Swaps, swaps and more swaps!

These past several weeks have been crazy at 9010. We traveled to my sister and brother-in-law's home in Chatham, New Jersey for Thanksgiving and had a fun time with family. Right before we came home David started with what he thought was a cold but ended up being a horrible sinus infection which knocked him out for almost a week. During that week he was home I had some minor surgery to remove some basal cell carcinoma from my face. The procedure went well and the Dr. warned that I might end up with a black eye. Two days passed with not too much discoloration and then BOOM-I suddenly looked like I was the loser in a prize fight! I was going to post a picture but decided it was just too ugly for you to see! A week later I am still a lovely shade of yellow and purpleish-red all around my eye. It doesn't hurt at all and the incision is healing well....I'm just a sight fright to see. OK-on to some fun stuff!
In the middle of all of that, I had 3 swaps due! YIKES! I became totally overwhelmed with projects and needing to clean the house and decorate for Christmas so I took myself away from the computer for a bit to get some things finished. Now, all of my swap packages have been mailed (insert sigh of relief here) and I am on to cleaning and decorating simultaneously which is how I often work.
Today I will share the swaps with youThe first swap was A Swap for All Seasons, Altered Cabinet card swap. My partner was Sharon Wideman of My Vintage Studio. Sharon completely spoiled me with her swap goodies!! She sent art supplies...(CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE)

vintage cards, buttons, a sweet cottage hot pad......

Beautiful tags that Sharon makes (and sells in her Etsy Store) The pictures do not do these cards justice!

The cabinet card is the most beautiful creation ever! The baby picture is gorgeous but what Sharon did to alter it was magnificent!

Aren't the lace and yards and yards of vintage ribbon amazing? (Did I mention that there were Godiva Chocolates in the package? No? So sorry, they're gone...but not forgotten!)

If you want something to do in the slower days of January, Linda has just announced a

Vintage Valentine Swap at A Swap for All Seasons.

I wouldn't miss this one...you might want to try it out!My cabinet card for Sharon...

I just loved these two little cherubs!

I also sent supplies for Sharon to use in her art...she has some pictures posted on her blog.

My second swap  has become an annual tradition. It is an ornament swap with Deb of

Say It With Letters

There were groups of 5 and we were to make and send an ornament to each of the women in our group. Before I realized that Holiday Home was the theme for the swap....I decided to go with a "tree" theme.

 (My brain really has been on overload!)

I made origami  tree ornaments....

some tree tags and a chocolate tree....

Are you still with me?

The final swap was the Vintage Christmas Tag swap that my friend

Elizabeth of Creative Breathing hosted. We were to make 15 tags....one for each swapper and send them all to Elizabeth. She is going to put all of the tags on a ring and send them out to everyone. I really enjoyed this one because Elizabeth chose a large (6x3-inch) tag format to work with. We had the option to make them all of the tags alike or use different images. I can't do 15 of one thing so I chose my favorite cute vintage images and just played with different techniques and styles and had a blast. I will post the tags I receive when they arrive but in the meantime, if you go to Elizabeth's blog (did you know that clicking on any words I have highlighted in a different color will take you to another blog? Click on Creative Breathing, above.) you can see some peeks of the tags she has already received.
 (Not surprisingly-I am the last swapper to send my tags!)

There you have it for now. When I look over this post and the pictures, I can understand why I'm so tired! I love swapping. I've gotten to know some of the nicest people through blogging and swapping  and this creative outlet keeps me off the streets and certainly out of the mall! If you've never tried a swap, think about jumping in. Start small....you'll be amazed at what you will learn.

Back to my cleaning/decorating mode! The new tree goes up tonight!

If you are in the mood for a Give-away....

my friend Marie of  Spun By Me has a dandy one going on right now. If you enter, please mention that you came from my blog. Good luck!