It is holiday giveaway time! I have three awesome sets to send to three lucky winners. I love Martha’s glitter (find out how much ) and these sets have a great variety of normal super-fine glitter, tinsel glitter, and glass microbead glitter – all in beautiful holiday colors. So sparkly!

So, how do you win one of these fab glitter sets? It is easy. Simply, spread the word about all of the winter and holiday swaps taking place on Swap-bot right now. Post on your blog or twitter account about a swap that you are participating in (or just one that you think others might be interested in), then make a comment on this post that includes your Swap-bot username and a link to your tweet or post about Swap-bot. Your comment here will enter you in the random drawing for one of the glitter sets.

Feel free to link to my new international swap, the , in your post or tweet. I want it to be a super-huge swap, so invite all of your friends! However, technically you do not need to post about a holiday swap to enter this drawing – any post about Swap-bot will do. Make sure to link back to Swap-bot in some way in your post. We want attract more quality swappers who may not know about Swap-bot or have been reluctant to try out swapping on our site.

More quality swappers = more swapping fun!

Giveaways Rules: Make sure to include your Swap-bot username and a link to your post about Swap-bot in your comment or your entry will not be counted. Each person can only enter this giveaway drawing one time. The deadline for entering this giveaway is Saturday, November 28th. The winners will be randomly drawn and announced on Sunday, November 29th. If you have trouble commenting on the blog, you can send me an email with your entry to rachel [at] swap-bot.com. Good luck!

UPDATE: If you do not have a Twitter account, website, or blog, you can enter the drawing by telling us one way you have spread the word about Swap-bot, whether in person or via email, facebook, etc… I want everyone to have a chance to enter this fun giveaway! We rely on our great members to promote Swap-bot to other fun, crafty peeps. We don’t have much money for marketing, so we really appreciate it any time you tell a friend about swapping on the ‘bot. Thank you!

You may have heard about five-year-old , a boy from Michigan who is in his last stages of neuroblastoma cancer after a 2 1/2 year battle. He is celebrating Christmas early and he loves Christmas cards. Swap-bot user, is hosting a in Noah’s honor. For this non-traditional swap, all you need to do is send a greeting card to Noah and let your partner know it went out. In order to get the cards to Noah asap, the sign up and send deadlines are very soon, on November 13th. You will not get anything in return for this swap except the knowledge that you helped make a child’s Christmas wish come true.

Did you know that AIDS has taken the lives of more than 25 million people since 1981 and more than 33 million people are living with HIV? In 2007 alone, 270,000 children worldwide passed away due to this pandemic.

Swap-bot user is hosting a great in honor of on December 1st. This international mail swap brings attention to the cause of AIDS research by combining a craft component with a charitable donation component. Each participant in the swap will send a handmade craft (a greeting card, ATC, bookmark, matchbox, etc) in the theme of the AIDS awareness red ribbon to their one partner. They will each also make a donation of any amount to , The Foundation for AIDS Research. The swap elebrates love, generosity, and fellowship while bringing awareness to an important cause.

The sign up deadline for the has been extended, but it is still VERY SOON on November 17th, so go and show your support for this important cause.

Wow. It is November. Are you ready for the holiday season to start? I’m not, so for this week I have NON-holiday links for you. Please add links to any of your own fun, crafty finds in the comments section. Happy weekend!

• Do you still have candy left over from Halloween? CraftGossip.com has a .
• Have you seen the television program on PBS? I have watched a few episodes and I think it is amazing! It is so refreshing to see people who are so dedicated to their craft and who are making beautiful things. You can watch full episode online .
• Creature Comforts (such a pretty blog!) has a new section with lots of free tutorials and printables.
• My most important link: Swap-bot user is hosting a great in honor of World AIDS Day on December 1st. The swap elebrates love, generosity, and fellowship while bringing awareness to the important cause of AIDS research. The sign up deadline for the is VERY SOON on November 10th, so go and support this important cause. </ul>

Swap-bot was down for about twelve hours last night, but it is back! We are very sorry for the inconvenience. The flu has hit Swap-bot HQ.

This week, I am featuring a swap that will help you get ready for the winter holiday season in a small way… The featured swap is the hosted by . For the swap, you create one holiday greeting card by hand, and send it blank with a coordinated envelope to your one partner. So, your blank handmade card and its blank envelope will be sent in another outer envelope… Your partner will then be able to use the greeting card during the holidays. (It is a little different from other holiday greeting card swaps in that you are sending your partner a blank card they can use instead of sending them a filled out card.) The sign up deadline is November 14th and you must send your card out before December first. The is USA-only… but I would love to see a similar swap created for international swappers, too!

**UPDATE:** coolbaker5 has now created an . Yippee!!

Swap-bot is an international site so I know that not everyone celebrates Halloween, but to those who do: Have a fun and spooky weekend!!

Happy Halloween!!

(p.s. If you want to see the amazing variety of fabulous Halloween crafts made for Swap-bot swaps, .)

As part of a trade with Wishpot.com, I wrote a for their Indie Blog featuring items handmade by Swap-bot users. (Above is felt cake by , polymer cupcake charms by , and kawaii dessert rings by .) The shows off a bunch of Swap-bot user’s Etsy stores, and the has even more amazing items handmade by your fellow ‘bot enthusiasts.

How could I pass up featuring a swap all about Swap-bot?! is hosting her second . (She hosted the first two years ago. You can see what I sent for that swap .) If you love Swap-bot, you should join this fun international swap!

For the swap, you send your one partner an item for each letter in the word SWAPBOT – for a total of seven items.

Here are some examples of things you could send:

S – Stickers, stationary

W – Wipes, whiteout, white socks

A – Apple scented candle

P – Pencils

B – Bear, Buttons

O – origami

T – (candy) Treat / Tealights

The swap is open for sign up through November 21st. You must send before December 5th. Anyone with over a 4.9 rating is welcome to join and show their Swap-bot love!

The Halloween countdown has now begun in ernest! Only one week until the big, spooky day! There are tons and tons of Halloween craft projects and articles out there on the vast interwebs… I cannot possibly link to all of the good stuff, but here are some of my favorites from the last week:

Halloween

• Aren’t the two Halloween amigurumi seen above just adorable! There is a . (To get the crochet tutorials you have to create an account at Lion Brand Yarn, which is annoying, but worth it!)
• You can download a really amazing free Halloween printable papercraft from Jinjerup: . It is the perfect size to pack with candy for trick-or-treaters!
• Chica and Jo have a – another perfect way to package your Halloween candy!
• Do your kiddos still need something to carry all of their trick-or-treat loot around in? One of my favorite blogs, Blah to Tada, currently has two great upcycle tutorials for candy buckets and .
  • Want to make some old-school Halloween popcorn balls? , or check out .
  • It is not too late to decorate your front door for Halloween! The Making Memories blog has a .
  • Bon Appetit has all sorts of great stuff for Halloween, like and , including these . You will love their lists of the and . (Pop Rocks were ALWAYS on my best candy list!)

  • Speaking of Halloween desserts, these on Chow.com look pretty spectacular.</ul> Non-Halloween

  • The winter season is getting nearer, and this from Better Homes and Gardens is just too cute! It would be perfect to serve at a winter birthday party.
  • One last cute craft: So adorable!