Easter...

Its coming, see detail here...

Ooopsie, I fixed the link...

Valentine's Swap...

Looking at the calendar, I am thinking there is not enough time to organize and handle the mailing for a Valentine's swap. I know, I am disappointed too, but I just didn't plan early enough.. BUT instead I am proposing a Hippity Hop Easter Swap which will give us another month to plan. I am tentatively setting the date to have "gifts" to me no later than March 1 which gives me time to swap and mail in time to begin opening around March 14 for 10 days of hoppin'.
I will accept sign ups until January 7 and then send out final details. To sign up you MUST email me with the following: your name, mailing address, email addy and blog addy and your promise to mail ON TIME. I am working on the swap graphic/ button now so I will have that to share soon.
Happy New Year!

Catching up.. Days 8-12

Phew, as Christmas loomed blogging time got zapped. I feel bad I wasn't able to keep up with the 12 days posts. Here are the final days...
Day Eight...
I was the gift giver for Day 8. My project changed directions many times over the course of the project and even though I started EARLY and finished the hardest part I was still scrambling at the last minute to trim up and wrap my gifts. I ended up creating 12 unique art aprons with mini collage quilts of vintage fabrics appliqued on the fronts.

This is a picture of Kari's sweet daughter modeling her apron. Since they are all different you can see other designs by visiting the participants blogs or browsing thru my flickr set.

I really enjoyed doing these mini quilted collagey things. They are an nice way to use even the tiniest scraps of fabric. I have more aprons on order so there will be more of these in my future for sure!


Ok, on to Day 9.. which was a gift from the fabulous and ever so sweet Jeanne. She surprised us with not one, but TWO awesome gifts!! The first gift was this super sparkley, super darling little shadow box ornament with lots of glitter, pearls, tinsel and vintage holiday image. I love it and it will be very hard to put away when I pack up my holiday decorations.
The other gift that Jeanne made for us utilized her beautiful soldering skills as she made each of us a custom pendant/ charm of our blog or Etsy banners on one side and the 12 Days banner on the reverse. Each charm is accented with our initial as well. This was a big surprise to our participants and maybe even a little more exciting to me since I created many of said banners!! Thank you so much Jeanne!


Day 10 was this darling package from uber-talented Marilyn who not only makes lovely collages but has shown herself to be a talented jewelry maker as well. Marilyn gifted each of us with a lovely pair of earrings. Each set is unique but all equally pretty.










Thank You Marilyn, I know all of us will find much enjoyment in our beautiful earrings.


Day 11 is one I anxiously awaited as my sweet and talented pal Martha was the artist behind the lovely fabric pouch we found ourselves placing beneath our Christmas trees. Martha is a whiz with a sewing machine and fabric and she showed that talent off by creating these amazing fabric cuff bracelets for each of us.

I know I LOVE mine and feel secure in stating that I bet the other girls do too. Thank You Martha!!

Finally we come to Day 12, and last but not least is our own ArtsyMama, who finished off our swap with a lovely collage utilizing vintage album pages, buttons, ribbon, glass glittered snowflakes and the cutest image. These hang from vintage inspired French hangers and are simply delightful. The colors are perfect and I know everyone LOVES them. Thank You so much Kari!!
In closing, I want to thank everyone who participated for being such a great group of gals and the best swappers. There has been great communication and I think we all agree that not one of the gifts was "poo". I am thrilled with the way everything ended up and I am still drooling over my treasures.
For those of you anxious for information on the Vintage Valentine swap, I will get the info posted in the next day or two as the deadline will be SOON!!!
Cheers and Happy New Year!!

The SEVENTH Day of Christmas...

Our lovely 7th Day gift was from DONNA at Under the Red Roof. Donna filled in at the last minute for which we are all so appreciative. Donna thinks her gift wrapping was not up to par and didn't want us to share but I think Donna is a little anal ( love you Donna) and her wrapping was cute... see? Tammy took this darling picture BTW. Also, Donna is an admitted "freak" (she says so on her own blog) about her craftswomanship that she had a melt down when she saw this picture of Cerri's plaque...
she called a Red Alert to the group because the pink scrap at the top of the piece is distressed. What she wants everyone to know is that she NEVER intended for the scrap to look like that and we are to direct everyone over to her blog to see how they are SUPPOSED to look, which is like this:
For the record, I am only teasing Donna because A. I know she can take it and B. I love her and C. she is a freak! LOL She is also a wonderful artist as indicated by this adorable little plaque WITH easel that she sent to each of us. (Her glitter lettering blows me away!) THANK YOU and HUGS Donna!!

The SIXTH Day of Christmas...

Oh, the 6th day brought the hot pink bakery box from Cerri of the Little Pink Studio! The window led to much teasing and temptation as we tried to figure out what was peeking out but Cerri warned us NOT TO SHAKE THE BOX!! Finally, we were allowed to open it and inside we were all delighted to find one of Cerri's signature "princess" birdies. Each one has a special nest that includes special vintage baubles collected by the birdie.
This one is Jeanne's. Aren't they adorable? THANK YOU Cerri!!

The FIFTH Day of Christmas...

Day 5 was a dreary, yucky day here so when it was gift time it was a bright spot in the day. H was eager to open this long package that made tinkley noises so I let her help after we shot a picture. This was from Tammy... and she sent everyone a darling and clever "wish tube" full of glitter, beads and baubles. Each of us got different "wishes." Mine was "courage".
Thanks Tammy for such a fun and unique gift!!

the FOURTH Day of Christmas...

Is anyone following along here? I am a day behind.. I will try to be better. Eep.

This was our gift from Ms Holly Doodle. She made unique photo frames out of vintage wallpaper, seam binding and gorgeous millinery flowers. Is this not STUNNING? Each piece was customized to the recipients favorite color combos. This one is Kari's but I have the matching one. YUM!!

Its pretty dark and rainy here today but I will try to get pix of #5!

This one is Tia's.











And this one is Jeanne's :)

The THIRD Day of Christmas...

Day three brings us very cool little card stock package. Shosh hand flocked these "cartons" which were stuffed with adorable charms made out of vintage souvenir spoons layered with vintage ledger paper and glass acorn cabs. These were sealed in with resin to make a unique and whimsical charm. Some of us hung them from our Christmas trees for now :) Thanks Shosh!

The SECOND Day of Christmas...

ooh, gorgeousness a la Karin of Creative Chaos. Karin's style is so lovely and these journals she created for each of us were no exception. Each was customized to our favorite colors and some even featured a monogram. I am sure these will be filled with much inspiration and many ideas, thoughts and dreams. Thank You Karin!!

(picture by Cerri)

The FIRST Day of Christmas...

We received these adorable birdie in a baby shoe ornaments from Ms Smoochie Lips.
Thanks Tia!!! (photo by Donna)

(image stolen from Kari)
For those of you bloggers not participating but following along on the blog, this is the pile of gifts that have gone out to each participant. Some (3, I think) of the gals have already admitted to opening ALL of their gifts despite the official starting date being a few days away, (you guys suck :P) but at least they have not spilled the beans for those of us following the rules ( sometimes rules can be fun) Anyhow, we will be sharing our treats as we open them here AND on our own blogs so you can check them out soon.
Also, for those of you who did not get in on the 12 Days to Christmas project, I think I am going to host a Valentine's Day version. If you are interested please leave a comment and I will get some guidelines together soon. (NO Cheaters!)

the countdown is on....

More sneaky peekie....

Woohoo, all of the boxes have gone postal and I borrowed my Mom's camera (I still can't find mine) to show sneak peeks of those packages we still haven't seen here. This is Karin's lovely package. She forgot to number her packages so I snuck a little 2 on the the tags. Also, I think the CEO of Chaos Industries helped stamp the tags because this one says "A Gifr." As we know he is 3 so spelling is not high on his list of accomplishments on his resume, he does however do a mean Thomas the Train imitation. Anyway, this package is nicely heavy and weirdly shaped. It doesn't make any noise when shaken and the cats have no interest in it whatsoever.

You already saw a preview of the giftie for day 3 from Shosh pictured below. Her packaging would win most original if we were having a contest but alas we are not. When she was here helping me sort and bag the gifts she tried to get me to look at the contents of her packages but I DID NOT! She dangled it in front of my eyes and said SEE! but I closed my eyes and yelled "I'm not looking, I'm not looking" until she gave up and shoved them in her cute boxes along with a lot of krinkle grass to muffle the rattling. Her gifts smell ever so slightly of poo. Just kidding!
Anyway, onto giftie #4 which is really a gift within a gift from the lovely Holly Doodle. Holly packaged her gifts in nice cuts of VINTAGE WALLPAPER! Can I hear a big woohoo? They are FLAT, slightly bendy and I think I see some bits of crepe paper peeking out the edges. YUM!

#5 is Cerri's HOT PINK BAKERY BOX with a window which shows a sneak peek of a bunch of.. dum dum dad da.. krinkley grass! woohoo, I bet you were dying to know that. Its pink too! Its rustles.. I can't see anything. Maybe I should shake the box furiously? The cat isn't interested but I have had to beat the wee one off with a stick. She thinks all of these gifts are for her...

#7 is an offering from Donna. She and Jeanne must have called each other when deciding how to dress up their packages because they picked matching paper. Donna's packages don't have much in the way of sounds or crinkle factor. Check out her picture below for a sneak peek of the awesome wallpaper she used. That's the best sort of sneak peek there is.

I am #8 and forgot to take a picture of my package but I will try to do that in the morning. I still have Shosh's here. We have lots of sneak peeks of Jeanne's gift so scroll down if you need a refresher.

Finally for this post is the CUTEST package offering which belongs to Marilyn. I don't know about you, but I adore anything Marilyn does and her wee package has me intrigued. Isn't that little girl cute? Anyway, its wee and it rattles and I can't wait to open it up!!

So ladies, keep your eyes peeled and stalk those mail carriers. The packages are off and one of these days I will mail tracking numbers...

Ho ho ho.....

Sneak Peek for Day 3

Here is the packaging. The flesh packaging. With flocking I decided to do myself. A flock here, and flock there, flock flock everywhere! What the flock? Never doing that again... Until next time.

Here's my Sneak Peek...

Donna's Sneak Peek!

I'm in foreign territory here on Blogger! It doesn't look too hard. Let's see if I can pull it off.
I had a blast making these little gifts for this wonderful group of girls. I came into the swap late so I had to make all mine pretty much the same. I didn't want to delay the mailing process. We definitely want these in our hands for the 12 Days countdown! I'm happy with the way they turned out and I hope you will be too! Although, you can't see much from this photo.....just a snippet.

holly's sneak peek

I can't wait to see all the wonderful-ness you ladies have been creating. Here are some sneaky peeks at what I've been up to. I so hope you'll like them. More on my flickr.

XO Holly

sneaky peeky...

Ok, girls.. the packages are starting to come in. I finally broke into the boxes today in the interest of conserving space as they were forming a wall at our entryway. I have carefully unpacked, shaken, sniffed and taunted the pets with each parcel and here is a break down of what has been received as of today....

#1 from the lovely MizSmoochieLips. Tia's packages are wrapped in sheet music which is very appropriate as these packages sure jingle.

# 5 are these intriguing long tubes from Tammy which clink when rattled. There are lovely hand stamped tags on these made from her stash of vintage wallpapers.

#9 are these wrapped plaid packages from Jeanne. They are rectangular in shape, with hard edges but kind of squishy in the center. Very intriguing!

#11 comes from my pal Martha.. these traveled all the way from Canada in record time. Martha sewed fabulous packets for her squishy offering. I am loving the package and I am dying to peek at what is inside!

Finally, Kari has gift #12 which are flat packages that do not make any sort of sound. They have some bulky areas so they are interesting to guess at.

All in all a nice selection of varied shapes, sounds and textures. I will keep everyone posted as the other packages come in. So far, nothing smells like poo.. phew!

I am anxious to get everything in and turned around so you can set up nice little piles under your trees or in your studios. Currently I have Wednesday set aside to pack of outgoing mail with the help of Shosh. I will keep everyone updated!

Jeanne's Sneaky Peek

The gifties are all packed up and I'm heading to the post office first thing in the morning. I hope they make it to you on time Heather, with the holiday and all (I completely forgot about that little snag).

Martha's sneak peek!

Here is a sneak peek of the wrapping, and what might be inside.........

ArtsyMama sneak peek...

favorite colors list

Hello Ladies.... several days ago, i asked everyone to let me know their favorite colors. Several responded and here is the list I have so far:

Martha's faves are aquas, blues, pinks, soft greens, browns, cream/white with PINK being number one. She does NOT like orange, black, or yellow.

Karin loves pastel and vintagey colors/shades

Shoshanah was funny. She said "the only colors i am really "allergic" to are mauve and kelly green. my faves right now are poppy and teal."

Kari said that her holiday palette this year is going to be tones of brown, tarnished silver with blue

Jeanne likes pale aquas, pinks, blues, taupes, cream, white on white and a little bit of celery green

Cerri favors pink, cream, aqua...soft colors, but does not care much for green or bright yellow

Heather loves aqua, brown, red and green, but dislikes purple, bright yellow and orange

Holly (that's moi) I love aquas, blues, pinks, soft greens, browns, cream/white. Anything but orange, yellow or black is good for me.

Donna: RED, aqua, pink, cream, antique white, silver, gold, sage, olive and did I say RED? I like most colors but I'm not big on lemon yellows or orange. I also think black is very grounding and a great accent color.

If there are any additions, I'll try to update the list! Hope this helps!

I can't wait to see all the beautiful things you wonderful artists create. Yay!

Fruitcake Cookie Recipe

For those of you who thought I was kidding when I said I had a recipe for Fruitcake Cookies, here it is!! :) The recipe is from my 95 year old Aunt Helen who lives in Dallas, Texas. They really do taste good if you like fruity-type cookies.

AUNT HELEN'S FRUIT CAKE COOKIES

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup currant jelly (you can substitute a different flavor jelly if you wish)

2 eggs

1-1/2 Tbls milk

2 tsp baking soda

1-1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg (My aunt uses less of the nutmeg and more of the allspice and cloves)

1 lb pecans, chopped

1 lb golden raisins (The original recipe calls for "white" raisins, which I have never heard of)

1/2 lb EACH of candied cherries, candied pineapple, and citron - cut up all fruit into small pieces. (You can substitute any candied fruit that you like)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Cream butter, sugar, jelly and eggs. Dissolve baking soda in milk and add it to the butter mixture. (Variation: My Aunt substitutes part of the milk with brandy to equal the 1-1/2 Tbls measurement - perhaps this is why she has lived to the ripe old age of 95!) Gradually add half the flour, sifted with the cloves. Dredge nuts and fruit with remaining flour and stir into batter. Mix well. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Makes 10 dozen cookies

12 Days

Just a quick note to everyone..
for those visiting, thank you for your interest. This swap is FULL and was an invitational swap. I think it will be very fun and its not too late to start your own. Invite 11 friends to join you and create some wonderful art to share.

For the participants to THIS swap.. Here is the "button" I made for you to put on your blogs.

You can post it whenever you are ready. I mailed out an update today so if you did not get it, please give me a holler. If you are STUCK om what to make I have started a list of ideas that will hopefully get your creative juices flowing:
- ornaments
- embellished book/ journal
- jewelry
- collages or wall art
- 2008 calendar
- banners, bunting and swags
- charms
- crowns or party hats
- "studio" signs
- picture frames
- boxes- for ATCs, jewelry, trinkets

... if anyone else has any ideas, post 'em!!!! Have fun!

Knock knock, is anybody home?

Hello! Since Blogger tends to personally hate ME, I thought I'd do a test post.

I am excited to be part of this swap! I have so many ideas whirling around my wee little brain, but I think I finally figured out what I want to make. Yeah!

Thanks for organizing the swap and blog, Heather!

Shoshanah