Spectacular mail days! (Part 3 - Trollfairy in the Stars)

Like most people I love receiving packages in the mail, and as I buy many beads from overseas (as well as the UK), I never quite know when they're going to arrive, and in what order... it becomes a bit of a lottery as to what will arrive first and I love surprises.

This is the third post of three that spanned only 2 days and what made it spectacular wasn't just the beads (although they are ALL stunners) but all the surprise extra bits and pieces that were included in with the beads.  How to turn a great package into a spectacular one!

I've saved the best for the last of this series of posts.

As regular readers know I'm a BIG fan of the retired silver birthstone zodiac stars, I go slightly nutty over them and have been heard to say that if I could only have one collection of silver trollbeads it would be these.

I was so excited when I completed my collection of stars last September that when I was writing and thinking about my New Year's Bead Resolutions for 2013 my No. 2 resolution was to start to pick up some multiples of these before they disappear completely.  It's fab having the full collection but sometimes it would be nice to have 2 of the same stone to use on a bracelet...

(Hands up how many of you noticed the multiples of the Cancer and Pisces 

Zodiac Birthstone Star in the Valentine's Day Bracelet post?!)

Enter my Trollfairy from Australia... not only did she tell me about a lost treasure trove of zodiac birthstone stars (and other beads) in her Local Dealers, but waited until there was a massive sale that included retired beads, and went to the shop several times to photograph their entire stock, and reserve items, and come back and show photos, and go back to the shop to handpick out certain stars, and then send photos of the final choices... Then to pay and pick them up and send them (along with Angles Tip, another silver bead I've been searching for) all the way to the UK, with extra bits from Australia.  And, as if this couldn't get any sweeter, she did the same for several of us all at the same time!!  Halfway through this process we decided she needed to be promoted to a Trollangel because as fabulous as fairies are, this was way above and beyond the already excellent standard of Trollfairy.

As much I desired it, I couldn't stretch to the full set in one go (stretching to 7 was hard enough),
so I had to make a choice as to which 2 would get left behind this time.
I finally made a decision based on the current colours of the beads in my collection.

Not only did I get a great set of beads, but the wrapping was superb, an Australian flag napkin which also revealed other goodies...

There was a limited edition Australian Afternoon Tea and a coaster on which to rest my mug of tea!

I was delighted with the whole package and couldn't believe how she'd managed to fit so much into such a small package!

As you can see it was less than the width of 3 trollbead pouches, best use of space I've seen in a packet!

I will leave you with a few more choice shots of the beads, as after all, these were what all the fuss was about.