To Me, From Me, By Me

Lots of swapalishy fun going on around here. I've been making so many things for Valentine's day that I can't believe it's still two weeks away. I'm ready for chocolate bunnies and yellow chickies!

First a swap that I recieved from Stephanie. She doesn't have a blog, so I can't link her. She sent me this box of goodies.

I love the embellished box. Who doesn't enjoy a good polka dot here and there?

It's kind of funny, I used vintage sheet music and ric-rac on hers too. I found this vintage pink box last summer at a sale. It reminded me of a pressed tin ceiling tile. It was very hard for me to let it go. ;o) It arrived in a jumble but I reorganized it to see all the goods. I was sad when I realized that meant mine would arrive to her in a jumble. I dug through it, organized it and picked out my absolute favorites. (But, I loved everything.)

Love, love, love that ballerina cupcake topper. And the WISH tickets, and the cherries, the locket, crystals, soda caps, and everything else. I don't know what I will do with any of it, but that's the fun of it. Out of the blue something will hit me and I will have the perfect "thing" for it. (I still need to figure out how I can eat my big heart shaped lolly without the Bean noticing! ;o) I can't think of anyway to share a sucker.) Thank you for everything, Stephanie!
Here's what I sent her. I had lots of fun finding bits and bobs, odds and ends and little surprises here and there. I found that big red glittered key after Christmas and thought it was perfect for these Valentine boxes.

I made this as my end of the Hanging Hearts Swap at Sweet Goodness Swaps. I sent it to Jennifer. She is an Art Teacher which intimidates me. But, I hope she likes it. I really didn'tlike these collage things in the beginning, but now they are my new love. I am a hoarder of allt hings useful, tiny and cute. Now I can throw a bunch of "junk" together and "Wah-lah" - ART! I love the pompom fringe on this one. I scavenged that for 25¢ at the thrift and I still have yards left for other projects.
These are a part of the Valentine Swap at Mama and Jack. I think they turned out really cute but I'm worried about these too. From what I see, I think people are making more elaborate Valentines with sewing, quilting and the like. I just used letter punches, corrugated cardboard, glitter and my imagination. I had to make 14 identical cards, which was a first for me. I usually just whip one up when needed, or more likely, drive to the Dollar Tree and slap down 50¢ for a card. Mine are more card-like than decorative. I hope I haven't disappointed. (I always have crafting/swapping remorse).
Here's the box I sent Dee. I embellished yet another box that I had found last summer. This one was convered in big 1970's Mod flowers. I covered in in vintage sheet music and added the same image I used for the hanging Hearts Swap above. That image was part of the Craft Challenge at Beachy's Cape Cod Cupboard. She provided the image and we all did "our thing" with it. It is interesting to see the different ideas that are out there. I was already doing the swpa, so I thought, "Why not" join the Challenge too? That is a pair of old "pearl" earrings added for depth and texture.

And her goodies inside the box. You might recognize this as part of my current header. I really had fun making these boxes - inside and out. It was fun to turn "junk"into treasure. Hey, isn'twhat this blog is all about?????

~~~~I better go look out the window. The weatherman is forecasting everything from a dusting of snow to 12" of snow today. That is quite a range, there! School was cancelleed inp reparation (It was icy this morning) so we are having a bit of a snowday ourselves.