such fun-miniswap

Every year for the past three years Molly of the Mollycoddle blog hosts a miniswap for creative mamas and their children. I had just discovered blogs last year and looked on enviously at the fun swaps documented over at the miniswap group on flickr. This year, I signed up in time and the boy and I were paired with a lovely family, Amanda and William and baby Sasha, in Vancouver, BC. We picked up our package from the PO yesterday and were delighted by all of the goodies they made and picked out. This package was full of all of the excitement of a Chinese New Year parade (with candy, toys, lanterns, and a yoyo that big Luther dog mauled immediately), the beauty of a NW coast beach, cool recycled art materials, handmade finger puppets, and a rocking cd for the whole family to enjoy. I feel like I'm not even naming half of the gifts, but boy were we impressed.


Our package was a bit of a challenge for me. Pottery would have been fun, but I had a 4 week timetable to work with. While I love to knit, my knitting time is under two hours a week. I sew, but what to sew for boys? I finally settled on some easy appliques- an apron, because my boy loves his so, and a tiny bag full of garden seeds. I also tried out (so late to this trend) a variation of the freezer paper stencils- both boys now have matching green and blue tractor tee shirts. A book, some stickers, a rubber duckie soap for baby, and a bucket of dinosaurs rounded out our big padded envelope.

My boy loved this project so much that he wants to keep in touch with our swap partners- he "loves (my) friend William in Canada!"