Birthday Presents for My Sister "Sunshine"!!!

Hi All! Here's two of the gifts I gave my sweet and darling little sis "Sunshine" today at her birthday dinner! First, is the collage I designed for her, trying my best to really personalize it. It's got sort of a sweet musical theme, and you guessed it - she's a great guitarist and plays at our church every Sunday. She also loves flowers, and almost every Sunday she brings flowers to church, and frequently gives me flowers! What a sweetie! She also loves the beach, her kitty "Fluffy", and much more.

Sunshine is the one who gave me the fabric and ribbon last week, so I quickly designed and crafted this Yo-Yo pillow for her with fabric she herself picked out! I'd seen how to make yo-yos here, and just recently saw how to even make ribbon yo-yos! They're great fun! I'm showing the back of the pillow because the fabric she picked ouit has her daughter's middle name on it, "Princess Anne". She gave me lots of hugs so I think she liked what I made her.

Well, it's just my son and I for a week, while my husband and daughter are visiting Montana relatives. Boy, is it fun to cook for him! My two picky eaters are gone, and my easy-going son is getting rather spoiled here! I just made him a (homemade) double batch of one of his very favorite desserts: tapioca pudding with toasted coconut on top! Now that I'm looking at the huge bowl, it seems like a bit much! Oh well. We had homemade spaghetti for dinner, using an ONION from my little garden! We also have dozens and dozens of the best nectarines you've ever tasted. And right now, they're "tree ripe"! I'll surprise my daughter with some peach jam when she gets back.

Paper Bag Perpetual Calender from Heidi!

It's here! I got my wonderful swap exchange today from Heidi (Everyday Cookies)! Boy, was I ever surprised with what she made for me. Well, the story starts here: We decided to do a 1-on-1 swap, made difficult by limiting what was made to what was sent by the other person! So I crammed a bunch of stuff in a bag, and this is what Heidi made with it! The one exception was the other person could use 1 item of their choosing, and for that Heidi made me the paper bag album. Not just an album, but a "Special Day's" perpetual calendar! Somehow she designed the paper bags so each of the 12 pairs of bags had an opening. It has a calendar for each month in the side openings, and lots of room for cards and pictures! I just love it!!! I'm so impressed with her creativity, and the work she put into this. Thank you very much, Heidi!!! She somehow brilliantly figured out how to lay the bags flat, sew the ends, cut the other ends, and came up with 12 slots, one for each month. Study the picture, if you dare try this. Then, she crafted and sewed a gorgeous fabric case to hold the album! And it was all wrapped in pink tissue, with a tag, as well. What a special swap!!!! Unbelievable!!! I truly love this album, and will treasure it and really use it lots! Thank you very much, Heidi!!!

Also, today my son got back from a week-long trip with some friends to Seattle and Vancouver, Canada. He brought me back some cool postcards, some of them from the 60s. I loved seeing the Space Needle postcards from today and from the sixties. I lived in Seattle for 3 years as a child, so it's a very special city. One very unique postcard Nathan picked out must be from the early 1900s?? It's an embossed postcard of the "Oldest Church Tower in America", which was in Tacoma, Wash. It was sent with a one sent stamp, but the date is blurred. Can you believe my son went to a shop, that according to the business card is a..."Dealer in Vintage posters, photographs, postcards, prints, snapshots, stereoviews, maps and ephemera! And anything else old and interesting written, printed or painted from anywhere in the world!" Yup, that was the shop he shopped in up in Seattle! Now he knows what "ephemera" is!

Also, I got another pleasant surprise yesterday! Mary Ann( A Very Mary Design), a fellow blogger friend, sent me a note with 4 of her special "I'm Dotty About You" tags! What a sweet, sweet surprise from a fun, talented and honest blogger! I know she sells these in her Etsy shop, so I'd better take a peek at them. Thank you very much for spreading joy, Mary Ann!!!

Lastly, the stray Vintage Hat Pin turned up last Friday....in my thigh! It was included in the basket of special ephemera from Heidi for my birthday in April, and has been lost since then! I had a clearer understanding why pinned on courages aren't allowed on airlines after my poke! Ouch!

Monday Goodies

Here's several pictures of my brown PaperBag Album for my Swap-Bot partner, Barb! I hope she likes my chosen theme of Summer. Starting with Heidi buying her 500 paper bags to researching the best glue to use, I've gone down quite an art learning highway with this project. I've made 2 practice albums before doing this swap one. These are such fun to make, and this one's in the mail right now, heading to Albuquerque.

Yesterday my wonderful and sweet sister, "Sunshine", gave me a very special bag of goodies! First, was a package of Joes Oh's cookies to enjoy, then came out the most wonderful package! She'd recently gone to the fabric store, and shared the wealth with me! She cut and folded a whole bunch of pretty and fresh fabric for me, and topped in off with several yards of gorgeous ribbons! She wanted me to make ATC and other things with it, but what I'm doing first is making HER a little surprise with some of it! I've started something, not sure what it'll end up, but it's started!!!!

And, my other dear and special sister, "Cookie", (note: these sisters named themselves!!!) and I are doing a 1-on-1 art challenge called, "Make Me Something". At the same time, we both sent each other an envelope filled with paper and art making goodies. The challenge is to make the other person something with their goodies and send it back! She sent me such wonderful items to choose from, that I had something made the first night. There will be absolutely NO hints until she gets it back, however. Just stay tuned!

Well, other Sparks in my Engine today included cashing in on a couple of FREE coupons for lunch at Wahoo, and a Buy-1-Get-1-Free coupon for Starbucks!

Amazing Art Doll Hat Received

She's here!!!! Meet my gorgeous Art Fairy Doll Hat from Cheryl (Artsy-Fartsy) l!!!!! Amy (Crafting by Candlelight) hosted such a fun and different Swap, the Art Doll Swap! I learned a lot, like I always do in swaps.

This week my doorbell rang, my dog barked, and when I answered it, I saw the most unusual yellow shaped box. I knew right away what it was, and who it was fun. I ran and grabbed my camera and the opening began! Cheryl not only wrapped it in a fun way, she designed and crafted the hat box to mail it in! This box is made from very sturdy cardboard, and beautifully covered with vintage Sear's, Roebuck and Co antique catalog pages!!! On the top are the hats! You could have ordered a "Dandy Hat" for your daughter for 24 cents; or a designer hat for yourself, custom made, for 99 cents! Oh, go ahead and order your husband some new wagon wheels....!!!! Once I got past the shock of how creative, kind, ambitious, and talented Cheryl is, I pulled out her beautiful art doll!!!I love her!!! Don't the pretty pink petals make a dramatic skirt? And I love the yellow roses! The petals are lined with fiberfill to keep they puffed up. The doll itself is lined in vintage sheet music, as is the sweet Sallie tag she made me! I was just overwhelmed with admiration and appreciation. This lovely doll has 2 sides, a very womanly shape, and beautiful sheer butterfly wings. Thank you so very much, Cheryl!!!! You are quite an amazing and talented person.

Here's a link to the original instructions for the Doll Hats. And here's the link to the Art Doll Hats Flickr group, where many participants in the swap posted their glorious pictures!

Oh, this is Cool!

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My Art Doll Hat for Cheryl

Here's the Art Doll Hat I made for Cheryl (Artsy Fartsy). I wanted to design something extra special for her, so I surprised her by making the doll with her daughter's face! Her daughter is very pretty, and I grew to really love her darling face, the more I sat and admired the doll! I used a premade cone for the skirt, and covered it in a gathered vintage fabric, with a lacy overskirt. Her wings are real ferns that I pressed and layered between some sheets of clear contact paper. Her wand and collar have jewels, and she has a layered top, which was painted, glittered, and covered with netting. Her head and body is backed with vintage sheet music. I really enjoyed styling this art doll for Cheryl, and sure hope she likes it! The doll in the purple skirt is one I showed last week. I just remade the wings and wand! She was my practice doll. Soon she'll be getting a "friend" in the mail from my swap partner.

I Won!!!

Today was a big mail day! I won a prize drawing from the very generous Amy Elise Designs, and it arrived today!!! I was so excited and happy as I opened the big pouch of goodies! Tags, paper flowers, lovely paper, buttons, fancy brads, and more all came pouring out of the jam packed envelope! I'm so glad I entered that contest! This was big, big, big! I immediately used some paper and ribbon, and have lots more to use. Thank you so very, very much Amy!!! You're a doll!!! Oh, also in the mail was my order from her! I couldn't resist getting some more of her pretty tags! I love those tags!

I finished my Art Doll Hat and have mailed it off. I'll post pictures as soon as I hear that she's been received by Cheryl. I'm excited about recieving the doll she made me, too. She even gave me a sneak peak of it, and it's beautiful!!! I also finished a birthday present for someone very special, but I can't show it for awhile...she may drop by here! Hint: It's very pretty, and about 9" X 12"! I'm still working away on my next paper bag scrapbook, the one for the swap. I should finish in another few days, and will post pictures here.

I hope eveyone's enjoying their summers, especially those lucky ones on vacations - like Amy and Heidi!