Sunday, February 21, 2016

Handmade Love Swap

I was gonna mention this in my post yesterday, but since one of the requirements for this swap is to have a post on it once you've been accepted, I thought I'd wait to see if I'd been accepted.
I haven't done this swap before, but I also haven't been disappointed in any swap I've done with CG Swaps. I've also been wanting to do a swap for awhile.
So, I decided to sign up for the Handmade Love Etsy Swap after mulling over it for a few days, and I just got the email not so long ago, that I was accepted.
Handmade Love Etsy Swap
For this swap you send a package worth $15-$30, containing at least one item from your partners Etsy wishlist and other goodies that are recommended to be handmade.

The reason it took me so long to sign up is, I'm moving in August, and I don't need more stuff, and that's what you get in swaps. But, the fact that I love swaps won out. I love finding the perfect item for someone else, and I love getting the perfect item from someone else. Plus, this one encourages you to make things. And I've been itching to do a swap where I make something cool for my partner.

Some more info on the swap:
Sign-ups started last Monday, February 15th.
Sign-ups will end tomorrow Monday, February 22nd.
Partners will be assigned this Wednesday, February 24th.
Packages must be mailed by March 12th
Swap posts linky opens on March 16th.

I really do love Chaotic Goddesses swaps. I've participated in their 12 Days of Christmas swap since the first year I found it, about 3 years ago, I think?  I love reading about what other people get in their swaps even when I don't participate. They just finished a Book and a Cuppa swap not too long ago, where people swap mugs, books and other goodies. While I really love reading about this, I never participate? I do love books, you should know this by now if you're a regular reader (I work in a library). But, since I work in a library, I always have waaay too many books checked out and waiting to be read, so I don't own a ton of books. I also don't use mugs that much. I just recently started drinking chai lattes on the mornings I have to open at the library (and I need to find a little more variety on those), but I have one cup that I use, wash and use a few days later. So, I just don't bother with that swap, though it is very fun to read about what other people have gotten.

I'm always open to swaps, and I've noticed that since I cut back on swaps because I didn't have much extra money to spend, I'm more bummed out. I was hoping that by joining more swaps it would help brighten up my life. I'm also looking for more creative, handmade swaps, if anyone knows of any, let me know.

I've noticed there's very few posts about this swap on the linky, so please people, sign up, I know it will be fun.

Saturday, February 20, 2016

odds and ends

It's been way too long, I apologize. I just haven't had much to write about, I don't have a lot of pictures either.
I had a doctor's visit in January, I haven't seen the doctor regularly due to my health coverage. When I saw my doctor a few years ago, they did bloodwork, when I went in this year, she said my cholesterol was a bit high, so I'm supposed to be lowering it. I googled it a little, but I'm still not totally sure what's good to lower your cholesterol, anyone got any suggestions?
I have been enjoying the part of being salaried where you get paid the same amount of every paycheck. It's been very nice to pay all my bills at the beginning of the month and still have money left over.
Most of the month of January, I've been working at one of my temporary jobs, putting that with my regular job at the library, it was very tiring.
I have gotten myself one of the Pop! figurines:
 Snarf from Thundercats, a cartoon from when I was a kid in the 80's, is in the upper left corner. I've been wanting one of these figures, but I didn't want just any one. Me and a friend went to a local comics store, that has a ton of them, when I saw Snarf, I knew he was the one. I also picked up some blind bags that included Groot, Raphael, the Cheshire cat, and Mowgli.  I spent way too much money on random things that day.
Saw this on the way to work one day:
 It was shortly after one of our snowfalls, the next day when I walked by it, it was mostly melted.
Found these panther sculptures on ISU campus one day:
 My muse finally came back, so I created a few Valentines:
The rest and how/what I made them out of are on my art blog, here.

The end of this week we are enjoying very high temperatures, yesterday the high was in the upper 50's. I'm ready for the end of winter. I'm loving that everything is melting. I know there's still more winter, and we may get more heavy snow, but I am loving the warmer temperatures.

I've been bored of everything lately. I'm not sure why. I plan my weekly grocery trips around what's on sale at the store, I think that might be part of it. I might splurge on something next week, to see if that helps.