Swap Gifts

Guess what I'm doing right now? I'm sitting at my dining room table, watching it snow! I know the people in colder states are wishing it would stop snowing but this is really exciting and unusual for East Texas. We may even be able to make snowballs by this afternoon. There's a chance we'll get up to 4 inches. My son was so excited this morning to wake up to snow. Unfortunately, it's not enough yet to cancel school but I told him maybe they would get to go play in it this afternoon during recess. And there's always a chance of a snow day tomorrow.

So anyhoo, I participated in 2 gift swaps in January through my team, Etsy Texas Crafters. One was a Winter Blues swap where we had to use the color blue in the item that we made. The other was an "I made it with leftovers" swap, where we had to use leftover scraps of some kind to make our gift.

My swap partners for the Winter Blues swap was Duane and Ben from MoltenGecko and Surfbunny. I was so excited to get Duane and Ben for my partners because they seem like really cool guys. Since they like to read, I made them 4 bookmarks - 2 beaded ones with blue beads and 2 long ribbon ones with blue ribbon. And they sent me this awesome suncatcher: I love it! I'm going to hang it in my dining room window.

For the "leftovers" swap, my partner was Monica from theIDConnection. She made me this sweet, pink earring and necklace set as well as an ID badge holder. She also sent me a vintage tea cup set which I loved!
I do have pictures of the gift I sent Monica. I made her 3 potholders from leftover scrap fabric. The orange and blue fabric is leftover from skirts I made myself last year and the blue/white fabric is leftover from valances I made for my son's room.
It was the first time I had ever done any piecework and I was excited about how it turned out. I didn't use any kind of pattern, just kind of winged it. I want to start doing more of this kind of stuff, maybe make some pillows for my etsy shop. I've had this idea in my head for awhile and I just need to get it out. :)
Even the Insul-bright that I used inside the potholders was leftover from when I made potholders for my mom and MIL last Mother's Day. So, I think I did pretty good with the leftover idea. :)

Oh, and the bathroom is finished. I'll get pics posted soon! It looks so pretty!