T3BFF - birthday present and muffins (#03)

In case you don’t know, on August 1^st is birthday to Stefani Anderson, this girl who is smart. You can see her featured on the Lettering Newsletter Student spotlight issue one which came out July 30.

Stefani and Lily are practically the same you know, they’re close friends since during elementary school where they went to the same animal lovers club together. They’re both nerds, and Lily wants to do something special for her on her birthday.

So, while Lily and Chloe browse through some gift ideas, Emma and Rachel – an ambitious student with awesome and unpredictable fashion who literally dyes her hair every two weeks – are making muffins.

Illinois Family Beach House Mansion

“So… Where are we gonna do our research? Pinterest? Etsy? Amazon? Tumblr? Or do we just check her wish list?” Chloe asks.

“What wish list? She has no wish list.” Lily replied. “But I do know a couple of stationaries she talked to me about wanting a few months ago. I’m not sure if she still wants it.”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “Of course, it’s stationary.”

“Well duh, what else would it be. Plus, she knows how to take good care of stationary unlike you who lost the green cat journal I got you for your birthday last month.” Says Lily.

“Fine. I search Pinterest. You do you.” Chloe takes out her phone.

“Okay, so according to a few months ago, she wants 3 things – an entire pack of colored pens, a clear pencil case with flower motifs, and flower-themed rulers. So, it looks like she’s sticking with the flower theme.” Lily said.

“Oh, I know where we can get a clear pencil case with flower motifs and a flower printed ruler. I saved it to my ‘School Aesthetic’ board.” Says Chloe.

“Well, the neat part is that all we need to buy is a clear white ruler, which we can get at Greenpark Stationary Mart, and a transparent large pencil case.” Said Lily as she closes her phone.

“We can also buy it at Etsy.” Chloe said.

“Why buy it at Etsy when all we need is to buy 15 different colored pens for 120 dollars, a 30 cm clear white ruler for 5 dollars, and a transparent large pencil case for 11 dollars?” Explained Lily.

Chloe sighed. “Okay… I see where this is heading…”

“We’re gonna DIY the flower-y part!” Lily squealed in excitement as she takes out her painting set. “Oh, and I’m also gonna DIY a very own case for the multi-colored pens. Thank God granny thought me how to knit last year.”

“I’m not gonna help with anything since I don’t know how to paint.” Chloe grinned.

“If you don’t want to you don’t have to help, as long as you’re still coming with me to GP Stationary Mart.”

“Fine. I’m also going shopping for a new eraser.” Chloe takes out her wallet.

“Of course, you lost yours so soon.” Lily sighed. Classic Chloe habit.

Emma Phoenix’s house

As Emma and Rachel wait for the muffins to finish baking so they can decorate them, the two had some fun scrapbooking – or basically ripping paper and gluing stickers on a piece of paper.

“How the hell do you do calligraphy??” Emma asks, confused as she ended up with random letter scribbles on her piece of paper.

“I don’t know. That’s why I’m just writing in all caps and then adding shades using highlighters.” Rachel proudly showed her neat all-capital handwriting, that says ‘IDK HOW TO SCRAPBOOK’

“Darn right we don’t how to scrapbook.” Emma chuckled.

“We should play some music.” Rachel grabs her phone and opens Spotify. “You like Blank Space?” She played Blank Space by Taylor Swift.

“Chloe’s literally obsessed with this song. Me? Not so much. But the vibe is cool, I guess.” Answered Emma as she continues to stick stickers.

“Do you even have a favorite song, Emma?”

“Eh… Not really. I only listen a few trending songs through Instagram reels without really knowing how the full and original song goes.” Emma said.

“Yeah, I relate to that. I mean, I never fully know how As it Was goes.” 

They basically continue scrapbooking until the oven dings, and then start decorating their muffins with all sorts of toppings and many different colored creams. Meanwhile, Lily and Chloe are back from shopping.

Lily’s house in Greenpark.

“My weakness is probably not knowing how to gift wrap…” Lily said as they arrive with 15 colored pens, a large transparent pencil case, and a 30 cm long clear-white ruler.

“I usually just put the gift in a bag and let them keep the bag too.” Chloe said.

“That’s… Kinda smart! I have lots of plain tote bags and I can DIY them and draw stuff on them! I’m sure she’ll love it.” Lily said excitedly.

“It’s all about DIY…” Chloe sighed once again.

“Come on! It’s all about creativity and it saves money.” Lily answered smiling as she grabs an empty white tote bag from inside her closet.

“Yeah, your money since this is your gift.”

“Are you planning on giving her anything?” Lily asks as she grab her painting supplies and start painting the bag.

“Em… Nope. Nothing.” Chloe said, not really feeling bad.

“That’s fine. I’ll give you some credit on my gift.” Lily answered.

“Yay!” Chloe replied cheerfully. “So… Am I gonna do anything? Help you with stuff perhaps?”

“Well since I’m done with the DIY pencil case, you can put the colored pens on the pockets. If you can, make it color-coded.” Lily said.

“Wow. You already made the pencil case days before?” Chloe grabbed a piece of dark green sheet, with rubber places for the pens, you can roll the sheet and secure the bundle with a leather clip.

“Actually, I just finished it last night.” Lily replied.

“Nice.” Chloe said impressed. “How long until your paint dries?”

“Should be dried by dinner time.” Answered Lily as she focuses on painting. “What flowers should I add on the ruler?”

“I dunno. Sunflowers?”

“Yeah. That’s a good idea.” Lily continues painting.

It didn’t take long until Lily finished painting. As they waited for it to dry, Chloe went back to her home and leaves Lily with the rest of the job. Meanwhile, Emma and Rachel are decorating their muffins!

Emma Phoenix’s house.

“What are you using to decorate your muffin?” Rachel asks Emma.

“I’m going with abstract!” She replied.

“Yeah… I figured.” Said Rachel. “I’m going with rainbow leopard!”

“Ok, good luck.” Emma said plainly as she starts adding random colored cream into her chocolate muffin.

Soon, they’re done with the muffin. Rachel made a white frosted muffin and added colorful dots into them, while Emma ended up making a red-and-white mushroom muffin. Yummy!

“Cheers to our muffins.” Emma lifted her mushroom muffin.

“Cheers.” They both ate their muffin.