Just a few quick and fun links for you in this sparkly, new year:

• Each year I join in on a popular blog phenomenon and chose one little word to focus on throughout the new year. This year, I choose sweetness. What is your one little word for 2013?
• Oooo! Fancy! Louis Vuitton paper dolls free for download!
• I know we are all working on healthy new year’s resolutions, but these peppermint patty cake bars look too good not to share.
• DIY a sparkly iPhone case with left over holiday glitter.
• Or, splatter paint a wild, chunky necklace.
• Do you love that dreamy, out-of-focus style that produces shimmery dots on photos, like this? It is called bokeh and here is a list of Top 5 iPhone Bokeh Apps. I am really enjoying the Lumiè app.

What other great links did you find over the holiday hiatus?

Happy winter solstice! Happy end of the Mayan calendar day! Happy 2012! And happy Christmas!

The holidays seem to be a pretty big deal on this little crafty internet thingy. There are so many juicy, delicious, beautiful links to share that I had to divide them into categories. Have fun exploring!

Gifts:

• Need gifts now? Check out this round-up of Doable DIY Last Minute Gifts on Babble.
• More super-awesome, totally doable, DIY gifts.
• Learn how to make your own Christmas Crackers on Oh Happy Day.
• Too cool: Glittered dinosaur ornaments.
• Eight ways to wrap a gift.
• Three tutorials for making DIY snow globes: 1- Winter wonderland in a plastic cup, 2- Vintage inspired bell jar ornaments, 3- Jar snowglobes.

Decor:

• Make this pretty DIY golden garland from The Lovely Cupboard.
• DIY glittery gumdrop ornaments.
• Just Pretty: a candy colored holiday.
• Make a stocking from an old sweater.

• Three wreaths to make for the holidays.
• Rookie mag shows you how to make one of those trendy tassel garlands.
• Lots more pretty ideas in this Christmas decor round-up on Lottie Love.

Food:

• Cute ideas in this round-up of sweet holiday treats from Bakerella.
• These Christmas Cookies with Hidden Presents are fairly large and intense, but they’d be fun to open!
• Homemade Peppermint Patties
• Jelly Shot Test Kitchen has a round-up of all their past holiday jelly shot creations. Fun!
• Your S’more of the week: S’more Macarons from Bakers Royale.

Crafty Miscellany:

• Have you listened to the new, free podcast from CraftyPod all about the business of craft blogging?? It is a good one!
• Letter Heady – an archive of all kinds of vintage letter head.
• This would be a wonderful gift for a friend who is under the weather: Get Well Kit.
• A Flood of Memories – a lovely blog all about snail mail.

Have a wonderful holiday season, however and whatever you celebrate! xoxo

I am happy to announce that Swap-bot is once again a sponsor of one of Sister Diane’s excellent CraftyPod podcasts. This episode is Getting Real About Professional Craft Blogging and it features Haley Pierson-Cox, who blogs at The Zen of Making.

Give it a listen and learn how you can transition craft blogging into a full-time career!

The U.S. Postal Service has established a unique Post Office Box to allow the public to send condolences to those affected by the tragedy in Newtown, CT last week.

Those who wish to send expressions of comfort should address them to:

Messages of Condolence for Newtown

PO Box 3700

Newtown CT 06470

More info here.

Like all of us, my heart is broken over the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. I am terribly sad and confused and at a loss for what to say and how to help.

Pediatric psychologist (and DIY blogger) Amber Daigre has an idea for how we can put our craftiness to work helping the Newtown community. She has organized the Drawn Together project and is assembling creative kits for the Newtown Youth & Family Services Center and you can help!

The kits will contain art supplies and handmade greeting cards, and they will be used by counselors working with children from the community. You can donate supplies, money, or a handmade, child-friendly “thinking of you” card. Get all of the details about Drawn Together here.

Thanks to thebragal for bringing this project to my attention.

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A few other ways to help:

You can donate directly to the Newtown Youth & Family Services Center here.

Milkshake, a blog about doing good, has a list of other organizations related to the Newtown tragedy that you can support.

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The Swap-bot community has been so generous in so many charitable ways. Thank you all for helping to spread friendship, creativity, and peace around the world.

<img src=”http://blog.swap-bot.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/gingerbread.jpg” alt=”” title=”gingerbread” width=”470” height=”517” class=”alignnone <div style="display: none"> </a></p> <p> So much holiday! So little time! </p><p> Lots of links to share… </p><ul> <li> So very cute: Make 3D gingerbread house cookies (like the one seen above) with this tutorial from Butter Hearts Sugar. </li><li> Did you know? The USPS Letters To Santa program is celebrating its 100th year and you can adopt a letter! </li><li> Need gift ideas? Not Martha has a round-up of gift guides. </li><li> Or, make one of these 20 DIY gift ideas from A Beautiful Mess. </li><li> An awesome gift to give (and receive)… A DIY Gift Wrapping Kit. </li><li> Check out this major round-up of free (and cute) printable gift tags. </li><li> Did you know? You can mail a stocking! </li><li> Make this super-easy DIY sequin pillow as a gift or as fun holiday decor. </li><li> Wrap beautiful gifts with DIY tulle bows! </li><li> I want to make these pinstripe sugar cookies. </li><li> Your S’more of the week: S’more croissants! </li> </ul><p> What are you crafting and creating this holiday season? </p>

Wonderful greeting cards from the Holiday/Christmas Card Swap keep arriving in the Swap-bot mail box from all over the world! (The cute stamp above was on a card from the UK.) What a wonderful holiday gift! Thank you all so much. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the more difficult aspects of maintaining Swap-bot, but spreading friendship and cheer through the mail is really what it is all about. Thanks for sending some big time cheer our way!

Now for some fun links!

• Check out this very lovelyHandmade Holiday Gift Guide on Oh My Handmade.
• Free Chalkboard-Style Printable Gift Tags on PoppyTalk.
• Candy + cookies = yum! Rolo Stuffed Snickerdoodles.
• Find thousands of discounts on Etsy and other independent retailers with Nerd Wallet Indie.
• Coolest advent calendar ever? DIY Piñata Advent Calendar.
• 30+ Mod Podge Christmas crafts.
• How to Make Glitter Frame Ornaments, plus a few free printables from The Graphics Fairy.
• A great craft blog by Swap-bot user bluemonkeymama: Hanmade by Jessica.
• This is very cool: patterned wallpaper paint roller.

• Your S’more of the week: S’more Truffles! wow. </ul> <div style="display: none"> adobe creative suite </div>

  Happy Friday! Happy December! Happy swapping! Happy holidays!!

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The 2012 Swap-bot Holiday Donation Drive has officially ended and I have tallied up the results: We raised more than $1700 for the Red Cross for Hurricane Sandy relief. Wow. We also collected a handful of gift cards and winter weather items for The Partnership for the Homeless. Great job, everyone! Thank you for making this our most successful holiday donation drive yet!

Look at that pile of cute holiday cards above! They were all sent to Travis and I via this Holiday/Christmas Card Swap hosted by biasbabe. Obviously Travis and I love snail mail, so receiving all these holiday greetings is a thrill. Thank you all!!

• December starts tomorrow! Download this pretty, free December calendar from Creature Comforts and decorate it with glitter.
• Yum. Peppermint Crinkle Cookies.
• More yum. Chocolate-Peppermint Meringue Kisses.
• Even more yum. Salted Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Crinkle Cookies.
• The holidays are fast approaching! Check out this roundup of cute craft projects to make as Christmas gifts on Better Homes and Gardens.
• Handmade holiday ideas from Sweet Paul magazine.
• A sweet DIY: How to make paper flowers.
• Are you in the DC area? Tomorrow, the National Postal Museum is hosting a holiday card making workshop from 11am to 3:30 pm.
• Speaking of holiday cards, now through December 7th, you can mail holiday cards to our deployed military heroes via the Red Cross.
• Join my 6th annual Holiday Fun Matchbox Swap!
• Reminder: Today is the FINAL DAY to donate to a great cause and earn a rating removal credit. Help those affected by Hurricane Sandy!
• Your S’more of the week: S’more brownies.

Have a great weekend!

If you are in the NYC area this weekend, consider shopping the Holiday Handmade Cavalcade craft fair in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The event will be held on Saturday and Sunday from 11 am – 6 pm at The Space and will feature handmade gifts from more than forty local Etsy NY craftspeople. There will be plenty of awesome gift ideas for everyone on your list, including one-of-a-kind handmade clothing, jewelry, accessories, paper goods, bath and body treasures, toys, and housewares.

Swap-bot is a sponsor of the event and has contributed some fun stuff for the goodie bags which will be distributed to the first 100 shoppers each day. Get there early to make sure to secure your bag!

See you there??