Peapods

Pay it forward

My PIF from Rebecca arrived :D Look! How lucky am I!

Thanks so much Rebecca! You ask what I think of the bear design - I LOVE it. This illustration is going to get framed and put somewhere prominent. Check out her site for other wonderful illustrations. It is super coincidental that we both live in Oxford. The world's a small place huh!

So now it is my turn, this is the pledge:

"I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this pay it forward exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, which is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.”

So the first three people to comment on this post will get a package from me in the next year. I will also send another package to another person randomly picked if there are more than 3 comments on this post by next Thursday; July 3rd. I am adding the extra parcel as I was just thinking that I haven't done any kind of give away. If you don't have a blog to PIF from then that's ok, just PIF in real life.

Much post of all kinds

I thought about calling this 'Going Postal' but thought that would be far too cheesy!

I sent out a little surprise parcel to my sister today because she is going through hard times with her back after her operations. I included a copy of the print (of the chair we gave my mother) I made for the Gocco swap, one of the cards I received from the swap, the pumpkin recipe from yesterday, and a little coaster I whipped up in about 20 seconds late last night (before hiding under the blanket from the cold with mulled wine).

It is just a little thing I made from a bit of Japanese fabric I have from my grandmother's stash and a little elephant that I thought was very cheerful. It needed to be something flat to fit in the envelope, and as I wrote, who doesn't need coasters? I am about 50% pleased with it but that's ok for something that took 20 seconds.

I also included a CD with the Alicia Paulson interview on Craft Sanity as I found this one quite inspirational as she talks about living with the after effects of surgery which may ring some bells with my sister. It is so unfair when otherwise fit healthy people can't go about their lives as they had planned.

Then I got home and there were three, yes three, Gocco swap parcels waiting for me.

This lovely print from Little Messes:

This gorgeous parcel from Shining Egg, containing a journal and can you see the fabric it is wrapped up in! I am going to have to do something really good with that too:

And these three wonderful prints from Curious Bird:

I love them all so much, thank you guys! I am going to have to buy a whole bunch of frames for everything.

As I stood up after taking the pictures I though it would be funny to show how these were taken:

When I come home and see there is post I want to photograph it is a real race against time before the light fades completely. You might notice from the difference in light quality of the above pictures. On my way to the window I grabbed a record mailer that had arrived for Simon as it was the nearest fairly neutral thing I could find and got as close to the window as possible.

But that is not all; there was a knock at the door and ALL THIS arrived:

Mini Greenhouse 4 Tier
Seed Trays Green
Seed Trays Black
Propagator Tops
Garden Gloves Leather Palm Mens
Twine Medium Green
Garden Wire & Cutter
Ladies Jersey Garden Gloves
Kneeler Garden Cushion
Plant Labels
General Purpose Thermometer
Border Spade
Secateurs
Hose Trolley Set with 25m Hose
Spray Bottle
Compost Multi Purpose
Bench
Pea and Bean Net

Yippee! Tomorrow I order seeds.

Post!

Yippee post! Today when I got home there were two envelopes for me. This is a very rare occurrence. Very exciting is that my first parcel from the Gocco swap arrived. It was these absolutely lovely Sliver Birch Seedlings postcards. Aren't they cute! They are from Melissa Tiny Happy in Norway.

I love them! Thank you Melissa.

The second piece of post was this postcard and article from my aunt. My mother and her sisters cut out and send on articles to everyone that they think will be interested. My aunt is the best at it. This article was from the FT about cooking for men and was pretty funny. I really like the postcard too, it is Henri Matisse Red Room (Harmony in Red) 1908, I will put it on the pinboard in the work room when (ahem!) I have put it up.

So it is a very nice coincidence that I got sent some lovely postcards so that I may reply to my aunt in a suitable way. My aunt will very much like these seedlings cards too. As there are three I am trying to think of who else I am overdue writing too, I think perhaps my sister as she will like these too. I will of course be keeping one of the cards for myself.