I've Got the Back To School Boy Blues

If you are a reader of my blog you know I only have boys.  To top my creative misery off, they are older boys.  I don't get to do all this cutesy, yummy, goodness to any of their things.  I can't embroider their bags anymore, I can't send them to school with hand made bows in their hair, or with shoes that I have bedazzled to match their outfit.  Do you pity me yet?  Do you have some cheese to go with my whine?  Well, as much as I whine about not having a daughter to share all my creativity with, I did manage to sneak a little in here and there with my boys this year, and with out much grumbling on their part I might add.  I guess this year, I have finally started to learned balance, some give and take if you will,  when it comes to jazzing their belongings up, sprinkling them with as much of my creativity as they will possibly allow.  My days are numbered, but until then I will test their limits every year just so I too can enjoy some of this back to school creative bliss that you mothers of girls and little children get to enjoy.

This post is dedicated to my small attempt to cure my back to school blues with my boys.

This first picture is of their new lunch bags.  I bought them from the company Thirty One, which my friend, Amelia, is a seller for.  Love this company.  Great prices and monogramming.  I know I said I couldn't monogram anymore, but I snuck it in this year with great success.  Not one grumble.

Ya, Mr. B thinks he is funny.  Just like his father.

Mr. N got a red N on his, school colors are black and red.  Great for boys!!!  And Mr. B received a black B on his.  He is a teenager now so I made it black to be less obvious.  As you see I still got to jazz up their gear a little bit.  Yea for me.   Less whining coming from my lips.  :D

My next few pictures are of Mr. B and his school supplies and room we got ready for his freshman year.  {Good grief, I choke even typing that.}  Here again, I got to sneak it in a bit.  

Where we live they aren't allowed to use their lockers.  Because of that we have to minimize as much school supplies as we can, because they carry it on their backs all day in their backpacks.  I hate it for them.  When he came home the first day he had written, scratched in pencil the word Spanish on his binder.  "This will not do", I said.  I took his binders and told him, "I will be back."  "MOM!!  What are going to do to them?" he asked with concern.  "Don't worry, I will make them look awesome."  With my black vinyl and my Cricut I cut out his class names and stuck them on.  Now, I at first started to put the vinyl on the outside of the binders.  He looked at me and said, "Those will be off by the end of the day from me pulling them in and out of my bag."  Duh!!  Why didn't I think of that?  Back to my machine I went and cut the words out in the mirror image and stuck them on the inside of the binder.  Here we are in week 3 and so far so good.  He has not mumbled anymore about me "bedazzling" his binders.  Yea, for me again.  This brought my creative side much joy. 

And for the grand finally.  Remember his desk redo?  I told you I was working on his peg board.  It is finally done.  Even though it is not how I want him to have it used or looking, it is keeping him more organized and I think as the year goes on we will tweak it here and there to use it better. 

We painted the peg board black and I added his blue wall color to the baskets to make them pop more.  I bought shelf brackets so we could add a book shelf to it.  I bought a small white shelf at Lowe's for $4 and sanded it then spray painted it black.  All his hooks keep his para-cord organized for the bracelets he makes.  This new peg board at least helps start him on the road to being more organized for high school.  Yikes, that word makes my heart hurt. 

The top black stripe on his wall is painted with magnetic paint {several coats} and then painted black.  It goes all around his room.  He can stick whatever he wants on there with magnets.  

There ya go ladies.  This is how I tackled my back to school blues with boys.  I hope you have enjoyed my little post.  If you are a mom of older boys and have any more ideas for this momma that loves to add a little creativity to her everyday life, please, please pass them along.  Maybe this has inspired you to sneak a little jazz to your boys school supplies.

As always, thanks for stopping by.  

I'm glad you could come for a visit.  

{Kelly} 

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