Isa emailed me from Germany almost 2 weeks ago and asked me if I'd like to swap. We email in English and it's been a lot of fun talking with her. It makes me ashamed that I don't know another language. I am so impressed that she took the initiative to contact me to arrange this.
The day she emailed, I spent the afternoon using freetranslation.com to read her German blog. She sews lots of clothing for herself, and she has some adorable needlebooks, purses, and cell phone holders. My special request was that I wanted something with the German language on it.
Today I received my package from her! She made me the cutest kitty purse with her own personalized Isa's kleine Welt (Isa's Little World) label sewn in. The purse is lined with a perfect kitty print. It's padded and cuddly and I love it.
Isa included a lot of German gifts. The children's book, Heiner, is from the 60's and is one she read as a child. The illustrations are wonderful. I included 2 - click on the image for the full size. I especially like the gang of three roosters. From the pictures it looks like Heiner starts his chores then goes to the beach. Then the rooster gang goes to the beach to collect him and he gets back to work. Me, freetranslation.com, and Heiner will have to spend a night of quality time together to find out the real story.
The postcard has pictures of the old city hall in her home town. It was built in 1369. In the pictures everything is inlaid wood, gilt, intricate painting, and stained glass. So amazing.
Tucked in the purse was a cute crochet flower with a pearl center and purse sized Nivea creme that smells heavenly. And ... the most delicious part ... chocolate! Such a great surprise. One bar is milk chocolate with white chocolate spots, like a cow. The other is milk chocolate with marzipan filling. It took all of my willpower to take the pictures of everything before ripping open the candy bars.
Thank you so much, Isa!
The package I put together for her is still on it's way to Germany. I had so much fun getting everything together for it. As soon as she gets it, I will post pictures of what I made for her.