My first Swap!

OK, I have absolutely OODLES of vacation entries to write, but they all get pre-empted by this:

I signed up for a swap over at Morning Glories and Moonflowers, back in June. I've never done a swap before, but this is a blog that my cousin writes, and it's been positively AGES since we've connected. (Like, before we were married, ages! Well, except that I made her daughter a quilt when she was born, but that was way back in my crafty-and-productive phase when I only had one kid). I'm happy to be getting back into contact with her, and, through her, with her family, who reads her blog, and now reads mine, too.

Anyways, she hosted a blog-swap, and it was for 'daughters of bloggers'. So I signed Kelly up, and I was thrilled to be paired up with her daughter. So the second-cousins (or the twice-removeds, depending on if you use English or German genealogy lingo, apparently) will have a chance to get to know each other.

When we were up in Canada, Kelly and I put together a little parcel of goodies for Amanda. Some things we'd bought while we were still home in California, and some stuff that we picked up in Canada. And, since we were visiting with my Nana (also my cousin's grandmother), I got some of her hand-embroidered linens, and her hand-crocheted doilies to bulk up the package. Because it's NEVER too soon to start your Hope Chest.

Thanks, Nana. (You look pretty fly for a 94 year old chick. I hope I age as gracefully!)

Kelly's parcel arrived yesterday. She was in girly-girl heaven, as she'd (of course) forgotten that it was coming.

There was a great kid-friendly lantern, perfect for bug collecting at night.

Amanda and her mom had made Kelly a great tote bag. And inside, where you can't see, is a great animal encyclopedia. Honestly, you can NEVER have too many animal encyclopedias!

And they made her flip-flops!

And under a mountain of lovely purple tissue paper, there was a giant box of Nerds (her favourite!) and a Littlest Pet Shop baby butterfly pet.

So now Kelly is completely sold on the idea of gift swaps. I guess I'll have to keep my eyes open for the next one. Thankyou for hosting this, my best favourite cousin. This was a wonderful experience for both of us.