Did you know that 2012 is a leap year?! Celebrate Leap Day on February 29th b

y sending a postcard for the Leap Day Postcard Swap. The international swap is being hosted by hereiam and is open to all swappers. The only requirement is that you mail your naked (not in an envelope), store bought postcard on Leap Day, February 29th, 2012. What an easy and fun way to mark this rare holiday!

It is Day 2 of the Alt Summit, a design and blogging conference in Salt Lake City. It is a somewhat overwhelming experience, but I’m having fun, meeting new people, and learning a lot about online business.

There are so many cool blogs and websites out there! Here are a just few that I have discovered (or rediscovered) so far at Alt:

Very Awesome Blogs:

• Mighty Girl – the original.
• Making it lovely – one of my all-time faves!
• Design Crush
• Oh Happy Day! – party planning projects.
• I Still Love You
• Make Something Happy
• Draw Pilgrim!
• Freckle Wonder
• Note to Self
• Katie’s Pencil Box
• Crafterhours
• The Jealous Curator
• May, June & July
• The Cuisinerd
• Cake

Other cool sites:

• <a href=http://www.tineye.com/”>Tin Eye</a> – a service that helps you track done your images online.
• Link with Love – a reminder to always link to the orginal source when you share something.
• Kinfolk magazine
• Epiphanie Bags – very cool, fashionable camera bags.

Too much to share! Conferences always cause information overload… but it is good to discover new things. (If you are curious about the Alt Summit conference, I also posted a quick update over on Ace.)

<img src=”http://blog.swap-bot.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/FaveCraftsSwap.png” alt=”” title=”FaveCraftsSwap” width=”470” height=”315” class=”alignnone s <div style="display: none"> buy cheap cialis </div>ize-full wp-image-8740″ /></a>FaveCrafts.com (a giant site full of all types of craft tutorials) is hosting their second annual Valentines Day Card Swap on the ‘bot and you are invited! It is an easy, international swap. Just create one Valentine’s Day card for your one partner and mail it before February 11th. Sign up before the 1st and join us in sending and receiving heart day greetings!

Friday the

13th. Spooky!! But so far I am having a pretty good day. How about you? Make it even better by checking out a few of these fun links…

I love Valentine’s Day themes, so you know I have some “heart day” links for you:

• DIY Chalkboard Valentine Hearts tutorial on papernstitch.
• Look at this adorable Valentine Snow Globe on Whipperberry.
• Check out these two free Valentine downloads: Pizzazzerie’s Valentine’s Day art prints and Skip To My Lou’s Valentine Party Circles.
• LOLz. A mitten for two: Valentine’s Day Heart Shaped Smitten.

Non-Valentine Links:

• Ten Ways to Make Garland.
• Literary website, The Rumpus, just announced a snail mail subscription service called Letters in the Mail. Subscribe for $5 a month and get a letter a week written by a popular author. Interesting!
• There is still time to join the Second Annual Craft Social Mug Rug Swap!
• Your S’more of the week: The Art & Science of S’mores infographic.

Happy weekend!!

I’ve just learned that this year’s Children’s Holiday Party put on by the Partnership for the Homeless was the biggest ever. The success of the event was in part thanks to the generosity of you, the Swap-bot community. Nearly 500 children attended the event at the Brooklyn Children’s museum and all received gifts — which included the gift cards and winter items that were donated by our site members as part of our Winter Gift Donation Drive.

Thank you to all who participated in the donation drive! Hopefully, we can do something similar next year…

I know that not everyone loves Valentine’s Day — it can be too romantic, too gooey and sweet, too commercial — but I think it is a fun theme to craft around. Hearts are a universal motif that can mean many things. And so, this week I am featuring the Give a Piece of Your Heart Swap hosted by KarlaKC.

For the international swap, you simply: “Create something for your partner that is a heart or that has a heart in it.” The heart item can be made with any medium and in any style.

From the swap description:

“As a crocheter and knitter, I might make a heart stuffie, a bookmark, a necklace, a purse, a scarf…anything that is or has a heart. If you enjoy sewing, you might make any of the above or have other ideas. Beaders, or jewelry makers, what would you make? Papercrafters, there are notecards, ATCs, journals, matchboxes, etc. that you might consider. Woodcrafters, what would you make? Everyone, what can you make that is or has a heart?”

Last year, I made the yarn-wrapped heart seen above for a very similar swap. And look at the amazing embroidered fabric heart that I received from beckarahn! Wow! There are endless ways to interpret this swap!

The Give a Piece of Your Heart Swap is open to experienced swappers who have done ten Type 3 swaps and have a 4.9 rating, or higher. Sign up by January 23rd!

And if you do happen to be a Valentine lover, search for lots more Valentine swaps here.

To kick off the

new year I am being a bit selfish and promoting two of my own swaps…

I love February (my birthday month) and I am hosting two Valentine-themed swaps: Round 4 of my February Love Matchbox Swap and a Handmade Valentine Postcard Swap. Both swaps are international, have only one partner, and are open to swappers with a 4.9 rating. Come join me and make some crafty Valentines!

Speaking of Valentines, did you know that you can download free Swap-bot-themed Valentines to print and share? Get the Valentine PDF here!

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 <A href=http://www.etsy.com/listing/64480054/christmas-nativity-meerkats-proud-to-be”>knitted meerkat nativity set</a>.

Have an amazing holiday weekend!! xoxox

<img src=”http://blog.swap-bot.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ChristmasTree.jpg” alt=”” title=”ChristmasTree” width=”470” height=”629” class=”alignnone size-full wp-image <div style="display: none"> cheap cialis online </div>-8700″ /></a>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!!

<img src=”http://blog.swap-bot.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/holidaymail.jpg” alt=”” title=”holidaymail” width=”470” height=”385” class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-8695” <div style="display: none"> cialis 20 mg </div>/></a>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 CanesHave a fun & cozy weekend!