Sep 30th 2011 12:40:39 pm

Your fun Friday links fall into two of my favorite categories this week: Sweets and Snail Mail! Have fun!

Sweets:

• I want the cookies pictured above right now: Gooey Chocolate Chip Sandwich Cookies.
• A taste of fall, Pumpkin Whoopie Pies. (Plus a free printable cupcake topper!)
• Kids would love these crazy, colorful, Halloween Rice Krispie Treats.
• Learn how to make chocolates on the Etsy blog.
• Good news for coffee lovers: coffee is good for you! No, really. Harvard scientists say so!
• Bake someone special a mini cake in one of these cute, silicone trophies!

Snail Mail Stuff:

• A shop in Australia called Newspaper Taxi is having a We Love Mail Competition. Send them a little something through the mail and you will be entered to win one of two beautiful stationery packs.
• Check out this cool mail-art treasure hunt: Return2.me.
• Send a real postcard with your own photo on it through the mail via your computer or iPhone with Postcards Anywhere.

Everything Else:

• Join one of the Sew, Mama, Sew Holiday Sew-Alongs and make placemats, an advent calendar, and/or a tree skirt.
• Oh, yeah! Just what Crusher needs: a pet mansion!

Anything to add? Leave more links in the comments…

3 Comments » Categories: friday link love

Sep 29th 2011 08:21:21 am

‘Tis the season for Halloween and harvest themed merchandise! If you search “pumpkin” on Etsy, you will get ten of thousands of results — like that cute pumpkin hat for cats by scooterKnits seen above! Here are a few more of my favorites…

What theme gets you most in the mood for October? Pumpkins, fall leaves, or ghosts?

1 Comment » Categories: Handmade Marketplace

Sep 27th 2011 08:09:23 am

I do a Halloween matchbox swap every year… and this year is no different. I have already joined MelodyMoon’s Halloween Matchbox Swap. The international swap calls for one decorated 32-count matchbox to be sent to your one partner. As always, you can use my matchbox template to create your box from scratch or decorate an empty, commercial matchbox. Sign up before the end of September!

For more Halloween fun, check out these other swaps:

• Handmade Halloween Cards
• Halloween Dotee
• Halloween ATC – a top swap! Over 140 participants!
• Halloween Themed Deco Swap
• Halloween Jelly Roll

October is right around the corner!!

2 Comments » Categories: Weekly Featured Swap

Sep 23rd 2011 11:28:23 am

Fall has hit New York hard. It has been raining all week… which makes it difficult to feel peppy while catching up on all my work after traveling last week… but these fun links cheer me up! Enjoy!

• Isn’t that custom craft suitcase seen above cool? It was created by Amy Powers, creator of Inspired Ideas magazine.
• Cute, free, downloadable, coffee-themed embroidery patterns from Wild Olive.
• Now this is adorable: mix and match, hand-carved cupcake stamp set.
• Make fun and easy fall banners using tags from the office supply store.
• Five tips for taking better self-portraits.
• For fashion lovers: DIY Python Print Sunglasses.
• Swap-bot style:airmail striped sticky tape.
• Yum! Chocolate, peanut butter, and banana rice krispie treats.
• More tastiness: Candy Corn Cheesecake Mousse.
• Snail Mail blogs: Postcard Perfect, Jonathon’s Postcrossing Blog, Save Snail Mail, Viva Snail Mail.
• Just a beautiful, little online shop: Pikku Wares.
• You have already heard about my trip to BlogHer Handmade & The Creative Connection, but I also posted my Top Ten Business Tips from the conference over on Ace Department.

Happy weekend to all!!

2 Comments » Categories: friday link love

Sep 20th 2011 07:02:54 am

You already know that I was at the BlogHer Handmade and Creative Connection conference last week. The three-day event was packed with classes, keynotes, tutorials, and a handmade marketplace. We heard from Holly Becker of decor8, Christina Ferrare, Jo Packham, publisher of Where Women Create, Stacy Julian of Big Picture Classes, and many more accomplished, smart women. My favorite class was Inspiration Boards taught by Leslie Shewring of A Creative Mint.

It was an inspiring and informative event, and it was great to meet in person some of the women I have been following online. It is motivating to see so many creative women starting their own businesses. (If you’d like to read more about the conference, I am in the process of putting together a full recap on my personal blog.)

Now, on to the GIVEAWAY!!

One of the reasons that many people love these creative conferences is because you come home with lots and lots of swag. The Creative Connection was no different. At nearly every meal we were given a little gift from one of the sponsors and publishers were there giving away free copies of their magazines and books.

You, my lovely Swap-bot users, are always in the forefront of my mind, so I made sure to grab a few extra items when I could. I was planning this giveaway from the beginning and I think I collected a great prize pack… one lucky winner will receive the following bundle of goodies:

• Home Made Simple – a hardcover book full of recipes and home tips gathered from the Home Made Simple website.
• Two Minneapolis postcards – which I purchased before realizing that the conference was actually in Saint Paul. Whoops.
• A large tote bag from Archiver’s.
• The Oct/Nov issue of American Craft magazine.
• The June issue of Scrapbooks Etc. magazine.
• The summer issue of Quilts and More magazine.
• A crisp, new pencil from See Jane Work.
• A pack of Tim Holts Idea-ology facets.
• A cute hanging plaque/sign and a greeting card from Curly Girl Designs.
• A cuff bracelet for embellishing from Ruby Violet.
• Two sewing patterns from Indygo Junction.
• A magnet from Starbucks explaining the fundamentals of a great cup of coffee.
• A pretty magnetic bookmark from The Kelly Rae Roberts Collection.
• A 1″ button from BurdaStyle.
• And, my favorite item… a beautiful “Aspire” necklace from The Vintage Pearl!

Whew… that is a long list of items! Wouldn’t you love to win it all?

I’m making this giveaway extremely simple. Just comment on this blog post to be entered in the drawing. In your comment please include your Swap-bot username and your answer to this question:

What swaps or crafts are you doing to get in the mood for fall?

You must be a Swap-bot member to enter this giveaway. Each individual can only enter once. The giveaway will be open for entry until September 30th. I will randomly pick and announce the winner on October 3rd. Good luck!

196 Comments » Categories: Giveaways

Sep 16th 2011 10:05:23 am

I am at the BlogHer Handmade & The Creative Connection conference this week. I have been to a day and a half of seminars, classes, and keynotes. It has been fun and inspirational and I have met a lot of cool people! (Above is an “idea board” I was working on in my marketing class with Traci Bautista.)

Here are some of the awesome links and sites I’ve learned about so far:

• Healthy Slow Cooking
• So You Think You’re Crafty
• My Desert Cottage
• Nancy’s 7 Sisters Marketplace
• Inspired Ideas Magazine
• Dilly Dally Blog
• The Sew Weekly
• Crafty Diversions
• Inspire[d] Magazine
• Princess Lasertron
• Inspirations by Ivy
• And, of course, Crafty Chica – she is awesome!

If you’d like more info from the conference, check out the liveblogging section on BlogHer. Or, follow along on Twitter: @SwapbotNews & @rljart.

9 Comments » Categories: friday link love

Sep 15th 2011 11:20:43 am

I am really excited for this swap! I have been saving my toilet paper tubes for months and have wanted to use them in a mail craft — now is my chance!! Join me in the TP Tube as an Envie Swap. The swap is hosted by nlgrudis and this iteration is an Autumn theme. Here are the directions:

“Get an Empty TP Tube (the center tube the paper is wrapped around). Cut two circles of cardboard or cardstock to cover the ends. Tape one end closed. Now stuff the tube with goodies. Fill with Autumn or Fall themed items……

The possibilities are endless! Be creative, challenge yourself & have a blast!”

Sounds very easy, creative, unique, and fun! It is international and open to experienced swappers with a 4.6 rating, or higher. Sign up by September 22nd.

No Comments » Categories: General

Sep 12th 2011 04:42:00 am

Thank you to everyone who checked out Stash Slash and entered the giveaway for a free seller’s account.

The winner is… craftygirl!!!

Congratulations! Look for more giveaways in the near future!

No Comments » Categories: Giveaways

Sep 9th 2011 09:54:35 am

I must be hungry this week, because I have a bunch of recipe links for you, like the delicious S’mores seen above. Cooking & baking are creative endeavors, too!

Food:

• You know that I am obsessed with S’mores and this week I have two delicious links for you… The photo above is of the Chai Tea S’mores recipe from design*sponge, complete with chai tea, homemade graham crackers. For another twist on the S’more flavors, try Bakers Royale’s S’more Bars.
• If you are up for frying things, these Apple Rings look like autumn deliciousness.
• And, you could serve this Pumpkin Pie White Hot Chocolate with the apple rings to complete the fall dessert extravaganza!
• Or, if it is still warm where you are, try these Snickerdoodle Pumpkin Ice Cream Sandwiches.
• There is a whole lot of butter in this recipe, but I still might have to try it this weekend: Salted Caramel Chocolate Shortbread Bars. Wow!

Crafts:

• This is sort of a food/craft combo: Amazingly detailed, craft-themed cakes.
• I really like the wreath made from loops of scrapbook paper in this fall decor post (at the bottom) on the Heartland Paper blog.
• I want to try this cute Crochet Star Pattern. The little start would make sweet holiday ornaments…
• Pretty: a tutorial for jeweled hair pins.
• Um, ok… Felted Berets for Your Cat.

We need more crafts links! Please add some in the comments section.

No Comments » Categories: friday link love

Sep 7th 2011 07:38:12 am

Breaking news: As of this week, over 100,000 swaps have been hosted on Swap-bot! Wow!

Travis & I (and Crusher) have been running Swap-bot for almost six years and we never would have thought that so many swaps could have been hosted on our fun, little website. To celebrate this 100,000th swap milestone, I’m hosting a Swap-bot-themed mail swap — the 100,000 Swap!!

Everyone is welcome to join this easy swap. Each person will have one partner to whom they will send one piece of Swap-bot-themed snail mail. It can be a postcard, a letter, an ATC, an inchie, anything! The only strict requirement is that your item go through the postal mail and that it has some sort of Swap-bot decoration on it.

Let’s see how many Swap-bot creations we can send all over the world!

2 Comments » Categories: Announcements, Weekly Featured Swap