Happy Veterans Day & Happy 11/11/11! These are my eleven postcards that I just mailed out for the 11-11-11 Postcard Swap.

In honor of the day, here are ELEVEN fun links:

1. Learn how to make an adorable cross-stitch family portrait from Martha Stewart Crafts.
2. Crafty advent calendar ideas on Better Homes & Gardens.
3. How-to: use your pretty magazines to make a festive ball garland from Princess Lasertron.
4. What to do with all those toilet paper rolls? Why not try making some of these TP Roll Pendants on Mega Crafty.
5. Three great blog posts all about Swap-bot: 100 000 Swaps Completed On Swapbot, Motivation by Swap, and Oh Swap-bot. How you monopololize my time.
6. Ingenius: The Scientific Seamstress created a printable bias tape maker that you can download for free!
7. Make your own washi tape.
8. Edible embroidery? Use sprinkles to “embroider” your cake.
9. Yum! Pecan Pie Cookies on Bakers Royale.
10. Oh, and Snickerdoodle Cupcakes on How Sweet It Is.
11. One more recipe… I might make these for Thanksgiving: mini apple pies in an apple!!

I hope you do ELEVEN fun things this weekend!!

I am working on another HUGE blog post of all the images that have been coming in from the 100,000th swap, but in the meantime, I have an announcement!

Swap-bot is once again a sponsor of the Holiday Handmade Cavalcade!

_Lovers of all things local and handmade are marking their calendars for Saturday December 3rd, when the local Etsy Team, The {NewNew}, hosts its fourth annual Holiday Handmade Cavalcade at the sprawling arts and music venue Public Assembly, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. From 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. shoppers can load up on clothing, jewelry, accessories, paper goods, bath and body treasures, toys, housewares and more, all handmade by some of the most creative local artisans and crafters in the NYC metropolitan area. </p>

The first 200 shoppers to arrive will receive free goodie bags packed with a unique sampling of wares from the {NewNew}</i> [including Swap-bot goodies! yay!]. Shoppers will also receive, with each purchase they make, a raffle ticket for a chance to win one of ten {NewNew} handmade prize packages.

If you are in the NYC area, come check it out!

The mail deadline for the 100,000th Swap was yesterday and the swap participants have been sending me the most amazing images of their Swap-bot-inspired creations! The incredible mixed media painting of Crusher above was done by <a href=http://www.swap-bot.com/user:Faeorain”>Faeorain</a>. I love it so much!!!!

I am still trying to get organized so that I can post a comprehensive gallery of all the wonderful photos I have received, but for now, here are a few more….

A giant Swap-bot stationery set created by Julianapena.

A cute Ernie matchbox and adorable necklace charm by Leecytx.

A truly incredible cross stitch book mark by Kizmet. Wow! Look at that perfect cross stitched Ernie!

I have so many more amazing creations to share with you… Stay Tuned!

**“Messenger of sympathy and love

Servant of parted friends

Consoler of the lonley

Bond of the scattered family

Enlarger of the common life”**

The words above are etched above the door to the National Postal Museum in Washington DC. Travis and I visited the museum last year and I have been meaning to report back on our trip ever since!

The National Postal Museum, a Smithsonian Institution museum, is located in the old 1914 Post Office building next to Union Station in Washington, D.C. The Museum was created by an agreement between the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Postal Service in 1990 and opened to the public in 1993. The Museum is dedicated to the preservation, study and presentation of postal history and philately.

Some United States Postal Service History:

• In January, 1673, the first post rider used Native American trails between New York and Boston.
• Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first Post Master General in 1775.
• The National Philatelic (stamp) Collection was established at the Smithsonian in 1886 with the donation of a sheet of 10-cent Confederate postage stamps.
• 600,000,000 pieces of mail are processed in the US each day!!
  • As of 2004, there were 188,613 postal delivery vehicles in the United States.</ul>

  In addition to one of the world’s largest collections of stamps and philatelic materials, the National Postal Museum has postal history material that pre-dates stamps, vehicles used to transport the mail, mailboxes and mailbags, postal uniforms and equipment. You can view much of the collection on the “Arago” museum website.

  [](http://arago.si.edu/flash/?s1=2

  mode=1

  tid=2051961)One of my favorite items in the collection is [Owney](http://arago.si.edu/flash/?s1=2

  mode=1

  tid=2051961), the Railway Mail Service mascot from the late 19th century. Owney was a scruffy mutt who became a regular fixture at the Albany, New York, post office in 1888. Owney was attracted to the texture or scent of the mailbags and he began to ride with the bags on Railway Post Office (RPO) train cars across the state, and then the country! In 1895 Owney made an around-the-world trip, traveling with mailbags on trains and steamships to Asia and across Europe, before returning to Albany. Railway mail clerks considered the dog a good luck charm. At a time when train wrecks were all too common, no train Owney rode was ever in a wreck. You can buy Owney stamps and even follow him on Twitter!

  

  Obviously, I am a snail mail fan, so I really enjoyed our visit to the National Postal Museum, but I think nearly anyone would find it interesting. You can view the museum in about an hour and learn a lot about the US Postal Service. There are plenty of stamps on exhibit, but there are also airmail planes, stagecoaches, mail safety and postal inspection tools, historic letters, and more. I recommend visiting if you are even in DC!

  Have you visited the National Postal Museum? What was your favorite item on view?

On October 8th 2011, four Swap-Bot members — AndrewLips, Kessie, kittenred, and paperbutterflywings — met up in Newcastle, England.

AndrewLips (seen to the right playing guitar) hosted the event and sent this report:

_“We all met at my house around midday. Everyone who came got 3 goodie bags each from each member, including Swap-Bot postcards, buttons and stickers kindly provided by racheljohnson.</p>

Then we did 3 workshops:

I did a screen printing workshop, where we screen printed Ernie onto t-shirts and tote bags. They came out really nice. Paperbutterflywings did a workshop showing us how to make sock monsters which was incredibly cute and easy to do. After that Kessie did a workshop on bottle-cap pendants and bottle-cap magnets. Again, this was so simple, and came out looking so lovely. We all had a lot of fun doing those workshops. Then we had dinner together. Later in the evening we had a houseshow at my house, which was 5 acoustic singers playing by candle light, followed by an 80’s disco! The swap-bot members stayed at my house for the night.

If you would like to attend or organise a UK meet up, please join this swap-bot group: UK meet ups!“</i>

I love the screen printed Ernie items they made!! It sounds like a fun and very creative day. Remember, I’d love to share photos and reports from any and all Swap-bot user meetups. Email me anytime at rachel -at- swap-bot.com.

I can’t resist cute food! So, even though I have featured quite a few matchbox swaps recently, I couldn’t pass up the Cute Food Themed Matchbox Swap this week. Hosted by PAStryloVER, the swap is USA-only and open to experienced users with a 4.9 rating, or higher. It is a simple, one-partner swap.

Sign up by Saturday, and then send a cute, food-themed matchbox to your partner by November 12th. I’ve already signed up!

People, Halloween is only 10 days away!!!

Halloween Links:

• Aren’t those Halloween ornaments above adorable?! You can download the pattern for them on Paper and String.
• Everything You Need to Know About Carving a Pumpkin.
• Cute and easy Cupcake Ghosts.
• Dabbled has a big round-up of Harry Potter Themed Halloween ideas.
• These mini Halloween plushies are too cute!
• Some really, really, really, really gross Halloween recipes.
• And to recover from those recipes… how about a healthy and autumnal Pumpkin Pie Smoothie?!

Other links:

• A simple tutorial on how to use freezer paper stencils to paint fabric.
• Pink + peanut butter = irresistible and fashionable cookies!
• These just look heavenly: Rolo Brownie Bites from Bakers Royale.
• Just plain cool and pretty: A rainbow-colored infographic that charts the ingredients of nearly every single candy bar in the world.
• If you are near the Fort Worth, Texas, area, don’t miss the Funky Finds Holiday Shopping Experience, November 12th-13th.
• And if you are near Lake Tahoe, your fellow Swap-bot member and very funny comedian, earthnk (Katsy Chappell), will be performing at The Improv at Harveys November 2-6. Katsy is an “Enviromedian” whose humor is slanted toward “GREEN” as in Eco… and I know from experience that she is hilarious!
• Don’t forget: We are doing a holiday gift donation drive to benefit The Partnership for the Homeless here in NYC. Learn how you can contribute a gift to a homeless child and be rewarded with a Swap-bot rating incentive here.

Happy Friday, everyone!

It is that time of year again: we are co-hosting another donation drive with The Partnership for the Homeless. You may remember that last year we collected more than 325 hats, sets of gloves, and scarves for the winter gear drive! Awesome! This year, we will be collecting gifts for NYC’s homeless children.

Did you know that nearly 15,000 children live in New York City shelters? The Partnership for the Homeless is a NYC charity committed to building a just and equitable society and creating lasting community change through solution-oriented programs and policy initiatives that eliminate the root causes of homelessness. They provide all sorts of services and support for the homeless in NYC and they would greatly appreciate a donation of gift cards to be handed out to older children at their Children’s Holiday Party on December 10th.

That is where the fantastic Swap-bot community comes in! Let’s put together a huge donation of gifts for The Partnership!!

We can accept the following items for donation: Gift cards in $5 to $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 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**

And here is the extra-special holiday bonus reward for your donation: Each Swap-bot member who mails me a donation of one gift card or item will get one low (1 or 3) rating removed from their account!! You must mail your donation to Swap-bot headquarters (address above) by November 30th. 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.)

International option: If you are unable to purchase appropriate gift cards in your area, I am willing to accept cash donations via Paypal. I will then buy a gift card in your name to donate. Send Paypal donations to rachel -at- swap-bot.com and make sure to mark them as a “gift” instead of a payment. All Paypal donations of $5 or more will count toward a rating removal.

Halloween Matchboxes are one of my very favorite swap themes! I do at least one every year. (Above is a matchbox I recently made. The drawer is pulled open a bit and the content is arranged around it.)

If you’d like to make a Halloween matchbox this year, there is still time! Join the Happy Halloween Art Matchbox Swap hosted by Soleil. The sign up deadline for the international swap is October 20th. It has a very quick turn around – the mail deadline is the 25th. The swap is open to everyone, even new users, but questionable swappers will be removed. Sign up now!

Search for “Halloween” on the Find Swaps page to find more holiday themed swaps.

Can’t wait to see all of the creepy craft creations!!

Swapping postcards and quick crafts is plenty of fun, but sometimes swappers crave a more in-depth, time-intensive craft swap experience. After feeling the surge in creativity that you get from small swaps, it is completely understandable that many swappers want to take the step up to larger projects….

BUT, there are a few things to consider before hosting or signing up for a big project swap. Big, lengthy swaps have the potential to be risky.

Some examples of time-intensive swaps: Journal swaps, 100 ATCs or 100 inchies (or any large number), knitting or crochet projects, large art project swaps, like paintings or sculpture, and any type of Round Robin style swap where each participants contributes to a project and then mails it on.

Here are my tips for creating or choosing a time-intensive swap:

• As always, carefully check over the swap coordinator’s profile and rating history before joining a big swap (or any swap). If you are the host, carefully check over your participants’ profiles. Have they done Type 3 swaps before? Have they done time-intensive craft swaps before? Have they been on Swap-bot long enough to indicate that they are committed to the system and to staying active at least long enough to complete your swap?
• Swap which have a very long stretch of time between the sign up deadline and the mail deadline (more than a month) are risky. The more time between when partners are assigned and when the swap must be mailed usually correlates with the number of swappers who go missing, leave Swap-bot, or become suspended due to unsent swaps. I suggest NOT joining swaps with more than a month between the sign up and mail deadlines.
• Time-intensive public swaps are the most risky. Participants don’t necessarily intend to become non-senders, but inexperienced swappers can often get overly excited about the idea of a big swap, but not truly realize the time ad effort it will take to complete it. Private or group swaps are a good way to participate in safer swaps, but they still are not 100% guaranteed to run smoothly.
• If you want to coordinate a big, time-intensive swap, make sure to set very clear and strict requirements and stick to them when weeding out participants. Don’t be afraid to remove swappers who seem questionable.
• Round Robin style swaps have been attempted many times, but they never seem to work out as planned. In order for a Round Robin swap to be successful, every single person must be committed to the swap. If one person drops out, the entire process is stalled. They are an awesome swap idea, but I do NOT suggest hosting Round Robin swaps except within very trusted groups of swap friends.
• Always keep in mind that swapping is inherently risky, even with the feedback and safety measures used on Swap-bot. Things can happen which prevent users from sending. There is always a chance that you may not receive a swap. Do not join swaps that are too expensive or require more of a commitment than what you find fun and enjoyable. Swap items that you love making, just for creativity’s sake.
• Not receiving a swap is a major bummer, especially when it is a big, time-intensive swap. It is extremely important to rate your non-sending partners with a 1 so that future swap hosts will know not to allow them in their swaps.

What do you think? Do you join time-intensive, big project swaps? Leave you tips for successful swapping in the comments…