Day 10 is bound to be special

Here is a close up peek of the treasure my dear friend Arlene created for the very last day of the 2009 Canadian Valentine ART Swap.

She calls her creation: Shabby Doodles ...

It's a hand bound cloth Shabby Chic book she made for us to pop into our purses and whenever
inspiration strikes, we're supposed to snatch these out and start doodling, scribbling, whatever. That Arlene always trying to get us to do something! Not that I'm complaining, I think this book is amazing and the perfect way to finish up this Valentine Swap. I hope you've enjoyed seeing all the treasures along the way, and I'm sure that at least some of us will be up for another swap sometime soon. There is some talk of us Canadian Chicks doing some sort of swap for Mother's Day. I can't wait!

Back to Day 7 for a moment ...

I couldn't reveal Sabina's Bonus Day gift for the Canadian Valentine ART Swap until now because we had to wait until everyone had opened their gifts. That was really hard, I must say, because half of the fun of these swaps is sharing the beautiful work of the other people in the swap.

Here then is the 6"x8" canvas that Sabina made for me using acrylics, glitter rhinestones, lace and fabric flowers. At first glance, I immediately thought of the beauty of snowflakes late at night falling silently to the ground. Each one is unique and beautiful, untouched. So when I look at this piece, I will think of Sabina and peaceful winter nights. I'm also thinking a piping hot cup of tea should be involved as well :)

Oops almost forgot Day 7

Day 7 was "my day" ~ yay! It's alway exciting when the day that your gifts are to be open by the other people in the swap. (I also got to open Sabina's gift which I can't talk about until the swap is over because some of the other people haven't opened her gift yet).

I created Shabby Chic Keys
for Day 7 of the All-Canadian Valentine ART Swap, which you can take a look at here.

Ingredients for Shabby Chic Keys:
a collection of old keys, Golden gesso (white), appropriate sayings and flat marbles (or whatever the real name is for them), a trusty glue gun, sparkly rope-ish stuff, gemstones and a touch of glitter.

Assigning suitable says was a lot of fun. A few of the sayings I used included: "More Glitter", "Jewellery Queen",
"Tweet Tweet" and "A friend loves at all times".

Most keys are threaded with ribbon or lace. Two of the keys I made into pins that can be attached to a surface or be worn as a brooch.

I like these little creations so much that I may actually make one for myself.
Please leave me a comment below if you have suggestions for what you think my saying should read...

Handstitched with love on Day 6

A crazy quilt heart that could have been crafted a hundred years ago (but wasn't) is the gift that we opened today, Day 6. Laura carefully hand stitched each of the participants of the Canadian Valentine Swap a lover-ly aromatherapy heart.

The photos here show both sides of the heart she made for me. Don't you just love the lace and ~ be still my heart ~ rhinestones?! The heart also has a refreshing citrus scent to it (one of my favourite scents)! As if all that wasn't enough, an adorable Valentine themed magnet was included as an extra little surprise.
Thank you Laura ~ I am thrilled with the sheer prettiness of it all!

Day 5 beauties

Vanessa created some beautiful packages of seeds from her flower garden for Day 5 of the Canadian Valentine Swap. Look at the mini water colour paintings she painted on each package. Aren't they pretty?

I can't wait to plant them in my backyard once the ground is unfrozen and ready. They should do well here because they come from plants that already live in the same planting region as we do. Hopefully my gardening "skills" won't hinder their growth too much ;)

Thank you Vanessa.
I truly appreciate the time and effort that's gone into your giftie!

Sharing our hearts

After a long lull of creativity, I'm taking part in a Mixed Media Valentine Art Swap. This particular swap is made up of a group of eleven Canadian art friends. We are a group of diverse ages and talents. Many of us haven't even participated in an art swap before. We've just started opening our gifts ...

Day 1 featured artist is Mar. In creating the bookmarks she made for everyone, Mar took the "likes" of everyone into consideration. The one she made for me has a definite vintage feel to it. The little tags at the top of the bookmarks move which amuses me to no end. On the flip side of the bookmark, she added my name.

Day 2 featured artist is Holly, who just happens to be Arlene's sister. I would call Holly a master jewellery maker. Look at the intricate asymmetrical earrings she made for me ~ as you can see artistic flair must run in the family. These earrings (which are pearl, austrian crystals, pink quartz, and rhodolite and silver) are the most beautiful pair of danglelies I've ever owned. Unfortunately the photo doesn't do them justice.

Tomorrow, my friend Martha will be the featured artist.

While I was away ...

The goodies came in the mail like this ... Arlene and I opened our treasures together, thus Zoot's chair in the photo.


Here are all the gifts laid out after opening them. Everything is so pretty!!



Here is the treasure map heart which explained all the gifts included in the box.

I was away in Langley, BC at my sister's wedding this past weekend, and as a result, it's taken me this long to post photos of the cool stuff that Debra sent me for the 2008 Getting to Know You Valentine Swap.

Valentine package ready to post

So my package of goodies is ready to mail to Debra Cooper in the Valentine Swap hosted by Lelainia. I participated in last year's swap, but this year, there's a twist. The theme is "Getting to Know You". We were asked to prepare special packages containing things that represented who we are and what we like, and then exchange them with a partner, whose name was pulled out of a hat. It was a lot of fun putting the care package together, but it was a wee bit more difficult than I thought. The parcel is ready to be posted today. I hope Debra will like the stuff.