Halloween Swap: What I Received

Yes, I know I should probably be posting holiday themed posts but if I don't post what I received for my Halloween Swap I might never get to it. Pictured below is all the awesome goodies I received from my swap partner Tanya.

Tanya made everything herself. I got a Halloween themed tree, a skull head candle holder, a beautiful skull bracelet, and a haunted house that lights up.

For the Halloween themed tree, Tanya repurposed an old door knob. It's a great addition to my Halloween cemetery decorations.

I love all the detail Tanya put into this awesome candle holder. Details include the book she chose, "The Book of Shadows," roughing up of the book, the spiderweb stamping on the sides, the pearls in the eyes, etc. It makes me feel special that all this work was done for me.

This bracelet has become one of my favorite accessories. I love the colors used, the different shades of purple and the grey. Even with the skulls, which are my favorite part, it still has a girlie feel to it. It is totally my type of jewelry.

Here's another awesome repurposed goody I received. Tanya found this haunted house that light ups and painted it black, added glitter, and the little skull beads on top. Another great addition for the cemetery scene I put up for Halloween.

Isn't everything I received just awesome!?!? Thank you again Tanya! Okay, okay. I'll let you guys return to your holiday posts; however, I hope you enjoyed this post.

Halloween Swap: What I Gave

I did a private Halloween swap with my friend Tanya, whom I meet through a Christmas swap last year. She actually lived on my street as teenager and now lives in San Diego. Our paths were meant to cross. Tanya has become a part of my family now and we absolutely love her! Unlike other swaps were packages are mailed, we exchanged our gifts in person.

This is what I gave Tanya. Below are some pictures I took while making her goodies.

Spider Printed Kitchen Towel

I made an easy stamp out of craft foam. 

I glued the foam stamp onto a thick piece of plastic and stamped it onto a white kitchen towel. I made two towels and had to make one stamp for each. This type of stamp isn't for continual use but it works for this busy mama and it got the job done.

Spider printed kitchen towels completed. These towels were inspired by a DIY on Pinterest.

Blessed Canvas by Little L

Tanya loves fall and Lily loves to paint, so I had Lily use fall colors to paint a fall inspired canvas for Tanya. 

Here is Lily's complete part of this project. She used her fingerprints, footprints, paintbrushes, and q-tips to paint on the canvas.

I ruined the surprise and told Tanya this canvas was for her and I asked her what word she would like painted on it. She chose, "blessed."

Pumpkin Stained Glass Kit

I purchased this pumpkin stained glass kit at Joann's. I had to keep adding more beads while baking it. It wasn't my favorite project but I loved the outcome. 

Huge Fly Magnets

I made fly magnets just like these a few years ago for a Halloween party I through. Since I was going for a kitchen themed type swap for Tanya, I thought the magnets would look awesome on her refrigerator. I was glad I saw something like these magnets pinned on her Pinterest after I had made them. 

Halloween Scene on Wooden Spoon

 I saw some Halloween scene pins on Tanya's Pinterest and I started pinning more myself to inspire me to create my own scene for this wooden spoon. I purchased a regular spoon and had my husband sand off the logo. I loved making this. I'm going to start painting on spoons more often. The cookies are pumpkin sugar cookies; I got the recipe from her Pinterest too.

Here's a closer look the painted Halloween scene.

I painted little dots around the spoon's handle to make it look like stars. The stars are my favorite thing about the spoon because it leads your eyes towards the Halloween scene.

It's A Wrap!

 On my last swap, I added pins onto each wrapped package. I liked the way it looked so I did the same here. I plan to do this whenever possible, making it my "thing."

I hope you had a fun and safe Halloween yesterday. I plan to share all the goodies Tanya gave me for our Halloween swap soon.