a swap for all seasons no. eleven - what I made for my partner

 

We've arrived at number eleven now in A Swap For All Seasons. This month my partner was darling Jan, of Jan's Arty Junk. You've probably guessed by now that I'm all about themes LOL. (I got all giddy and had the giggles when I found that I had Acorn scrapbook paper WOOHOO!)

I had so much fun making this autumn themed sampler for you Jan! 

Just one to go now - already made and mailed to my final partner. Sad to see this swap end, such a lovely experience.

Happy stitching and crafting and a very Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

a swap for all seasons no. ten - what I received from my partner

Oh gosh, can you believe October has come and gone?!! This year is a-flying by, isn't it! 

On Saturday I received the above mondo fantastico sampler from my partner Debbie, of Kitten Creates. I adore the tradition of Dia de los Muertos and it couldn't be more perfect for me Debbie. Such fun fabric and the embellishment details are so great. Love it to pieces! 

My sampler ... and goodies (so much fun - skelly sockies, candy corn fabric and skelly washi!) ... were wrapped charmingly, it all made me smile so much. Thank you so much for everything Debbie! 

Only two more samplers to make and receive in Linda's wonderful A Swap For All Seasons, it's been  such a lovely creative journey.

a swap for all seasons no. ten - what I made for my partner

Things are getting decidedly spooky over here for A Swap For All Seasons! Since I was (amazingly) running ahead of time for this round, I was excited to get a chance to do a Halloween themed sampler for my partner, Elizabeth, of "Tales From The Pond". 

Hope you enjoy it and it's not making you all shivery shakey, Elizabeth!

Wishing everyone lots of creative fun!

a swap for all seasons no. nine - what I received from my partner

We've finished number nine at A Swap For All Seasons, can you believe it?! I sure can't!

Yesterday I received the sweetest sampler from my partner Elizabeth, at Tales From The Pond. So darling, I love it so much Elizabeth! Thank you bunches, it was a pleasure to meet you and be your partner.

Elizabeth wrapped everything up so charmingly in the colors of Fall, made me smile. (Oh how I wish it were Fall here in Los Angeles - I can't remember when it wasn't hot, it's been hot for so long here.)

Hope you're having lots of fun out there crafting and stitching! 

thanksgiving happy mail culmination and woohoo celebration of thankfulness of lovely crafty friends

sick as a noodle over here ... cough cough hack hack ... sort of like the walking dead, except it's more like the barely moving ...

Hubby teaches elementary school, the Petri dish of new and old fashioned viruses. No escaping the germs of 32 children - each armed with a nuclear arsenal of ickyness hahahhaha - and bringing it home to the wifey.

So we had a different holiday vacation week than we had planned - the hubby leading the way with the dastardly bug and then my being walloped and flattened by it on Friday. Each of us in denial, swearing it was bad allergies, it must be allergies, until the coughing. Will it ever end??!

We went out to dinner as planned on Thanksgiving (we were going to forfeit our deposit if we didn't, so decided to give it a try), my poor husband coughing into a handkerchief throughout the evening. I was just at that tipping point of feeling weird and low energy, but thinking I might just not get it. HAH! Take that Sally! Neener neener the weasely bug said to me. 

Smacked me down early morning on Friday.

But that's enough whining! 

Time to report the arrival of more thanksgiving happy mail (above)!  Vivian's adorable card arrived, accompanied by the cutest thanksgiving stationery. Thank you thank you thank you Viv, love everything, so charming and so very sweet of you.

And here are the cards I made for everyone ... and I enclosed a couple fall leaf die cuts from paper I watercolored and some acorns in each ... I had so much fun!

Thanks enormous bunches dear Pam, Patty, Debbie, Joyce and Viv! I had the best time making cards for you guys and eagerly looked forward to the arrival of yours, like a little kid. It was so great the way it worked out, everyone's darling cards arriving on a different day, bringing smiles across the miles, again and again.

Hope you all enjoyed yourselves too!

Happy week to everyone!

number four thanksgiving happy mail and a surprise visit from Santa

Oh my!!! Gosh, what fun this is! Everybody's card is arriving on a different day and gifting me with fun every day - it's like a week of birthdays.

Today Joyce's (Scrap for Joy) card arrived ... well, actually a package arrived. Along with Joyce's so very adorable card (and sweet note), Joyce made me the cutest Christmas decoration to place on my mantle. It's so clever and darling dear Joyce and so very generous and sweet of you to make it for me, I'm overwhelmed. (I think you must be a super duper multi-tasker Joyce, accomplishing all of that while having just recently moved to a new house, in a new state, and not unpacked your craft room yet WOW!) I'll be hunting for my plate stand right away so I can enjoy it.

Thank you thank you thank you, so very much Joyce!

Once again I apologize for being a complete knucklehead with a camera. I'm so sorry - my dining room table is the only open space in the house and it's flooded with light - normally would be a good thing but not for taking photos.

Happy happy, it's almost here, Thanksgiving! So much to be grateful for, my lovely crafty and dear friends, thank you for all the smiles.

happy almost tofurky day

A wee teeny tiny bit of holiday cuteness has appeared over here ... we don't have much so it's kind of a puny looking effort LOL. WAH! It does look cheerier in person thank heavens. I'm thinking about enlisting the husband to get the gigantic box of my mom's china out of the garage for us to use on Thanksgiving. Maybe even break out the silverware. WOOHOO

Happy happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

one two three happy mail!

My mail finally arrived at 5:20 PM today - I had about given up on it for the day. I feel so sorry for our mail carrier, he's even come as late as 7PM, they're so understaffed.

I am having so much fun! Lookie lookie! Adorable Thanksgiving Happy Mail number three from Debbie of Kitten Creates. So pretty, thank you thank you thank you so very much Debbie. Love the vintage images everyone has used.

I sincerely apologize for my super poor photography skills - I fear its getting worse boo hoo. Hanging my head in shame.

Happy happy holiday card making and Happy Thanksgiving!

yippie rolling thanksgiving happy mail celebration continues

Thanksgiving Happy Mail Card #2 arrived today from dear Patty of Patty's Pretty Things. So darling, adore the vintage image you used Patty, so sweet. Thank you thank you thank you!

I'm having so much fun, why didn't I think of a card exchange earlier?!

Happy Thanksgiving!

the very first thanksgiving happy mail has arrived at my door

(okay, I'm obviously a complete knucklehead with cameras and Photoshop - I lightened these in PS and they're still dark when I post them here WAH! I saved the changes and yet they don't seem to have stuck. ARGH!)

So excited! My very first Thanksgiving Happy Mail card (cards!) arrived in yesterdays mail. WOOHOO! Fun fun fun.

Pam, of Virginia Retro, sent me two darling cards (in two separate envelopes, can you say TWICE THE FUN?!) - a card and a tag (with a doggie! doesn't get any better than that).

Thanks so much for playing along Pam and exchanging Thanksgiving cards with me - this may have to become a whole new tradition!! 

Happy early Thanksgiving!

thanksgiving happy mail on its way

Hi Pam, Vivian, Debbie, Joyce and Patty! I got your cards mailed this morning WOOHOO! Hope you enjoy them - I had so much fun making them for you. Thanks so much for letting me practically beg you into making a card for me LOL. You're A+ good sports and I so appreciate it!  

 

Happy early Thanksgiving!

thanksgiving card exchange - anybody want to play? EDITED

EDITED TO ADD: So sorry! I neglected to say that your cards are to be signed by you and mine will be signed by me.  I hope everyone still wants to play? I wanted to receive some real mail in the mail again, especially at holiday time. Let me know if you've changed your mind (which is perfectly Okie Dokie with me, I understand) or if you have any questions. Thank you!

Having fun today playing around making Thanksgiving cards!

I was so sad and depressed when I only received one Halloween card in the mail this year and I thought HEY! Maybe some crafty blogger friends and acquaintances also miss snail mail and might want to exchange handmade Thanksgiving cards??

Anybody feel like making and exchanging Thanksgiving cards with me?

I know I can make five (possibly more) ... is there anyone out there who'd like to receive a handmade Thanksgiving card from me and in exchange, make a card for me?

Please leave a comment on this blog (which I'll receive in my email, all comments are moderated due to spam and robot comments).

I'll pick the first five people who comment, to make cards for. Remember, you will be making me a card too.

I would like everyone (if anyone wants to play along pretty please) to receive their cards by the latest, on Saturday November 22nd (to ensure timely Thanksgiving savoring and warm and fuzzy feelings) - so lets agree to mail by approximately Monday November 17th - Wednesday November 19th, depending on how close you are to me in Los Angeles. You never know how long USPS will take these days, it can take one day or five days for regular mail to reach me.

Let the card making begin! (I hope I hope!)

Sally

nom nom nom november begins

Day after Halloween fall feasting on Pumpkin Pizza YUMMERS!
Hurray for take-out!

A hurried photo taken of the porch before the Trick or Treaters arrived on Halloween night. Hubby, AKA, Chief Hefter and Toter of Porch Decor, made an executive decision due to a shortage of time to curtail the Halloween Extravaganza Porch Plan. Well done, HAKACHATOPD! 

 

Anybody else struggling with a mountain of stuff?  Feeling a teensy weensy slightly bit encouraged - dropped off nine boxes at Good Will on Saturday. WOOHOO! Fingers crossed the trend continues.

hairy scary

FINALLY! On the 25th, I finally got my hair cut and dye touch up done after what felt like an eternity ... I was truly looking frightening bwahhahhahahaha! No more hairy scary now LOL! 

 

My hairdresser is so much fun - every year she and her coworkers not only dress up for Halloween but also decorate the salon from top to bottom. Her youngest daughter is an artist and did Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) makeup for her (first photo at top).

Hope you had a fun Halloween!

happy halloweenie

That's my own Halloween mask found at my parents house. I was a scarecrow in 1962 or 1963? I can remember going to J.J.Newberry's on Pico Blvd. in West Los Angeles (where the Westside Pavillion is now) with my mom and picking out the costume. Sadly the costume was nowhere to be found but I remember it having kind of mid calf length pants, with zig zap edges (like a huge zig zag gone awry). I seem to remember the sleeves being just past elbow length, with the same kind of edge detail? Gosh I miss Newberry's, with a little bit of everything. So many childhood visits there.

hahahhahahha ... so I went out on the porch this morning (in my bathrobe) at six a.m. to see what it would look like at night through the window to the trick or treaters ... and of course someone was walking down the street already LOL. Wonder if it was anyone I know??? They'll surely tell their nearest and dearest about the old lady in a lavender bathrobe on her porch taking photos with her iPad at that ridiculous hour. At least they didn't think I was the BATHROBE BURGLAR.

You can see my spooky hand in the reflection and my husband sitting at the breakfast table of our original puny 1950 kitchen, with NO DISHWASHER (I am doing a lot of kitchen daydreaming at the moment - after 34 years with no dishwasher!), our refrigerator loaded with magnets from our many visits to the UCLA Festival of Books and lots from the Humane Society - got to get all those woofies forever homes!

More stuff I had forgotten all about - I found this cute Halloween basket with a doggie inside and the darling owl, both that I got at Glitterfest in 2012. And these darling ones from Susie Scott that day too, always look forward to getting something of hers ...

Happy Halloween to everyone!