Nov 30th 2009 09:44:15 am

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, winter is upon us. For many of us, that means it is getting colder! Brrr! Whether you enjoy the winter or simply tolerate it until spring, why not write about your winter experiences in your very own zine? This week’s featured swap is the hosted by .

From the swap description:

“Winter is cold and long and the anticipation of spring can be agonizing for some of us so let’s write a zine about winter to give us an outlet for our winter thoughts and memories. It can include childhood memories, winter dreams, yummy recipes to enjoy on a cold day, wintery craft ideas, pictures of your best snowman, just reminance about why you love or hate winter and tell us about it!”

For this international swap you will have five partners. That means you will need to make at least five copies of your winter-themed zine. The sign up deadline for the swap is December 11, but you will have over a month to produce your zine. The mail deadline is january 30th, 2010.

No Comments » Categories: Weekly Featured Swap

Nov 30th 2009 08:12:36 am

Thank you to everyone who entered . We really appreciate everyone spreading the word about Swap-bot!

We used to generate the three big winners of this contest… and without further ado, they are (), (), and (). Here are their winning entries:

Congratulations to the winners! Their prizes will be mailed out this week and will hopefully arrive before the holiday season is over! Thanks again to everyone who participated. Stay tuned to the blog for more fun giveaways coming soon!

2 Comments » Categories: Giveaways

Nov 24th 2009 07:17:33 am

With December right around the corner, the USPS is gearing up for another busy holiday mailing season. The USPS has released its holiday shipping dates. Even if you are not concerned about getting your package to someone by December 25th, keep in mind that mailing and shipping times can be much longer during the holidays. If you do want a package to arrive by Christmas (especially internationally) mail it as early as possible!!

USPS Holiday Mail Deadlines:

First Class Mail: Domestic – Dec-21, International – Dec 4
Priority Mail: Domestic – Dec-21, International – Dec 4
Express Mail: Domestic – Dec-23, International – Dec 12

2 Comments » Categories: Tuesday Tip

Nov 23rd 2009 08:46:18 am

During the holiday season things can get hectic and busy, not to mention expensive. Participating in large and complicated swaps may not be feasible for everyone right now, but why not keep up the swapping fun in an easy and inexpensive way?

I found two simple swaps that are all about our resolutions and plans for 2010: hosted by and hosted by . Both swaps require you to write out your thoughts about next year and send them to your partner. Lexidh’s swap is and international email swap, and Candyn29′s swap is an international snail mail letter swap. Please read each swap’s full descriptions before signing up.

Also, I know these are not the only New Year-themed swaps out there. Please leave a comment with a link to any other similar swaps you find.

No Comments » Categories: Weekly Featured Swap

Nov 20th 2009 02:19:39 pm

For those of us in the USA, our Thanksgiving holiday is right around the corner. It is the busy holiday season already and the craft blogs are full of holiday ideas and projects. Here are a few that caught my eye:

• First, I must promote myself a little bit… I recently wrote an article for CraftCritique.com about Kata Golda’s Hand-Stitched Felt book. I had fun working on two felt projects for the review. Above is a photo of the supplies I used to make a cute coffee mug cozy.
• Need some ideas for holiday gifts you can make yourself? Check out . It is a round-up of Holden’s forty-two different craft tutorials!
• If you want to make a funkier felt ornament, try .
• This is beautiful. (Found via on Twitter.)
• If you need a quick card to include with you holiday gifts, why not download .
• This one is just for fun… Have you been to ? It is an adorable blog all about desserts! Yum!
• For any NYC-area swappers, there are three big holiday craft fairs coming up in two weeks that I will be attending and you might want to visit them, too. They are the (Dec. 5th), the (Dec. 5th), and the (Dec. 6th).

4 Comments » Categories: friday link love

Nov 13th 2009 11:05:15 am

Happy Friday the 13th! These links don’t have anything to do with the auspicious date, but they are cool just the same. Enjoy!

• I know, it is too early to start thinking about the holidays… but if you are hand-making things for the season, I don’t think it is ever too early to get started. Felt-O-Rama has a really cute and simple idea for making (seen above).
• A great gift idea or just something handy for all of the holiday travel, Skip To My Lou has a tutorial for making pretty .
• You know that I am always raving about the blog, Lately, it has featured all sorts of handmade gift ideas. My current favorite is the . Who wouldn’t love getting a bundle of those? Maybe paired with a bag of coffee… a great gift idea!
• Clever!
• And, I found this next link via of Crafty Pod on Twitter:
• Have you heard of ? It is a growing street art project that started in Australia. The participants make handmade toys and leave them in public places to be discovered and adopted by strangers. From the site description: “The Toy Society spreads the love throughout the streets of the world. Nothing to it really just a bunch of handmade toys looking for a nice home.” Sweet!

3 Comments » Categories: friday link love

Nov 11th 2009 10:55:50 am

It is holiday giveaway time! I have three awesome sets to send to three lucky winners. I love Martha’s glitter (find out how much ) and these sets have a great variety of normal super-fine glitter, tinsel glitter, and glass microbead glitter – all in beautiful holiday colors. So sparkly!

So, how do you win one of these fab glitter sets? It is easy. Simply, spread the word about all of the winter and holiday swaps taking place on Swap-bot right now. Post on your blog or twitter account about a swap that you are participating in (or just one that you think others might be interested in), then make a comment on this post that includes your Swap-bot username and a link to your tweet or post about Swap-bot. Your comment here will enter you in the random drawing for one of the glitter sets.

Feel free to link to my new international swap, the , in your post or tweet. I want it to be a super-huge swap, so invite all of your friends! However, technically you do not need to post about a holiday swap to enter this drawing – any post about Swap-bot will do. Make sure to link back to Swap-bot in some way in your post. We want attract more quality swappers who may not know about Swap-bot or have been reluctant to try out swapping on our site.

More quality swappers = more swapping fun!

Giveaways Rules: Make sure to include your Swap-bot username and a link to your post about Swap-bot in your comment or your entry will not be counted. Each person can only enter this giveaway drawing one time. The deadline for entering this giveaway is Saturday, November 28th. The winners will be randomly drawn and announced on Sunday, November 29th. If you have trouble commenting on the blog, you can send me an email with your entry to rachel [at] swap-bot.com. Good luck!

UPDATE: If you do not have a Twitter account, website, or blog, you can enter the drawing by telling us one way you have spread the word about Swap-bot, whether in person or via email, facebook, etc… I want everyone to have a chance to enter this fun giveaway! We rely on our great members to promote Swap-bot to other fun, crafty peeps. We don’t have much money for marketing, so we really appreciate it any time you tell a friend about swapping on the ‘bot. Thank you!

73 Comments » Categories: Giveaways

Nov 10th 2009 09:17:42 am

You may have heard about five-year-old , a boy from Michigan who is in his last stages of neuroblastoma cancer after a 2 1/2 year battle. He is celebrating Christmas early and he loves Christmas cards. Swap-bot user, is hosting a in Noah’s honor. For this non-traditional swap, all you need to do is send a greeting card to Noah and let your partner know it went out. In order to get the cards to Noah asap, the sign up and send deadlines are very soon, on November 13th. You will not get anything in return for this swap except the knowledge that you helped make a child’s Christmas wish come true.

No Comments » Categories: Weekly Featured Swap

Nov 9th 2009 08:38:13 am

Did you know that AIDS has taken the lives of more than 25 million people since 1981 and more than 33 million people are living with HIV? In 2007 alone, 270,000 children worldwide passed away due to this pandemic.

Swap-bot user is hosting a great in honor of on December 1st. This international mail swap brings attention to the cause of AIDS research by combining a craft component with a charitable donation component. Each participant in the swap will send a handmade craft (a greeting card, ATC, bookmark, matchbox, etc) in the theme of the AIDS awareness red ribbon to their one partner. They will each also make a donation of any amount to , The Foundation for AIDS Research. The swap elebrates love, generosity, and fellowship while bringing awareness to an important cause.

The sign up deadline for the has been extended, but it is still VERY SOON on November 17th, so go and show your support for this important cause.

No Comments » Categories: Weekly Featured Swap

Nov 6th 2009 12:53:02 pm

Wow. It is November. Are you ready for the holiday season to start? I’m not, so for this week I have NON-holiday links for you. Please add links to any of your own fun, crafty finds in the comments section. Happy weekend!

• Do you still have candy left over from Halloween? CraftGossip.com has a .
• Have you seen the television program on PBS? I have watched a few episodes and I think it is amazing! It is so refreshing to see people who are so dedicated to their craft and who are making beautiful things. You can watch full episode online .
• Creature Comforts (such a pretty blog!) has a new section with lots of free tutorials and printables.
• My most important link: Swap-bot user is hosting a great in honor of World AIDS Day on December 1st. The swap elebrates love, generosity, and fellowship while bringing awareness to the important cause of AIDS research. The sign up deadline for the is VERY SOON on November 10th, so go and support this important cause.

No Comments » Categories: friday link love