T Stands for Tiggy's Exchange

In the mid-1990s when I was just starting my calligraphic journey, I found a calligraphers' Listserv called Cyberscribes where there were email discussions about the craft, tools, happenings, trends. Associated with the Listserv was a chatroom.  That's where I "met" Tiggy and Toots and so many others. There were lots of snail mail exchanges in those days. The chatroom is gone and the Listserv moved to Yahoo groups and then to Facebook.

 A month or so ago Tiggy proposed an exchange to bring back memories of the old days. Instead of sending a card or items to several people, Tiggy thought we should just send something to one person and the item had to be sent during the month of April. Very doable. Names were collected and The Lad (my nickname for Tiggy's husband) arranged the swap list.  My swap partner was Toots from the Land Down Under. I haven't met Tiggy in person, but I have met Toots. We were in the same dorm for Odyssey, the International Calligraphers Conference in Boston in 2001.

Besides sending an item to Toots, I also sent items to Tiggy in Scotland for being the hostesss and arranging the exchange.

The envelopes

Easter was in April this year so I wanted to send some chocolate and I found chocolate crayons. Perfect! That's in the middle of the picture.

Tiggy's favorite color is orange. I made a booklet that holds a pen and a pad of Post-It notes. Besides calligraphy, Tiggy also sews. I had a scrap of paper with mice sewing. I found an orange heart button, and even though it doesn't really go, a pencil sticker that looks like a hedgehog. Tiggy loves hedgehogs and earned the nickname, Tiggy, after Beatrix Potter's Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle.

In a back issue of Calligraphy Crush magazine was a craft of a "heart wheel" tucked inside a pouch made from a painted coffee filter. The magazine article didn't indicate how big the wheel was supposed to be so I made it at the size of an Artist Trading Coin, 2 1/2 inches in diameter.

The outside of the wheel had simple flowers painted with a wedge brush. The hub reads Tea for Two and a kitty in a tea cup charm (drink reference) was added.

The same for Toots

When I asked Toots what her favorite color was, she said "Anything with glitter" 😸 I had some red glittery dotted Swiss paper. Toots loves dragons so a dragon sticker surrounded with a ring of glitter.

I was surprised when Tiggy received her package a week after I had mailed it. I was worried Toots wouldn't see her package for a very long time. Package service was shut down in OZ for a long time during the pandemic. Though restrictions have been lifted, the posties are still trying to catch up from the backlog. 

I was also worried about sending the chocolate. Toots once sent me some TimTams, cookies with fillings like caramel and the cookie enrobed in chocolate. The package was opened by OZ Custom Inspectors looking for drugs, but they found the cookies, opened the package, ate some of them, and then returned the parcel to Toots with an oops, sorry! It's funny now.

About a week after Tiggy received her package, Toot's postie brought hers. 

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth’s blog to find out what the rest of the T gang is up to. If you want to play, include a beverage or beverage container in your post. Don’t forget to link your blog from Bleubeard and Elizabeth’s page.