Bringing in a SPOOKY Year of Enchantment 2023!

 Greetings my lovelys!

For 2023, I had been asked to bring back my Year of Enchantment....a monthly swap all YEAR LONG!  I will also include quarterly creative challenges!

 A week before each month, I'll email current participants and post the theme for the following month.  Each QUARTER, I'll announce the creative challenge.  Its up to you to play or not...to swap or not. 

*For 1st quarter the CREATIVE CHALLENGE is for you to make yourself a PUMPKIN HEADED DOLL.  (You will NOT swap the doll.  It is a challenge for you to make for your own Halloween decor.)

What we are swapping:

** January's Halloween ornament THEME is "Something Haunted!"  Ooooo, I can think of so many haunted things:  headless horseman, ghosts, libraries or books via Harry Potter, houses, dark forests, attics, basements, just about anything.

You will be swapping ONE HANDMADE HAUNTED THEMED ORNAMENT.  Any media is acceptable.  Scrapbookers are welcome but please note that if you make a paper tag or canvas style ornament, it must be 3 dimensional and have a variety of textures.

Signups are open through December 30.  Ship date is the 3rd Saturday of January, please keep your reciept as proof of shipping.***  If you want to join the swap, all you do is email me your full name and address.   Leave a comment here and email me at valpowery(at)yahoo(dot)com

I will add you to the sidebar.  On the first of the month, I'll partner everyone up and send out partner info.   

I hope to see you!

*** If a swap box gets lost, please plan to replace it so we don't have to ask for angels.  We are only sending one item so cost should not be a huge factor.

Yarnigras! Annual Handmade Christmas ornament swap!!!

This year the theme is "HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!"

When I started thinking of the theme, I was thinking of what makes a home....a home!  I had the theme down pat and was ready to move forward.  But then this summer, while cleaning out my bluebird nesting box, I realized people aren't the only ones who have homes.  I mean, I knew it all along but I hadn't given it much thought as far as the swap.  BUT.... as I pulled out the nest, I found straw wrappers, leaf litter, straw and RED Christmas tinsel.  Some industrious little bird had woven red tinsel into her nest....along with a lot of those small crinkly candy cane wrappers.  (It made the springiest nest!)  Maybe they smelled of peppermint, or maybe she just hit the mother lode of wrappers...either way, it was one of the prettiest and springiest nests I'd ever seen!

So with that in mind, you do NOT have to stick with a human dwelling.  Wherever you live, people and animals build houses or some type of dwelling.  Be it human, animal, supernatural or even alien....make something SOMEONE would be excited to go home too.  

"People have homes, gnomes and fairies too. Birds, squirrels and owls make nests for their broods.  Mice in the garden, beavers in the pond, they all have homes, all year long."

The info:

Once again, We are doing a "5 for 5"  swap.

What this means is that you will be sending me 5 handmade ornaments and receiving a variety of 5 ornaments back. You may use ANY MEDIUM you want to create these little pieces of art!  This is especially exciting for house building!!!

You do not have to have a blog or be on social media to join.   So many times I want to join a swap but the deadline has passed so here is MY rule:
There is no deadline to sign up, as long as you can get the ornaments to me by mid November, you are in! 

I am a bit under the gun with time this year as we are moving our daughter back to TEXAS during November so the EARLIER you can send them to me, the better.

To sign up, send me an email at valpowery(at)yahoo(dot)com with your name so I can put it on the sidebar.  I will send you my address when I get your sign up email. Please reply to ANY emails once you join.  I try not to bug people but I do have to send out notices and ask questions from time to time.

This will be a USA only swap due to shipping.

Please create something you would love to receive.  

*All ornaments must be either in a clear treat bag or some other "holiday" type wrap with a tag from you.   It doesn't have to be fancy, but do take some time to do a good job, no throwing all the ornaments in a box with no gift tags , wrapping or tissue.  

Remember, these ornaments represent hard work and all participants want to OPEN them as they would a Christmas gift.  

*Also, be sure to ship your ornaments in a nice, re-usable box so I can mail your new ornaments back to you in it.   Include a self addressed return label for me, along with return shipping of $10.00.  If you send HEAVY ornaments, please send a couple extra bucks to cover shipping cost and take care when wrapping to make sure they are cushioned, etc.  We want all our ornaments to arrive in pristine condition!  

**If ANY of your ornaments reach me broken, they will be returned to you.  That being said, if 2 break, you will get 2 of your own back along with 3 different ones for a total of 5.

*New Rule:  Many of us have become dear friends and I even have family members joining now too.  Please understand that in shuffling these ornaments around, your friend or family member may get an ornament you planned on giving them privately.   I ended up giving away my own ornaments from the swap to make sure everyone received a unique assortment.   I am no longer doing this.

May I suggest you either send in extra ornaments to keep this from happening or refrain from giving the ornaments privately until AFTER everyone receives their box.  (Some of you already do that, thank you!)

Let me repeat...Shipping:  $10.00 is sufficient to cover the cost of sending ornaments back to you unless they are oversized or heavy.  In that case, please send in a little extra.  Again, please include a return address label already filled out.  

Ship in time for me to receive them by EARLY to MID November...no later than the week of Thanksgiving. 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.
You can send cash, check or Venmo.  Again, this is not a fee for me, it is a return shipping.  I love hosting swaps but don't feel I should incur the cost of shipping them all out!  

If you finish your ornaments early, feel free to send them to me early so I can start organizing them.  The earlier the better this year!

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.  

Another Violet Zombie

 

I created a Violet Zombie for Pat. I decided to go with paperclay this year for making my zombie. Sometimes paperclay can crack so I made two just in case one cracked too much. In the end the backup zombie was too small and it cracked while the first one didn't crack. I repaired the cracks and now the small Violet Zombie is sitting with my new Willy Wonka Zombie from Amy.

I had so much fun creating for Pat. She loves pumpkins so I made a jack-o-lantern garland, I also painted pumpkin boxes and filled them with little goodies for Pat. My favorite item was a goose gourd that I dried in my garage last year then turned into a jack-o-lantern with a ghost coming out of it. I was so into creating that I actually made too many things to fit into the box. I got a bigger box but it still wouldn't all fit. This picture shows what I was able to fit into the box. 

The painted wood blocks and wooden box that wouldn't fit are now on my mantle as part of my Halloween decorations. Pat I hope you enjoyed your Zombie and the goodies. I really enjoyed creating for you!

Thank You Amy!

 

Thank you Amy for an amazing Zombie package. I opened the box and knew it was going to be good! :) The package was fully of goodies, including mini Wonka Bars.

Look at my new Willy Wonka Zombie. I love his little skeleton hands!

The mug is full of Wonka bars. I love Rae Dunn dishes, so this mug is adorable and perfect for the season.

Look at this...... so cute! I have a little black pug named Chunky so this little pug Furrybones already has a special place in my heart. I love it! I'm keeping this out year round. Thank you Amy for an amazing Zombie Package.

Update

 Good morning everyone,

I am going to be posting the theme and info for the annual Christmas ornament swap!  I know!  I can't believe this year is almost behind us.

I am having a few emails bounce back....so please double check your own.  Also, when signing up, feel free to include your cell number so if email fails, I can text.   

I cannot wait to announce the theme!

Also, I am hosting a SPOOKY Year of Enchantment next year so if you have friends or family who may want to participate, let them know.  Each month will be a new swap so you don't have to do them all and only 1 item is swapped (unless you WANT to send a tuck in, sender's choice.)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I want my zombie doll . . . "NOW"!

Veruca Salt arrived yesterday! Thank you Stacey!  I love her!.

I am always so excited when my zombie package arrives.  

Veruca was packed in an Amazon box and I was expecting a delivery from Amazon . . . so what a surprise when I  opened the box expecting a skirt and a sweatshirt . . . and there was Veruca and her golden egg laying goose!!!

Veruca was wrapped up like this!

You have to love a zombie doll package!

Stacey also included this skeleton cookie that she made.

I hate to eat him! 

I shared an arm with my mom last night.  

She got such a kick out of the package and eating the cookie.  :) 

We both agreed that the cookie was delicious. 

So many Halloween goodies.  

There is a great skeleton zipped case in that stack 

which will probably now hold some of my doll making supplies  

Thanks again Stacey . . . and thanks to Val for hosting this fun swap!

She's here!

 

I absolutely love my little Violet! The details of her little outfit is so cute too! I also love that she is made from a gourd. So creative! I also love all my add ins as well! I am a baker and will use everything given to me. Let me just say...those oven mits are my absolute favorite!! I use those all the time but didn't have fun holiday ones!!! Yay!!

Thank you so much Pat!! I truely love everything!!💕💕