Crafting away, among other things

It's been a hectic few weeks, but I've brought it upon my self. :) I'm STILL finishing up a Craftster swap item that was supposed to go out on April 6th. I was organizing the swap, so that took up a bit more time than I expected, but mostly it was the result of my underestimating how long my various crafts would take. The name of the swap was the "Proud to be a Christian" swap and I had a wonderful partner named "MsMia". Here's what I've sent her so far.

This is the first package I sent her; you can see the button-embellished notecards I made because of her love of stationary.


This is a button-cross plaque I made. I made the cross purple because it's her favorite color. I love how this turned out and plan on making one for my guest bedroom once I collect more of the pearl-style buttons.
The talented hubby made this beautiful leather cross for her. She is going to hang it in her son's room. He's made one for my cross wall and it's my favorite of all the crosses.
There are several pics of this last item. I had to send this separately from the first package because I didn't finish it in time. It is an inspiration notebook for her to pull out whenever she's feeling down or just needs some uplifting. It has the lyrics to some songs by her favorite gospel artists as well as scripture, a poem and some lyrics from my favorite Christian artists.
I have one last thing to send her that I'm hoping to finish tomorrow evening. I've met the requirements of the swap with the above, but I want to send the last item to her as a thank you gift for her being so patient.

Once I finish this swap item, I'll be moving on to finish up the next swap I'm in, the "Budget Meals" swap. I'm organizing this one, also, but the crafting requirement is smaller, so finishing on time won't be a problem at all. The big requirement is to send 5 entree recipes, 5 side dish recipes, 5 dessert recipes and 5 extra recipes or pieces of miscellaneous info related to budget-friendly cooking. All of the recipes have to be $2.50 a serving or less. It's been a lot of fun trying out new recipes to send in this swap and I know that hubby is really enjoying the variety! I'll probably be posting some of them after this swap is over.

The last swap I'm participating in is the "Disposable Camera" swap. There have been several rounds of this swap and I've always wanted to take part. The requirements for this one are simple; take pictures, send 24 of your favorite prints to your partner, along with a disc if you're using a digital camera, and craft a picture frame for them. I'm excited about the possibilities for this one. My camera has been in my purse capturing pics since I joined the swap. The send-outs for this one aren't until June 15th, so I have a lot of time to get some great pics.

Phew! It tires me out just thinking about it all! On top of that, I'm still loving teaching Sunday School, we have company coming in the end of May, the end of June and some time in July and we are taking a week vacation in June, at least a long weekend in August and another week vacation in September, AND I'm helping with VBS this year. And in spite of all that, I'm still looking for a new hobby. (I love crocheting, but it's just too hot for the next few months to spend evenings with an afghan draped over my lap as I work.) I'm thinking of getting back into scrapbooking or even digital scrapbooking, but I'm going to think this through. I tend to decide on a new hobby, buy all the supplies and then HATE it.

My goodness. I can't believe what a rambling mess this post turned into. I'm going to leave it as is because that's just how my brain is working right now. There is probably no truer reflection of myself than this post. If you have hobby suggestions, let me know!! I'm open to just about anything!