Sweet and Sinister Swap

Here are just some of the wonderful things I received from my swap partner, Kathy. None of my pictures due them justice. Everything was wrapped in a large piece of burlap. the "BOO" garland is made of 3 triangles of "designer" burlap. It has wavy stitched patterns in the burlap.
The "cupcake" looking things are another garland with card stock triangles covered with pattern tissue and various trims, and grunge board with chalkpaint and attached with Velcro, so it can be changed. Very cool !


This glittery candy corn cone was filled with homemade chocolate bat pops, a candy corn pen, orange wooden fruit, and a bat mask.

She did an "Alice" theme and covered a tin can above with book pages and a fine covering of glitter. the handle is darling french ribbon printed with "Alice" phrases. Below is a transfer panel she made.


She created the button bundles above with vintage text.

There was lots of trim. She is a quilter and fabric artist. the bag above was filled with beige bows and you can see some of the trims below. You cannot see how lovely some of the velvet ribbons were, however.
Now, these below are my favorites - tiny wool pin cushions. She used bottle caps for the bottoms - One is a spider web with spider and the other is a "starry night" theme.


She painted the head below and wrapped it with more french ribbon.

I had a wonderful talented partner. Thank you very much, Kathy.


Elizabeth

A birthday gift

My sweet Daughter-In-Law had a birthday several days ago, and she said she would like to have something I made. Oh, my Dear, what treasured words to a crafter's ears!!

I suggested one of my little hearts sewed in some favorite colors. How about black and pink?

And she loves butterflies; so, the silver one in the middle.

And this is the backside.

I made it for her to hang from her car's rear view mirror. It will sparkle in the light.

I haven't mailed it off to her as yet.

This is letting the cat out of the bag. Oh well...

Carol

Prayers for Blakie

Here is my grandson who turned 2 last Saturday, Oct 10th. He will be having kidney surgery on Friday morning. If you want to send any prayers or healing thoughts his way, we would welcome them. His surgery is at Children's hospital and will last about 4 hours.

Blake is a very sweet little boy. The picture above was taken Wednesday morning, just before we headed to the mall to let him get a bear at Build-a- Bear. Below he is handing back his bear for its final stitching. We then took him for a photo setting and we got some very good pictures.
Below he is in his Halloween costume of a Dino.

Below, he is playing with his older brother's fireman stuff.

Thanks for reading this and thank you very much for any prayers and well wishes.
Elizabeth

Swap #4

Here we are at the swap my sister, Elizabeth and I are hosting.

The Bella Paper Doll Swap. One would have thought I would have had a better handle on what I wanted to do--beings that it was our own swap; however, I did not have a clue. I fretted the whole time, discarding one idea after another, until I had finished all the other swaps. Finally, I had to get a grip and make a decision.

These are the little missys that were the final products.

The assignment didn't have any parameters as to size or type of paper doll. We could dress and embellish our paper dolls as we wished.

I used the Lottie stamp from Pink Persimmon. She spoke to me with such a sweet personality.

The layers of apricot/salmon fabric were from a formal dress that I thrifted.

The lace is a dark brown color--it looks black, but it's brown.

I strung dark brown wooden beads for her "brown pearl"necklace.

And her little headband was made from the spaghetti straps on the original evening dress.

By the time I finish with these swaps, I've become quite fond of each one.

Lottie seems happy to being all dressed up for Silver Bella.

I added a little shawl of glittered tulle, and a few glass beads sewn along the bottom front....

And then, there is the packaging.

I wanted her to be seen through the finished gift wrap, so, I stitched the cello on top on the kraft paper, and made the closure with a little matching yo-yo and tulle at the top with my Moo card.

She's all ready for her trip to the Swap Night.

Now, to gather all the "stuff" we will need for our exciting classes of Silver Bella.

Carol

Next up--Swap #3

Now, this swap is a little different. While it looks like I did 14 fabric ATC's, that is not the case.

These will go to the hostess who will combine 14 different little art pieces on an apron front--presenting each participant with a finished apron on Swap Night. Pretty sweet, right?

This is called the Inspiration Apron Swap:


I incorporated wool felt, sweater felt, pieces of brocade, vintage lace, old pearls, beads, buttons, and a whole lot of free form embroidery.

Carol

Silver Bella Swap #2

These little redwork embroidery panels are for the Needlework Samplers Swap:

My sweet friend, Becky, did the original drawings of the curly headed child, and I transferred them to the fabric panel and did stem and outline stitches for the needlework.

Our assignment for this swap was for 3--4X5" samplers.

The hostess will surprise us with her completion efforts at Swap Night at Silver Bella.

I became quite fond of her happy little self, standing among the flowers.

We don't know how these will be completed by the hostess. It will be a fun surprise on Swap Night at Silver Bella.

Carol

Silver Bella Swaps

A summer of preparing for Silver Bella has come to a close. The Silver Bella Yahoo group entertained lots (and I mean LOTS) of swaps. Each one sounded so interesting and fun, and the finished projects filled our imaginations so full that signing up for 5 or 6 didn't make us pause.

I jumped right in and got busy, knowing how slow I work, how much more thinking and visualizing goes on in my head, rather than productive work.

Nonetheless, I have accomplished all my tasks. All 6 are done, finished, completed, and either sent off to the hostesses or tucked safely away for the trip to Omaha. Whew!

This first one is the Bella Holiday Fat Book: assignment.....

Eleven 6 X 6" fabric pages, showing a holiday color palette with emblishments.
The hostess will bind into books with covers.

I can hardly wait to see the finished project!

This is a closeup of the front (on the left) and the back of the page (on the right)The front side: Each page is a little different. Impossible for me to duplicate exactly, but it's OK.
The background is a grey wool, with pieces of ribbon, felt, and felted wool, beading, and trim.
Carol