birdhouse valentine

It's kind of fun to join swaps with restrictions. I recently signed up for one in which you were to send a cheap Valentine package that cost no more than $2 to send and had to consist of at least one thing that was pink. Other than those guidelines, the package could be absolutely anything.

This struck my fancy since I liked the challenge of finding something interesting that was both inexpensive and lightweight to send. I was pleased to see that my partner would be hollycm6, since she's sent to me a few times but I haven't really sent to her in official swap before.

I decided to purchase a $1 miniature wooden bird house from Michaels, which I painted in two shades of pink. It was then embellished with a few small pom poms, shiny heart stickers, a pink grosgrain ribbon, and just a touch of white glitter. I also made a tiny needle-felted bird to set onto the perch, where he's holding a small woolly heart dangling from some striped twine. He looks like he might take off at any moment bearing his little love message.

To make it extra Valentine-y, I think I'll fill the bird house with candy. It's a little silly, but I do like heart-shaped chocolates and things like that around this time of year, and something like that would be perfect.  It's going to be interesting to see if I can find something wrapped that will still be small enough to fit into the opening, though. And hopefully it won't push the weight over the max, ack! Anyway, this was a really enjoyable project...it's so satisfying to make a present that's both cheap and fun.

Incidentally, I know I've been quiet lately, so yes, yes, I admit it. I still haven't found how to remove my Kindle from my hand for more than a couple of hours at a time yet.