Sentimental gifts are always the best, right?! One of my most treasured gifts was a simple board with words on it. Yep words. My dear friend Alison made ‘subway art‘ with words that reminded her of me. It melts my heart every time I look at it. When thinking about gifts for my neighbors, I wanted it to be something sentimental, easy, and inexpensive. Combine that with my deep love for hot chocolate and vwallah: Hot Chocolate Art! 😉
My family and I sat down and made a list of words that described a family in our neighborhood. We then picked words that described each individual in that family. After we had our list we simply plugged the words into Wordle and watched it create beautiful word art.
If you’ve never used Wordle before, you simply plug in words, and it creates a word collage. If you want certain words emphasized, simply repeat that word several times. Fabulous site!
We wrapped the ‘family word art’ around a can of hot chocolate.
We then wrapped the ‘individual word art’ around a Styrofoam cup for each member of the family.
We attached a little note to the can of hot-cocoa that said…
I like to imagine the family gathering around, having a cup of hot cocoa, and discussing all the sweet words that
describe them. Warm stomachs, and warm hearts. 🙂 You can’t beat it.
I hope it makes them smile.
—
Thank you for the opportunity to be on the fabulous U-create today! We always feel so honored for the invitation. 🙂
So cute! I’m a teacher and our school Christmas party is this week. I was already planning on making homemade hot chocolate packets for my students. I’m going to make these cups to go with them!!!
I have a couple of questions, 1.) How did you shrink your words to fit on that cup? I just tried, but it fills a whole page.
2.) What font did you use for the note that you attached to your package? I love it!
Love this idea Shelley! The Hoopes are lucky to have you as neighbors too!
I had to immediately go try out Wordle- thanks for sharing! I can see this going places!!!
I’m so glad you all like the idea! 🙂
To size your ‘wordle art’, simply save it as a pdf and open it in photoshop. Re-size the art to the measurements of the cups / hotchocolate. Any photo program would work. Or you could play around with sizing the %’s on your print settings. 🙂
The font is Pea Hannah Vanilla (a free font from kevinandamanda.com).
Hope that helps! 🙂
I love this idea!! Great gift!
Awesome! Thanks for answering my questions!
Mel
Oh my! I love, love, love this idea! I can already think of several families I could do this for!
Thank you so much!!!
This takes the cake! I have several people that this would be perfect for! Love it!
So, so, so, SO cute Shelley!! I know what I am doing for my neighbors now! Thanks so much for sharing this amazing and very thoughtful gift!
How clever is that! (Very!) Thanks for the great idea! I better head on over to Wordle!
I love this!! Just awesome!!
xoxo
Jen
I absolutely love this idea!!! I’m going to go try it out now!!
how amazingly clever!
Okay, I love this! I had the same question as anonymous abous about shrinking, however, now I don’t know how to save it as a PDF.
I’m slow. Sorry.
thanks!
great idea; great ‘wordle’ link [bookmarked!]; i would swap-out styrofoam for paper or other biodegradable/compostable cup; how about adding a monogramed spoon[dollar store] to remind them of your yummy gift the rest of the year & leave them wondering what treat they have to look forward to next year from you?!
Such a great idea. I wonder who the “Hoopes” family is? That’s my maiden name.
-Tara
I am so glad the wordle site was shared. I to don’t know how to save as a PDF file. I read the site’s tutorial but it states you need a third party software to do it? Do you have an easy way to save PDF files?
Thanks.
Love the possibilities! How did you access the kevin and amanda font from the wordle site if I may ask?
I saw this on Beneath my Heart – its adorable!!
How do you save it as a pdf? Help! I love this idea.
Clicked over from Beneath My Heart – I’m not sure how I missed this when you first posted it. SO cute! Absolutely LOVE this idea and how personalized it is!
You can save as a PDF when you go to ‘print’ like usual. Chose save as a PDF instead of picking your normal printer. Does that help?! 🙂 -Shelley {HowDoesShe.com}
This is such a great idea!
My wheels are spinning with so many possibilities!! In case anyone is having trouble finding wordle it is http://www.wordle.net I tried .com and got nowhere. For those of you who are unable to save as a pdf file try this. (It is easy once you try) Go to the office button on the lower left side of the screen. Search for Snipping tool. When the snipping tool opens select rectagle. This works just like a pair of scissors. You can then save the image to your computer and insert it into various programs like Word or Open Office. I was able to resize my Wordle to get 4 on a page to make gift tags.
just done a pen pot for eldest son starting high school – fab – possibilities seem endless
Had to say how much I love this! Not only is the idea wonderful, but also I was looking for a new way to generate subway art! Thank you, thank you!
Thanks for sharing! I was already planning to make homemade flavored marshmallows (my first attempt!) and chocolate dipped spoons to go along with hot chocolate packets for my neighbors but this is something I just have to add in for a particularly lovely neighbour!! Great idea!!
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