Polka Dot Craft Swap

I've become quite obsessed with craft swaps recently. I like thinking of something my swap partner will like that will make me use new techiques and materials to make. I like the suspense and nervouseness after you've sent it, whether they'll like what you've made. And I LOVE post so I love getting my parcel in the post and excitedly unwrapping it to see what is inside.

I have signed up to the Popular Crafts swap twice now. The first time the theme was 'spring' and I cross stitched a little picture which can be seen here and brought a gift and sent it on its way but didn't receive anything in return which was a little dissapointing. This put me off craft swaps for a couple of months but I have taken the plunge again and so glad I did as I received a lovely present from @sarahwalters99 and really enjoyed making her a present.

The theme for this swap was 'polka dot's. Who doesn't love polka dots right? You make your partner an item related to the theme and buy a little gift to the value of £3. This is what I received from Sarah:

A polka dot strawberry pin cushion which is living in my sewing box:

A wooden heart memo clip:

A Cath Kidston brooch, the second layer is polka dotty!

And these are my gifts: An embroidery hoop (perfect for on the go stitching), Cath Kidston buttons and cupcake ribbon. And yes Sarah I also LOVE buttons and ribbons!!!

And this is what I sent Sarah. Her email stated that she loved pink and Hello Kitty so I thought it safe to encorporate these into her present!

I'm quite pleased with how the cushion turned out and wanted to keep it for myself! I am planning to make more to sell at a craft stall in September they may even make it into my Etsy shop when I get round to stocking it up! I do love cushions!

Spring Swap

On Wednesday I went to see Phantom of the Opera in the West End. It was sooooooo good! It has never been a particularly favourite musical of mine but now it has certainly gone up in my list. Nothing will ever top Sound of Music though but this is definitely a top 5! Their voices were just so powerful it gave you goosebumps when they were singing.

For this weeks Finished Friday I have got the finished item for Popular Crafts Spring Swap. Popular Crafts is a magazine with lots of online forums about craft. Every month they have a craft swap with a different theme. I had seen some of the people I follow on Twitter talking about previous swaps and decided to take part in one to see what it was like. I sent in a request on the website and a few weeks later received the details of my swap partner.

The idea is that you make something with the theme of 'Spring' or whatever the theme for the swap is and then with it put in a gift to the value of £3.

I decided to cross-stitch a little picture of gingham flowers:

My ideas kept changing even as I stitched. I was planing on stitching a bouquet of different flowers but I like the gingham ones so much I decided they should all be the same.

For the gift I brought some really nice wooden plant markers and a few packets of seeds. One of my swap partners interests was gardening and I thought the gifts fitted in nicely with the theme of spring.

I enjoyed creating something for the swap but probably won't take part again. Mainly because I haven't received anything back from my swap partner which is a bit dissapointing.