Sharing ... My 'Send' Swap Goodies for Francie

Hi there!  My swap partner, Francie, got her goodies today, so I can now share with you what I sent to her.  I had so much fun doing this swap, and as much as I enjoy getting happy mail, I much more enjoy getting the goodies together and packing them up to send out!  As I said in the last post, the theme for this month was weddings, and the destash colors were white and ivory.  Here is what I sent to Francie ...

Everything Together, all packaged in cellophane envies ...

Don't you love it?  Here are the individual goodies ...

The doilies on the right are small ... about 4" square, and are old.  A lady who used to follow my 'old' blog asked for my address and sent me a whole box full of old linens that she wanted to go to someone who would appreciate them.  There were probably 8 to 12 of these doilies that were made by her mother or her aunt, and Helga was in her 80's when she sent them to me a number of years ago.  I thought Francie would love them!

Some paper lace rolled onto a round 'peg' style clothes pin, some Floradoodle 'blingy' flowers, and some Anna Griffin buckles.

The Trims ... most of them came from a big grocery bag full of trims that I got for fifty cents at a yard sale a while back.  The only things NOT in that bag are the ivory eyelet lace and the white lace on the bottom tag.  The huge 'blingy' brads are from Anna Griffin.  I wrapped them all onto #5 manila tags, added some trim and the big brads to make them pretty.

The tag ... kraft paper, some eyelet, ribbon, and a sweet vintage image of a little girl dressed up like a bride. 

A little pack of wedding stickers.

Some printed out vintage wedding themed images.  I love them all, but that one on top left is just gorgeous!

The card, using one of the vintage images, some vintage 'hem' tape (lace), a white flower, purple flowers, and some Prima pearls.

And my special little gift just for Francie ... a pincushion I made using a piece of a vintage lace doily over some tan fabric, brown velvet ribbon, some heart lace, and a couple of sequins.  I love making these little (2 to 2 1/2" tall) pin cushions, and they are the perfect thing for your dresser to catch pins from the cleaners or new shirts.

So, that is it!  As I said, I had so much fun getting this package together, and hope Francie enjoys using therm!

Sharing ... Catching Up ... And Another Swap!

Hi there!  I know I've been gone for a while, but I have a good excuse!  Hubby and I spent last week camping in north central Tennessee, just northwest of Nashville.  While there we explored a lot of that part of Tennessee, a LOT of Kentucky, and had a cookout at our campsite for a friend of his who now lives and works in Nashville, and visited a friend of mine who lives north of Nashville.  It was a great week ... for the most part!

 

Our camper and Clyde at our campsite at Bledsoe Creek State Park, TN

But now I am back, and today I got a box of goodies in the mail that were so sweet!  Once again, I participated in a swap at A Swap For All Seasons, and I wasn't sure at first if I wanted to take part in this one, but I am so glad I did, because I had great partners, and had so much fun getting together the goodies for Francie, and today I got my goodies from Debby, and I have to say, she did a great job!

This swap is kind of different in that from the list of participants, the person above you in the list sends to you, and you send to the person beneath you on the list.  So Francie was my 'send to' partner and Debby was my 'receive from' partner.  This month's theme was 'weddings', and we were to share one handmade card, one tag, and some goodies from our stash that were in the white to ivory color palette.  Here is a pic of everything in the box ...

Oops ... I left one thing out, I'll show it to you down a ways!

Debby had everything wrapped up so pretty, especially the cute bride and groom!  She hand painted them for me, and they are adorable! 

 

Aren't they adorable?  Here is the card she made ... it is so cute, and I love the colors!

And this cute bride tag is so cute! 

This small (about 2" across) heart shaped bar of soap is so sweet, and smells even sweeter!  I love it, and will definitely use it soon!  And yes, this is what I left out of the group picture ... so sorry about that!

And as much as I love this adorable hand crocheted heart, I love the tag it is on almost as much!  Don't you love the mason jar?

I love Jillibean Soup, and will definitely be using these 'Smile' stickers on some future projects!

 

And here are the buttons and trims she sent ... the trims are beautiful, but those buttons all appear to be vintage, and buttons are one of my addictions!  Don't think Debby knew that, but it is true!  I have LOTS of buttons, and will always be collecting them!

 

 

Debby, thank you so much!  You did a wonderful job, and I love every little thing!  You have been a wonderful partner, and I hope I have the chance to be YOUR sending partner! 

And thanks to you folks who come and visit!  Blessings,

Sharing ... Swapping ... What I Sent To Wendy

Happy Saturday!  This morning I want to share with you the things that I sent to my 'receiving' partner for the swap at A Swap For All Seasons.  Her name is Wendy, and she lives in Iowa.  That is about all I know about Wendy, as she was not the most communicative person, which made it hard to know what to send to her.  Part of the fun, the JOY of doing this swap is getting to know someone new, and maybe even making a new friend.  My 'sending' partner, or the person who sent goodies to me, was Debbie, and we hit it off and visited via email quite a few times during this swap, and I feel as if I got to see a peek into her life in Ohio, and that was fun!

So, since I didn't know the types of things that Wendy likes, I just sent her things that I would like to receive in a swap.  As I said in the previous post, the swap was to consist of a handmade card, a handmade tag, and some yellow things from your crafting stash.  Here is what I sent to Wendy ...

Some yellow ribbons and trims, wrapped onto tags and tied together with seam binding.

Some yellow buttons, a couple of chocolate chicks, and a handmade pin cushion made from vintage chicken feed sack fabric from the 1950's.

A close-up of the pin cushion ... it is only about 2 1/2" tall.  The fabric is chicken feed sack from the chicken house we had when I was a child.  The chicken house was struck by lightening and burned down in 1958, just weeks before I turned 6 years old.  Does the ribbon look familiar?  I used some of the hand dyed seam binding that my 'sending' partner, Debbie sent me, and it was a perfect match to the fabric.  (see previous post.) 

The card and TWO tags that I made for Wendy.  The tags come with envelopes too, so that she can mail them to a friend or family member.  There's plenty of room on the back to write a quick note.  I love the image, from a vintage greeting card.

And a hand crocheted, 100% cotton dish cloth that I crocheted using two strands of yarn, one yellow and one white, and which makes the cloth very thick and heavy and great for tough jobs!

Before I packed everything up, I put it all into cellophane envelopes to protect it, then stacked it up and ...

... wrapped it all up in yellow tissue paper, wrapped it in yellow seam binding, and slipped a cute hand made tag on top, just under the seam binding.

What do you think?  How would YOU like to get this package in your mail?  I know I would, and I really hope that Wendy enjoyed opening the treasures she received.  Thanks for visiting today, and blessings!

Sharing ... Apologies for Being MIA and Another Swap ...

Hello!  I know it has been a long time, and I am so very sorry about that, but some times life just has a way of going off in another direction from where you thought you were going, and you either choose to follow, or say "HEY!  Wait a minute ... that's not where I wanted to go!".

And that's obviously not what I did!  I followed life right down the road and enjoyed the journey!

I won't go into all the details, but we here in Georgia have had some freaky weather this winter, and for the last winter blast, I found that, much as I wanted to do other things, all I could do was cook, eat, and sit at my kitchen table and watch the birds at the feeders on my back deck.  Seriously ...  I didn't have it in me to do anything else!

Then last week, I had to take Mama to a meeting on Tuesday, went to Ellijay, Georgia to 'meet' face to face a long time blog and Facebook friend, Val.  We have known each other around 7 years.  We have become such good friends, and have never been able to work it out to meet for real.  Until this time.  And I carried my friend Mary Ann, she brought her mother, granddaughter and best friend, and we had a BLAST!  We shopped, had lunch, shopped some more, then went thrifting, then went to an apple house.  Amazing day!

Thursday was my regular day at Altered Angel, and we had so much fun!

Saturday we (hubby, the dogs and I) drove up into Tennessee and Kentucky and spent the night in Lebanon, TN before heading home on Sunday morning.  It was a wonderful weekend getaway!

So, that brings me to now, the present, and a post about a gift I received yesterday.  Once again, I participated in the March swap over at A Swap For All Seasons.  Our 'assignment' this time was a handmade card, a handmade tag, and some yellow goodies from your stash.  My partner who was sending to me, was Debbie, and she has an amazing shop on Etsy full of beautiful things.  Here are the goodies she sent to me ...

All of the goodies ... so pretty!

Look at this sweet little card ... and the note inside was just as sweet!

Squares of pretty, heavy cotton fabric ... reminds me of chicken feed sacks!

The little card is so sweet, but that tag ... just beautiful and screams "SPRING".

Look at these scrumptious hand died ribbons and tags!  The ribbons are just amazing, and you can find some of your own in her Etsy shop!

A pretty hand made envelope filled with vintage images and some sweet little gold foil rabbits!

And I know this one is blurry, but look at that sweet butterfly trim and yellow marker!  And in the bottom right hand corner, there are some yellow clear plastic discs that I am thinking are tiddly winks or maybe bingo pieces.

Debbie had everything packed up so sweetly in glassine bags, with washi tapes and ribbons.  I love every single thing, and Debbie, I would be your swap partner any time!  Thank you so much for all the thought and time you put into putting together my package!

Okay, I promise I will be back again soon ... blessings,

Sharing ... Swaps ... Sandy's 521 Lake Street Valentines Swap

It had been a long time since I had done a swap, so I participated in the one at Christmas and enjoyed it very much.  So, when the Valentines swaps started popping up, I signed up for one, then a second, and then a third before finally coming to my senses!  My partner for Sandy's 521 Lake Street swap was Trisha.  We enjoyed getting to know one another via  email, and then we got busy creating our goodies for the swap.  The guidelines for this swap was ... one handmade card (new, not signed), one handmade tag, and a Valentines candy box filled with goodies from your stash.  Here is what I sent to her ...

Looking clockwise from top right, there is a cellophane envelope with some tags I made using vintage images, and a card is there to the back.  In the glassine bag on bottom right are some ribbons and lace, buttons, and die cut hearts.  Bottom left is a candy box that I altered and filled with some goodies ... more on that in the next picture.  And top left is some ribbon, white paper flowers, another tag, and some prints of vintage valentines.

And here is the heart that I altered ... and inside are some Lindor Truffles and a sun catcher made from chandelier crystals.

Now, for what she sent me ... I was so happy and excited and somewhat blown away ... Trisha, you did a great job!  You listened to what I said I liked, and really put time and thought on your choices ... thank you!

This is everything together ... so many special things!

Look at this sweet tea towel!  Those red dots will look great in my kitchen!  I love it!

Some vintage post card images, and a little organza bag with felt hearts, kraft tags, and twine so I can make my own tags.  Oh, and the little 'LOVE' cupcake picks up above.

The candy box, decorated so prettily with red and turquoise ... a favorite color combination of mine!  I love the lace and red bead trim, as well as the paper roses!  In the box is a vintage heart pin (top center), some buttons, satin ribbon roses, a couple of double heart charms, and two cute 'diamond' rings.  And a vintage wooden thread spool.  So many little treasures!

Some great looking chocolate candy ... how did she know I love milk and white chocolate together?  And some vintage playing cards ... the ones on top have Norman Rockwell pictures on them ... very sweet!

Oh, and look at this vintage Bingo card, with the '14' surrounded with a red heart, and a bunch of pretty laces wrapped around it, and all tied up with red twine.  So sweet ... and I love lace ... a lot!

And a cute handmade card ... complete with hand cut and hand decorated pink hearts, and a sweet note on the inside.

Trisha, thank  you so very much!  I love everything!  I would love to be your swap partner any time! 

And to everyone else ... thanks for visiting today ... blessings,

Sharing ... Swaps ... Sue's Christmas Ornament Swap ... What I Sent Sue

Good Morning!  I am so excited that I can finally share with you the goodies that I sent to my partner Sue of It's a Very Cherry World for her Christmas Ornament swap!  Sue was the hostess of the swap, and since she was my partner I felt just a tiny bit of pressure to make my gifts for her really great.  But it was all so much fun!  Everything I sent her was handmade except for one little thing that I knew she would love.  Here, let's unpack the box ...

Here's everything all together!

And here's an item by item display ...

The ornament ... I painted the inside of the plastic ornament with turquoise paint, then covered it with felt circles in turquoise and white, added red buttons, gingham ribbon, and a heart charm.

A roll of washi tape with Sue's favorite ... cherries!  This was the only thing in the package that wasn't hand made.

Some white muslin 'ribbon', made of torn strips of muslin and stamped with Christmas greetings, and coordinating stamped, covered buttons.  Perfect for wrapping small packages or decorating a tiny tabletop tree.

Two hand crocheted dish cloths or wash cloths.  The white one is 'single thread', the red and white one is 'double thread' and will hold up to heavy duty cleaning jobs.   I love crocheting these things!

A file folder mini album that I made just for Sue.  All the pictures follow, but I'm not going to explain each one.  Enjoy!

And that's what I sent!  Info on the mini album:

• Video with instructions for mini 'bones'
• Papers used are scraps from a Bella Blvd Christmas line 'Christmas Wishes'
• File Folders - Dollar Tree
• Ribbons and fibers - stash
• Brown Ink - Stampabilities

Thanks so much for visiting!  I hope I'll have my package from Sue soon, and when it comes I will post it all right here!  Christmas blessings!