Eggstra Special Egg Swap 2011

I was lucky enough to be one of the participants of the Monkeybox Blog Eggstra Special Egg Swap. It was hosted by the lovely Shara and I really appreciate that she was able to make room for me in her very popular swap! I received the box o' eggs last Monday, but, since I was down in KY all week, I didn't get to open my surprise until this weekend.

Wow! Every last egg is gorgeous and creatively designed by the artist; I love them all! I took a group photo, but it is hard to see every one. Look here for better individual photographs of each egg with the creator's link. Everyone really put a lot of heart and soul into their artwork!

Unfortunately, I did not photograph mine, so I borrowed Shara's picture of my contribution. I forgot before I boxed it up and shipped it. I was a bit late on the deadline (head down) due to work travel (ah, what else is new???), so I rushed to pack them up. Originally, I wanted to create a bigger nest and source egg shaped earrings from the thrifts, but when I saw the broken pearl necklace one day, I knew the pearls would be my 'eggs'. I love miniatures. I had planned to glam up the nests with ribbons and rick rack and other vintage bits, but when I finished each little paper mache nest, I knew simple was best. The only material I used (besides the pearls) was pages from an old Louisville phone book and twigs from my farm. I was happy with the simplicity and I hope others were not disappointed by the plainness! :)

The other thing I forgot is to make one for myself! I still have lots of pearls, so I hope to make more. I think they would be really cute as gift embellishments! I didn't make a tutorial for my nests, but I am a 'beginning' craftster and these are really easy to make. Basically, you just chose a thinner paper (newspaper like), ball it up to start, then use a paper mache paste (I used Modge Podge) and start adding twisted strips around in a nest-like fashion. You can mold the edges to be more tucked in while it is wet. They dry fairly quick! You could even weave in ribbons or thread as you go or add glitter. Very easy, very quick to make!

Get Crafty

More snow fell today. We have so much up north here in the Great Lakes region it is hard to tell how much was added to the mess. I am so tired of being cooped up, tired of cold bones. I have been surrounded by papers. Ugh, tax season...goes so well with cold and grey.


I did manage to get some of my "to-do's" done this weekend (some started last weekend). One of the big ones was to finish my Valentine Swap project. I need to make 5 handmade Valentines using thrifted and/or items around the house. I thought this would be easy seeing I am a "hoarder", but the project turned out to be challenging. This is mainly due to my unpracticed craft skills. I haven't had time to be arty nor crafty in many months (maybe even years!


OK, if you are swapping with me (I have no idea if you read this blog), stop here if you want to be surprised. The photos will follow the text to hide them from eyes which do not wish to see. I am putting them up here for advice (but respond quickly because they need to go out Monday!)
The items I used are almost all thrifted (the exception is some scrapbooking elements I had from a project I did in 2009). Even the thread was thrifted (and the sewing machine I used was a display model I bought over a year ago and have never used).

Originally, I planned to make something like these organic fabric beauties. I love how each one is unique and imperfect (like the crafter says: just like the human heart). I found my stash of vintage quilt blocks and scraps and quickly sewed up 5 hearts. I then glued old music sheets to some postcards I found in a dumpster (old, but not cool vintage). I sewed a heart onto each postcard. This is where I lost my confidence. I am a horrible sewer and one of the hearts turned out horribly. I didn't have time to redo it (I had planned on finishing them in KY and mailing them last week, but travel got in the way as usual).

Later in the week I was surfing the 'net and found these cute things that I now cannot find the link to show you. Picture little handmade Valentine people with vintage photograph faces. I thought about scrapping my fabric heart cards and making something similar inspired by this art. However, I just couldn't let the heartcards go. I came home and looked around my junk. I found some extra vintage baby photos I had from the same scrapbooking project aforementioned (a cookbook/scrapbook for my MIL a couple of holidays ago). All of sudden I knew what to do!

Now I am not saying these are great. I know they are lacking something (and I may never get to participate in another swap! ;) However, I like them a little and hope they are not too amateurish for the other participants (fortunately we are swapping to five total not just one or otherwise I would feel really sorry for my partner!) The best part, if the recipient dislikes it, she can tear it apart and use the elements in other projects! Do you have any suggestions on how I can improve it? It is definitely rough looking! The funny thing is the one I sewed all wonky turned out to be my favorite of the five (the one with the baby with the red heart on his chest).

I hope to be more arty/crafty again. I used to be years ago and over time just lost the priority to be crafty and play. I love paper arts especially and made several collages and mixed media works at one time or other in the past. I miss it! I also collect paper ephemera and have boxes of items to be used as such.

Maybe participating in this Valentine Swap was just the spark I needed!

(Forgive the glare on some of the photos...)