Swap Love!

Well, here it is! The long-awaited photos of my dollar store swapping fun with Kat in Buffalo! I am going to post pictures of her package to me later this week. The first thing that I made for her (and I guess the thing that she enjoyed most . . . she said she still uses it!) is a purse that I made out of dishtowels. I found three little dishtowels that were the same fabric and two were the same color of purple and one was a darker purple.

I made the lining with a light purple and put a cell-phone pocket inside and a large pocket on the outside, which you can see I have appliqued with a large "K" for Kat! The buttons were sewn on by hand (and totally removable by the way, Kat!), but I thought they were a nice touch. Wish that I'd had more time to make it look cuter, but I was a little rushed for time.

I had to add a cute little donut, because it seems that all of my swap partners have one of these on their wist! It's so much darn fun to make, too. I just included the picture to show that it is different from my last donut (ok, so it's not that different).

The next thing that I did was cover a small journal with some fabric that I repurposed from a wine bag that was velvety and had these awesome dangly beads on it that just made perfect fringe. And I took some felt and covered a set of bamboo coasters that I found at one dollar store and hand embroidered spider webs on each of them.

Here is a closeup to show some of the different spiderweb designs I did. I hope that Kat liked her package, but I do have something that I am still (!) working on for her. Life's been hectic, so I hope that she can forgive my tardiness! She's been an awesome partner and I can't wait to show you her fabulous talent!

My favorite thing I swapped

This is a post about my favorite thing that I swapped with my partner. I made her a t-shirt for her daughter which had a design that matched her own tattoo. She and I emailed back and forth quite a bit and she mentioned that she had some tattoos, so I asked her what they were. She told me about them and mentioned that her "favorite tattoo and current obsession" was her Sailor Jerry tattoo that had a swallow and her daughter's name, "Sophia," in the banner.

Well, I was trying to figure out how to incorporate Sailor Jerry into my package and I did a search to see if I could get some examples of it. Lo and behold, this picture popped up. I was nearly positive that it was her tattoo, but that was confirmed when I discovered that the artist lived in the same city as my partner. Whoopeee!

Now, just how to use this valuable information. I decided early on to do two packages in the swap for Heather and Sophia. It occurred to me that it would be so fab for Sophia to have a shirt that had the same tattoo as her mom, but with "Mommy" in the banner instead of her own name.

So I messed around in paint and photoshop, bought some t-shirt transfers and a 4-yr-old size t-shirt, and VOILA! I am super proud of this. Also pictured is the bracelet that I made for Sophia that is very similar to a bracelet that I loved when I was her age.

A blatant copy and an original

I am posting some more things that I sent my swapping partner, Heather.

She has a fondness for stuffies, so I really wanted to make her one for the swap. I found this on her wist and decided to try to copy it (but not exactly). I came up with a pretty good version of it, I think and I am rather proud.

I also decided to make her some handmade stationery. Again, I used the hot pink and black theme and made little polymer clay tiles with her initials on them to put on the cards as a personal touch. I liked this technique so much that I am thinking of using polymer clay tiles as "seals" on my wedding invitations.

These were simple projects (once I learned how to bake the clay without it burning up into little black squares) and didn't take very long to finish. It was fun to try to emulate MyPaperCrane's style and techniques, too. I will probably make myself a donut as a little "diet" buddy to help me get through till my wedding day.

PS: I am working on the request for a tutorial/pattern for the knitted bag in my last post. I hope to have a tutorial with pictures. *Cross my fingers*

A knit purse

My swapping partner, Heather, received her package yesterday so now I am free to start posting about the things that I sent her. Whew! It's gonna take a while, so I am just going to blog about one topic at a time.

I knit her this purse out of BabyBee yarn. Her favorite color is pink and she liked it paired with black so I thought this yarn was perfect! It took a skein and a half to make.

I love this yarn so much . . . I'm really glad I bought extra!

I really wanted to make a cable knit purse, so I ended up making up the pattern myself. Next time I think I will try this pattern. However, I really enjoyed this pattern that I made up, so maybe it wasn't such a loss after all.

The lining is a really cheap cotton print that I found at Wal-Mart and backed it with a stiff interfacing so it would stand up on it's own and give some shape to the purse. I also lined the strap, which was hand sewn, so that it wouldn't stretch out to her knees when she wore the purse.

I made a "ribbon" that ran around the top of the purse and tied in a bow on the back, as you can see here. The ribbon also served as a means of attaching the lining to the purse without compromising the yarn. I'm rather proud of this ingenuity, actually.

Finally, the lining of the purse was the same that I used on the strap and the ribbon/bow. I added a pocket, because, well everyone needs a nice sized pocket in their purse!

I made the lining two pieces with stiff interfacing in between so that the pink of the material would fill in any "gaps" in the yarn between cables. It created a really nice effect and was better than just lining it with one piece and white interfacing.

All in all, this was fun and didn't take absolutely forever to knit and put together. If you'd like the pattern, comment and I will post it later.

Swapping Goodness

So, the swap has finally happened and I am so excited! Heather is still waiting on my package to get there (should be there on Wednesday, if not before) and I have my wonderful package from her.

She's a felting and soap making fiend so I am really happy with my package. Wanna see some pics? Of course you do!

She felted me some slippers that are just so comfy and warm. They are my fave color too!

Let's see, next, she made me the cutest little clutch with buttons to die for and some amazing oatmeal and honey soap! I can't wait to try it out!

She also sent me a beautiful soft and warm scarf, a really sweet note on adorable stationery, and some twizzlers (only half eaten because of me, I promise).

And lastly, but definitely not least, she sent me a beautiful piratey bracelet that she made from shrinky dink plastic! It's so adorable! If you can't tell, it has an anchor, a treasure map, a naval star, a treasure chest, a pirate ship, a piratey sword, a parrot, and a buccaneer hat!

I just had to leave you with some slipper action shots. (It's hard to take pics of your feet!)

So Andrew helped out and took a picture for me. Sorry about the lighting here.

I'll post pictures of what I sent her once I get word that she has received it! I can't wait!!!