Gifts from the Heart...

I am truly blessed to have so many wonderful friends that I have "met" through blogging. It's like old school neighbors but we don't get to pop in next door to visit.  We can pop over to each others blog and share our more personal thoughts in emails. I'm planning a massive GF Getaway if I should ever when the lottery....lol.

Dear Debby over at Cozy Blanket put together a Christmas box/jar swap back in October. I was lucky enough to be paired up with Sarah from over at Hyacinths For The Soul for my first venture into "swapping". I say lucky because Sarah, too, is a fan of Mary Engelbriet AND she loves MacKenzie-Childs stuff as much as I do. We have shared many emails back and forth during this adventure and I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to get to know more about her.  This week we exchanged our boxes that we both decided were created "with heart".

Of course, I gasped as I opened the box and then went hunting for my camera. THIS had to be documented so I could share it with you.

The out of the box "Beauty Shot". Would you look at all those Cherry fabrics and that cute red/white check ruffle around the box! She has even finished off the interior edges of the fabric. Amazing!

Sarah made darling little tags for the top of the darling big box.

The lid comes off and the first layer is revealed.....

Sarah's sweet note inside with her fabulous penmanship......

More of layer one revealed...a darling little ME gift box, a cute kitty dish, and a charming checkerboard Santa box.

Inside the checkerboard Santa box are sour Cherry candies and Oh my those little suckers did make my mouth pucker. :-)

Inside the wonderful little "Life...put your Heart into it" box are some Acerola Cherry Green Tea bags. I have not tried them, yet. But I'm sure they will be wonderful. Down another layer was a fabulous fabric book from Mary Engelbreit (Nope...I don't already have one...yeh!) and underneath the kitty dish are some charming cherry ME napkins.

The bottom layer of the sweet box reveals some ME cookie cutters, a cute little Cherry zippered bag, a Cherry magnetic shopping list, a heart shaped tea infuser, and last but not least a heart shaped bottle stopper.

I can tell that every inch of this beautiful box was created with "heart". Everytime I look at it I will think of how sweet Sarah was to make and share it with me. What a wonderful first experience with a swap. Unmeasurable Thank You's go out to Sarah.

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I'm sharing my wonderful gift with everyone at "It's A Very Cherry World" today for Rednesday. Please stop by to see what all the the other ladies are showing for their Red.

A very sad day........

I usually try to keep my blog posts on the "positive" side and despite what anyone's political views might be I'm just not feeling a Rednesday today. I'm sure by now most have seen that Elizabeth Edwards has lost her battle with cancer lived a good life and won. She was a gracious woman in her short 61 years here on earth. I have a lot of respect for a woman who handled what life threw at her as well as she did.  I'm know that she will be missed by more than just her family.

M.E. Monday...

Welcome, again to Mary Engelbreit Monday. Please join us and post the link to your blog with the related Mary Engelbreit pictures to share with everyone. It can be a ME licensed product or something that was "inspired" by Mary Engelbreit's artwork. It "should" be a photo that you took of something that you own. We're flexible here....let's have fun above all else.

Click for larger view

On Weds. I shared a mosaic of my little ME Christmas mantel this year. I had a request for a full photograph so here is my little bit of ME for the holidays on one side of my fireplace mantel. Yep! We have fireplaces in FL, too.

I've actually shared this little ME "autographed" Christmas ornament before in a Smilebox slideshow but I thought I would do a closeup for Christmas. Mary was doing a signing at the Atlanta Merchandise Mart when I was there.

This isn't actually something ME that I own but it was too cute not to share. It matches the computer screen that I shared last week for ME Monday. I found it on Plaid online this week. They have some really cute Mary Engelbreit Christmas decoration kits you can make from felt.
Thank you for joining me on Mary Engelbreit Monday. I look forward to seeing what everyone else has to share.

Once you've posted your picture come back and add your link in Mr. Linky below. Please share the link back to my blog so that everyone can take part in sharing their post and picture.

Have you seen a Dancing Flash Mob?

Rednesday for Christmas Colors

It's that time again when we gather together to share our Red on Rednesday with Sue from over at "It's A Very Cherry World". Please stop over and see what all of the ladies are sharing on their blogs this week.
I actually brought out the Christmas decorations this year. It's been a long time since I have done any Christmas decorating. I know that my friends here in "blog world" have motivated me this year to partcipate. It's not a whole lot...just a little mantel display with some of my favorite Mary Engelbreit Christmas decoration.

I'd actually forgotten that I have a ME Advent Calendar. It's so special. The Collector "Believe" plate was tucked away with the Christmas decoration, too, so it was a pleasant surpise as was the "Let It Snow" Christmas ornament. The cast iron "Believe" stocking holders sits in my studio/office all year round. Thanks for stopping by and sharing with me.