I have been the lucky recipient of several amazing swap packages as of late. First, Donna of Crafty Old Thing sent me a little bird item for each decade from the 40's to the 70's. Such a great idea! Her package contained the pie bird pictured above from the 40's, a child's hankie depicting Old King Cole from the 50's, a vintage bird lapel pin from the 60's, and an owl figurine from the 70s. I loved it! My favorite was the pie bird of course. I had seen a collection of these from a County Living magazine several months ago and had thought what a great collection to start. (Like I need something else to collect.) I haven't seen a pie bird since then, but now I think my collection has started. Thanks Donna!
And then this most amazing package from Vallen of Queenly Things for the Handmade Apron Swap. Just look at all of the wonderful things she sent in addition to the apron. And each item was individually wrapped in tissue paper, ribbons, and a tag giving little hints as to what was inside. Do you see the tea cozy, hot pad and pot hand holders made out of a thrifted sweater? I think Vallen took it upon herself to girlie up my kitchen as I've posted so many times about the lack of pink. I live with 4 other boys you know. Thanks Vallen, it was all wonderful and I have been inspired to try a few of my own things out of felted thrifted sweaters. Vallen, you are definitely a crafty queen!
And yeah for me! I'm all caught up on my swap packages. If I have promised you a package it is in the mail and should be arriving shortly! And only one package is still MIA. My apron swap partner lives in Germany and I'm afraid the package is lost. I usually send packages by UPS so that I can easily track them on line. (I love that!) But shipping internationally by UPS is ridiculously expensive. Try almost $70 for a small package. So, this particular package was unfortunately sent regular USPS. All I can really do is fill out the missing parcel forms and wait. So, dear partner, I am preparing another package. Although it will be very late, I promise to put in a few extra goodies to make the wait worthwhile.
And the boys and I have one more swap to complete before the holidays. We signed up for the kids handmade card swap over at Kids Craft Weekly. Our entry was a little late (notice a theme here?), but Amber kindly added us in. If you are looking for really fun things to do with little ones including some great holiday cardmaking ideas, stop on over and sign up for her newsletter.
Adios for now all. Off to watch the old 1960's version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with the family for like the 87th time. And we still have 3 weeks left until Christmas...whew!