Kids’ Craft swap boxes.

SeaBird craft swap

I am not the best crafter, but I try. I love swaps though, and this swap was a great idea. It was created to get new craft ideas for moms. I pack up and mail all the supplies and instructions for crafts designed for the each child of my swap-partners. In return, I receive boxes full of crafting goodies. Spending limit was $10

I tried to do something original, and these are what I came up with:

Pretend Terrariums

My partner‘s son was 3, so I put together a box with these items:

Here is a finished terrarium:

The next box was going to a girl aged 2 years old. This was trickier, since I am only used to entertaining boys. What girl can resist:

Design and Dress Up

The child gets to cut out and color or paint the clothing and dolls. Pretty simple

Thanks, Laura, for hosting the swap.

Hey, Rocky!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment for the first blog contest. The drawing winner is Glaucia! Yeah!

I actually used a hat for the drawing. I couldn’t think of a better way to do it.

Ink and brush drawing.

This is a new favorite medium: ink with brush.

Lately, these fashion illustrations have been popular on Etsy Alchemy.

In honor of summer reading lists, I am going to do some author sketches. They are ACEOs and will make great bookmarkers for your favorite novels.

Here are Evelyn Waugh and Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Also, before midnight on Friday June 20th, be sure to leave a comment on this post to enter my first blog contest. One lucky winner will be chosen at random to receive 2 custom portrait ACEO’s done in ink on watercolor paper. Let me know what you are reading this summer or who you might like to see sketched.

Mama’s got a brand new bag.

We had a yard sale today, and I did not advertise it well, so 4 people came. Good news is that 75% of those people bought something.

However, I did not even make enough money to pay for the new bag I bought from DrikaB.etsy. I have been waiting to get one of her bags for about a year. Last year I got that rooster bag.

I think I am doing pretty well limiting my purse-buying to an annual event. When I was a kid, it seemed as if my mom got new purses every month. I remember the closet in our living room was piled up to my shoulder in handbags. She even had one of those ostrich leather ones with the pimples. I never knew what to make of it.

This is my new bag:

I decided to just give away a lot of the kids’ clothing that we are not using and have not used in a while. So I advertised that I am giving away boy’s clothes on Craigslist. I got tons of calls. I was actually thrilled that I could give away my clothes to someone who really needed them. The woman who came to pick up 2 big tubs of clothing and gear told me that she was giving them to her sister who has nothing for her son who is due in 3 months. I am hoping to give the last tub away in the morning.

Hopefully we won’t need any of those sized clothes for another 4 or 5 years.

Book in a brown paper bag.

Read this post about Libraries: