A Christmas exchange

You know how I love exchanges especially around Christmas.
This year I am partaking in three and this one was the first to be completed so I can blog about it!
It was the #secretsanta2016 exchange organised by sweet Zina of Efzin creations blog.
I received a lovely package from sweet Katerina of mindspinfabrica blog.
She had dressed the box in lovely red and white paper with hearts.

She had wrapped everything beautifully.

She made me a fabric and paper book in which I can stitch and write at the same time.
Also a little fabric pouch in matching fabric.
She also made me a beautiful Christmas card and included a craft magazine and some candy.
Thank you so much dear Katerina.

Katerina and I belong to the same crafty group here in town organised by Anna of In My Closet and she knew what I would like most.
I in turn had to make something and send it to Margarita of  mommywiki blog.
I made one of my stones in red which is her favourite colour but it is so Christmassy too.

I also made some chocolate and put it in a tin box.

I added a couple of materials for handicrafts as well as a card.The card is one I had bought last year from the dog shelter where we got Barca. But I added some embellishments on it.

 Margarita liked my parcel and I am glad.
Thank you Zina for the organisation of the exchange and thank you Katerina for the beautiful gifts you sent me.

Secret Santa

Zina of Efzin Creations blog organized one more Secret Santa exchange this year.
Zina has a lovely blog and you should follow it and get ideas how to make beautiful simple things.
This year the person I had to send my gift to was Zina herself and I was really happy about this.
So I made this for her.
I stitched a Prairie Schooler design I had won in a giveaway by Gillie, a stitching friend.

 I backed it with fabric I had won at another giveaway by Sarah of Sarah in stitches.And I used some vintage trimming I had found a long time ago but loved how the trimming matched the colours of the Santa. And finished it as a pinkeep for the first time and I really liked this finishing.

 I put it on an easel, too.

 I also made a little felt owl and added a bar of handmade soap, some jewelry I had made, and one of my wedding favour key rings. Also a book.

 And included a handmade card.

I am glad Zina enjoyed her parcel.
A couple of days ago I received my gift too.It came in a little beautiful box.

 It was a beautiful fabric flower made by Fairytale Flower.

 It is a key ring but I can also wear it as a brooch.Isn't it lovely?And so much detail!

Thank you Gia for the lovely gift!
Thank you Zina for the exchange!

Beautiful moments before and during a workshop!

Last week I bought this pot of daisies and really loved them.

I took some sunset photos and this guy was really in front of the best views!

I spotted a tiny butterfly!

I made some chocolate fudge using this recipe. The caramel candy didn't soften that well in it so I would avoid it next time but it was such a delicious and easy thing to make.

I ate some jelly candy. Look at those colours!

I attended a shadow puppetry performance presented by Agapios Agapiou and Odysseas Kanlis.

And I attended one more great workshop by Anna of inmycloset at her cozy kitchen!

We made lovely fabric covered boxes!

Here are my boxes, one I made there and one at home!

Of course we enjoyed great food again like Efi's lemon tartelettes.

And my red pepper and dill muffins.

And there was a birthday girl again and Vaso of Metodaxtylostovaso made an amazing birthday cake!

Last but not least I received a lovely gift from Christina of Christie's trees. Isn't it a wonderful wire tree on a gorgeous slag glass piece? Here with all my green vases.

Thank you so much Christina!And Anna for one more great workshop!

An exchange (Ah kounelaki=little bunny!)

You might remember one of the exchanges I took part at Christmas was Secret Blog Santa organized by Zina of Efzin Creations.
This Easter Zina organized again an exchange called Ah kounelaki (referring to the Easter bunny).
I was the lucky recipient of Thalia's gift from this blog. Thalia is such a sweet artist and has a lovely blog where she shows her art and her town Distomo which has a tragic history. And of course all that with her sweet talented daughter Georgia.
Thalia sent me a beautiful gift but she showed great trust to the Greek Postal Service which unfortunately failed her.
Her beautiful hand painted pot arrived broken. She also sent me a lovely card she made along with her daughter and some freesia bulbs to plant. All in all a lovely gift.

 I managed to glue the pieces and the pot looks lovely!

But Thalia wasn't happy and wanted me to have something beautiful from her and not to be broken. So she surprised me with a lovely painting a few days later!

 Here is her painting and her pot along with Ahtida-Georgia's gifts. I will take them all to the beach house when we go there in summer.Don't they all look gorgeous together?So many sea colours together!

Here's what I sent to my recipient Dimitra of DimitrArt. I made her one of my stones and added some chocolate and a lovely soap from Karalis soap. As Dimitra is expecting  a baby I stitched her a little baby picture too that I found on pinterest in her favourite colour blue. The picture is by creativita and the frame by Tiger.

When she received the parcel and told me she is expecting a girl I made her another one in a more girlie colour!

Great exchange!Thanks Zina for organising this again!

Secret Santa blog exchange

This Christmas I took part in three gift exchanges.
The first one was the Etsy Greek Street Team Secret Santa Exchange about which I blogged here.
Then it was the materials exchange of  In My Closet blog. You can read all about it here.
And finally I took part in the Secret Santa Blog exchange which was organised by Zina of
efzin creations and Gia of One Perfect Day.

I  received a lovely parcel from Helen of ah kounelaki blog.
Helen sent me a beautiful fuchsia picture frame which she embellished with lace and beads, along with a blue felt flower brooch and a cinammon stick and ribbon tree ornament!
I loved everything, thanks Helen. I am looking for the perfect thing to stitch and put in the frame!

You can find Helen here on facebook.
I had to send my gift to Katerina of Kyriaki sto spiti (Sundayprojects) blog. I made a card with felt and embellishments

and I made a paper weight out of a felted wool ball on which I stitched sea glass and beads. Katerina liked my gift and you can read all about it in her blogpost here.

I am glad you liked my gift Katerina!
Zina and Gia thanks for organizing this! It was fun!

Some purchases and a gift!

I have little money to spend on purchases but some things just beg you to come back home with you at times, don't they?
So here they are in random order....
Three little tables from IKEA bought at very good prices during the sales.
First the IKEA PS 2012 side table. It comes in three different styles. Flat, fruit bowl top, or four bowls top.
You can see them here.

(This photo is from houzz site)
I bought the fruit bowl top one for 15 euros. I put my felted stones inside and covered it with glass. It looks great as a display and I can take great photos of my stones too.Barca seems to agree.

Then two small side tables made only of wood and glass for 10 euros each. I put some of my grandma's crochet on top. All three tables are in the living room as we didn't have any side tables there.

Those lovely colourful socks, one for each day of the week I bought at Lidl.

 Then this online purchase from a favourite shop Dutchsisters. They make amazing bags from vintage embroidery. They even added this lovely heart on the parcel.

The embroidery is all around the bag, so I can hold it on both sides.

When I went to buy a book for my Godson, I just happened to see this notebook and all of a sudden I realised that I could buy Geninne's notebook-journal here at home. I bought it at Public. You can find it online here.

 There are empty pages to draw or write.

 Pages to colour.

 Pages to paint in watercolours.

 And lovely colourful pages.

 I tried to videotape the pages as I have seen being done on online bookstores but Barca didn't really allow that. Still you can have fun with her here.

Finally a gift I recently received from a very generous lady. Zina of EfZin Creations chose me among her other blogland friends to gift me with one of her lovely jewelry pieces. She even managed to choose the proper colour for me, blue.

(Photographed on an otchipotchi stone)
You can find her shop on etsy and read her blog too. Thank you Zina.