Another gift from far away

If you are here looking for my Tea Tuesday post, just scroll down. If you are here looking for today's 12 Days of Christmas Swap photos, I apologize. I have not had time to open, photograph, and download the gift. I will show two tomorrow, though, so everyone is caught up.


This package came all the way from Canada, but I think it was brought here by Mounties. This is the second time I've gotten mail from Canada that took much longer than it should have. However, the good news is, I had it waiting for me when I returned home at Christmas.


What I found inside was a lovely package wrapped in feminine lace and tied to a rocking horse tree ornament. I know my photos aren't the best, but this shiny ornament is in 3 layers. I have two others, and I now have a third that I can add to it and make a real collection piece. Thank you dear Annette. Yes, this is from my dear friend Annette, who I met on WOYWW and became instant friends with, especially after her move to Canada from Saudi Arabia. It all started when I began teasing her about coming to play in her new scrap room. It is to die for, so I hope you'll check it out. OK, enough blabbering. What's in the package and that HUGE envelope?


First, the most awesome card made in the form of a tree, and second, a book for storing ATCs, in which several of the pockets were already filled.

Although Annette sent me several photos of the ATC book, I snagged this photo from her blog. Her camera is much nicer than mine, and it shows more of these lovely trees she made. The size is big, and

this one is all mine (and Bleubeard's).



I know my picture doesn't do it justice, but how much more personal can it get? Annette signed it from herself, Pandy (Pandora) and Tom-Tom, both cats she rescued in Saudi Arabia and brought with her when she and her husband moved to his latest assignment in Canada.


I let Bleubeard read it, and he was delighted. I think he has a crush on Pandora! If you want to know more about these darling fur babies Annette and her husband took on, you should read Pandora's book, a combined journal and scrapbook. You will be laughing one minute, crying the next.


Also part of the gift was this lovely ATC book. Look at all that bling and detail. This photo is Annette's, so please be respectful and don't copy it.

I seem to do better with close-ups and the "BE" stands for Bleubeard and Elizabeth. Everything was absolutely perfect, right down to the copper chain links!


Annette made a series of ATCs, and was willing to trade them. Fortunately, I got one before the others were spoken for. Again, this photo and the two remaining ones belong to Annette. Thanks for allowing me to use them, Annette. They are so much better than the 60 or so I took.


Here is the lovely Time ATC, the one on the far left in the photo above as it looks inside my new ATC book.


The richness of detail in each of these is amazing. The book is so well constructed, even sporting metal corner protectors. And each page is preceded by an ATC legend with stamped or decorated papers on the front, and this stamp on the reverse.

Annette provided a mini tutorial on her blog showing how the above ATC and tags were made. Words cannot describe how delighted I was to have received some of Annette's incredible art. Thank you beyond words, Annette. What a perfect Christmas gift.

I hope you will visit Annette today or tomorrow, tell her hi, and take a peek at her new craft room and her adorable Pandora and Tom-Tom. I promise, these two get into more funny situations than Bleubeard. They will have you rolling on the floor with laughter at their antics.

Now I must get to my friend's house with her gift. I can't believe how long it has taken me to prepare this post!