Winter White Swap

I hadn't done a swap in a while so when I heard about the Sparkling Winter White Swap over on the Sweet Goodness Swaps blog I thought I'd join in. My partner was Rachel from Chippy Cottage Charm House. And even though the theme was sparkling white she noticed that we decorated in red & gold this year & sent me lots of red, too! Thanks, Rachel!!! [SPOILER: Rachel, if you're reading this & haven't received your package there are photos of what I'm sending you at the end of this post.]
I love the old pin. I've been using a lot more old costume jewelry/rhinestones/etc in my projects this year so this one will find a place! Rachel collects doll heads & included some in my package. These remind me of the little angel ornaments we used to make. Maybe they'll be angels next Christmas.
Lots more crafty goodies, including a big "G". Ha ha ha.... I'll have to make something for Glenn with that one.... ooooooooo, maybe for Valentine's Day?
And look at this cute little house she made me. My snowman & deer love sitting out in front of it.
Here's another unique ornament she found.
And here's some of what I sent her. She was decorating for Christmas with white, pink, & aqua. Cute little chocolate snowmen, a mirrored snowflake (she also collects mirrors), and a pair of my fingerless gloves.
These birds were a project I've been wanting to try for a while. We saw this on Martha Stewart. This was a little figurine I found at a thrift store. I think they were goldfinches. I spray painted them with several thin coats of white and added a few glittery touches.
A spoon magnet & Christmas ornament in the background:
A found frame with a Photoshopped picture:
I also found a box of satin ornament so I strung them on a thick pink ribbon for a garland.

Merry Christmas, Rachel!

Red, White, & Blue Swap

Since my partner should have received her package by now I'll share photos of what I sent her.  I found some vintage paper banners at my favorite thrift shop.  I made a little collage with an old bingo card, postcard, label, & some other goodies.
Red, white, & blue washcloths:
And an American flag tag.

Blog Goodies

Yay for the US Post Office!  :-)  My mailman probably wonders about me sometimes -- I get all these decorated envelopes & boxes.  Yesterday I got the first of my 2 Halloween swaps - the black & orange swap.  The picture above only show part of all the stuff I pulled out of this envelope -- I don't see how she got so much into one envelope!

Then I received a smaller envelope from Heidi who sent me one of her Silver Bella swap ATCs since I won't be able to go.  Thanks, Heidi!!!  It's going on my silver platter magnet board!

Jordann made mini bundt cakes for me yesterday.  We were going to try to make them look like pumpkins but I think this batch will be eaten before we get around to making orange icing.  Lauren called yesterday & she was making BBQ chicken & cornbread.  I think she has some photos... but they're not on her blog yet.  (And we still haven't seen her & her books in the same photo, have we?  )

Hey, I have three stripes finished on my first scarf of the season.  M

y Christmas list already has 7 scarves on it so I thought I better start early this year.  And I bought a new purse yesterday that's big enough to fit a skein of yarn into so now I can crochet everywhere I go!  

I listed these in my Etsy shop yesterday, too.

I'm not sure if I used any words in this post that Granpa doesn't know... maybe SE & I will have to make a dictionary for you!

On My Own Tonight

So, since I'm sitting at home by myself tonight I decided to catch up on my Etsy shop listings and Sweet & Sinister swap blog reading.  Then I realized that I just had my 500th sale!  Wow!  Not quite what my Ebay sales were, but the number is improving.  So, to celebrate, I decided to have a give away.  Now... what should I give away?  How about a tag, since I love making tags so much.   Here's a closeup of a tag I'm going to be selling on Etsy.  I'll use my first one as a give away -- just leave a comment on this post.  I'll draw a name Monday night.

And here's my first project from the Sweet & Sinister swap blog.  I can't decide if it's done or if I should add something else to it.  Let me know what you think when you leave a comment.  I got too hot to keep crafting!  Had to come downstairs & sit in front of the fan.

I remembered to take more photos of the pages in L's book that I hadn't taken before.  Here's the cover.  Recognize that photo on the left?  lol...

I think I hear someone coming in now.  

Summertime!

Well, summer is officially here now.  And it felt like it yesterday -- it was HOT!!!  We were supposed to go over to some of our friends' house but since we have a pool we invited them here.  We bought pool noodles yesterday and the "kids" spent about 30 minutes wrestling with them.  I think it looks like they're fighting a sea monster in these pictures!  :-)

Then we came in and had some music.  They practiced songs for church in the morning and just had a good time singing.  You can't tell here but Lauren is playing the ottoman.  

I was invited to participate in the altered domino book swap even though I'd never actually made a domino book.  (Maybe the person who invited me didn't know that.)  But I was up for the challenge and had a lot of loose dominoes around so I signed up.  It was a lot of fun.  The theme was 'Summertime.'  The title of my book is "Things That Remind me of Summer."

Tags (another Mac test)

OK, I've been trying to figure out how to reduce the size of my photos in iPhoto.  There didn't seem to be a way.  But this time I exported them from iPhoto to my external hard drive and the export feature allows me to reduce the size!  So these photos are 300-500 KB instead of 1.3-1.5 MB.  And I think I could reduce them more if I'm just going to post them online.  

J helped me design these tags a few weeks ago.  That girl can draw anything.  These papers are from my paper packs that I wasn't supposed to buy because I have plenty of paper but had to because they were on the clearance rack and I loved them.  lol...

I'm thinking about hosting a tag swap.  I've never hosted any kind of swap before.  I was thinking because tags are so small of maybe asking everyone to make one for everyone participating.  Does that sound reasonable?  I've only done one-on-one swaps.  Let me know if you have any ideas and I'll start working on it.  SE, I may want you do make another button for me!!!

Tomorrow we're supposed to have another graduation party planning meeting.  And Glenn has an opening day meeting and band rehearsal Tuesday night.   This new building is really keeping him busy.  I need to go over and photograph his office to show you!  Oh, and Tuesday's gonna be another craft day!!!!  Can't wait.

Wow Mom, Birthday Goodies, and I'm Late...

Just in case I won't be able to upload any more photos, I thought I'd show you a variety. Here's what we've done in the last 24 hours:

Slumber party: Here J shows off her new bracelet, ring, and earrings. She's sending me a message. Can you see it?

W - O - W

M - O - M

Here are a few of the goodies I got for my birthday. I also received my goodies for Vintage Indies Fall Teacup Swap this week. I love my teacup. Matches my kitchen. Although I'll probably drink the Starbucks coffee that Karen gave me in it instead of tea. Chocolates are from a lady at work and the pumpkin candle is from Angie (who needs to get a blog!!!). Glenn got me a new coffeepot. I'll have to take a photo of it, too.

Lauren's at a party tonight. One of her friends is having a Disney Ball instead of a regular Halloween party. Everyone was supposed to dress up as a Disney character. Can you tell who Lauren is supposed to be? (Answer at the bottom of this entry.) When I dropped her off I saw Belle, Buzz, Robin Hood, and a pirate.

She's the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. Complete with a tail!

Crafty Goodies in the Mail

Remember a few weeks ago when I posted this Bingo Card Collage that I made for a swap? Well, Analise over at Sugar*Sugar saw it and wanted to do a swap for a similar card. So, I agreed. Then I realized that I hadn't mailed the original sugary card so I mailed it to her instead and sent a different one for the original swap. And look at the goodies she sent me!!!!! She offered to send craft supplies and I told her I liked the fall trims in her Etsy shop. I thought she'd send me one card of the trim but look what I got! I was soooooooooo excited!





I think this tiny deer is my favorite. I've already got a plan for it... in a Christmas decoration I'm planning.

Thanks again, Analise!

Craft Night

Well, craft night didn't happen exactly like we thought it would. Jordann came home from school Friday afternoon and didn't feel well. She's been fighting a head cold all week. Not being able to breathe and being exhausted from studying so hard at school (cough, cough) combined ended her up on the couch all afternoon. I think she was in bed by 8! So, we stayed home. I got a pizza and crafted while she watched from the couch. We also watched the second movie in the Indiana Jones series.

My project for the night was for Tini's vintage banner international swap. Yvonne in Lueneburg, Germany, is my swap recipient. I'm not going to show you the one I made for her in case she visits my blog. I want it to be a surprise! Usually I end up wanting to keep what I make for swaps because I like them so much. So I made one for myself this time! LOL... (I still like the one I made for her better but I'm giving it up!)

I made a bingo card, too, just cause I love making them to use up my scraps!

Then TODAY when I opened up my mailbox I received my vintage banner swap goodies from Britta, also in Germany. She also included the cute tag with the little kissing couple. I think I'll add that to the altered book I'm going to make for Glenn! THANKS, Britta!!!

And, just so you baseball fans will know, Glenn wore his Texas Rangers t-shirt to the A's game last night. Didn't help... the A's won. Luckily, he watched the game from a box with friends so no one threw anything at him. lol... those Oakland fans do get roudy! And Jordann is feeling much better today. We're aiming for a picnic at the park tomorrow after church.

Catching up on photos

I have a few misc. photos that I've been meaning to blog so I'll just throw them all in here for a completely random entry! Took this one in the lobby of the Love Field Airport last week. Jordann and I stood on Peru and thought about Lauren!





Listed more gift tags in my Etsy Shop yesterday. Here's one for all you cat lovers:


I showed you the matchbox I received in Natasha's swap but I don't think I ever showed you the one I made and sent. I didn't want to post photos before she received it. Then I didn't get them posted before our Texas trip.