12 Days of Christmas Tea & Cookie Recipes Swap

Finally I am getting around to uploading all the fabulous swap goodies that
Jeannie from "I Craft"
sent me for the 12 Days of Christmas Tea & Cookie Recipes Swap.
Between making arrangements with Santa to get a Christmas puppy
and having family stay for the holidays it has be crazy 'round here.

Here are the goodies!

A couple of items didn't make it in the group shot.
I think my daughter took it out to look at it (?).

A I love this mini pan for an ornament!

This darling house held a teapot ornament (see below).

Jeannie cracked me up with her cookie recipes! I showed my mom and she cracked up too. But this book is PACKED with awesome cookie recipes! It's a keeper for Christmases to come....

I've seen Jeannie's cupcake toppers on her Etsy shop, and was secretly hoping I would get some in the swap. YAY! Look at all the pink cuteness! Cupcake shnupcake. I'm putting them in my hair or something! Or making them into brooches. They are too cute for just cupcakes....


This cute little tree contained these vintage beautiful earrings.
Then I put the tree on my pink tree.

Inside this awesome floral suitcase was filled with sugar-y mistletoe, a vintage ladies hankie and the cream teacup & saucer with more sugar-y goodness candy!

Beautiful cream teacup & saucer with my fave colors - pink & green.


This is MY TREE.
My beloved pink tree that is in the living room. On it I put all my favorite things.
Below are the wonderful goodies that Jeannie sent:


Sugar-y, glitter-y teapot

Sugar-y mistletoe.


Darling tree box.

"I love you for your pink cadillac" ~ Bruce Springsteen

THANK YOU SO MUCH JEANNIE, for giving such pinkalicious Christmas goodies. And not just the goodies themselves, but how you wrapped and decorated everything was just DIVINE. I didn't want to open them, it was so darn cute! You are very talented, and I appreciated every bit of hot glue and glitter that you did!

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I am still waiting to hear back from others who participated. I know it is a crazy time of year to try to add on tasks to do, such as blog swaps. So those of you who played, please send me the links of your swaps and I will update this post. Thank you to everyone who enthusiastically and joyfully signed up!

Swaps:

Lady Katherine received her swap goodies from Lady Jane

Lady Jane received her swap goodies from Lady Katherine

Phyllis, from Shabby in the City received her swap goodies from Erin

Looking forward to seeing the rest of the swaps!

12 Days of Christmas Tea & Cookie Recipes Swap

Join me and others who LOVE tea time and want to have some fun with a Holiday Swap! At the last swap I hosted, there were many ladies asking about a Holiday Swap, so here it is:

The theme is "12 Days of Christmas Tea & Cookie Recipes"

The swap is to consist of 12 items, all individually wrapped:
* A Christmas or Holiday print teacup & saucer.
* 3 of your absolute favorite Christmas Cookie Recipes on a 3x5 or 4x6 card.
* The other 8 items should be holiday and/or tea-related items.
For instance: (this is only for inspiration, you can choose whatever you like) Your favorite tea, a scented votive candle, a linen napkin, a silver spoon, decorated sugar cubes, a cookie cutter, an ornament, a tea towel, etc. - try to keep it tea time related! At least one homemade or handcrafted item(s) should be included as one of the items (i.e. a tag, a paper crown tiara, pinwheel etc).

Your Swap Sister may choose to open one gift a day leading up to Christmas, or she can open them all at once...it's her/your choice.

The t&s (teacup & saucer) may be vintage or new, one that is in your personal collection or a purchased one. Please swap a t&s that is functional (no cracks) and one that you would appreciate receiving (ie. no chips, crazing, fleabites). The spending limit is $20 (not including shipping cost).

Deadline to sign up by:
~ December 1, 2008

Parcels mailed out by:
~ December 12, 2008

Click here for all the details and *ahem* "rules".

UPDATE:
I've been getting requests to sign-up for this swap either at my regular email or through the comments box on this post. In order for me to keep all the requests organized please send your request along with your NAME, EMAIL ADDY and BLOG ADDY to this email: parteatimeswap [at] gmail.com (you do not have to have a blog to play).

Thanks a bunch!

Tiara Swap

So after being pathetically late in making Heather of Bluhm Studios her tiara for Holly Doodle Designs Tiara Swap, I finally got it off to her! You can view all the fab-u tiaras the group made at Flickr, here.

The photos are not my best since I can't access my PS, as my main computer had a hard drive crash this morning. I am very afraid, because my beloved Photoshop is on that computer...cute techy-geek hubby will have to check it out tonight....crossing my fingers he can fix it.

Here is the tiara I received from Heather. The colors are absolutely perfect, and I adore the vintage bling and pom-poms! The "R" could be for either my name or my event planning company Romanza Events. Perfecto!





And here is the tiara I made for Heather. She likes vintage buttons, and glitter. But she LOVES birds, so I thought this lil' cutie birdie could oversee her work as she creates so many wonderful things that she does for so many people. She even has her own tiny tiara! She is dressed and ready for a tea party...



The materials are: raised wallpaper on the bottom portion with glitter highlighting the raised scrolls, silk flowers with rhinestones centers along the bottom edge, tinsel ribbon on edges, vintage music sheets cut into hearts & edged with glitter, a party cup cut in half for the bird's nest filled with feathers, vintage buttons I got from a gal at etsy, a rhinestone spray and pink tulle at the top. The bird's "tiara" is made from a tinsel pipe cleaner.

It is much sparkly in person, and I hope Heather likes it. I have been so insecure at trying my hand for the first time in these crafty ephemera projects/swaps since these ladies are hard-core talented at it!

Thank you Holly for hosting such a unique and fun swap!

ParTea goodies from Heather

It's been so crazy the past few days, with school ending, and I helped out with the last day of school carnival at my sons' school. And this weekend we went to the Little League day at the Angels' game on Sunday. That was cool, as the Little League teams got to have a parade and walk around the Angels field and since I was Team Mom, I got to walk with them. Man, it is huge! And it is neat to see the "innards" of something - you know, like behind-the-scenes things. Like seeing the speed gun thingy that clocks how fast a ball is pitched. I saw the guy setting it up and adjusting it, up close. And it was very cool to see the dug outs, the camera crew area etc.

So today I was able to pick up my mail, and got to open up my swap package from Heather from Speckled Egg for the ParTea Time Swap. As soon as I opened it up, a waif of wonderful smells came out it! It was the tea that she included, it smells amazing. I can't wait to have a cuppa!

P for ParTea Planning stuff is a really neat book called "Wedding Showers" and a book I was not even familiar with! I love the photos, the ideas, the recipes. It's a great resource and I will definitely use it for my business! She also included a shabby chic notepad with darling floral tacks. I will use it in my home office.

A is for Aprons for Risa and Raina. I absolutely LOVE the polka dot aprons that has a pocket with potholders! I can't wait to get a picture of my and Raina baking in them. They are perfect: Pink and Polka dots - my favorite!

R for Really Yummy Tea does smell very yummy. Like I said, I can't wait to have a cuppa.

T is for Teacup & Saucer. Heather gave a very detailed cream colored butterfly t & s. It is so pretty - the butterflies are raised, the saucer has cut-outs and also a raised design.

E is for Extra Goodies. She included cute teapot & teacup cookie cutters, tealights in pink flowers, honey sticks, stickers and paper serviettes. All wonderful things I will put to good use!

A is for A Pretty Set of Tea Towels. I love the design of these towels! I will use them at the tea parties I do, sometimes I have a tea towel hanging from my apron to wipe my hands and these will be perfect for that!

So thank you so much Heather, I love, love, love it all!

ParTea Time Swap

These are the goodies I put together for my first swap, ParTea Time Swap. We swapped tea related things that began with the letters PARTEA. View the group's photos at Flickr.

My partner is Heather, from Speckled Egg, and she is like me - she loves pink and shabby chic. I hope she likes her goodies.

A big thanks to all the ladies who joined in on the fun. From the feedback I received, everyone really enjoyed the theme, made a new tea-loving friend and would like to do it again in the future. I will probably do another one in the fall, for a holiday tea theme. So check back!

P is for Pedestal plate for your goodies.

A is for Apron made from a tea towel

R is for Read a good book (and Tea Time magazine - my favorite!)

T is for Teacup & Saucer, of course.


E is for Eat scones with some yummy tea.

A is for Additional teatime goodies.
They are a little wire teapot, teabag holder, tea cup in a frame,
note cards all tucked into a small hat box.

I thought my idea to hang a chandelier crystal as a tea drip was kinda cute.

Attempt to make a teatime tote.

ParTea Time Swap!

Thanks Heather for being my partner!