Look What Arrived

I took part in the Initial Heart Swap that Cheryll organised and my swap parcel arrived the other day.
I was a very lucky girl and received some gorgeous items from Shiree

some lovely material that will back some ornaments when I make them

Just wish I had a bath to soak in with these bath salts!

a cute little brooch

3 gorgeous little hearts, think I will call them 'Tattered Hearts'

The all smell of Lavender, so my room is going to smell sweet

This is my favorite one

Gorgeous

Thank you so much Shiree for my lovely gifts.
P.S. hope you enjoyed dinner with my mum when she dropped by your house this last weekend. What a funny coincidence her meeting you and you being my swap partner.

Initial Heart Swap

Over here at Gone Stitchin Cheryll hosted a lovely little Valentines Day Swap.
Like all normal swaps, you signed up and then received your swap partners details.

For this swap we had to create a heart inspired things for our swap person with their initial on it.
I was lucky enough to receive Cat from Catalina's Cottage as my recipient.

So I got my stitching mojo on and created a lovely little ornament for her with the letter 'C' on it.

 I backed it in some cute little chocolate inspired material that I brought, I thought it was all very valentines inspired.

I also wrapped up a nice little box of Hersheys Mint Kisses and sent them all off to her.

Luckily for me they all arrived on Valentine's Day, not sure I could get it to arrive on the day again if I tried!

In fact I got so inspired whilst making the one for Cat that I even managed to get a 2nd one stitched for a friend who requested one for his wife as a surprise.

So after 2 little stitchin projects I now need to find another one to complete?
Sure it won't take me too long...!

Unfortunately at the time of writing this post, I still haven't received my swap gift yet, but I am sure it is on its way.

Sneaky Peek

Here it is, a quick little sneaky peek at my Valentine Swap project.

Cross stitching all complete just need to now make it up.

Really excited that I have got things completed with lots of time to spare.

Swap Time

One of the big things I see a lot of on the blogging network is 'swapping'.
Sign up, do some work, send it off and see what wonders you receive back.
Everyone always has some lovely things to show that they are sending and then even more lovely things to show when a bundle arrived at their door.

I have participated in one or 2 swaps up till now, ok not for over a year I must admit, a bag swap a few years ago, a secret santa swap 2 years ago.
So when I saw this swap over at Gone Stitchin' I decided that seeing as I had my stitchin mojo back then I would particpate.

I left my comment on the post, answered an email when it arrived and hey presto I have my swap details.

I have been shopping and found some very cute material to use for it, although found 3 different ones, so in good true stitchin mode, I brought all 3 and will keep the ones I don't use this time for something else.

I have sorted what I am going to stitch, I have finished designing it on the computer programme I have and now I just have to sit down and start it now.
Maybe a sneaky peek will arrive on here in a few days time....watch this space

Advent Swap Day 25

On the 25th day of Christmas my Advent Swap gave to me...

A home made message board, with pencil, notebook and calendar cards.

Each card has a very cute picture on one side and a month from 2010 on the other.

Thank you Simona from Italy for a wonderful month of gifts, I have enjoyed receiving each and everyone of them, even if some of them I am not sure what to do with, it will be fun learning some new crafts to use my new items with.

Merry Christmas everyone

Advent Swap Day 24

I am not sure what happened but I only had 24 gifts in my parcel.
With the fact it went through Bio security so rigiously in November I am not sure whether something was removed because they didn't like the item.

So I decided to open my gifts each day from Dec 1 and save my special gift for tomorrow.

So no gift for today but here is a sneak peak at what I am looking forward to tomorrow

Advent Swap Day 23

On the 23rd day of Christmas my Advent Swap gave to me....

A little message holder peg with a heart on it and some cute earrings with a shell and lobster on

Advent Swap Day 22

On the 22nd day of Christmas my Advent Swap gave to me...

Some gorgeous purple paper yarn.
And when I started searching on the internet suddenly there were oodles of things I could make with this wonderful stuff.

Advent Swap Day 21

On the 21st day of Christmas my Advent Swap gave to me....

An address book and pen just for me

Advent Swap Day 20

On the 20th day of Christmas my Advent Swap gave to me....

3 candles in a little wooden box

Advent Swap Day 19

On the 19th day of Christmas my Advent Swap gave to me...

A gorgeous piece of material with cups all over it, now what can I make from this?

Advent Swap Day 18

On the 18th day of Christmas my Advent Swap gave to me....

Some lovely beads and wire to make a necklace or bracelet

Advent Swap Day 17

On the 17th day of Christmas my Advent Swap gave to me...

1. 2 little samples of face firming cream
2. An emery board
3. 2 little samples of anti-ageing cream for the face with Glycolic Acid Complex
4. A little sample of anti-wrinkle firming cream for around the eye area
5. A candle in the shape of a women's bodice
6. A scented envelope to hang in my wardrobe

What a cool little collection of things to receive.
However most items were not written in English so have had the fun of using Google Translates to find out about each product.

This is what the translation meant from the back of the anti-ageing face cream:

Renewing a gel sensitive skin and gives extraordinary brightness alia skin. Its formula based on naturally derived fatty desserts, smooths the surface and respects the natural balance

I love translations from a foreign language to English and some of the words it finds to replace things, glad I have face cream derived from "fatty desserts"!

Advent Swap Day 16

On the 16th day of Christmas my Advent Swap gave to me....

A little stitch unpicker and a Cross Stitch Card Pattern to make up.
I needed something to do at the caravan over Christmas.

Advent Swap Day 15

On the 15th day of Christmas my Advent Swap gave to me...

Some little chocolate balls, yum yum

Advent Swap Day 14

On the 14th day of Christmas my Advent Swap gave to me...

Some beautiful embroidered squares and a new thimble

Advent Swap Day 13

On the 13th day of Christmas my Advent Swap gave to me...

Several pots of what I do not know, but have no fear I have the internet!

So after several searches with google and a little bit of translation (who ever said an advent swap was not fun) I have managed to find this...

These are indeed several pots of floating beads to use with floating candles for a beautiful decoration effect in the water.
How cool is that, thanks Simona

Advent Swap Day 12

On the 12th day of Christmas my Advent Swap gave to me...

Some paper quills, which I have no idea what to do with?
Any suggestions out there please?