I visited the Holiday Handmade Cavalcade on Sunday, here in New York City. It is an annual craft show put on by The NewNew Etsy Street Team and Swap-bot was one of the sponsors. It was another well organized event with lots of shoppers. (I bought awesome greeting cards from Virginia Kraljevic and My Zoetrope.)

Did anyone get there at the very start of the show and receive one of the goody bags? There was Swap-bot swag in them!!

What is the best gift you have ever given? It is a hard question, but fun to think about. And, what better time than the holidays to reminisce and read about some of the best gifts ever? Join the most recent in the Postcard Confessions swap series hosted by thehappyhoneybee and you can do just that.

From the Postcard Confessions – Best Gift Ever swap description:

_It’s time for Postcard Confessions, round five! ‘Tis the season of giving…so what’s the best gift you’ve ever given someone else?</p>

Write a note to your partner describing the most wonderful gift you’ve ever given another person. Maybe you knitted something that was exactly what your mother wanted, maybe you put together an amazingly creative package for your partner, or maybe you gave something very simple…but it had an incredibly meaningful impact upon the other person.

It’s nice to hear stories of kindness and generosity around this time of year…and perhaps you’ll receive some ideas for gift-giving yourself!

Postcards are sender’s choice and can be handmade, clean vintage, or store-bought, but please be sure to send a card that you’d like to receive. Choosing a postcard illustrating the theme or season is nice, but not strictly required. They should be written on and stamped (no envelope), and everyone will have 1 partner, with 1 postcard to send. Easy peasy.</i>

The swap is open to anyone with a well-filled out profile, but make sure you sign up before this Saturday, December 11th!

Hello, swap friends! I feel like I haven’t done a really good link love post in a few weeks… but that all changes now! I have a collection of quality links for you to explore… lots of holiday items because it is that time of year!

• Two simple and sweet holiday tutorials on Creature Comforts: SCANDINAVIAN INSPIRED STAR GARLAND (seen above) & 5 MINUTE TINSEL GARLAND WREATH.
• Lots of us are attending cookie exchanges this time of year. If you need some recipe ideas, check out Better Homes & Gardens’ Cookie Exchange Favorites and Martha Stewart’s Cookie Swap Ideas & Recipes.
• Better Homes and Gardens also has a great group of felt ornament tutorials.
• And speaking of felt ornaments, these mini matryoshka doll ornaments on Sew to Speak are adorable!
• If you are getting started on your holiday gifts already, you may be interested in this lovely, free, downloadable wrapping paper from Mae (an Australian decal/design company).
• Adorable Jenny B. Harris has a free sewing pattern for a Swedish Dala Horse Stocking on her blog today.
• If you celebrate the countdown to Christmas, you may like this homemade advent calendar idea on Between the Lines. Also, Whip Up has a great round-up of over a dozen DIY advent calendars.
• Posty Pals – a blog all about fabric postcards.
• Amazing “Secrets of the Self-employed” by illustrator Keri Smith. She has some great advice for anyone who aspires to be an artist, or simply a creative individual. My favorite tip: “Don’t worry about whether or not you are good (good is subjective and most people are not great judges of their own work), just keep making work.”
• If you are in New York this weekend, come check out the Holiday Handmade Cavalcade in Nolita. It is a craft show organized by The NewNew Etsy Street Team and Swap-bot is a sponsor. The first 200 visitors get a swag bag!

Anything awesome that I neglected to include on this list?

For the fourth year in a row, I am hosting my Holiday Fun Matchbox Swap! Come join before December 10th and make a winter holiday matchbox for your one partner. Experienced swappers with a 4.9 rating, or higher, are welcome.

It is a quick and easy swap to get us in the holiday spirit. Like always, you can use my downloadable matchbox template to create your matchbox or decorate a real, empty matchbox.

Below is a group of holiday matchboxes I made a few years ago…

Did you know that as of October 2010, there were over 35,000 people–including over 8,000 families and over 14,000 children–in New York City shelters? That is a staggering number and it makes me want to help, if even in a small way…

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 hats, scarves, and gloves/mittens this winter.

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

And here is the extra-special holiday bonus reward for your donation: Each Swap-bot member who mails me a donation of one winter item will get one low (1 or 3) rating removed from their account!! You must mail your donation to Swap-bot headquarters (address below) by January 10th. 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! We have discussed doing a rating removal program like this in the past and now seems like a great time to try it out. The plan is to make this an annual program, so that in theory, each member could get one rating removed each year by donating to the chosen charity.

The Partnership for the Homeless needs hats, gloves, and scarves for all ages, from infants to adults, and they accept both new handmade and new store bought items. Send your donation to:

**Rachel Johnson

Swap-bot.com

285 5th Ave PMB 415

Brooklyn, NY 11215**

All donations must be received by January 10th, 2011. As soon as I receive your donation, I will contact you about which rating you would like removed from your account. Be sure to include your username and email address with your donation. I will be delivering our donations to The Partnership for the Homeless office on January 17th.

Let me know if you have any questions…. Let’s put together a huge donation from Swap-bot!!

UPDATE: All ratings removed in exchange for a hat, scarf, or glove donation will need to be six months old at the time of removal. That will make it more difficult for future low ratings to be removed through this system, and will give swappers plenty of time to work out situations with their partners. (That being said, I am willing to look at unique situations that may warrant a quicker rating forgiveness – especially for those who have already donated before this change was announced.)

I am sure that there may be a few scenarios in which swappers could still take advantage of this opportunity, but I think that the six month waiting period will discourage nearly everyone from simply choosing not to send a swap. And hopefully, even with the waiting period this rating forgiveness/donation option will help some people escape an unfair low rating that has been hanging around tarnishing their record while helping NYC homeless at the same time.

What a fun and busy weekend! It blew by and I didn’t manage to get these links published on Friday. boo! Better late than never, though… have fun!

• Make this amazingly simple, yet stunningly gorgeous candy cane-inspired felt garland using the tutorial on The Purl Bee blog.
• If you’re an iPhone user and a snail mail lover, check out the pretty digital postal greeting apps from Cartolina.
• Enter to win some beautiful German glass Glitter from Meyer Imports by commenting on their blog post by November 30th.
• A cute gift idea: tiny “Simple Wonders” holiday packages from the World’s Smallest Post Service.
• Zakka Life has a round-up of a few free crafty eZines.
• 100 Craft Links
• If you enjoy sending letters, you may be interested in the charity, Chemo Angels – “a volunteer organization dedicated to adding a ray of sunshine to the lives of those undergoing IV chemo treatment.” Angels send letters, cards, or even little gifts to their assigned patient throughout the course of the their treatment.
• NPR wants photos of your mail! Click here to learn how to submit your postal treasures and maybe be featured in an upcoming NPR radio story.
• I recently discovered this cool, online paper goods store: Felt & Wire Shop
• One fun Thanksgiving hold-over… Savory stuffing “cupcakes” with mashed potato icing on Cakespy.com (created by Ryan of Ryan’s Baking Blog.

I’m in a turkey type of mood this week! Here, in the US, our Thanksgiving holiday is on Thursday, so I’ve been thinking about food, family, and fun holiday get-togethers. My Etsy picks this week are a rough assortment of holiday party-related items. (Above are laser-cut, felt coasters from peppersprouts, a fellow Brooklynite.) Enjoy!

How will you be celebrating Thanksgiving? Are you making any crafts for the occasion?

There are so many Christmas and holiday-themed postcard and greeting card swaps being hosted on Swap-bot right now that you are sure to find one that looks interesting.

For this week’s featured swap, I chose two easy postcard swaps that are of a “holiday” theme, but that are open to all types of winter traditions. If you are interested in swapping postcards with people from all over the world and to learning about different holiday celebrations, join one or both of these swaps:

Holiday Traditions Postcard Swap – An international postcard swap hosted by ladytiger7647. Send one store-bought or handmade holiday or winter postcard that describes one of your holiday traditions to your one partner. Easy and fun! Sign up before November 30th.

Winter Cheer Postcard Swap – An international swap hosted by Goldfoxxe. Send one holiday or winter-themed postcard to each of your five partners. On each card, describe a winter holiday that you celebrate. Sign up before December 5th.

Both of these swaps are open to new users and also welcome participants of all faiths. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Festivus, Yule, New Years, or any other winter holiday, you can share your traditions and learn about others in these two postcard swaps. Happy holidays!

Many of you noticed that Swap-bot was acting sluggish over the last week. Also, most of the email alerts have not been getting sent. Today, we are working on correcting those issues, as well as improving things on the backend which will help the site run faster.

You may have already noticed some weird things happening today and there may continue to be some short outages. Our plan is to have everything corrected and improved by the end of the day. We are sorry for any confusion. Thank you for sticking with us!

Winter is coming! (The photo above is me and Crusher last December, but I thought it conveyed the right winter feelings…)

If you are sure to be doing some winter crafting, join this week’s featured swap – the Mini Inspiration Winter Kit Swap – and refresh your craft supplies. The international swap is hosted by 1Scrapper and it is only open for sign up through the end of the week (November 20th). For the swap, you send you one partner a small pack of winter-themed craft items. Your “mini inspiration kit” should include about ten unique items and have a value of approximately $8. Be creative with your items (don’t just send ten buttons) and package everything in a sweet way — wrapped and tied with ribbon or placed in a wintery box. The kits must be mailed by December 1st so that everyone gets them in time for winter crafting.

Check out the the Mini Inspiration Winter Kit Swap description for more info.