~ blessed me ~

I have a couple of friends that started a
Mama Stocking Swap
 this year -
 Misty and Nikke.

These gals - I tell ya, are SO SMART!

This is right up my alley and I LOVE the idea of making another mama smile and focusing on something other than the stresses of dishes, laundry and whiny kiddos.

Did I say whiny?

My children?

NO!

 (yes, he is "stuck" an inch from the floor - he screamed and screamed and then he stepped down...Silly boy)

Anyhow, so I was given a gal's name and I've been strategically planning a nice little bundle of fun for her which I mailed today!

(Today was the deadline - I'm a procrastinator BIG TIME!)

I wanted to let you in on the fun and you can see what I enclosed in her stocking.

1. Stocking - handmade by Moi. It is the first stocking I had ever made. When I was making it I definitely made some errors but I think it turned out pretty darn cute and I'm excited to try another one soon.

2. I made her 2 pennant garlands - her favorite colors are in the purple and aqua families - she also likes silver so hopefully she won't think these are completely juvenile and will
see my vision for pure bunting happiness.

3. I made her 2 paper pinwheels - she is actually a paper-crafting genius.
shhhh... I snuck over to her blog and saw that she is working on opening her own Etsy store and wow! Amazing!

4. and a paper wreath - this little wreath was so fun to make - again I learned some things and I'll hopefully try this again and hang a few in my house -
Adore.

5. She collects teacups - so this was a teacup and saucer that we actually found in my mama's basement - I wonder if she has a matching friend for him.

6. A little devotional book encouraging specifically to mamas.

7. A Jetty Rae cd - Hello! Gotta share the love for Jetty!

8. A pencil starfish.
{sigh} 
I lof starfish.

9. a journal - I just love all the words in the different fonts and the colors made me happy :)

10. and then a mosaic glass nightlight that is in her favorite colors. 
 shhhhhhh... don't tell her but I had to plug it in to see how it looked!

11. One of her most precious Christmas memories is singing Christmas Carol's with her Oma (German for grandmother). Since, her Oma has passed and she finds herself missing her a lot especially during Christmas - So, I jumped on Ebay and found a German/American songbook to send her. 
Maybe she'll be able to flip through this book and recognize
some of the songs her grandmother would sing with her.

 I just loved the design on the back page.

 ... and the previous owner had wrote in it so there were a few notes...

 ... and little personal messages...

 ... I wrapped it up gently... so. very. gently.

 Well there you have it - my goodies for my Mama Stocking Swap... 

I stayed up last night wrapping it up with lots of love and prayers for her and her family. 

 This morning I went to the Post Office and got it on it's way.

It really blessed me to do this for her.

 

The stocking I made was actually too small for any of the things I had for her to fit in it - so I just included it in with the gifts. I thought that was funny though - it was supposed to be a "Stocking Swap"

 and NOTHING would actually fit in my stocking...

I'm definitely a first-timer in the stocking making department. Lol.

So tell me...  what kind of

giving

 have you been blessed by this 

Christmas Season?