Annual ornament swap!

This year's theme is SNOWMEN!  

We are doing a "5 for 5"  swap.
What this means is that you will send me 5 of the same handmade ornament.  Then you will receive a variety of 5 ornaments back.   You have plenty of time to make and mail the ornaments to me by deadline.

Once you join, I'll send you an invite so you can post on the swap blog.(optional)
You do not have to have a blog or webpage to join.
The deadline to sign up is Oct. 26th. I am limiting participants to 20 this year.

To sign up, send me an email at valpowery(at)yahoo(dot)com with your name.
This will be a USA only swap due to shipping.

The do's and don'ts: 

Please DO create something you would love to receive and be sure to package your ornaments in a nice, 

re-usable box so I can mail your new ornaments back to you in it. 

Please DO NOT send any one dimensional tags as ornaments.  If you do paper crafts, you must have layers and glitter and gorgeousness.    Tags are great and I have a few lovely ones on my own tree but they MUST be sturdy and beautiful.

Please DO take care when wrapping to make sure the ornaments are cushioned, etc.  We DO want all our ornaments to arrive in pristine condition!  

Please DO double/triple check your ornaments before shipping to me.  If your box has breakage, you will only get the number of surviving ornaments.  (meaning if 1 breaks, you'll get 4 in return...)

Please DO NOT join if you are unable to commit to making something you would enjoy receiving in return.  

Shipping: Please send in $15.00 to cover the cost of sending ornaments back to you.  This will also cover tracking.   Please include a return address label already filled out.

Ship in time for me to receive them by Thanksgiving.  That way, I can get them in time to organize, repackage and mail them out  back out by the first week of December.  

Sadly, I can't guarantee you getting an exchange box if your ornaments do not reach me in time.  (If that happens, I'll gladly return your own ornaments to you using the money you sent for shipping.)  
Shipping funds are important!  If you forget to include shipping, your ornaments can't be sent/returned until you have sent me the funds to send/return them to you.

If you finish your ornaments early, feel free to send them to me early so I can start organizing them.

If time gets away from you and you need to back out, no big deal, just drop me an email and I'll remove you from the list.  

Also, don't forget to spread the word!  

Toadstool ornament happiness!

My annual Christmas ornament swap is done....all ornaments have been sent and received.

This year, the theme was toadstools and the ornaments did NOT fail to impress!   I love this group of artsy girls, we always have fun!  The only sad thing is that I forgot to take photos of
all the ornaments!   I was so busy packing them to ship, that it slipped my mind.

That being said, here is a small sampling of those I did get photos of:

Annual Ornament Swap sign ups!

It is time for my annual Christmas ornament swap through my swap blog!  As always, this swap is for handcrafted ornaments. Any medium is allowed!  You don't have to be an artist to join in!  

This year the theme is "Holiday Toadstools." That means that somehow, somewhere, there needs to be a toadstool/mushroom incorporated into your ornaments.  

We are doing a "5 for 5"  swap.
What this means is that you will send me 5 of the same handmade ornament.  Then you will receive a variety of 5 ornaments back. 

Once you join, I'll send you an invite so you can post on the swap blog.
You do not have to have a blog or webpage to join.
The deadline to sign up is Oct. 28th. I am limiting participants to 20 this year.

To sign up, send me an email at valpowery(at)yahoo(dot)com with your name and blog or flickr link/info.  

This will be a USA only swap due to shipping.

The do's and don'ts: 

Please DO create something you would love to receive and be sure to package your ornaments in a nice, 

re-usable box so I can mail your new ornaments back to you in it. 

Please DO NOT send any one dimensional tags as ornaments.  If you do paper crafts, you must have layers and glitter and gorgeousness.    Tags are great and I have a few lovely ones on my own tree but they were created as gift tags, not ornaments.  I just chose to USE them as ornaments because they were so nice.

Please DO take care when wrapping to make sure the ornaments are cushioned, etc.  We DO want all our ornaments to arrive in pristine condition!  

Please DO double/triple check your ornaments before shipping to me.  I had several 6-8 that needed fixing or replacing.  Some I replaced with ornaments that were actually sent to me as a gift.  I had to make more ornaments to replace the others with.  

Please DO NOT join if you are unable to commit to making something you would enjoy receiving in return.  

Shipping: Please send in $10.00 to cover the cost of sending ornaments back to you.  This will also cover tracking.   Please include a return address label already filled out.

Ship in time for me to receive them by Thanksgiving.  That way, I can get them in time to organize, repackage and mail them out by the first week of December.  

Sadly, I can't guarantee you getting an exchange box if your ornaments do not reach me in time.  (If that happens, I'll gladly return your own ornaments to you using the money you sent for shipping.)  
Shipping funds are important!  If you forget to include shipping, your ornaments can't be sent/returned until you have sent me the funds to send/return them to you.

If you finish your ornaments early, feel free to send them to me early so I can start organizing them.

If time gets away from you and you need to back out, no big deal, just drop me an email and I'll remove you from the list.  

Also, don't forget to grab the badge to put on your own blog to spread the word!

Stash busting!

I haven't been sewing AT ALL lately but today I made a couple collars for Osa.

She looks so cute in the LSU one!

Then I covered a little footstool for her. 

The steps I made a couple years ago finally died.....with the help of little  children using them too.

Crocheted ponchos.....

I am slowly trying to make my way back to blogging!  The last several months have been extremely busy but I think things will slow down a bit now.

I made a couple ponchos this year as Christmas gifts for my two nieces.  As you can see, the teal one is smaller....but both are for little girls.  I love ponchos, especially during the change of weather!

I crocheted both of these using "I Love This Yarn" because it is so soft!

Crocheted mouse coffee cozy

 This spring someone traded me some Starbucks for a coffee cozy.....you know I can't resist Starbucks!

She requested a mouse and some purple....here is how it turned out.

I didn't write a pattern this time.....

Swap announcement

Time for my annual Halloween swap!  Check it out at
yarnigrasswapperspot.blogspot.com

Hope to see you there!