Swap goodies...

We are well and truly back into our normal routine and school life around here.  I actually can't believe we have been back at school for two weeks (only 8 more to go until the end of the school year, eek!)

A few new things have happened with Emma, she did really well in her dance exams which I posted about a while back and because she did well she now dances an extra day the dance school's performance group which she loves.  She also started at Cub Scouts and this weekend had her investment ceremony and her very first camp. 

At the end of the holidays I got together with my good friends and we had our little swap which we do every school holidays as a special treat for ourselves.  This swap had guidelines like the others we have done.  

The guidelines were:

• a minimum of 3 gifts
• one gift had to be handmade
• one gift had to be for sewing/crafting
• one gift that our partner would love

My partner was my lovely friend Suzy and she loves red so most of my gifts are based around that.  Here is what I gave her.

For her sewing present I made this cute little sewing kit along with a pincushion and a felt needle holder.

I added a little hand made clay birdie decoration.

Suzy has some big single coloured chevron cushions in her house so I thought I would make her this smaller cushion (it's 16") to go along with them.  I sewed Chenille Tape along the zig zags for that fluffy, frayed look. I have to say that I love this cushion so I think some more will be coming!

And then I added a box of chocolates and  a set of little serving dishes, in red of course.

All together my little package for my Suzy looked like this.  

It is always so nice to do these swaps with my friends, I really love putting them together, thinking about what they would love. 

I have already started writing a list of ideas for Christmas presents for these special friends, we always give something hand made and it needs to be special.  I'll share some of my Pinterest favourites soon.

Swap goodness and Nathan heads off...

During our weekend away we participated in a swap between ourselves.  We were given our partner in April and the rules for this swap were:

1. Minimum of 3 gifts
2. One gift must be hand made
3. One gift must be for the home

Pretty simple.  My swap partner was Katrina to I set to work making her special gifts.

I made her a rag quilt as my first present.  I used  blues and reds with a bit of black. 

 I bought her this cute little owl.

I also got her this bracelet.

And lastly I made her a set of placemats and coasters which you can see below.

This is what my little package looked like before I wrapped it up using tissue paper and mini pom poms (which I totally forgot to photograph).

 As an extra treat for everyone I made up these cute little packages using paper bags, doilies and some punches and alphabet stickers.

I filled them with a handmade soap that I bought at a local market and I appliquéd a very simple bird onto a washer.

I actually made a few other gifts for my other swap partner but I can't find where I put the photos, so when I find them I'll post about those ones as well as the gorgeous swap gifts I got.

On another note:

I have been feeling very strange this weekend.  On Saturday morning I farewelled Nathan off on his first ever big camp.  He headed up to Cuboree which is in Rockhampton (about 8 hours away) for 5 days.  I have never had any trouble with Nathan leaving before but it is so far away this time and he is on his own and for a long time that I find myself wondering about if he is OK. If he's warm enough, dry enough, finding friends etc all the time.  I am excited that he get to go on this awesome experience but I will be very happy when he is home again.  And I have to say that the Cub Scout Movement have been really wonderful constantly posting on Facebook and on their blog with updates and photos of what all the kids are up to.  Anyway here are a few photos of him before he left.

It will be an experience he will remember for ever so I am grateful that he was able to go. 

Where does the time go?

So much has been happening around here that the last few weeks have flown by.  We have spent the last couple of weekends at soccer with Nathan and this weekend was Emma and dancing on Sunday.


Lots of sewing has been happening here too, lots of it is still secret squirrel stuff for my girls weekend away swap but I thought I would share a glimpse today.


First of all some photos of Emma at dancing today.  They danced in pairs or small groups today at a very informal mid year concert.  Emma did a really great job and so did her dance partner Cindy.

They got ribbons for the dances they did so that was really nice.

Nathan was meant to be away this weekend for a scout kayaking camp but it was cancelled at the last minute due to the poor weather.  This week though I spent a lot of time unpicking and resewing badges for him.  He used to have a small scarf for his scouting badges but it was not very practical or useful for him so I bought him a polar fleece blanket that he can use as a camp blanket and reattached all the badges to it.  I embroidered his name for him too.  At least now he has something that will keep him warm and show his badges at the same time.

It will be perfect for when he heads off to Cuboree in a few weeks time. All the way to Rockhampton for 5 days with no Mum or Dad.

I am so happy to say that my swap pressies for our girl's weekend away are almost finished.  I can't show the final products complete just yet but I can show a sneak peak.

  

And today I packaged up some extra little surprises for some special people which they will get soon.

I have a simple but sweet project in the making using these gorgeous punches.

I really love embroidery and I have quite a collection of threads now but I have struggled to contain them in an orderly fashion for ages.  That was until I saw this idea on Hungry Hippie and decided to copy.  Now all my threads are nice and organised and not all in knots! 

And on a final note I have to say that Pinterest is taking over my life....well it definitely is taking over my blogging!  I love it, if you haven't joined yet, you should try it out, so many awesome ideas, so little time to make them... You can follow me on Pinterest with the link button on the sidebar.


I'm going to be back this week to share the rest of my cruise holiday photos, although it was so long ago now I feel like I need to finish what I started.  I'm a stickler for finishing things :)

My Surprises...

I had a really lovely time creating all my special surprises for Kristie and I had a lovely surprise when I got my gifts from my swap partner, Suzy.  I was very spoiled and love everything that I got.


For my Easter gifts I got this cute little chicken and chocolate bunny.

And my handmade gift was this basket full of hand made hearts.

These are beautiful because each one is embellished in a different way.

And my other gift was a card making kit.  I rarely make cards etc. these days because I just don't have the supplies anymore so these card kits are the way of the future for me.

And as an extra surprise one of my friends gave me this gorgeous little owl for my birthday.  He is so cute and his legs are springs so he bounces. Love. 

Happy Sunday!

Swap fun

We have a group of friends that get together every school holidays to catch up and in between times if we can organise a time.  We are all crafty and enjoy getting together to sew or scrap and chat (more chatting than anything else usually happens) so this get together with the holiday being Easter we thought we would try out a swap.  I read lots of blogs of people who do regular swaps and it seemed like fun so we were all given a partner and some guidelines.  They were; a minimum of 3 gifts were to be given, one had to be Easter related, one had to be handmade and one had to be something special that the person would hopefully love.  My swap partner was Kristie and this is what I put together for her.


I made a little lavender sachet for her first gift.

And then I made these cute little hand sewn birds that hang down on string.  These are from my Fa la la la Felt book.

A yummy chocolate bunny for Easter.

And from my trip this little turtle with wobbly head and feet and tail.  He is so cute.

I packaged them up in white tissue paper with coloured doilies and some twine.  Then  I put them all in that little basket you can see at the back of the picture which I bought while on holidays too.

All in all I think it is safe to say that we all loved doing the swap.  It was nice to give someone some special gifts and wonderful to receive some too.  We are planning on doing it all again in June and I can't wait to get planning and sewing for it.  I'll show you what I got in my next post.