Sunshine in the Mail

Mail swaps can be stressful (as I found out when I overcommitted myself last Christmas!) but this week I received a gorgeous present thanks to Seaweed and Raine's stress-free 'Sunshine in the Mail' swap. My package *all the way from Australia* was so big that I clearly needed help opening it.

The swap was a blind one so I didn't know where it was coming from - what a lovely surprise to be spoiled by designed-to-a-t. This beautiful handmade bag was snapped up by Miss 4 as it perfectly fits her new favourite toy, but I am keeping the matching card with sewn-on ric rac (don't you love ric rac!)

This sweet poster came complete with clipboard for displaying!

And these pretty tags are a welcome addition to my stationery stash (do you think that is washi tape? I  need to try some...) It really was a lovely package, thank you so much Terese   :)

I sent my swap package off a couple of weeks ago because it had to go all the way to New York! I made the rosette brooch from lily pad scraps and sent some stationery from New Zealand designers...

• Pencil from Emma Makes


• Stickers from Nut and Bee (through Moo)


• An oversized postcard I received with a purchase from Sensitive Boyfriend

I hope Lissa enjoys them, you can see her lovely drawings and photos on her blog A Chance of Sunshine. If you have ever thought about entering a swap, keep an eye out for an easy one like this and sign up!

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My Creative Space - Christmas {hearts}

There is so much Christmas going on in my head at the moment that sometimes it is a relief to realise it is only October! Not only do we have our huge OTLP Christmas Giveaway, but there are also crafty Christmas blog swaps popping up.

I have signed up for a couple of swaps, so now I have to figure out some ornaments to send,  and yesterday I experimented with some hearts... I was inspired by My Little Jedi's turquoise and red Xmas post  and it came out quite sweet, the plain heart side is a pocket for some yet-to-be-determined christmas treat!


(p.s. I must add that cutting out a big pile of heart shapes can be very therapeutic).

As today is Thursday, you can visit www.kootoyoo.com to see what other bloggers have been up to this week.







And if you would also like to get in the holiday spirit a bit early, check out these links:

Our talented friends at New Zealand Handmade have a single ornament swap open internationally, click here to sign up (by October 23rd) and get the details.

If you like the idea of making (and receiving!) 5 or 6 ornaments, www.sew-funky.com is co-ordinating a swap for NZ crafters, info is here and you have until November 5th to sign-up.

And finally, if you can stretch to making a soft toy instead of an ornament, Meet Me At Mike's is organising a children's charity drive for handmade soft toys. The sign-up sheet is here (note: you won't be able to read about the charity without signing up!).

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Gocco --- finally!

I received a Gocco PG-Arts screenprinting machine from my Mommy for Christmas last year ... and never used it. I was too scared. I've been reading Gocco tutorials for months and months but the whole thing seemed so overwhelming to me that I just couldn't bring myself to take the plunge --- even though I had pined for a Gocco long before I ever received one.

But finally, I was inspired to give it a go when Lisa from The Bunny Log spread the word about her Autumn Postcard Gocco Swap. Thanks Lisa.


So. last night I made over 50 of these sweet little bubble-baby-fairy postcards. And I am so happy with them. Certainly there are some things I now know that I could have done differently ... but these are sweet just as they are ... and I will get the hang of this in time. In truth, it was SO much easier to use my Gocco then I ever could have imagined. There was no reason to be so afraid of it. Lesson learned: "Just Do It"... nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I made some extras for Etsy and will post them soon for those who find these as sweet as I do. I also made some extras for me, of course ;)

Have you tried something new this week?

Love,
Jodi

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45 Degrees and Counting!

Today was a lovely day in Maine ... the sun was even out long enough to cast shadows ...

... and the day was made even better when Daddy arrived home early from work! He and Isaac lounged on the sun-soaked bed for a while ... catching up on some reading.

And to further the loveliness of the day ... my mail lady brought me some "mailbox joy" from the UK! Thanks to Lyn for the fabulous vintage fabric (again part of a fabric swap on Swap-Bot.com).


Goodnight,
Jodi

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Mailbox Joy.

Today was a great mailbox day. I received some "joy" from Amazon.com as well as from some Swap-Bot partners. Here is the bounty of goodies that I ordered from Amazon:

Sew What Skirts: 16 Simple Styles You Can Make With Fabulous Fabrics by Francesca DenHartog

The Sultan's Kitchen: A Turkish Cookbook by Ozcan Ozan

The Book of New Family Traditions by Meg Cox

A Taste of Haiti by Mirta Yurnet-Thomas

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier

I am excited to try my hand at some Turkish and Haitian cooking, as well as some skirt making. The Road and The Measure of a Man are books that my husband is interested in reading... but I think I may get my hands on them first. And the Family Traditions book will serve us well in figuring out what sorts of traditions & rituals we would like to hand down to our son (we have only come up with one tradition on our own thus far).

Also ... I received some fabric from a swap that I participated in on Swap-Bot. We exchanged vintage fat quarters (18" x 22") of fabric. I sent my partners some sweet 70's fabrics from my collection. And I just received a package from my swap partner in Sweden. She sent me some very unique pieces. I LOVE them! They are barkcloth materials from the 60's...

I also received some lovely photo ATCs from another swap I am participating in ... but don't feel that I have a "right" to display them here as I still haven't sent mine out yet! (Sorry to my partners ... I WILL get right on this). I will post them here as soon as I quit slacking and send mine :)

Love,

Jodi

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