On The Twelfth Day of Christmas ...

I apologize for the delay on posting the 12th day... it was my own gift to the others in the swap... in other words, this gift is from me!

I'm not going to include a photo of the packaging primarily because I didn't take a photo of the packaging before I sent them out, but if you can picture this in your head: I took an ordinary envelopes (greeting card sized ... either A-2 or A-6), put my gift inside and sealed the envelopes. Then I wrapped the envelopes in Santa Claus-y wrapping paper, put stamps and a mailing label on them and sent them on their way. Nothing really all that spectacular, but, maybe a little more interesting than an average envelope. Right? Right? (make me feel better, would ya?)

Anyway, the ornaments that I made for the swap were made using a paper coaster base, which I then collaged. Each of the ornaments were a little different because I didn't have 12 of the same image to use. I wanted to create something utilizing items that I had on hand, and for the most part, I accomplished that. Here are some photos:

I hope that everyone liked the ornaments I made, I did put a lot of time into them and they were fun to create.

I look forward to next year's swap, and I promise that I shall put more effort and thought into the packaging! I promise!

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas ...

Well, here we are at day 11, Christmas Eve! I can't believe how quickly time flies. Day 12 was my day, and I didn't wrap a gift for myself (I kind of knew what it was already...) So, I'll just be posting the photos that I have of what I made tomorrow.

But in the meantime, I'd like to share with you the gift I received from Annette! Annette decorated a cute little Kraft envelope and used that as her wrapping...


Nifty, huh? Inside the package was this very cool little ornament ...

It is a small piece of what I think is stampbord (although I could be wrong, Annette, if you're reading, I'd love to hear from you about the base of this ornament). This promptly went onto my tree, and it is full of decorations from this year and several previous years as well.

Maybe tomorrow I'll post a picture of the tree!

Until then, thank you very much Annette for this awesome ornament, I love it as well as all the other gifts I received this year. Thanks everyone for contributing to this swap and making it so awesome... and also thank you to Yooper for hosting the event!

On The Tenth Day of Christmas ...

*sigh* this exchange is almost over. I really enjoyed it though. I love all the gifts that I've received, not only are they wonderful additions to my holiday decor but they are inspiring me to push myself to do even better next year with my 12 days gifts. I do think my gifts were pretty cool, I put a lot of work into them, but, I wish I would have been more creative with the wrapping. But, woulda-coulda-shoulda ... you know? Can't do anything about that now.

For the tenth day of Christmas, we received a gift from Joanne. As you can see, her wrapping was incredibly clever ...


Yes! She machine stitched all the way around the paper to seal the package, and the tag is also machine stitched. Very clever, indeed. I was almost afraid to cut into the package, but I took extra care to make sure that the gift was on the opposite side of where I was cutting, and this is what I found inside (be prepared to say aww! Because it's really cute!)



The collage image has been printed onto fabric, and just in case you can't tell from the photo, the wire is all curly and beaded!

I think after the holidays, this little angel is going to find a permanent home in my studio. (I think I've just about gotten my hubby talked into moving his "man cave" into the garage, and then we will move the "family" room which is basically a computer room into my oldest daughter's old room (she moved out last week - I'm still very sad about it), and then turn the family room into my studio. This would work out wonderfully for me, because I've pretty much been doing my art work in the family room anyway, because the garage is just TOO DARNED COLD in the winter, and in the summer it's too hot. There are only a couple of weeks out of the year when it's a comfortable climate. And I want to do my artwork more than just a couple weeks out of the year!

Anyways... just one more gift to open (I didn't wrap my own gift to me) in this exchange ... I'll share it with you tomorrow!

Thanks, Joanne, this is a lovely little angel!