housewarming

I've been wanting to send my sister a housewarming gift for awhile now and finally got around to shipping it off a couple of days ago. She graduated from Michigan State in December and moved a couple of states away in January for her new job. We're all proud of her bravery and accomplishments though we miss her like crazy. She's all settled in now with friends and a comfortableness with her new position so hopefully, these goodies will help make her apartment a bit more homey.

Izzy...always getting in on the act.

I included a few store bought items and a couple of handmade - a good mix that I think she'll like. Among the items in the box, a photo of me and both my sisters at my brother's wedding last summer, a small postcard sized drawing from Izzy, a print from Kal Barteski (I bought a set of prints a few years ago from her that included that elephant, I don't see it available anymore) a notebook, the candle that smells SO good I almost couldn't bear parting with it, and a small banner and set of notecards that I made for her.

She has been great about making an effort to stay in touch with everyone. I thought a small set of notecards would be a good way to encourage her to keep it up. The cards are quarter sheet size that I printed and sewed (if you'd like to print your own, you can grab the PDF here.) I thought about designing an address stamp for her but without knowing yet exactly how long she plans to stay in her current place, I went with printed envelopes instead. I just set up a template, printed a few, attached the blank envelopes with a glue stick and re-ran the sheets through the printer. I used this glue stick and the envelopes popped right back off with no residue. Here is a download link for the envelope templates - simply adjust the text size and line spacing before printing!

For the banner, I used this font (though you could easily freehand this) and a 6x6 Studio Calico pad and hot glued the letters to a length of yarn. Simple! This cordless glue gun is rad. This was the first project I used it on but I'll be using it a LOT more from now on. If I could get it in a color other than pink, I'd declare it perfect.

I still haven't done a March do something wrap up or shared an April goal but little surprises like this one is the gist of it. I'm hopeful it brightened her day when it showed up on her doorstep :)