Oh my gosh!  This swap makes me so excited I can't stop using too many exclamation points!  Check out what I got today from Heini! (Along with a lovely winter postcard and some language paper.)  Thank you so much-I love it!

Front:


Back:

I've been following this thread for a while and I have to say that the craftiness of Craftsters just amazes me. 

Now for my decor showcase!

This is the tree.  I got a fake one this year because we won't be here for the big day and we are moving to New Mexico next summer.  From what I hear, real trees are very expensive there because they have to be shipped from places like Oregon.  This one is a bit skinny-looking, but I like it.



Since there have also been cat-sharing photos, this is one of mine in his new favorite sleeping spot. 



He's done really well not bothering the ornaments.  I wish I could say the same for my kids....



Here is my mantle.  I got the little snowman dude on the left in Germany and he is only a tad bit creepy (the stuffed lab is my husband's and is always in the living room anyway).  The stockings I got at the dollar store, but I hope to actually make some before next year.



I also posted a thread where I showed off some of the ornaments I made if you're interested: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=213929.0

So, inspired by Somerset Studios latest issue and all of the wonderful crafting going on around here, I decided to make some ornaments this year.  Most of them started out as paper mache bases that I then either painted and added elements to or that I cut a niche out of to put things in.


(Sorry about the glare-the flash on my camera has only one setting that seems to be trying to mimic the sun).





My five-year-old daughter made a bunch of these, too (all I did was cut out the image).



This last one I got from this thread: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=207785.0 (there's a link to the pattern there I think).  He took a while but I think he came out pretty cute.



Hopefully, I will have time to make more.  If I don't, there's always next year!

So, I have been trying to clear out my crafty stash as we are moving in 6 months (it will probably take me that long!).  I found some Inkjet Shrinky Dinks that I wasn't using and decided to make some charms and earrings to give my friends and family. 


Earrings




I made these charns from my own artwork:



And I made a bunch of these charms with a font (and the idea!) I got from this post:  http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=212773.0




I am sad now, though, that I have used it all up.  I have to buy some more soon, which totally defeats the purpose of cleaning stuff out, but oh well.

These are all great, and I love how different they all are.

Guminmyhair asked me to post a photo of the card I sent to her (and it's almost the same as the one I sent to Fashionable).  This is a replica as I made a few extras.



It's alcohol ink background on glossy paper that I melted a few layers of Amazing Glaze (like UTEE) onto.  I then stamped Santa in black ink in the glaze while it was still warm.  I love this technique so much my jar of glaze is almost gone.  I need more!

I love all of these cards!  I am getting into the spirit already...

...and here are the cards I received.  The first is from GumNmyHair and has this little textured snowman:


This one is from Fashionable and has some very cute little elves on it:


I love them both, Thank you!

I LOVE that alphabet!  Is it a stencil?  I love the white flourishes over the top, too.

I got my page from Racky!  I totally love the whole thing.  It's perfect.

The front:


The back:


She also sent me some of the fabulous "mine" stamps for the back cover of my book.  Thank you!

This is the fantastic gift I got yesterday from Grieney!  It's purple and orange (two of my favorites) and has the very cool retro circle handles. 



Thank you so much, I love it!  (My kids do too-the first thing they both did when they saw it was put it on their heads like a hat!)

Okay, so my page has been complete (or so I thought-I'll get to that) for a couple of days, but I sometimes suffer from art fear and wanted to make sure I liked it before I sent it.

That said, I received my page from Colorfuldayz today and I am totally blown away.  I absolutely love it and I would say more, but I don't think I need to.

The front.


The back.




She also sent a TON of ephemera with it and, since Serendipity is one of my favorite things, some of it will be used to finish my page to her.  The very thing I needed to make the page feel "complete" arrived with her package.

These three cards were made for the swap at my ATC meeting.  The theme was black and white.