mortarboard diy

I don't know if this is the case at other schools, but at my school (almost my alma mater, yikes!), graduating seniors decorate their mortarboards for the Commencement ceremony. It ranges from the fairly sedate 2D drawings and messages to full on 3D extravaganzas (a guy last year built a log cabin out of sticks on his, and a friend attached his top hat to his!). I was pretty unsure of what I wanted to do, but finally decided on something that I thought suited me rather well.



Decoupage-palooza! I needed one (1) mortarboard, one (1) bottle of Modge Podge, and one (1) book that I didn't like and the bookstore refused to buy back.


Sorry, dude

I will admit that tearing the pages out of a book was both terrifying and thrilling. I don't know if I could have done it to a beloved novel, but a short story collection that I was forced to buy for class? You're toast, buddy. The really satisfying part was tearing each page into little pieces for a more patchwork appearance.

Originally, my plan was to write a quotation that I'm especially fond of on top of the pages, but now I sort of like the literary simplicity of this. I might write the quote along the underside of the actual "board." We'll see how it goes!

Here's a shot from a little further back (and yes, the combination of my new haircare routine, which I will probably post about eventually, and the humidity has definitely turned my hair into a mess of ringlet tentacles. I kind of feel like my head is a squid. And I kind of like it.)



Such fun! (And a glimpse of my school colors, blue and gold!) I have to say, there's also something excellent about having a kitchen table totally overrun with craft supplies. I can't wait to do more DIY in my decorating life; that desk I keep talking about runs a high risk of being covered in projects.



Have any of you ever heard of/participated in this tradition? I'm hoping to get shots of my friends and roommates caps as well (I already know one that's super fabulous), and will share those with you if I can.