Valentine ATC Swap

I received some exciting mail today. My return ATC's from Kimberly at ArtJoyStuff's swap.

I was on my way to lunch, so I opened the package there, unfortunately I didn't have a scissors, so I didn't get to see what was in the heart package below until I got home. Here's how they were packaged up:

 And to all who got mine, I didn't realize it was such a big deal to package them cutely, I'll do better next time. When I've done other swaps, we just mail the items to the hostess, there's no packaging to return to the players.
Here's what was in the packages:

Starting in the upper right corner, they are from Lisa Napoli (no blog), Sylvia, Liz Waring, and Kimberly.

I'm rather tickled I got something of Liz's. I follow her on her blog, and I get to see all the neat things she makes and I've wanted one for awhile. Don't get me wrong, I love the others too, but I'm very excited to have one of Liz's.
I've been trying to collect other people's art for awhile, and I have a bookshelf I will add these to. Thank you ladies for the beautiful works of art.

Valentine Swap

I joined Kimberly at ArtJoyStuff's Valentine Swap, and promptly forgot when I was supposed to have them in the mail. I was working full-time at my temp job last week, and for some reason thought they were due in the mail a bit after I finished the week. Thursday morning, I read Michele's post at Nook and Cranny about her Valentines, and realized I better check the mail-by date, only to find they were supposed to be postmarked by Saturday. So, Friday night, I jumped in. I always find the ATC's to be so beautiful and full from Kimberly's swaps, I tried to do that with mine, but I learned I can't do over the top. I was a little worried mine would be too plain, but I really like them. Here they are:

 I've decided covering things with dictionary paper is my thing. I love how backgrounds look with it. The hearts were found in some pack I bought somewhere, they feel like mulberry paper. The buttons are vintage, and the "Love" is a brad, I decided I needed to glue the edges down, otherwise it would have bounced around and not stayed in place. I loved the original 4 I made, I had to make myself one, and since four ATC's fit on the dictionary page, I made four more. I do have the below three left if anyone wants to trade. I'm also listing them on my Etsy store, so hopefully they'll fly away fast.

It's been a long time since I've listed anything newly made on Etsy, they probably won't sell.

Birthday card

One of my co-workers at my temporary job's birthday was yesterday. I felt out of the loop, there were all these birthday greetings all over the store for her. So, I felt the need to make her a card:

 It's just a bunch of layered paper mostly, the plaid colored one, is from a tag bundle that someone gave to me. I kept looking for something really elegant to put in it, I was thinking I needed a cake. I found this sticker on a sheet someone had given me, I love how nice and pretty the rest of the card looks and then you have this whimsy cake right in the middle.
I also decorated the envelope for her:

The rectangle is from the same set as the plaid above, all I did was add the letters.
Unfortunately, I found out this morning when I went to scan it, it's upside down on the envelope, the envelope opens at the bottom, I thought I had aligned it right. Oh, well, too late now.

Blue Swap

I joined the January swap at A Swap For All Seasons last month. We were supposed to make a tag, make a card and send some blue ephemera to our partner. Here's what I sent my partner:

 some blue/white striped pipe cleaners, some blue/white striped paper clips, some blue beads, some blue fuzzy flower trim, a blue/white vintage pin, and some paper flowers. I also sent her a tiny bag of blue buttons that I forgot to include in the picture.
Here are my creations for my partner:

 I really like how that tag turned out. I had no plan, I just sat down one day and picked stuff off my floor.
Here's what I received from my other partner:

lots of paper ephemera, some buttons, some blue cards.

I liked the swap so much, I signed up for February's swap this month. We'll be trading red items this time.