i love getting mail, and participating in a swap is a sure-fire way to get the postman to deliver some goodies to your doorstep! the love birds on the left are from natalie over at that girl, and the pine needles are from sarah of things are better with a parrott. both ladies are super talented and i'm loving these cards so much i'm not sure i can actually send them out.
now i have to get back to watching the primary returns...i'm so addicted.
this weekend felt really long, but i didn't get nearly enough accomplished. i think having two snow days last week made friday feel more like monday, which threw off the rest of the weekend. at any rate, i did manage to get both my swap contributions packed up and ready to be shipped out tomorrow.
i also have been working on getting some things together for my etsy store. i don't know how anyone manages to have a job, a social life, and a fully stocked etsy store. it doesn't seem possible at this point, but hopefully i can get my act together.
it seems like my theme for thrifting lately has been straight up 70's. normally i pass on the overly orange, brown and green linens and fabric, but this bunch seemed to call to me. the two brown and white ones in the middle of the stack are giant pillowcases with really nice trees and a not too tacky sunset in the middle. i have no idea what i'll do with them, but i'm sure i can make room in my fabric stash that has now grown over into the laundry room.
i have another snow day today, but the district decided to call school off after i drove my 30 minute commute on the ice covered interstate to get to work. i used the extra time to get some paperwork done at school, and then drove to my favorite thrift store which is always closed by the time i get off work, so i couldn't be too upset i had to get out of bed this morning. i found quite a few vintage linens and the pair of wooden acorns over on my sidebar. the linens are in the wash along with a few others from a thrifting trip i took earlier this week, so they need a fluff and fold before they'll be ready for pictures. i also finished my contribution for the mid-winter gocco swap. 
i'm not sure what oysters have to do with winter other than the fact that they taste good sitting on top of ice , and ice is currently covering the streets of iowa city. also, i miss the oyster and martini happy hours in new york. these are just fun little stuffed oyster tchotchkes that i have been thinking about making for a while now. what can you do with a little stuffed oyster tchotchke you ask? well...the question should be, "what can you not do with a little stuffed oyster tchotchke?"
i've got mine on my bulletin board in my craft room and another sitting on a bookshelf in the living room. they're not very functional, but some of my favorite things are just fun to look at and fun to make. now i just need to buy 12 envelopes, get them addressed, and out in the mail by tomorrow afternoon. hopefully we won't see any more snow!
yesterday i received my first item from the mid-winter gocco swap--this lovely little notebook from elizabeth over at right out loud and blue valentine press. it is so sweet i almost don't want to write in it.
she set the bar pretty high, so i've been racking my brain trying to figure out what i should make for the swap. i've been itching to use my fabric printing attachment that ted got me for christmas, so maybe i'll make some sort of small fabric thingy. as you can tell i haven't really given it much thought...maybe i'll use my new notebook to sketch up some ideas.
on monday, while surfing through all the crafty blogs that i could on my lunch hour (or rather lunch 20 minutes) i stumbled upon swap bot. i've never participated in a swap before, and always wanted to get in on the action but never really knew how. enter swap bot. i figure i'll start out easy because i've never done one before (and i couldn't get in on some of the really good ones because i don't have enough points...or something...i'm just going with it.) so i signed up for one called "surprise, surprise, surprise" that just basically says to send your partner anything--something you made, already had, bought etc. pretty simple.
i couldn't just stop there, though. i found a gocco swap on another site, and signed up right away. not only do i get to use my beloved gocco, but i get to put a neat little button on my sidebar that says i'm participating in something--very exciting. both swaps aren't due until february, so i'm confident in my ability to complete both in a timely fashion. i hope i didn't just jinx myself...
still practicing applying bias tape to curves...man, that is hard for me. if anyone has any tips, i'd love for you to make my life a little easier!
