Swaps

I signed up for quite a few swaps this holiday season. One of them was an ornament swap where you send ornaments to a partner.

I sent this out awhile ago, so I know my partner's received it by now. She said she liked owls, and bright colors.

We were supposed to send these in order for our partner to receive them by December 7th or 10th, depending on whether you're reading the initial post or the email that was sent out with partner's information.
I hadn't received her package as of yesterday, so I emailed her this morning. She said she was waiting for my package to arrive to get my address. USPS says my package to her was delivered on December 1st, so I don't know what to think about that.

I also joined a swap back in November to make ATCs with flowers on them. The hostess lives in another country, so it took a while to get items to her, but they were due in the middle of November. I got an email the other day, saying they were on their way back.

I also joined a supply swap where we send each other a small Priority mail box full of Christmas-y supplies. That's supposed to be in my hands by Saturday.

The last 3 days I haven't gotten anything in the mail. I've worked 30 hours this week already and I'm ready for something good to come back to me.

The reason I love this season is that I get to give gifts to people, more so than the rest of the year. I love picking out things I think they'll like.

This past Sunday, we had my mother's side of the family Christmas. One of my cousin's kids seemed kinda bummed, so when we got home I put together a stocking for her, and since her brother is younger I didn't want to leave him out. I mailed them off today, they don't know about my blog, so I'm not spoiling any surprises. I just pulled things from around my house, the only thing I spent money on was shipping.

This first one is for her brother. I hope he'll like the stocking, it's not really boyish. I included a couple wind-up toys, some bug goo, and a bag of mint M&M's. I took the M&M's to the get together, and he really enjoyed them there.

 This next one was for her. The stocking is from my vintage stocking swap partner from last year. I included a butterfly clip, some lip gloss, a choker, a cute bird ornament, a snowflake ornament, journal,

 a couple more necklaces, some fingernail polish, some lotion, a pair of earrings, a "bobbing" chicken (he dances from side to side in the sun), and a cute sun catcher.

I think they're both fun stockings for kids.

Festival of Trees

A few weeks ago, I went to our local festival of trees. Here are some interesting ones.

 This one was a little weird, it was decorated by a local clothing store. They chose to attach the torso to the middle of the tree and then decorate the bottom of the tree.

 I love the silver and blue on this tree.

 Love the pink and green together on this tree.

 This one was decorated with corks. I've seen a few trees floating around the internet with this decorating pattern, I don't understand what's so cool about it.

 Loved the light green, blue and bright colors on this one. It was available for bid, but it went too high for me.

 Another one with blue and green.

 And another one, are we seeing a pattern here.

 This one my mom liked. We have an ISU tree that we decorate with red and gold ribbon/beads, and ISU ornaments. We top it with an ISU Santa hat, and put all mom's ISU Santa's underneath.

 There was also an art auction going on, they do one every year to raise money for the Octagon (an art studio). Here's what I put in the winning bid for:
This is a plastic chicken, it's probably a foot and a half long and a foot tall, it's feet are bent over so it stands on them. I just thought it was funky.

 This is a painting of poppies, I thought they were cute

 This last one I only bid on for the keychain. They're both pieces of leather with patterns stamped into them. I don't wear headbands, so I don't know what I'm going to do with it.

Still cleaning out

Last weekend, we had my mother's side of the family Christmas. We also took more things from my grandma's apartment. Here's what I found.

Some embroidered dish towels:

 They're so pretty, I don't want to use them.
An embroidered heart, October angel, the bug is a top from a candle holder, and a mouse ornament:

My grandma collected Avon bottles, the shoe and owl she had in her bathroom for as long as I can remember, I liked the frog, they are all now in my bathroom. The snowman is a candle holder.

 A Pyrex casserole dish, I love the blue color and snowflake pattern, an owl hand towel and an unopened peach gift set.

We didn't have enough room in the car to bring everything back, so the next box is coming later.