Wheeeeee Doggies! What a Haul ♥

Our TDIPT sisters love to swap and I'm here to tell you, these sisters can really put on the dog!

We usually have 3 or 4 a year and I have only missed one (I thought I was smart to skip the swap since the theme was "share your junk"). Now, I have about as much junk as anyone - so I referred to that old analogy that one man's junk is another man's treasure ... WRONG! - all I saw in that swap was treasure - No Junk!

Anyway, getting back to the here and now, this most recent swap had a Secret Fall / Halloween Swap so 27 of us decided to toss our name in the hat to play... and PLAY WE DID!

TDIPT swaps are unlike any other I have ever been a part of. They turn into gift boxes that could be guilded in gold for all the wonderful keepsakes inside!

My secret swap partner that shipped to me was none other than my bud Starla Myers, of Briar Rabbit Prim fame! Since I happened to be in charge of this swap, I knew who everyone was shipping to, including myself.

So, about 3 weeks ago, Starla emailed me to say that she had mailed my box out but because of the size, she sent it parcel post to avoid giving the post office $30+ to ship it off the Kansas City. (*rubbing hands together* ... did she just say it was TOO BIG? muwahahahaha)

Yup... they estimated it would take 5 - 10 business days to arrive from TN to KC - and boy did they miss the mark on that deadline. Starla's box arrived last Monday and my hubs called to tell me it had arrived. I guess he was tired of me calling and pestering him everyday to see if my package arrived. When I finally got the call from him, he informed me that my box was pretty banged up. *GASP*.... I was on pins and needles all the way home and I know Starla's heart had been in her throat just fretting for 3 weeks if it was even going to make it. I sure didn't want to tell her that everything was in pieces when it finally arrived! On my way home, I calmed myself down and thought that maybe Darrell just overexaggerated a bit. Nope... he underexaggerated it :(

This is what was waiting for me on the kitchen counter:

I took out a knife and carefully opened the top. You cannot image my relief when I saw how Starla packed everything up... she is a woman after my own heart because I got a BOOTY of LOOTY and not ONE things was even twisted, cracked or broken! The girl is my gift packin' hero ♥ Just look at all the wonderfuls that she sent! I was unwrapping for at least 15 minutes and she had everything wrapped in sweet colored tissue and tied with prim twine. It was just adorable and so much fun to receive.

I just love everything so much - from my sweet punkin head beauty to the awesome candles, prim autumn kitchen towel, head scarves and socks, the most yummy chocolate truffles, a totally wicked Harley Davidson picture frame and the most precious bag I have ever seen!

How do you spell

S -C-O-R-E ?!!

Thank you Starla, for everything ... I will always treasure this swap, for the wonderful gifts that you picked out and created especially for me, but more than that - for bringing us close! ♥