I have been so anxious to show our creations for the MiniSwap, a swap just for kids. Thanks, Molly, for organizing all of this. Such a super idea. Click here to see the photo pool. There's some fun stuff arriving all over the world!

Our gifts finally finished their long trip to Erin and her children in Singapore, so it is safe to reveal what we sent. Rachele is thirteen, and loves pink. I saw this little bag on Molly Chicken (scroll down the post to see it), and made Rachele a version in pink washable felt and cotton. Thank you, Lynn and her friend Anna for the idea! Here is our bag closed.

Here it is all opened up. We put a homemade sketch pad in it with some colored pencils. The metal rings open, and the pad can be refilled with new paper. The pink flower is a little ponytail doo-dad. All the rest we called Odds 'n' Ends. Erin said both kids like to save (recycle) stuff for art projects, so we searched the house for fun craft supplies. So now she can sketch her ideas before making something great. And she said she wants to keep treasures in the bag. Ahhhh... sweet girl. Matthew is five. This was great fun for Jack (who is also five) to think of a little boy his age spending his days on the other side of our Earth. Here is his gift. First we found a book at the thrift store about paper airplanes. So Jack and I made him some "custom" paper to go with it. Erin said he loves to laugh and tell jokes. I whipped up the little animal finger puppets and we made him a joke book out of index cards. We're thinking he can have little animal stand-up comedy shows. My only fear was, when we picked out jokes to include, that there would be a bit of a culture gap. Do kids tell the same kind of jokes in Singapore? Does the chicken cross the road over there? At any rate, I decided it would still be fun- even if he didn't get all the jokes, he'd get a sampling of silly little boy jokes from the U.S. Erin said he liked them very much, so I worried for nothing. We did leave some blank cards in the back so he can add his own jokes too. His own little box of Odds 'n' Ends was included as well. As always click on these pictures to see them on Flickr with those funny little notes on them.

So now all we have to do is relax and wait for our package to arrive. I'll show you the goodies as soon as they get here. This has been really fun, and we made some new friends in the process. I'm going to have to find another swap to join. Maybe something for me this time...