Pincushion swap. Part 1

For some time I haven't updated you, my dear reader with what happens now. So, it's spring finally here in Latvia as well! Sun is shining and weather get's better day by day.  Just before these warm and nice days I signed up for a pincushion swap hosted by Bea. Yes, I have took a part of this kind of swap earlier (this is my current pincushion). Different from previous swap - this lasts for 3 months. Each month we are supposed to send a pincushion for other person. So here you go my April swap.

I received lovely purple pincushion from Laila (Norway). She sent me a local chocolate but it couldn't wait for taking photos so I ate it  :) Pincushion is small, but I love it. Probably because of colors and perfect embroidery. Laila, if you read this, Thank you SO MUCH! I love it! 

And here is a picture of pincushion (and some other goodies) I sent to my partner Turid (Norway). She posted some more photos in her blog here.

Hopefully I will manage to sew a pincushion to my next partner soon and keep you updated more frequently!  Meanwhile, have a great weekend! 

Mug swap review

While ago I already told you I am participating in Mug O'Comfort Swap hosted by CG swaps. Because my partner was from USA, it took us some more time to receive our packages, but luckily both have reached their destinations so it's time to show off!  :)
 My partner was Amanda from His and Her Hobbies. After a few emails we realized how similar we are. I mean - if we didn't live in different sides of world, one would be married to Aussie guy (or at least- married..) . But we have a lot of common so when I received Amanda's package, I could only sigh - a perfect combination it was!

So this is my new mug - in my and Amanda's favorite color

Very interesting tea set with black, green, white and herbal teas

I got a package of Swiss Miss what is really tasty! I am curios for who is this little note on the package. Maybe for kids who are not good at Math but still loves this drink?  :)

One more tea set. Tasty as well - with 6 flavors, including taste of sleeping bears (actually, I am little it afraid to taste it...)

Raisinets or raisins in chocolate are approved! One more common thing with Amanda - we love everything covered with chocolate.

And a cute extra - shopping list for my next tea purchase!

 Amanda, this was a great swap! Thank you very much for these goodies! Hope to keep in touch!

My dear friends, I warmly recommend to step by Amanda's and her husband's blog as there are really interesting stories about differences between USA and Australia about which you maybe even couldn't imagine! And not only that  - I am sure Amanda soon will show what she got from me! hisandherhobbies.blogspot.com

Recently I hosted Sweet Swap where a lot of wonderful sweets traveled across the world right in time to arrive at Valentines day. Unfortunately I was too busy to take a part of it by myself, but luckily, I just got a place in Mug O'Comfort Swap hosted by Chaotic Goddess Swaps. You may remember Guest post by Beth here, it was part of another CG swap. Have you ever took a part of any swap hosted by Chaotic Goddess?


If you are looking for someone to swap some letter and little goodies, feel free to let me know! I am looking for new swap partners!

Let's buy a sewing machine!

Those who are reading my blog for a  longer time may remember that I was sewing this and that two years ago. Last year I put all my attention to other hobbies, but desire to sew is not vanished.

My currant sewing machine

As we all need some motivation time after time to do something new, I have made a decision! As soon as one more tie from my Etsy shop will go to a new home, I will buy a new sewing machine!
Earlier I have had some custom made sets with bow ties, but as soon as I get my new machine, I plan to increase offer in the shop with some brand new items! Sounds like a plan!
Now I have made this public speech, so I have no other option as fulfill it!  :)

www.etsy.com/shop/akwiinas

Have a great week everyone!

Review of my Snail mails: Received

I really like snail mail and last year passed as most productive in this field as ever. I took a part of interesting snail mail project and send out a lot of postcards via postcrossing.com. I can't show you here all those beautiful postcards I received (to see them, better check here), but I decided to go with a post where you could see basically all packages I got from my We Heart Mail partners. Hope you will find some interesting ideas what to send with your next snail mail package (maybe it gonna be for Sweet Swap?)!
I will try my best to show you my sent packages as well, so stay tuned!

January -  from Angela (Singapore) Blog post here

February - from Liliana (UK) post here

March - from Sharon (UK) post here

April - from Choni (Spain)  post here

May - from Catherine (France) post here 

November - from Sara (UK)

December -  from Kim (Netherlands)

Sweet Swap 2015!

I would love to invite you to celebrate New Year with the first swap! Valentine's day is not so far away, so let's make it lovely and sweet!

Sweet swap's RULES:

• Applying time 5.01.2015 - 18.01.2015
• Application form is HERE
• Addresses will be sent out on 19.01.2015
• Prepare swap package and send it out till 26.01.2015
• Main thing to  include in package is something sweet - candies, chocolate, cookies, etc.
• Add a letter or postcard from you (be sure to include your name and/or email address).
• This gonna be secret robin round, it means person to whom you send a package is not the same who sends you a package.
• It's nice to publish photos of package you sent and received. If you do so, please, use hash-tag #sweetswap2015
• Those sweet and tasty things should arrive before Valentines day, so feel free to use it as inspiration.
• Sweet swap is open Internationally.
• Have fun!  ♥

Added! Please, try to pack your package of least 3-4 medium sized sweets (little candies - more). 

How to find a pin's origin?

Am I the only one who sometimes feels in love with some pin on Pinterest so much that there is a huge urge to check out the blog or web site it came from? I believe it's not something rare as we all know how many great tips and tricks and just inspiration could be found in one simple site! However, sometimes it's not so easy because a pin has a direct link which opens only one particular photo, not the whole page it comes from. Here I have one simple tip, how to get to the page of your new favorite DIY project!
Note, this works only using Chrome browser!

So here is one pin  (on the right) with a beautiful photo of nice packing idea I wanted to look at more. 

I find it really disturbing when clicking on a pin (as in this example with packing idea) it opens a direct link of the picture which gives you no idea which page it could be from (I am talking about this).
So, when that happens, right click on the picture and choose Search Google for this image.

There will be a new tab opened for Google to search this picture. Just go through the list of pages where Google has found a particular image and I am sure you will find that template/pattern/life hack you really wanted to see!

It may not be so easy for popular images, but isn't it worth a try?

By the way, the pin I used as an example, is from this beautiful blog:  www.lily.fi

And feel free to take a look at my Pinterest page HERE  !  :)

Fairy tale themed letter

Do you remember those little animal thread holders I shared a while ago? I would like to show you you an entire letter I sent to my friend from We ♥ Mail.





Letter's theme was Fairy tale, so I tried to stick with animals, cute drawings and prints. Below you can see some pictures from process and a short review of letter with my partner's comments is here.

This is elephant. I like it very much. If you do like it too, step by this page, where you can find template for big and little elephant. Print out yours and decorate your house with colorful elephants too!

When I am reading I like to have a beautiful bookmark  around me. That makes reading more special. I hope my partner Hila will have very special feeling when using this metallic bookmark with owl, feather and red stone I made specially for her. 

Lately I enjoy making these little labels so much! I should create some tutorial about them! Isn't it a cute way how to show that package contains handmade goodies - with this kind of stickers?

Like other times, I made paper for letter by making some watercolor painting. I don't like to use those store bought paper supplies, so I make my own...

Since my childhood I have always adored drawing by local artist and children book author - Margarita Staraste. When I started to think about letter I had to write, I realized - I need to make envelope with drawings from some of my favorite books. So I found a very damaged book in local charity shop with only few pages left. I would like to believe this envelope is a good ending for this beautiful book from 1968(!). 

If you are interested in letter swapping, let me know. I always love to send letters to creative people :)
And... a little reminder about my goal for postcard collecting - full list of received postcards is here.

Hope to see you back soon! :)

We ♥ Mail - February letter

Yesterday I already wrote about postcards I got last week, now it's turn to show you a letter I received from We ♥ Mail project!

Last weekend I got a package with UK stamp, it was sent by  Liliana. However, I was sure - my partner this month is from Portugal and will send me a piece of sun. She sent me a sunshine but only from West Yorkshire! Anyway it was nice enough to make me smile!

A beautiful envelope with a huge Royal Mail stamp(?)

So these are goodies from a package - flowers, stickers and love

Glittery  heart stickers for my lovely projects

Cute tapes with two kind of gingerbread hearts

Stickers, stickers, stickers and three more stickers!

Letter from Liliana with some cute drawings

Thank you Liliana for such a wonderful letter and all these little things I will use for other letters for sure! Have a great week! :)

I was very happy to get this letter as it helps me realize - there are so many creative and crafty young and young at heart people around the world! I wish everyone to join some a year long snail mail project - it is worth it!

New year - new hobbies!

Sorry for getting lost for such a long time, but I am here, writing a lot of letters, sending out postcards and trying to enjoy "winterspring" after long, long work hours.
As title states, I have started this year with new hobby - letter writing. To make it more productive, I signed up for a year-long letter writting project called We heart mail! We are 13 different ladies all around world and we all are conected with one hobby - snail mail. At our blog We ♥ mail here you can find links to all participant blogs, to our flickr page,  and Facebook page. Feel free to check out all these profiles and follow them to not miss a great letter!
So I have already made two letters - January's letter went to Kim in Netherlands and February's went to Sara in UK.
I know that both of my partners has got their letters, so here are some photos what I sent out!

 First theme of our project  for January's month was New Year resolutions. I made some post-it notes with inspirational and motivational quotes (everyone knows that we need these to keep going with our resolutions).

I included black tea (to stay focused when we would like to take a rest).

With the first letter we all were little bit late and so February were not far away, so in letter were some heart shaped confetti. Just for fun.

I am newbie in snail mail projects,but I knew that envelope has to be nice too! Unexpected I saw this pretty in local bookshop and I was sure I must get it! And look at eyes of this wonderful cat, isn't it the most wonderful pocket calendar you have seen today? :)

To help Kim to write and draw nice letters, I included a colorful pencil with my letter. I hope that will inspire here for great We Heart Mail project!

My letter, little goodies and big origami crane - all I sent to Kim.

Here are some photos made by Kim of her letter in our blog.

To Sara I sent February letter in red circus/carnival color scheme. Since this letter is not yet published in project's blog (ok, and because somehow I have missed to take my own photos...), here you go 2 speak peak photos - last shots of package before it's left at post office!

This morning I took some photos of January's mail I got yesterday, so this week I will show you them too! Stay tuned, don't leave me! :)

We have winners!

Just like I told you earlier, my 100th Like for my Facebook page giveaway has closed at Christmas time and it's time to announce the winner! I won't talk much, but a small change from previous information. I decided to pick two winners this time.

Congratulations Kristīne L. and Molly M.! You both have been picked as lucky giveaway winners!
Both winners please contact with me within a one week to specify address where to ship your gifts!