Lately I've been quite sentimental when I think about my early blogging days. Six years ago there was a small online community of women who enjoyed arts + crafts + design and many of us had little ones. We would post photographs of our kids and our latest creations and we formed these personal connections with one another even though many of us had never met in person. It was back then that I realized that for many of us we needed "something" outside of our identity as wife, mother and worker. For me my blog provided me with a creative outlet and was a little space on the web that was "all mine". Back then "swaps" were fairly common, I hosted a few of my own. People would sign up to participate in a "swap" [each with a different theme], make their goodies and send them off to someone that they most likely never met in person. Over the years the community grew and swaps became less prevalent. A few months ago I tweeted about how J was making freezer paper stencil t-shirts for his 2nd grade market and Paula and I exchanged a few tweets. I suggested we do a simple swap for t-shirts.
The boys helped me make a few t-shirts and we filled a box with the t-shirts and a few Valentine's Day related goodies.
We repackaged red + white paper straws, handmade cupcake toppers + Valentine's Day M&Ms. Let me tell you everything looks better when repackaged.
We also sent a box of strawberry pocky with a vintage [is 3+ years considered vintage?] SHIM + SONS gift tag.
My favorite part of course is packaging it all up.
Jen's custom Valentine's Day cards came in handy. I printed them out in a smaller size to use as a gift tag. [And can I tell you how proud I am of J because he's been working on his handwriting and he's made huge improvements! His writing is on the gift tag.]
I haven't had a chance to take photographs of the adorable t-shirts Paula + KJ + Ellie sent the boys. The boys love them! More than anything I love how a simple swap connects us to a beautiful family in Alabama that we've never met [but plan to meet one day].
P.S. I have a NEW project I will be sharing with you all tomorrow! I am very excited!! [And for those of you who are interested in learning how to make your own freezer paper stencil t-shirts, I'll have a simple tutorial for you.]