The vote is in and we are sticking to birdies for the 5 and 5 ornament swap! We have 3 openings left so if you are going to join, do it now! Here are a few birdies I've made in the past....
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!
Here is what I sent to Amy, my partner: A Christmasy apron, a daily devotional, a little sewing kit, a handmade pincushion since she loves them...and 3 crowns. (I made her 3 ornies because they were small...I used water bottle caps as the base.)
a close up of the crowns...
I wrapped each item in Christmasy paper and then wrapped the whole thing up in the red velvety fabric in the first photo.....I love my fabric scraps! And THIS is what she sent me! What do we have here....chocolate, botanical post cards, knitting needles, plant markers, a wee garden book and a tissue holder. Plus, Amy wrapped two of the gifts in Christmas fabric!
a close up of the bird
Thank you to Amy for my sweet birdie package! I love it!
I am so happy to have hosted this swap.....now I'm eagerly awaiting a change in the weather...I'm ready for Halloween!
Birdie partners have been emailed and I am SO excited to get this swap underway!!!! Don't forget to post some related things HERE! I'll start us off with 5 birdie bunting/garlands I found via google....I included links to give the artists credit for their creations. I will do another post later in the week with some other ideas but feel free to do some yourselves!
March's ornie is done. I used this tutorial as my inspiration. I decided she needed a little crown so I crocheted one using wire and beads. I love how "Princess Pinkie" turned out.
Spring is around the corner and with it come the birds!
Who doesn't love Make Way for Ducklings....or Are You My Mama? ...or Chicken Little? or The Little Red Hen? And those are just the oldies....there are just too many to list..so I went with a story about vanity. You'll find the story in the same book with Yertle the Turtle and The Sneetches, Yertle is on the front cover. Can you guess?
March's story: Gertrude McFuzz March's ornament: bird March's challenge: a gorgeous tail worthy of the amazingly vain Lolla- Lee- Loo!
I got my April package from Missy H on Friday... It was packaged so pretty and this time I managed to take a picture before I ripped it open:
And here are the awesome goodies that were inside the pretty package - a applique tea towl, a bookmark, pretty pink beads, tea, and a pretty stuffed bird ornie:
Of lovely Birds flew my way from Sherry's creative nest.
The Christmas cone has the sweetest little bird nesting amongst the greenery and the cute Bluebird is ready to hold my photos or cards. And that little red dumpling of a bird (isn't he adorable?) I have named Mater.
And Sherry, knowing my L♥VE of Halloween, even included a black rose brooch (complete with a skelly head, spider, & mouse) a very majestic looking crow, and the most gorgeous Halloween banner! I wish you could see the workmanship on the banner...absolutely fantastic!
Yesterday, my mailbox presented me with a fabulous box from Sandy (The Faerie Wysperer).
This cute little chick is just perfect for me! Add vintage buttons, feathers and wire feet, and I'm a happy girl!
She also sent DARK CHOCOLATE Milky Ways. I photographed them and hid them on top of the fridge before the boys got home from school!
Sandy's friend drew the two owl portraits. I sure do wish I had that kind of talent! Lots of fun owls here!
Two sets of rubber stamps! I'll have a good time with these!
Flowers and inspirational words! My niece is coming for a visit in a few weeks. I feel a craft session coming on!
As if that wasn't enough, when I opened the mailbox today, I found another package with my name on it. I won the door prize this month!
Inside this fabulous drawstring bag was...
these brightly colored fat quarters! I do love bright colored fabrics!
And, just in time for my garden, I'll be adding these seeds to the bed beside the driveway!
Don't you love this adorable acorn?
These straight pins are so pretty. Can you believe you just use them to sew? I think I'll just find one of those cute pin cushions and display these pins!
Well, apparently Gin and I were thinking along the same lines...we both created the same birds for each other just embellished them differently!! She creatively added tail feathers to my birdies using silk flower petals. I even considered that!! Great minds really do think alike!! :)
She also included some DELISH dark chocolate truffles (mmm-MM!), a spool of ribbon, a skein of Fun Fur (YAY! YARN!) and a dish towel that she appliqued a cardinal on...how cool is that?!?!
What an awesome way to make dishtowels!! So creative, it opens up a whole new world of crafting possibilities for me. I like it when my mind is stimulated with new craft ideas. Thank you Gin for such WONDERFUL goodies!! I can't wait to use the yarn. :D
Here's a pic of my birdie ornaments I made for her. I know she already blogged about them using her pics...HOWEVER...I wanted to let you all know that I did a Bird Swing Tutorial on my blog. (You can find it here). You can create little bird swings for all our little songbirds we received, or if you're a bird owner, well, maybe your little birdie wants a new swing too. Enjoy!
Here is the bag of nesting materials I put together for the birds.
I flung it as high as I could up in a tree....where it got hooked up by a branch.
I haven't actually SEEN any birds pulling from it, but the bag is getting smaller and the shiny bits are hanging out like they've been pulled on....soone can hope :-)
I've decided to not take part in feeding the birds this month. We live in SW Florida (Cape Coral) in a decently populated area. There used to be only 3 houses in our neighborhood but now there's around 25. We used to have lots of birds and even some foxes that would come by regularly to get a bite to eat. After the area started developing around 5 years ago the wildlife has mostly disappeared. I don't mind that the skunks found a new home but we do miss the birds and foxes.
What we do have is giant Turkey Vultures. I took this picture standing at my back door. The vultures found something across the back road. It must have been a small creature because we had a dozen vultures stop by but only a couple stayed around for a daytime snack.
This one fle right over our heads and ended up coming back to land next to our house. These birds stand 2 feet tall and have wing spans of up to 6 feet across. It is amazing to see them sitting a few feet away.
We've tried all kinds of things to attract birds to our yard. Bird seed, peanut butter items, bread, popcorn, cereal...no visitors. Every once in awhile we will see some smaller birds come by to steal a sip from out grapefruits but that is it.
For my RAOK I have knit a couple hats to send to an online friend that is knitting for her local hospital. She is trying to meet a goal she has set for herself and I want to help out throughout the year. I was hoping to make more by now but have had a few orders that took up lots of my time.
March's ornie is done. I used this tutorial as my inspiration. I decided she needed a little crown so I crocheted one using wire and beads. I love how "Princess Pinkie" turned out.
and so were THESE birdies she made...
but she also sent these ornies....
oh, and don't think I forgot the APRON you saw under the 2 birdies!
Isn't it adorable! Thank you SO much Kim!!!!
and so were THESE birdies she made...
but she also sent these ornies....
oh, and don't think I forgot the APRON you saw under the 2 birdies!
Isn't it adorable! Thank you SO much Kim!!!!
This cute little chick is just perfect for me! Add vintage buttons, feathers and wire feet, and I'm a happy girl!
She also sent DARK CHOCOLATE Milky Ways. I photographed them and hid them on top of the fridge before the boys got home from school!
Sandy's friend drew the two owl portraits. I sure do wish I had that kind of talent! Lots of fun owls here!
Two sets of rubber stamps! I'll have a good time with these!
Flowers and inspirational words! My niece is coming for a visit in a few weeks. I feel a craft session coming on! 
Inside this fabulous drawstring bag was...
these brightly colored fat quarters! I do love bright colored fabrics!
And, just in time for my garden, I'll be adding these seeds to the bed beside the driveway!
Don't you love this adorable acorn?
These straight pins are so pretty. Can you believe you just use them to sew? I think I'll just find one of those cute pin cushions and display these pins!
