Secret Santa Gifts and Tag Swap

I participated in the Secret Santa Soiree this year!

First time I had ever done that!

Always a first time for something and I am glad too.

It was fun!

Our host was Suzanne over at Colorado Lady.

Thank you so much for all the hard work you put into it.

When you click on the link it will take you to the original post 

and the links with 3 *** in front of the name have posted

about the gifts they received.

 My package arrived while my kids were visiting for Thanksgiving.

We had gotten home from wine tasting and taking all of them to

Train Town and I found the package waiting for me.

It was fun to open it with them here.

I opened the first gift then I remembered I needed to get a picture of the wrapped gifts!

The trinket box with a bear on it was the first one I opened.

 Here are all of them opened up. Such a wonderful variety!

 I had indicated I was starting to collect pincushions and 

look! I got a pincushion. Love love love it!!!

And a yellow fat quarter too.

Except in New Zealand I guess they are called Flat Fats!

LOL!

I have been seeing how others store their Fat Quarters.

I think I need to change how I do mine, by color!

 Even though this postcard tells me where my Secret Santa lives,

it still took me awhile to figure out who she is. 

I finally came across her blog and now I know.

The pincushion design helped too.

I am not going to say who it is yet.

Maybe you will figure it out too!
(update: well I go and say I figured out who my SS is and now I have
forgotten which blog is hers. Guess I need to play detective again. :) )

 Aren't these buttons adorable?!?

I love them!

 And embellishments  for card making or scrapbooking.

What fun! I love those too!

 And look at this cool bookmark!

I am using it on the book I am currently reading!

Thank you, thank you to my Secret Santa.

You sent me such wonderful fun items!

Love them all!

********************************************

Sue over at It's A Very Cherry World! was the host

for the Christmas Tag Swap
. The link takes you to the post where she writes about the Tags she received.

This is only the second time I have participated in a swap and 

what fun that is too. 

 This the front and the back of the card I sent Sue.

She happened to be my swap partner as well as the host!

How cool is that!?!

The tree design on the front is from an old Christmas card. 

I have saved Christmas cards and cut the interesting parts from cards and got rid of the rest.

Finally I have a use for them!

Actually I have used them as tags on gifts too.

This is the tag Sue sent me. Isn't it gorgeous! 

This is giving me ideas for future tags.

I hope to participate in tag swaps more often.

I just have to find out about them when they happen.

I almost missed this Christmas one.

And I am more prepared now.

I am saving cereal boxes and cutting my tags in the shape I want them in

and tossing the rest of the box. 

Now I will be more ready for the next swap I hear about.

~Linnea~

Three or More Thursday #6

This week for Three or More Thursday I am going to show you some ornaments I made while I was pregnant with my son. He turns 28 this month, so that means these ornaments are 28 years old. These are snowflake ornaments that I crocheted with crochet cotton. After I finished them I starched them with liquid starch and let them dry. That gave them their shape. They have held up well over the years.

There are several different versions of the snowflakes as you can tell by the pictures I have here.

Also in the some of the pictures you can see the icicles made with clear beads and pipe cleaners. Those I made with my kids help when they were growing up. We had gotten a few as a Christmas gift and we added to the collection by making more.

These ornaments are on a small tree we bought last year that came with lights already on them. Last year was our first year to use a fake tree, but last we year did not put any ornaments on it. This year I decided to add my snowflake ornaments.

I have pictures of the tree and the decor items I set around the tree on my main blog. Go on over there to see how those look. Thank you to Tam at The Gypsy Corner for hosting Three or More Thursdays. Go visit Tam and see who else has posted for Three or More Thursday. Happy Thursday!

Blue Monday #11-B

I am doing Blue Monday on my craft blog again (obviously), because the first picture is something I made. The fabric is a Christmas print with snowmen on a blue background. It is a different print than what I used on my tablerunner in the last Blue Monday. I simple serged the edges in matching thread to make a simple table runner. I originally made it for the dining table to add color. But I decided to use it on top of the linen press this time. It totally fits with the theme I have going there this year. More pics of my decorating will be coming soon.

This next picture is a Scandavian plate with lots of blue in the costumes. I don't remember where I got this one. I have had it for a number of years now. Probably 15 years or more.
This next one is part of my collection of tins. These have blue(obviously). I don't know why I am stating the obvious. Anyway, the top one is a sewing tin. See that fits for this blog too. It advertises O. N. T. Thread. To tell you the truth, I am not familiar with that brand.
The bottom one had cookies in it. Shortbread I think, but I am not sure. Someone else gave it to me when they were trying to get rid of it. I said I would take it since I collect tins. The one on the right at Hersey's kisses in it when I bought it. They these different candy tins available for a few years. I managed to get a different one each year. I don't really find these kind of tins anymore. I keep looking whenever I see tin type stuff in stores. I look to see if any are the old timey looking ones that have candy in them.

I was able to get to my mother's house yesterday and I got a picture of her knitting bowl. It is a different design than the one I have. In the chair you can see the two blue pillows she wove on a weaving loom.

This next picture is of the loom in my old room. My old bedroom growing up has become my mother's sewing room. This loom is in the area where my bed used to be located. The loom used to belong to my Godmother who was also my grandmother's sister. Which made her my great-aunt as well. She did lots of weaving over the years and I have a few things she made. You will be seeing a couple of them when I get my Christmas decorations up and pictures posted.

The next picture is a close up of what is currently on the loom. It is a shade of blue. Sort of a aqua blue. I am not sure what this is going to be. Placemats maybe. Perhaps I should learn how to weave while my mother can still teach me how to do it. She learned from my Godmother. Time to pass on the skill and keep the loom in the family. Thank you to Smiling Sally for hosting Blue Monday for us. Be sure to visit her here and check out other Blue Monday posts. Happy Blue Monday!!