Handmade Swap

I received my package from the handmade swap I blogged about last week, and everything is so lovely! My swap partner was fellow Etsy seller and illustrator Caren Barry who lives in Cambridge, England.

 I love how she packaged everything up, like a little bundle of spring. :)

And inside were so many lovely floral things, a notebook and pincushion that she designed and made, a gift tag from a local shop, and a treasured postcard of Claude Monet's The Poppy Field in Argenteuil, 1873, which Caren had had for years on her wall and in her notebooks (and there's no way that Caren could've known this, but I love Monet and have had a soft spot for his work since traveling through France many years ago).

Also, it was funny that we gave each other similar gifts, not knowing anything about each other beforehand. We each made a small notebook and a card. I gave her lavender soap, and the pincushion she sent smelled of lavender too because it had been stored in the same box with lavender sachets she also makes. How weird/awesome is that? :)

Check out Caren's shop for more cards, cushions, prints, notebooks, all sorts of lovely things. You can also see what she's up to on her blog, instagram, and twitter.

Happy Friday, everyone! Here's to signs of spring (hopefully) popping up everywhere.