Sam's Gift Box

My baby sister's birthday is July 28th. She'll be 19! She'll also be in Hawaii for her birthday. She's not flying back until sometime in August (soso jealous!) but last time she was out there, she sent me a care package. By the time I got it, it was too late for me to make her one and send it out because by the time it got there, she'd be back home. Her boyfriend, Dan, will be receiving some goodies too but those are more up to Benjamin. I'll also probably get some novelty Boston things like postcards and shirts to send to him since he always sends me Hawaii gear. We're both so happy to be out of our small town in New Jersey, we take pride in our new homes.

For the sister gifts!

1. Hidden Treasure Beaded Necklace from Ruche. On sale for 5 bucks. Perfect little accessory for the beach
2. Japanese Cherry Blossoms Mini Journal from Ruche. My mom, sister, and I all have cherry blossom tattoos. We have a few matching ones together. She said during her last trip she wish she kept a journal to go along with photos she took and stuff. So, I picked out this 4 dollar mini journal she could keep in her purse to jot down her adventure when they're traveling to and from place to place. And, instead of reciting what she did the entire trip to everyone who asks, she could just be like, "Hey, read my travel journal!" I think it's a cool little gift.
3. Sister are Friends Forever floral mug from Ruche. I LOVE this. I almost kept it for myself. My sister is a big coffee drinker like I am and loves her big mugs. I also got her into drinking tea (yay, small victory! Benjamin is next) so it's a perfect tea cup. She'll be in Hawaii for over a month so I figured she could have her own mug at Dan's... and if she leaves it there instead of bringing it home, there will always be a little piece of me in Hawaii for when she visits. It'll also be a daily reminder to Dan of the lovely Gordon Sisters :)
4. Nibus Mesh Lined Panel Zip Hoodie from The Hempest. I got this for Sam, on sale, at the Hempest Store on Newbury Street in Boston. Except the one I got her has the colors reversed. Both of our favorite colors is purple, so it was hard to pack that away for her. But since they were on sale, I couldn't resist and got myself one too. Mine is dark green and light green, yay!
5. Wood Wood Printed Ontario Maxi Dress from Urban Outfitters. This I am NOT buying. My sister is 5'9 (3 inches taller than me!) and has super long legs and a beautiful shape. She would look so great in a maxi dress. Except, I want to make one for her! I love UO so much that I browsed their site for inspiration. If I keep up on my sewing lessons and work hard, I think I could make this next weekend or something. So there's a project... I'll of course be documenting the progress and posting a how-to!
6. Pretty Penny Racerback Striped Maxi Dress from Urban Outfitters. I'm not buying this either. Another maxi dress inspiration. I wanted two different styles to expand my skills, as well get some variety just in case one comes out absolutely horrible. They seem simple enough but we'll see how well I handle it.

I'll also of course be throwing in little things here and there like little bows (there's a lesson in the E-Course and Sam's favorite accessory of all time is bows), some of my favorite things, and whatever else I come across that makes me think of my little sister.

I'm excited to send packages back and fourth. Sam and I went from spending every waking second together in the summer to living across the... I don't even know... country? half way across the Pacific? ... from each other. We're 19 months apart. We're Irish Twins. This will help us be connected. We could remind each other that no matter how far, we're sisters, we're best friends, and we'll always be there for each other. Even when she's a couple time zones away (it's a 6 hour time difference... ah!)

Ben's sister, Lauren, also sent us a little thinking-of-you care package. Ben and I wanna put something for her together but we've been lazy. Though I did send her a subscription to Umba Box since I got one for myself. She's all the way in Chicago. Her and I will be able to bond over our monthly homemade goods. She is my ultimate motivation and inspiration... if anyone could be perfect it'd be Lauren. She's always so happy and the most approachable, loveable, energetic, genuine, and caring person that, I swear, you'll ever meet... and her talent, omg! Everything she makes is beautiful. I just love my boyfriend's family and I know they'll be my family one day as well :)

New Sewing Machine!!!!

I am so grateful. With my paycheck tomorrow morning, I was planning on buying myself a sewing machine to get my sewing projects started. Ben's parents were to visit tonight so we could go out to dinner, so I had one picked out on Amazon and was just going to run it by Ben's Mom, Laurie, to see if it was okay. When they got to our apartment, Ben's Dad walked in holding a box which turned out to be a sewing machine!!!! I was so excited! I couldn't believe Laurie bought this for me. It was so thoughtful and it makes me so happy that she's just as excited for me to learn as I am. It was great motivation and now I can finally stop talking about everything I'm going to do and now I could actually do it.

Tomorrow after work it's to the fabric store! Ben doesn't want me going alone but I'd rather do this trip solo. The last thing I need is him rushing me around when I'm trying to figure out what I want. Not only will I have trouble deciding what to choose, I also don't have any idea of what I'm doing. I'm mostly nervous about how much fabric to buy. I'd rather buy too much than too little but I'm also trying to save money here. I'm excited for this new shopping trip :)

As for Laurie's gifts, I got... (ignore the terribly quality of the picture. it was taken on my iPhone in my poorly lit room... or as Ben and I call it.. my cave)

a Brother LX2500 sewing machine!

a utility box filled with all the basic sewing tools

and..

a pattern to learn how to read them, alter them, and see how to make my own! :) Also those are the two fabrics I got on sale at Joann's that Laurie taught me some basics last time Ben and I slept at their house.

I made a basic wrap skirt with the second pattern on the bottom. We couldn't find any fabrics in my size at the time (the smallest they make is a size 6... I'm a 0 or 2. sigh.) so we used a hemp wrap skirt my sister sent me from Hawaii as our pattern. It actually came out very nicely! I'll be making my sister her own skirt to wear in Hawaii as well some other things as I learn. I'll post a how-to on the wrap skirt I make in the next coming days :)

I also plan on purchasing this D.I.Y. Dress Up E-course from Red Velvet (which I got to via A Beautiful Mess blog). It has 17 sessions, each it's own project. You learn how to make things from bags, dresses, tops, and more; as well as alteration and make-your-own-pattern lessons. If you're interested, you better hurry! This e-course is only available for purchase until July 31st. Everyone who has purchased the course will still have access to it, but after July 31st no new purchases will be able to be made.

I'm also going to convince Benjamin to let me use his nice camera to take pictures :) He's very supportive of all my new found hobbies, or my want to make these hobbies work. I'm too excited. My mom even asked me to make her curtains. Can't wait! :)

What I want to do.

Here are a few projects I want to work on...

• Project Life
• Mini Paper Book Album
• Two Scrapbooks : One for my Mom, one for Ben's Dad
• My own summer clothes collection (one skirt down!)
• Hemp bracelets (first one came out ehhhh...)

Is that too ambitious??? I really don't think so. I already started scrap book #1 for Mama Gordon... but so far its proven difficult. It's hard to design a layout for a page in a scrap book with no physical photos.. but it's also hard to choose which photos I want from my phone on the page. I knew there had to be a way to get my pictures from my handy iPhone to actual prints. I found out this great App, PostalPix. You choose what type of print you want (4x4, 5x5, 8x8 squares or the regular 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10) I have 53 5x7s chosen to print as well as 7 other prints and my total is $49.92. Not too bad for 60 photos and almost all 5x7s! Just have to wait for my paycheck to clear then considered it ordered. This is perfect to print out my artsy Instagram photos.

My next purchase will probably be photos for Project Life. It's supposed to be week-by-week but I figure I could skip a couple if they're uneventful or just get the written parts and decorative part out of the way while I order photos for a couple weeks at a time. That way, when they come, I could just slip them in their appropriate spot.

Tomorrow I also plan on ordering a sewing machine and external hard drive. I'm most excited about taking on sewing, so I can't wait to buy and have it shipped to my house. I've also been putting off getting an external hard drive since high school. I've already had my hard drive crap out on me twice and I just had to get my MacBook Pro's hard drive fixed from my school's techies. I was so glad they were able to save it, I'm done chancing it and finally breaking down and buying one. I'll thank myself later. Sigh.