Tilda Swapping

My online group has just finished another swap with the theme being Tilda. I couldn't miss out on this one as I love all things Tilda. My partner Jen made this Tilda notions holder including some notions.

I've got a few more bits in my stash to fill those empty spots but then its going to make it hard to part with them on future projects!

I sent to Sue but she hasn't revealled yet so I can't show you yet what I made.

ATC, TAG AND FLOWERS

I haven't dissappeared yet, Uni has been taking most of my craft time but it's nearly all behind me now. The last lecture is complete and only 2 assignments to go and I am done...Yippee!

I have squeezed in a little papercraft and even a bit of stitching but I can't show you the ATC and tag I made as my camera has been taken away to the west coast gggrr. I did however get some snaps of what I received....

More altering swapping

This months ATC letter was B and I made this for Marilyn @ The Tarnished Rose

B for Balloon!

Marilyn sent me B for Bird

plus all these wonderful extra goodies

Thank-you Marilyn for being a terrific swap partner! I'll get hours of fun creating with these goodies!

Now to spooky matters, Tee @ The Altered Paper also hosted an Denim Pocket Halloween Swap and I was lucky to have Tee's mum Frannie (No Blog Yet) as my partner, I sent Frannie all of these goodies

My altered pocket filled to the brim with ribbons, stickers, buttons, fabric, skeleton plus..

an altered tag...

and a handmade black cat (these are so quick to whip up!)

Frannie did the most amazing job altering a pocket for me, I love all the halloween diecuts 

Front 

 and back

and inside was filled with awesome goodies

 plus a vial of walnut crystals, perfect for staining ribbons, lace and just about everything!

and a spooky skeleton!

Thank-you Frannie, I feel very lucky to have you for my partner in this swap!

No stitching has been occurring around here lately as Uni and work have been swamping me. I've got 4 assignments left to do and only one two-day workshop to attend and then Uni will be over. I drove home Saturday night from the last two-day workshop and it was snowing at Spring Hill, it was almost a blizzard and in my little car it was a bit scary, so I took it slowly and even pulled over a couple of times. The flakes were nearly 2" in diameter, the biggest I've ever seen.

So to all my stitching friends I will be back stitching by Christmas and hopefully there'll be some of my own designs being released in the new year.

I love Fall in the Springtime!

Well it is Spring here but I’m celebrating Fall with our friends in the Northern Hemisphere.

Tee @ The Altered Paper hosted another Tag of the Month swap and Fall was the theme.

My partner Carol (no blog) sent me two of the cutest tags .... 

 and some lovely goodies....

I looked everywhere for a maple leaf stamp and look what Carol sent me, she must have a sixth sense!

And here's the card I sent Carol, little hearts falling..

I sent extra goodies too but I forgot to take a photo :-(

Thank-you Carol for being a wonderful swap partner!!

The gorgeous spring weather on Saturday got us out of the house and upto Repulse Dam for a lesson in fly fishing, my son picked it up easily but no fish were harmed during the lesson ( i.e we didn't catch any)

Isn't the scenery beautiful?

...and even Lucy enjoyed a little dip in the freezing cold water

I wish everyday was a beautiful!

Bags and Paper

Remember this swap I took part in a few weeks ago here? Well it's about time I share a photo of the sweet bag made by De for me

(Photo bloglifted from De's Site)

A lovely spotty tote, with a doily embellishment and the cutest flower trim from Inn Country, one of my favourite shops. Thank-you De!

This week saw me posting packages to the US including one for an altered denim pocket in a Halloween theme and stuffed full of goodies, plus an Alphabet ATC for "B" and a Tag for the tag a month swap in a Fall theme. I can't show you those yet as they're a surprise.

 Also last week I received an extra Alphabet ATC from a new comer to the group, Kamali, look at her lovely work

Thank you Kamali!

And also my "A" ATC from Amy Arrived in a gorgeous Alice in Wonderland Theme

plus Amy also included a bundle of extras, these will not go to waste! 

Thank you Amy!

So what's installed for me for the rest of the week?.... an assignment, I'll get through it eventually.

Happy Stitching and Scrapping everyone

Hugs

JO xxx

Tea Towel Bag Swap

Here's a bag I made for a Fiona @ Dragonfly Crafts in an online swap. We had to use a tea towel so I chose a white one and stamped it with Fiona's favourites, paris and butterflies and then chose a purple fabric to compliment it, another of Fiona's favourites.

The pattern is by Monica Poole of Moonshine Designs called the Bella Bag, I love the shape of this bag, very cute.

(Photo taken by Fiona)

I haven't opened my swap yet from De @ Re-de-zines, so I'll show you what I receive another time.

....and even more altered goodies!

In an earlier post I mentioned I had joined The Altered Paper's Tag a Month Swap, my tag made for me by Mercedes @ All Things Pretty arrived and it's gorgeous.

The Theme was bathing beauties and I love Mercedes take on the theme, if you look closely there is a crab pinching the girls bottom! 

Her package also included other ephemera, some that I don't think I could ever cut into they're so pretty! 

Thank you Mercedes!

Mercedes creates many beautiful things and I spent ages on her blog looking at all the eye candy.

For those of you who are asking what I do with my tags and ATC's, some are just hanging around the place, some of my ATC collection are in folder sleeves, the kind that sportscards fit into and some are in boxes. They're a good size little project to work on and be creative.

If you're interested in monthly tag swaps just pop over to Tee's blog @ The Altered Paper and if you join in you could win a monthly prize like this one that I received for August. 6"x6" paper pad full of the prettiest papers and some of Tee's handmade goodies.

Thanks Tee!

More ATC Swapping

My partner in the The Altered Paper's Face Only ATC Swap was Olivia @ Olivia's Creative Quest. Here's the lovely card she created for me...

Olivia also included some extra pieces for crafting with and a gorgeous handmade thank-you card....

.... with the cutest little stamp on the back

Thank you Olivia for being a lovely swap partner.

And I have to mention another angel in my life and that's Kerri, she's so generous, look at the gorgeous bundle she sent for my birthday last month.

Kerri and I were introduced by blogging, what a wonderful tool this is for creating friendships.

Thank-you Kez!! Love ya lots!

Angels

This post is about angels, there's the angels we create.....

This is the ATC I've created for Amy @ The Crafty Book Nerd in the Alphabet ATC swap, I love that she's also holding an apple.

There's angels whose style and creativity we admire and whose blogs we follow like Lisa @ Olive Grove Primitives.

Lisa owns a bricks and mortar shop called Inn Country on the northside of Brisbane, far far away from me so the best place to look inside her shop is through facebook here or the Inn Country blog. I went window shopping and a few emails later this sweet little cage is in my house. Fabulous customer service and I also received the rose and the most divine wax melt!

 I'm going to make a little birdy to sit inside on a little swing!

...and then there's those angels we call our friends.

Fee is one of my angels, she's generous, warm, inspiring, thoughtful, caring, the list is endless.  I sometimes complain about issues in my life but they're so small in comparison to the challenges Fee and her family have faced over the last few years. Today Fee and  I managed to catch up at lunchtime and she gave me this birthday present, it's been a few weeks since we'd seen each other.

There's a lovely owl compendium, bunny pincushion kit and a lavendar sachet, oh and a little tube of hand cream that I left at work on my desk. Thank-you Fee, love you lots!

Those of you that know Fee, please say a prayer for her Mum tonight as she's recovering from major surgery.

Discover Yourself

This is not the post about the Alphabet ATC I made but about the Face Only ATC I made for Olivia @ Olivia's Creative Quest. I had forgotten to take a photo before I posted and Olivia has taken a lovely one in a beautiful setting so I can show you

I do enjoy working on these small scale projects. Each ATC is only 2 1/2" x 3 1/2 ".  

It's probably hard to tell from the photo but I made the flowers on her headband in 3D and added glossy accents to the beads, earrings, ribbon and those blue eyes to make them shine.

Tomorrow I WILL show you the Alphabet ATC I made for Amy.

Clip, Clip, Paperclip!

I joined a swap recently held by The Altered Paper to alter a couple of large paperclips into bookmarks. 

My lovely swap partner was Amy from The Crafty Book Nerd. Amy is very creative and very generous. Look a the bookmarks she made, so pretty, I think I'll put these on my favourite craft books.

I love the little cameo on this one

and when I said Amy is generous she is REALLY generous,

look at this bundle of goodies, perfect for those little altered art projects I love to make

Thankyou Amy, I hope to swap with you again sometime.

I'm joining The Altered Paper's next swap too "Face Only ATC" why don't you check it out and join in too, for all the details visit here you have until the 14th July to sign up!

Red Brolly Swapping

FIS online group held a Red Brolly swap, I received from VIx a Gorgeous Teana Purse

Thank-you Vicky!!

I made for Sarah, so pop on over to her blog to see what I made.

Red, red and more red!

 Every now and again I do a swap with one of my bloggy friends from around the globe, this time it was with Sue from Chickadee's Country Cottage. Sue lives in Canada with her husband and lovely sweet puppies, you should checkout Daisy, she has the sweetest face.  We decided to swap bags and they both arrived on the same day! Look at this beauty, lovely reds and a great size for a magazine, my lunch box and whatever else I want to take to work. I LOVE it!

Sue also made me a gorgeous bauble, she calls them Friendship balls!

I'll have to find it a special spot in my new craft room which by the way the accent colour I have chosen is RED!!

and also in the package, an Alberta Calendar and for a sugar high...Jelly beans YYYUmmo!! 

Thank-you so much Sue, I feel very spoilt!

So pop on over to Sue's I'm sure she'll show you what I sent soon!

And to really top off my week I received a Scholarship!!

I'm going back to Uni

I'm doing a Graduate Certificate in Business, over the next year for once a month I'll be attending workshops for a couple of days. So to my bloggy friends in the north of the state keep an eye out for me floating around Burnie! It's going to be a busy year!!

Tags

The last swap I participated in for 2011 was a Tag Book Swap hosted by Jean of Lilac Lane Livery. A bit of altered art is a fun distraction from stitching and helps to get those creatice juices flowing. My partner was Donna of Red Apple Junction, here's the gorgeous package she made for me including a bundle of buttons and other great pieces.

Oops the photo doesn't show the sweet charm closure on the bag, must get a photo!

The tags are all so very pretty! Thank-you so much Donna, they're now on display in my craft room.

(I'll have to get myself one of those crackle stamps, makes a fabulous background)

Here's the package I put together for Donna

Lots of fun putting these together!

Just one more post on swaps received, I'll do that tomorrow night.

Tomorrow I'm off to do a bit of stitching and catching up with these lovely Ladies, Fee and Helen.