I am so pleased that we have already met our $1000 goal, but there is still plenty of time to donate to the Swap-bot for Sandy Crowdrise campaign and help the Red Cross bring relief to those affected by Hurricane Sandy. Swap-botters who donate receive a rating removal credit as a small reward. Learn more in this blog post.

If you’d like to help out those in need after the storm in a more tangible and crafty way, iSewAcademy is hosting 25th Dresses, a handmade children’s clothing donation drive. All of the details on how to donate are listed on the iSewAcademy blog.

During the holiday season there are so many opportunities to help those in need. In addition to our efforts to help those affected by Hurricane Sandy, we are also working with The Partnership for the Homeless once again this year. They host a children’s holiday party every year and would love to receive gift items for the kids.

Donations to the Partnership will also earn a rating removal credit and we can accept the following items: Gift cards in $10 amounts to stores like AMC theaters, Barnes and Noble, H&M, Gap, Old Navy, Forever 21, Aeropostale, and Target. Gift cards are the most requested item by The Partnership for the Homeless, but we can also accept new toys and winter gear (hats, gloves, scarves, etc) donations. You can mail your donations to me: Rachel Johnson, 285 5th Ave PMB 415, Brooklyn NY 11215.

Thank you all so much for your support of these important causes and organizations. The Swap-bot community blows me away every year with their generosity!

A handful of fun Friday links for my favorite blog readers ever:

• Someone, make me one of these Salted Caramel Ice Cream Shots stat!
• Check out this fun snail mail project pin board on Pinterest.
• This craft project seems ambitious, but very cool: make a mini marquee sign with working lights!
• A kind of silly, but magical DIY.
• 22 Of Your Childhood Style Icons, Revisited.
• Two unique S’more variations for you this week: Pumpkin S’more Cupcakes and Candy Cane S’mores.
• Remember: you still have plenty of time to donate to the Swap-bot for Sandy Hurricane Relief Fund and earn a rating removal credit. As an alternative, The Partnership for the Homeless is collecting gift cards again for their children’s holiday party and would love our help. Read this blog post for all the details.

Have a lovely November weekend!

Hurricane Sandy hit our community, New York City, and all of the the East Coast region very hard. People are hurting. Homes and businesses and lives have been lost. We want to help those in need. Want to join us?

For this year’s Swap-bot holiday charity drive, let’s donate to Hurricane Sandy Recovery efforts via the Red Cross. I’ve set up a Swap-bot 4 Sandy Crowdrise campaign. Financial donations can be made by major credit card and help the Red Cross provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance to those affected by disasters like Hurricane Sandy.

Like in our past holiday donation drives, there is an extra-special holiday bonus reward for your donation: Each Swap-bot member who donates to our Crowdrise campaign</a> (or by one of the alternative donation options below) will get one low (1 or 3) rating removed from their account!!

Alternate donation options:

If you would prefer to donate a gift or winter gear to The Partnership for the Homeless Children’s Holiday Party, I am accepting those donations, too. We can accept the following items for donation: Gift cards in $10 amounts to stores like AMC theaters, Barnes and Noble, H&M, Gap, Old Navy, Forever 21, Aeropostale, and Target. Gift cards must be new and unused and must be to stores that are accessible in NYC. Gift cards are the most requested item by The Partnership for the Homeless, but we can also accept new toys and winter gear (hats, gloves, scarves, etc) donations.

Send your donation to:

**Rachel Johnson

Swap-bot.com

285 5th Ave PMB 415

Brooklyn, NY 11215**

Paypal option: If you are unable to use a major credit card on Crowdrise and/or cannot purchase appropriate gift donations in your area, I am willing to accept cash donations via Paypal. Send Paypal donations to rachel -at- swap-bot.com. All Paypal donations will go toward Swap-bot’s Crowdrise campaign for the Red Cross and all Paypal donations of $10 or more will count toward a rating removal.

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Details: You must donate by November 30th. However you chose to donate, you must include your Swap-bot username with your donation. If you do not have a poor rating on your account, you will get a credit for one future rating removal. Each person can only get one rating removed during this donation drive – although you are welcome to donate more than one item! (All ratings removed in exchange for a donation must be at least six months old and/or the user must have exhausted all options for making up the swap. The rating removal credit is meant to remove unfair or unfixable ratings — it is not a “free pass” for flaking.)

Thank you to all 110+ of you who entered the giveaway for the Flip-Pal mobile scanner!

The winner has been randomly chosen and it is: Snailgirl!

Congratulations, Snailgirl! The scanner prize pack will be sent to you directly from the Flip-Pal company.

Stay tuned for more giveaways here on the blog….

Just a few fantastic links for you this week…

Last Minute Halloween Ideas:

• So cute! Itty-Bitty Bat Cupcakes (seen above) from Bakerella.
• Make this cute “Going Batty” headband and your costume is done!
• DIY some pretty tissue paper pumpkins.
• Free printable pumpkin stencils.

Random Links:

• A very cool vintage postcard exhibit is now on view at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
• Snail Mail Style: Why not wrap your gifts up like postal parcels?
• These are good: 4 Little Ways to Show People You Love ‘Em.
• You’ve entered the giveaway drawing for the Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner, right??

Have a very fine weekend!

Two years ago I had the opportunity to receive and review a Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner for CraftCritique.com. Couragent, the creator of the Flip-Pal mobile scanner, are now proud sponsors of the National Breast Cancer Foundation and have a special price of $159.29 (regularly $176.99) on their brand new Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner Pink Bundle until the end of October, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

I thought this was a great time to re-publish my original review of the Flip-Pal in conjunction with an awesome GIVEAWAY sponsored by the company. Read to the end of the blog post for info on how to enter to win a Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner Pink Bundle!

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FLIP-PAL REVIEW:

Years ago, I worked for an art magazine, and scanning fine art images was a big part of my job. Since I had access to a professional grade scanner at work, I never got around to purchasing a scanner for home use. Since nearly all of my photography is digital, I mostly got by without one, but there were always instances when I wished I could scan an old photo or an illustration. It just never seemed worth it to go buy a huge, desktop scanner/printer combo for just a few projects or photos. It was a constant conundrum — I wanted to scan things, but I didn’t want to own a bulky scanner that would just take up room on my desk.

The Flip Pal Mobile Scanner solved my conundrum! The Flip Pal is a mini, battery-powered scanner that you can take anywhere. It is approximately 10 inches wide, 6.5 inches tall, and about an inch thick. It weighs about 1.5 pounds. It comes pre-loaded with batteries and a 2GB SD memory card. All you have to do to start scanning is take it out of its packaging. You don’t need to hook it up to a computer or plug it in; just switch it on, and press the scanning button! Magic!

The Flip Pal also comes with a simple instruction booklet and a handy thumb drive “SD to USB converter” that you can use with the SD card to load the scanned photos onto you computer. The thumb drive also contains special Flip Pal photo software that runs on Windows computers and can help you edit photos and stitch together large photos from multiple scans. However, I use Mac computers, so I was not able to access the software. Instead I used iPhoto and Photoshop to easily edit all my scans. [UPDATE: The FLlip-Pal Toolbox software is now Mac + PC compatible.]

I got married long, long ago in the age of analog photography, and for years I have been meaning to scan some of my wedding photos. A perfect project to test out my new Flip Pal!

The scanning surface is 4 x 6 inches and can scan at a 300 dpi or 600 dpi resolution. Three hundred dpi is a standard print resolution, and scans made at that size can be printed at their original size. Scans made at 600 dpi resolution can be successfully printed up to twice their original size. Many professional scanners work at much higher scanning resolutions, but for nearly all hobby and craft purposes, 600 dpi is plenty large. Plus, each scan is very fast! I scanned over 80 wedding photos and didn’t even use up half of the battery power!

Each scan is displayed on the scanner’s small screen after it is completed. The digital display helps you make sure you positioned the scanned item correctly and allows you to review all of the scans you have made during a session.

Another great feature of the Flip Pal is that you can remove the cover and “contact scan” larger pieces or things that will not fit under the cover. Once the cover has been easily pulled off, you can flip the Flip Pal over and scan… well, really anything!

The clear back allows you to position the scanning surface correctly. I scanned a few of my large wedding photos and also a few older photos that are affixed to a scrapbook this way.

It was incredibly easy to import the scans onto my computer. You simply put the SD card into the USB converter and plug that into your computer. Then, you can import photos just as you normally would off of a digital camera. If you have an SD slot on your computer, you can use that instead of the USB converter. I imported my scans into iPhoto and did a little bit of cropping and editing. The whole scanning process was completely user friendly and easy.

I am thrilled that I finally got some of my old photos scanned, including the two above of my grandparents. I love my new Flip Pal!

Pros:

• Small size makes it completely portable and easy to store.
• User friendly and extremely easy to use.
• No set up – simply open it up and start scanning!
• Patented flip-and-scan technology – literally flip it over and scan anything!

Cons:

• The included Flip Pal software only works on Windows computers.

  The software now works on both Mac and PC.

• The scanning surface is small – 4 x 6 inches.
• Maximum scanning resolution is 600 dpi – some projects may call for a higher res.

Required Disclosure: I was given this product at no-cost for review purposes.

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NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY!

Flip-Pal will be sending one of their new Pink Bundles — which includes the scanner, a carrying case, and a special Breast Cancer Awareness scanner cover — to one lucky Swap-botter! To be entered in the drawing to win this great prize, please comment on this entry with your answer to the following question:

How would you use a Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner?

Please include your Swap-bot username and email address with your comment. The giveaway will be open for entry through October 31st. The winner will be chosen and announced by November 2nd. The Flip-Pal Pink Bundle prize will be sent directly from the Flip-Pal company. By entering this drawing you agree to release your shipping address to them if you win.

Good Luck!

Over the weekend, a group of members from the Swappers in Florida Group got together for a day of crafting. TurtleLady45 sent in this fabulous and fun report:

The Swappers in Florida Group held a ‘Craft Day’ October 20 at the Ridge Clubhouse, Davenport, FL. Thanks Silwygurl for getting the room for us! Ten crafty ladies [seen above are Michelle — rep for Close to My Heart, RyeRye, Stampsnob, TurtleLady45, Geminigirl, KitchenDiva, Craftchallenged, Snoop, Bluecrayons, Silwygurl] from all over Florida attended. TurtleLady45 organized the day. She made name tags for both our SB and our real names, but we mostly called each other by our SB names! True to her name, Turtlelady45, wore a tee-shirt with turtles on it as well as a turtle hat! [Love it!]

_After getting acquainted for a while, we started off the day with demos by Snoop. She showed us how to make an Ice Card and a Black Enamel Love mask card (ATC size). RyeRye continued with a demo of the round looms found in craft stores. She was making a hat.</p>

We broke for a potluck lunch. Oh! What yummy foods…mac & tuna salad, bean salad, pear, almond & blue cheese with greens, meatballs, pork sliders, zucchini bread, brownies, and snacks.

Then, we had a gift bag swap. Each lady brought a gift bag with goodies in it. One by one we took a bag, but the ‘catch’ was if you liked what someone else got, you took it from them…they would get to take another bag. We all received some wonderful craft supplies.

After lunch, Wickedred gave a workshop in polymer clay. Each lady brought a package of clay and we all made turtles! Such a variety of turtles in various colors. And, Michelle, a rep from Close to My Heart, taught us how to make a corner bookmark.

It was a fun day. We got to put faces to names! We talked, we ate, we crafted. Swappers in Florida hope to have craft days every few months.</i>

If you ever host or attend any Swap-bot meetups, please send your photos and report to me at rachel -at- swap-bot.com. I’d love to share about your event!

It was another busy week here at Swap-bot HQ. My sister-in-law ran her first full marathon in San Francisco and Travis celebrated his 32nd birthday. Fun times!

I also managed to round up a bunch of high quality links this week… Enjoy!

General fun stuff:

• The photo (above) makes it look so fun and delicious, I may need to make some of this Birthday Cake Batter Bark for Travis this weekend…
• Read this awesome interview all about mail art with Swap-bot user MissThundercat.
• This recipe looks ridiculously delicious: Upside Down Banana Split Pie.
• For the holidays or any time: super-cute Snowball Cupcake Ornaments.
• This is a good tutorial for making an accordion spine journal.
• YuM! Deep dish cookie pies!

Halloween Stuff:

• Unique and pretty: decorate your pumpkins with a drill this year!
• Make fun soap with a Halloween surprise toy inside!
• Make easy Halloween stamps out of erasers.
• If I were having a little Halloween party, I would totally serve these Ultimate Apple Snicker Nachos. Wow!

Less than two weeks until Halloween! Do you have any other great Halloween links to share?

We are already a week into October, but there is still time to sign up for a few fun Halloween swaps! There is swap out there for every pumpkin and ghost loving swapper…

• Halloween Ghost Story eSwap – Sign up by Oct. 11th
• A Spooky Hello! Halloween Card Swap – Sign up by Oct. 12th
• Easy Halloween ATC Swap – Sign up by Oct. 12th
• Halloween Tag Swap – Sign up by Oct. 13th
• Halloween Mail Art – Sign up by Oct. 13th
• Handmade Halloween Card Swap – Sign up by Oct. 12th
• And many more! Search “Halloween” to find additional swaps.

Most of the Halloween swap close soon, so sign up asap if you want to do some spooky swapping!

Hello and happy Friday! Enjoy these lovely links…

Halloween Stuff:

• These 3-D pumpkin cookies from Glorious Treats (seen above) would be so fun for a Halloween party!
• Make quick and pretty paper spider webs with this Spiderweb Kirigami tutorial.
• Or, make these yarn and stick spiderwebs to help spook-ify your Halloween decor.
• I love this lighted ghost garland.
• Thirteen free Halloween printables.
• These Franken Kit Kats don’t look very easy to make, but they sure are cute!
• Love these awesome artist Halloween costumes on Oh Happy Day – Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, and Vincent Van Gogh.

General Crafty Fun:

• Make your own solid perfume.
• Yum. Salted caramel chocolate cupcakes.
• Your s’more of the week: S’more Cakes in a Jar.
• These pretty bunting cookies are too adorable to eat!
• This is horrifying.

Have a fantastic weekend!