Sunday, December 30, 2007

Easter...

Its coming, see detail here...

Ooopsie, I fixed the link...

Saturday, December 29, 2007

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!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

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!!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

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!!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

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!!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

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 :)

Sunday, December 16, 2007

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!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

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)

Friday, December 14, 2007

The FIRST Day of Christmas...

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

Saturday, December 8, 2007

(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!)

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

the countdown is on....

Monday, December 3, 2007

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.....