Correct, you can pick and choose.

I just meant that you can't just fold a piece of paper and slap on a thank you. It needs to have a couple embellishments of some sort and have an extra panel of paper.

Yep, that's a real good explanation!

This is a great idea Penny! And I will join in too.

I'm married 20 years (2nd marriage). Lucky that both my daughter and son live nearby and so it makes it real easy to enjoy and be part of my daughter's two children, Madison, 10, and David, 6. Madison has a real keen interest in my crafting and has a good eye for picking up details and how I made something. So I use her as my excuse to buy supplies - assuming she'll be doing some crafting here this summer! lol (anything for an excuse to shop, you know!)

I have a DayCare in my home which makes my weeks go by quickly. Started this business 10 years ago when Madison was born. So it's been a wonderful experience. My first "paying" girls still come here for summer break and their brothers too. So it's all good and we have wonderful memories. Now with them being 9/10, they are my bestest helpers with the little ones. So I think they too are gaining great experience and will either be very good babysitters in a couple years or be real good mommies in several years!

My DH is a huge sports fan so one sport or another often gets incorporated into our weekends from season to season. Not every weekend, but from time to time...so it's always enjoyable and a nice break for me to get out of the house and with adults. Plus, that's how I find time to craft and do swaps....he's busy watching one game or another on TV weekends, so that is my crafting time. I gave up TV for crafting! lol

Vegas is our favorite vacation spot (I don't gamble though) and so our friends' friends all know to call us when they are planning a trip out there. lol I'm also lucky that my DH wants to see the entire USA so we do take vacations in different directions from year to year. So never a dull moment for me at all!

My first crafting was learning how to sew when I was in 4th grade. I made 2 jumpers. I loved dresses so I sewed tons and tons of dresses all the way thru HS. My parents are also both good cooks so I too am a good home cooked meal sort of kitchen person. My baking is well enjoyed - esp. at Christmas time when I hand out cookie trays or whenever I have taken in cookies or other baked goods to my old workplaces or to my daughter's workplace.

When the cricut was launched on QVC several years ago, I just happen to be flipping thru the channels and it caught my attention and I said to myself that that would be great for babysitting and so I bought it. Totally on a whim! And look where I am now!

When I found this swap forum, I was a true newbie. I didn't do any scrapbooking at all but had always wanted to. Well, I still don't really do scrapbooking but I do love all the crafting instead. It had just been so exciting and challenging to keep learning new techniques here. And great friends get made along the way too.

I just love sharing with my swap partners. I take it super seriously and really always try to come up with a couple ideas just perfect for my partner. I love it when they innocently comment about something that I can grab and run with. I love those "lightbulb" moments when all of a sudden a great idea starts to form in your head. Makes me happy! And that is what makes swapping so much fun for me and why I continue to do it over and over and over! IT's not about what I receive but more about what I can create for my partner and sharing and helping out with swapping.

And it's been a wonderful hobby for me otherwise I suppose I could have had empty nest syndrome! Plus, it's been a way to keep my mind working and thinking beyond something other then baby talk and toddler games! lol

The Cricut is a for sure a mid-life crisis saver! lol

Thats for sure! HAHAHA!

JEAN-
Yes Deerfield is very close. I worked there for 10 years, next suburb over!
La

Edited by user Thursday, January 31, 2013 6:26:28 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Okay, a little about me...

I've been married to my DH Tony for nearly 18 years. Eight months after we married, the Navy moved us to South Texas and we've been stuck here ever since. No children for us. But 13 months after we moved to TX we got a terrier puppy, and she is still with us. She is my favorite subject for photos (check out my avatar)!

I grew up in New England, moved to Virginia for college, got my degree in Chemistry and stayed until the Navy moved us. DH is my second hubby. I worked full time as a chemist for almost 20 years. When we moved south, I took a breather to live a little, then went back to work when, as a retiree, the government put my DH through college at no cost to us, but no income, either. I burned out after 3 1/2 years (DH had graduated) and after two suicide attempts was diagnosed bipolar, and drugs have been the story of my life since. I had a bad spell a year and a half ago, but got some really good treatment at a clinic in Florida and I am a real person again!!

I started crafting before I can remember. I started in needlework and that is still my first love. Right now I am knitting at least two hours a day in addition to my swaps here. If it's done with a needle or thread, I probably can (and do) do it, knit, crochet, embroider, sew, quilt, needlepoint, make lace...Mostly my Mom taught me, but I have taken lessons and learned from books too. I watched the infomercials for months, and got my baby bug (which may soon get launched out a second story window!) at the same time as my Gypsy, which I got at launch. I tried out the bug and some carts I got with it immediately, but the G stayed in the box for nearly nine months, until I registered it and found the message boards. It's been downhill ever since!!

NGGG

laura

I work at a nursery. We grow 100,000 if not more one gallon perennials. It is a very small company, the owner, myself, and a few seasonal employees. I do everything from producing the catalog in the winter, updating the website I designed (jrichplants.com if your interested), I am the propagtor/ grower during the season. It's a great job, every day is somethng different and in the good weather I'm outside in the sunshine (bad weather too during the season). I work long hours (54 hrs/week April-Dec) but I love every minute of it. Winter time I only work 40 hrs/week and have more time to craft. I met my boss when I was 15 and working for someone else. Years went by, I left work to have children, he left to start his own business. Six years later he looked me up and offered me a job. I've worked for him ever since.

Great hearing about everyone's lives. I hope it helps all of us when we are deciding on what our SS will like. I forgot to mention that I was a girl scout leader for 11 years and my husband was a cubscout leader for 12 years.

Penny

I think we are still missing one person. OHscrapplady01855145 where are you???? Please come and share a bit about yourself.

NGGG, it definitely makes for a more enjoyable swap if you can pace yourself and work on the directives from week to week. This is actually a big swap, with 10 directives. So it's not like you can wait until the last week to rush thru it all. Rushed items never look as nice, for sure!

Plus, it's nice to have projects done ahead of schedule so they can sit on your table and you can look at them and make sure the edges all stay glued down properly or nothing starts to fall off. Plus, after you look at it for some extra time and start noticing similar crafts by other gals, you may pick up on some additional ideas to improve your own project.

So there are good reasons to stay ahead of the game! Better for you and certainly better for your partner too!

OOOO....Recipe swaps sound like fun!
I'm a worthless cook though! I have about 5 things I make over and over.
I can bake anything as long as I stick to the recipe. I tend to experiment and there's a 50/50 chance of complete failure(vegan PB 2 weeks ago) and if it's great I can never re-create it.
Still trying to recreate my Ritter Sport inspired rum raisin cookies of 2009...

I'm moving along, have one project finished(I think) and am doing some of the "easier" stuff to get them done. I'm nervous about a couple of the projects, so will take my time doing those....
Spring theme is SO out of my comfort zone.
Hope everyone has a great weekend and happy crafting!
Laura

HAHAHA! Glad I'm not the only one who doesn't like to cook that much. I'm all about the one pot meal. 15 min or less too.

NGGG-Thats so funny about the flour on the ceiling!

I make a meatloaf once a year for my hubby's bday. Poor guy. I don't really eat much meat, so he's SOL over here. At least until he learns how to cook, which will never happen! I tried to learn to make his families' Puerto Rican food, I swear, really, no really I did. I've only mastered the chicken soup(again one pot) Which is just chicken soup with some extra sazon(sofrito) so I can't possibly pretend I can't make it...HA!

Penny,
Your Hubbie is so lucky to have you cook for him! Sounds like a good deal! My house is a disaster. I need a cook and a cleaner. Can you guys make it over here for dinner tonight?
Maybe you can share some of your tricks with us non-cooks?

As far as the paper dolls go, I'm not sure. When I do cut swaps, they're all glued together. SO unless someone asks for them not to be, probably that.

If you watch the SuperBowl have fun today! If you don't, craft away!

Edited by user Sunday, February 03, 2013 7:38:19 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Now that I'm able to get back on the MB, I'll post some pics of paperdolls to give you some ideas.

But yes, Terri is correct....most gals use them on LOs or on card fronts.

I'll also try to move on to Group 2 and get some thoughts or pics posted about that as I have time this week. Though I know it won't be until Tues. or later. Next 2 days are busy!

Here are paperdolls that I made back in 2009 when I first started swapping here. I was able to make some pretty good paperdolls cuz I took the time to seek out pictures posted by other gals and I copied how they drew on the faces, etc. I used a Q-tip to dab on some red chalk for their cheeks, just applying it lightly in a soft, circular motion. (you can erase it off if you get it on too harsh) Also, take note on how I've either brushed some chalk around the edges of the clothing or used a gel pen to add some hightlights or to mark up the seams of the clothes like around the armholes or the zipper, etc. Stroking some lines where the locks of the hair are. Back then, I only used chalk as that's all I knew to do and that was really before Tim Holtz came along and taught us all to ink the edges, etc. Chalk will stay on as long as you rub your finger over the chalk strokes. I guess the oil in your hand seals it... Also note how I used different textures of paper. Some of the paper isn't readily available, like the fuzzy paper I used on the snowgirls' mittens. You can't tell in the pictures, but the snowtube and her ski outfit are actually cut out of vinyl. Her goggles have clear plastic for the lens.

Edited by user Sunday, February 03, 2013 8:17:12 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Ok, I'm totally digging those paper dolls, Never really thought to use them on cards. I just thought of them for kids only.
If my partner wants to make me clowns, faeries, mermen/maids, or gnomes(or anything) I'd be darn happy with that!