Summer Vacation Swap - Part II

Remember my last post when I told you about a Summer Vacation Swap I did (if not, you can see it here).  Well, I got the package from my partner, Lennis Carrier of Windbent, and she did GOOD!  What a fun swap!

Anybody who knows me could probably tell you my dream vacation, my "trip of a lifetime" would be to go to Egypt.  I've wanted to go there since I was a little girl, looking through the pages of National Geographic.  Two years ago I ALMOST got to go.  I'd spent hours and hours figuring out how to fit the most into our limited budget and had an itinerary all planned.  We had tickets purchased (and trip insurance, thank goodness).  About a month before we were scheduled to leave, rioting broke out in Cairo.  We had to cancel the trip.  I was really bummed, and truth be told, I'm still kind of pouty about it.  If you have a couple minutes to waste and you want a chuckle, check this out - it's my photo montage of how I ALMOST got to go to Egypt.  But, I digress.  Back to the story at hand.

Lennis found this cool little vintage camel for me.  I should have taken a picture of the bottom - there's a marking (in Arabic?).  He's a very cool character with loads of attitude.  I approve.  And Lennis has a good sense of humor as evidenced by the "Blue Nile" soap.  It made the whole package smell nice!

Lennis made a necklace, ring and earring set for me, using a little bit of everything to achieve this funky, eclectic feel.  I love it.  She blended new pieces with vintage and used bone, glass, stone, ceramic, lampwork and wood.  The round painted wood bead is from Zambia, as are the recycled glass beads.  Each little piece is just a treasure in itself.  Did you spot the little scarab in there?

She also included a little booty bag with some metal pendants , lucite beads and glass scarabs.  And vintage postcards!  A whole set with really cool pictures:

And my most favorite of all?  My very own shabti, handcrafted by Ms. Lennis herself.    Shabti were figures placed in tombs in ancient Egypt to do manual labor for the deceased.  The "instruction manual" for them is the Egyptian Book of the Dead - which, by the way, isn't really a book, no matter what they show  in the mummy movies.  It isn't really even one thing.  It's more of a series of ancient texts and spells that were painted on objects like walls and sarcophagi and sometimes even papyrus.  I think the real thing is so much more interesting:

I had hoped to get to see pieces like that one on my trip of a lifetime and I am saddened to think of such amazing ancient pieces being looted and destroyed.  I saw a news story recently of people burning mummies and smashing statues.  Irreplaceable objects gone after having survived for millennea.

Back to the here and now, though.  Check out the shabti Lennis made for me:

You don't have a shabti?  Too bad for you!  These little guys will do your dirty work in the afterlife.  I'm thinking one isn't going to be enough for me, so this might just have to be the first of many.