Seaside swap

This week has a seaside theme. Loving all things seaside, I couldn't resist taking part in a seaside swap organised by Contented. I enjoy taking part in these handmade swaps, it's inspiring seeing seeing the different ways interpret the theme and all the inventive handmade crafts that emerge. I also like the challenge of thinking of things to include. My partner was imagingermonkey, who makes beautiful quilts. She applied these skills to creating a lovely picture for me - I love it, I like the worn denim sea.

My parcel arrived as I was on my way to Craftwerk and I couldn't resist a peek before I set out. Lucky I did as the bucket was immediately put to use to display my new bunting anklets on my stall.

I love all my swap gifts, I'm a fan of glue&glitter, and it was nice to see both me and my swap partner associate cups of tea with the seaside (I sent her some teacup buttons on a cafe postcard) and the different seaside buttons we found.

These are some of the things I sent her. You can just see the Solitaire postcard peeking out and some ephemera including seaglass and a Blackpool tram ticket.

I found out she liked Norfolk and Suffolk, so made her one of my seaside purses from the area and used the opportunity to try out a new seaside bag design.

I also found an old postcard from one of her favorite seaside spots. I had trouble finding seaside sweets in south London that didn't contain beef, but I think the coconut ice I found fits the bill. It's pink and sweet and one of those things I always wanted from the pier when I was little. I was so pleased to see the sherbet fountain in my parcel. I had just seen that those shortsighted Barratt people have change the packaging to a horrible plastic tube and wondered where I was going to find an old paper packet. This joins my gallery of sweets past (so far a smarties tube!).

And this was an opportunity to buy some seasidey gifts from fellow folksters, so my bag of goodies included Ilike postcards and a Treaclezoo lolly brooch as well as some seaside inspired buttons I added to my own seaside pics. It seems we have similar tastes as I also received some Ilike postcards back! Perfect as I love these but wouldn't have bought them for myself. Thank you! Seasidey wishes for you!