Swapping Is Fun!

Hello All!

I wanted to share the other half of my Valentine's Day swap with you last week, but the cord that connects my camera to my computer disappeared... now that I've got that resolved (and it's just occurred to me as I'm typing this that, hello, I could have just put the memory card into the computer... doy! If I used my noggin' the way I'm supposed to, I'd be dangerous!) I'm back on track.

As you may recall, my partner for this swap was the wonderful & fabulous Pam, you might know her from her super fun and cheery blog Faster Kittykill. I like it there, it's a nice place with lots of glitter and puppies. Sometimes I hang out at Pam's blog and just dream of the day I get to hang out in her cool-ass tiki yard in Portland and have cocktails with her. She's awesome, possum.

The whole package, I tell ya! Even the outside of the box is special.

Ooooh, what's in here?? At this point I can tell you I started making little grabby hands and squeaky sounds.

Would ya look at this haul! There's so much good going on there! From right to left, there's an adorable little lunch tote filled with the prettiest delicate little sugar cubes topped with iced flowers, handmade tea wallet, a new tub of lip shimmer, a Love Bot, a new mug (which I'm sipping coffee from right this moment), Bee Mine Valentine rings, treats for Lola, and two gorgeously stitched vintage hankies. Let's take a closer look at those handmade goodies!

This little tea wallet is just the best, I love the fabrics and the stitching, just look at that perfect blanket stitch. 

Here's the inside, perfect for a few bags to take on the road.

Oh you guys, this tea is lovely! So good with sugar & milk, a treat all on it's own.

Here is the the first of the TWO hankies Pam stitched for me, isn't it great? A lady in a pretty window stitching and conversing with a songbird. When I saw this I ran to my purse because I thought I had a matching one. I always have at least one pretty hankie in my purse. I collect them, so why not always have one on ya?

Alas... not a match, but close - the colors are very similar. I really do always have one (and sometimes two) with me, they're dead useful, and not just for blowing your nose, in fact I can't say that I've ever used a hankie to blow my nose. Real life moment here, girls... ever have the under wire in your brassiere snap unexpectedly? I have, and I can tell you, having one of these pretty, little babies in your purse will save you from being stabbed to death until you can get home or to a department store for a replacement. 

This is the second stitched hankie, such sweet kitties! They remind me of my own two kitty cats, Chyna Cat Sunflower & Egypt The Great.

I love these two hankies ever so! I'm concocting plans for them. I think I might mount the first one so that I can hang it on the wall so everyone can see it. The kitty one may be a pillow some day ♥

So that's my wonderful Valentine Swap! It was really fun putting Pam's box together, but it was even more fun to getting a package from her.

Thanks again for everything Pam, it was all so very perfect!

I hope you all are having a great weekend, it's beautiful outside here today, I think we might seize the opportunity to grab some of this early spring sunshine, maybe take a scooter ride and get some lunch. Nothing like crisp air in your face on a sunny day.

oxo,

Lisa



Happy Valentines Day!

Hello~hello!

I hope you're all having a loverly Valentines Day!

Today I thought I'd share with you the little pressie package I sent my pal, Pam for a little Valentine Swap we participated in. If you don't already know Pam, you should go over and check out her blog, it's a fun place, and Pam is awesome, super fun chick-a-dee!

I started out thinking that I'd make my pally an embroidered tea towel, then I got carried away and whipped up a couple of other goodies, it was easy to do!

I added a couple of cute panels of Valentine fabric to each side of the embroidery, then binded the towel with aqua gingham to give it a little more weight. The embroidery I used was a freebie pattern I found in the Hoop Love group on Flickr, it's a terrific resource for vintage embroidery patterns, you must take a look sometime! The pattern was sweet and simple and took less than an hour to stitch.

 Now, you may not know this, but Pam has fabulous hair. In fact, it's so amazing it ought to have it's own blog! When I saw this sweet hair bow on Mollie's blog, Wild Olive, I HAD to make one for Pam. You can see Mollie's tutorial here. It's so simple and so dang cute! I need to make more of these. I think my nieces would like one in every color, shoot, who am I kidding, I want one in every color!

Pam is wearing this bow in her hair today, I saw picture on facebook, eeep!

One hair doo-dad wasn't enough, so I made another one, this just clips right in.

I also made her a little ornament, just for fun. I saw one like it on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to make. Pretty cute, aye? 

Of course no Valentine would be complete without some sweets, so I packed some of those in too, and a great big mug to boot! This sucker would be terrific for ice cream.

So there it is, a fun little package for a fun little lady! I wrapped it all in heaps of hot pink tissue paper and lots of stickers, it was a neat package to put together. And it's it nice to get something in the mail that isn't a bill? Pam is so sweet, she took pics as she opened the box, you can see that set of pictures here, if you're interested.

Oh hey, I almost forgot, Pam has a brand spankin' new Facebook page, come on over and "like" it!

Wishing you all a sweet day!

oxo,

Lisa



Be Mine - Or Else!

Hello Lovies~

Just a fun little thing I stitched up for my hubby for Valentine's day tomorrow, hope he likes it... or else!

Be Mine - Or Else!

Like he has a choice, teehee!

This was a free pattern from Gina Matarazzo last Valentines Day, you can still download the pattern for free here. I had printed it out last year, and just couldn't get to it in time, this year I made sure to get it done!

Anyhoo! I'll be back tomorrow, I have more sweet Valentines goodness to share, so come on back... or else!

Just kidding, but seriously, come on back m'kay?

oxo,

Lisa



Creativi-Tea

Hi All!

As promised here are a few snaps of the Creativi-Tea I hosted recently. We had a great time, so great in fact, that I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I did... you know how that goes, right?

I really enjoyed pulling out my teapots and tea cups, I haven't seen my little beauties since before we moved, almost a year ago.

My food coloring Modge Podge jars came out really cute, thanks again for the tute, Pam!

Jill brought cookies!

(Photo courtesy of Little Nest Studio)

We ate yummy food, too but you'll have to take my word for it, because I forgot to take pictures, d'oh! After we had lunchies and talkies, we got to play.

Jo & Lorna

I see stitching, beading, felty owl construction, and sketching. This makes me happy!

This is the necklace that Lorna made this afternoon, isn't it beautiful?

Mom was feeling stabby, woohoo needle felting!

And some more tea of course, always more tea.

We had a really nice afternoon, I'm looking forward to doing this again, maybe even semi-regularly, I love hosting tea parties, and I love being creative, so this is like heaven for me.

♥♥♥

I hope you enjoyed this small peek, I'm a little bummed that I didn't get better pictures, ah well, next time!

Have a great weekend, sweeties!

oxo,

Lisa

Oh, what I want to know, where does the time go?

Hi All!

Oh my goodness where have the last couple of weeks run off to? I'm so behind on blogging, both in posting and reading. I feel rather out of the bloggy loop at the moment. I need one good rainy Saturday and a large cup of tea (or several) and all will be right again, le sigh.

Today I thought I'd share one last thing I made for my family for Christmas (yep, I know, we're a week into February) but they only recently received this, so it's finally safe to share.

For my brother, his wife and their two kiddos.

I traced their hands the day they moved to South Lake Tahoe a few months ago. An exciting, new beginning for them, bringing them one step closer to their dreams.

Like all families they're entwined, and so their hand prints should be. Everybody's hands are touching or over lapping somewhere on this piece, in those places I did a little intertwining of my own.

Normally I don't show the backs of my embroideries...(i use knots, shhh!)... but I really liked this one, its clean, flat, and like all families, perfectly not perfect. I left it unfinished when I sent it to them instead of covering it in my usual way. I just trimmed the fabric close and glued it neatly to the inner hoop.

I hope they like it, I liked making it for them.

I made a few other things for the kids, but nothing earth shatteringly rad, so I'll just post those in my Flickr, come on over and have a peek if you like.

I'll be back soon, I want to share a few pics from last weeks Creativi-tea!

I hope you've all been well, I miss reading your blogs and will catch up soon!

oxo,

Lisa