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.

Wrapping paper

I have been horrible about creating things lately. I have something else, but it's for a swap, so I won't show it until I'm sure my partner has received it.

This is about as creative as I've gotten:

 I stamped some Christmas wrapping paper. I had a swap where I had to wrap all the gifts in it. I also shopped at Hobby Lobby and they wrap your items in this plain paper, so I figured instead of throwing it away, I'd just reuse it. Here's some close-ups:

 Trees,

 Snowmen,

 Angels,

And more snowmen.

What have you guys been up to?

Thoughts?

So, I have all these hankies:

Wouldn't it be cool to make a stocking out of them?

Also, does anyone know of any Christmas swaps going on that I can join? I think the ones I've joined in the past aren't going on again this year, and I would love to do some swaps.
Thanks.

I'm Stuck

I've done this piece:

And now I'm stuck. The background is a wooden oval painted black, I covered it with dictionary pages, and put the vintage photo in the middle. I think there's too much space between the dictionary and the lady.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Swaps?

So, here's my latest swap: A Halloween 6x6. I'm pretty sure the person it's going to doesn't read my blog.

I had the hardest time figuring out what to make. I'm not big on Halloween crafts, which is part of the reason I signed up, to stretch my imagination.

I finally decided to start out by covering the background with dictionary paper, as I've decided that's what I do with everything. Then I colored it with alcohol inks, and it's hard to tell, but there's a definition of Halloween in the lower left corner. And then I was stuck again, because I don't do a lot of crafting at Halloween, I don't have a lot of supplies for it. I finally found the bats, which were a ribbon, and cut them apart. The leaf is from some fall thing, I glued that down and decided the skeleton needed to be on top. I had this skeleton which is about 6" tall, only thing was, he was bright green plastic. I painted him white, which was a challenge in itself, the paint would not stick. After gluing him down, I applied som Mod Podge, which tried to take the paint off again. I decided he needed googly eyes instead of holes. The rat, is rubbery, I got him a few years ago when I bought a bag for my collage group, he doesn't glue very well. I finally had to cover his feet and tail, if you try, you can still take him out.

I love how this turned out.

 

I really miss swapping, and there seem to be less and less out there. My normal sites/blogs that do swaps aren't hosting any as of late. Does anyone know of any I can join, or would like to do some kind of swap with me?

I bet no one will, but I'll ask anyway

I'm looking for hope. I've been depressed lately. I was dealt a huge blow a couple of weeks ago and I don't seem to be getting as excited about things as I have in the past. I'm not finding things as fun as I used to. Anyone wanna send me some hope, or at least something to cheer me up?

Anyone have any hope for me?