Project: Valentine

I ended up taking part in quite a few swaps to begin my year. The first was my secret pen-pal scavenger hunt, then handmade val which I took part in last year but as I'm still waiting for a card I decided to blog  about that later and lastly at the last minute I took part in a Post a Parcel Valentine.

 

Post a Parcel is organised by Nia over at lifeandco. I came across a photo on Instagram for it and decided I may as well stay busy and take part in another swap but also its fun to be creative. I don't know about your part of the world but in mine, Valentine's Day is for lovers rather then friends and family. All the cards and items sold are so mushy as well as inappropriate to send to people you don't know so I tried to make as much of everything that I could. For my parcel I had to create or buy 5 items, wrap them up and send them on there way to .... Australia where my partner lives. I have to admit due to the distance and the postage I decided to stay light with this one but I hope my items were still nice and liked by my partner.

I had to firstly of course make some lucky stars with hearts on as they are meant to represent love so I may as well  use them for once for their purpose.

The only thing I came across in the card shop that was neutral enough for me to buy. I did almost buy some chocolates but Australia is so strict with their rules that I didn't want to risk my whole package disappearing. In reality though you get such a small amount of chocolate for such an expensive price.

What all snail mailers need! Handmade stationery to write on and some washi/deco tape.

Of course the tape didn't stop there as I sent this one too...

with all my love... a lovely way to seal your envelopes!

and many pieces of love! Someone sent me a plain white jig-saw many years ago. Its been waiting around for me to do something with it and now was the perfect time to have fun with it. Its filled with words of love and friendship.

Spread the love around the world even though this is my A-Z of Bradford that I used.

I finished it off with all 'love' themed stamps in so many different ways... partners, friendship, mother and daughter and any other way you want to interpret it.

 

Now on to my partners

I received a garland which I love, cookie cutters which hopefully my niece and I will be able to use, due to my partner not bubble wrapping them they are a little squashed out of shape, some jokes, a craft project and a postcard.  I also receive a handmade card.

She spoilt me with many stamps.

I just love putting things together like this and the scavenger hunt as it gets my brain working. I also surprise myself in the idea that come up with even though I can't always get them quite how I imagined like with the jig-saw (I imagined it to be completely different to how it ended up).

Project: Christmas Postcards

As I mentioned in my first post, I have used every bit of paper possible when creating my postcards and decorating my envelopes. Whether I punched snowflakes or holes neatly or not into the paper, I still used them as it just adds a little something to your item whilst being eco-friendly too.

I don't know how I end up making things fussy when just wanting to stay simple but its fun seeing the end result of an item and hopefully its appreciated when it lands on someones doorstep.

Project: Lollipop Stick Journal Prompt

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I took part in a journal prompt lollipop stick swap. I was going to post this when I received mine but then decided it would be too photo heavy so I'll post mine now and the other one later for you to see what my partner does.

I'm so glad I bought the wider sticks as the thinner ones would have been a pain to write on.

The first half I decided to do a dark style theme as I just can't help it. The problem I found is that the colours bleed because of it being a natural wood so when I stamped the building it looked like a blob of black. I ended up making it an even bigger blob of black because it reminded me of going into the countryside and always seeing at least one deserted but interesting building. Also though some people always have that one house in their street that they think is haunted. I went over it in yellow fluorescent to highlight the building a little, it was much darker for real but not so obvious on here and it looked so eerie.

As I didn't know who my partner was I decided to make a cute one too but that was a big mistake as when partners were assigned it turned out my partner doesn't like cute but especially not teddy bears! Eek! I sent it anyway and said that if she really didn't like it I'd remake it as I have plenty of sticks left.

I had to make a container of some kind to store them in, I had planned on decorating an envelope but the sticks wouldn't have fit so I used this hair band which I've never used but own for some reason. I cut it in half and sewed the bottom. I couldn't be anymore creative as the postage would have been sky high as it already cost me nearly £4 to send this. My brother posted a few packaged on Thursday for me including this and wouldn't be quiet about the cost of everything! Its one of the reasons I hardly swap on swap-bot anymore because majority of the partners are from the U.S and Regional swaps are so limited in what you can do. Anyway I now have to keep my fingers crossed that my partner will be happy with everything.

I can't wait for next month when I can share my next project but also I don't want it to come as it will mean I'll be another year old and Ramadan but it will bring the summer holidays at least!

Did you have a good weekend?