After reading this post, Miss Amber asked me if I would make a passport holder for her upcoming trip to Paris.  I said, “sure” (or something like that) with a hopeful confidence that I could actually do a little sewing.  Since today yesterday was my last possible day to finish it, I finished it.

I made it with a couple of vintage linen fabric samples.  The main fabric is such beautiful quality and for Amber’s sake I’ll mention that it came from the attic of Mrs. H.

Speaking of Swappy Ladies ( I know I really wasn’t talking about that but the above mentioned link did), I received my gift (about a week and a half ago).

Mya made an ever-so-fun birdhouse for me.  Customized with a poster from Mary Jane’s Farm Fair which is my next show.  It really is darling.

She also stitched up an adorable birdie!

Fun stuff!  Thanks, Mya!

We had a fun bridal shower here last night for Jackie, my future D.I.L ~ beautiful girl inside and out.  She fell in love with the little B&W kittie.  The ‘feeling’ seemed mutual.

√ Unfinished Business

A couple of weeks ago I won a Pay It Forward gift and part of accepting that meant that I would award 3 gals with blogs a handmade gift and they would do the same and so on…  The first 3 to comment were:

Charity

Cyndi

Linda & Dixie

~ Be Blessed ~

Swappy Ladies!

Last spring Amber started a fun swap called ‘Swappy Ladies’.  We are now bringing our 3rd swap to a close.  I’m actually a couple of days late on getting mine mailed but, honestly, I haven’t been too disturbed by this.  It’s all good.  In fact, I added a bonus today because I saw this post this morning and thought, “I have to add one of those ~ it’s too perfect”.

“Why is it perfect?”, you ask.

Because…the guidelines of the swap go something like this:

We want to stick with the idea of reduce, reuse or recycle OR a hand crafted item..all of the floral orientation.
Meaning…you will provide your swap partner with ONE floralish item that has either been homespun by your sweet little self or has been purchased USED at a garage sale, thrift store, your Grandma’s house ect… Along with a spring verse, quote or a prettyish little spring story of your liking.

(Amber’s words exactly…I just centered it because I like it that way better and I added a dot (.) after ‘Meaning..” because I like it that way better ~ & I added a …. OK, to be honest…I don’t get to irritate Amber nearly as often as I used to because I now live 5½ hours from her. 😦 ~so I just had to take advantage of this opportunity. )

So, back to the pillowcase apron – perfect, right?  Yes!  Made with a 70’s…maybe 80’s, floralish pillowcase from the thrift store.

I made a charm to fit with the floralish/homemade theme and these swaps are all about friendship {even though we often don’t know our partner} so I worked that in.

Side 2 shows more florid fun.

Then, I added a…er, uh…mmmm ~ ‘thing’.  Could be used for….uh…whatever.  It just fits the category so well.

Floralish, homespun by my sweet little self, and made with completely repurposed/found items.

1)barkcloth from old drapes 2)red cordury from a jumper, purchased @ thrift store 3)remnant from burlap coffee bag 4)snaps & rick rack, thrifted…

♥ for the verse, quote or prettyish little…. ~I’m going to add the Lion Chaser’s Manifesto that I had in yesterday’s post.

This is going to Mya!  I don’t know much about Mya except that she’s a fighter, a survivor and she used to live in Hawaii (thus the usage of the beautiful floral barkcloth…very Hawaiian) and now lives in Texas.  I hope she enjoys!!!

Christmas in the Northwest

I can’t even begin to describe how gorgeous it is here in eastern Washington.  We have been blessed with a dumping of snow.  It’s been snowing for more that 24 hours straight and it’s still going.

Do you ever go into a thrift store hoping to find a specific item?  Dangerous endeavor.  I do it often but instead of leaving with what I’m looking for, I leave with arm loads of other goodies.  This time, however, I went in looking for a wool (key word – no acrylic here), crocheted, granny-square afgan in oranges, browns…  and look what I came out with.  I love it even more with that touch of robin’s egg blue!   I can’t show it here (yet) but I made a wonderful little something with this for a someone-?-very-?-special.

My wonderful, homemade gift came from Lauren for the Holiday Traditions Exchange.  She made me this fun, festive & fluffy (you could use those same words to describe me) pillow.  She also send a recipe and a hand written account of her family’s best holiday tradition.  Very nice – Thank you so much Lauren.

It’s Snowing!

We’re finally getting a measurable amount of snow…and it’s coming down fast –  it’s even filtering through to my blog…can you see it?

Mr. Cash wants to come in where it is warm.

Have I ever let on that I’m a procrastinator.  Those of you who know me personally have probably figured that out.  I can give my daughter a bad time about her time management skills (as in my last post) but truth be told, she & I both know where she learned it.  A friend gave me a horseradish start a few weeks ago and my job was to get it in the ground before it was frozen solid.  That gives a girl some leeway.  With pickax  and shovel in hand I figured that this morning was my last chance.  I actually got some hoses put away too!  🙂

it looks like a little grave - rest well my little horseradish plant! The 3 little sticks are marking where my garlic is that the same friend gave me. It only took me about 8 weeks to get that in the ground.

I received my package from Anita in the Netherlands yesterday.  It was for the Stockings Full O’ Cheer Swap.  She put together such a fun assortment of goodies.  The stocking she made for me is so sweet, nice and very well made – I love it!  She hand-pieced a homespun garland ~ stitched together some hearts ~ made a kleenex cover – sent some traditional Christmas cookies from the Netherlands and a couple of sweet ‘tinish’ ornaments that didn’t end up this pic but will be in tomorrow’s post.  It’s so much stinkin’ fun to get a package like this in the mail. Thank you so much Anita.

Thanks to those who took the time to leave a note on my daughter’s blog.  I was blessed by reading your notes of encouragment and I know that she will be too!

Another sneak peak

Here’s another sneak peak for a swap that is on its way to PA –  There is a slight similarity to the last sneak peak but I have to get creative ~ I can’t spill all the goodness right here in this public setting before it arrives at it’s destination (& I did make the same soldered Christmas tag for both gals).

As soon as I went to take the pic, Tripp slid his nose right in there…

I hope this finds you enjoying this December to it’s fullest.

I know, I know…it’s always a bit too full!   Blessings!

The box was in the mail…

I received my Swappy Ladies’ gift yesterday from Leslie.  WOW!  she really outdid herself.  Here are some fun shots.

altered jar, w/dictionary clippings:tinker & verve

a fun bag full of ephemera & vintage salt shaker full of buttons & goodies

pin cushion w/vintage fabric & embellishments

serving tray used as a magnet board: w/vintage buttons as magnets

It was obvious that Leslie had a blast putting this assortment together and I had BLAST opening it.  Thank you so much Leslie – you have blessed me.

Another fun package in the mail yesterday was my autographed copy of…

Anna Maria Horner's brand new book ~ makes me dream about something to make my home-sick girl.

And I finished another apron using thrifted linen (yellow) and a vintage dresser scarf (cut in half) with the addition of some fun colorful Heather Bailey fabrics for a pocket.

I sent off my Swappy Ladies gift…

…and it’s been received on the other end by Leslie the JunkGirl – so I’m going to post my pics, then when I receive hers I will be sure to post those.   The rules to this swap were: to repurpose one item and send an item that is autumn-inspired.

the front of this box is embellished with a piece of map to remind Leslie where she is from 🙂 and it has a charm made with a bottle cap

silver platter painted with chalkboard paint - w/added 'artists' drawing! 😉

This charm is made with a snippet of map which has been hi-lighted with Leslie's home town (city) & a small license plate charm hanging from that

side 2 of the map charm - made with a 1" bevel glass & vintage wallpaper

a large 'L' from a license plate

I added this at the end when I found out Leslie likes Parisian goods - the charm says flowergirl in French on the other side

This was loads of fun to exchange with Leslie and I know that the best is yet to come…… 🙂

Yesterday I did garden clean-up all day (w/a bit of help from Mr T).  It’s a lot easier to do this I’m sure when the ground isn’t already frozen but we muddled our way through.  I got some garlic planted which I’m very excited about and when Mr T was picking apples he found a nest and asked me if I wanted it.  Of course, I’ll add it to the pile.  Well, it had the most perfect robin’s egg in it.  I’ll try to get a pic sent tomorrow.  It was a thrill (& a little sad).

I made this no-peel apple cake over the weekend and it was oh-my-goodness-good.  That link also takes you to a blog that is wonderful to follow and very inspiring in regards to entertaining.

I am coming up on my 1st year of blogging.  Anyone who leaves a comment on October 30th will be entered into a drawing for something delightfully…mmmm….DELIGHTFUL!

Swappy Ladies UNITE!

Yesterday I received my 300th comment…and it was from my sweet girl!  Thanks for all of your comments~I love getting them.  Some days I get sad because I can see that I’ve had a considerable # of views and only 1 or 2 comments…or none at all!  😦  This is how I feel about that (weren’t you just dieing to know?). I feel that this is a community.

com·mu·ni·ty \kə-ˈmyü-nə-tē\

a: an interacting population of various kinds of individuals in a common location b: a group of people with a common characteristic or interest together within a larger society c: a group linked by a common policy

In order to be a part of a community, you have to be just that a part, a contributor…i.e. write you own blog…blog surf…leave comments…etc……! I remember when I left my first one, I was a little nervous…but, because of it I won a give-a-way. WOW!  Even before I had won anything, it felt so good to leave that comment – I felt like I was part of something.  Now I leave comments all over the place…but only if something just jumps out at me – I definitely don’t leave a comment on each one I read.  I really didn’t mean to go into all of this and I really just did it to encourage you to think about taking that step of regularly leaving comments at the blogs you visit.  It make is all more fun.

This is actually why I’m writing this post…………………………

For those of us who have signed up for the Swappy Ladies Autumn Gift Exchange, it’s getting very close to the time for sending our sweet, repurposed creations on their way.

Here is just a small glimpse of some goodness that I’m working on…

Yesterday I had a full and wonderful day.  I had my parents, aunt and uncle and their friends for dinner.  In the afternoon, just the gals came over for tea.  It’s so rewarding to share our hearts and our home with dear people…so very rewarding.  We are trying to bless others and in return we are so very, very blessed.

Ladies, please come for tea anytime…I would love to have you.

Stepping up to my own challenge~

I had a great meeting with the gals on Friday who were interested in a wholesale order and I left there challenged to try some new things.

{“Queen of denial” was a saying they wanted me to work into a charm}

This last one is a 1″ bevel with a snippet of a map encased in it with a mirror on the other side. I can do a charm with a piece of map for any city/country/area.  Keep in mind that generally any charm I show on my blog is for sale.  And most of my charms are $20 each, including a 30″ chain.

I just keep poppin' the HAPPY PILLS for more creative ideas smothered with VERVE

Go over  and see Amber Rose and check out this fun, creative, crafty gift swap for bloggers. I am already coming up with some incredibe, exciting, wonderful and fantabulous idea for my swappy lady!