Yesterday, Kristin Roach (aka on Swap-bot) wrote an awesome on her site, . I love the 5 great reasons to swap she lists in the article – so true!

Kristin recently joined Swap-bot for the and has now gotten the swapping bug! She is even planning to host a monthly Craft Leftover swap. Stay tuned for more details.

is a cool site with lots of projects, patterns, and tutorials, plus a monthly . From the site description:

“I started CraftLeftovers.com as a way to keep myself accountable to using up my leftover craft supplies, and now four years later, it’s a place for others to find patterns, resources, and inspiration to live their lives creatively too!”

Kristin is an experienced and active member of the online craft community and she has tons of helpful info and tips to share. I strongly recommend !

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</a>Another glorious Friday! I welcome this one with open arms and a few fun links just for you: * Look at that beautiful paper garland above. You can make your own by following Laurie Cinotto’s tutorial on the . * I like this * Does anyone have an iPad? I don’t, but they sure look cool! Check out this . * A really pretty illustration blog: * Do you have a birthday party coming up? Check out this fun and colorful * Yum! I must make these . * I link to this beautiful blog all the time, but here are two more sweet tutorials and free printables from Creature Comforts: and . * Ok, so who how many of you are LOST fans? I have been watching the series since the beginning and I am looking forward to the series finale on Sunday. To get us all pumped up,, and check out this informative . <div style="opacity: 0; position: absolute; left:-3816px;"> <div style="opacity: 0; position: absolute; left:-3181px;">

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</div></ul> Have a fun-tastic weekend! <div style="opacity: 0; position: absolute; left:-2628px;">
  
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Swap-bot users RobinT and cbpoole have joined together to create a new Etsy store called Letters Mingle Souls. Robin and Blair have some lovely paper craft items for sale, like handmade envelopes and beautiful ATC sleeves, but they also have something even more special in their shop. They are selling handmade Lymphoma Awareness ribbons in honor of their friend and fellow Swap-bot member, April (rainbowafterrain81). April was recently diagnosed with lymphoma and is currently undergoing treatment. (You can read more about her experience on her blog.) The ribbons are very pretty and all proceeds from their sale (minus the cost of shipping) will toward April’s cancer treatment and care. I’ve already purchased mine!

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You may also recall that Blair (cbpoole) has been organizing the Official Swap-bot Cookbook. It is a big project and she recently reported that she has over 100 recipes for the book! When it is completed it will be available for purchase in the Letter Mingle Souls Etsy Store and proceeds from its sale will also go toward April’s cancer care. I am really looking forward to buying my copy and trying all of the favorite Swap-bot recipes!

I am feeling in need of a little uplifting inspiration today… Here are some Etsy picks with a positive message:

in particular is a great place for inspirational/happy prints.

We have all seen the adorable deco tape with cute designs (like the kind seen to the left) that you can purchase at kawaii and craft stores, right? It is wonderful to use for decorating packages or crafts. How would you like to make your own deco tape using your home computer and your own designs? Swap-bot user, (with a little help from users and ) has shared this DecoTape tutorial with us… Enjoy!

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How To Make DecoTape

by:

DecoTape is decorative tape usually with very kawaii (cute) prints on it. It can be used to decorate things like stationery, art journals, and collages. DecoTape also makes a cute small gift. Although it is widely available in Japan, it is not in many other places. That’s why I’ve decided to make a tutorial on how to make DecoTape for all those kawaii fans out there.

Supplies:

You are going to need some supplies to make this project. These are very basic and cheap items you can find at home.

• regular paper (the kind that fits in the printer)
• scotch photosafe magic tape
• a computer or laptop
• a printer
• parchment or wax paper

Tips:

• The ink on the tape on the paper will be wet!
• Use white or light-colored backgrounds when picking a pattern for your tape!

How-to:

1. Cover a sheet of regular printer paper with the Scotch tape. Make sure there are no gaps.
2. Put the paper covered with tape in the printer so when it prints, the ink will be printed on the smooth side where the tape is.
3. Search Google images or another search engine and find a pattern for your tape or create your own pattern with your designs!
4. Open Microsoft Paint or another editing program and put the pattern in that program. You can get as creative as you want!
5. Print it. Take caution with taking it out of the printer because it will be wet!
6. Use a strip of tape and put it over the wet ink, leaving extra tape so you can pull it off. Make sure the sticky side of the tape is on the ink.
7. Pull off the tape and stick it on the parchment or wax paper. Later you can cut it out or do whatever else you want to do with it.
8. Repeat steps 6-7 as many times as you want or until the ink dries out.

There are also many alternatives! For example, you could use a plastic sheet like a transparency instead of a sheet covered in tape! You can also use some packaging tape for a larger image!

Uses:

There are many uses for Deco Tape! They make great goodies, can liven up stationery, and are a nice touch to art journals. You can use them as labels, too! You can create them, collect them, and trade them! Maybe one day, after reading this, someone might even do a hand-made DecoTape swap on !

Comments!

Please leave a comment! I’d love it if you had any comments, questions, or fixes!

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I studied painting in college and to this day I’m still always looking for beautiful paintings. My favorites usually incorporate bright colors and thick paint. I gravitate toward very simple still lifes, because they often allow the actual paint to become the star of the painting Develop The Ultimate Minset For Success instead of the subject matter. These are some of my favorite painting picks from Etsy.com…

Do you have a favorite painter on Etsy or elsewhere? Please share!

Develop The Ultimate Minset For Success

What a great idea! Swap-bot member is organizing a Swap-bot cookbook with recipes submitted by Swap-bot users, and she needs your help! Blair’s (cbpoole) goal is to compile all of our favorite recipes from a wide variety of meal categories (sides, entrees, dessert, vegetarian, etc) and print them in a bound book. She is looking for many more recipes and all Swap-bot members are welcome to submit up to five recipes.

You can submit your recipes to [email protected] . Please include the following information for each recipe:

• Your first name and your Swap-Bot Username</il>
  • The category your recipe falls under
  • Name of your recipe and the full recipe

  • Picture of your completed recipe (if possible)</il> </ul> All of the recipes must be submitted by next Monday, May 17th !! You can learn more about the different recipe categories and the details of this project in . (Remember, you must be logged into Swap-bot to access the forums.)

    Once completed, the Swap-bot Cookbook will be for sale to any and all Swap-bot members. All proceeds from the sale of the cookbooks will be donated to Blair’s good friend, Swap-bot user cancer care. April (rainbowafterrain91) was very recently diagnosed with Lymphoma and is currently undergoing treatments. You can read more about her experiences on .

    I am really excited about this Swap-bot Cookbook project and can’t wait to submit my own recipes! The fact that the book’s sale will help support a fellow Swap-bot user during a tough time just makes it even more amazing. Let’s make this an awesome cookbook!

    (If you love cooking and would like to swap with other Swap-bot chefs, check out cbpoole’s group: .)

Just a handful of links today…

• Seen above: Super-cute ! (Recipe at .)
• I am head-over-heels in LOVE with the . Must make one!
• May the Fourth (be with you…) was Star Wars Day! It is not too late to crochet this in celebration of the occasion.
• Splitcoast Stampers has a simple . They use a fancy die cut machine, but you could easily make them by hand.
• I never knew you could ! Thank you for enlightening me, !

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! xoxo