So Excited - and Relieved!

One of the items in the box; a hotpad/trivet from this pattern

I am thrilled to be home from mailing a box of gifts to my Aunt Marge. I felt really low for missing the Priority mail deadline and feared just how much it was going to cost me to send her box Express mail. Even worse, the Clauses are more than 12" high. I don't think they are quite 14" tall... more like 13" or 13.5 or so. The postal service adds a surcharge if your package goes over 12" in any direction...or at least they do for priority mail. The woman at the main post office didn't overtly measure my box or draw my attention to that. But her scale is probably marked with a ruler along the long and close side, just like the scales at the diy kiosks. The box I was using was stamped 12 x 16 x 6 on the bottom, I think.

The box I was reusing came from Delight.com and contained items I'd ordered earlier in the week. I'd bought a few containers from them including a water bottle that folds flat and rolls up and 3 different silicone containers: flat, folding coin purse, eyeglass case, and a mini case. So apparently I didn't buy the eyeglass case, but a nearly identically sized one that's arranged portrait-wise. What really impressed me about my order was the way everything was packaged.  My items were pretty much submerged in the degradable (cornstarch based?) "ghost poo" that they use for package filler. (The filler pellets aren't styrofoam, and they dissolve in water.) It was quite an experience to have to stick my hands into the box full of puffy pellets and grope around to find the items. There was pink tissue paper layered under the pellets and lying on top of them so I had to move the tissue aside to get to the pellets. I really should have taken pictures!

I would have liked to have recreated this experience in the package I was sending my aunt, except the items I was mailing took up far greater volume in the box than the items sent in my delight.com order. The biggest items were the Clauses. Still, I re-used what of the ghost poo pellets would fit.

You can briefly see the holly leaf and berries that decorate her bun when her hat is off. I didn't realize part of the green from that was visible beneath her hat until after I'd taken the photos, uploaded them to my computer, packed the box and driven 40 minutes each way to ship it and returned home, and then browsed them in preparation for putting the photos here. oh well!

Besides the handcrafted items, I included a Hallmark ornament- a puppy whose coloring resembles Chloe's, a kit for making a pawprint keepsake item, and doggie cookies for Chloe.

Eeek! Can't believe it's taken me this long to link to the pattern for Mr. and Mrs. Claus - what a goof!