I'm a lucky girl!!!

I was lucky enough to be part of Heather of Speckled Egg's swap, we decorated a large matchbox and filled it with inspirational goodies with the theme of birds and nests.... I had 3 great partners and recieved wonderful goodies from each of them. They are all so talented!

My first box is from Kathy of Country Chintz
She made a darling bird and nest box, using a glaze on the nest and bird to give it dimension.

My box was filled with a nest, a cute bottle of buttons, wonderful ribbons, a magnet she made from a domino, a darling pendant (which I took a separate pic of but it didn't turn out) And look at that collage she added to the box and the library pocket filled with pretty tags and images...so many wonderful nature inspired goodies...these are just the highlights!

Then there was this pretty collaged box from Diane of Altered Book Studio

Those bluechip stamps brought back fun memories of my childhood (I am showing my age!)

Diane had a color theme of reds and blues and added some darling ladybugs to the bunch! Look at that cute trim card and butterfly and all the button and bead goodness. There is a little book alter, some lace and and she made us each some clay birdies that I just realized I forgot to photograph! (I immediately put them in the living room in a little dish because they were so cute) I will show you them when I show you what I made them!

And look at these darling earrings! I think I will be channeling Frida Kahlo when I wear them! If only I could channel her talent! I love these and have the perfect red peasant top to wear with them!

And last but not least, a cute handmade birdie box from Lynne of A Romantic Nest

Isn't that little bird darling?

Lynne filled the box with lots of pretty flowers, a speckled egg, hand-stamped ribbon. a cute cut heart and lots of pretty inspiration. She also sent along some millinery, mica, darling recipe cards and a great little bracelet!

Look at this cute bird and egg bracelet! I love it!

This was a really fun swap and I was lucky to have 3 very talented partners for it! Thank you Heather for hosting and thanks to Lynne, Diane and Kathy for all the wonderful gifts!

I am a lucky girl!

Easter Bonnets.....

I got these pretty hats in the mail the other day, ordered them off of Ebay. I was feeling like my millinery supply was dwindling and fell in love with the bottom hat... I don't know if I will be able to tear it apart, it is just so yummy as it is!
Today is the first official day of my spring break, I have tons of running around that I am trying to get done but I promise to post this week a couple of times at least!
Hope your monday is wonderful! karen.....

Miss Rhea's Easter Basket Swap!

I participated in Miss Rhea's Basket swap and it was really fun! I had two wonderful partners who created cute, sweet baskets and filled them with Easter love....

I wanted to post the baskets I gave at the end but waited till this morning to do this post and am still half-asleep and posted it backwards! So... here are the gifts I gave:
I made banners for each of the girls, this one says bloom....

And then this one says spring......

And here is a pic of what was generally in each basket....a little penant, a chick, some candy, a banner and a package of goodies to create with...

Oh yeah! For those of you who didn't do this swap, we had to decorate a yogurt container as the basket. I used fabric and yellow crepe paper, some trim and a millinery flower.....

Now...here is what I recieved from Suzie of Suzies Button Creations.... She made a cute easter tablet with some sparkly pencils, a mini stamp set, a little birdie eraser (love this!) a cute little birdie tile and a candle...and her basket was made to look lik a cake on the sides with sparkly eggs and chenille chicks....darling!


And here is my basket from Marcia of Vintage French Hen.... She made a cute pastel basket with a darling vintage tag (wish I would have photographed that better!) It had yummy candy (sorry I ate that!) A cute faux cupcake which looks great on my my tiered plates, a vintage candy container, some vintage earrings to create with and some easter cupcake picks and cute chenille chicks.......

Here they are together.... There's the tag!

Thank you to Rhea for hosting this swap and go visit her site to see all the other swappers! This was a fun swap! If you haven't done any swaps because you are afraid, Jump in! You meet new friends and it is really fun! Have a great Easter tomorrow! karen......

Vintage Easter Hop and Roosters Gone Wild!

I am late to the party but realized that I have lots to share for this fun easter hop! Thanks to Joan for hosting this fun event!
My post is picture heavy, so hang in there!
My first picture is of several items using vintage images...the bottle, the little hanging banner, the egg on a stick. And the little tin egg is actually vintage, one of my swap goodies which I will be sharing more of on April 3rd....

I love this birdie salt shaker, and even though the vintage jello molds aren't truly Easter, they are colorful and will make it somewhere into my decor, maybe holding goodies for the kids at the table.....

These postcards are from my collection...I love easter postcards!

And these are some goodies from my childhood... 2 chickadees handmade by my grandma's , some chalkware lambs, some flocked easter decorations...the card and bobble-head chick are new.....

Today I went to my local flea and found a couple more goodies to share.... the egg is so pretty, the music no longer works but I just love it anyway...and more Easter postcards......

That is all for my Easter goodies but here is the rest of my purchases from the flea... 2 pretty bird postcards and some cameos and buttons....

And..... ROOSTERS GONE WILD!!! The story behind these is.... I went last month to the same flea and there was a nice lady selling a collection of Roosters. After much deliberation, I chose one to bring home. My mom loved it!! So much !!! So much that all month I heard.."I sure hope that Rooster lady is still there!", "you should've bought more Roosters!" "I hope she has some left, they sure are cute!" And on and on....

So today I found "the Rooster Lady" and fortunately she had quite a few to choose from...I told her my story and after picking out 3 she threw in a 4th and said "for goodness sake this should keep her quiet (I am sure she meant happy) Well, Mom was thrilled! (and I am pretty happy too!) So here they are:

The spotted one on the back left has holes to put toothpicks with little snacks in and I could not leave that long necked one alone!

Well...hope you had fun! And have a great week! I will be back soon! karen....

Sneak Peek!

If you are part of Miss Rhea's Easter Basket swap, you may want to skip this post...this is a little sneak peek of what I have created for my partners.
This swap is taking a yogurt container, making it into a basket and then adding 5 things to the package. Here are some peeks at what I have made for my 2 partners.....

This silly basket had me stumped! Rhea gave wonderful tutorials but I still had difficulty with it. I was switched from a left-hander to a righty in kindergarten and sometimes 3 dimensional items baffle me....thank god my mom is a sewer and works with patterns all the time and we came up with this....

Anywhooooo, not much more exciting going on. I had bronchitis 2 weeks ago and am finally feeling human so just a little creating is enough to make me happy!

Have a great start to your week! karen.....

My swap partner Suzie is having a giveaway on her blog....one of her darling bunny cakes! It is only this weekend so hop on over and join in! karen....

Sweet Spring.......

I love all the sweet things associated with spring....flowers, bunnies, chicks...pretty colors. I haven't shared any of my recent finds lately, these have been purchased over the last month or so and I love each and every one of them! Above is the carved bunny that still makes my heart flutter (TJ Maxx) a pretty little topiary and easter bottle (Micheal's) and some bowls big enough for cereal (my daughter's request) which I got yesterday (TJ Maxx again) and I love! Then there is the cute little pastel rooster I got at the flea this month. He was my only purchase!
Here is a close-up of the bunny, I added the ribbon and millinery flower:

Last month I got this Mary Engelbreit tea pot at the flea ($2) and this little birdie is also from Micheal's:

I am finally getting back to a little creating! I joined 3 swaps! The little folders below are for Melissa's ephemera swap....the last two on the right are for my etsy...they are filled with pretty ephemera and millinery and buttons.....

Now I have to get busy on Rhea''s Sweet and Shabby easter basket swap and Heather's Inspiration box swap....Whew!

I hope you are getting "springy" I know some of you are being buried in snow again, hopefully some pretty pictures will help inspire you! hugs! karen.....