Love Letters in Waiting

While I was away, there were many love letters arriving at the homestead. I came home to a table full of boxes and envelopes. What a wonderful welcome home. I wish I had taken a picture of the kitchen table. It was chock-full of things. In my jet-lagged stupor, all I could concentrate on was taking a shower and crawling into bed. The next morning, too excited to wait, I opened everything (including my jewels from the trip, which I will share a little later) awaiting me.

First I opened the envelopes, just like Christmas morning. My first love letter was from Shelley. She sent me the sweetest note and note pad with a Mary Engelbreit motif on it. I love ME! Shelley is just the sweetest. I already have it up on the fridge for when I need to make a note to myself--which is quite often these days!



Then I turned to a padded envelope from a friend in the ATC group that I'm a member of. Jane and I swapped three Halloween ATCs as my first introduction to the group. Hers put mine to shame. They are absolute pieces of art! The technique she used in layering is amazing. My fav was the Joker. I love the ribbon. She also put a little bonus in of a chunky book page. I had never even heard of a chunky book! Lord, I have a lot of learning to do! I'm taking some pointers from her beautiful work. Thank you Jane!!

My next envelope was an unexpected one. From the same group came a breathtaking Christmas tag and another ATC from Candy. Look at the cute pug on the ATC. It says, "I kiss my dog on the lips." hehe. Even her envelope was hand made. Lovely, indeed. Thank you, Candy.

Then on to my last envelope. It contained three "black cat" ATCs from a Swap-bot swap. Aren't they fab! Love them. I'm beginning to have a nice collection, aren't I? (Oops, that reminds me, I need to check in with Swap-bot!)





And then, I was on to the boxes! I opened my overseas box first! Duh. It was from Tara. I knew it was the item I won from Peggy's auction, a antique French religious item. How exciting. Well, Tara didn't stop at just the auction item. She included a wonderful book "Putting the heart in Your Home," (can't wait to delve into that) an antique tin mold and a box of Fisherman's Friends lozenges (which I used after arriving home with a dry throat). And then there was this little antique bottle and a lovely bouquet of lavender. I put the little bottle and lavender in with my French wash table and it looks absolutely brilliant! The framed religious piece is already hanging by my fireplace.

Another box had come in with an order from European Papers for some art supplies. I just opened that today and need to get to work on using these wonderful little goodies!

My last box, I'm going to save for another post. It is from Natalie Sarabella herself. Can't wait, can you? grin.