handmade joy exchange 2017

Back in 2012, I took part in the Handmade Joy Swap organised by Anne of the beautiful blog, My Giant Strawberry. So when I caught her blog post just in time, about hosting it again in March, this year, I had to join in. My poor blog hasn't been receiving much attention from me. First, it was due to a lack of decent internet connection and then, general busy-ness with a 1 year old and now my dear Macbook is poorly and I'm not a fan of phone blogging. But I will try, so do bear with me.

Well, here I am, five years later, on another continent, with two more children but with the same love of handmade goodness.

I was to create something for Cindy, a talented artist from the US. I decided on a little print, using fairly bold colours and some humour. Along with this I added a handmade notebook with her name on it, in Arabic. Seeing as I was sending it from an Arabic-speaking country (with French being the second language of Algeria), I thought it would add an unusual twist to the items. It took me back a bit. With all the knitting I've been doing, it has been quite some time since I've created any crochet-embellished stationery. 

It took a little while for my package to reach Cindy. She had a little waiting game going on. I was just so relieved that f2f it finally got there. I got my beautiful swap package from Karen in Connecticut. It reached me about two and a half months later (Algerian postal issues!) but it most certainly brought me joy when it got here. 

I received this cute little card with a beautiful stitch holder inside. It was pinned to a piece of vintage linen that had been hand dyed in indigo! 

And the star of the show was a gorgeous project bag, perfect for a sock project! Karen, a fellow knitter, had noticed my knitting projects on instagram and sent me something she thought I could use. She was right!

I love the vintage style of the entire bag, from the fabric to the zipper and it is just beautifully stitched. She also added some extra little goodies! Do check out Karen's etsy shop where she sells lovely naturally dyed pouches, beautiful tote bags and the cutest of needle books!

I think it's just amazing that packages of joy travelled to various parts of the world through this exchange. 

Are you creating a little joy for yourself or someone else? See Anne's Handmade Joy Exchange celebration post here.

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handmade joy swap celebration

I'm still here. A few things have been going on. My firstborn "graduated" from primary school and they had a concert/party yesterday. But things have been a bit sad too. One of my uncles is very ill with kidney trouble. They are waiting to transfer him to a kidney specialist at Hammersmith. I miss him. It's horrible to be so far from family at times like this.



But I wanted to drop by and post today as I took part in a swap that Anne set up back in March and it took a while for parcels to get to there destinations and to coordinate a day for everyone to post about their Handmade Joy. I felt that it wouldn't have been fair on my partners and the others that took part, if I hadn't posted today.



Two weeks ago I received a lovely bit of handmade goodness from Judy of Hartfelt Fabric and Paper Creations.



It was beautifully wrapped.



A gorgeous piece of paper cutwork. I was so touched when I read that she had used lillies for her theme as she he had read here, that lillies were my favourite!
Have a look at her blog to see how she created this. I think I will find a window in my new home in sha Allah, for it as it has a lovely stained-glass effect when the sun shines through it!

As we didn't send our handmade packages to the same bloggers we received from (thats cool isn't it?), I got to send mine to the talented Anne herself. Of course it was hard! She crochets, she paints, she takes beautiful photographs! I didn't know what to send her! My first thoughts were to try out something different and send that to her. But I wasn't very happy with the end result. So I sent her something that I liked and hoped she might use.



And something that has become my trademark amongst friends!



And ofcourse I had to add a little crochet love to my Saudi Arabia postcard!



You can check out the other participants work here.

Wishing you all good health and joy this evening. We can never take these for granted.

posted from Bloggeroid

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exciting!!!

I'm feeling ill. But I NEEDED to blog all about this giveaway I entered a little while ago. It was one of those things. A comment. One of many that I'd left on the blog. I almost forgot about it. Then I saw a post by Jenni saying I had won!!! Woohoo! It didn't matter what I'd won. I was just excited that I'd won something. Do you get like that?


I'd won a lovely little crafty book. It came to me all the way from Australia. And where Jenni could have popped the book in to an envelope and sent it off, she didn't. 

She sent a load of other goodies with it! I was gobsmacked! 

A little budgie for my kids (because chocolate might have melted). 

They loved it!


And this is just perfect for holding tissues in my handbag!

I loved this from the book.

And it was all wrapped it beautifully. Not really like this (because I was so excited I didn't get a picture of it before I hurriedly opened it up!) but more in this style. 

I'm also excited that my Gems Swap package reached my swap partner in Malaysia. I'm always nervous about Saudi post! I sent her a crocheted scented cushion.  

some tawashi facial wipes

and a zippered purse (remember the star stitch?)

Isn't it amazing how we can connect with others in different parts of the world? The blogging community is amazing! 


Now I need to rest. I hope you are well, whichever part of the world you are in. 

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my creative space - too many wips & pincushion swap!

I have piles of squares to contend with.

And lovely new yarn that my parents brought back from London for me!

With so many wips to finish off though, I've decided I need a change in policy: Finish THREE works-in-progress before starting anything new!!!  A bit harsh?  It's got to be done!  Things are getting a little out of hand on the wip front. 

Other news:  Remember Kate's Pincushion Swap?  YAY!!! I finally got my pincushion (no fault of the sender). I just had to wait for it to be brought back from the UK. 

And here it is ...  (she's taken great pictures of it!)

A yummy, yarny Knit One Pin One pincushion!

Sent to me by Sarah of Thimbles and Crumbles.  Thank you Sarah!  It's lovely! And thank you Kate for hosting the swap (I know it was a while ago!)

Head over to Kirsty's for more creative spaces!  

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my creative space ... not & swap joy

... was yesterday!  And I couldn't upload a single picture for my post.  Not one!  My DSL connection is going at dial-up speed and it's so annoying! 

Yesterday I had also planned to take the kids to this educational workshop called "Me and My Body", but my 10 year old has been feeling really poorly. So we stayed in.

There was something that brought joy to me though, yesterday morning. I was so excited that my little package had travelled all the way from Saudi Arabia and made its way to New Zealand. Via Saudi Post I must add. It took a little time but it got there in the end, with no bank-breaking delivery charges (you'd be surprised what some of those companies charge!) And I must also add that I am SO VERY relieved too that it didn't go missing. Thank you Saudi Post (all of that after my frustration with Saudi Telecom)!

Sarah has already blogged about it so I shall direct you to her lovely corner of the blogosphere. I can't upload pics anyway, remember? I do hope that Sarah and her girls liked it. And thank you Kate for organising the swap in the first place and then following it all up to make sure everyone got their goodies!

As always, check out some proper creative spaces here!

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