The Janelle Wind Collection

Easter Swap (part two)...

Following on from my Easter Swap (part one) post, I am super excited to show you all of the gorgeous goodies that the lovely Mel Brewin spoiled me with.

I was SO very excited when this pile of beautiful swap presents arrived in my PO Box. I couldn't wait to open them but happily enjoyed looking at them until our special evening we had planned to open our gifts together. We each opened in our own homes, and shared photos on Instagram and twitter throughout the night, it was a LOT of fun.

Lovely Mel had also included a gift for each of my children as well. I didn't get photos of the kids with their gifts but Jasper's enjoyed his huge lollypop for many days and Emily totally loved her gifts too. I am sure she will be blogging all about them soon as well.

Ok, back to my swap gifts. We had three categories for our gifts, Easter theme, Blythe theme and free choice. Boy, was I spoiled. Mel had put so much thought into each of my gifts and it was like Christmas opening each beautifully wrapped gift.

For the Blythe part of the swap, Mel sent me a gorgeous 'Little Mushroom' dress, a crochet bear hat a pair of black Mary-Jane blythe shoes (not photographed) and some gorgeous hair pins as well.

Here are some of my Blythe's modeling their new goodies.

For the Easter part of the swap, Mel spoiled me with some yummy chocolates that were eaten very quickly (and super delicious), as well as a super cute little bunny ornament. Isn't it adorable...

And finally, Mel totally spoiled me with a while bunch of gorgeousness, just for me. Some gorgeous vintage fabric, a hanging bird, some nail polish, a gorgeous flower on a card and finally a stunning necklace.

I am actually wearing the beautiful nail polish that Mel gave me, today. I just love it.

Naughty (Lovely) Mel went into my etsy favourites and saw that I had favourited this necklace. It has two birds sitting on a wire, with some lace across the bottom corner. I just love it, I love that each time I wear it I can think of Mel too. It is perfect and I have been wearing it lots and lots. I can't believe Mel went to so much trouble to spoil me.

And finally, Mel totally blew me away by making me the most gorgeous hexagon cushion. Mel used some of my most favourite fabrics, Meadowsweet, and made a cushion just for me. I feel SO spoiled and absolutely love it. It now has pride of place on my bed. 

As you can see, Mel totally and utterly spoiled me. I feel so very blessed to have such a beautiful group of lovely, supportive friends. Thank you Mel for making my Easter just that little (insert lot) bit more special. xx Janelle

Introducing one of my favourite young artists...

A few months ago I had this idea?

After seeing some gorgeous artwork by a super talented young artist, I approached her and asked if we could do a trade. She is an avid Blythe collector, and I really wanted to encourage her art and have a piece of her creativity in my home, so I asked her to paint me a canvas and I would buy her a Blythe doll in return.

Luckily for me, she jumped at the chance and got busy painting for me, and I organised a special Blythe doll for her.

Who is this young artist you might ask?

Well let me proudly tell you that she is none other than Emily's special friend Zali Bartholomew. Zali comes from a home that oozes creativity, where the whole family creates the most amazing things. Zali's Mum, Hailey is the most amazing photographer too - and is the instigator of the 365 Grateful project that is sweeping the world too. To say I was thrilled to have a piece of Zali's art in my home, was an understatement - I was super excited!!

Let me introduce you to Zali. She is a super talented 11 year old up and coming artist from QLD, Australia. Here is is pictured with Nellie, the Blythe doll that I gave to her (she named her after me, how lovely).

And here she is holding my gorgeous piece of artwork. It is of one of my most favourite things, a tree and is so very detailed and colourful too, with gold dots all over the whole piece. I just LOVE it and it fits perfectly into our home too.

And here is my canvas hanging in our lounge room. It fits perfectly and I LOVE it so much. Huge thank you's to Zali for painting it for me and to her Dad Andrew for bringing it all the way down here for me when they visited us last week too.

I can't wait to see what else Zali creates as she grows and develops her already amazing talent too. Thank you Zali for sharing your amazing talent with me. xx Janelle

My swap gifts have been sent...

You may have read THIS post about the amazing goodies that Kirsten sent me as part of the Modern Blythe Lovers swap. Well the second part of the swap was for me to package up and send off my goodies to my swap partner. She doesn't know that I am her partner, so I wont mention her name here just yet, but I really wanted to show you what I sent to her. It isn't as much as Kirsten spoilt me with but I really hope my partner is happy.

Yesterday afternoon I had great fun wrapping all of the goodies for my swap partner.

Would you like to see what is in these packages?? I thought you might - ok here goes.

Firstly I made a mini doll quilt for her - I LOVED this so much and really wanted to keep it for me but it is good excuse to have a stitch another day and make one for me.

Then I got busy stitching some Blythe doll clothes for my partner. I made one of my favourite outfits for her - this pretty floral dress with matching headband. I then made a pretty little floral top with some vintage fabric from my Aunty and a matching pair of linen pants.  I finished off these outfits with a hand knitted cardigan made by my Mum.

To this little bundle, I added a pair of pink Mary Jane shoes and a mini Lalaloopsy doll, so that her dolls can have a toy of their own.

So now I wait while my parcel travels through the mail to my swap partners home. I really hope she likes these gifts as much as I had fun making them... xx Janelle

Today was a happy mail day...

Today was a VERY happy mail day!! I was very surprised when I went to collect my mail this morning to find that there were three parcels for us. AND two of them were for me - which is rare as more often than not, the parcels are for Emily from her pen friends.

I raced home, super eager to open them - and was wowing ALL day about what was inside. Today I will tell you about one of the parcels. This one came all the way from America.

You see, several months ago I popped my name into a swap that was run through flickr in a group called the Modern Blythe Lovers. Usually the swaps we do are for Emily but this group is designed for grown ups who collect Blythe dolls (and let me tell you there are LOTS of adults who collect), so it was my very first time being in a swap.

As part of the swap, we were asked to make up a mosaic of things we like, so that our swap partner would get an idea of our tastes, colours and things we might like to receive. Here is the mosaic I added to the group.

Once we had all posted our mosaics, the organisers paired people together and sent us the information all about our swap partner. We each sent to someone different so the person I am sending to is not the person who sent to me (hope that isn't too confusing).

Fast forward to today - one of the parcels was from my swap partner who turned out to be Kirsten Ott of Three Dancing Magpies, who was also one of the organisers. My goodness me, words cannot describe how amazed and excited I was at all of the amazing things Kirsten had chosen and sent to me. It was like she popped into my brain and learnt exactly what I like. Honestly, I could not have been any happier if I tried.

So if you don't mind me sharing some more photos, I really wanted to show you all of the things Kirsten sent to me. Oh and I wanted to add that the requirements of the swap were to send three things so she has totally spoiled me! Here goes...

Here is a group shot of everything that arrived (not including a few things like my dolls, shoes, dress and polka dot box, they are mine already).

As I opened everything, I was  just so amazed at how much effort Kirsten had gone to in sourcing the things I liked off my mosaic. I never ever dreamed anyone would go to that much trouble for me. Look at this red coat, oh my goodness, I LOVE it. Kirsten wrote in her note that she couldn't find it in yellow as per my mosaic which is totally fine because I LOVE red.

Next in the parcel was the AMAZING blythe deer pixie hat made by Maidensuit - especially for me. Kirsten was a little disappointed to see that I had purchased one of these for myself just recently but I am SUPER excited because now both of my girls can have one each!

Also inside this amazing parcel was a stunning pair of Blythe glasses (glasses were from here) and the most gorgeous little white cardigan. Both things I have really wanted for my girls for ages.

Kirsten also spoiled me with a super cute little red tea set and handmade tablecloth to match - LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

And there were also two pair of gorgeous stripey socks AND a lovely red pair of Mary Jane shoes. Again - I adore them all.

There were also some gorgeous little decorations for when I have my own dolls house and also my first ever Rement - specially made doll accesories. Mine came in a cute little box and was a picnic basket with matching drinking glasses - all featuring woodland animals on them. SUPER cute.

My girls are VERY happy with all of their new goodies too...

Now, after looking at all of these amazing gifts, you must be thinking - what more could there be. Well Kirsten went over and beyond any of my wildest dreams and also sent both Emily and Jasper some gifts each too. I haven't photographed their gifts yet but I am sure Emily will be blogging about them soon too. They are all amazing as well. We do feel truly blessed.

I must confess that I haven't quite got as many amazing goodies for my swap partner but I do hope that my partner (who will remain nameless for now as she hasn't received her goodies yet) loves what I have made for her too.

A HUGE thank you x 1000 goes to Kirsten for being so so generous and totally spoiling me with ALL of these amazing and personal gifts, just for me. Thank you thank you thank you xx Janelle

Christmas swap with Sally (part two)...

I am back to share all of the gorgeous goodies Sally sent to me during our 11th swap this year. You will soon see why I love this swap so very much!!!

My dear friend Beth who lives locally to me also swaps a box of goodies with one of Sally's friends, so we always get together to open our boxes. Emily is our resident photographer and happily takes photos for us.

Our box opening happened quite late one evening as it was the only time we could get together and we were both super keen and didn't want to wait too! We took turns in taking one thing out at a time - we were like little kids! It was so much fun.

The first thing that came out of my box were these gorgeous Christmas baubles - all 6 of them! We all loved them, and oohed and ahhed over them too.

Next out of my box was this lovely stitched pouch. Upon looking inside, I soon realised it was specially made to house my crochet hooks and crochet bits and pieces - just perfect for me and my crochet!

Next I opened this lovely tea cosy, made by Sally's Aunty. I just love it, especially since it was made just for me. I have the perfect pink tea pot that will love this new cosy.

As I mentioned before, it was quite late at night by now, and we were starting to get a little silly (and have a LOT Of fun), so when Beth opened another of her parcels and found a tea cosy in there too, we just had to model them ourselves!!

My next goodie was a lovely stitched pouch made by Sally, with some foam scrapbook numbers in it and some gorgeous buttons. Some were handmade by one of Sally's local friends too - another Janelle - how lovely is that!

The next goodie I took from my box was a gorgeous Santa gift bag, designed by Bronwyn Hayes and made just for me by Sally. I just LOVE it - after 11 years, Sally knows very well the colours etc that I like, and I am so grateful for that. Thank you Sally xx

We were very excited when Beth opened one from her packages as well to find her swap partner had made her a santa gift bag too. We have similar tastes so it is always lovely to have something that matches as well.

Sally also made me a lovely calendar using some of the designs out of my book and turning them into scrapbook pictures - I love it!

Finally, I opened one of the last packages to find a set of three gorgeous tin Christmas trees. I LOVE them and know they will take pride of place in my home each year. There was also a matching tree decoration - just gorgeous.

Beth and I had a lovely evening together opening our swap gifts. And a BIG thank you to Emily for being our photographer for the evening too.

A HUGE thank you to Sally for once again making my Christmas SO very special. I love everything and feel totally spoiled. Thank you, thank you, thank you xx I can't wait to do it all again next year... xx Janelle

Christmas swap with Sally (part one)...

For those of you who have followed my blog for a while now, you will be familiar with a special Christmas swap that I do each year with my lovely friend Sally (whom I am yet to meet in real life). This year marked the 11th year of our Christmas swap and it is still a highlight of my year and something I really enjoy doing. Each year we put together a box of goodies for each other and post them on December the 1st. I thought you might like to see what I sent to Sally and the gifts she sent to me.

Here are the gifts I sent to Sally this year...

I made the gorgeous 'Mr Jingles' from Natalie Ross' beautiful Christmas book. I just LOVED making him and think he looks pretty gorgeous too!

I also made a bag for Sally. This one is from a pattern I purchased online (I know I should be making my own but sometimes it is fun to stitch without thinking, writing down and planning).

I also made Sally on of the needle keepers out of my book, 'Pieces of Me'. I HAD to make the one with the tree because I just LOVE trees.

I had already sent Sally a copy of my book when it was released, so asked my dear friend Natalie to sign a copy of her book for Sally, which she happily did, so that was added to the gift as well. Thank you Natalie x

I also made one of my Christmas Wreaths for Sally - I had a lovely afternoon with my friend Beth (who also participates in this swap with one of Sally's friends), so happily added that to the package as well.

Added to the box of goodies was a Christmas decoration for each of her children, a special unpicker that I purchased for Sally, some Robert Gordon decorative spoons,a few extra Christmas decorations and a felt tree brooch (more about the brooches soon). Here are a few shots of everything together...

So there you have it, my Christmas swap bundle for Sally. I am so thankful to Sally for this wonderful swap and I can't wait to do it again next year. Come back soon for part two to see all of the goodies Sally sent to me - I was very spoiled. xx Janelle

Christmas swap time...

For those of you who have followed my blog for a while now may remember that each Christmas I swap a box of gifts with my friend Sally in Victoria. This year marked our 10th swap - and was once again a very exciting and much anticipated part of my lead up to Christmas.

Throughout the year, we make and/or purchase gifts for each other that we put together as a gift, ready to send on December one. Then together with my friend Beth (who swaps with Sally's friend), we open our boxes together and ooh and ahh over all of the gorgeous goodies we find inside. This year, we had our very own photographer to capture our gift opening - a big thank you to Emily for taking such great photos for us.

I thought it would be fun to once again share our swap with you. Firstly here are some photos of the goodies that I posted to Sally. I was REALLY nervous about it this year, and I am not even sure why. She ended up with quite a mixed bag from me, with no real theme, just things that I loved and hoped she would too.

 

This year I sent Sally two bags, one was my Audrey bag and the other was the bag that Annie Downs designed and taught at Nowra when we taught together back in August. Annie and I swapped our patterns with each other on that weekend and I came home and excitedly stitched her bag - but I couldn't share it on my blog because Sally might have seen it, so here is a closeup now that Sally has her bag.

It was a gorgeous bag to make and I am pretty sure Annie will be releasing it as a book soon too.

And here is a close up of the Audrey bag that I made for Sally - the exact colours that Sally uses in her home, so I am really glad about that too.

Beth and I had a wonderful time opening our boxes last week and were thrilled with each gift we received. I am SO very blessed to have found Sally through this swap all those years ago - thank you SO much Sally for making my Christmas so much more exciting!

Here is Beth and I in front of our tree at home, holding the gorgeous red Christmas bells that we both received in our box of goodies.

And here are the gifts Sally sent to me - ALL gorgeous!! Thank you SO much Sally, I LOVE them all so very very much.

As you can see, I was totally spoiled by Sally and I have taken great pleasure in looking at my gifts over and over again. Sally and her group of friends opened their gifts on Friday night and I am happy to say that Sally was really happy with everything I sent her too - phew!

If you would like to see our swap from last year, take a look here...

Thanks for sharing all about our swap with me - I will be back soon with a very late update on my December Daily pages and much more to share... x Janelle