Snail Mail Makes Me Happy

So, I found a web-site a couple of weeks ago that I have fallen in love with. It's called Swap-bot.  You sign up for "swaps" and are given a partner or 2 or 3 (so on and so on!) and you  mail your partners whatever conditions you signed up for. For example, I've signed up for a tote-bag swap. So I will take a gander at my partners profile and considering his/her likes/dislikes, I will send a tote-bag. And I will get a new one from my partner! How exciting is that? It makes checking the mail box a lot more fun.


Anyway, all of that to say that I am entered into another swap called "I'm a Blogger, Follow Me!". I have 10 partners that have blogs I get to read and comment on. And likewise, 10 people will read my blog! What a great way to get people to read all about my crafting adventures :D Nothing like being in the internet spotlight for my 15 seconds!! Here are my partners I am visiting. You should take a look too!:



Joanna :  a-peachy-life.blogspot.com 
Andrea :  milpontinhos
Elizabeth : observationsnsuch
Dani : trueconfessionsofaliar
Brandi: gunma-gal
Sunny : sunnychauncey
Deidre: deidre42
Mägi : runawaymaggiemay
Lesley: allbetogalore
Last Minute Bride:lastminutebride

I am also pretty new at blogging. Can someone tell me how to put another site's "button" on my post? I wanted to put a button from Swap-bot on but am too blog-challenged to do it! 

Party Favors

I've been working on my Mother in Law's bday party.
I saw these first here and thought that they would serve me well as party favors. You find the pull top cans and open them from the bottom. Wash then fill them with goodies and hot glue the bottom back on. So your guests get to pop the top and find their surprises! Finding the pop top cans without the rounded bottom (they can't be opened with a can opener) was a challenge. These little cans are from little snack-size fruit cups. Here's a better look at the top:

My other new project that I am SO excited about are these checkbook covers! They cost maybe 50 cents to make and take about 30 minutes. That's with the personalization! I saw a girl on Martha Stewart do them. Well, she made wallets. I just kinda winged the checkbook cover. This one is for my sweet friend, Leah's birthday.
The Inside:

Birthday Party Invites

I'm throwing my mother in law a 50th birthday party this August. Poor woman hasn't had a birthday party in 10 years. That's what happens when you only have boys, I guess. Anyway, I usually like to do something a little different (maybe one day, I'll get around to posting pictures of Nathan's 24th when I decorated with old board games) but money was a huge determining factor for this one. I bocked at the idea of doing a luau but all of the great stuff at the Dollar Tree swayed me. I have a big tub of decorations for the party, that I am hoping will eventually turn into some really cute tables. Here are the invites:

I made them in a frenzy one day after I realized that I hadn't actually placed my order at 123print.com! I had the invites I wanted designed and in my cart, then apparently got distracted and left them there! By the time I checked to see why in the world my order hadn't arrived yet (2 weeks later!!!) my design had been deleted!! So anyway, I whipped these out in a couple of hours, and I think they turned out pretty well.