birthday box from my friend, Jan, of Polkadotbarn

Jan's box arrived on Monday the 17th, but i was a good girl and put it away until my birthday on wednesday. (i have willpower!). wednesday was busy, so i didn't really get to sit down and open my gifts til later. (i like to open my non- family chick gifts in private, so i can really look at and admire them in peace!) so i got out Jan's box and the box from my mom. Jan had decorated the outside of the box to make it look so enticing. i could just tell that marvelous treasures were waiting for me inside.

the first thing i pulled out was this darling "happy birthday banner" - which is already hanging in my studio and will stay up all the time. i just love the colors and the font!very cute and looks fab in my studio. it is hanging right above my head so i can see it when i look up. everything was wrapped in darling polka dot tissue paper. again, who can resist such charm?

the next thing i opened was this "to die" for charm bracelet that she handmade for me. she had just taken a class to learn how to do it and she put her knew knowledge to good use. no wondering she kept saying she was busy! this looks like it took a long time to make. it has all kinds of fabulous goodies/charms on it. my favorite charm is an old clip-on earring of a music note that she turned into a charm. she added an old rusty key, some handmade beads that she wrapped and wired herself. i'm going to post some close up pics in the next post. The other thing i thought was cool is that i have a tiny wrist - child size almost- so bracelets never fit. This bracelet is a perfect fit! i wonder how she did that?

then i opened up an awesome altered wall hanging that she hung on a small/mini french hanger that has a vintage look to it. (4th photo from the top). everything about this piece had thought put into it. she knows i love birds (self proclaimed "bird nerd"). she started the piece on a piece of polka dotted cardstock and then built up layers. there are eggs that she sewed transparency paper on top of and then added the saying "Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle". she thought that was an appropriate quote for me because even though i have a tough/sad/ situation with Tucker, i always believe that someone out there has it worse than me. I am not one to wallow in self pity or feel sorry for myself, but i do only myself to feel sad when it creeps up. but i have seen other families with situations much worse than mine and i grab onto that and realizes that my situation could be worse. the best part of the hanging though, is the old sterling spoon she found. the top of the childs spoon is a darling bird! i love it. it totally makes the piece! i don't know if it is a childs spoon or not though, because engraved in the spoon it says, "Australia 1944 and then Ruby + Joe". on the bottom are some quaint black pompoms. on the back of the piece she hid a little envelope in which she enclosed a sweet little card that has a bird on the front (of course) and then is inscribed "Happy birthday, my dear friend! The particular quote on this piece reminded me of you, darlin'. Happy Day, Jan '07.

So how nice was all that? how did i get so lucky to find someone like Jan for a friend? Jan also has a cute little bog ( http://www.polkadotbarn.blogspot.com/) and her cool art work can be found on her etsy site at (www.jthom03.etsy.com). go stop by and say hello!