Crusher helped me make these chihuahua-themed picks…

is coming up on April 22nd and this will be its 40th Anniversary. In honor of the occasion, I thought I would feature a few swaps that are centered on an earth-friendly theme. Most of these swaps have sign up deadlines on Earth Day, or earlier, so check them out asap and jump in if you are interested!

• You’ve already heard me spreading the word about this one: [

is coming up on April 22nd and this will be its 40th Anniversary. In honor of the occasion, I thought I would feature a few swaps that are centered on an earth-friendly theme. Most of these swaps have sign up deadlines on Earth Day, or earlier, so check them out asap and jump in if you are interested!

• You’ve already heard me spreading the word about this one:](http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/57668) . Simply send an envelope full of unused craft goodies to your one partner.
• Earth Day Ecard Swap 2010 – The sign up deadline for this swap is today! For the swap, you send each of your three partners an Earth Day themed e-card with one tip for how to be more environmentally friendly.
• Earth Day – Create a Handmade Project with Reuse – for this swap you will create a craft project for your partner, like greeting cards or ATCs, with upcycled materials.
• [

is coming up on April 22nd and this will be its 40th Anniversary. In honor of the occasion, I thought I would feature a few swaps that are centered on an earth-friendly theme. Most of these swaps have sign up deadlines on Earth Day, or earlier, so check them out asap and jump in if you are interested!

• You’ve already heard me spreading the word about this one: [

is coming up on April 22nd and this will be its 40th Anniversary. In honor of the occasion, I thought I would feature a few swaps that are centered on an earth-friendly theme. Most of these swaps have sign up deadlines on Earth Day, or earlier, so check them out asap and jump in if you are interested!

• You’ve already heard me spreading the word about this one:](http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/57668) . Simply send an envelope full of unused craft goodies to your one partner.
• Earth Day Ecard Swap 2010 – The sign up deadline for this swap is today! For the swap, you send each of your three partners an Earth Day themed e-card with one tip for how to be more environmentally friendly.
• Earth Day – Create a Handmade Project with Reuse – for this swap you will create a craft project for your partner, like greeting cards or ATCs, with upcycled materials. *](http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/57862) – This is just like the title describes, make one ATC for your one partner using only recycled/upcycled materials.
• [

is coming up on April 22nd and this will be its 40th Anniversary. In honor of the occasion, I thought I would feature a few swaps that are centered on an earth-friendly theme. Most of these swaps have sign up deadlines on Earth Day, or earlier, so check them out asap and jump in if you are interested!

• You’ve already heard me spreading the word about this one: [

is coming up on April 22nd and this will be its 40th Anniversary. In honor of the occasion, I thought I would feature a few swaps that are centered on an earth-friendly theme. Most of these swaps have sign up deadlines on Earth Day, or earlier, so check them out asap and jump in if you are interested!

• You’ve already heard me spreading the word about this one:](http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/57668) . Simply send an envelope full of unused craft goodies to your one partner.
• Earth Day Ecard Swap 2010 – The sign up deadline for this swap is today! For the swap, you send each of your three partners an Earth Day themed e-card with one tip for how to be more environmentally friendly.
• Earth Day – Create a Handmade Project with Reuse – for this swap you will create a craft project for your partner, like greeting cards or ATCs, with upcycled materials.
• [

is coming up on April 22nd and this will be its 40th Anniversary. In honor of the occasion, I thought I would feature a few swaps that are centered on an earth-friendly theme. Most of these swaps have sign up deadlines on Earth Day, or earlier, so check them out asap and jump in if you are interested!

• You’ve already heard me spreading the word about this one: [

is coming up on April 22nd and this will be its 40th Anniversary. In honor of the occasion, I thought I would feature a few swaps that are centered on an earth-friendly theme. Most of these swaps have sign up deadlines on Earth Day, or earlier, so check them out asap and jump in if you are interested!

• You’ve already heard me spreading the word about this one:](http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/57668) . Simply send an envelope full of unused craft goodies to your one partner.
• Earth Day Ecard Swap 2010 – The sign up deadline for this swap is today! For the swap, you send each of your three partners an Earth Day themed e-card with one tip for how to be more environmentally friendly.

• Earth Day – Create a Handmade Project with Reuse – for this swap you will create a craft project for your partner, like greeting cards or ATCs, with upcycled materials. ](http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/57862) – This is just like the title describes, make one ATC for your one partner using only recycled/upcycled materials. *](http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/58840) – Gardening is a great way to celebrate the earth! For this swap you will write a letter to each of your two partners about your gardening adventures. **Save the Earth 2010

  </b></a> – This is an email swap in which you send each of your five partners ten tips for saving the planet.</li> </ul>

  I am sure I may have missed some current eco-themed swaps or maybe these swaps inspired you to host one of your own! Please add links to additional swaps in the comments.

ChristyNelson.net is an awesome craft blog I discovered during my work with the organizers of the upcoming CraftyCon event. Christy is one of the organizers of CraftyCon, one of the co-owners of Toolulu, a social media marketing company, a mother of two, and she also manages to keep ChristyNelson.net updated constantly with great crafty content. In fact, she has been publishing the blog since December of 2008, posting everything from craft projects and tutorials to product reviews and gift guides.

</a>You can count on ChristyNelson.net for consistent craft content almost daily, but that isn’t even the coolest part of the site. Christy also hosts ingenious, monthly Craft Challenges. The Challenges consist of a random group of secret craft supply items chosen by Christy each month. Participants sign up to receive a packet of these craft supplies in the mail for just $5. (They can be purchased in Christy’s Etsy store.) When they receive the supplies, they make something awesome, submit photos of their creations, and compete for the chance to win prizes! Each month the supplies are totally different and you don’t know what they will be until they arrive at your door. The Challenges are a great motivator (or excuse) to get you crafting and trying new things. Christy provides the challenge, you provide the inspiration and crafting skill!

This month, I received one of Christy’s Challenge packages. It consisted of some black felt, burlap, black sequins, safety pins, and my favorite, a black chiffon rose. I am already cooking up some great ideas for what I am going to make… check back at the end of the month to see my final craft creation.

I recently participated in an awesome swap hosted by called . Each participant made a flat, paper Crusher (Crusher, btw, is the little chihuahua mascot of Swap-bot that you might have seen around the site) and took photos of him at local landmarks or doing our daily activities with us.

I () took Crusher to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, among .

took Crusher to Etsy Labs Craft Night under the Manhattan Bridge where we hung out and made applique shirts!

Crusher went swimming in the Pacific Ocean off the Oregon coast with .

He hung out with and her cat, Ghost, in Beaverton, Oregon.

And, he visited the Palmer Depot in Alaska with . Look at those mountains!

</a>

The swap host, , took Crusher to UCLA and the Golden Gate Bridge! wow!

[<img src="http://blog.swap-bot.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/costarica.jpg" alt="costarica" title="costarica" width="470" height="441" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5145" srcset="http://blog.swap-bot.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/costarica-300x281.jpg 300w, http://blog.swap-bot.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/costarica.jpg 470w" sizes="(max-width: 470px) 100vw, 470px" />](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ptiteari/4479673392/)

Crusher even made it all the way to Costa Rica with . He traveled the globe!

</a>

He helped out in the Department of Homeland Security with .

[  <img src="http://blog.swap-bot.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/crafting.jpg" alt="crafting" title="crafting" width="470" height="294" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5142" />](http://www.flickr.com/photos/biasbabe/4482012109/)

And, he even managed to help with a bit of her sewing. Crusher loves crafting!

There are so many more great images of Crusher traveling the world… You can find many of them in .

You can tell from that I am sort of obsessed with neon colors lately. I love to include just a splash of neon in otherwise tame art projects or outfits. So… I thought it would be fun to search for neon goodies on Etsy. These are some of my favorites:

How do you feel about neon? Does its resurgence excite you or frighten you?

</a>All of a sudden I have fallen back in love with neon colors! Like many of us, I remember when neon was hot in the 80s and early 90s – I had a neon green snap bracelet and cool neon pink and black sunglasses – radical! Well, neon and other bright colors are back in style… if used in moderation, of course, and this week’s featured swap is right on trend. It is the swap hosted by . For the swap, you simply send an envelope full of brightly colored craft and collage items to each of your three partners. You can send flat crafting supplies such as paper, stickers, ribbon, fabric scraps, etc, but ALL of the items you send must be brightly colored and or neon/fluorescent! Make sure to check out the for all of the details and requirements. The swap is international and open to experienced swappers with at least a 4.5 overall rating and serious, new Swap-bot users. Sign up before the end of April to get in on this fluorescent fun!!

<img src="http://blog.swap-bot.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/giveaway1.gif" alt="giveaway" title="giveaway" width="450" height="120" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5109" srcset="http://blog.swap-bot.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/giveaway1-300x80.gif 300w, http://blog.swap-bot.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/giveaway1.gif 450w" sizes="(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px" />

We have a winner!! has determined the winner of the she hosted here, on the Swap-bot blog, last month. And, the winner is…

_Dannielle Molesworth aka on Mar 17th, 2010:</p>

For my Craft Month Celebration I am volunteering at a local nursing home for arts & crafts. Teaching and assiting the elderly with a craft I donated. So many do not have any visitors and they love to recieve things or make things they can keep. I felt that was a great way to celebrate craft month. </i>

Congrats to Dannielle! She will receive a wonderful selection of items handmade by Biasbabe.

I have a few more links to share with you from last week… better late than never!

• Adorable, free, are available from Cathe Holden on her blog, Just Something I Made. I love the one (seen above) that holds a roll of stamps!
• on Craftzine.com.
• Anyone have an iPad already? This is one of the first craft projects I have seen for the the new gadgets: .
• I feel bad telling you about this next one, because it will not help you with this month’s Stash Busting Challenge… but it seems too cool to keep to myself: . Everyday they offer up one craft item at a super sale price.
• This one is just for laughs and because I LOVE Star Trek:

And, here are few more links to help inspire your ** endeavors:

• on Crafts Unleashed.
• made from paper scraps on Scoutie Girl.
• on Dollar Store Crafts.
• (and adults!) using everyday household items on Babble.
• If you need another reason to use up supplies from your craft stash, take the and make something ugly for a change! Ha!

So… how are you doing with the ? Have you avoided buying new supplies? Have you been using up the things you already have in your stash? I have stayed true to my pledge and have not purchased anything new, but I think I need some motivation to actually start creating. So I’ve gathered together some craft tutorial links, plus a bunch of other fun stuff related to busting your stash. Enjoy!

• Two awesome articles on the CroqZine blog:15 Reasons

  </p>

  to Bust Your Stash</a> and [

So… how are you doing with the ? Have you avoided buying new supplies? Have you been using up the things you already have in your stash? I have stayed true to my pledge and have not purchased anything new, but I think I need some motivation to actually start creating. So I’ve gathered together some craft tutorial links, plus a bunch of other fun stuff related to busting your stash. Enjoy!

• Two awesome articles on the CroqZine blog:** to Bust Your Stash](http://croqzine.com/?p=479). </li>

  • Crafting a Green World has a great for week one of the Challenge and .
  • Do you REALLY want to use up your stash? Why not participate in on Saturday! You could get a lot of projects done in 24 hours!
  • . Button Fairies are sweet, little projects that you can make with buttons and paper scraps from your stash.
  • There is a new who uses reclaimed materials in all of her handmade accessories.
  • by Jan of Hungry Holler on the Cosa Verde blog.
  • If your craft stash contains pin-back buttons that you would like to send along, come join the .
  • If you’ve posted a stash bust tutorial or article on your blog, add it to the .</ul>

  Check out your fellow Swap-botters who have taken the April Stash Bust Pledge and are signed up for the :

  • ::
  • ::
  • ::
  • ::
  • ::
  • ::
  • Me! () ::
  • Add your blog link in the comments if you have also taken the pledge!

  <img src="http://blog.swap-bot.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/buttons.jpg" alt="buttons" title="buttons" width="470" height="313" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5089" />

I love buttons! Specifically one-inch, pin-back buttons that many companies and artists use to promote their work, like the Swap-bot buttons seen above. I have a huge collection!

My favorite place to order the pin-back buttons I design is I have been ordering from Busy Beaver for years for both personal designs and Swap-bot buttons. I love their quality and their awesome customer service, so I was excited when they offered to sponsor a button swap and a giveaway on the ‘bot!

If you love buttons, too, join the ! It is a really fun and easy swap – simply send three cool, pin-back buttons to your swap partner and receive three buttons in return. It is a great way to share and diversify your button collection! The swap is international and open to new users.

In honor of Earth Day, Busy Beaver Button Co. wants to give away a gift certificate for 100 free, custom, to one lucky Swap-bot member! The 100% recycled paper buttons are a brand new product at Busy Beaver in honor of the earth. The winner will be able to send their own design to Busy Beaver to be printed on the buttons. What a great way to promote an Etsy shop or website, or just create something fun!

To enter the giveaway, simply comment below with your answer to the question: What would you get printed on your custom buttons? Make sure to include your Swap-bot username in the comment. The giveaway will be open for entry through Earth Day, April 22nd, and then one winner will be randomly drawn and announced on the 23rd. Good luck!