I'm in Craft Heaven

Today my parents and brother came over, and we explored the downtown of a nearby village this afternoon. It was a bit windy but a lovely day nonetheless and I found three great new stores to visit. Then as we pulled into our driveway, we all saw a big box waiting for us on the front porch. I knew exactly what it was, as Cathe had told me to expect her blog birthday's giveaway package today.
Inside were a ton of bags with vintage illustrations all tied up with red and white twine, and immediately that line from The Sound of Music, "Brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things," began playing in my head. It was a lovely touch to wrap it all up in lots of packages because then it was so much more fun opening each little one, so thank you Cathe for taking the time to do all that!

Now Cathe photographed the contents all beautifully staged, but I have to admit I was in way too much of a state of feverish excitement to do that! Plus I was trying to get most of it unwrapped while my Dad occupied ER on a bike ride. Can you believe how much stuff she sent me? It literally took up our entire kitchen table! Oh so much crafty goodness...it would take me years to accumulate this many finds! Below are some pictures I took to try and share some of the many things she sent. Be sure to check out Cathe's fabulous blog, Just Something I Made to see better photos.
Here are some of the colorful beads and buttons she sent me, including a pretty necklace already made that my mom really covets, too bad her daughter is being selfish and keeping it for herself! She also sent me lovely trims, a cute button bouquet already put together, and two decorated bottles that I've been wishing for ever since she first showed them on her blog.

One has a nest with eggs in it, I read her post about making them and she mentioned that some bottles were smaller than others, well now that I've got mine...I can't believe she actually got the stuff inside! It's really darling and the bottle embellished with a ribbon and medallion is stunning. I will attempt to take a photo of them soon, but I'm trying to get this up in a bit of a rush as my mom is putting the finishing touches on our dinner - yes I am that spoiled my parents came over today AND brought dinner with them! She sent me a bunch of embellishements including these frames and label holders and also some fun vintage hardware, charms, lockets, and crosses.
She sent me a ton of various envelopes, bags, labels, note pads, ephemera such as bingo cards, images, and pages from vintage books. I got one of her fun covered blank journals AND three more to make my own. I especially like the glass with metal frames to put them in, she sent me a beautiful collage already in one too, you can see that in the bottom right side of the photo below.
It looked like a ton of stuff from her stash when she shared the pictures, but until it actually arrived I had NO idea just how much stuff she was sending. I think she must be my very own crafting fairy Godmother, who just granted my every wish!

Thank you so very much Cathe, I LOVE reading your blog and I am so glad to have found you through blogging. You are a wonderful woman, and I sincerely believe everyone should head over there and sign up to follow her blog and on Twitter immediately! Be sure to go back and read through all her archives, I spent hours one night reading the whole kit and kaboodle and it was so worth it!