Day 246: Bookmarks and swaps

It's been quite a week.

After three months of redundancy, zero pay, a dozen interviews and nearly as many second interviews my husband has finally had a job offer, and a pretty good one at that. He starts tomorrow so the last week has been a whirlwind of excitement, followed by logistical planning. You see I work almost full time as well, I am also a mum 24/7 because that job is the most important and doesn't stop just because of a little distance during the working day. So we juggle a lot in the snipsnaphappy household and a new job in a new area of London means a whole new routine to get us through the days as efficiently and as happily as possible.

We have a lot of help: my mum in particular steps in for two days a week to look after our little one as well as doing the nursery run for the other two days while I am at work; and my sister always throws herself into her self given role of Fun Auntie when she is visting.

So during a visit to my Dad and step-mum's this weekend (who have also helped us out in more ways than I can list here over the past few difficult months) I sewed a couple of little bookmarks to say thank-you to a few people...




One is for my best friend Bee who has recently made a very large sacrifice in order to get me hubby onto a plane next month to take part in her wedding in Cyprus. Don't worry, I got her a bottle of wine and a couple of other surprises too!

The blue one is for my sister. For my mum I made another organic cotton shopping bag, and yes she also gets wine too!

I hope they all like them. I always feel very nervous giving people handmade gifts in case they secretly think they are totally pants. Speaking of which, I am very excited and very nervous about my first ever swap!! I have read in other people's blogs about swaps which go on and I have seen pictures of the wonderful packages people send and receive. So when I found a new blog and saw that Miri, who writes it, was organising a swap I jumped in. I have been paired with somebody in North Carolina (I think!) in the USA and I can't wait to get my package together to send such a long way away. But I am also terrified that what I send is going to be totally rubbish. The swap is for handmade lovely things and craft related items - like materials etc. I have no idea where to start!

I might start with a rummage through my ever-growing pile of vintage, almost-vintage (do the 80s count?!) and upcycled fabrics. I think a visit to the antiques fair at Spitalfields Market will also be in order next week. My ancient Elna sewing machine is currently in the sewing-machine hospital being repaired, so this could be an entirely hand-sewn swap from my end!

Best get started...

:)