Swapping It Up After Vacay

          We've been back from vacation for a little over a week and I must say I miss it. Truman was gone for quite a time as he attended ComiCon in San Diego for the first time ever. I met him up about a week later to spend a few days with him and a friend and family. I was only there for a few days but I had the best time, especially since I didn't have to drive! We went to the Safari Park and Disneyland. The tigers were AMAZING! But then it is my favorite creature in the world so I'm easily fascinated but they were roaming right by the windows and quite enjoying their very large enclosures. The gorillas were also very entertaining thanks to the adolescents and the baby. Then what can I say about Disneyland? It's one of my favorite places in the universe and it was the actual 60th birthday so it was MAGICAL! I really wish I could move in.
           While Truman was away I got to see my cousins who came for a day to attend the University of Arizona kicking camp. I loved having them in my hometown if only for a day. I also am not so secretly hoping that Chandler is recruited by and then attends my most fantastic UofA :-) If it's good enough for Bruschi and Gronk it has to be great, right?!
            Also while the hubby was away I was able to craft my heart out! I have signed up for probably too many swaps considering the retreat is in just a couple months and I really want to focus on prepping for that. I received the Winter in July theme pocket letter from my swap sister and it was so pretty! I finished the August pocket letter for my swap partner and have to say it's one of my favorites because I LOVED the theme. I also did a set of vintage style ATCs and fantasy themed ATCs. Then I made some paper beads, 3X5 tags and a vintage homemade embellishment! I still have one more months pocket letter to do for a swap and maybe a set of pockets for another swap (if that goes through) but I'm closer to being able to start prepping for the retreat in October! Oh and in the middle of that crafting I decided to make a special bookmark to send to a friend in her birthday card. I'll share photos below and I'm going to make you wait a few days for the pictures of the pocket letter swap my sister and I did. Enjoy!

Tigers!

Who doesn't love a lemur?!

Happy Birthday Disneyland!

Kicking camp with amazing people

Bookmark side 1

Bookmark side 2

Vintage ATCs

Fantasy ATCs

Paper beads

Homemade vintage embellishments

Front of Winter in July pocket letter

The goodies I received

The Things With Wings theme pocket letter for my swap sister

The goodies I included

Mail Art FunAll the goodies

Once again it has been over a month since my last entry but in that month I've received lots of art and done quite a bit too.  All of the art activity had to be balanced with family and friend time what with Father's Day and the Fourth of July happening. I had a lot of fun celebrating both of those events and it reminded me how lucky I am to have such a wonderful daddy and live in such an amazing country! Truman is now in San Diego enjoying Comic Con and I will be joining him in a few days to hang out in  Disneyland (so excited) after I visit with my cousin and hang out by the pool with a good friend for her birthday. I must enjoy this summer weather!
But before I leave I will be finishing the next pocket letter for my swap partner and hopefully doing lots of little art projects. I have to enjoy my solitary time right?! In the last month I received the first pocket letter from my swap partner and I LOVE it! She did vintage style and included really beautiful items! I also got my first aid secret sister package and she filled it with all kinds of goodies and in such a cute bag! Then there was one last swap I nearly forgot about because I had been so on top of it and sent it out way early! They were the themed Twinchies that were "Flapper/Jazz Babies", "Dictionary", and "Fairytale" I chose Alice In Wonderland. They were all so cool! Now I need to figure out what to do with them. And lets not forget the last pocket letters my sister and I did for each other! I decided we should so a music themed PL because I had found a cute pin that just fits perfectly for her. We decided to use each others song choices so it was more difficult than we thought but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the one my sister made me! I'll share some pictures below but I must be off to craft while I have no distractions!

Father's Day fun

Independence Day Party

Front of first pocket letter from my swap sister

The Goodies she included

First Aid SS swap fun

The front of the Music PL I did for my sister

All her goodies! The pin in the bottom left pocket spurred this idea!

The BEAUTIFUL journal my sister made for me!!!

The fantastic music PL my sister made for me!

All the goodies

The Flapper Twinchies, the one I made is on the top right

Dictionary Twinchies, the one I made is on bottom right

Fairytale Twinchies

These are the Twinchies I made for the others in the Fairytale group

Art Insanity

And now for part two! After my niece's birthday there was Mothers Day. As usual I like to make something for my mom with any gift I give her. This year I made her a little notebook and pen to go along with her gift. Truman and I got to enjoy a lovely lunch with her at one of her favorite restaurants. It was a perfect day for it too!
Since the retreat I had only partially unpacked and done more shopping to add to the mess! Seriously those pocket letters are addictive. I've collected some items for future PL's for my sister and decided to sign up for a 4 month PL swap along with the secret sister swap. Yeah I get in over my head a lot. Anyway I've actually managed to be very productive and make all the items and do all the shopping for the secret sister and the first PL swap. I also managed to make one of my best friends a birthday PL, which she has no idea of the wonders of yet. This burst of activity turned out to be a good thing because I have been sick for the past week and haven't had it in me to do too much. Soon I will be back behind schedule I'm sure :-)
And in case you're wondering I have been doing the occasional art journal page. I have a journal that is small and more personal that I have done some work in. I haven't gotten around to making too many larger pages but I hope to get back to that soon. But first I need to organize the mess that is this studio! Have a lovely Memorial Day!

Part of Mother's Day gift

Mama and I at Blue Willow

Most of the handmade items for the SS swap (it was themed First Aid kit)

Scrabble charm I made for first PL swap

The plaque I made for the SS swap with her favorite quote

Secret sister package is ready to ship

Front of first PL for swap

Some of the goodies I included

The tag I made for my friends birthday

The front of her surprise PL

Goodies

Wrapped and ready to go

One of my small art journal spreads

The picture is actually a door to hide journaling

The page I just did playing with transfers and stamps

Post Retreat Bliss

Okay so I didn't realize how long ago it was that I had posted so this will be the first of two posts, basically because it's embarrassing how many pictures I have! The retreat was an absolute blast! I wasn't super excited about where I was sitting but I had my friends around me so that's all I needed. I won a small prize and finished 6 pages. Not as high as I've done in the past but way better than last time! As always I was super sad that the weekend had to end but I already have something to look forward too, by the weekends end my sister and I had both purchased tickets to the October retreat! Happy birthday to me! We also got her best friend and my cousin to get their tickets so next October will be AMAZING! I'm already counting down the days!
Right before the retreat my sister had sent me a pocket letter which was a completely new idea to me. I instantly became obsessed and now have made a number of them! I'm having way too much fun with these little works of art! I also got back from the retreat and decided I just had to do the new Secret Sister swap and the Twinchies swap. I'll be waiting until the actual swap to show pictures of the Twinchies I made because it will be way more fun to show you them all at once.
Not long after the retreat my beautiful niece celebrated her first birthday! As usual I went over to my cousins the night before to help decorate and make the food. The theme was Alice In Wonderland and it was so much fun! She really was the sweetest birthday girl ever! Here's the first batch of pictures and I'll be back with a ton more!

Retreat goodies

First page done!

Next!

These pearls are good luck as I move on to pages 3 and 4!

Done!

Last page :-(

Close up

The birthday girl helping with her decorations

On the ladder per tradition

Birthday Bug!

The PL I made for my sister

The goodies

Uncle Truman with the twins the weekend they stayed over