Gifts

I've started this post at least 10 times in the past 2 weeks.
Birthdays, Mother's Days, end of school festivities, preparing for Paper Cowgirls, they have sucked every free minute from my day. 
But I had to show off some amazing birthday gifts I received! 

My postman is so impressed with the mail I get.

So exotic, such far-away places. 

Can you guess who sent this one?

Dorthe is one of my dearest, most treasured friends. I know many of you feel the same way about her.

She is simply the best!

I love getting Dorthe packages because I keep every little scrap, from the stamps, to the newsprint.

All of it eventually makes it's way into my work.

 I'm in love with Dorthe's collages.

The layers are so soft, lovely & filled with nature.

I can close my eyes & see her walking along the shore collecting driftwood & shells to incorporate into her art.

Always a sweet note included.

My East Sea Angel, she is magical! Thank you sweet friend!

She'll take her spot on my bookcase that's filled with art, friendship & love from all over the world. 

 There's actually more than 1 bookcase.

 This precious heart from Marie  has a spot on there too.

I am so lucky to have in-laws who not only love me,
but 'get me'!

Ted & Sandy put so much thought into every gift they give me.

Lot's of metal, an old handbag & I think this is a safety deposit box.

Love it all!!

 Dawn always sends me little things for no reason at all.  We'll be talking about something, like bark.....a few days later I get a box filled with strips of bark from her property!  And I used it all in my nature journal pages!

This time she sent me one of her adorable child shoe pincushions.

No doubt I had gone on & on over how sweet it was, then a week later a package at my door!

Another overseas package arrived last week, this one from Germany.

Julia, what can I say about her.

I love her art SO much, & am lucky to have so much of it here in my home. 

Whenever I get things from Julia I want to call her up & say 'how did you do that'????

 Unfortunately she lives in Germany so I can't.

 Some people are not fans of bugs, but I am!  I told her once that one of my favorite things is a zoology book printed in Germany 1878. I think she remembered!

 I don't know if you can tell but the bugs are printed on leather! How did she do that?
Is it a stamp? A transfer?

 And I Love, love this embellished box. Look how she stitched around the edges!

 What's better than a little box filled with vintage treasures???

 Not much.

Check out her resin charm, beautiful!

Last weekend was our Indian Princess family camp-out.

Before I leave I have to share some memories from the weekend.

The boys & I got to come along this time.

 The weather was perfect!

The food was perfect!

You would think with a bunch of Dad's camping the menu would be pretty basic. 

 Franks & beans, right?

We had an incredible Tex-Mex spread. Beginning with homemade black bean corn salsa & ending with  3 kinds of cobbler & ice cream!

Delicious, all of it!

This outdoor kitchen is fancier than my home kitchen!

Friends forever.

More for the memory book.

My art shot, I call this 'Lily of the Weeds'

If you made it through this entire post, thank you! It seems I don't post much lately, but when I do.........

We leave today for Austin to my niece Chelsea's graduation, time flys.

I hope you have a fantastic weekend!

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.

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!