Day 8

Our displaced-Canadian friend,
the lovely, the talented, Kim Mailhot who is currently living

in the US, is responsible for these intriguing gifts.

Inside the heart shaped paper basket is a tiny treasure which we will open up on Day 8. Love the stamp on your cards, don't you? Wonder if Kim carved it herself.

Day 7

The "fun" with the postal service continues
on Day 7 with
Dawn Supina of Edmonton.

She had to take one item out of the "mail out" gifties.

Being the frugal gal that she is, she saved $9 per parcel by taking a part of the gift out


before sending them through good old Canada Post. Not to worry though, the handmade portion of her gift will be received by everyone in the swap. The mail outs are pictured on the lower left and the Edmonton gifts are on the upper right.

Day 6

Laura Youngren of Coaldale, Alberta has been busy, busy, after meeting the Canada Post Boogieman! It's such a pain to be restricted by the size and weight of an art piece, but Laura graciously started back at the very beginning and has created a new gift for us to open on Day 6.

Swaps are always fun ~ especially participating in one's very first swap. It's a scary/fun experience., but hang in there Laura, it'll all make sense eventually.

Day 5

Wintery white packages await us to open on Day 5 thanks to Vanessa Travnik of Wetaskiwin, Alberta.

She has carefully tucked surprises inside these packages and written different quotes on the outside.

Day 4

It's a pretty peek-a-boo gift from Lisa Eriksson of Edmonton for Day 4.

Is the suspense gettin' to you yet?

Day 3

Martha Brown (aka Em) delivers up some pretty-in-pink gifts.

Almost too pretty to open, but don't worry, I'm sure they'll be eagerly attacked on Day 3!

Day 2

Holly Gullion (aka Arlene's little seester)
is our Day 2 gift giver.

As they say: Good things come in little packages ~ and this pretty-in-pink box is sure to hold a special treasure in it.

Wonder what she has created for us...?

Day 1

Today Mar Gray of Guelph Ontario presents us
with a sweetheart of a gift.
We don't have a clue what treasure it contains,
but we all look forward to February 4th
when the unwrapping frenzie begins!

Be my Valentine, eh?

Hello ladies ~ this is a test.
I've set this up so you will automatically
receive an email with an update when I write on
the Canadian Valentine Swap blog.

You can also get to this blog
at your convenience anytime by entering
www.canadianvalentine.blogspot.com
(if you want to experience the whole bloggy experience)

Only 14 more days until we start showing
our wrapped gifties. Yay!

And the fun begins ...

Don't mean to frighten you, but it's a mere 25 days until mail out deadline for the swap!

The worst part of a swap is usually the Inspiration Phase. Trying to come up with an artsy idea that is mailable and something that the other people in the swap will enjoy receiving can be rather stressful. Oh the pressure!

Once inspiration hits and the idea formulates in your mind, the Creation Phase should be one of the most enjoyable parts of this whole thing. After all, if you're a mixed media artist by choice, then you probably actually like doing the work. Oh such fun!

The third part, the Mailing Out Phase can be a chore. Making sure you have the correct address and postage, not forgetting to place the gift in a Ziplock and wrapping it ever so carefully helping to assure it will arrive safely at it's destination. Oh the trauma!

Next comes the Waiting Phase. This is sometimes the hardest. We eagerly await the arrival of each gift and if all goes well, everyone receives their treasures in time for the 5th of February. But even once all the gifts arrive there's more waiting. Oh the grief!

And then the first day of unwrapping the gifts arrives. This is the Fun Phase as each day we open the gifts from our friends to admire their creativity. Oh the joy!

Finally, there's the Bittersweet Phase: once the swap is over and all the thank yous have been said, we wrap things up for the year. Hopefully some new friendships will be established and people will be asking ... are we going to do this again?!
Oh the suspense!