Don't Miss Tomorrow's Red Giveaway!

I made this tag using a laser cut wooden cutout that I got for about 19 cents at Michaels' winter clearance sale. I painted it red and used it to frame this great vintage image that I found on Pinterest. There were a few deer leftover from Christmas lying on my desk, so I painted them pink and added some sparkling glitter. Finally, I adhered it all to a tag I made from a great piece of scrapbook paper that I've been reluctant to use because it's so pretty. (Do you do this?)

Something tells me this tag (and yesterday's card) may show up again...perhaps tomorrow in our Red Giveaway! Make sure you visit the blog tomorrow to sign up- it's only a ONE DAY Giveaway so don't miss it!

bird, garland, repeat.

Add one great paint chip, a bit of glitter and a few do-dads and we've got ourselves a Valentine!

lots of birdies this month

I just love this birdie image. It's an enlarged photo copy of a vintage valentine. This is another of the card collages I made for my garland.

Vintage Valentine Saturday

Susie and I swap pigs...long story. So I dedicate the pig valentine to my dear sister!
Feel free to copy and use these images. I'll share more vintage Valentines next Saturday.

a bird on the head is worth...

...No, that's not right-nevermind. Anyway, this is the 2nd of my "bird on the head" Valentine swap tags. Another cutie pie image from Red Lead

mystery artist!

Someone special made this wonderful Valentine for me a few years back...hmmm...it could be someone in this month's group. Leave a comment with your guess; and if you're the artist, identify yourself! Let's see if anyone guesses correctly. Hint: it is NOT my sister, Susie!

Fun With Vintage Valentines

Vintage Valentines are on of my favorite types of ephemera. In a "Krafternoon" with my knitting buddies, we made several card sized valentine collages and made a garland with them. I use vintage plastic clothes pins to attach my collages onto lace trim . I will show you my collages this month, as they could be used as individual cards/tags as well. Most of them feature vintage valentines (or photo copies of them), faces from old yearbooks, scrapbook paper and embellishments. This is one of them.
See you tomorrow!

sweet

I made this tag for yet another swap I participated in. The image is one I found in a Google search. I love the paper and matching felt flower embellishment. I think this collection was BoBunny from a few years back.

Commentary: never underestimate the power of glitter. I keep a little jar filled with tiny clear sparkling glitter and an itty bitty scooper on my studio table at all times. Most things I make get at least a tiny sprinkling of it. A little bit here or there can really add to your card or tag. On this tag, her dress sparkles. The glitter added some needed dimension to the image. (Although I'm not sure you can tell so much from the picture as much as in person.)

love birds

Such an adorable card! It's from Pinterest, and there was no mention of an artist nor a link. I have a fondness both for pink and for newsprint/bookprint so I just love this.

Someone asked if the Valentine card and tag needs to be for a sweetheart. You can make it for anyone you like... a friend, child, sweetheart or generic enough for all of the above. Go wherever the muse takes you. I'm sure your partner will love it.

Happy Monday!

First of a Set

I made this Valentine tag for a Red Lead swap a few years back. It is part of a set of 4 tags, and I'll try to show them all this month. I just love this sweet little girl (image from Red Lead). (She is rather calm for having a bird on her head.) See you tomorrow!

We have our February Swappers!

Debbie, Joy, May, Jan, Mrs. A, Wendy, Jill, Becky G, Pam, Marie, Francie, Joyce, Marti, Deb, Susie, Elizabeth, Bev, Linda F, and Lorraine. Lovely! Let the Valentine fun begin!

TODAY is the last day to sign up for the February Valentine Swap!

Sign up for the February Swap TODAY!

How to sign up for the February Swap:

Send an email to aswapforallseasons@gmail.com with the following info:
1. your name
2. email address for your partner to contact you
3. link to your blog if you have one.
4. if you are willing to mail to an international partner THIS month

If you have never swapped with A Swap For All Seasons before, please list any recent swaps you have participated in and how you found A Swap For All Seasons.

I will send out a confirmation email letting you know if you have been added to the swap. When the sign ups are closed, you will get an email with a list of participants and who you will be swapping with.

As long as you are still seeing this post, you can still sign up! I will close the sign ups on the morning of January 4th or when we reach 25 swappers, whichever comes first. COMMENTS ON THIS POST ARE NOT CONSIDERED A SIGN UP FOR THE SWAP- please send an email!

The theme for the February Swap is "Valentine". We will be swapping these 3 things:

1. a handmade card
2. a handmade tag
3. just a WEE BIT of RED craft destash

There will be daily posts filled with lots of valentine and red inspiration! And of course, there will be a RED GIVEAWAY on JANUARY 15th. Don't miss the fun- sign up now!

Happy New Year, dear swap buddies!

This is my last post for 2013. If you haven't mailed your January swap package yet, don't panic...the actual mail date is January 2nd. Please email your partners when you have mailed your packages, and when they have arrived safely.

Come back tomorrow, January 1st to sign up for the February Valentine Swap. The sign ups will be open until we reach 25 participants or through January 3rd.

I wish you and your families a New Year filled with good health, love and peace. XOX Linda

I want to see!

Here is our Mr.Linky for the January "Thinking of You" Swap. Feel free to share the link to your blog post on what you made and/or received for this month. You can also upload your pictures on our Flickr group page!

one final lovely bit of inspiration for this month...

Such a pretty card! I found this on Pinterest and the origin appears to be Paper Crafts Connection. The card is no longer on the site, therefore no mention of the artist. I especially like the white paint accents and the bit of yellow stenciling which add an artsy element. Very nice!

giving it a whirl

An important message:
I have found countless cards and tags from Pinterest to share with you, but I am having a very difficult time finding the artists and/or getting a response to my request to share them here on our blog for inspiration. Some of the websites have not been updated in over a year, and often the images are already on countless Pinterest boards. So I am going to try something different. I always stive to be honest and upfront, so I want to let you know my intentions. Unless an artist contacts me to object, I am going to go ahead and feature cards that I see have already been pinned on multiple Pinterest boards, of course always naming the artist with a link to the blog or website whenever possible.
I hope the artists will feel that sharing them here for inspiration is very much like allowing them to be pinned on multiple Pinterest boards for inspiration. I have a policy that has always been in the right column of this blog and I have updated it to include a note about Pinterest.

So...I found the perfect card to help me give this idea a whirl. It was made by Kathy Martin, using a layout from Design by Diana.
Such a happy and cheerful way to say "I'm thinking of you"!

love from across the pond

I received the most lovely package on Christmas Eve...all the way from England! In the pretty blue box (just a bit of it is showing in the very top of the first picture) was a wonderful assortment of goodies! German Christmas scrap, images, buttons and gorgeous ribbon. What really touched my heart is the amazing baby photo collage and the beautiful handknit little stocking! Two of my favorite things- babies and knitting! Special thanks and a big hug goes out to Jan for this most unexpected and wonderful surprise! What a great group of ladies you are!

pretty blue wrappings

Merry Christmas

not too much longer now...

thinking of you

Such a great card! I found this on flickr with permission granted to share. The artist "Moto" calls it "a window scene card". I love the colors, the buildings, the tree...very unique and pretty.

Blue Christmas Saturday

sending warm thoughts

I found this beautiful card on Pinterest. It was made by Jennie and it is the perfect combination of "thinking of you" and Christmas/winter/January! I love the scoring technique she uses. Just lovely!

blue goodies

an all-time favorite

This fabtagstic little morsel was made by Becky. (Who is taking this busy month off from swapping!) I'm showing it in segments as well so you can see close ups of every wonderful bit. Becky uses her sewing machine for most of her paper projects and my goodness does she ever rock it!

Let me just say that if you are interested in doing more sewing in your papercrafts/journaling/cardmaking, I highly recommend taking one of Mary Ann Moss's online classes. (this link takes you to her blog, and then just click "classes" on her menu bar.) They are top notch, she is a delight, and before you know what hit you, your sewing machine will be smokin' from all the sewing you'll be doing on every little scrap you can get your hands on! If you own and can operate a very basic sewing machine, that's all the prior knowledge you need to take one of Mary Ann's classes. I really like "Remains of the Day" and "SEWN".

not blue!

Here is a card I made using a pink/orange color combo that I just love! The little square of floral paper in the background is one that I received in a swap from Joyce and I've always loved it. It's funny how a little scrap of paper can inspire a project or bring you joy just looking at it!

Oh Golly! Did I win something?

Yes! We have a winner of yesterday's Blue Giveaway! And the winner is..... Pam! She had the lucky number 4 comment that I got from the random number generator over at mathgoodies.com. I hope you enjoy your blue goodies! They will be mailing out to you today!

the Blue Giveaway is TODAY Only! Open to ALL! Leave a comment to enter

Leave a comment with your email address on this post to enter to win this Blue Giveaway package. Tomorrow morning, I will choose a number using a random number generator and the corresponding comment with be the winner! Visit tomorrow to see who won. Good luck!

Blue Christmas Saturday and a Blue GIVEAWAY tomorrow!

Come back tomorrow to sign up for the Blue Giveaway! For today, here are a few sweet Blue Christmas images and some music to enjoy!

from susie

My dear sister Susie made this one. It was a birthday card for me, but I think it could easily be a great "thinking of you" card as well.

By the way, did you notice that Susie is not swapping with us this month? I think it's because she's really, really old (way, way older than me), and needed a month off to rest. But don't tell her I told you that.

more destash inspiration

the brighter side of blue

I almost forgot...

...today's post. Better late than never, right?

I think I first saw these torn circle flowers / embellishments in a Sommerset issue or Cloth Paper Scissors, I can't remember. But I love making them. I've put them on gift wrap, on garland and on cards & tags. They are fun to make with your scraps, or for color coordinating with a gift theme, a holiday, etc. You can make them in all sizes. I like using my circle punches and then just tearing them down a size. My free handed torn circles tend to be a bit wonky.

I've really enjoyed working with the soft colors this month!

blue sweetness

destash ideas

hello, girlfriend!

mellow blueness. one of my favorite stamps, "hello girlfriend". a great image that I enlarged from the front of a vintage pattern. with a handy dandy sizzix flower die. on a hand-cut cardstock tag. easy on the eyes in a month where colors and images are often "in your face".

A Blue Christmas Sunday

lovely

a bit of this and that

a nice soothing card with some of my favorite things...soft colors, a sweet image, a bit of old ledger, a vintage mother-of-pearl button and vintage embroidery...arranged in simple hodge-podge fashion to brighten someone's day. Some elements I sewed on, some are glued. Rather sweet.