cherry kingdom

Ahhh..Sunday, the loveliest day of the week, don't you think? Esp. in Autumn. Crisp morning air, church bells ringing, the smell of American husbands coffee brewing, my lovely kitty comes home and it's a day of rest, or play, mostly just loving and catching up...I have been behind on so many things, I mean really behind...rambling pieces of this and that tumbling through my head, things that are a year past, or more...one day blends to the next...I think how should I do this? Manage to catch up? Emotionally, Intellectually, Spiritually, Financially, Physically...one day at a time, it's the only way, starting today...no small feat to keep up with the present while catching up the past... So I'll start with a lovely gift of a person...Terri from "Blooming Ideas". She had reached out to me after reading a post of mine concerning my disappointment for not having been able to participate in an "Alice in Wonderland Swap"... check out her heart and her blog here: http://terrisbloomingideas.blogspot.com/

She asked me if I wanted to swap privately as she had an extra...I'm going to use her pic's as hers are better, and pictures already don't do justice to the beauty.

This is what she sent me:

This is what I sent her:

But what was really exchanged was a little piece of each others heart...I couldn't believe she reached out to me with such generosity in the first place! She and I have been having a provocative discussion on swapping. I have to say I totally agree with her on things she's discussed in recent post. Swapping for me is the exchange of little pieces of each others world. What you send for better or worse tells a little story of who you are, not so much in your style or art abilities as much as who you "really" are...are you generous, respectful, thoughtful...these words can be redefined as, did you send your swap on time, sometimes things do happen, but did you communicate honestly, which is where the respect and generosity come in. We are all intelligent human beings so if your response lacked, lets say...um... moral integrity...it comes through, I think we've all probably been in situations where the communication was less than truthful from our partner and we knew it! Greedy stinkers are always seen coming from a mile away! It is this topic that make the generous of heart shrink away and not want to participate, which I am saddened by...it is at that moment that we all lose...the disappointment of having a greedy stinker for a partner is ...well, just that! You've spent so much of your time, resources and heart making sure that your partner gets a spectacular gift, only to find out one way or another that you inadvertently got hooked up with a "Greedy Stinker" I think I should try to make a button that says, "no greedy stinkers!" Terri also said something cool...she said, "Art shouldn't hurt", which is what happens when your in this situation, it hurts! And she is absolutely right! I think that should be a button too! All of this said, I want to acknowledge all of the amazing hostess' out there who also give so much to all of us to make these swaps happen, and it is in no way a reflection on all of them who do their best to give us safe swap zones! So huge "THANK YOU AND KUDOS!" to all of you...you know who you are!!! And thank you Terri for your generosity of spirit and sharing a little piece of your world with me! Moving on, I've promised for a few weeks to post what I rec from the "Fall Tin Swap", (ugh hum...Linda, from "A Swap for all Seasons is one of those amazingly generous hostess'), and my "Circus Swap" lucky for me Julie from "Cupcake DD" and my partner was sooo much fun! Here is my circus swap items sent from Julie:

All kinds of yum yums in every shape and size...

The cute little circus cart she made for me...

The back of the cart... Thank you Julie, you were a truly fun hostess and partner!

And now for my "Altered Tin Swap" items:

Little owl tin...

With other Halloween trinkets...

Speaking of..."A Swap for all Seasons" has started the next new swap...you might want to check it out... And as this has been entirely too long of a post and I've worn myself out...it's time for a nap with visions of sugar plums! Have a blessed day good citizens of blog land!

XO

Keke