Very Vintage Fourth of July

In May 2009, I somehow googled something one day, don't quite remember what and ended up in a blog that was so beautiful that I ended up spending most of the day going thorough it and all of the links attached. I thought to myself, WOW, look at this little world of creative people with fabulous attitudes and wonderful support for their blogging friends. I noticed that I kept seeing the word 'swap' popping up and so I investigated further and thought to myself, how cool would that be. I did not have a blog at this time and came across Heidi's 'Foxgloves, Fabric and Folly' blog. Oh my gosh she was announcing a swap that was yet to take place and well, I jumped right in with both feet and here I am with a blog and everything. Still negotiating my way around both. It has been just as much fun as I thought it would be. The blog authors are so warm and friendly, it's great.

So, I participated in Heidi's Very Vintage Fourth of July Swap. It was my first swap and I was really excited. My swap partner was Christine of 'A Work in Progress'. We had exchanged emails and she posted on her site what I had sent her. If you keep reading you will see what I received.

Let me just tell you, I was jumping up and down when I saw the box from the guy in the big brown truck. I was so excited, unfortunately I was heading out the door and had to wait until the next day to see all of my goodies.

As I live in Canada, we do not celebrate the 4th of July, but we do celebrate Canada Day which falls on July 1st and our colors are Red & White. This is where the extremely generous Christine focused one aspect of her goodies to me. This was more exciting then Christmas because you know what day that is and this was a total surprise and that makes it all the more exciting!!

Everything was so carefully wrapped in the most creative way. Look at the crackers, they were full of candy...I died. The Pinwheels were created with the prettiest paper ever. The red tub was full with red plates with the most adorable dots, red & white striped napkins and a vintage wooden block with an "N", adorable.

Look at these BBQ Folk, they are corn picks and they have the most adorable little butts

The linen napkins are so soft, is this "N" not so cute.

Four red and white paper lanterns will add a festive touch to my Canada Day party that I will now throw for anyone that will come. The butterflies are flowing all around the lanterns..darling!

This fabric banner is about 5 feet long and I already have it up. The fabrics are amazing. One package of red M&M's and one package of white M&M's, plus a large bag of Jelly Belly's.....yummy!

At this point, my son was trying to calm me down as I was jumping up and down and going crazy. I still had this awesome metal trunk case to open. On the top it was embellished with the most amazing medallions and look at the front, a crackled "N".......Oh yeah!! I had no idea what I was to expect and when I finally opened it, I nearly passed out...no....seriously!!

What a generous person. This is crazy. It was full of Tim Holtz distress goodies. I really needed a sedative at this point. There are Distress Stickles glitter, Alcohol Inks, Distress Crackle paint, Alcohol Ink Applicator, antiqued embellies, tags, plus tons of chipboard shapes and so much more... insane. I am going to be busy.

The wonderful stamp has a chandelier and birds and scrolling, I can hardly wait to crack it open. There was also a journal that I am going to try and make into a distressed journal book....Christine you are awesome....have I mentioned that already. The pictures that I took do not do justice to all of these wonderful goodies. What did I do in life to be so spoiled.

I am still in awe at the items that I received and hope that Christine will enjoy some of the items that I sent to her. This swap was so much fun, yet frustrating at the same time as it was my first and I was really not comfortable with what I was doing. At the end of the day, I just want Christine to be happy, because she was the most kind and generous person that I know and she was the one that made this experience so enjoyable for me. Please visit her and say hi.

Do something Creative and have a fabulous day !!

I know I will, Thanks so much Christine!!

Hugs, Nerina :)