The Sisters

The sisters behind the suitcase. 
(Then)

(Now)

Here’s a quick rundown of us.

Holly:

Older sister, mom of four, freckles, 5’10”, loves to sing, Netflix junkie, home decorator, Junior Mints addict (actually any chocolate will do), perfectionist, procrastinator, power shopper. 

Instagram: @sisterssuitcaseholl

Nat:

Younger sister, mom of two, 6′ tall, loves to sing, night owl, Photoshop master, Dr. Pepper/Diet Coke connoisseur, children’s book junkie, Disney fan, former elementary teacher.

Instagram: @mysisterssuitcase

We started this blog together in September of 2011. After moving 8 hours away from each other that year, we were looking for a way to stay connected and share our latest creations. Now, we enjoy getting to build a business together, and we have loved the journey! Our blog has definitely evolved over the years, but we try to share simple ideas for decor, DIY projects, gifts, printables, and parties that anyone can replicate. We also post about activities we enjoy doing with our kids, and some of our favorite holiday ideas. That’s kind of our blog in a nutshell, but there’s a lot more to us 🙂 If you want to stick around and read more about our story, here it is….

My sis is my best friend. (We call each other “My Sis” instead of our names. I have no idea how that started, but it stuck.) Yeah, I know that is cliche, but it’s true. She’s the person who totally gets me. She inspires me to be better. When I have one of those days where I have to lock myself in my room to maintain my sanity, she is the person I call. And when something good happens in my life, she is the person I want to share it with.

We weren’t always so close…. we are seven years apart. It seems like nothing now, but when I was 15 and she was 8, I was probably the bossy older sister and she was the annoying little sister I had to share a room with. Honestly, I can’t even remember ever being annoyed by her, but I must have been because I strategically placed a huge bookcase in between our beds to divide our room in half! (Sorry my sis!!)

WARNING: Scary picture from our childhood. Isn’t Nat cute? I can’t even comment on my fashion choices.

I graduated from high school when I was 17 and Nat was 10. That summer, she moved and I went to college. Two years later, I moved back in with my mom and got to be roomies with my sis. At this point, I was 20 and she was 13. That six months was one of the most amazing times in my life.

I got to really know Nat, and be there for her as a friend, not just a sister. We went on late night shopping trips together, stayed up and listened to music, talked and laughed, and I even got to be the first person to ever wax her eyebrows! Hahaha…. good times.

At the end of the summer, I moved away to go back to school and it was so hard to be away from her! I got married that year, and in some ways everything changed but we still stayed as close as ever. I was there for her prom, her graduation, and when she went to college, I loved visiting and hanging out with her and her roomies. We went on trips together (Hawaii, New York, man…. those were the days!) concerts (Josh Groban), scrapbooked together, and always looked forward to our Wild Women Weekends. Right after I had my first baby, my husband was blessed to find a job in Southern Utah and we were finally moving back home!

We had so much fun being in towns close to each other… one of my favorite things to do with Nat is sing with her. We were able to be in a choir together for several years and that was an amazing experience. I got to be there with her when her first baby was born. Those are memories I will always treasure.

Then in 2010, my family made the decision to move away for a good opportunity for my hubby’s career. We packed up and moved all the way up to Idaho, 8 hours away from my sis! Being so far away was really hard for me, and after having my third child at the beginning of my first Idaho winter… I started to feel really isolated and depressed. I missed that part of me who was always a better version of myself when I was with her. I missed singing together, I missed her silliness and her creativity.

About this time is when I discovered the world of blogs. A few of the blogs I read first were Natalie’s Sentiments, House of Smiths, and Vintage Revivals. I distinctly remember one day when I literally stayed in my pajamas all day, glued to my computer, until it started getting dark outside and I realized my husband was coming home and my kids probably needed to eat 🙂 I was blown away by what these women were doing, and how they were sharing their creativity and their lives with us.

I knew then that this is something I wanted to do. And I wanted it to be something I could do with Nat, something to connect us when we were so far apart. She was a young mom at the time too, and both of us were craving a creative outlet, something that we could share with other moms who might be looking for the same thing.

We called our blog My Sister’s Suitcase because I always looked forward to those times when Nat would come visit for a few days and I got to see her suitcase sitting in the hallway. With young families, it is hard for us to see each other more than a few times a year. So those times became very precious!

Now that we have been blogging together for a few years, we are blessed to be able to take “business” trips together and celebrate what we have built together. We love the sense of community we have found in the creative blog world, and we have made wonderful friends along the way. It is a dream come true to share a business and a passion with my sister. We really just love to make things and share them with you guys!

If you have made it this far into our story, congratulations!! Here are some random facts about us so you can get to know us a little better. If you haven’t already been traumatized enough by the old pictures 🙂

Random facts about Holly:

Random Facts about Nat:

8. Speaking of kids, I kind of obsess over children’s lit. If I had all the money in the world I would want to own a cute little “shop around the corner” type bookshop. Buuut, since my priority right now is Mommy, I settle with the public library. And I’m okay with that. I get pretty excited. Yes, over books for my kids.

Here are some authors you need to check out (literally. At your local library.) if you haven’t already:

Mo Willems {Elephant and Piggie Series, Pigeon series}
Chris Raschka
Rosemary Wells {my daughter is going through a Max & Ruby phase and I kinda love it.}
Anna Dewdney
Bob Shea

“Books, check ’em out!” – California Raisins

9. Our family loves Disneyland. It’s kind of our brother Bryan who is passionate about it and has shared that with us. I mean, we have always loved it and were lucky to go as kids, but he is the best tour guide when we go as a family!

So I talked my husband into going when our first was a baby (on my birthday) and we went again when our little boy was the same age (on my hubby’s birthday).