Customized Graduation Cap

After years of moving, establishing residency, trying to figure out my major, and then deciding on one (instead of doing two like I briefly tried), I FINALLY graduated on June 12, 2015!! I have about 6 months off before I go for my Bachelor's Degree, but it feels great to have this accomplishment finished. 

For the ceremony, I customized my grad cap. I added my own style and my parents were able to spot me very easily. Although the finished result looked amazing, I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you have LOTS of time on your hands. 

The finished product!

This part literally took me like 4 hours because I wasn't using tweezers and the jewels kept popping out of my hand.

Tips:

-USE TWEEZERS!! Oh for the love of all that is helpful, use tweezers. I was at work when I did mine, so I didn't have tweezers when I started and it took sooooooo long to get the jewels positioned and then glued. I'm talking HOURS just for the "J" & the "E".

-Print out letters or something to use as your guide. I was going to free-style it at first, but I am glad I decided against it. I printed the letters for my name, lightly taped them, and lined the jewels around them to create a negative space for the letters. 

 -Use fabric glue or something. I used super glue and when I look closely, I can see that the back of the jewel kinda melted because it fused with the fabric. 

-LESS is more, especially with super glue! I put too much on a few of the jewels and as soon as it hits the fabric for the cap, it spreads and darkens. Not pretty. 

-Be Patient. It took me a full work day and part of another to complete this. (I work at a law firm so at times I have lots of down time). I would highly recommend starting this early and coming back to it in phases. Otherwise you might go crazy and your eyes will start to see permanent sparkles. 

-If you can find a stick on jewel sheet that you like, definitely use it. I picked and glued EACH INDIVIDUAL jewel, and while it is gorgeous, I doubt I will be doing the same for my Bachelor's because it just took too long. (10 hours!)

DIY: Light Tent (box, whatever)…

      I recycled an apple box from Albertson’s that I previously used to move by cutting out a portion of the sides and covering it in white printer paper. (I had a lot more pictures of the process- which took a lot longer than anticipated- but my computer crashed and I lost all of my pictures. The ones for this craft, plus multiple others that I had just cleared off of my camera. I was bitter about it for about a week, but they are gone and pouting about it won’t change that…)

       When cutting out the sides, I measured about an inch and a half from the top and the sides of the box, drew a square (rectangle on the longer sides), and cut out the middle. I would recommend maybe cutting two inches or so from the edge to give it just a little bit of extra support. After cutting the sides, I wrapped white paper over the entire thing (a long process, but worth it in the end), and then covered 3 of the sides with full pieces of the white paper in order to create a background and something for the light to reflect off. The original post where I found this idea (seen first on Pinterest, originally posted at http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent ) used fabric for the sides and a piece of Bristol cardboard and curved it on the back of their light tent. Because my box is rectangle, I did not do this, I just covered the sides but I prefer the end result because it gives me a larger area for photographing.I also did not cover the top of the box with anything, so I am able to maneuver my light and get a better angle on certain subjects. I chose not to use fabric because I didn’t have any white sheets that I wanted to cut up for this project and already had a stack of printer paper. I do not have a DSLR like in the original post, but my point-and-shoot does pretty well for itself.

I have since had quite a bit of fun finding things in my house that I can photograph in my light tent. In the first picture, my dog was feeling a bit jealous and got in the way of the first picture I tried to take. For the last couple pictures, I took a black pillow case and laid in flat in the box. This is great for things that are light in color, like silver, white, or glass that is very reflective.

Apothecary jar: Decorator's sand, pine cone, & branch.

My apothecary jars: Glitter covered Christmas lights & ornaments

Another DIY: Headband holder from an Oatmeal canister.

Another Christmas gift. It smells sooooooo good!