bird song art event

The tag books are starting to come together.  Well, sorta. I have about a dozen or so made up.  Thats a start!  Its been such fun to open them all and see the talent inside the avalanche of mail.  And here and there, I come across a sweet treat like this extreme goodie pile from Sharon, and that makes it even more fun. Like a treasure hunt. Its all I can do to be polite and gently unwrap everything and be organized with the tags, and stop myself from being like a kid at Christmas ripping into pressies!

   And look at these beauties from Rebecca!  There is the perfect spot for that spoon in my kitchen cabinet.

I thought you might enjoy a rundown on the process of the whole swap. I am NOT an organized person by nature and I have to be very strict with myself to make sure it all runs well.  I have lots of steps each package goes through and I have to concentrate while doing them, so I don't screw up. 

It starts with the sign ups, as people email their info to me, I add it to a word doc on my computer, when it is full, I alphabetize it and print it out.

 No packages get opened till the swap begins. They trickle in a few at a time for weeks, then as the deadline approaches, they arrive in a daily mountain on my porch.  The mail lady doesn't even knock any more, she just stacks them on the chairs in front of my studio.

Here is a snippet of the list, as I open a box I mark it delivered, and paid.

Everyone was asked to send their mailing address on a separate piece of paper. If they forget, I cut it from the return address on the box.

I arrange each person's pile of tags with their info underneath.  I don't use these as the mailing label, they are just to keep me straight on whose tags I am dealing with and whose books have been made.

When the books are done, I make pay pal labels.  It costs more and takes a lot  more time than just taping down the label they sent in and having the mail man add the postage, but this way I can track each package, just in case we need to trace it. 

It would also be quicker to just make books willy nilly, without knowing who each one goes to. This might sound silly and time consuming. but I like to know who is getting the book I made, and I enjoy looking at the artist's tag and trying to make a book of other tags that I think she'll like.

It probably doesn't even show, but it matters to me.  I make the books with love.

I try not to send the artist her own tags back, but sometimes it happens, especially with later tags when there aren't as many to chose from.  In the beginning, with billions on the tables, its easier.  As I compile the books, I mark each off the list.

Cash and checks go in this box, with the tags that were sent to me as gifts.  I think that my personal swap book is going to be extra fat and gorgeous this time!!!!!!!!  There must be 30 tags in there.  How lucky am I to get so much cool art for myself?

Tags that look pretty together get stacked near each other as I open the boxes, so as I make the books, I gather the tags from the area surrounding the artist's own tag. A more left brain person would probably put the tags out in the order they come in and work from first to last.  I go by color and style instead.

Hey, I have to make it fun and interesting to me, or I'd go crazy! This is hours and hours of work. I know I could do it more simply, but I want to do it right. Each book of tags has to look good together.  I'm not going to put a wild colored one in a book with all muted colors.  The wild colored one will go with a selection of other colorful and fun tags.

While I am unpacking, I sort and recycle.  Pretty ribbons, tissue, and wrappings get saved in one tub, and another fills up with bubble mailers.  Boxes get stacked and saved, too.  I can always tell when it is time for another swap, when my packing materials get low!  I'd like to say that I am saving the earth, but honestly, I'm just cheap.

  As I go through the packages, I have to force myself to stay on task, and put all the gifties aside for later. But all I want to do is PLAY with them!  Its hard to not open and peek inside the gifts for Sugarwings too. I get as excited as she does about them.  And when I get art supplies, it takes a lot of self control to not go sit down and make something right then and there. You know how tempting new supplies are.

There are too many to make to wait till all are here before I start the assembly.  It will take me a couple of weeks to get them all made and shipped.

My workspace has a stack of fresh, new padded envelopes, lots of lace and ribbon, a crop-o-dile to punch holes for the people who forgot or made them too small (about 1 in 6), pretty bird paper of some kind to wrap the books in, and tape to add their label to the envelope.

I'll make up a dozen or so loose books, then sit and tie them all, and stuff then slip the envelopes into a basket by my side. When its full, I go and make labels.  After the label is made, I mark that person off the list as shipped.

It helps to break the job up this way, bringing a dozen or so to completion before making more. Selecting the tags for each book is the fun part, if I did it all at once, then the tying and labelling would feel like punishment.  I like to know that I can get up and go make more choices as soon as I finish my stack of envelopes. 

I will be working on these for quite a while, so if you haven't sent yours yet, don't waste money by overnighting them! Please email me and I'll let you know whether you have time to get them in.

Thanks so much to all of you who sent your artwork in to me to enjoy and play with. I'll do my best not to drool on it.  And I'll try to keep plugging away at these books and not get too sidetracked by how pretty the tags are.  Just don't make them too sparkly or shiny, because I get mesmerized pretty easy by shiny things.

And thanks to those of you who sent my little fairy grand child some tidbits. I've given her a couple of them, and might throw a tea party and let her open the rest then.

The winner of my mini dress form online workshop is Debbie Jullieret.

I think I'll do another giveaway. The prize is a  dress form tutorial.  If you have already purchased one of the $15 classes,  (thank you!!), then I'll send you a kit of vintage goodies instead if I draw your name.