Sorry for the delay, everyone.  Here are the wonderful, wonderful things that I received from cupcakesorbet.  Everything suits me perfectly and I couldn't be more pleased.  This is the best swap package that I have ever received!

How amazing is this embroidered owl wall hanging?  I just can't tell you how much I love it!  I should've saved the best for last in this post, but I'm too excited to share it with everyone! 


I squealed when I saw these coasters!  Love, love, love.


I am in love with this adorable ornament.  It is hanging on my Christmas tree right now, but I will find a year-round spot for it once the holidays are over.  (Sorry it's a little blurry--I didn't notice when I took the picture.)


Here's a lovely hand-painted pendant.  I've already been wearing this.


This is postcard of a painting done by cupcakesorbet's artist mother.  This will be going in a prominent place for everyone to see.  As you can see, the talent runs in the family!


And here we have a sweet little bird clip.  In the background you can see one of the little yellow chickies that she collected over her childhood Easters.  Very cute!


Here's the other little Easter chickie.  You can also see what's left of the tasty bird egg chocolates.  Actually, I took these pictures on Sunday--the candies are all gone now!


Thanks again, cupcakesorbet.  You were an amazing partner!

Guys, I don't know if you all are ready for the amazingness that I have in store for you.  So just prepare yourselves, okay?  Take a look at what I received from the super-talented and creative doxiemommy.

stationery:


swap journal:

(The O was already there, but she cleverly painted the really cool octopus.)

a print from her favorite local artist:

I'm sorry it's blurry--it didn't look like that on my camera's display!  This is beyond awesome and it's going to hang in my craft room.  The artist's name is John Shepard and his website is http://radiographite.dreamhosters.com/.  I feel so fancy getting art in a swap!   

magnets from my wist:


action shot with my other octopus magnets:

Look, my lobster has a special message!

a fantastic bag:


close-up of painted octo:


inside of bag:

I love how the fabrics look like little suckers or like bubbly ocean water.  Totally goes with the octopus theme.

tentacle jewelry (!!!!):


more tentacle jewelry (!!!!):


I can't even pick a favorite.  I love it all too much!  doxiemommy, thank you sooooo much for an amzing package.  And thanks to xx_Kellybean for organizing.

Thank you allthoseeyes, everything is great you made my week!!!

I'm so glad you like everything! 

Here are pictures of the earrings I sent:







I think it's pretty clear that those first two are snails and turtles, but I'm really not sure what those last earrings are supposed to be.  Mushrooms?  Acorns?  I don't know.  But the leaves make them look a little foresty, right?

And here's a picture that shows the side of the gnome box.  I was kinda proud of this, even though it's just green construction paper grass with rabbit and butterfly buttons glued on.

Hey guys, check out my stuff.  Thanks to my partner Molliemoo2883 for sending such cute stuff!

Cute owl pillow:


A whole mess of awesome stickers (some bought and some made):


Owl stuffie (I really love his cross-eyed expression!) and owl pin made of melted beads:


Hilarious "I Don't Give a Hoot" shirt:


And (my favorite thing) a hedgehog keychain!!!!:
side view so you can see the beads and his spikey things


front view so you can see his adorable expression

Okay, here are those pictures I promised!  Check out all the great stuff from my partner starryeyeddiy:

A totally cute painted box (sorry about the shadow going across the photo--didn't notice that when I took the picture):


Matching picture frame:


Owly note papers:


Sweet little owl figurine (she says this guy has been passed around her circle...I love him!):


And the best tote I have ever seen!:


Extreme close-up!:


Thanks so much, starryeyeddiy.  I love it all!

I came home to a lovely package from Iceland today!   It made my day!     Maria did a fantastic job on everything and I can't believe she was worried.  Behold:

Here we have a group shot of the cool lace-up tote bag, watermelon pincushion (I love the button!), and four fabric headbands:


A close-up of the headbands (I'm gonna plan my outfits for rest of the week so that I can wear a new one each day!  I wear headbands all the time and I don't even think I told Maria that  That's just how good she is.     ):


A close-up of the lacing on the tote bag.  It is lined in that same blue swirly, starry fabric (it makes me think of Iceland...awwww):


And here's a ridiculously cute laptop sleeve pictured with the reverse side of the pincushion and an awesome postcard from Maria's hometown:


I think the laptop sleeve deserves its own picture, don't you?  Isn't it awesome?


Thanks for everything, Maria!  You're the best!!!   

So a few weeks ago it was really hot here in Memphis.  Way too hot to spend even a minute in my non-air-conditioned sewing room.  So I made these:



As you can see, I went a little overboard.  I actually made many, many more after I took this picture.  I've given tons of them away, but I still have a whole crap-load left.  They are just little wooden disks (or squares or rectangles) stamped and/or painted.  There are some pins, some rings, and a few magnets in these pictures.  I also made some hair thingies. 

I thought I was being somewhat creative when I made these, but no.  I've since seen the little bird about a billion times on etsy.  I really don't care though since I was just making them for fun.  And they are definitely fun to make.  Not to mention cheap and fast.

Here are a couple of detail shots:







Thanks for lookin'.

If you could post pics of how you did this, I would appreciate it!

Thanks,

love the tea towels!  I want to stencils some stuff for my little monster soon! 

I'm sure there are many tutorials out there that explain it way better than I ever could, but I will be happy to throw something together when I get off work.

Halidays, here's my stab at a tutorial.  I hope this helps...

1) Gather your materials:



-image printed (or traced) on freezer paper
-towel/shirt/whatever you want to be painted
-Xacto knife and scissors
-paintbrushes (the foam kind works well for large surfaces, but you'll also need a finer one for more detailed areas...make sure the brush has very stiff bristles)
-fabric paint
-iron
-cutting mat (or whatever you want to use to protect your surface from the Xacto knife blade)
-cardboard (or whatever you want to use to protect your surface from paint bleeds)
 
Here is a close up of my original image (from stencilry.org):



2)  Cut:



3)  And cut:


Notice the black section that I have cut away.  This is what I want to be painted on my surface.

4)  Cut out the facial features and arrange on your surface:


I did this very quickly.  Your image will look much nicer than mine once it's all cut out.     You should be able to see now that the pink area is what will be painted black.

5)  Look back at the original photo.  See the little white areas in his eyes and on the scruffy mark on his head?  In this case, they are large enough to cut out and iron on to my surface.  See?:



6)  Now iron everything down securely.  With freezer paper, make sure it is shiny side down and press the iron firmly for a few seconds.  Check to make sure it is stuck in place and then paint.  Peel the paper away and you get this:



I really hope this made sense...

So I started off with plain white flour sack towels (these things kinda suck, by the way...they're *permanently* wrinkly) and ended up with these:



The scrappy, rough-and-tumble dude cupcake came from stencilry.org.  The actual cupcake part of the girl one is the same, but I freehanded her face with my Xacto knife.  I really hope it turned out okay.  I would have asked you awesome people for opinions on her face, but these were a gift for a fellow crafter and craftster-lurker so I didn't want to accidentally ruin the surprise.  So what do you think?  Do they look like a matched set? 

Oh yeah, I dyed the towels pink before stenciling and then hemmed them with black thread (the original hemming looked crappy). 

Here are some close-ups of the faces (the edges really look much neater in real life):

Okay, so I'm having a really difficult time deciding what I should do with this.  The design is cross stitched on gingham that I backed with a fusible interfacing for some stiffness.  The owl was, um, "inspired" by a cross stitch kit selling for $12 at fredflare.  Needless to say, I did not buy the kit.  The writing says "good night" in Russian.  It measures about 4 x 1 3/4 inches at its widest and tallest points. 

I'm thinking maybe a sleep mask because of the nighttime sentiment?  But then again I think it's kinda cute, and I'd rather show it off to someone other than my boyfriend and my cats.  Plus I've never once worn a sleep mask in my life and I'm not so sure that I'd ever use it.  So a pouch?  But that seems kinda dull.  Do you guys have any ideas?