Covert Robin Mystery Gift Exchange

All gifts have been sent and received. The day is finally here when I'm allowed to share my Covert Robin Mystery Gift Exchange goodies with you!

Last month I announced that I would be participating in a new-to-me Handmade Gift Exchange being hosted by ten successful bloggers. 
During the summer of 2011 I participated in the Craftaholics Anonymous Handmade Gift Exchange and had a lovely time making an apron from vintage fabrics for my exchange buddy in CA. For that exchange we swapped gifts in pairs, each of us making a gift for the person whom would be creating something for us in return. (confusing statement.) I had a lot of fun trying to find out as much info as possible about that person in secret while she did the same for me. Since then I've wanted to participate in another exchange, but always seemed to run out of time. 

I stumbled across the Covert Robin exchange in February via imagine gnats, a crafty blog with lots of sewing happenings. The Covert Robin exchange worked a little differently than the other. This time I received a handmade gift from Holly in NY and separately sent my own presents to Amy in WI. Both swap versions were equally as fun, and I highly recommend you find one to join ASAP.

Why can't I draw cute things like this?

Fast forward to mid March and I was still in the process of figuring out what I would be making and sending along as my contribution to this crafty exchange before the 31st. Yikes. Consumed with other projects, I was caught off guard when one day the doorbell rang, my dog of course went crazy, and there on the front step was an unexpected package left by my mail lady. It wasn’t until I saw the adorable bird drawn on the package that I realized my fabulous, secret, handmade exchange gift had arrived. 

 

Inside this exciting package was something that spoke to my soul, a present I would have never thought to give myself - food, and chocolate to boot! The lovely Holly had made chocolate candy coated Oreos in fun spring, flower shapes of roses and daisies.


 






Then, to sweeten (ha!) the present even further Holly sent along extra Easter-themed cupcake decorations and napkins for me to make more goodies. All I needed to supply was a package of cake mix and some frosting.


Food. Seriously. How great is that?



So, onto my giftee, Amy. The only info I was given about my designated mystery gift exchange buddy was her name, address, and link to her family blog. I did proceed to find her on Pinterest (super ninja stalker skills in action) and expected to find myself overwhelmed with ideas. Despite Amy's lovely pins I was drawing a blank.
Creativity block or perhaps an overload? Pinterest can certainly do that to a person. Eventually I settled on a menagerie of items hoping Amy would at least like one of them.

I started with two envelope pouches. Everyone needs more pouches to store more things, right? The first envelope I made was from a raw silk, rust colored fabric and closed with a vintage button. (I'll post a tutorial on how to make these simple envelopes next week.)

On the second, mini felt envelope I practiced my non-existent embroidery skills playing with color and shapes and finishing the edges haphazardly. This smaller envelope was filled with cards that had notes, quotes, and plain ol' nice things to say and share printed on them. The printable inspirational messages I used can be found on kindovermatter.com and Operation NICE.


 
Then, because I felt I needed to add something else to the package, I made a wrap bracelet using a length of a vintage, turquoise rhinestone strand, hemp and leather cords, and a vintage, naval button. More happy Spring colors must have been on my mind.



I can't wait until I can carve out some extra time to participate in another exchange, either with one of the groups I've already exchanged with or another crew entirely. Surprises like this are always welcome!