These past couple of weeks have been pretty rough for one of my best friends. This time, it wasn't just a little thing, it was big. So I really felt like she needed more than a card or a friendly text to give her a little cheer. One thing that popped into my head immediately was something I had seen on pinterest quite a bit... A SUNSHINE BOX!!! Now, let's be real, who wouldn't want a sunshine box?! If you've never heard of one or seen one, here's one right here, but you should definitely go look up some more ideas on pinterest!
The basic concept is to give/send a care package to a loved one with things that are yellow. Come on now, who doesn't smile just a little bit when looking at yellow. It's such a warm, joyful, happy color. You can literally make it with anything though, and it's super easy. Pinterest has some neat themed ones for kitchen/housewarming, there's some awesome soothing ones with bubble bath and candles etc. Here are a few easy tips to get one similar to the one I made.
What you'll need:
1. Lots of yellow things
You can make as big or as small of a box as you want. You could even just get 4 things and send a small package.
2. Yellow Scrapbook Paper (I used 2 sheets of glitter paper from Hobby Lobby. You could also use paint.)
3. Glue, if you're not using paint. (I used tacky spray glue. AWESOME stuff. Makes gluing fun and super quick and easy, although my kitchen table didn't like it very much :P )
4. Black Sharpie (or any marker or paint) for words and chevron
5. Yellow Easter grass
6. (Optional) A box (if you're sending a package) a basket (if giving it to someone close)
7. Ribbon
Put it all together:
I started off with the box panels. I sprayed one with the glue, then stuck the sparkle paper to it. Once it was stuck, I cut off the extras. I was conscious of my cutting so that I could use the same piece on another panel instead of wasting a whole other sheet. I got all four panels glued and then put the Easter basket grass in the bottom of the box. I had 2 different kinds, paper and then a sheer plastic-y one. I mixed them together. Once you get your grass (or whatever bedding you want to use) set, start adding your yellow gift items to the box. I got some super cute ribbons (again, at Hobby Lobby! Go crazy every time I'm in there :P ) and tied them around some of the items, but not all of them. I arranged everything so it would fit and still look cute. It was actually easier than I imagined. When they were all placed, I had got some awesome stencils, show below. On the 2 bigger panels I traced out "Sunshine Box" with a sharpie. On one of the smaller panels I got this AWESOME chevron stencil and traced that on with marker. On the last one I just wrote a little message and signed it. When all of the insides were finished, I sealed it up and then taped my card to the outside of the box. My awesome mom then wrapped the box for my in brown paper wrapping paper (she's a WAY better wrapper than me.. what, what?! Thanks mom :) ) Then I tied up with some string with yellow accents and addressed it. (Brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things! Cliche, but really, I LOVE them! :) Last up, address and send off.
Super quick and easy, and a WONDERFUL way to spread some joy to those you love. I was really upset though when I got to the post office.. The lady made me cute my string off :( She said it would get caught in the machines. Understandable.. But still.
This was more of a comfort box, so...
In my box I included:
Mason jar glass (in yellow box!)
Burt's Bee's chapstick
Yellow Frosting
Nilla Wafers
Yellow Care Bear
Wine Opener
Yellow nailpolish and polish decorating pen (I almost felt bad because this particular friend has like 1 million polishes and counting ;)
Scarf
Pinwheel
Ice Cubes gum
Extra gum
Candle
Flower with jewel (sticky on the back)
Playdough (who doesn't love playdough?!?!?!)
I got stuff from a few different places, but my favorite was Hobby Lobby! There prices are always great and have lots of sales. They also have EVERYTHING and more than you could ever need. There they had the scrapbook paper, stencils, ribbon, string wrapping paper, grass, string, and pinwheels. Basically all of your crafting supplies and a few gifts too.
You don't have to do near as much as I did (or you can do far more!) You probably have almost everything you'd need lying around the house. Just grab a few yellow gifts/food items.
The chevron stencil is like this, but without those little birds on it. I colored it all on with shaprie! You could just paint it too, probably quicker!
The finished masterpiece!
Before my poor ribbon was "clap, clap... cut off!" (Pitch Perfect pun anyone?! :)
So get out there and spread some sunshine!
