My Long Distance Exchange!

I did a swap with a dear friend, who lives far away!

Can you see who it is??? I'll give you a couple of hints.  She lives by the Baltic Sea & I showed you her amazing gifts to me here.

I found this old wooden box, painted & grunged it up a bit. Then I used some of my favorite sheet music to fancy up the lid.  The best part was filling it up for her.

Have you guessed my swap partner? Julia at Vintage with Laces!

I'm very much into pockets these days, so I added this one to personalize her box.

What's a swap without beautiful creamy buttons, right?

And some pretty laces & velvet ribbon.

Some of my resin bobbles to use in her amazing art.

The only item Julia requested in this swap was an altered bottle. The colors on her blog, & in her art inspired it.  I never make the same bottle twice, so I always fret about wether or not the recipient will like it.  Thankfully, I think Julia does!

Here's a close up of the stopper.  You might notice the word white is used a few times.

Here's another look. Some of my favorite black beaded Victorian trim, black velvet petals from an old hat, sheet music, tattered ribbon & lots of lace.

I just loved doing this swap! I feel so much closer to Julia now; this is such a great way to get to know a far away friend. My dream is that someday Jodie & I will travel to Germany & get to meet her in person.  Then we'll rent a car & drive 200 miles to meet another dear friend, Dorthe!  A girl can dream, right?  Until then, I will be happy to visit her every day on her beautiful blog.

I wanted to show you this awesome giveaway I entered.

Lynn at Trash to Treasure Art is having an amazing giveaway.  I just discovered her blog & I love it! This girl makes some very cool art.

I would love to win this one, so many goodies to craft with.

One last thing;

 I've had some emails & comments regarding my Paper Cowgirls class. Unfortunately the class is full, but I've got some good news.  My friend Maureen, who owns Cottage Panache in North Richland Hills, is renovating her shop as we speak & will be hosting workshops very soon!  I'm going to teach my soldered bottles like the one I made for Julia & the ones here.