Sep 30th 2010 02:08:34 pm

I love aquamarine gem stones. Turquoise is my favorite color and I am always drawn to the lightly colored stones… so pretty. The beautiful aquamarine necklace above is from the Kahili Creations Etsy shop. It is so simple, yet unique! Here are some more handmade, aquamarine (some real gem stones, some not) jewelry picks from Etsy…

What is your favorite gem stone? Do you have a favorite jewelry maker on Etsy or another handmade marketplace?

3 Comments » Categories: Handmade Marketplace

Sep 27th 2010 12:29:00 pm

I don’t often feature electronic (Type 1) swaps here on the blog because craft swaps usually seem a bit more creative… but I realized that some of the things we do online are just as creative as physical crafts. For example, I spend a lot of time on my personal blog. I take lots of photos for it and spend time writing about things that are important to me. It is like my scrapbook and I love to share it with others, which is why I joined this week’s featured swap: I Love Your Blog!

This international email swap is hosted by Jex, and all users with a 4.85 rating, or higher, are welcome to join. Everyone will be assigned seven partners, and here are the swap instructions:

1. Send your partners the link to your blog.
2. Then, go to your partners’ blogs and grab a button or graphic. You have to link to them in your own blog, so your followers and readers will know your partners later.
3. Write a blog entry talking about this swap, and write what you like the most of your partners’ blogs.

Sign up for the I Love Your Blog swap by October 15th and discover some awesome new blogs! (Like Jex’s blog, for example!)

2 Comments » Categories: Weekly Featured Swap

Sep 24th 2010 10:59:48 am

September is nearing its end — pure craziness, but it is true! My link line up is a little lean this week, but I think you’ll enjoy it anyway…

• My sweet tooth seems to be in control of my blogging brain lately… I couldn’t resist sharing the how-to for these Cotton Candy and Chocolate Ganache Macarons!
• Glow-in-the-dark Glitter! Perfect for Halloween crafts!
• I plan to make these Doughnut Muffins this weekend. Yes, Doughnut muffins!
• CrusherDog could write his own tweets?!
• An informal survey: If you are a Twitter user, what type of content would you like to see shared by the SwapbotNews twitter account? For that matter, what would you like to see more of on the blog?

Please add more links in the comments… I feel like I must have missed some good stuff this week!

5 Comments » Categories: friday link love

Sep 23rd 2010 11:28:24 am

I had a candy craving today and decided to satisfy it in a calorie-free way: searching for fun lollipop creations on Etsy. It is amazing how much handmade candy sweetness you can find! (Above is a gorgeous art print from the Stoopidgerl shop.)

Are you a candy lover or more of a savory fan?

2 Comments » Categories: Handmade Marketplace

Sep 21st 2010 06:37:58 am

It is always exciting to see how our members utilize Swap-bot in unique ways!

Swap-bot user, Rainbowlicker, hosted a fantastic swap last month that combined postcard swapping with an appreciation project at her local library. In the I Love My Library swap, we each sent a postcard to our one partner describing why we love our local library. Then, we each ALSO sent a postcard with a similar sentiment to the Aurora Memorial Library in Ohio. Rainbowlicker is a librarian there and she used the postcards from the 60+ swap participants to create the display shown above. (Check out Ernie at the top! yay!)

Here is her description of why she wanted to complete this project:

“As a librarian and avid reader, I do not know where I would be without mine. With the recent downturn in the economy libraries were hit especially hard so I think it is time to show them some love! …I want to show our children and patrons how much people from all over love their library!”

Libraries are such amazing community resources. (I used to work at my local library in high school and it helped me discover countless new books and authors.) I am thrilled that Swap-bot could help make this library appreciation project possible!

6 Comments » Categories: Swapper Report, Swappy Goodness

Sep 20th 2010 02:29:20 pm

This week, I am being a little bit selfish and featuring my own swap, the Happy Halloween Matchbox Swap. It is a fairly self-explanitory matchbox swap: send one Halloween-themed matchbox to your one partner. There are already more than 60 people signed up – yay! – and anyone with a 4.8, or higher, rating is welcome to join. Sign up before September 30th and send your matchbox before October 15th. I always love Halloween matchboxes – they end up being so creative!

Halloween is a popular swap theme every year. Here are a few more Halloween swaps you might want to check out:

• Halloween Cupcake Toppers
• Halloween Whimsey Jar
• Halloween Card Swap
• Halloween Bookmark Challenge with a twist…
• Halloween Apron Swap
• Halloween Lucky Parcel
• ATCs for Halloween
• Handmade Halloween Postcards

I know that is not all of the Halloween swaps out there, so please feel free to leave links to more of them in the comments.

2 Comments » Categories: Weekly Featured Swap

Sep 17th 2010 10:26:26 am

Wow. Another week completed and my to do list never seemed to shrink… oh well, at least my link list grew!

• I am making these for dessert tonight: mini caramel apples!!
• Wild Olive has a second set of drop-dead adorable mini bookmarks available for download.
• Enter to win the most adorable cupcake charm I have ever seen on Bakerella.com.
• If you have a DSLR camera, there is a really basic, but helpful tutorial on camera operations on KevinandAmanda.com.
• What a huge art/craft project: a knitted mile!
• I think these are funny: Dinosaur Comics.
• I think these are cute: HiFiber Needle Felting Kits.
• I think this is awesome: Will.I.Am on Sesame Street.
• Is anyone going to the Maker Faire: New York this weekend? I plan to check it out on Sunday… see you there?

TGIF! Have a good one!

1 Comment » Categories: friday link love

Sep 16th 2010 01:13:36 pm

All of the kids are heading back to school and that makes me think of new school supplies! Here are some of the school-related items I found on Etsy:

What do you think of when it is “back-to-school” time?

3 Comments » Categories: Handmade Marketplace

Sep 13th 2010 02:12:59 pm

This week, I am featuring two versions of a very unique swap idea, both hosted by pahasiga:

Fun “Mathbox” for math lovers

and

Fun “Mathbox” for math haters

The idea for these two swaps came when pahasiga kept misspelling the word “matchbox” and thought it must be a sign to create a math swap. Math is all around us! Why not incorporate it into our swaps?!

The swap directions are pretty simple: 1) take a box, and 2) decorate it and fill with fun math. But what exactly is fun math? Here is a description from the swap…

“There are things that you maybe have never thought to have a connection to math. A round button with stripes on it? – it is a circle with chords dividing it into segments – very mathematical! Beads that are all round (spheres) or long ones (cylinders), inchies (squares) and ATCs (rectangles)… Unsharpened pencils are prisms or cylinders, and when they are sharpened, then they are prisms or cylinders with a cone on one end. And I won’t even start on ribbons – I swear I have read about a way of building up all geometry from ribbons.

You can cut problems out of magazines or books, copy/remake from them (giving credit where due), or even create the jokes/problems/puzzles yourself. Don’t stuff your box with only one kind of things – let there be at least four kinds of fun math in the box, and let there be at least one math of a puzzle type – not only buttons and beads.”

In the Math Lovers swap you can include difficult math problems in your box. In the Math Haters swap, only send the easiest of puzzles. Both swaps have a sign up deadline of this Sunday, September 19th. You must have over a 4.9 rating, with at least three ratings for package swaps, to sign up. Show your math love and swap some math fun!

3 Comments » Categories: Weekly Featured Swap

Sep 10th 2010 07:34:47 am

yippee! It is Friday! I have a packed weekend coming up, but it should be fun. What will you be doing this weekend? Make sure to leave some time to check out all these crafty links…

• The cupcake toppers swap hosted by thehappyhoneybee was so fun! I made the toppers you see above, and you can check out more of the lovely finished toppers on thehappyhoneybee’s blog. Such a fun and fast craft!
• MarthaStewart.com has rounded up all of their Best Clip Art in one handy spot.
• Strange: 14 Cool and Innovative Scissors
• I just discovered this beautiful online shop: Olive Manna. It sells all sorts of packaging and craft supplies.
• And a newly discovered blog: Howd.i.y!
• I thought this ruffle messenger bag was too pretty not to share… and the tutorial comes in both French and English!

Ok, ok… I know that Halloween is still ages away, but I already have some spooky links for you! Bwaaahaaahaaa!

• Gross Halloween Party Food
• Spooky Pancakes
• 3-D Skull Cake

Any awesome links I missed this week?

9 Comments » Categories: friday link love