Quote art . . .

The eldest recently celebrated his 14th birthday . . .

and if you know any teenage boys you will also know the agonizing that goes on when you need to get them a gift . Cash or gift cards are the way to go with friends' kids , kids' friends or nephews , but you are expected to make a bit more of an effort with your own boys !

While he does love to read and swim and jump on the trampoline and socialize with friends and watch movies and write stories , his abiding love at 14 is definitely his Xbox 360 . So as a part of his birthday present this year ( which also included new Xbox games ) I made him some graphic art for his room , using quotes from two of his favourite games - Portal 2 and Crysis 2 .

I used the photo editing site Picnik (sadly closing down in April - boo hoo) , but you can use any word processing program that allows you to manipulate spacing and fonts .

 Once printed out in high quality on glossy A4 photo paper , I framed each of the 3 quotes in black frames with double white mats . This makes them a bit larger, with alot more presence. I couldn't get 3 frames exactly the same, so the two quotes from Portal have the same frames, the one from Crysis is slightly different .

I think he was pleased , though it is hard to tell as 14-year-old boys tend to be a bit ' meh ' .

 If you would like to have a closer look at the quotes or fonts , or print them for any Portal or Crysis fans that you know , you can click on them above (my own work, so feel free to use) .

P.S. “Some parents say it is toy guns that make boys warlike. But give a boy a rubber duck and he will seize its neck like the butt of a pistol and shout 'Bang!' ” George F. Will