Doin' my part.

 I think I've done my part to help support our US Postal Service this week.  I kept 'ol Mike busy delivering not only my mail, but my swaps!

Packages from my partners in Heather's Petite Inspiration Box Swap arrived early in the week.

This box is from the lovely Melissa at Abilgail's Pocatello.

Look at the sides! How clever is that?? Her colors were all cream, brown & dingy robin's egg blue. Very Cool.

Look at all of the goodies she sent, rusty stars, bits of lace, buttons.....it's too bad I don't like that stuff. 

HA!

You know that's a joke. Honestly, why do we foam at the mouth when we see this stuff?  But we do!

This one is from Heather, our hostess. Isn't it wonderful! That vintage taupe velvet ribbon...yummy! 

She had it packed up so neat too, old faded newspaper stuffed in the box for padding.

The eggs in the nest are actually pearls, she included a little bag of them for me to create with.

Bits of lace, flowers & feathers.

These tags are so beautiful! I don't know how Heather fit everything into that little box without any of it bending. 

I had a lot of fun putting boxes together for this swap.  It's such a cool way to get to know new friends.  My husband compares it to little girls trading Barbies, except we trade buttons & lace!

I had to share my latest 'find' with you.  I was strolling through one of my favorite malls last week, & saw this book poking off a shelf. 

 

It stopped me dead in my tracks!

Pages, & pages of beautiful sheet music, & the most amazing engraved illustrations!  Loads of them.

Each, better than the next.

They will eventually be used in some art, but for now I'm happy just flipping through the pages. 

Hope y'all have an amazing weekend! I'll be working on my Paper Cowgirls projects.

Long distance swap!

Yesterday after picking the kids up from Pre-K, I saw something in the crack of my front door. Immediately I recognized it was a USPS receipt.  My heart sank when I saw that I had missed delivery of a 'parcel'.  So I paid Lily 25 cents to watch out her window for the little blue & white truck.  I know Mike's route like the back of my hand, & in about 30 minutes he'd be heading down the opposite side of the street.  I figured when I got the signal from my spotter, I'd dart out the door & throw myself in front of his truck.

Thankfully, Mike saw the international postage & had mercy on me.  He made a special trip back, saving me from injury & social humiliation.

You see, I've been expecting something from a friend far away.  We've been planning this swap for a couple of months, she even threw me a little bone on her last post!

I carefully began to unwrap each layer, stopping occasionally to take pictures, & squeal.

The first thing I uncovered was THE most amazing fabric collage ever.  I wish my sad photo could really do it justice.  I didn't shrink this image, so if you click on it you should be able to see the details. 

And the back looks like an old fishman's sweater from the Baltic Sea.

Oh, I love it so much!!!

A close up shot.

After I wiped the drool up off the table... I opened this bag, very, very carefully. 

Wonderful smooth, brown sea glass.  I'm seeing some sort of collage or assemblage combining these, with the seaweed Dorthe sent from Denmark.

I was blown away by the care & creativity that went into each gorgeous package.

Can you believe the crustiness of this buckle? It looks like it came from an old ship wreck or something.

How special is this tag? Linen, music & my name stamped on muslin. This would be a great name tag for my big teaching gig!

More treasures, each with her special mark.

I tried using Altavista to translate, but came up with zip. 

What awesome treasures to create with!

Special numbers & some of her tiny ribbon flowers, made just for me!

I have every yummy gift displayed on my art table, even the little bags, & the stamps from the parcel.  Boy, this beautiful friend really knows me, & spoiled me bad!  Each & every treasure makes me smile, & that rich shade of umber will always remind me of Julia!

Vintage with Laces!!

I just hope she loves her gift as much as I love mine. Thank you Julia!

for the love of birds

I received my first package from Speckled Egg's petite inspiration box swap.  My swap partners were Melissa from Abigail's Pocatello, our hostess Heather, & this talented girl.

Michelle from Petite Michelle Louise, here's her awesome blog!

The box she sent was packed full of the coolest treats, all revolving around the swap theme, birds.

Love this!  I'm always on the look-out for metal findings.

She used a lot of transparency, image transferred onto cloth,  stitching, stamping,

& vellum. Very cool!

The best thing about swaps is the new people it brings into my life. The minute I saw Michelle's blog, I knew we'd be very good friends!

  The holiday issue of Life Beautiful featured the works of the most Amazing Artist, David Arms.  It's no secret, I'm a lover of Art..all Art. But when I opened this magazine & saw David's work for the first time, it really took my breath away!

(picture courtsey of Life Beautiful)

His use of birds, nests, eggs & other symbols provide the viewer a chance at introspection.  David uses these symbols & others as a message of hope, faith & renewal.

I borrowed this image off his website davidarms.com.  

Please go visit & see his wondrous work for yourself.  I think my favorite is a piece titled The Last Supper', I'm not going to tell you anything about it, just see for yourself!

It's been very difficult for me to post & visit blogs the past couple of weeks. My babies are suffering so much with allergies due to all of the pollen around.  Is it terrible were you are?  They start with just allergy symptoms, but then it has turned into sinus & ear infections.  Nothing hurts worse than the sound of your child crying in pain.  Pharmaceuticals & Mommy's love is slowly working it's magic, so hopefully I'll be skipping through blogland soon!

Swaps & sharing

I got my book of Alice tags last week, Karla did such a great job with this swap.  This was my initiation into swapping, & now I'm spoiled. My little packet came wrapped in vintage Alice pages, along with a tiny bottle to attach to the book.

Love all the little charms & ribbons dangling around.

The little 'drink me' tag is from junk-girl studio & the sepia toned with the sweet blue button is from my pen-pal Beth.

This one is from the divine Miss K herself!

A very cool, but anonymous Mad Hatter.  Whoever did it....I LOVE him!  I have a bad feeling that I forgot to sign my tags too. I was so worried about getting them sent on time.  If anyone got a crazy chicken tag, I made it.

Kathy of A Spectacular Mess used black, white & grey with lots of stitching. I love how this one looks amongst the bright colors of the others.

Even the back looks great. Thank you Karla for all of the hard work! I hope we didn't wear out your sewing arm too much.  I want you to host another swap sometime soon.

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Speaking of swaps, I'm hard at work getting my Petite Inspiration Boxes ready to mail.  I'm having a blast gathering goodies for this one.  I asked Michelle Palmer to make some special little treats for each box.

Boy, did she ever.  Aren't they wonderful?

And this isn't a swap, but I had to show you what Lori made for my sweet Lily's Easter treat.

It is the teeniest, sweetest thing I've ever seen! She will scream when she sees this bunny sitting on the top of her basket.

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While digging through my studio looking for treasures to put in my inspiration boxes, I found these images.

I found this ages ago, a blank Western Union sheet just for Easter!

This is my very favorite Easter card ever.  I just love the colors, so springy.  I've use it for everything from banners to pillows, hope you can find use for it in one of your projects.

I'm using this page for my swap & thought you might like it too.

I know this seems unthinkable but..... I am getting rid of some sacred back issues.  I know, I know, how can I??? It's just gotten to a point where my mag collection is taking over the house. I swear I need a storage unit to house them all.  Like the Library of Congress. Half price books will not pay anything for them, so before I donate I'm offering them to you.  If anyone wants them they are yours if you pay the media mail postage.  I have a bunch more too.  BH&G Special Interest like Do It Yourself, Creative Home etc. Let me know magazine hoarders!