Crafty Lizzie: The Return of the Shoebox Swap!

This past Sunday was a most wonderful day. For the first time since before my sweet son was born (over four years ago!), we opened our house to some dear crafty friends for a shoebox swap. It was so much fun, and I am so glad that we were able to get together. It won't be long before we do this again!

This is what our dining room looked like. Although we can squeeze one more table in here, I decided to keep it a little roomier and more intimate and limited the guest count to 12. It was the right move. Our group was a nice size. We could chat and move around without too much trouble. And perhaps best of all, we were able to get through everyone's projects in roughly three hours. Working through more projects can really burn out the brain.

It was great to see everyone, but it was especially awesome to see Jenn (who made it all the way from Rhode Island to join the crafty day!) and Richard (who, in the four years since I last saw him, has moved halfway across the country and back -- and I am so glad he is back!). They are both wicked crafty peeps and I have hyperlinked their blogs in case you want to get inspired!

Here are everyone's creations (and sorry for the poor lighting -- it was much too bright this morning to take a good pic, and by the time I got home today, it was too dark!). If I start in the upper left corner and go clockwise around the border, then end in the center, these cards were created by Emily, Richard, Robin, Renee, Kathy, Jenn, Danielle, Kerry, Amy, and Jessica. Beautiful, right? What an awesome and fun way to built up my holiday card stash!

And here is my own creation, which may have been the simplest of the bunch. All I can create these days is simple stuff -- I have to move quickly or I'll never be able to finish anything... or at least it feels that way. The card base is a favorite vintage A Muse Artstamps design, called tin plate. I used some old (but still great) Marvy punches for the tags, and used A Muse Studio papers. On the tag I also used a hole punch and a bit of A Muse ribbon in vanilla. The image and sentiment are both from Rosie's Roadshow -- aren't they ADORABLE? I mean, to die for! I can't get enough of this company! I stamped them in Memento Rich Cocoa and then used some Copic markers in some favorite, basic colors. Ultrafine glitter (applied with a quickie glue pen over a scribble of Copic BG10) made perfect snow, and a bit of Glossy Accents made the pear shine beautifully.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!