This and That

I signed up for a swap in one of my groups where we had to pick 5 things from a list and send them to a partners. I love these kind of swaps, they stretch my creativity.
Here's the list:
1. Five pieces of 18 inches of lace
2. Four handmade paper bows
3. Four handmade paper flowers
4. Four inchies
5. Three altered tickets
6. Three embellished paperclips
7. Three altered clothespins
8. One altered key
9. Five altered mini tags (measuring 1x2)
10. Five pieces of 18 inch bling ribbon
11. Four embellished polaroid frames
12. Two ATCs

I chose to do five pieces of 18 inches of lace, four inchies, three altered tickets, three embellished paperclips, and two ATCs for one partner:

 For my other partner, I chose five pieces of 18 inches of lace, four inchies, three embellished paper clips, five altered mini tags and two ATCs

 Here are some close-ups on what I made:
Inchies:

 This is the second time I've done inchies (a square inch of paper decorated/altered), I don't really like them, they are a bit too small for me. I didn't do much with them. Basically I added a wooden butterfly button, a plastic bow piece, a gold square button, a flower sticker, a metal filigree piece and a pink flower piece, a chipboard sparkly heart sticker. The last one on the top row and the first one on the second row, I added these tiny heart punches and then added a silver button and gem and a butterfly sequin. The one at the bottom hanging out by itself I kept for me, it has a sparkly pink chipboard sticker and a 'love' charm piece.
Three altered tickets:

 I had these pink tickets in my stash, I just added some leaf diecuts and and other stickers. The first one has the diecut (swap), an 'enjoy' sticker (Dollar Tree), a flower sticker (Target) and a ladybug sticker (swap). The second one has a leaf sticker (Target), a picnic sticker (Dollar Tree), some purple flower gems (swap) and a border strip (Walmart). The last one has a leaf die cut (swap), a flower sticker (swap) and a butterfly gem (swap).
These were fun, I wish I had a strip of them, I wanted to stamp a bit, but it wouldn't have been as cool.
Five altered mini tags:

 I'll admit they're not exactly tags because I don't have a tiny hole punch, but they're tag shaped, apparently that works.
I used some words on the bottom of all of them. First one has sweet (swap) and an ice cream sticker (Walmart). Love (swap) and a chipboard heart sticker (Target). Home (swap) and a house (swap). Fun (swap), some epoxy bird stickers (garage sale) and a lady bug sticker (swap). Grow (swap) and a flower sticker (Target). I tried to make the embellishment go with the word I put on each one.
ATCs:

I had the flower and cloud background papers (Walmart) on my desk from something else, so I decided to use them. The first one has some flower stickers (Dollar Tree) and a word piece (Walmart). Second one has a hot air balloon (Dollar Tree). Third has a word sticker (Hobby Lobby) layered on some pink paper (my stash) with some chipboard star stickers (Target). Fourth has some lady bug stickers (swap) with an Eiffel tower chipboard sticker (Target) and a word piece (Walmart).
Here's what I got in return:

 This one didn't exactly follow the rules of the swap, she picked paper bow, inchies, ribbon/lace, and ATCs but instead of something else, she added her own (twinchies) and a card. It's all nice, don't get me wrong, but why sign up for a swap, if you're not going to follow the rules?
Second partner:

I love the shabby chic-ness of everything, especially that mask paperclip.

Altered Paper clips

I signed up for an altered paper clip swap in one of my groups, the theme is butterflies. Here's what I made:

 I used a bunch of stickers to make them. The first one is actually some die cuts I got in a swap. The second one is a layered chipboard sticker I got in a swap. The third is a chipboard sticker from Target. The fourth is a sticker from Dollar Tree. The fifth is a glittery sticker from my stash. The sixth is a wooden sticker.
The backs:

I backed the first one with another die cut and most of the others with buttons. I backed the third one with some paper.
Here's what my partner sent me:

We had to send pictures before we were partnered (I don't care about that, but), and the first picture I sent was the top picture, the hostess asked me to do something more with the first paper clip because it looked pretty plain next to the others, so I added some bling to the middle. And to get the above back where they all look pretty plain, is kind of annoying.
The goodies:

Year Round Holiday paper clips

I signed up to create some year round holiday paperclips. I don't know why, because I never use the paperclips from these swaps, but I love getting them.
Here's the fronts:

 I don't have close-ups and of course the picture I took tonight turned out blurry, I have to start looking at them before packaging up my swaps.
New Years is a couple of champagne glasses on a square of champagne glittery paper on a black paperclip. Valentine's Day is a heart brad on a white paper clip. St. Patrick's Day is a rosette on a yellow paper clip. Mardi Gras is a circle with green, yellow and purple paper strips and green, gold, and purple gems on a purple paper clip. Easter is a puffy egg sticker on a pink paper clip. July 4th is a pinwheel sticker on a white paper clip. Halloween is a mummy sticker on a green paper clip. Thanksgiving is a pilgrim button on an orange paper clip. Christmas is a rectangle Santa sticker on a red paper clip.
Here are the backs:

New Year's has a gold button, Valentine's Day a black button, St. Patricks Day a green scalloped circle and a rainbow sticker, Mardi Gras a wooden button, Easter I covered the back of the sticker with paper and added a yellow button, July 4th an off white button, Halloween another mummy, Thanksgiving an orange button, Christmas another Santa sticker. We had to make 10 paper clips, so the last one was a freestyle, I put in this one that has sunflower bling on both sides on a green paper clip.
I hate leaving the backs of altered paperclips so you can just see the glue, so I always try to add something to make the back look a little cleaned up.
Here's what my partner sent me:

They look like clip art that she printed off. I think they are really cute. My favorites being the jar full of conversation hearts, and my name.

Animal Paper clips

I love altering paperclips, it's very addicting. One of the swaps I signed up to do recently was an animal paper clip swap. Here's what I made:

 The owl, ladybug and bird are stickers from Dollar Tree. The dog is a button from Hobby Lobby. The whale is a sticker from Micheal's.
Here's what I made for my second partner:

She said she liked giraffes, cats, and dogs. The giraffe and cat are stickers from Dollar Tree. The dog is a sticker I got in a swap. All the ones on the bottom are buttons.
I had thought I had to make 6 for each partner and then realized it was only 5. So I sent my first partner the ones in the first picture, and my second partner the ones in the second picture minus the dog button.
Here's what I got in return:

I love them all. That white bunny at the top, when you flip him over, there's another bunny, but it's his butt.
And here's what I got from my other partner:

I LOVE that little tiny penguin, the other is pretty cute, too!.

Crafter's Surprise

One of the swaps I signed up for on my facebook groups was a crafter's surprise. Basically we were given a list of things to choose three from and send to our partner. We were not to tell our partner what we were sending. We could choose three items from this list: a pocket letter, flipbook, loaded envelope, three altered tags (3x6), six altered paper clips, six altered clothespins, six inchies, three altered puzzle pieces, three altered dominoes, six embellishments (2x2), three index cards, three decorated wands and/or a combination of pinwheels, three rolodex cards, four handmade ribbon or paper flowers and a file folder mini album.
I chose six altered paper clips:

The butterfly is a sticker from Dollar Tree, the cameo I got in a swap, the bee is a sticker from Hobby Lobby, the panda is a sticker from Dollar Tree, the coffee is a button I got in a swap and the owl is a sticker from Dollar Tree.

Six altered clothespins:

 I put some flowery washi on them and then added either pearls or words.
Six inchies:

These were a challenge. I've never done inchies before, they are one inch square pieces. The backgrounds are all scraps. First one: I added a flower sticker and some butterflies, I also added a jewel to the middle of the flower. Second one: the flower is a sticker from Dollar Tree, I just added a sticker word from my stash to it. I think this one is my favorite. Third one: the frame was on another sticker, I just layered it with foam tape on top of the frog sticker. Fourth one: I made a little banner on the bottom and added a sticker, the birdhouse is popped up on foam tape. Fifth one: the flower is from Hobby Lobby, the white piece is from a swap, I just added a jewel to the middle. Sixth one: The background here is actually washi from Dollar Tree, I added a horse sticker, a word sticker and some pearls.
I tried to challenge myself with the inchies and altered clothespins, but also did something I've done before with the altered paperclips. I just noticed they were supposed to be a spring theme, I think they fit that even though I didn't think about it when creating them.
Here's what I got from my partner:

 Here's the first package:

 It contained three index cards:

 Here's the second package:

 It's a flip book, here's the front:

 The first flip:

 The second flip:

 And the last flip:

 Here's the back:

 Here's the third package, it's ATCs:

 and the back:

I love what she made me, I love how it all coordinates.