Swaps: the other side of it

I honestly love swaps -- I love the giving part ... the trying to come up with a design for someone that they'll love and then treats in addition. Well, today, I was reminded of the other side of swaps!

As I've mentioned, I did a stocking swap through Nissa at Simple Gifts. I designed a Victorian lace stocking for my swap buddy up in Canada and included some treats for her too. Well today I got my stocking from Liz in North Carolina.

Isn't she sweet! Two skeins of Bartlett wool (charcoal -- one of the coolest colors), handmade ornaments, hand lotion, candy canes and a gorgeous, felted wool stocking! What a haul ... and I can't wait to design a thank you for her with that lovely, lovely wool!

Swaps: Mittens

As I mentioned earlier, I've been working hard to finish all my swaps before the Dec 8th deadline .... and I did it! All the swap packages went out yesterday and here's the mitten package that went to my KTC swap partner:

With this swap, I didn't HAVE TO knit the final product .... just get a pattern, pick some yarn and other treats, and send it off. But since I'm a bit OCD about knitting and designing, I first had to design, than knit, the prototype for the design that I created just for my partner! So I ended up knitting, but it was so much fun ... I'm going to make another pair (these will go to my green-loving daughter) for me!


I hope my partner enjoys her custom-designed pattern, yarns I chose for her and the treats I added -- I had much fun with this SWAP!

Swaps: Victorian Stocking

Well, I've been busy working on all those swaps for which I signed up! I was able to get to the Post Office yesterday (in spite of BamBam being sick as a dog!) and sent off all the swap packages.

Here's the one that went to Canada for the stocking swap organized by Nissa over at Simple Gifts:

Of course, a stocking wouldn't be any fun without filling -- so Celestial Seasonings tea and Chocolate filled it to the brim! I hope my partner likes it as much as I enjoyed designing and making it!

Swaps: Journal-making done

As I mentioned in my post about swaps, one of the swaps I am in is all about making a journal for someone else. Now, since I don't know my swap partner, I had to do a bit of investigating. Seems she lives in Texas and is a professional designer. From comments on her blog, I was able to intuit that she tends toward a bit funky but sophisticated style -- check out her blog here.

So here's what I came up with for her:
A journal with a ribbon cover and a coordinating "bell-pull" style bookmark with a funky bead squiggle on the end.

Here's how I made this one:

• Ribbons: Two 10" wide 3-3/4" ribbon pieces (with a brocade look); one 18" wide 2-2/1" ribbon
• 12" piece 18-gauge funwire
• Seventeen 3x5mm metallic pony beads
• Tacky glue
• Scissors
• Needle-nose pliers
• 5x8" hard-covered journal/sketch book (black used for this project, could be any color!)
• Ruler
• Pencil

Measure the ribbon and center on the front cover of the journal. Ribbon should extend 1/2 to 1-inch beyond edges of journal (top and bottom). Using tacky glue, glue ribbon to cover, making sure all edges are down. Glue sheet facing cover to cover (to hide the ribbon ends). Let dry completely.

Make bookmark: fold edges of 18" ribbon piece into a point. (see picture below). Glue tips down.While bookmark ribbon is drying, make the wire squiggle. Taking a 12-inch piece of funwire and using the needle-nose pliers, make a rolled end. String pony beads in any pattern you desire. My metallic beads blend nicely with the gold of the ribbon. Using the pencil, take the wire with the beads already strung and wrap loosely around the pencil. The "squiggle" should be about 2 inches long. Make a twist in the wire to hold the beads in place.Take the now-dry bookmark ribbon, fold the ribbon in half-lengthwise so points meet. Place the metal wire down the center of the folded ribbon. Run tacky glue all over the ribbon and fold, making sure wire is completely within the ribbon (with just the squiggle sticking out) and centered. Let dry completely.

I hope she enjoys this sophisticated, yet a bit funky, journal!

Swaps: Cool way to "meet" folks

all over the world! I love these. You just never know what you'll receive and it's so fun to try to create something for someone you only know through on-line relations. Very fun, huh?

Here are the swaps I've signed up for so far this Christmas 2007 season (this is also to help ME keep track of what I've committed to):

• Unschooling Catholics Postcard Swap -- some 27 other unschoolers throughout the world; those will go out today (if my kids ever get up!)
• Jesse Tree Swap -- make 28 of the same symbol, send to the contact person, and receive a full Jesse-Tree's worth of ornaments from 27 other folks! Organized by Lorri at 4real -- ornaments should be sent by Nov 21st.
• Journal Making -- hand-craft a journal for a swap partner; my partner lives in Texas and this is going to be fun to create something for a professional designer. Organized by One Hour Craft blogger, Mia -- journals should be sent by Nov 21st.
• Holiday Traditions -- this one should be really interesting. The idea is to organize a "holiday traditions kit" -- favorite recipe, memory, activity, handmade decoration, etc -- and send it to your partner. Sign-up deadline was Sunday, Nov 11th with a shipping of package by December 10th. Meg at Montessori-by-Hand came up with this fascinating swap.
• Christmas Stocking -- hand-craft a stocking in any medium (of course, I'm doing a knitted one!), fill with goodies based on preferences of your swap partner, and send off. Organized by Nissa (who is starting up a craft/homearts/living magazine, Simple Gifts) -- sign-up by November 18th, send stocking by December 8th.
• KTC Mittens Swap -- this is a knitting/crocheting swap where you create a "kit" for knitting/crocheting hand-warmers of any kind -- mittens, gloves, fingerless mits, whatever! You include a pattern, yarn to make, other treats etc -- this one is well-organized as there is a value set -- $25-35 -- and a sign-up by November 21st and send the kit by Dec 8th.

If I join any others, I'll post here. I love that swap partners can come from anywhere in the world! Isn't that cool?

So why don't you join in the fun .... here's a blog that tracks swaps in just about any category you could think of.

Swaps: Christmas Stocking

Check this out .... and then go ahead and sign-up by Sunday, November 18th!

This should be a boot -- bad pun, I know but come up with a better one then!