Hooray! I received my package from elliot_anne! She was such a sweet and thoughtful partner!

1) I had mentioned on my questionnaire that we wanted to incorporate teacups into our table settings, and she made 5 little teacup candles!



2) She also made an adorable little banner that says, "We Do"! I almost teared up when I saw it because it was so sweet! She also used one of our engagement pictures for the middle piece!




3) This next thing is so awesome. She handmade a rubber stamp for our stationary! It has a little lilly on it because my new last name is going to be Lilly! I thought that was such a creative idea



4) Finally, she included a beautiful and sweet card.



I had so much fun with this swap, and I'm so appreciative of everything you sent, elliot_anne! I was so touched by everything you made. Thank you so much!

Lunanne is such a wonderful partner!!   I am such a lucky girl!


Day 12: Lunanne sent me an awesome array of Christmas supplies! There are 8 Christmas cards, 2 sets of 4 vintage-looking gift tags, 2 holiday post-it notepads (Christmas and Frosty- so adorable!), and a book of Christmas labels and stickers, which I totally needed! I'm going to have the cutest Christmas packages under the tree!


Day 11: Lunanne sent me such cute things! There are 8 homemade cards, which I love because I write a lot of letters, 2 cute bookmarks, 2 packs of stickers with my favorite animals on them, deer and birds! And she also sent a beautiful flower pin made out clay. It is SO PRETTY! I can't wait to wear it to work tomorrow.  


Here's the pin- isn't it so cute?!

Day 10: I was so excited to receive Day 10, and so was my fiance, Marshall! Lunanne sent us each a cute bag filled with crafted ornaments and delicious candy. Those chocolate/marshmallow things were AMAZING! I wish we had those in the US!


Here's Marshall with his presents- this is the first swap package he's ever gotten so he's really excited!

Day 9: Day 9 was filled with such cute items! They included a pretty notebook, a pair of hair combs, a ring, a necklance, an ADORABLE charm bracelet with little key charms on it, a beaded keychain, blank recipe cards, a really pretty crocheted flower brooch, and a great CD of French music! I love all things French, and I'm so happy that Lunanne included this! It has Edith Piaf on it, who is one of my favorite singers ever! I love it so much!


Close-up of the crafted items. I love your jewelry, Lunanne!!

Day 8: For Day 8, I received some really cute Christmas reusable gift bags, 2 Christmas ornaments that can also be given as cards, and 3 awesome Christmas dishcloths! I am wrapping presents today so I'm definitely going to utilize all these new supplies.  


Day 7: Day 7 is adorable! I took several photos because it was all too cute to fit in one photo.   I received 2 reusable grocery bags that fold up really small! I have to figure out how to get it folded up again, hehe. But they are so useful! I also received some really cute blue crocheted wristwarmers that I'm going to bring to my office with me because it is freezing in there! There was a jewelry set with necklace and matching bracelet in one of my favorite colors, a beaded bookmark for all my intellectual reading (or cheesy romance novels), and a crocheted red bow headband that I absolutely love! I feel like Hello Kitty.  

 

Day 6: Supplies Day! I got the greatest assortment of stuff! Lunanne included zippers, soft yarn, a big bag of buttons, adorable fabric that is totally my style, embroidery floss, and a vintage crocheting magazine!


It's so funny- I love these old crocheting and knitting magazines. I actually sent one to my partner too! The patterns are really hilarious. If you don't believe me, check out these hotties!


Day 5: Lunanne gave me a really cute embellished top and skirt! They fit perfectly and I love them! She also crocheted a beautiful purple shawl that I am going to wear all the time, and painted two cute cupcake mugs! Here's a photo of one of the mugs- the other was being washed. But I love everything so much!




Day 4: I got a bunch of ADORABLE Christmas decorations! I really needed these because we just moved to a new place and we didn't have many decorations. She sent me a Merry Christmas banner, a wooden reindeer sign, two pretty cross-stitched ornaments, and a table runner! Here are the photos!



Day 3: Pretty jewelry! There is a red spiral beaded bracelet, a really beautiful green beaded bracelet, and a necklace and bracelet set! She makes such pretty jewelry!





Day 2: Lunanne sent a plaid purse with a cute striped lining- I love both those patterns! And she also sent a pretty holiday apron that I've used every night since I got it!



Day 1: Wall art!! I received three adorable canvasses that are covered in french newsprint and then on top, she drew pictures of woodland creatures. I LOVE these so much and I am putting them up in my craft room today!



Thank you so much, Lunanne! You have been a wonderful partner and I hope you have a very merry Christmas!

Hey everyone!

I just got my package from MarieC, and it was filled with so much apron-y joy! We decided to exchange two aprons, but she made one of them reversible, so it's technically three aprons! The reversible apron has a haltered top and full skirt, with pockets on both sides that fit a beer bottle quite comfortably:


(Pretty orange and turquoise fabric for some tropical flava')

and...


(Purple and green fabric with various vegetables and contrasting fabric on the pocket)

And the second apron is more of a tool belt for craft supplies! In fact, it has a money, cell phone, and ID pocket and key toggle on it, so I can pretty much just wear it when I go out. Going-out aprons are going to be the next big thing. 





Marie, you are a rockin' craft partner! I've got yours all ready to send, and hopefully you like what I've come up with. Thanks for everything!!

Hey everybody! I made this pillow for my partner in the recent Newbie Swap. She likes owls (who doesn't?) and she likes mustaches (also, who doesn't?) so I made one of the owls look rather manly. An owly Burt Reynolds, if you will.



I cut out the owl shapes and appliqued them onto the fabric, then did a little embroidery on each of them to make them unique. I used felt for the beaks, feet, and face, and buttons for their eyes. I also found a cute owl-print fabric at Joann's and used that for the back of the pillowcase.

Here's the finished product. Thanks for checking out my post!

Hi everyone!

I am so excited because I got my package from Sarah! I was completely amazed at everything she made- seriously, she gets a gold medal in crafts and creativity! Here are some photos of the things she sent:

The first small item was this adorable crocheted scarf in pretty autumn colors. She knows how much I am looking forward to autumn, and the scarf is totally going to be worn on a daily basis while I'm drinking pumpkin lattes and kicking leaf piles around. It is really soft and so unique! It is circular in shape so it can be doubled as a tube scarf or worn loosely as a cowl.




The second small item was the most stupendous pin cushion I have ever seen! I had a pin cushion on my Wist but the one she made was even better than that! It is seated within a little teacup that has a chinese dragon on it, and it came pre-stuck with cute pins. She even made two tiny origami cranes and sewed them to the top of the cushion. I don't know how in the world she did it. My old frumpy pincushion is going in a drawer and this will take prime position on my sewing table!



The medium item really blew me away. She made a purse/craft bag with a leather belt strap. She drew flowers all over it and then embroidered the flowers, which gave them a lot of dimension. She also included a pretty gold brooch  on the bag with a sweet note attached!




Okay, here's where things get totally crazy. The bag was packed with an explosion of awesome things! I had told her that I wanted to become a better knitter and crocheter, and so she gave a knitter's starter kit. She included this really soft ball of yarn that feels like a cloud, and a crochet hook:



She also included the knitting magazine to end all knitting magazines. It's from the 70s, and it is the most hilarious thing ever. Seriously, I wish I could make photo copies of all the pages and share them with the whole class. Each photo is of a glamourously feathered- hair woman in bright blue eyeshadow and crazy sweater vests. There is also a section of cardigan sweaters for the manly man in your life:



They are major hotties, right?  In case you can't read it, the post-it says, "Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?" I was cracking up at all her notes!

She also included a bonus craft in the package. It is a charm bracelet with cute little bird and owl charms! I am going to wear it every day! What's even cooler is that she recycled the chain from another piece of "jewelry" that had broken.    This girl is amazing!



I am mailing my package to Sarah tomorrow, and I hope she likes it! I was really touched by all the hard work she put into this, and I'm so happy to have completed my first swap with such an awesome partner!

THANKS, SARAH!!!