Magnus Bane's Scrapbook: My Son's School Project

Imagine my delight when my son brought home this assignment: Scrapbooking with Your Favorite Character!  I was so excited I couldn't wait to get started.


Now of course getting started didn't happen right away, we are a family of true procrastinators and while I love the project it doesn't necessarily speed things along!  While all the other kids were starting on them in class my son did what he always did, looked busy and accomplished nothing! Now there were lots of stuff he could have been doing to help us pull it all together quicker but then again we are procrastinators; he gets it honestly.  Good thing we also work wonderfully under pressure.  Sometimes I think I work better under pressure because I don't make decisions easily and when you don't have a lot of time you have to decide quicker.


The weekend before this was due I went to JoAnn's Superstore and purchased some awesome paper and embellishments, consulting with my son of course.  The purpose of the project was to demonstrate that you know your character.  We had long ago decided on Katniss, from the Hunger Games, since we'd both read that one and liked it but my son changed his mind the week before the due date.  At least he picked a character from another book we had both read, Magnus Bane from City of Bones (the Immortal Instruments series).  


Magnus is the High Warlock of Brooklyn; he is bi-sexual and loves things flashy, glitzy, sparkley and multi-colored.  Immediately glittery paper and lots of gems were at the top of my shopping list.  

I actually made the album so we could make it any size we wanted. I used chipboard and covered it with black glitter stock.  I was torn between this and making a book that appeared really, really old since he is over 800 years old (yes that's hundred, I did not add in an extra zero-lol) but in the end we decided since Magnus loves the glitz and sparkle - glitter paper wins!

I love to use multi-colored fibers to add a fun accent.  There are also charms tied in sporadically. 

We found the portrait of Magnus on Google (of course).  It is a drawing by someone we don't know but they did sign it and we thought it was a great, and accurate, interpretation of Magnus Bane!

For photos inside we found who may be cast to play him in the upcoming movie.  So all photos are of Magnus inside the scrapbook are actually Tyler Blackburn.

First required element was "Character's Favorite Poet or Poem"

Deven looked online and found Spirits of the Dead by Edgar Allen Poe.  I must say it was pretty fitting!!!

Next, "Character's Favorite Song"...of course we chose Adam Lambert's For Your Entertainment.  Magnus LOVES to throw parties!!!

Then we had to show the "Character's Favorite Book."  This book isn't real but it's from the series, it's a book of magic that Magnus wants very badly, The Book of White.

Next we had to include at least 2 postcards from places your character visited in the book or would like to visit.  Deven chose the first one above, Warsaw, Poland; Here Magnus was helping the Jews that were being persecuted! We decorated with the national flower, the red poppy.

His other 2 postcards are Vegas from the '30's and the San Fransisco Party Bus 2012.  Deven wrote for the Vegas postcard that it was a representation of the statement, "I was there before it was cool." The party bus because, once again, he loves to party!!!

Finally, you could include an extra page or two that further demonstrated your knowledge of the character.  Above, we included Chairman Meow, Magnus's beloved cat.

Next, we did a birthday layout from when Magnus turned 680 years old! (I couldn't help it, I found that picture and thought it was perfect!)

Our last page was a page showing his boyfriend, Shadowhunter Alec Lightwood.  Here again we found a picture of someone who may be playing him in the movie!

Overall we were very happy with the finished product. Finally something I could help him with (not math - Yay!).  His class applauded the fact that he had a project turned in not just on-time but a day early and then cheered for his teacher to let him present it first.  After he was finished they gave him a standing ovation! I was very proud of him and hope the good feeling he had for accomplishing a great project will encourage him to complete more of his work, on time!

Until next time, hope you get to...

Hide n' Go Scrap! 

A gift for the Boss that has everything!

It's that time of year again, when my co-worker and I ask each other, "What are we getting our Bosses for Christmas?"  We work for a guy who owns real estate and his wife works with us in the office.  These are the quintessential "people-that-have-everything-they-ever-wanted-or-needed-so-what-the-heck-do-you-get-them" people!!  Last year we put a lot of thought into their gifts and while I think they really appreciated them, I am just not sure they got any use out of them.  I really hate to get people gifts that will sit around and be useless (unless they're collector's of useless crap), so the challenge was on! 


I knew I wanted to get them an awesome experience, something to do that, hopefully, they'd never done before.  You know, create memories instead of accumulate more stuff to set around.  But again, they are goers-and-doers, they like to be active so I knew this challenge might not be easy to accomplish. My co-worker, who happens to be one of my really good friends, thought of a rock climbing experience.  We researched it and found a local indoor rock climbing place and it was affordable; however, I thought that's good, but I just don't think that's IT.


Then it hit me...a helicopter ride! Again, we researched it and made calls, but it was too expensive!!! 


That idea led me to my second idea...a hot air balloon ride! Once again, we researched it and while it was not as expensive as the helicopter ride it was still out of our reach since we waited too long and Christmas was only one payday away.  This was my favorite though, so I told my co-worker-friend that we need to save up for next year and do this! Which makes me really happy since we won't encounter this dilemma for at least 2 more years!!! 


Next, I looked to my trusty friend Google.  Google is my go-to in any case of searching.  I simply typed in "giving the gift of an experience"...now you may laugh but anyone who knows me knows I am champion Googler.  I Google for all occasions and all bits of information I don't know.  My co-worker and I can start to search for something at work and I inevitably find it first, which really irks her. Or, I can allow her to search something and when she doesn't find it I will go right to it; again, this really irks her.  So in this search I found a website that specializes in gifting experiences, that's in their tagline!! I scrolled through tons of pages and found everything from Indy car driver for the day to hiring a personal chef for a special meal.  You can even fly a fighter plane in a simulated air fight and you don't have to have a pilot's license.  There were so many choices but alas they were either not close to home, a little bizarre or too expensive.    


That's when I found it; I hit 'next page' and there it was staring at me.  I sheepishly said, "I think I found it."  To which she replied, "What?"  I am sure she wasn't confident in my announcement since I had just rattled of a litany of crazy experiences that we'd never choose.  But, when I said,"a murder mystery dinner show!" she actually paused with careful consideration.  That pause spoke to me and said, "Ding ding ding we have a winner!"  After little debate and hesitation we agreed, this was definitely IT! 


Feeling that the presentation of any gift is the most exciting element, I knew exactly how I wanted to present it.  That, and we didn't have time to wait for shipment of the certificate in the mail.  This is how we presented our bosses with their experience last night at our Christmas dinner.

It's an altered cigar box!!!

Because we were giving them a murder mystery dinner show experience we thought using Clue as our theme would be fun!

I used a glitter chipboard frame to highlight the title Clue.  I used layers of flowers and inked them to make them look rustic.  I also placed the arrow in the bottom right corner and foot print stickers because I thought it was cute.

This cigar box had writing on both outer sides so I painted the bottom half of the box black and then applied distressed crackle paint for a really cool effect!  I also applied distress stain onto the dried crackle paint.

I lined the inside with red velvet paper.

This is my favorite part! I envisioned a card that opened from different sides announcing the gift.  This is the top, I thought the blood splat and question mark would have them really wondering what they were getting!

After lifting the top of the card straight up, this was the first thing they'd see.  That was the name of the website we purchased from, but again, with them not knowing that they'd still be in suspense.  I also placed a line of rhinestones along the bottom that made it sparkle.

The first flap opens to the right, revealing the next, pictured here.  This was on the emailed certificate and I thought it was very fitting since I'd originally Googled for gift "experiences!"

The final flap opened to the left to reveal the gift inside!  

Now we included the certificate that was emailed to us under the shreds at the bottom of the box so that she has her purchase code and directions on how to redeem.  But I was so excited to create what I envisioned and even more excited that they REALLY liked it! My boss even said she may have me make another so she can gift it to her Mom and Step-Dad since she was having a hard time figuring out what to get them!! (Hmm...I know the feeling! LOL)

Until next time, I'm going to...

Hide n' Go Scrap!