when the Choc Nut and Christmas islander blogs within the breeze of the Gulf

Dear Emma,

Everything in the package is pretty. I couldn’t decide which one to touch first. Until I reached the bottom of the box and saw the native Canadian chocolates. The toffee crunch was gone in 15 minutes . I’m in the midst of deciding which photos to put in the bracelet and creamy frames. I can’t wait to resume scrapbooking. I just want to keep the pretty cards. I’m having fun pulling the origami. I’ll try to create an occasion to wear the purple earrings (yours is orange, right?). I’m about to finish the black chocolate (*grins*)

Your happy creative swap partner,
witsandnuts

For the May-June Creative Swap, I crocheted an iPhone/iPod/iTouch jacket (or any other purpose as long as it will fit in) for my swap partner. The body comes in purple, contrasted by a baby pink. The crocheted flower and letter C (first letter of the recipient’s nick) were patched in using a camouflage thread.

I also sent her a postcard showing the primary areas in Abu Dhabi, chocolate dates with almond (the packaging comes ala Hershey’s kisses), bookmarks and cooking stickers.

I remembered that we have the same birth month, hence, I also included in the package a posh crossword puzzle (ala Moleskine) and a shirt which has a print of “Someone who loves me very much went to Dubai* and got me this shirt” as advanced birthday presents.

*Incidentally, there’s no available tee of her size which has an Abu Dhabi print

Please join us in the next round of Creative Swap. You may check the details here or send an email to gandarynako (at) yahoo (dot) com to know more.

Wednesday of last week started so right. The creative swap haul sent by my partner arrived. Immediately I munched on the galletas (that little pack of bread-crackers, that’s how we call it in Laguna). It reminded me so much of my late grandparents. I remember they normally dip that in black coffee. I also got banana chips, a tri-color yarn, handmade stickers (I’m using soon), and of course that neatly wrapped big surprise. When I read her letter, I really thought she read my mind.

She wrote,

“Since you love to travel and you love shoes, I made a shoe bag for you to put your beloved shoes inside when you are on the go….

…and to make it more special, I also made a shoe stuffer so your shoes won’t be deformed while traveling.”

As I told her (in the email), I was thinking of making/buying a shoe bag and stuffer. These came just in time.

(The shoe bag and shoe stuffer. Minus the shoes. I was just trying to fit in my current favorite pair.)

Further, she wrote,

I hope you’re a Twilight fan because I named this “The Twilight Shoe Companion”.

Ang galing! The color and fabric aptly matched my Twilight shoes. Yes, this pair is still alive.

Thank you again, Bem. And it made me feel more special and luckier when I learned who became your assistant while working on this one.

Creative Swap is hosted by Caryn.

I’ve been sorting my photos and realized that I’ve not yet posted a few related to creative swap. My second creative swap partners were Odette (I stitched some warmth last year) and Jeanny, whose sweet surprise came to Abu Dhabi while I was already in Manila for a vacation. As I opened it last January, I immediately munched on the dried mangoes and consumed the gel pens – cocoa and orange flavors. I liked the pens a lot that I even sent her an email the day the ink bid adieu. Everything in the package were carefully selected and/or prepared, from the self-made greeting card, letter, cellphone purse (nice colors!), magnetic bookmarks to nutella sachy. Incidentally, I was her first creative swap partner. Big thanks, Jeanny.

For the February-March swap, I used a tri-color yarn to crochet this coin purse or whichever purpose this will make.

I also included in the package a camel track card, 23 Asian cut out characters that can be used in scrapbooking and other artwork, and Arabian coffee and tea. And because my swap partner has just celebrated her birthday, I thought of giving her this classic Don’ts for Wives written in 1913. From the remaining yarn, I made a crocheted bookmark to go with this pocketbook/any book.

Creative Swap is hosted by Caryn. Join us in the next round!

Finally I was able to send out the package for my creative swap partner last Sunday.  Before the November swap, I thought of pulling the yarn again.  But when Caryn announced my swap partner, I immediately changed plans and already knew what is more practical to pull out instead.  I searched for a neat warmer from Ikea.  No second thoughts when I saw this warmer slash blanket.  It comes in three colors (navy blue, red and white).  I found the white one most pleasing, aside from the fact that the texture is so huggable.
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