I finally found him!

A big thank you goes out to Melinda!  The delay with the post office was a bit tense, but the wait was so worth it!  My little doll is too creepy-cute to describe!  She made this awesome decoupage box and even added purple glitter to the pins!  I love it all Melinda!  Thank you thank you thank you!

Meet Dead Donald

A few years ago I did my first zombie doll swap right here with Val & Friends.  I saw a cartoon about zombie rehabilitation where the zombies were re-trained to do work by hanging a stick with a dangling brain in front of them. You know, dangling the proverbial carrot only in this case they like brains.  The idea intrigued me so I created Dead Fred.  I was so sad to see him go. I've often thought I'd like to make Dead Fred again for myself. When the zombie challenge was issued, I immediately thought about Fred. I dug up pictures so I could  re-make him, but true to myself I had to change it up a bit.  This time he's made from recycled wool sweaters and coats, one of my favorite mediums.

 Meet Dead Donald the newest zombie in town.  Like Fred he's part of the Zombie Rehabilitation program. I have his brain all made I just need to rig it up on the stick.  Even though he's not quite finished I couldn't resist sharing him. He's much bigger than I planned but I like how he turned out. I think we'll go sit down on the couch together and read the second book in the Alice in Zombieland series.

Voodoo Swap Tote Bag - Thank You Again!

When I wrote about the package I received from Kerry I was so overwhelmed with things going on in my life that all I could do was love the beautiful Voodoo doll and the other amazing gifts included with it. The week that I received it my boss's mother was hospitalized and my co-worker was stricken with a kidney stone which she will finally be having removed tomorrow! I have been holding down the fort at work, worrying about my boss, her amazing mom, my co-worker and to make it ever worse, I found out (that same week) that my Dad has cancer again and he began chemotherapy last week. Needless to say I was a bit frazzled! After two long weeks I am happy to say that there is good news on most fronts. My boss's mom continues to improve,  my co-worker will hopefully be back to work by Thursday and my dad is not suffering from any side effects from the treatments. Whew!

This weekend is the first time in over 2 weeks that I could sit and be hopeful. So, today I was finally able to relax a bit and I got to play with my pincushion swap goodies! When I did I realized that not only is the tote bag I received hand painted and embroidered, it was completely hand made by Kerry. So I had to post about it again!

As you can imagine, the package truly made my week and now that I am able to sit down and enjoy it I am just in awe of the beautiful work that went into my gift!! Kerry, thank you again. I really, truly appreciate the amount of hard work and skill that went into the gift you sent me!! 

Here She is...

Here she is. She's being a little dramatic, but then she's been that way during the entire process. I'll admit,it was all my fault. Originally I thought she was going to be a boy, she absolutely refused that and insisted that I immediately add a bow to what was left of her hair. She hated the first outfit that I so lovingly created so I made a second, and then a third :0) She is a very particular pincushion. I hope her new mom enjoys her. She is really looking forward to helping her with all projects that require pins and needles. She is filled with a mixture of fiberfill and crushed walnut shells which will sharpen the pins and needles. Her arms and legs are fully bendable and if you position her just right she'll stand on her own but I recommend sitting her down when in use.

Here is a look at the package that is going to my partner

Once again I had a great time creating for this swap!! A big thanks to Val for hosting and organizing these great swaps for us!!!

Annual Handmade Ornament Swap

It is time for my annual Christmas ornament swap!  As always, this swap is for handcrafted ornaments.  

This year the theme is "Birds of a Feather!"  

Everyone was happy with last year's swap so once again, we are doing a "5 for 5."  
What this means is that you will be sending 5 handmade ornaments in and receiving a variety of 5 ornaments back. Last year we had a wonderful assortment of ornaments.  Once you join, I will send you the flickr info so you can upload photos of your finished ornaments.  You can also post on the swap blog.
You do not have to have a blog or webpage to join this particular swap.

To sign up, send me an email at valpowery(at)yahoo(dot)com with your name, mailing address and blog or flickr link/info.  
I will close registration when I have 10 participants or October 26th.  I may allow additional participants but am keeping the swap small due to my work schedule!
This will be a USA only swap.

Please create something you would love to receive and be sure to package your ornaments in a nice, re-usable box so I can mail your new ornaments back to you in it. Try to keep your ornaments light in weight.  Last year we had a few ornaments arrive slightly banged up so please take care when wrapping and make sure they are cushioned, etc.  We want all our ornaments to arrive in pristine condition!

Shipping: Last year I learned that the amount I suggested for shipping back to you was on the low side so please send in $10.00 to cover the cost of sending ornaments back to you.  This will also cover tracking.   Please include a return address label already filled out.

Ship in time for me to receive them by Thanksgiving.  I would suggest November 9th.  This will give them 1-2 weeks to reach me.  That way, I can get them in time to mail them out by the first week of December.  Sadly, I can't guarantee you getting an exchange box if your ornaments do not reach me in time.  (If that happens, I'll gladly return your own ornaments to you using the money you sent for shipping.)  
Shipping funds are important!  If you forget to include shipping, your ornaments can't be sent/returned until you have sent me the funds to send/return them to you.

If you finish your ornaments early, feel free to send them to me early so I can start organizing them.

If time gets away from you and you need to back out, no big deal, just drop me an email and I'll remove you from the list.  

I'm asking all participants to post about the swap on Dec 21st to show off the lovely ornaments they received!  I will link to everyone so no one has to hunt for people's blogs.  Just stop by mine and blog hop from here!

Also, don't forget to grab the badge to put on your own blog to spread the word!

stick me

Here is the little pincushion I sent Susan.   
I went with cute instead of creepy.  I attached a little jar of pins so they would always be handy for those "stick-me" situations!

I added some additional pins and a few other goodies as the tuck ins...

I've not heard from her so I hope she likes it!

Zombie Mania !!!

I may just have gotten a few very strange looks in Barnes and Noble this evening ....... I guess the little shriek of excitement I let out, kinda deserved it !!! But hey, this type of find just floats my boat, and makes me extremely happy !!!
My family don't fully get just how excited I was to find this book, BUT you, my zombie loving swap friends, are sure too ....

 Just look at this book ..... crafty, literary perfection !!!!
They are knitted in such a way, that the pieces are interchangeable, allowing you to create over 1000 different zombies ..... oh the challenge that presents !!!!

Just look at these ... and there are many more !!!
I'm going to try REALLY hard to get one knitted before Halloween, to add to my Halloween Tree table (the one I decorated today), BUT, I think 2014, may have just become, the "See How Many Zombies We Can Knit In A Year" year ....