Easter Egg Garland Swap

Jennifer of Artrageous Afternoon hosted an Easter Egg Garland swap several months ago, and after a great and yet-to-be-posted experience with a Valentine card swap I jumped at the chance to trade more paper art. We each decorated 5 eggs and sent them to Jennifer who shuffled them up, put them into banner form with a ribbon and teeny clothes pins and sent them back.

By Amy Wald

Who made this one?? It wasn't signed! And they went all out decorating side 1 and...

Side 2; lovely!

By Melinda of Melinda's Fabric Fancies; here's her post about some of the eggs she made.

By Joanna of Sweet Finds; here's her post about the eggs she made.

Who made this one??

Here are the eggs I contributed to the swap.

I had to make a 6th one for me to keep of course! As you can see I tend to be pretty precise in my paper art; I'm working on being a bit more relaxed and free form. It's a process, and I'm excited to see where I end up!

I wish that all the artists had labeled their Easter eggs; as you can see there are couple that were blank, so I have no idea who to thank.

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This was such a fun swap and now I have a wonderful piece to add to my Easter and spring decor. Thanks to Jennifer and to each of the talented ladies whose lovely Easter eggs I received!

Pink Saturday/Majestic Feathers Tag Swap

Happy Pink Saturday! Beverly has the full list of bloggers posting about pink this Saturday, so check it out!


Jenny of Fated Follies hosted the Majestic Feathers Tag swap calling for tags, and I quote, "decorated with fancy birds, royal hues, crowns and majestic notions." Oh that sounded fun, so I had to sign up!




I envisioned deep purple tags decorated with peacocks in royal blues and teals, sporting real feathers in their tails. I bought a bundle of peacock feathers on Ebay and was so excited until I noticed the (not so) fine print: they would be shipping from Hong Kong...and would arrive in about 2 weeks. Plan B! I found some fluffy white feathers and sparkly pink crowns had me envisioning bright yellow and pink tags featuring white birds. Of course these tags evolved in the creative process as art projects do and I ended up with these which I really like:

A little pink castle on the back of each tag livens up my contact info (written in pink, of course).

I can't wait to receive the tag booklet of 12 tags each done by a different artist!

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These tags show that the inclusion of other colors can actually serve to enhance our beloved pink. Doesn't it look even happier and more vibrant next to the cheerful yellow and the snowy white? I think so.

Happy Pink Saturday!

Mother's Day 2008

This will be the 3rd year that I will have a Mother's Day brunch to honor my mom. I say "will have" because this year it hasn't happened yet. We spent Sunday with the hub's mom, and Mother's Day Part Deux will be this Friday.

Two years ago I made all the food, packed it in an elaborate system of insulated bags with cold packs and hoped it would make it through church (I was helping with the children's service, so I couldn't skip it) and the 35 minute drive to my parents' house. It did! And it was delicious. I took much of the menu from Food Network's suggested Mother's Day Menu 2007: Strawberry Bellinis, Fresh Fruit and Mint Salad, Orange Glazed Blueberry Scones, Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Frittata, green salad using lettuce hubs grew, maybe roasted asparagus (can't remember...) and I think there was a dessert, but I don't remember what it was...in any case Mom felt very special which was the point of the whole thing.

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So this past year I thought, "Why not run that play again!" except this time I worked it out for Mom to come to me...it was a huge endeavor to transport all the food, and thankfully she didn't mind making the hour drive if it meant she didn't have to cook, wash the dishes, or wait in line for 2 hours at her favorite restaurant.

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I had recently discovered Tracy's delightful blog Notes on a Cottage Industry, and I just loved all of her tablescapes and cute banners, so I set out to do something really cute a la Tracy for my mom.

I set the table and printed the menu and place cards the night before, because I knew having the table ready would be a great comfort when I was freaking out trying to get all the food done (not to mention all the last minute house cleaning) the next day. Pretty much I dealt with the food and hubs scurried around getting the house all squared away: THANK YOU, BABE!

My inspirations were two pink scrapbook papers from the Martha Stewart collection at Michael's: a cream and light pink toile and a sparkly, deep pink. From those I pulled together a pink, white and silver table color scheme punctuated with plenty of sparkly glass. I used a plain white table cloth and white plates as the backdrop. The bouquet of gorgeous pink tulips (Mom's favorites) at the top of this post was the main attraction with candlesticks, silver Christmas ornaments (use what you got!), silver votive cups and a collection of vintage pearl and rhinestone earrings providing the rest of the table decoration. I rummaged through my jewelry to find several bracelets that fit the color scheme to serve as napkin rings and put placecards printed on that gorgeous sparkly pink paper at each place.

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Even Mom's gift had a dash of fuchsia.

The menu card was printed on the toile paper.

We had:

Champagne Lemonade

Tuscan Salad

French Toast Casserole

Chicken Sausage (although I think I used turkey instead of chicken...)

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Strawberry Salad Ring (It's actually called Strawberry Mold...and I just couldn't type that on my beautiful toile menu card. And of course I decided at the last minute to make it in a square dish instead of the ring, and no way was I reprinting that menu card :) )

Chocolate Mousse

Cause I'm mean and want to show you pictures that will make you drool, take a look at the French Toast Casserole.

Oh, yeah...it was even better than it looks. It's a Paula Deen recipe, so you can be sure it is going to be sinfully good. After it was all said and done the dish was scraped CLEAN.

The final touch on the whole shebang was this cuuuuuute (if I do say so myself) "Mother O' Mine" banner fashioned after one that Tracy made for her mom. I alternated the two inspiration papers and strung the letters on a black ribbon.

Mom loved her event! She is just about the most gracious guest you will ever find, and she oohed and aahed over everything and just made me feel so good. We two plus Dad, brother and hubs had a great time eating some great food (thank you, Food Network!) and celebrating our mom/mom-in-law/wife.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I love you!

Vintage Spring Sweetness Swap

Linda at A Swap For All Seasons has such fun swap themes, and I was so excited to participate in the Vintage Spring Sweetness Swap she organized recently. Thrifty Homemaker Angela was my partner, and she absolutely spoiled me!



She sent a box stuffed full of sweet spring goodies: candy (chocolate, marshmallows and Chick-O-Sticks), vintage goodies (detail below), lace ribbons, spring tags and sticky notes, Easter ornaments and a potpourri sachet.

Love the little vintage towel, saucer and postcard!

Angela, thank you for such a great box of surprises!

Here's what I sent Angela:

Vintage homemaking magazines, pink Peeps (Peeps have been around since the 50's, so they fit the vintage theme quite nicely), vintage spring-themed playing cards, a vintage hand towel from the Etsy shop Lilly's Cottage, an ornament that looked quite vintage to me and a spring banner I made for Angela. Our challenge this time was to try not to spend more than $10 and I had such fun searching for just the right items that I thought Angela would enjoy while sticking as close as I could to the swap parameters (total spent, vintage, spring).

Angela mentioned that she likes vintage homemaking magazines, so I thought she would enjoy these magazines from the 70's and the old farm cook book.

I found these vintage playing cards in the Etsy shop Frivolous Whimsy...and they were so cute I almost kept them :)

I am pretty proud of this banner; is that vain? I really enjoy making these, and I hope it adds some spring sweetness to Angela's home.

Linda had several drawings for cute spring-y vintage items for those of us in the swap and look who got the very last one!

I can't wait to find just the right use for this little charm.

Thank you, Linda, for a great swap and thank you, Angela, for my wonderful goodies!

Pink Saturday banner

Good Sunday morning! Let's relive a bit of Pink Saturday, shall we?

I made this pink banner for my swap partner Angela for Linda's Vintage Spring Sweetness swap over at A Swap For All Seasons. I'll be posting the rest of what I sent and what I got soon. Linda is a great swap hostess and she'll be announcing her summer swap in the next few days, so check it out!

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See those pink and white curtains behind my banner?? Those are part of my pink room that will someday make it to Pink Saturday. You'll love it!

Valentine's Swap

A Thrifty Mrs. hosted a Valentine's Swap and paired me up with Rosey from Agapanthus and Goldsworthy. Rosey lives in Australia and makes the cutest softies which she blogs about at I Cant Sew and sells in her Etsy Store I Cant Sew Creations.

Look at these lovelies Rosey sent me!


- Penelope the softie bird (bigger picture below)...look at the beautiful pattern and colors of that fabric (um, yes she can sew)
- Softie heart (more evidence of ability to sew)
- Sweet cherub
- Dressed up chickie
- Candy and vegemite! The hearts (there were more...that have been consumed already) were made in Melbourne, Australia, and the other chocolates have been made since Rosey was little. She said they used to be wrapped in foil, and the kids would try to collect all the designs. And vegemite! I was so excited to see this as I've heard of it before ("Land Down Under" by Men at Work, anyone??) but never tried it. Rosey recommended a very thin layer spread on buttered toast, so that is what we did for part of our breakfast this morning.

Verdict: It reminded me of a beef buillon cube: salty and meaty (yes, I have eaten one of those before...in middle school I was curious and went through my mother's spice cabinet trying all manner of things; she was gone at the time as I'm sure she would not have condoned the wanton eating of random spice cabinet items. Yummy = packet of Equal poured into a spoon with a chocolate syrup layer on top. And Fruit Fresh crystals are yummy all on their own. I bet she wondered where stuff was disappearing to). Hubs sampled the Vegemite and said, "Very salty" and "If I didn't have any meat to put on my sandwich...".

Look at cutie Penelope! She came with a little card telling her story. You can get a wee softie like Penelope in Rosey's Etsy shop, I Cant Sew Creations. You can't see it, but Penelope has a ribbon attached to her back for hanging in some cute little nook.

This little bird makes me laugh...I pecked at hub's cheek with it when I took it out of the box. So CUTE!

Click here to read Rosey's post about the swap. What a sweet box of lovely items; thank you so much, Rosey!

I sent Rosie:

- Softie kit: Sewing tin, fabric, thread, ribbon, buttons, crochet hearts (from Etsy seller Annie Design)
- Edible love notes: edible paper and edible ink...how fun is that!
- Stained glass hearts from Etsy seller LdyIsis
- "Love" banner I made: Rosey's favorite color is yellow and for Valentine's she chose pastel pinks.

I have to share my adventure with this package. When I took the package to the post office it weighed 4 pounds 3 ounces and the lady said, "Postage will be $45." It was like one of those cartoon moments where your head whips around and your eyes bug out...

"$45...seriously?!?"

"Seriously!" she said all cheerful like.

"I-I-I can't DO that...", so I found out how much postage would be at 2 pounds and 3 pounds and I went home and ripped open my snug little box and took out a big ole vanilla candle that weighed over 2 POUNDS! I know this because my repackaged goodies weighed 2 pounds 0.7 ounce and postage was under $20: I can DO that. Learn from me: research international postage rates before you get all attached to everything you've packaged up...it hurt me to take that candle out of that box. Rosey likes flowery scents anyway, so I think it was all for the best.

Thanks to Thrifty Mrs. for hosting this swap and thank you, Rosey, for my lovely Valentine's treats! They are so sweet!

Very Vintage Valentine Swap

Heidi of Foxgloves, Fabric and Folly organized another in her line of Very Vintage swaps, this time of the Valentine kind. My partner was Lisa of Antiques and More.

First up, here's what Lisa sent me.


Sewing pattern used as packaging: such a neat touch!

Ooooo, what's in there??

Check it out!

-Love puppy

-2 sweet tags

-Chocolate covered raspberry sticks

-Heart doily

-Delicious earrings (Look at them! They are DE-licious)

-Button heart wreath

-3 mercury glass ornaments (swoon!)

What a cute display idea! Lisa sells lots of different styles of earrings in her booth. She made the display card! Already wore these to work and got a compliment!

What a sweet wreath!

Lisa, thank you so much for a great box of goodies!

Now for what I sent Lisa:

-Red mercury glass-look candle stick with plain candle

-Red mercury glass-look votive cup with cinnamon candle (Lisa likes cinnamon scent)

-Red vintage-look rhinestone brooch for wearing or crafting

-Rhinestone heart picture frame

-Red heart ornaments

-Little set of cherub wings

-"Love" banner (I made it!)

-Irresistible Valentine cherub card (It was...just wait, you'll see)

Here's the banner I made...I love making these things! Although I always want to keep them...

I like to include a card listing the package contents and any explanation I feel is needed. Here's the card/booklet I made for Lisa. I used two cardboard hearts that came covered with red glitter on one side (got a package of 6, different sizes, at Wal-Mart). I covered the back side of the hearts with magazine pictures of roses (Lisa's favorite flower), traced the heart shape a couple times on white paper using those as pages in the card, punched a hole through the whole booklet and tied it together with a strip of tulle. Sweet!

Can you resist this little guy?? Now you see why I had to buy this card?? I didn't want to use it because the message says something about "From all of us", but I had to include it in the package. I have one in a little frame as part of my Valentine decor.

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Heidi set a $20 limit (before postage) for this swap which I really enjoyed. I didn't feel self conscious about whether or not I sent enough, and I had a GREAT time seeing what good deals I could get for my money. I can't even tell you how excited I was when I totaled up my expenses and found that everything except the card and the banner (I already had the materials for that) totaled exactly $20. Hey, its the little things and life, you know...Also, while none of this is actually vintage I had a lot of fun gathering things I thought looked vintage.

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I enjoyed this swap SO much; thanks Heidi for a great swap and for pairing me with a great partner. Thank you, Lisa, for all my goodies!!

Completed: Winter Whimsy Mitten Swap

So have I mentioned: I LOVE SWAPS!! Yes, I do worry every time that I picked weird stuff or didn't send enough stuff, but every swap I've done thus far has turned out so well that I end up forgetting the worries and being so excited to sign up for the next one. Jenny of The Red Bulletin Board was my partner for A Swap For All Seasons' Winter Whimsy Mitten Swap. As the title suggests we were to swap mittens we had either made or embellished along with some "wintery/whimsical" goodies. First up: the loot I got from Jenny!

Look how cute everything was wrapped! She could have wrapped up bricks and empty paper towel tubes, and I wouldn't have been too mad because they came wrapped looking so CUTE! (For the record: Jenny, I appreciate the lack of bricks and paper towel tubes :P )

Once I could bring myself to actually mess up the wrap jobs, here's what I found:

--not 1, not 2, but 3 pairs of mittens! You can see Jenny embellished one pair with my initial in pink buttons (favorite color!). Which made me laugh out loud (for real, not just saying that)...when you see what I sent her you'll understand. The black pair features a gorgeous white button on the cuff and I do believe the blue/pink/white pair might be vintage?? I say that because the cute stripes remind me of 80s running shorts. LOVE my mittens!!

--Mitten ornament
--Mitten stuffed with Sugar Cookie bath goodies (YUM)

--Nutcracker Sweet holiday tea (Jenny's favorite)

--January magazine with mittens on the cover

--Vintage crochet booklet with instructions for making all sorts of winter projects (hats, gloves etc)

--Pink reindeer ring

--Pendant that Jenny made!

She used part of the swap button graphic; how creative is this! I was so impressed when I opened it.

She included a little nod to the pink reindeer I posted about several weeks ago; how cute!

I really enjoyed going through this box and felt so special; it was obvious that Jenny put a lot of thought into each item. I really liked how she carried the mitten theme throughout so many of the items and added those little touches that showed that she read my blog. Thank you, Jenny!!

Here's what I sent her:

--Mittens with red (a nod to her favorite color, fire engine red) buttons in a snowflake/star design

--Scarf with a "J" and another snowflake in red buttons...we had no idea that we were both doing button initials; great minds think alike!
--flying pig suncatcher (Jenny loves flying pigs)

--big, green forest scented candle (Jenny likes pine scent)

--hot chocolate

--Peppermint Peep marshmallows for floating in the hot chocolate (What...you've never had peppermint peeps? Oh, you gotta get some of those. GREAT in hot chocolate)

--"Whimsy" banner (I made it!)

--Snowflake stickers for Jenny's little boy

I was quite proud of these! I've not done much sewing, so I was very pleased when these turned out so cute. Let me tell you (and, Jenny, you know this now, too) sewing inside of a mitten is hard! I finally found a method that worked, but goodness it stumped me the first few tries.

Wintery whimsy banner.

I love this fat little pig with its teeny, tiny wings. This came from Maggiegirl's Etsy shop.

What a great swap! I really enjoyed getting to know a little about Jenny through this swap, and I think that's the main point. The fun stuff is just a nice bonus :)

Go check out A Swap For All Seasons' Vintage Spring Sweetness Swap open until Feb. 7 for signups; you gotta get in on this swap fun!