Aren't Swaps Wonderful?

Here's a peek at some of the goodies from my mailbox. Thanks to Priscilla of http://sweetremembrance1.blogspot.com for the awesome cottage! It is just too fine for words! The pink ornaments are from Bridie Murphyhttp://bridieshome.blogspot.com and CupcakeDD on the Pink Ornament Swap hosted by Chatdurouge on Flickr. The snowman ornaments are from the sweet Mary Izabella from the Snowman Swap hosted byhttp://vivs-whimsy.blogspot.com. And finally the adorable kitty altered domino is from Debora of Stars*Go*Blue. You can find her goodies here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5389262. What a great holiday haul.

A Good and Crafty Weekend

Saturday started early, and I was going to pull the covers back over my head until I remembered it was Stamp Camp weekend. Cris http://sassafraslass.blogspot.com/and Angie of Creative Cottage put on a free three-hour card-making fest for those in their monthly Stampin' Up order group. So I went to North Webster to see what they came up with. We decorated candles by melting tissue paper on them, and we made some great Holiday cards.

I followed this with a trip to the local rubber stamp store to see Jan here http://www.stamp-n-toys.com/, and then to the antique mall for a quick peek. I came home with a Lamb Chop (as in Sherrie Lewis) and another printer's tray to embellish later. I figure Lamb Chop is nearly extinct now, and for $3.50 I felt like saving her. I have become rather attached to dolls, books and figure from my childhood- a sure sign of growing old.

The drive through the lakes, past Tippecanoe, Irish, Sechrist and Barbee to North Webster was absolutely beautiful with the sun on the trees, and of course I forgot my camera! I figured I'd go back Sunday, but today has been very wet and gloomy. A good day for sweats and potato soup for sure! And a nap. Always a nap.

Between all of the that, I finished my cottage for http://thelittlebluebirddiaries.typepad.com/Lil Bluebird's Charming Cottage Swap for my partner Priscilla at http://sweetremembrance1.blogspot.com/. It is due Dec. 1, but there's not very many weekends between now and then, and weekends are reserved for art.

The chipboard papier mache cottage, seen here, has wallpaper, flooring, curtains, a rug, artwork, a bottle brush tree with non-working lights, and the outside includes German scrap, background papers, a wreath with "lights," spray snow, tinsel, liquid applique snow and glitter. It does not have a fire extinguisher.

Fire extinguisher? Yes, while heat-setting the liquid applique snow I accidentally set the flocked wallpaper and the tinsel garland on fire. My little cottage was smokin' and not in a good way. Back to square one. Anyway, now it is done and drying.

On to my mermaid swap, pink ornament swap, snowman swap, 4 x 4 Friday Face challenge and Chubbyville 4 x 4 Holiday Memories book page. I bought a Zutter book binder, so I am looking forward to putting my pages together into my first fat book.

Here's a look at some great Flickr photos from my contacts. More info here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12448123@N07/1971134265/. Happy Sunday! My Betseys are on the way from Sadie Lou http://craftilyeverafter.blogspot.com/, my Star Dancer is on the way from Tokyo. See her as Zelda here at the cutest blog ever http://adventuresofmolli.blogspot.com/. I don't have to be me 'til Monday. Thank you, country music.