Here are the cards I received--they all came on the same day!

A very sparkly and cheery "S" for Snow from Twiztidblood--it made me wish that Kyoto would get more fun, powdery snow and less biting, dry cold.


A cute and classy "T" for Tuxedo from SewHelpme.


A cheeky and creative "U" for Undress from cclewis05.


and then...


This was my first ATC swap and I had a lot of fun making, receiving, and looking at everyone's cards that they've posted here!

I was very happy to find a delivery slip in my mailbox today, and immediately went to the post office to claim my package from the littlest ninja.  I am so happy with everything--since this is the first holiday season I'll be spending away from my family and close friends, it was so nice to get Christmas things in the mail.  My apartment seems much more homey now ^_^

First, I have to show off how lovely the packages look under my mini Christmas tree (minus the package with the xmas decorations, because I opened it up to find shiny snowflake ornaments and hung them on the tree for the picture--they catch the light really nicely).


Here's a close-up of one of the snowflake ornaments:


Next, I peeked inside the "present for someone else" box, which she conveniently left unsealed so that I could have a look, and possibly personalize the stocking inside for its lucky recipient, my boyfriend.  (Who happens to like penguins, so this is perfect)


Finally, I opened a package marked "For merry making!" to find a bunch of cute patterned and snowflake bedecked bookmarks to give spread the holiday cheer to the teachers that I work with, and some Celestial Seasonings tea to spread cheer to my cold little self and whoever comes over to my apartment (I have such fond memories of drinking this tea as a kid, especially the peppermint and sleepytime flavors).  But the absolute best part... REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER CUPS.  I have missed these so much, and promptly ate way too many to mention here. 


All of this, and I still have my own package waiting for me to open it on December 25th! I can't wait.  To the littlest ninja, thank you so so much!  This package totally made my week, and I can only hope that you enjoy the stuff I sent half as much as I liked yours. 

Yay, consider me officially holiday cheer-ed 

I just got my package from itscute, and it's full of warm and wintry things!

First, a soft blanket with pink stars and a super cute matching scarf.  My apartment doesn't have central heating, so these will go a long way towards keeping me warm!  (blanket $2.49, scarf $2.00, plus extra yarn, which is good because I have been known to attempt knitting projects from time to time.


I also got some Baskin Robbins themed candy (kids here call Baskin Robbins "thirty-one"), and a gingerbread-house making kit--which I am incredibly excited about!  I've never tried to make a gingerbread house beyond some graham cracker creations as a kid, so I'm looking forward to trying it.  (candy $1.99 plus some extra free Halloween leftovers, gingerbread kit $3.99)


Finally, there were some free extras thrown in... a couple of cool pins (I love that sort of thing), and cute mailing labels.


Thank you itscute!  Final price tally: $10.47 (though she should be given a medal for paying the definitely non-budget-friendly postage to send all of this to me in Japan)

So I received quite a few days ago, but still wanted to get in on the posting

Here's my cute chocolate themed clock and hair bands from Facesofyellow... I even tried to take pictures of the hair bands in my hair as visual proof of their cuteness, but taking good pictures of the back of my head was more difficult than I thought.  Of course, the delicious chocolate and almonds, milk chocolate, and rum flavored chocolate treats aren't in the picture because I have devoured them all!




And here's the swap package that I sent my partner... some chocolate themed postcards, blank journal, and "I love chocolate" bag, along with some random Japanese chocolates (including a pumpkin flavored one that I wasn't brave enough to try before sending... ^_^ )



I enjoyed everyone else's pictures--everything looks so amazing and delicious

Ok, I finally found the USB cord (in the kitchen of all places) and I'm ready to show off the great stuff that Gestalta_Sara sent.

Here I am modeling the really cute black shrug that she knitted, a fun pink felted bag, and KATAMARI EARRINGS, the dorky smile is all my own...



And here are some other earrings that she sent--I know that she likes curling, so I'm glad that she included the curling-themed earrings and I like the abstract shapes too!



Thank you so much!

So... this is my first "finished product" post on craftster but technically my second printed book.  I wanted to make a children's book that would appeal to everyone, and had a bunch of fond memories of playing with/in boxes as a kid.  So here we go:


These are a couple of the covers that I did--I varied the endpaper and the cover paper a little bit, but case bound all of the books (which took a looong time).


The title page...

And some example pages from the inside--I didn't want to get too insane and image-heavy, so I haven't posted all of the pages, but these are a lot of them:

"There it is, brown, squarish, and perfect.


"Now what on earth to do with it?


"Make a spaceship."        "Make a robot."


"Hide from monsters...      and grown-ups."


"Scare people with it."


"Use it to find friends."


"And then,   leave it for someone else."

Whew, that's it!  Feedback on the book or memories of what you all did (or still do!) with cardboard boxes would be amazing.