amour...

i felt fortunate to get in on cathy's amour box swap ...it was the first time she hosted a swap, and it was wonderful! i loved the swap guidelines cathy specified...decorate and fill a beautiful box in the color preference of your assigned partner. in cathy's words: Create your "Amour box" with your imagination and your own particular style. It doesn't necessarily have to be a Valentine theme, but it has to be pretty and it has to be made with the color choice of your partner:

*Shades of Pink
*Shades of Red
*Pastels
*Shades of White
*Any color is fine


i chose white...no surprise there:) but what a pleasant surprise to find out that my partner was the gracious karen, from my desert cottage...it was such a pleasure to get to know her better. thank you, karen, for being my swap partner!


doesn't this look so elegant and appealing? i love the variety of textures; the key, the lace, the button, the sheet music - all assembled beautifully.

the handmade card

i love the card sentiment...written in karen's own lovely script

another view of the outside

and a close up

i'm sure i don't have to point out the beauty of each of the items - but i have to say that the old crepe paper just makes my mouth water

wonderful old bobbin, soft seam binding on a tag...darling little pearl frame...

little kraft writing book - so many possibilities! and look at the softly gleaming pins against the perfectly aged lace

ephemera

another little hand decorated box:) and perfectly beautiful trinkets

oh - the softly hued old buttons! i love them!

and that brings me to the little old heart shaped tin, filled with buttons, that i sent off to karen in return. funny thing was - we both felt we wanted to stay away from a valentine theme, for the most part; we both filled little heart shaped containers with white buttons; and by chance we both wrapped everything in old sewing patterns:) it made me smile...

the box i sent to karen...

and the inside:) i'll let karen show you the rest over at her blog. and i'm going to link you back to our hostess cathy's post and list of other participants - i am having trouble posting the list here. happy valentine's day!!!