malinmaskros

but now it´s here! I got my package from Charlene in Singapore today, and it was so lovely! I haven´t done very much kawaii lately, but her package really hit home, everything was so perfect! I got: a San-X frog bento (it´s green! I love getting bentos that aren´t pink, because I´ve got so many pink ones), a strawberry photo frame, a Rilakkuma Café file holder, memo pad and notebook, Hello Kitty condiment containers and recordable CD, mushroom fabric, pins and purs and Monokuro Boo paper clips. Everything´s on my "I love"-list, and I can´t wait to get home, and really start going through it all!
 Thank you so much, Charlene, I love it!

I got a swap package yesterday, from Iris in England. It was our second swap, and when I opened the package I was reminded why we did another one: she puts together amazing packages!
I got two hanks of white liks yarn, one hank of HipKnits sock yarn (lovely colours, can´t wait to see it on my feet!), a hank of homespun brown/white yarn, a knitting magazin, a Craft: magazine, some Cath Kidston fabric and very delicious chocolate. I felt spoiled like a princess, and loved everything! Thank you so much, Iris!

I was cutting down on swaps, I know - I said it, and I did mean it, but somehow Jan/Feb ended up filled with swaps. I just got a package from Kellie, filled with the cutest things imaginable (an aqua bento with a monkey, a memo pad, a letterset, a cram cream wash cloth, re-ment, lipsmackers and fudgsicle lipbalm and a deery lou luggage tag), I´m waiting for my vegan pal package and my vintage housekeepers package, and I´m doing another two swaps as well - the packages are pretty much finished, I´m just waiting for my partners to finish theirs as well. Oh, and I´m doing two tiny swaps in March, I´m only sending some cram cream trays. But after that, I won´t do much swapping - there are lots of other things that wants to be bought as well!

Thanks Jody, it´s a great package, as always!

I picked up three packages yesterday: the Sarah Ban Breathnach book Karla sent me (thank you Karla, it was so thoughtful!), the 50s glasses bought at Tradera (they looked terrible on me - cat´s eye glasses may work, but I think I have too look at modern, more narrow ones) and my package from Stella in Singapore, from a swap we planned almost a year ago! There were so many lovely Hello Kitty things: a radio, a fan, a soap dispenser, a lock shaped like her face, 9 decotapes, gummi kittys (yummy!), a Cinnamoroll air freshener, a mushroom softie on a stick, stickers... Lovely package! Thank you so much, Stella!



And then, my sister brought my Christmas presents from my parents, so there were lots of presents and packages in one day!

I have totally forgot, to write about my package from Shelley in Scotland, it´s been a week since I got it. It was filled with cute and useful things (stationary and candy with Nessie, very cute!), but I won´t show you just yet - believe it or not, but there´s another package on it´s way!

I got a package today, from Diane in New Jersey, USA - my long awaited and longed for mushroom knitting needles are finally here! They are so wonderful - that girl sure knows how to make them! Along with the needles came some Christmas stickers, a pink chrystal ornament (very pretty!), beads spelling my name, and two extra mushrooms for ornaments or earrings or whatever else I´d like them to be. It was a lovely package, and perfectly timed with all of my Christmas longings! Thank you so much, Diane!

I can´t believe I haven´t posted about it yet - I got my swap package from Elise in France about a week ago! I got these wonderful things - a Hello Kitty bento, some very kawaii stationary, a lovely box (what to fill it with?!), some cupcake bath bombs, key rings, lip balm... Everything very pretty, thank you so much, Elise!

Today I got my package from Chiara in Italy - yay! I love getting packages (how I´m going to survive when I cut back on my swapping, I don´t know), especially when they are as great as this one! First of all, the things came irresistable gift wrapped, second - they were really nice! Here´s what I got:
A kawaii folder, Hello Kitty paper bag, green yarn, Nutella spread, chopsticks, silicone food dividers (for bento), Hello Kitty stickers, kawaii notebook and memopads, Charmmy Kitty hear clips, candy, hand made crocheted cell phone bag, Hello Kitty key ring and Piglet digital magnetic clock. Very nice things! Thank you so much, Chiara - I had such a good time swapping with you!

I have now sent all of my swap packages for this year (except for my package to Diane, when it´s time to swap for a pair of mushroom knitting needles, and my swap with Stella in December) - my latest swapping frenzy now has time to fase out, and get a lot less frantic. Today I sent my October package to Shelley in Scotland, I sent my package to Chiara in Italy in the beginning of the week, and Elise in France recieved my package last week. Now all I have to do is to lean back and wait to recieve my packages from all of those lovely ladies - I can´t wait! And I have three months to work on Stella´s package - I´ve got a big part of it figured out already, and I already know what I´ll get Diane. It almost feels like I´m on a vacation now, very nice!

I got another package today, from Yurippe in Italy, a big package, filled with wonderful things, mostly bento related. Lovely, lovely things! There was a bento, with chopsticks, fork and spoon, a Hello Kitty oshibori (or washcloth), monkey sauce containers, pig and fish sauce bottles, lobster and fish picks, no less than 8 (eight!) muffin boxes, three Christmas and five Easter, Cram Cream trays and tote bag, Hello Kitty body lotion, sakura KitKat, Hello Kitty sweet, Winnie the Pooh cell phone sock... And there´s still more to come - Yurippe forgot to put in some sweets in the package, so that will arrive later. Thank you SO much, Yurippe, for a great package! I´m so happy I made a swapper out of you!

I got the most wonderful package today, from Jody in Singapore, it wasn´t the biggest in size, but it was so full of amazingly cute things, I don´t even know where to start. Ok, here we go: deco tape (two cram cream, one with teeth - I´m so in love with the one with teeth!), bento things (Usahana mini bento, chopsticks and chopstick case, food-, condiment- and sauce containers and strawberry bento belt), felt with cats, flower candle, Hello Kitty spoon (sooo cute), soft cat pin, stationary (one Q-Lia, one Kamio), Cinnamoroll bag, "braided" tote bag, Mamegoma purse and apple keyring from Florspace, washcloths (two kinds, both Kamio), Sanrio personalized name stickers, sticker sacks (one Mamegoma, one Q-Lia), a Poo envelope (how I love poo!), two memo pads (one Q-Lia, one with polkadots) and strawberry earrings Jody made herself. If you don´t believe it yourself, let me tell you - it´s so great! Total cute overload! Thank you so much, Jody! I think you may be the sweetest person ever!



And if that´s not all - I will recieve two more packages any day, and another two more sometimes next week, or the week after. Spoiled rotten, that´s me! But then it will calm down, no swaps in November (I thought I had one, but she doesn´t seem to do GYS anymore, the link to her blog doesn´t work), and only one on December. And one in February - I couldn´t resist doing another swap with Iris in the UK, so we decide that in the middle of the winter would be perfect - what better time for a swap pick-me-up?!

First - Lisa, Jody, thanks for your comforting words! It feels good, knowing I´m not the only one out there!

Second - I´ve got three swap packages coming, and soon I hope. It´s my bday on Friday, and I would love to recieve at least on of the packages by then, so I could pretend it´s a bday present. My package from Jody in Singapore is in fact a bday swap, but I don´t think it will be here in time - she´s waiting for the cutest Mamegoma purse to arrive (trust me, it´s worth the wait!). I don´t think the package from Elise in France will make it either, in the end of last week she said she needed another week to finish it. So my hopes are with Yurippe in Italy and those adorable muffin boxes - I hope it will get here by Friday!

Believe it or not, but I look forward to the end of the year, when I will cut back my swapping to a near nothing (I will go back to a few selected swappers (the best ones out there, I hope you all know who you are!) and do a Secret Pal or Vegan Pal, but that´s it), I have done so much swapping in the last year or so. It has been so much fun, I´ve met so much nice people, and only one package has gone lost in the mail, so it has been a wonderful experience. BUT - I´ve spent way too much money on it (limitations, what´s that?!), and it´s getting harder to make good packages. So I´ll quit while I´m ahead, and while I will thoroughly enjoy the remaining swaps, I still look forward to upcoming months, when I won´t be this swamped. Bu I know I´ll miss it, especially when the only thing coming through my mail slot is bills.

I´ve been talking about another swap with Yurippe in Italy forever, since last winter, and now it´s finally time - I´m putting together the last things for her package, and off it goes (in a couple of days, anyway). I know I´ll get some wonderful things from Yurippe, some bento muffin boxes just to mention a few, so I can´t wait! I bought her a couple of bento boxes as well, I only hope they will fit inside the package!
UPDATE: Later today: I just shipped Yurippe´s package - now it´s just the "wait-and-hope-she-liked-it"-part left. Hope she likes it!

On a completely different topic - I saw the new Harry Potter movie yesterday - very nice! Almost 2½ hours flew by! I had some complaints about things changed from the book, but overall it was really good! Oh, and one of my favourite books, The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper, is released as a film this fall! Yay!

Jody in Singapore and I have been talking about another swap for ages - since our first one in January. First, we decided to do several little swaps, and the we found out that we are both born in September, so it became a birthday swap instead, and the other day I sent her her package. I really hope she likes it, because I´ve put everything I found that I think she likes in it - since February! I can´t wait to see what she´s put in her package, because she´s done pretty much the same thing. I know I´ll get the best deco tape, with teeth, anyway.

I just got my package from Margarida in Portugal, and it was lovely, so thoughtful. There were plenty of cotton fabric (perfect for my quilt!) and ribbons, lots of chocolates, and to top it all off - she sent me home baked cookies! Can you believe that?! They are going straight into the freezer - I´ve got a birthday coming soon! Thanks a lot, Margarida, I enjoyed everything so much!

My GYS package from Margarida in Portugal is on its way, hopefully I´ll get it this week! Exciting! I´ll send her package tomorrow, I have one more thing to buy, and then off it goes - hope she´ll like it!

I just got my package from Iris in England, and it definately was a pick of England´s finest! Lovely powder blue fabric with flowers (very British, I think), multicoloured sockyarn in silk/merino, in all of my favourite colours, a copy of Rowan magazine (my first!), some chocolate, candles (hey, I live in Sweden, we worship candles over here), a book on tea... Everything was so lovely, and so perfect. Thank you so much, Iris, I really enjoyed swapping with you!

I got my swap package from Anneleen in Belgium yesterday, shipped here superfast. There were plenty of nice things - bag, earrings, necklace and more from H&M, a little rosy photoalbum (perfect print!), teabags, scented sachet, just to name a few. It was a lovely package, thanks a lot Anneleen!

I can´t even say finally, because it didn´t take that long at all - my package from Kellie in Kentucky, US, that is. And as last time, it was so wonderful, filled with kawaii goodness: Hello Kitty bento box, Easter treat holders (that is Kitty heads you can put things in), lipgloss and body glitter, Cram Cream deco tape (2 kinds!), a very cute tote bag, the cutest stationary (2 kinds!), pink fabric with silver stars for my quilt (soon, I´ll have fabric from all over the world - how great is that?!), and I think that´s all, but I may have forgotten something - there were so much cuteness! And even the package it came in was wonderful - I may have to save it, all wrapped in deco tape and kawaii stationary. Thank you sooo much, Kellie! It´s always a pleasure!



Btw, if you want to se what I sent her, click ME!