bricolagelife

this is (a handmade PIF*) announcement

*a pay it forward craft exchange...

i remember the first time i received a comment from angelique.  it sticks in my mind because it was only the third or fourth time i had heard from someone i didn't actually know personally.  and the place she lives is so exotic and distant from my home i had to google it to find it on the map (i'm more than a little geographically-challenged).  noumea.  a tropical island paradise.  over the next two years we virtually visited each other and left encouraging comments off and on.  one day she posted a pif and i just had to sign up.  my wonderful package of handmade goodness (and chocolates!) arrived today!  thank you so much, angelique!

now pifs have been making their way round and round the world for several years but this was my first time to participate.  this is how it works:  

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment here requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

don't be shy...

{at bedtime on the date of this posting there is still one spot available - just leave a comment below}

the pif is full!  thanks so much

now i really need some frames...

there was a deliriously delightful delivery of art (via usps and by hand) around here when all of this arrived fortuitously on my actual birthday!

firstly, my packet from aesthetic outburst's print swap... a bounty of ten (!) beautiful prints from ten amazing artists, all smartly packaged by the fabulous abbey hendrickson. (more pix when i get them display-ready) thank you for the tremendous job you did putting this swap together, abbey.  and thank you for the birthday bundle of found photos i will be adding to my collection.  such grand portraits!  i love everything.

next came a gift to myself (i'm a true believer in these where my birthday is concerned), an indescribably stunning painting by the brilliant vivienne strauss.  the photos can not compare to the sublime experience of holding the real thing in your hands.  i recommend everyone go straight to her etsy shop and purchase a painting or collage for yourself, just so you may feel the joy i felt when i opened this gem!  thank you, viv!

and then i received, from the hand of the artist herself, this rich and dreamy image i have been coveting for months.  this photograph is telling me a story, from a stolen moment in time from a place i have not been to, but know intimately now.  i love everything about it.  thank you, gigi!

art for your birthday, great food, music and the best of good wishes from the finest of friends and family (my son even surprised me by taking the day off from work and spending it with me!)... what more could a birthday girl want?

well, then there was this:

the icing on my cake!

postaliciousness

the very talented helen heath (great name!) of show your workings mentioned to me recently that she was interested in a trade... and so we did!  as you may already know, i love trades and swaps and surprises that arrive by post from faraway (and near) exotic places.  helen lives in the paradise land of new zealand.  she has sent me some of her hand-printed fabric swatches and just look at how much goodness she packed into a card sized envelope!  thank you so much helen!!  i love these prints and already have ideas for how i want to use them... and i love that card!   

and... my package for you is on it's way!!!  (i'll wait to post a photo just incase she peeks in over here...)

thank you helen :)

postal love

serendipity, my mood altering substance of choice, has filled me with joy again.  a trade was made out of the blue and i received the most marvelous package in the mail from jen.  thank you!  so much incredible goodness!  and every thing in here makes me feel like she knows me.  there is nothing like a beautifully wrapped, thoughtfully composed parcel in the mail to make a person feel extraordinary.  and connected.  and kind of hopeful about the goodness and generosity of people all around the world (whom one has never even met).  corny but true.  i love trades.  i love swaps.  i love snail mail.  i am so very grateful :)

awesome mail!

yesterday i arrived home to find a beautifully wrapped package in my postbox... my nesting doll swap is here!!  i am so thrilled to have this eclectic collection in my hot little hands.  and in my collection! abbey's drawings and ingenious labeling were a bonus.  thanks so much abbey for organizing this amazing swap!

sunday suppers

once again i chose the super easy, substitute-friendly, tasty sunday supper.  rice salad!

simply wash and chop a bundle of fresh spinach and toss in a big bowl with chopped fresh tomatoes (i used grape tomatoes here, but cherry or real garden tomatoes work if you have them), lots of lemon zest and the juice of one lemon.  cook brown rice as usual and fluff it up, then mix into the bowl to slightly wilt the spinach.  add a few gluggs of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and serve alone or beside a delicious piece of grilled meat or fish.

the ways in which i have altered this recipe in the past are;

add grated aged parmesan cheese

add chunks of feta cheese

add crumbles of goat cheese

replace brown rice with basmati or arborio

replace rice with orzo or couscous

... and it's good warm or cold!  eat it for days :)

more tasty sunday suppers here and here.

and this is very exciting!

ending, beginning

it seems that with so many projects going at once i always have some things finishing while others continue in mid stream and some are just getting off the page. the nesting dolls are not only completed, sealed, sanded, varnished and shipped... but they have arrived at abbey's for the big swap! soon they will be split up into five different mixes of nesting dolls with other artisan's nesting dolls. in exchange i will receive a set of five dolls made by five different artists! it is such a brilliant idea she came up with and a really great swap. i've enjoyed every step of the process. thanks abbey!

now i am collecting images in anticipation of beginning a commission for a new custom set of nesting dolls...

and still making more of these rings.

nesting doll swap alert!

for those of you who love nesting dolls and those of you who just love a good swap... check this out and join in the swapalicious fun!

ornament swap, 8,9, and a bonus

such fun! more ornaments in the mail from the swappers in my group... this one from argentina. thank you, ana!

and this one from denmark... thank you, anne!

and a bonus ornament. even tho we weren't in the same swap group, we made an extra ornament for each other... this one is made of photos of neon street signs in my city! thanks, gigi!

ornament swap, 5,6,7

three swap ornaments arrived in one day's mail! thank you, laurie!

thank you, anita!

and thank you, molly!