We are in the thick of the moving/buying/selling chaos. Everything is up in the air right now, and it’s so stressful. Honestly, it makes me really happy we didn’t try to do this last year with a newborn, like the original plan was.
While we’re in the process of all of this, we got some new neighbors. They are a lovely young family, with a toddler and another baby on the way literally any day now. I just… I can’t imagine the stress THEY must be going through.
So while we won’t be their neighbors for long (HOPEFULLY), I still wanted to do something to welcome them. After my husband and I both stopped by to introduce ourselves, offer up any tools they need, and let them know we’d happily haul away any empty boxes they have, I put together a little basket of goodies for them.
I was inspired to personalize a wood cutting board by this pin I ran across a couple weeks ago.
I have a simple wood-burning tool that I purchased to make a Father’s Day gift this year, and it’s (figuratively) burning a hole in my craft closet, begging me to use it more.
It’s the Creative Versa-Tool, and you can get it from Amazon for less than $25.
I purchased the cutting board from Target for $12, but any wood cutting board will do the trick.
The only other stuff you need is Graphite Paper (transfer paper), which you can find at any craft store. And you’ll also need to create the design you want on the board.
I made a simple circular design in Photoshop Elements (using the text on shape tool) with their new home address- blurred out a bit here for obvious reasons. Then used a contrasting font to type Welcome Home in the center.
Cut a piece of transfer paper just big enough to fit under your design (then store the rest for later projects because that stuff ain’t cheap). Tape both pieces down with low tack tape (like masking tape or painters tape), and trace over your design with a soft pencil.
Once you remove the papers, the design will be traced onto your board, and you can go over it with your wood burner.
Admittedly, my wood-burning skills need work, but I was happy with the finished result.
I put it in a basket (from the Dollar Section at Target) and included a couple of my favorite Mrs Meyers products, some flour sack towels, and a ball and bubbles for their toddler.
It only took me about an hour to complete this, design to finish.
Did your neighbors do anything to welcome you to your neighborhood? Have you done anything similar? I’d love to hear more ideas