Despite having set myself some probably quite unrealistic goals for making Christmas gifts this year, I couldn't resist adding to the stress by signing up for a craft swap! I'm still a bit of a novice at this swapping thing - for instance, I completely forgot to take photos of the items I'd made before putting them in the post - Doh!!! Also , why didn't it occur to me to add some craft supplies to my swap when my swapping partner is a fellow crafter??? Hopefully I'll get better at this with practice.
The idea of the swap, organised by Kimberley at Creative Chaos was to put together a festive, crafty Christmas box. This is a link to the original post about it and here are the rules we had to follow...
The rules:
The items must be in a one litre container (eg., icecream/margarine/sistema).
They can be some of your favourite things and some of your swapers favourite things.
Something handmade (decoration/bag/dishcloth/zippered pouch etc), tea, stationery ,craft goodies, Christmas things,food items etc - the choices are lots.
Try and put at least 2 Christmas based items in the swap.
Include a Christmas recipe - maybe a family favourite and a decoration (one which is representative of your own country would be fab).
There is no limit to the number of items sent - it all just needs to fit inside a one litre container.
Here are pictures of all the wonderful goodies I found when I opened my box on Christmas morning...
Look at this little lady, isn't she sweet? She's so detailed too - love her boots...
... her little Christmas stocking... and the little charm on the back.
I'm not much of a tea drinker (I prefer the occasional hot chocolate) but this beautifully knitted mug cosy and the tea bags are going to prove very useful as I'm planning a birthday tea party soon :)
I really love the beaded detail.
Isn't this one cute? I'm in awe of anyone who can knit like this!
My recipe is for gingerbread and it was beautifully packaged in a gingerbread patterned scroll - will be giving this a try for my tea party too :)
Valery-Ann can't have had any idea about how much I love playing with washi tape - I was SO happy to get three rolls of washi tape and this sweet little tape dispenser. I'm really looking forward to having fun and creating some crafty things with this :)
I know from reading my swap-partner's blog, that she loves butterflies so I wasn't surprised to find some in my box - firstly this pretty butterfly stamp...
...six sheets of butterfly paper in lovely colours...
...two fat quarters of fabric, one that matches the colour of my car! :) ...
...secured with embroidery thread and decorated with these lovely butterflies that I'm wondering if I can use as teddy bear fairy wings, I'll have to see.
Look at these beautiful butterfly buttons, I think they go really well with the fabric...
I just had to show you one of the buttons in detail, I will have to plan something special for these :)
Then I also got these little wooden butterfly shapes, that I already have plans for so watch this space...
...and last but not least, I got these butterfly themed post-it note pads that are magnetic on the back. I've been needing a new note pad to stick on my fridge so they are already being put to good use :)
I'm amazed at the amount of goodies Valery-Ann managed to cram into a one litre box! I have no idea how she did it, as I tried repacking the box to keep everything together while I unwrapped the rest of my presents. This was the first gift I opened on Christmas morning and I didn't want to lose any of the pieces but I just couldn't get the lid back on!
I have to say a H-U-G-E Thank You for Valery-Ann for putting together such a wonderful collection of Christmas and crafting goodies. I'll write posts about the things I make over the coming months.
I like making small things so this swap really appealed to me and of course in October, Christmas still feels some time away. I didn't actually stress over any of my items except the final one I made, which I felt was the most important one as I wanted to make something my swapper would like. Valery-Anne loves butterflies, vintage style and pink and I had really wanted to combine these things into a single item, unfortunately my first few attempts weren't successful and I had to simplify my ideas. Luckily I did take a photo of this with my mobile before it went in the box...
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