This post is sponsored by Brother. All opinions expressed are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that keep The Crafted Life Making!
If you’re looking for a project to help you de-stress and also want to do something nice for a neighbor or friend, I’ve got you covered with this DIY housewarming gift! It’s the perfect bundle to leave on the porch/doorstep for a lovely and personalized surprise. Let’s spread a little more joy in the world together, shall we?!! Here’s how I put together my housewarming gift basket:
Materials
– Brother ScanNCut DX Electronic Cutting Machine
– Brother P-touch Embellish ELITE + satin ribbon
– Iron on vinyl
– Tea towel
– Iron
– Basket and additional items (optional)
Brother tools are great for beginning, intermediate, and/or expert crafters and DIY-ers. You can keep it as simple or complex as you’d like! The ScanNCut DX electronic cutting machine has several fun shapes and text already loaded in the image library or you can upload and design your own. I decided to design a pretzel and you can grab the SVG file for my design here for free! Just download to save and the image will be visible and ready to use.
Remove any vinyl you don’t want to be on the towel (weed out your design) while keeping the shiny covering on. Place your design on the towel shiny side up and iron.
Remove the clear vinyl backing and let cool.
To wrap the tea towel for your gift basket, make a custom ribbon with the Brother P-touch Embellish ELITE! You can use whatever saying you prefer. I used Home Sweet Home for mine, but Welcome to the Neighborhood would also be nice. If you’re been neighbors for a while, you can still make them a porch basket to cheer them up. Just use text that’s a little more personal if you know them more.
Roll your towel up and secure with the ribbon.
And now it’s time to assemble your basket! For mine, I used kitchen items like jam, a spoon, tea, candles, and the towels but you can really go in so many directions. Maybe you pair the towels with wine or a candle. You could even include local restaurant menus or a typed out guide to your favorite places to help your neighbors find new spots.
And that’s it! I think these would be such a wonderful thing to make for all your neighbors, new and old. We could all use a pick me up these days. It’s been a year since the pandemic started and I know it’s really weighing on all of us. I’m thinking about making these for a few friends and leaving them on their steps as a surprise. Plus it’ll give me an excuse to craft, and what’s not to love about that?
