Creative Bag Swap Congratulations!

I have great news! All of the creative bags for our swap have been packaged up and were MAILED today, phew! I forgot that it is always a little bit of a challenge to package such varied types of items . . . . but was it worth it? Yes! I hope you all enjoy the swaps I made for you and you like what you receive as I tried to pair you with someone who's art & creativity I thought you would enjoy. This time, whomever you received a creative bag from, has your bag. It was an equal swap 1 for 1 with no switching around to make things work out. Too cool!

Speaking of CREATIVITY, I have a First & Second Prize to award two participants in this swap. Was this hard to do? YES!! There were so many really creative bags . . . you all did fantastic. The 1st prize for the most creative bag is awarded to Catherine van der Hoeff from the Netherlands. YAY!
I had some ideas of a winner before Catherine's bag arrived, but when it did I knew hers was the one! The felting, beading, sequins, bells, the button fairies - oh MY! I think Catherine's bag really stands out and she really deserved first prize! ~ : ^ ) A close up of her bag is above right . . . and her prize is below. I gathered fabrics I thought she would like, a pattern for fabric bags, bits of my favorite marbled paper, and some fabric images from Alpha Stamps.







I am awarding the SECOND place runner up prize for most creative bag to Mercedes Jiménez Campuzano of Madrid, Spain!

Oh my, Mercedes bag has so much stitching and detail . . .
just beautiful! See the bag to the right.


You can read more about it in my original post or directly on Mercedes' blog . There is a translator on her blog if you do not speak Spanish! For Mercedes' prize I gathered together fabrics and lace I thought she might like; see below - click on any photo for more detail.














Congratulations to everyone on a succesful and beautifully creative swap.
I may orchestrate it, but YOU create it!
NEW SWAPS will not be announced until I return from visiting my parents in Florida; around March 12th, but there is a teaser in the sidebar to the right about what's to come.

yours, creatively, lenna

Creative Bag Swap: Catherine van der Hoeff

Sorry to be a little late in uploading our last creative bag. Here is Catherine's bag, all the way from the Netherlands; I am so glad it made it as it is such a beautiful felted bag. Catherine's note to me, enclosed with her bag, said that she put wool and silk rovings on a scarf and felted everything together. You can see some of the original scarf hanging off either side of her bag. I don't know anything about felting really, but I do love the look!

Catherine also wrote, "When I saw the little button faeries on the ARTchix site I knew I had to make some and find them a good home (. . . or garden!). " There are 2 little button fairies on Catherine's bag, click on the photo to see them better.

Now that ALL the bags are in my hands, I have made my decision on the most creative bag in this swap and a runner up, and I have a prize for both . . . even though you ALL were so creative! As I told the participants in an email, this swap was really amazing as far as creativity - thank you!

I will wait to make the announcement of the winners until ALL the bags are packaged & on their way back to you, hopefully by late tomorrow - check back here please! below, a few more photos of Catherine's felted bag . . . . . (the back and inside, below)

The alphabet beads she added spell out "PICK MORE DAISIES" : ^ )

Creative Bag Swap: Melissa Woolsey

From Melissa Woolsey in OR, A wonderful ART satchel to hold your supplies in!

This is that last bag I received in the mail on Saturday. Catherine Van der Hoff from the Netherlands sent her bag out on February 13th, and that is the one bag I am missing. Parcels to the US usually take a week to 10 days or so, and Saturday marked 9 mailing days. What I am going to do is start to swap these bags out, meaning match them up, tomorrow. I like to try to match you up with someone I think whose work you will appreciate! But if I need to, I may hold a few pieces back for a day or two to see if I can make a swap happen for Catherine. She has been in my swaps previously and has always been very conscientious. If a day or 2 go by and her package is not here, I will send the remaining ones out. I hope this is acceptable to you. I am strict about due dates but would rather bend a little in this case!!

OH! And I will award a first place and a 2nd place runner up with a prize for the most creative bags! That announce will come before all the bags are sent out!
Here are more photos of Melissa's tote, and I want to THANK YOU ALL for participating. If you click on the "creative Bags" tag you can view ALL of the bags that have come in. I would say this swap has excelled most swaps I have hosted because of the creativity displayed. Each package was like opening up a surprise, what would it be?? EACH bag was different from the next, it has been amazing! I am going to have a difficult time picking a first & second prize for most creative . . . . till then! xo lenna

Creative Bag Swap: Rena Matus

Rena dropped off this COoL cigar box purse yesterday, as she does not live far from me here in CT. Rena painted the cigar box, added hardware, decorative stamped paper and rubber stamping, beads and a red satin lining!! wow.

Thanks, Rena!!


You can click on any photo for more details.

Creative Bag Swap: Linda Garcia

Linda Garcia from New Mexico came up with a fabulous idea to Rubber Stamp 2 purchased bags with permanent ink for our swap. They reflect her love of the Southwest, where she resides. I think this was such a great idea!

She has stamped both sides of this bag.

Here is her second bag . . . .

AND, she decorated a bag for me with 2 ATCs and a cute little Gecko all decorated with wire & paint!! Click on it to see it better. . . Awesome, Linda, Thank you!!

Creative Bag Swap: Judy Bernard

From Judy Bernard in LA, another creative bag! I believe Judy crocheted this bag . . . or maybe she knit it? I am not sure. Judy will have to clue us in! (check out the comments!)



Click on the photo to see more details of the great bag Judy made. I love the additions of beads & buttons . . . and the clear handle is fab! Thanks, Judy!

Creative Bag Swap: Cynthia Weed

From the creative Miz Cynthia Weed in WY, we have a delicious Cowgirl Bag! I love the green checker paper bag Cynthia placed her bag in. It greets the receiver of the bag with these words: Best Wishes from Cynthia Weed - A School Teacher in Wyoming : ^ )

Here are a few more photos, please click on them for details. The back of Cynthia's bag is loaded with "Cowgirl Wisdom" and you can just about read it when you enlarge the photo, plus then you can see that Cynthia put a lot of work into this beautiful bag.

Very cool! Thanks so much Miz Weed!

Creative Bag Swap: Melinda Fulkerson

From Melinda Fulkerson in GA, we have an elegant quilted evening bag with a snap closure. Melinda slipped a card inside the bag that said, "Quilting by Melinda" Long Arm Machine Quilting . . . this bag is so beautiful! The stitches Melinda used are amazing. Thanks very much for participating in this swap Melinda!!

Creative Bag Swap: Cathy Johnson

From Cathy Johnson in Texas, a bright & beautiful Quilted bag! Visit Cathy's blog, Altered Fabrications to read more about her bag. Thank you, Cathy. So glad you joined this swap!



A close up is below -click on any photo for more details.

Creative Bag Swap: Heather Alwaisi

Heather Alwaisi in Coon Rapids MN has sent in this hand knitted bag she created just for our swap!

It's so lovely! The yarn is nice & thick so the bag is sturdy. Here is another shot of it, sitting on my desk; click on any photo for more detail. Thanks so much, Heather!

Alpha Stamp/Tallulah's Swap: Patricia Schweitzer

From Patricia Schweitzer in Kentucky, we have received some wonderful and dimensional cards for our Alpha Stamps Tallulah's Swap! She did lots of cutting, trimming & positioning of embossed vintage images to coordinate with the beautiful Tallulah's images of Lina Cavalieri.



Thank you, Patricia! See a close-up below!

White Quilties! ~ Vicki Page

Look at this beautiful package of Shades of White Quilties for our swap from Vicki Page ~thank you!!


Then, take a look at all the 6x6 inch quilties that Vicki made below -click on any photo for a larger more detailed photo:

** Now, I think I have figured out which quiltie you made as a gift for me, Vicki . . . is it the one with the stars in the sky??


Vicki wrote me an email where she explained her process: "These quilties were made by painting muslin with a shiney white paint then adding two different colors of glitter. Then is used some different mesh or tulle fabric ironed on some wonder under then ironed that on top of the painted surface. The rest of the quiltie was made from some old antique laces that I've collected at auctions, flea markets and antique shops over the past 5 years. Just love the stuff! Once I got into the box of my old laces I couldn't believe how much of it I had. Must have a addiction for the stuff! Some of the laces are also new, and some of it I tried tea staining and coffee staining. Just playing around but sure enjoyed it. I saw this technique in one of my magazines so had to give it a try."

Creative Bag Swap: Vicki Page

This creative bag is from Vicki Page in Cottage Grove, WI. I think both the bright fabric & the bamboo handles are faboo! Vicki has also done some beading, she's added fibers, plus she's made a Velcro closure on the inside top of the bag. I just found her email where she told me more about creating this bag:

"The purse I made is a pattern from Amy Butler then I added my own spin for the handles. The design on the purse: I used different yarns using a fabric spray to glue them down put washable sulky over the top and sewed a graph across the yarns to catch all of them. Then washed the sulky out and added some beads. The theme I used was "Under the Tuscon Sun" hopefully you see that within the beaded design of the purse and the fabric I choose."

Click on any of my photos of her bag for more details - Thanks, Vicki!

Creative Bag Swap: Donna Eck

From Donna Eck in San Jose, CA we have the cutest little Sushi Bag!! So original, Donna! You will see Donna has beaded some of the images, lined the bag, added a ribbon handle, and a cool little butterfly tassle to the zipper pull. Donna fabric art designs can be found in her etsy shop that she shares with a silver jewelry designer!

Here are more views of Donna's bag -- of course, click on any photo for more detail!

more updates tomorrow!

As of today I have also received creative bags from Donna Eck and Vicki Page, plus shades of White Quilties from Vicki Page and a wonderful package of cards for the Tallulah's swap for Patricia Schweitzer, whew! Tomorrow, I will finish those uploads & see what else arrives in my mailbox : )) lenna

Creative Bag Swap: Kitty Mitchell

Oh my! Kitty Mitchell from New York has sent in a gorgeous painted canvas sachel for our swap!! I think this is a very creative approach to our bag swap and I love what Kitty has done. Her painting is wonderful and on top of that she has added some fibers and real shells. Very cool!

I will add some additional photos below; click for more detail. Thanks so very much, Kitty!













A close up below: