Flower of the Month: January

Welcome to the all-year series of monthly swaps on a floral theme! You do not have to participate in all twelve soaps, but please join us as often as you possibly can.

January's flowers of the month are:

snowdrop

carnation

hibiscus

plum blossom

pine,

and I'm adding the hellebore as well because i can ;-) and because we get loads of them in England this month.

Each month we will be swapping two items, ideally one handmade and one shop-bought, with one partner. The items have to relate closely to the flower of the month, but things such as "snowdrop lace" are allowed; just explain them to your partner who may not be familiar with them. The items may relate to two different flowers on the list, for example you may send a set of notecards with snowdrops and a cross-stitched carnation.

One item equals: three ATCs; two handmade greeting cards; five bought postcards; a set of bought notecards. Please be inventive, though, and send bookmarks, crocheted, embroidered, sewn, felted, and knitted flowers, collages, matchboxes, soaps, sachets, herbal teas as appropriate, essential oil if safe and legal (and affordable), perfumed drawer liners, origami, hand-made jewellery... Please do not feel confined to this list. If you like flowers and are creative, you will enjoy these swaps.

With the exception of January, allowing for post-Christmassy blurrrrr, swaps will end on the 20th day of each month, which in most cases might be enough for the recipient to enjoy their flower of the month in time.

I found a full list of flowers of the month on this web site: http://www.schooloftheseasons.com/flowers/index.html but if anybody would wish to add anything, please let me know.

So: one partner, two items (ideally, one handmade); let's smell the flowers!

These swaps are open to all.