Swap

This year, I must have had a lapse of judgement and thought that I would join a "handmade Valentine swap". It sounds wonderful right? You swap valentines with 4 other people and its fun to make them and see what comes back in return. We even signed up to do overseas, and was thrilled to find we would be swapping with someone in England. I did the swap hoping my kids would get excited, but I think I was more excited then them. As the days were getting closer (I had to have them out before the 7th!),  I was realizing I am not that creative when it comes to paper. I can create things in the kitchen with no thought at all, but to make something out out paper might be a little bit harder for me! So I decided to incorporate the two.

I made some homemade lip suckers, I hope they made it in one piece- my trust in the postal service has dropped over the past little while, and I have had a few lost packages and was even asked to pay $1.50 for a envelope that my cute sister Connie had sent to my kids with a valentine inside and a chicklet piece of gum. Really post office? Really? 

For the actually card, I luckily had some retro scrapbook paper that had some of the cutest black and multi colored hearts. Perfect for what we needed. I made a cute flower by crunching up different cupcake liners and glued them together. I then sewed them to the card with a button in the center. I was quite surprised on the final product, especially for someone who is not paper crafty like me! Cait at Gygi's designed these cute tags, and I knew they would be the perfect addition.




















On the back side we wrote them a cute note, sent with it a sucker mold, flavor some sticks (actually they were paper straws but they work great as a stick), and some direction as what to do. I hope they got to each person before V-day so that they were able to make some cute suckers for the day. 

To be completely honest, I know they aren't much but I was pleased with how they turned out! I had to send the one to England with out as many supplies and earlier than the other three, they wouldn't let me send the flavorings since they were in a glass bottle. I hope that everyone got their cards and enjoyed it! 

As the cards for us came in, I was like a kid at Christmas. The one from England excited me the most, ROYAL MAIL!!





















Her card was darling, and had some yummy heart treats. I must be honest I did not share. I ate them all myself.




Another came right on Valentine's Day and had a darling handmade friendship bracelet with this cute vintage card taped to the envelope. Thanks so much Sharla, Saige stole the bracelet quickly and could not have been more excited.




The very first card we got was this cute hearts on a string. She did a darling job and I hope my skills didn't disappoint. And she had the most darling handwriting, thin perfectly written letters and numbers. One day I might perfect my penmanship, it horrid and I really must get better.



The fourth card never came, I just hope they received ours. Making homemade suckers is honestly one of my favorite things to do. Especially around V-Day. So I hope that they can add our favorite tradition to their lives!

Thanks Lindsay for putting this on! I enjoyed participating and hope that you do it again next year! You are brave to organize this, and applaud what you have done! Check out her site, she is wonderful.

Next year, make sure to sign up. We can make our v-day cards together, and maybe I can be inspired to be more "paper crafty!"