Two swaps

 I have taken part in lots of swaps so far this year and here is the Stationery Swap (organised by Tracy from Mad About Bags).  I was partnered with Amanda from Graham's Landing and we did the usual email chat to find out likes and dislikes and got swapping.  I was stunned by Amanda's generosity!  We had to swap five things, one of which needed to be hand made. I loved the beautiful tissue paper the gifts were wrapped in.

 Here is a photo of the whole parcel - Amanda had put together a wonderful mixture of unusual items...

 ...stickers, postcards, number pegs, envelopes...

 ...writing set, notebook and more stickers and trims.  There was also a lovely felted notebook cover with a heart.  I love it all - you can never have too much stationery, can you?  Thank you so much to Amanda for being a fantastic swap partner.

Here's what I sent to Amanda, including a bookmark I made incorporating some of her favourite blues.  It was a great swap and thanks to Tracy for organising.

The other swap I recently took part in was organised by Kimberley from Creative Chaos and I was partnered with the lady herself!  (I must say how fantastic the postal service was - my parcel got to New Zealand in five and a half days!)  This was the Send Us Your Country swap and the idea was to do just that - send things from your country and your area.  Again, I have to say how generous people are in blog swaps!  The photo above shows the mountain of goodies Kimberley sent to me.

Lovely wool socks, tea...

sweets, a Kiwi pencil, postcards, a kiwi key ring...

 a beautiful bright and vibrant bag (perfect for shopping!)...

 a gorgeous cushion featuring New Zealand flora and fauna (Kiwi and Tui birds)...

...the sweets and chocolate haven't lasted long, but were much enjoyed!  Thank you so much to Kimberley for both organising the swap and being such a wonderful swap partner.

Here's what I sent to Kimberley - Lincolnshire postcards and note cards, a ceramic K by a local maker, stationery items, English Breakfast tea from a local tea shop, a bracelet and felt heart, fridge magnets and ribbon.
I have been so lucky with my swap partners (and all the lovely gifts I have been sent) and have really enjoyed taking part in all the swaps I have done over the years.
There are two more swaps to report back on in the next week or so - an Easter swap and a Tea cup/Mug exchange.

Feeling much happier - Christmas in July Swap 2015

 

You may remember that I took part in the Christmas in July swap, run by Kim at Wisdom with needle and thread and today was the opening day! The idea was to make three Christmas things from a list, and then send them to someone whose name and address was emailed to you, but without them knowing who was their Secret Santa - until they opened their parcel.  I received my parcel in very good time and waited patiently until today to open it up.  Inside were three carefully wrapped  presents.

Here's what was inside.  A card and Christmas picture inside the card, a wooden Rudolf the red nosed reindeer, a red heart and a cross stitched decoration, which could be used as a pin cushion, although I don't think I could bear to stick pins in it!  I discovered that my Secret Santa was June.

The beautifully made cross stitch decoration.  I know I wouldn't have the patience or skill to create this!

 The bright and cheerful red heart.

 The Rudolf decoration.

 The card within a card.

The Christmas Card which gave me the identity of my Secret Santa.  A HUGE thank you goes to June for her lovely gifts, which I shall love displaying on the Christmas Tree each year.  Thanks to Kim, the organiser, as well, for organising, keeping in touch and keeping us on track!

 Of course, Scruffy decided to have a closer look at the parcel - "Hmm, I think I shall just have these for myself! If I sit on them, she can't get them!"

 "I told you, they're mine.  You can't have them!" (I have since removed them from harm's way!)

My recipient was Nina, from Turkey (and I hope she doesn't see this before she opens her gift!). Here's what I sent her: red and white bunting (some with reindeer patterns!), some polymer clay decorations with peace, joy and love stamped on them. and a felt star with embroidery.

(I added some non-Christmassy things too, just for the fun of it.  A notebook cover with felt flower, a pair of sterling silver, quartz and pearl earrings and a coloured quartz bracelet.)

Here were my gifts ready to be packaged up.  The parcel arrived, so I shall wait to see what she thinks.  It was a lovely swap to be involved with and I really enjoyed making the gifts and enjoying the anticipation and excitement of the build up to today.

A lovely surprise from Joy!

I took part in a giveaway the other day, over at Joy's blog, Daisy Row, and was delighted to find that I was the lucky winner!  

Here's what greeted me, when I opened the box - what a lot of lovely parcels!  I particularly liked the star wrapping paper that Joy had used.

 There was some material included, which is the background here.

Here's what was in the parcels - star tissue paper and ribbon, crocheted rounds/coasters (which may get used for a project, although I haven't quite decided yet), sewing thread, a notebook (perfect for notes at my sewing lessons), the cutest little penguin bag/purse, or possibly camera case as my camera fits in there, and some white chocolate (which didn't last long, not with two chocoholics in the house!)  A HUGE thank you to Joy for her generosity, which is much appreciated.  Aren't giveaways great...especially if you are lucky enough to win!

Send a Little Love Blog Swap

 I signed up to take part in Tracy's (from Mad about Bags) 'Send a little love swap' in January and was partnered with the lovely Melanie (from The Patchwork Robin). We needed to send a minimum of 5 things, including a heart shaped/themed thing, a delicious edible, something handmade and something red. As is usual for a blog swap, we emailed each other to arrange dates for the swap and to find out whether there was anything we shouldn't include.  Then we got on with making, choosing and buying.  Swaps were duly wrapped up and posted and then received.  Here's what Melanie sent me...

 ...beautifully packaged in red and gold.  It was so exciting!

 What was inside those parcels? A beautiful hand made notebook cover around a very useful notebook, chocolates and jelly hearts, a little red bucket containing some CK tissues and some pink heart ribbon, a white heart decoration and two sweet little heart-shaped tart tins.

Here's a view of the inside of the notebook.  I was so lucky to receive such lovely things and would like to say a HUGE thank you to Melanie for her generosity. So, what did I send her?

Red heart cotton material and heart pins, ribbon, buttons, washi tape, notebook, some flower seeds, stickers, heart cutters, a heart ceramic magnet, some hot chocolate and some chocolates, a bracelet, some earrings, a felt heart and a polymer clay heart.  I did wrap the presents in heart gift wrap, but forgot to take a photo.
Thanks to Tracy for organising the swap, which was great fun and thanks to Melanie for being a great swap partner.

Spring/Easter swap

I have just taken part in my third swap of the year which was organised by Joy over at Welcome to Daisy Row ; this time a Spring/Easter swap.  The idea was to fill an ice cream carton with lots of goodies with a Spring/Easter theme.  Once we had our partners, we emailed and my partner was Jean from Talking Beads .  Once we were ready, we did email again to check all was on schedule and at that point I admitted a couple of things wouldn't fit in the carton and she said she wasn't going to use the carton, so that was all fine!  I received my parcel yesterday and with a lot of excitement, opened it up.  Red tissue and lovely red ribbon greeted me, followed by red gingham material.

It was a bit like pass the parcel!

 Once I had opened that, here's what I found.  Individually wrapped packages and a lovely card.

 Inside the packages were: a bag of chocolate eggs, a yellow scented candle, a notebook with a beautifully hand made cover and my challenge - a seed bead necklace kit in a lovely spring green.  I have never made a seed bead necklace, so Jean was right, it will be a challenge!  Thank you so much to Jean for these lovely gifts and for being such a lovely swap partner!
So, what did I send?

My parcel was a bit squashy looking because I chose a very nice but rather flimsy cotton checked material to wrap it in.

 (I did have to pack the things quite carefully, and not all would go in!)

Here's the selection of Spring/Easter bits and pieces (including, of course, a felt decoration and some earrings made by me!) that I sent.  It was great fun to be involved in this swap, so thank you to Joy for organising it.

I love hearts swap - what I sent

So, as promised, here's what I sent for the heart swap.  Heart shaped necklace and earrings made from polymer clay and with striped agate beads on the necklace.

 A heart paper punch, pad and decorated notebook/sketchbook.  Mirjam had said that her favourite colours at the moment were pink and red, which did dictate the colours for the jewellery and the notebook.

 Biscuit cutters.

 Heart buttons and ribbon.

 A hand made felt heart decoration (made from the wool from my sister's sheep).

 Of course, these just HAD to be included!

Here are the packages all ready to be sent off.  I really enjoyed this swap. Here's to the next two!

Blog swap - the gifts I sent

So, here is what I sent over the sea to Ireland.  There is a notebook with stamped decoration, a bookmark to match, a felt brooch and felt heart made out of my felt, a gemstone bracelet and earrings set (Picasso jasper, botswana agate and labradorite) and a macrame bracelet, a sunshine badge made by Chris, some pumpkin and pepper seeds and some leaf decorations.

I also added a postcard with a quote on the back and a postcard from Lincolnshire.  Here are the packages ready to go.
I have since seen another item which will be just perfect (shame I didn't see it earlier, but never mind), so am going to send that as an extra surprise.  I'll let you know what it is once it has been received.
It was a lovely thing to be involved with and I would highly recommend the process.  If it runs next year, I'll definitely be signing up again.  I'll try to include some more items local to this area, as my blog swapper did, because that was a lovely touch.