I received a bunch of cards while I was gone, so that meant I got to come home to a Christmas Tarot card feast. It was awesome.

I know my card from mandykaye arrived sooner than the others so I opened it first.

What a beautiful painting to start off my collection. 

Both My_RubySlippers and blupaisan decided to make me a Celtic themed card, RubySlippers with the digital collage, and blu with the knot design.



And the fourth card I got was from ZidishaLuxe.

A card who's texture and fabrics cannot be done justice by a scanner.

I think I was treated pretty well by my claimers! Thanks everybody for helping me on my way to being able to learn readings. 

Inspired by a few other ear cuffs I've seen popping up around here lately, I created this for my mommy! She really likes it, and after I was done tweaking it a bit to fit her ear exactly, she said it feels like it's not even there. The second picture shows one of the two little danglies better.




p.s. First post not swap-related! w00t!

[7/1- 7/9]

:: Gallery ::


Craftster member who is organizing this swap: realityinvazion
Sign-up date range: 7/1- 7/9
Date to send item by: 8/6

Yards and porches and windowsills all need pretties like living rooms and kitchens do. And unless you live in a dungeon, you have one, two, or all three of the above. What sets outdoor decor apart is that is must be able to withstand whatever mother nature throws at it. And if we care about her enough to create pieces with special restrictions just to glamor up our earth, we might as well do her another favor and create the pieces using waste free, up-cycled, and altered materials. Wind chimes, plant holders, welcome signs, garden gnomes, and pink flamingos; all of the above are acceptable and encouraged, as is anything else you can think of. Just make sure it's waterproof.  

This is a four point swap requiring at least one medium item.*

Limited to a certain number of people?: 20
Restricted to people who all live in the same country? No!
Additional Age requirement? Nope.

Swap Organizer himself/herself meets these conditions:
- Has fully read the Swap Info Guide: Yes
- Has successfully completed two swaps as a participant: Yes
- Is not organizing more than three swaps right now: No
- Will recruit a co-organizer or give all details to a Swap Moderator if this swap has more than 25 participants: Yes
- Is at least 18 years old: Yes

Swap Organizer will check each participant to make sure they meet these conditions:
- Has been a member for at least one month: YES
- Has posted at least 15 times: YES
- Has completed one swap successfully before signing up for multiple swaps at a time: YES
- Is not currently signed up for more than five swaps: YES
- Does not have any negative feedback: YES
- Participant has agreed that he/she is at least 16 years old: YES
- If within the US, understands that Delivery Confirmation number is required for this swap: YES
- If outside the US, understands that a mailing receipt copy is required for this swap: YES


If you want to participate, information to send to organizer:
REMEMBER TO SEND YOUR INFO TO ORGANIZER VIA PRIVATE MESSAGE AND NOT TO REPLY WITH IT HERE.
But first, remember to read the Swap Info Guide to find other rules about participating in a swap.

QUESTIONNAIRE TO ANSWER:
Send with the name of the swap as the subject.

Your craftster username:
Email address:
Your real name:
Mailing address including the country:
Would you be willing to ship to an address outside your own country?:
Confirm that are at least 16 years old or, if not, that you have moderator approval(YES/NO)

Any questions for your moderator?

Any allergens in your home?
Any allergens you are sensitive to?

Anything in particular you'd love to make?
What are you awesome at making?
What do you not want?
List some specific things you'd like to receive:


Describe your available outdoor space/where your received items will be (yard, porch, baclony etc.):
Describe style and themes you are particularly attracted to:
Do the crafts that are made for you need to match your existing outside world?:
What is your favorite color?
Favorite season?
Size or sound restrictions?
Anything else you'd like your partner to know?

Please, please, please understand that you have to communicate with someone on a twice weekly basis, whether that be me, your partner, or the discussion board. If you don't we will get nervous that you're flaking!

*Points
-Large= 3 points
-Medium= 2 points
-Small= 1 point

*By Time
-Large = 3 or more hours
-Medium = 2 or more hours
-Small = 2 or less hours

*Judging points by price is not necessarily relevant for this swap given that most things should be recycled, or even found in your own stash!

Partners!
_{[]sent []received []posted} realityinvazion<---> bobbinalong _{[]sent []received []posted
[]sent []received []posted} mlheran <---> WendyTheSpaz _{[]sent []received []posted
[]sent []received []posted} Pupper <---> greenfaerie _{[]sent []received []posted}

Yards and porches and windowsills all need pretties like living rooms and kitchens do. And unless you live in a dungeon, you have one, two, or all three of the above. What sets outdoor decor apart is that is must be able to withstand whatever mother nature throws at it. And if we care about her enough to create pieces with special restrictions just to glamor up our earth, we might as well do her another favor and create the pieces using waste free, up-cycled, and altered materials. Wind chimes, plant holders, welcome signs, garden gnomes, and pink flamingos; all of the above are acceptable and encouraged, as is anything else you can think of. Just make sure it's waterproof.

As long as anybody but me shows interest in this, I will be starting this swap fairly soon. Like, within the week soon, because I'm sure we'd all love to receive before the summer is completely over.
4 point swap requiring at least one medium?
Or 5 point requiring a large?
Is a month too long or too short for crafting time?
Any other opinions?

My boyfriend went out to check the mail this morning, and came back empty handed... but when I tracked my package on the USPS website, it said it had been delivered... Turns out the mail man had halfway-hidden it in our bushes! (so no one would steal it) I'm so glad I went out and found it... I was amazed by what my partner created!

The first thing I saw when I opened the box was this rare Minnesota Mohawk Monkey.

His name is Marshmellow, and he lives in dirty laundry on a steady diet of junk food and TV. 

Next I pulled out this FANTASTIC orange bag (my favorite color!) made from kitchen towels and covered in mushrooms and gnomes.

gigglygirl didn't know how much I love the mushroom/gnome theme, but she guessed correctly, because I really love it! The inside of the bag has a mushroom shaped pocket-- my favorite part. 


Those little books in the pocket are altered composition notebooks. One of them is a mini journal about gigglygirl's life and family. It has pretty pictures through it and was really fun to read. It's sweet how long she worked as a journalist and gave it up to spend time with her kids.
The pink one is empty for me to fill!


There's also this sweet little clutch purse/ make-up bag.

My favorite part is the lining fabric!


There were also two flower pins and a decorated trinket box (full of charms!) I love putting flowers like that in my hair, so I'll definitely use those all the time!


Overall, I got the best partner in the world, who sent her package WAY early, and made me such and incredibly happy girl! I'm glad we both like cute things because I know that made this swap a lot of fun for me (even though I'm not done yet...) and I can tell she had fun too. Thanks again gigglygirl, I love it all so, so much!

I received my wind chime from CuriousCoffee, and I LOVE IT!

I'm amazed by the amount of matching bottle-caps she was able to save up.


There are metal rods and altered forks that hit the bottle to make noise.



And the whole thing is orange and sunflower themed just like she knew I wanted.



I left my house and didn't even notice the package on my front porch until I was in my car, but I opened it right away, and it never even made it into my house! I hung it on my front porch, and it's been rainy, so it's making lots of noise in the breeze. The temperature is nice though, so I can hear it through all my open windows... It arrived on a good weekend.  

I received 3 pages so far, and they're all incredible!


This beautiful page is from Tree27 and I think it's pretty obvious which color she chose to use!
My favorite parts are the little thumbnails of the rabbit and the grasses in the bottom corners.


I got this one from smmarrt on the same day, and thought it was a funny color coincidence.
She described it as being an "experiment in paper cloth... decoupaged tissue paper on white muslin" It has a beautiful texture and message.


And a few days later I got this one from pretty hate machine.
The tie-dye effect of the maroon and ocher is beautiful; I like that it's not just one solid color rather than a color feeling.
There's some text highlighted on the right, but I don't really know what it says (and google translation was not helpful) So maybe she can clarify? 

So I got home from vacation today, and as sad as I was that it couldn't last forever, I had an-oh-so-adorable surprise waiting for me to ease the pain;




All the houses, and an adorable owl. :]
My little sister rolled it to see see which house she'd get, and wasn't too happy about it landing on Slytherin.  
I rolled an awesome first- time swap partner  
(*ba-dump-tsss*)

I had so much fun; I can't wait for my next swap!!!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sRnCFguoG1U/RwVqh9RwLFI/AAAAAAAABiI/uTxqhi8QDXo/s320/hqu1.jpg

Instead of using my traditional Gryffindor uniform like I have for the past six midnight movie premiers, I've made the decision to make a full Quidditch uniform.

The robe and pants, etc. should be no problem for me. I've had plenty of experience with fabric. The problem I'm looking at is the gloves, and the shin and arm guards. I have no problem buying a pair of gloves, but have no idea how to tackle the shin and arm guards. I've never worked with leather, and while I'm up to learn I don't think this would be the best starter project, haha!

I was thinking about the possibilities of adding something to a pair of boots? I'm up for any kind of suggestions and any ideas on making a believable rip-off too, because I'm totally stumped on this one.

Thanks for all comments!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0uqYbd3bIAQ/RwZGIMRsmVI/AAAAAAAAAIE/wW92tlYoKg8/s1600/robes%2Bravenclaw.jpg
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080525052231/harrypotter/images/thumb/f/fc/DracoQuidditch.jpg/180px-DracoQuidditch.jpg