What I sent for a swap - BBES1

So I signed up for a swap ages ago. This swap was not IGGPPC related, though it was co created by an iggle. It's called the Best Birthday Ever Swap. You get assigned 3 people whose birthdays are in different quarters of the year, and you send them a package of birthday gifts on their birthday month!
Each package needs to include one handmade item, craft supplies, and some other surprise. The other surprise needs to be from a "local shop", meaning no big box store.


What all this means, is that this is the first post on this swap, and there will be three more - one for what I got for my presents, and two more for what I send.


This will be a somewhat short post though, because I forgot to take a full picture of the items I sent! My first assigned lovely lady's birthday was May 1st, and I wanted to get hers sent in time for her birthday, but I didn't have time to finish it until two weeks in to May, so I was in a bit of a hurry to send it out, and forgot full pictures.

Instead I'm going to share her instagram photo of what I sent:

Tada!! I sent a bunch of craft supplies, all mostly related to cross stitching, embroidery, and sewing, because that's what she was most interested in. She also likes cats, so I sent her a little Grumpy Cat plushie that has a birthday hat on, and Hello Kitty hand sanitizer. Also, Harry Pawter. I got her a print and a button. Because she also likes Harry Potter, and when I specifically read:

"I'm also OBSESSED with Harry Potter and cats."

I knew I needed to pick this print up for her.

This print is by the artist, Jenny Parks, who does some adorable kitty related fandom pictures. And she shows up at C2E2 and Chicago Comic Con every year. And every year I've found some excuse to purchase some of her merchandise for myself or others. lol.  (If she doesn't come near you, here's where you can buy her stuff online.)


And then there's my handmade item, which I did remember to get a photo of:

A cross stitch Harry Potter bookmark. I'm still pretty beginner-ish in cross stitching, so this took me much longer than I'd care to admit. Then I glued it to some gold scrapbook paper that I covered in dark red tulle. I think it came out okay, all things considered!! ♥

Making a bookmark

A while back, I participated in a mini swap via lovely iggles on twitter, or twiggles. We exchanged bookmarks. I made them, and started taking pictures while I did them... but I got distracted and forgot to keep taking pictures. Whoops.

Then that love story book exchange happened, and I realized that my swap partner was actually my original iggle secret santa from December! So I decided I wanted to make her a bookmark too, as a small thank you.

And I remembered to take pictures the whole way through this time. lol.

Here's almost all of what I used. Not pictured is a small penguin bead, a couple of markers, a homemade stamp and a heart shaped paper puncher.

Swap Project - Love Your Inner Geek art book [Pic Heavy]

The last thing I made for my #loveyourinnergeek swap buddy was an art book. It took me way, way too long to make it. As usual, I bit off more than I could chew. And, as a result, I ended up sending this super late, and she got it three days after the end of the swap. *blushes*


I had never attempted to make an art book before, so this was all pretty new to me. I had attempted to start a beginner art book a while back, but that was by altering an already made book.


I had originally thought I would take pictures of the whole process, but realized pretty quickly that this book was going to take a long time already, so I didn't bother taking progress pics. These three are the only in progress pictures I took.

I jumped the gun and cut the pieces of chip board before the book was actually done. Lesson learned - I ended up having to cut a wider middle piece. The bubbly pink paper I found while looking for other papers at Michaels. I saw it and thought it would be the perfect cover for this art book.


I also found this pretty space-themed paper at Walmart.

My buddy likes space, so... I figured it'd be a good inside cover design.



I decided to use greeting cards for the pages.

They're all already the same size and folded in half, so it worked out nicely. I actually sent some of the extra cards as a day in part of the rest of the swap for her.

That's all as far as in progress shots. lol. On to the rest of the book!!

Swap Project - I Am Chalkboard

So I knew I wanted to do something chalkboard related for my #LoveYourInnerGeek swap buddy. Why? Erm... because I got some clear chalkboard coating for Christmas. ROFL. Yep. That's the reason! So I was wandering the internets to find chalkboard diy ideas. I came across this tutorial for chalkboard necklaces.

http://poppiesatplay.blogspot.com/2011/06/chalkboard-jewelry.html

 I didn't read it, because it seemed simple enough, and I know I didn't want to make a necklace. I did, however, like the idea of the "I AM" being a permanent fixture on the board. I decided this would look good as a refrigerator magnet.


I wandered Hobby Lobby aimlessly, not sure how I wanted the magnet to look, when I found this:

And the finished product came to me in an instant. So I purchased it. Along with some small wooden peg things.

Swap Project - Junior Mint Notebook

So in November, for the IGGPPC 31 Days of Christmas Swap, I came across a Youtuber named Sea Lemon, to learn how to make my own slime. Her videos looked promising, but I was so busy over the holidays, that I didn't manage to actually check her channel out fully until January. And then I wanted to make almost everything in her videos!! Like, IMMEDIATELY! lol

But you have to start somewhere, and I thought the Junior Mint notebook was too cute, and I could make it as a gift for my #LoveYourInnerGeek swap buddy.



I ran out to buy some Junior Mints, and set to the task of eating them all. I needed the box empty, of course.

Swap Project - Galaxy Bracelet

Another post about a thing I made for my swap partner! On her list of things she liked, she listed "space", and I didn't have anything space related for her yet, so I decided to make a galaxy bracelet! I pretty much followed this tutorial, which I've used in the past for nail art and for phone case art.

I didn't have to go out to buy anything for this project too, because I had all the paint I need and, this past December, from my secret santa, I got two wooden bracelets along with other crafty fun stuff!

 Here's the bracelet plain. I painted it black but realized it was a bit on the rough side. So I took some sand paper to it to smooth it out a bit.

Swap Project - Perlers

This month, I chose perler beads for the January Iggle Craft Challenge. This made me excited, because I hadn't played with perler beads since I was a youngin'. This past weekend, I ran out to buy some, and a pegboard.

I sat down the next day and got to making. The first thing I made, of course, was Jimbob, the official mascot of IGGPPC. Then I googled "Perler beads" and found some I liked.