One Swap Closes, Another Swap Opens

What a sweet swap Be My Valentine turned out to be.

Kimberly captured the romance of the day with her beautiful swap

and Laurie's creations were sweet and charming

while Linda's exuded the elegance of valentines past.

We had a large number of participants in this swap. If you'd like to see all the creations, please visit us HERE.

It's difficult to say goodbye to this one but as this swap closes, it's true, another does open.


As a child I remember finding one of these mesmerising sugar eggs in my basket each Easter. It was incredible to me that you could look inside and find the most adorable 3-dimensional scene of bunnies, chicks, lambs, children in their Easter finery.
Imagine what these matchboxes are going to look like!
Sign-ups are open now!

A Glimpse of Valentines Past

Some antique valentines from my personal collection...
They really don't make them like this anymore..
layers of paper lace, German scrap..
and charming victorian imagery.
This book from the late 1800's is probably my favorite
with page after page of heartwarming pictures and verse.
Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm Feelin' the Love

I feel as though my swap partner in our Be My Valentine matchbox swap knows me well with this beautiful vintage swap she created for me.That sweet little matchbox so intricately fashioned, the darling muted tone mini atcs, all accompanied by the most stunning valentine card anyone could imagine!
Big valentine hugs to my val pal Michele, of
Something Special.
This truly is something special!

I also took part in a valentine atc swap hosted by my sweet friend Kimberly, of
ArtJoyStuff
and received the lovliest valentines.
Kimberly

Terri

Sabrina

Kathy

Unsigned (if anyone recognizes this card, please let me know)

Yesterday the mail brought me a surprise valentine from my dear friend Michele, of
Nook & Cranny.
You touched my heart with your kind words and thoughtful gift Michele.

I really am feelin' the love....

The Dress Forms Are Ready to Party!

With all her vintage beauty
and imperfections
she was purchased at an estate sale.
I dress her according to my mood
or season,
or season I'm anxiously awaiting!

Her baby sister, also an estate sale find
dons shimmering wings
simple, whimsical and pretty.

Many thanks to Carol, of
The Polka Dot Closet
for hosting this party.
If you don't already, you too may soon have a love affair with a well dressed dress form!
Visit Carol's beautiful blog for links to all the participants and a dress form giveaway.

Valentine Image Freebies

Happy Pink Saturday!


Grab and enjoy these oh so lovely pink Valentine images!

Vintage Twinchiness

Always in search of new swap venues, I recently joined the
Gingersnap Creations group and signed up for a twinchies swap.





Creating in miniature (twinchies are 2" squares) is so much fun!

Good Things Come In Small Packages

At least I hope my partner thinks so!
For the Valentine Swap in my flickr group, we went small, altering the 32 count size matchbox and creating 3 mini atc's that could fit inside.




I'll share my little valentine as soon as it arrives!

Sharing Some Itty Bitty Valentine Love

I just finished making my pages for the Valentine edition in our Itty Bitty Book group. The books measure an itty bitty 2.75 x 3.50 inches.
I made pocket pages embellished with the most gorgeous vintage lace, sugared hearts, paper flowers, pearls and bling.
I originally started making tags using different images but decided this lovely victorian lady was the only image that fit.

Off to the post office I go.
Can't wait to show you the entire book!
I've linked this post with Paper Traders "All Things Lace" Challenge.

Wings & Pointy Hats NEVER Lose Their Charm!

I know, I know, they have been done to death over the last several years.
However when I sat down recently to create Valentine atcs for Kimberly's swap using these gorgeous vintage roses backgrounds, they screamed for vintage children with pointy hats and wings!

Embellished with tiny pearls

bits of bling

glitter and stickles

and of course, pretty pink hearts.

I hope my swap partners can find the charm in those pointy hats and wings!

For the first time ever I've linked to the always enjoyable
Pink Saturdays
hosted by Beverly.

Going Green With Luck O' the Irish ATC Book

Intrigued? Check it out HERE!

It's a Win-Win-Win Situation

What a fabulous start to 2012!
It began with a blog giveaway win from the uber-talented Terri of
Artful Affirmations.
Aren't these earrings lovely?
If you've never visited her blog, you simply must treat yourself. Terri's artwork is beautiful and she shares lots of fun tutorials and tons of inspiration!

Within hours of Terri's email I received another from a collaborative group I belong to, the Itty Bitty Book Club. An extra book was made to raffle and I was the lucky winner.
Here's a little peek....




But I said win-win-win, didn't I?

After all of this receiving I'd say it's time for me to give!
I would have loved to make each of you a domino book but sadly, that's just not possible.
I have to tell you though that I was thrilled when random.org chose the winner.
She is one of the sweetest friends I've come to know in blogland.
Congratulations Mina!

Thanks to everyone who entered. I appreciate your kind words and support. And I promise to host another giveaway very soon.