Jar of Mini Whimsies Swap Part 1

My latest swap was the jar of mini whimsies. Don't know what a whimsy is? I didn't either until I got on Craftster. A whimsy is basically a small item like a toy, button, charm, a bit of ribbon, game pieces etc. The whimsies are then collected and put into a jar and shipped out to you partner! My partner was mamaphunk from Missourri. She sent me some awesome whimsies, alot of vintage items and cute plastic charms. Here's my jar chock full of whimsies.

Everything all dumped out and sorta sorted.

Some close-ups. Mah-jong tiles ( I think), shells, metal flowers, plastic bowling pin.

Plastic charms including skates, boots, whistes, tooth holders, mini roulette wheel, hotdog, plane.

Some blinging rings.

I love these charms. They say "I'M IN THE DOG HOUSE." Way to cute.

Wonderful felted and beaded balls made by my partner. I want to learn how to do this! They are gorgeous and will make a great necklace or bracelet.

Some of my favorite items though I love everything! A graduate cake topper, plastic girl possibly also a cake topper, the mini roulette wheel, an old compass, plastic charms including the hotdog, flamingo cupcake topper. This was a fun swap and I began looking at things differently. I found myself saying--I could put that in the whimsy jar! So fun.

Just realized that Maggie is totally chowing down in the background. hee hee

Tea Towels

I received some awesome towels from my Tea Towel Swap partner, zombiekilla. I mentioned that I was really into birds right now and she stitched the most whimsical and creative designs. She really did a great job with making something that it totally me! They were also stitched on these really vintage looking towels which I love. Without further adieu:

The bird with the red balloon. She used such fun colors!


The bird with flowers. I love this image and again such great colors. Really fantastical looking.


The bird looking at his reflection. Probably my favorite design. He's checking himself out in the mirror and loving what he sees.

Thanks zombiekilla for these great towels!

Tea Towel Swap

My most recent craft swap was a set of embroidered tea towels. I had a great partner, zombiekilla, that had awesome interests and I had a blast stitching for her. I loosely based the towels on pin-ups which were one of her interests but wanted to incorporate her other interests into the pin-up idea. So, I ended up stitching a tattoo girl pin-up, a zombie/horror pin-up and a chunky girl pin-up. I worked really hard on these and was so pleased with how they turned out. Here they are:

The tattoo pin-up. I based this design off of a book that had on her wists of Angelique Hautkamp's artwork. The center figure is based on one of the paintings and I added roses and skulls to complete the design. I really wanted to keep this one. I put alot of work into this and just love how the images came together.

Close-up of the figure. I just love the skull design on her face. Very sexy.


The zombie/horror pin-up. I found this image online and added the skull in her hand. I wanted to make her look gory and scary but also sexy.

I used a variegated thread for her hair that turned out really great looking. Sexy and scary.


Chunky girl pin-up. My partner is a supporter of the fat acceptance movement so I wanted to do a fat girl pin-up that was also sexy. I added the "Queen" banner and the leaves and flowers which are Sublime Stitching patterns to make it feel like she is a queen worthy of your attention. Fat and sexy!!


This may be my favorite swap so far. I got to stitch images that I normally wouldn't and really feel that I showed greater depth with these designs.

Travels

I have been away for while but I have been busy! Not only have I been crafting but I've been traveling a little too. Colby and I have been to the Outer Banks and the mountains in the span of two weeks. We love the Outer Banks. It's so isolated and peaceful and quiet. We caught the tail-end of a noreaster but had awesome weather the rest of our stay. It was a much needed break from work and just life in general I guess. We lounged around the hotel room, watched TV, sat on the beach, took a wild horse tour, and just forgot about everything for a while. We definately didn't want to come back!


Day one: Colby in the storm remnants. The water had reached the dunes and the waves were gnarly!


I love this shot of the sunset through a spider web. We walked along a trail that followed the sound and watched the sunset. We saw rabbits and deer along the trail after seeing a fox by our hotel. The area is full of wildlife.


Some of the wild horses we saw but check out the baby!

I mean how cute!

One last parting shot-these birds flying in front of the setting sun as I was flying down the beach in a 4-wheel drive. Can't wait to go back.