I received two wonderful packages yesterday!!!

From quilted I received a wonderful crochet swiffer cover, embroidery artwork and beautiful fabrics to use for my embroidery hoop artwork.

The awesome embroidery artwork- I love how it looks like a topo map. I love topo maps and maps in general!


A close up of the beautiful stitches


A very nice swiffer cover- I can't wait to use this!


And the gorgeous fabrics- I think the brown fabric is my favorite, but they are all wonderful.



And from girlosun_9 I received a crochet hook holder. I have been needing one of these for a long time!!

Here is an action shot with a bunch of my hooks! I love the brown and blue fabric.



And here it is all rolled up! The button closure is awesome!


Thank you so much girlosun_9 and quilted! Everything is so beautiful and well made!!

Here are two stamps that I have received so far.

From katchoo1: An awesome butterfly.



From indigo_roses:A really cool swirly, viney stamp.


Thanks ladies!! They are both wonderful and I can't wait to use them!!

Since I know that yoyowa is anxious for me to post pictures of the wonderful package she sent, I will post them now.  

I couldn't believe how many wonderful things there were in this swap package. I kept pulling more and more crafted goodness out of the bottomless box.

My four favorite movies were Rocky Horror Picture Show, Cannibal the Musical, Dogma, and This is Spinal Tap.

On to the picture overload!!!

One of my favorite items- a handmade Brad doll with two outfits!! I love this because when I was in high school, my friends and I would watch RHPS show all the time and we each had a "part" I was Brad, and I had all of my lines memorized Yeah, I am a dork. But this doll is soo cool.
Boring everyday Brad, in boxer shorts and a white tank top


Fun, sexy Brad in fishnets, and a corset. This picture doesn't show the detail very well, but the corset is very well made and matches the bag and eye mask below!


A survival kit for a midnight showing of RHPS. Inside is a bunch of stuff to use during the movie, and directions on how to use it. Since, they don't have these showings here, I may have to recreate it on my own.


A wonderful stenciled t-shirt with Dr. Frankenfurter. I love this shirt, and I can't wait to wear it!


Next is a handpainted picture frame and some candy lipstick


A decoupaged plate and mini lunch box


Some polymer clay pendants inspired by RHPS.


RHPS inspired zippered tote and eye mask.


Handmade journals. The Cannibal the Musical one (Large dark brown one) and the Dogma (small, light brown one) are both hand bound. I love them both!
My favorite is the Dogma one, it has the "carpenter and the walrus" speech that Loki gives in the airport!!


Since, I am from Wisconsin, I found it hilarious that Bartelby and Loki were banished to Wisconsin. Yoyowa made me a stenciled t-shirt to show off that home state pride :-)


And last, but not least, is a decorated Spinal Tap box with my favorite quote from the movie on the inside!



Whew, I think that is everything. Thank you so much yoyowa!! I love it all!!!! and if you have any better detail shots, please post them!

[Thank you so much ladies!]

Now that I got my camera working and a sunny day to take pictures, I can finally post pictures of the wonderful swap packages I've received.

From animegirlie I received three boxes. The first had wonderful fabric covered bobby pins


The second had button magnets that were slightly damaged in shipping. I still need to glue them back together, but they will go wonderfully with the other magnets I received in the button swap!! Oh, and there was also a crocheted flower in this box


The last package contained wonderful homemade pendants. The one on the right is made from a button and the one on the left is made from some soft foamy golden material. I can't really tell what it is, but I love it!!



From catpants I received a wonderful knitted grocery tote. I love the colors and how stretchy it is. The second picture shows the bag with a container of juice in it. I also love that it has a draw string type thing.




And finally from pinupmommy I received a plethora of homemade bags.


I loved the strawberry fabric, so here is a close up( it is more yellow looking in real life)


Pinupmommy also included a wallet. I love the different stitches.


Thank you so much ladies!

Now that I finally have my camera back, I can post pictures of the awesome package that SunflowerSmiles sent me. I apologize in advance for the dark pictures, I tried to take them in natural light- but I think I waited until too late in the day. SunflowerSmiles if you have better pictures, please feel free to post them! Anyway... on to the picture show!!!



SunflowerSmiles and I agreed to make some homemade buttons to send to eachother. Here are the ones she made for me. Most are made from polymer clay. The three in the upper left side are shrinky dinks and there is a fabric covered button as well. I love the leaf impressions and the swirly tree designs.


An eye pincushion that is based off of one on my wist. I love SunflowerSmile's interpretation. The iris and the pupil are buttons!!!


Button magnets and button rings!! My favorite magnet is the one in the upper right. It looks like a colorful bowl of fruit loops!!


Not one, but TWO button necklaces. One has a tiny vial filled with tiny buttons and the other has a yarn/thread cutter on the end. How awesome are these??


Button ornaments. I believe that these are based on some that are on my wist. I think the green one is my favorite. I almost made some of these for SunflowerSmiles- but I decided to make some thing similar but completely different (Oh I hope she gets her package today!!!!!)


Button hair thingys! These are perfect, I love the colors and the patterns. I am wearing some now!! (Grrr stupid dark pictures, the one on the bottom is brown with a floral motif.)



And finally, the rest of the buttony goodness. Most came in these two wonderfully decorated glass bottles. My favorite button is the red twisty one in the front.

Whew, I think that is everything. Thank you SunflowerSmiles for being such a wonderful swap partner and for making me such a beautiful, button filled swap package!!!!!

I wanted to share a crazy quilt patchwork book cover that I made for my partner in the Giant Multi-Theme Swap. The book cover is adjustable and has a dark brown corduroy backing. This was my first time trying to make any type of quilt. It was also my first time embroidering- lots of firsts!!!

Anywho... on to the photographic evidence:


Over all shot of the whole book cover


Some detail shots:






So how did I do for my first time? I didn't really know what I was doing, and I did leave some "loose" edges that I had to secure down with embroidery.Any advice you guys could give me on how to avoid that in the future would be greatly appreciated.

Yea! I am the first to post. Here is everything pinupmommy made for me.







The package included- needle book, owl pendant, Spiderpig bag, bag of buttons, cloth buckets and a sewing organizer.

Thank you pinupmommy.

I made this for a recent swap. My partner didn't really like polymer clay because she thought it was all cutesy cupcakes and mini-food. I tried to show her that it can be artsy and nature inspired too with this filigree tree.

I was inspired by teapotdnky's circle art on canvas and I used her method of using liquid sculpy to adhere all of the filigree-ish pieces to the canvas. This is only my second time working with polymer clay, but I think it turned out kinda cool. I hand rolled all everything and sealed it with Future floor polish.

Here is an over all shot of the completed tree:


Some in-progress shots:
The initial sketch on the canvas


Here I have the trunk completed and I am starting on the "leaves"


A close up of the trunk: I used three different colors of brown Sculpy for the trunk


An "artsy" shot: This really shows that every thing is hand rolled. I kind of like it, I think it adds to the nature/organic look I was going for. You can also see that I glued blue ribbon along the edge to finish the canvas


I am thinking of making my own for our nature themed kitchen- once I give my hands a rest 

I recieved my package from dcoyote last week. Here are pictures of the awesome things that she sent.

A fish bowl!! it has a dolphin and says "So long and thanks for all the fish" This was really hard to photograph, but I tried my best.



A tote bage made from towels.


And finally an awesome box/jewelry holder with a Dirk Gently theme:

Front


Front again


And the beautiful necklaces and bracelet that were inside:


Thank you dcoyote!!!

OK, I have finally taken pictures of the wonderful things that mimiw made for me. I apologize for taking so long to post them. I still can't believe how wonderfully awesome everything is. Prepare to be overloaded with coolness and make sure you have your wisting button ready- here we gooooo..........

Theme 1: T-shirts

The shirts are- cool tree with tire swing, love birds, key to hell, and dream with a red balloon (the last two are from the Sandman comics by Neil Gaiman)


Back of the dream t-shirt and the tree stencil

Theme 2: Butterflies
I was really hoping that Mimiw would make me one of her beautiful stained glass works of art. I was blown away when I opened the box and saw this inside:

Unfortunately, it was damaged in shipping- but I think a little super glue can fix that right up!


Butterfly stencil

Theme 3: Simpsons/Futurama

Ralph Wiggum t-shirt


Hand drawn Futurama plates. These things totally rock. I can't wait to use them. I am hoping they are safe to eat off of

Theme 4: Books
I gave mimiw a list of authors that I liked and she decided to craft from the Sandman comics by Neil Gaiman

The dream letters and the book mark all have images of Dream decoupaged on them. I love them so much. Here is a close-up


Theme 5: Sustainable/Recycled

A journal cover and pincushion made from recycled wool sweaters. I love them both.


A reversable shopping tote bag. It has two large pockets and I love the colors and the fabrics.

Wow, I think that is everything.

THANK YOU MIMIW!!!!!! you rock the catbox!!!! I only hope you like everything I am making for you as much as I love everything you made for me!