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!