My “girl” cousins (I mean, we’re grown-arse women) and I decided to meet up somewhere warm for a visit. We’re all in the West and we chose AZ so as to minimize the travel time and maximize the Cousin Time. I wanted to take them each a little gift and I made these to adorn them.
We came from Montana, Oregon, and Nevada so I differentiated those states and Arizona. The orange date tag is stamped and heat embossed. The name plaque has individual die cut letters and enamel dots.
The gifts were these Cousin Explainer tea towels from Spoonflower. Two of us are the kids of siblings and one is the kid of our parents’ cousin. It was fun to figure that out and then see what kind of cousins the next generation is to each of us.
After our plans were finalized (Phoenix area), I decided to reach out to some some people I know who live there to see if they would want and have time to meet up after my cousin trip ended. Of the three, two were game! And these two were people I had never met IRL… so exciting! They got Montana-y tea towels that I didn’t get pictures of for some reason. 
First, I met Peggy for lunch. She is someone I’ve become good friends with who started as an Etsy customer! The construction was very similar to the others. She got a 
because the letters were more than a tiny bit off-center. 
Then the next day, I got to meet Bunny1kenobi for breakfast!
This one is made quite a bit differently. I have this fun cryptid-themed printed cardstock pad and for seem reason those seem like nighttime critters. I die cut the states and fussy cut the Bigfoot and the Jackalope. The big, blank Midwest needed something it got a cloudy moon. Her name has is cut out of the plaque with a paper behind it. It was the first I cut and WAY fussier than gluing tiny letters on! 
The tag paper is various stitches; a nod to our meeting through crafting.
I love a map, so I think I’ll get a lot of use from this die set. I might use it to try to document all the states that Bigfoot and I visit. Previously, he and I have only met in the Phoenix airport, but now I’ve seen him around the Phoenix area.
