Dec 23rd 2011 05:12:22 pm

Doesn’t Crusher look thrilled to be posing for our photo? Despite his sour expression, the three of us are very happy and thankful to have had another great year with Swap-bot! Thank you for being a part of this fun, creative, generous community. Here’s to many more years of happy swapping!

And, what did I get you for your holiday present? Well, lots of links, of course! Enjoy!

• You might have already seen them, but how cool are these Star Wars snowflakes?!
• Need gift tags for the big day? Download one of the amazing free tags from Creature Comforts’ round up of printables.
• I love these simple, festive topped jars.
• A stylish 12 days of Christmas gift list.
• Need a fun craft project for tomorrow? How about these pretty yarn-wrapped wreath ornaments?
• Or, these fun ice cream cone ornaments?
• Yum! Who knew jello could be so festive! Check out these egg nog jelly shots and fruitcake jelly shots.
• Also yum: Chocolate Nutella & Sea Salt Fudge.
• And a little more yum: Chocolate peppermints.
• Need a healthier treat alternative for the kiddos? This banana and strawberry “candy cane” idea is brilliant.
• For LOLZ: a funny and adorable knitted meerkat nativity set.

Have an amazing holiday weekend!! xoxox

1 Comment » Categories: friday link love

Dec 21st 2011 11:35:34 am

Happy Winter Solstice, everyone! (It is tomorrow in the Northern Hemisphere.) And, Happy Hanukkah, too! (It started last night.) Christmas is just four days away and 2012 will be here in just a little over a week! Wow. So many holidays, so little time!

All sorts of holidays are celebrated by Swap-bot members and holiday swaps are very popular! Sadly, the time for Christmas snail mail swaps is winding down…. BUT there is still time for some e-swaps! Like the Show Me Your Christmas Tree Swap hosted by Schwallie. For the international swap, you send each of your 10 partners a few pictures of your Christmas Tree and a few ornaments via email. You can also write a little about your tree and the significance of the ornaments you have chosen to share. What an easy and fun way to share your holiday traditions, while learning about lots of new ones in the process! Sign up by December 26th!

Above is the Swap-bot HQ holiday tree from this year. It is just a mini potted tree, but I think it looks festive with the lights! Now I just need to make a little Ernie the Envie ornament…

Whatever you celebrate this time of year, enjoy it!! Happy holidays!!

No Comments » Categories: Weekly Featured Swap

Dec 16th 2011 02:08:08 pm

Just a few crafty items for you this week:

• Free, downloadable Holiday Mail Stripes Gift Tags from Eat, Drink, Chic (seen above).
• Just discovered CraftFoxes, a social network for crafters.
• A pretty, glittered, Christmas-song-lyrics decoration idea from Katie’s Pencil Box.
• Cute paper straw snowflakes from Centsational Girl.

And four recipes that look yummy:

• Peppermint Marshmallows
• The best chocolate mousse of your life
• Momofuku Milk Bar Cinnamon Sugar Squares
• Chocolate Covered Candy Canes

Have a fun & cozy weekend!

No Comments » Categories: friday link love

Dec 13th 2011 11:34:42 am

If you are a chocoholic like me, you might want to join the Chocomania Swap hosted by BeeGon. For the swap you only have one partner, but you send them three different chocolate bars:

1. One milk chocolate. Milk chocolate is sweet chocolate that additionally contains milk powder or condensed milk.
2. One white chocolate. White chocolate is formed from a mixture of sugar, cocoa butter and milk solids. Although its texture is similar to milk and dark chocolate, it does not contain any cocoa solids.
3. And finally, one dark chocolate. Dark chocolate is produced by adding fat and sugar to the cacao mixture.

Anyone with a 4.7 rating, or higher, is welcome to join this international swap. Sign up before January 8th!

For more chocolate swapping fun, check out:

• Hot Chocolate Swap
• Hot Chocolate Lovers Swap
• Chocolate Series – Part 1, Mars

Yum!!!

1 Comment » Categories: Weekly Featured Swap

Dec 9th 2011 08:51:31 am

I must be hungry, because in addition to a few crafts, I have MANY links to tasty winter and holiday treats this week…

• Twelve DIY Stocking Stuffer Ideas. I like the glitter snow globe project from Camille Styles (seen above) and NotMartha’s super-cute Hot Cocoa Kits.
• Craft Critique is hosting a giveaway a day for the 12 days of Christmas! For day one, they are giving away a big bunch of Martha Stewart craft supplies.
• Make your own Harry Potter-inspired Golden Snitch ornament!
• Download these cute, free Owlways Christmas stationery and gift wrap printables from Jinjerup.
• Homemade food gift ideas from MarthaStewart.com.
• Easy DIY ornament ideas from MyHomeIdeas.com.
• I love these cute and easy marshmallow hot cocoa dippers!
• This pull-apart snowman cupcake cake on Better Homes and Gardens is pretty ingenius.
• Wow. This looks amazing: Whiskey marshmallow and caramel bacon bark on Bakers Royale.
• So cute and so yum! Santa hat brownies with strawberries from Daisy’s World.
• I found these Chocolate-Covered Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites on Pinterest and I think I may need to make them for a cookie party I am attending this weekend…
• An interesting winter treat recipe: Peppermint Rice Krispies Treats Snowballs.
• And, your S’more of the week: Chocolate Fudge S’mores Thumbprint Cookies on How Sweet It Is.
• Bonus S’more of the week: S’mores Pancakes with Marshmallow Sauce on Can You Stay for Dinner. They look delicious!

No Comments » Categories: friday link love

Dec 5th 2011 09:50:04 am

The Holiday Donation Drive for the Partnership for the Homeless is now over and I have some amazing totals to report!

The numbers:

• 85 Swap-bot members donated something to this Holiday Gift Drive.
• Nearly $600 was donated via Paypal, which I used to purchase 60 Target gift cards for $10 each.
• Over $140 in additional gift cards, to places like Gap, Barnes & Noble, and Old Navy, were mailed in as donations.
• 51 items of warm weather gear — like gloves, scarves, sweaters, hats, etc — were donated.

I think this donation drive was an extreme success!! Thank you so much to everyone who participated. I am taking all of the items to The Partnership for the Homeless on Wednesday, and they are hosting their Children’s Holiday Party on Saturday. I am sure it will be a wonderful event!

1 Comment » Categories: Announcements, Swappy Goodness

Dec 2nd 2011 04:27:51 pm

With the Holiday Gift Drive to benefit The Partnership for the Homeless ending today, I didn’t have a ton of time to gather together very many links. I did have time to force Crusher to try on his Santa hat, though. ha! He hates it, but I think he is cute.

A few lovely links for you:

• I MUST make these Candy Cane Truffles from Hungry Girl Por Vida. You can stir them into hot cocoa!
• And speaking of hot cocoa, these pretty marshmallow stirrers look simple to make, but so fun!
• A cute food blog I just discovered: Blondie and Brownie.
• For those who celebrate Christmas, I think you will like this Christmas is Happening digital advent calendar. So pretty. And for a bit more fun, the Regretsy advent calendar.
• A Handmade Gift Idea Round-up on Design Sponge.
• This is kind of awesome and bizarre: a Twilight-themed baby shower for the guest of honor and Bella, of course.
• Bakerella is amazing. Check out her gingerbread cookies.
• This is not craft or food related (I post a lot of food, don’t I?), but it is fascinating: Money, a chart of almost all of it, where it is, and what it can do.
• One of my favorites: Celebrity Gossip, Academic Style.
• The Holiday Handmade Cavalcade craft fair is tomorrow in Brooklyn starting at 10 am. Swap-bot is a sponsor and I’ll be there shopping in the afternoon. Will I see you there?

Have a delightful December weekend!!

No Comments » Categories: friday link love

Dec 1st 2011 12:20:16 pm

If you celebrate Christmas, you will love this fun project organized by the Dutch Swappers Group…

The Dutch Swappers put together a 24 day blog hop advent calendar. You can see the advent calendar below and even share it on your own site if you’d like.

Each day around noon, a new box filled with a creative tutorial, a giveaway, or a free printable will be revealed. Each member of the group is providing one of the days’ posts and each day is a new craft surprise!

(Most of the blog posts are in Dutch, but if you use Google Chrome, you can translate the pages easily. Thanks to kimminita for letting me know about this fun project.)

———-

No Comments » Categories: craftiness, Swapper Report