SUper Friends Saturday: December Yankee Swap

 Happy Saturday!  In December, my SUper Friends group had our annual Yankee Swap.  While I shared some photos of that on my FaceBook Business Page, I realized I hadn't posted here yet.  Today seemed like a good day to do that!  

We started off with our traditional group photo (thanks to Timothy for taking that!):

So thankful for all these amazing and talented friends!!!  

After our photo, we jumped right into our swap.  We'd drawn numbers to see who would open in what order, and we have a three-steals-before-a-gift-locks-in rule.  

The first present opened was a beautiful bracelet created by Agnes (Jana opened it on Judy's behalf):

Margery went next, and she ended up opening a beautiful necklace made by Agnes:

Then, Jana opened for herself, and ended up selecting Judy's gift, which started with a cute cross-stitched ornament:

And, had a wonderful bag Judy had made with "Queen of Crafting - SUper Friends 2023" on it:

Clara went next, and she ended up choosing Jane's gift, which included a beautiful poinsettia, homemade goodies in hand stamped boxes, and a gorgeous crocheted scarf: 

 Nancy was up next, and she selected Jaya's gift, which was a succulent planter that Jaya had decorated and stamped with some fun sayings:

Jaya was up next, and she chose to open a gift that ended up being Jana's.  Inside was some delicious scone mixes, tea and a crocheted bag:

Next up was Jane.  She ended up picking my present, which contained an embroidered felt gnome and a framed cross-stitched gnome.  I had altered the frame with embossing paste for texture, painting, and then embellishing with a bunch of Stampin' Up! buttons and trinkets:

Agnes was next up, and she ended up opening Margery's gift, which was a cool light-up diorama with deer and trees and an altered easel that Margery had stamped on:

Kallien was up next, and I believe she ended up with the gift Judy had made.  I can't quite remember the details of the exchanges that happened next, but somehow the gnome artwork I'd made ended up going to Judy, and Jane picked again.  She ended up choosing a gift made by Kallien, which was some beautiful stamped tumbled coasters:

It was my turn to pick, and rather than steal, I decided to open!  That turned out to be a gift made by Nancy -- a wonderful zipper pouch made of Stampin' Up! fabric, filled with chocolates and some passes to the Monterey Bay Aquarium!

Here's a closer view of the cute pouch (love the fabric!!!):

I had also prepared some gifts for everyone.  I made some necklaces with pieces of designer paper:

And, I also made some goodie bags, using bags from the With Love and Gratitude Paper Pumpkin kit (refills still available as of the time I'm posting this!) and tags made with the Trucking Along Bundle and Cottage Wreaths stamp set and Country Wreaths dies:

Whew!  That was a lot of fun to share!  Thanks so much to the SUper Friends for another fun and laughter filled gathering with some amazing and creative gifts!!!!  

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle