I was never good at doing handcrafts, and didn’t particularly enjoy them.

But for some reason, beginning a relationship opened up that lost side of me. ;-) Because Jessie left for college a month after we began our deeper friendship a year ago, I was limited in what I could do for him. So I tried to be creative in coming up with ways to make his first year away at college better. J Looking back, I did something fun/creative for him almost every month while he was away. So here’s a walkthrough of the projects!

In September, I started a weekly tradition of writing him a pen-and-paper letter on Sunday afternoons. I thought he might have fun getting something in the mail every week. J He even wrote back a few times despite his busy schedule. ;-)

In October, Jessie’s family invited me along to go visit him at school for the weekend. I eagerly accepted! It was so fun to see his dorm and the college campus, enjoy some good food, watch some football, and relax with him and his family.

In November, I put together his first care package! I packed some mint gum, Twix bars, and English Breakfast tea since those are some of his favorite things. I handmade some decorative cards with Bible verses on them, thinking he could use them as bookmarks or hang them up somewhere. I also sent him some homemade mocha drink mix, and some packets to make 5 Minute Hot Fudge Cake. I found some thumbs up sticky notes at Walmart, which I thought he would love! At Hobby Lobby, I picked up pens, envelopes, stickers, and blank cards. Then I made him his own personalized cards. J I also included a small photo album with one picture in it. Then every week when I wrote him, I included a new picture of us for him to put in it! J

For Christmas, I made him a Movie Night basket! :-) Mom found the actual basket at Walmart, I believe. I put in a couple bags of popcorn (he doesn’t eat it often), a box of Cheese crackers, some mini Twix bars, and a few glass bottles of Coca Cola. I put “High School Musical” in the basket as a joke (he hates that movie :P) and in his card, I put a certificate saying I would buy him a movie of his choice. A few months later, I got him the first Hobbit movie. His gift to me was much smaller but so special to me. He bought me an Infinity ring from James Avery! :-D

In January, Jessie was home for the first part of the month. We spent a lot of time together and had some fun outings. I was so sad when his month-long break was over! :-(

But he came home for Valentine’s Day! I gave him three gifts. In the box was a mini pie from a pie company in town that we visited together during his break in January. In the square package was a wooden postcard/plaque with a cute quote on it. I tried to be creative in my wrapping and by making tags (each of the tags had a question/clue he was supposed to answer before opening the gift.)

In the third package was his Happy Jar! :-) I had gotten a Pinterest account specifically to find something creative to give him for Valentine’s Day, and that’s where I found this idea. The decorated jar was filled with slips of paper. On them I had written quotes, Bible verses, and things about Jessie that I appreciate. He really liked it! He gave me the exact same thing actually. :-O We were amazed that we both had the same thought! He also gave me a bouquet of roses and a mug, on which he drew the state of Texas, with a heart where he lives (he has a matching mug of Oklahoma.)

In March, Jessie went to Austria for spring break with one of his classes. They were able to see some really cool historical sites and architecture! I have a collection of postcards I’ve collected from all over the world. So I picked one for each day of his trip, wrote notes on each of them, and sent that packet with him. J Despite the time difference, he was able to keep in touch with me every day, which I really appreciated!

In April, Mom and I visited him for a weekend at his college. It was *such* a fun trip! I took him another care package. It had some Easter candy, a bag of dried pineapple, a refill for his “happy jar”, some Guatemalan cookies that we both love, more personalized cards, his weekly card and picture, some Starbucks coffee and a gift card, the movie “Interstellar”, a jar of chocolate kisses to count down the days until he came home for the summer, and another photo album. This one was for pictures of Harry the Hippo. I had bought a little stone hippo at the Tulsa zoo and gave it to Jessie, thinking he could take it on his trips and take pictures of him. That way I could kind of go on the trips vicariously. ;-)

In May, he came home from school!! :-D I worked on a few projects in anticipation of the day he would ask to court me . . .

I hand-lettered this and gave it to him the day he asked to court me (also the day he told me he loved me for the first time.) I also played and sang a song on the piano for him. :-) He had brought me a beautiful bouquet of Snapdragons from his house that day!

Towards the end of June, his family left on a 2-week backpacking trip with a local Boy Scout troop. I had spent some time working on my hand-lettering skills prior to the trip. I came up with 14 different greetings or nicknames and found 14 different fonts on Pinterest. Then I made my own stationary and wrote him a note for every day of the trip! :-) He had been so sweet and sent me a long letter via email every day of our Guatemala trip the week before. It made my night to read those!

Then in July, we had a gourmet picnic that is basically the epitomy of Pinterest. ;-) We dined on a handmade quilt with cloth napkins and enjoyed curried chicken salad in pitas, caprese salad, strawberry (non-alcoholic) sangria, and dark chocolate coconut pudding. Our chaperones sat in a different part of the park eating their sandwiches. ;-P Don’t worry; we took them to the pool afterwards as a reward.

This past week, Jessie and I celebrated one year together. I did a little digging around on Pinterest and came up with this “Number 1” picture collage with hand-lettered decoration on the mat.

I found a similarly designed card on Pinterest and hand lettered my own take on it.

His gift to me on our anniversary was a dozen long-stemmed red roses, and dinner out at the nicest restaurant in town, followed a relaxing evening at a local park, dancing and watching the sunset. He also gave me two special letters with a prayer and a journal entry he wrote this same day one year ago. It was so very precious and thoughtful of him!

So needless to say, I am definitely being inspired by Pinterest and am building a small arsenal of arts and crafts supplies. ;-) I love Pinterest because it allows me to see the finished product and then gives me direction on how to duplicate it. Perhaps I will post about more fun projects in the future!