guest post: Handmade Trends

In order to bring you more interesting content, we are going to publish a few guest blog posts from time-to-time. Today, I have an article about trends in the handmade world from the . Enjoy!

Handmade items are becoming an increasingly popular craze. From handmade soaps to handmade jewelry, highlights all of the unique handmade finds that users are wishing for in it’s . Featured on the Indie homepage is a constant rotating list of the 100 most popular handmade items, and here are a few of our favorites right now:

teatote

We’re now full swing into Fall, and there’s nothing like hot tea on a cold day. One of our top handmade picks is this by on Etsy. Keep you and your favorite green or black tea warm with this adorable on-the-go accessory.

ring

A big trend in accessories right now is the glam, gaudy ring. With long sleeves covering our arms on these cool days, a girl must still wear her bling somewhere! Nothing says style like a bold, gorgeous ring, like this vintage-inspired, handmade, by on Etsy.

candle

With the holidays approaching, a great way to get that cozy, homely feeling is with delectable scented candles. Spice-scented candles are great for the Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas season, and those flavored by the inspiration of a sweet treat are even better! This handmade hot cakes stack candle by kickinskreations is sure to make you drool.

(All photos courtesy of mentioned vendors on etsy.com)

weekly swap: 100 Things I Want to Accomplish

I have never featured an electronic (email) swap here on the blog before, but with the current state of the economy I figure we can all appreciate a high-quality, but totally free swap. This week’s featured swap is the . The swap, which is hosted by , is international and open for sign up through October 30th. For the swap, you write a list of 100 things that you would like to do before you die, then you email that list to each of your five partners before November 8th.

From the swap description:

_“I’ve had some really eye opening experiences in the last several months in my life and it got me thinking of things I would like to do in my life time. You know things you put off, or things you think heck I can’t do that, even things that you thought you could never do. But if suddenly you thought my gosh I may never be able to, wouldn’t you want a list and try to check off one thing as you go? I do – at least, I want to try.</p>

So, I thought why not see what everyone else wants to do.This could be fun, it amazes me sometimes that others have the same ideas, but are afraid to mention them. The time to mention them is now.”</i>

I like the idea of putting your goals on paper – it gives you a clearer picture of what you want out of life. This swap motivates you to do just that!

friday link love: October 16th, 2009

pears

I tried to move away from Halloween stuff this week, but there is just too much out there! Also, I am super-heavy on recipe links this week….

Non-Halloween Stuff:

  • Aren’t these beautiful?! What a fabulous fall dessert!
  • This is a Martha Stewart Weddings idea, but it is just so cute that I think it would be fun any time: Martha served them with coffee, but really, they would go with anything!
  • If you are in the NYC area, I think you should attend . The project will be wool felt photo wallets led by – who makes completely adorable felt toys and goodies. Bonus, you can enter to win her new [pears

I tried to move away from Halloween stuff this week, but there is just too much out there! Also, I am super-heavy on recipe links this week….

Non-Halloween Stuff:

  • Aren’t these beautiful?! What a fabulous fall dessert!
  • This is a Martha Stewart Weddings idea, but it is just so cute that I think it would be fun any time: Martha served them with coffee, but really, they would go with anything!
  • If you are in the NYC area, I think you should attend . The project will be wool felt photo wallets led by – who makes completely adorable felt toys and goodies. Bonus, you can enter to win her new_ book](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1584797983?ie=UTF8&tag=etsy-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1584797983) by commenting on her too cute promo video .

Halloween Stuff:

  • Want to make your own candy corn?
  • Whip Up has an .
  • is a recipe/tutorial for making really cute, and pretty easy, pumpkin cupcakes.
  • Hostess with the Mostess showcases all from Martha Stewart.
  • How about something healthy?
  • Wow!
  • As part of their EK Success vendor spotlight series, CraftCritique.com has a review of . Also, you can enter to win EK Success products by commenting on the CraftCritique.com blog posts this week.

Swapper Report: Art & Soul Retreat 2009

Meeting fellow swappers online is wonderful, but sometimes it is even better to meet up with your Swap-bot friends in real life. Swap-bot member, , recently met up with three other Swap-botters at the in Portland, Oregon. I asked her if we could share her report on the event. It sounds like it was a wonderful experience!

artsoul

Art & Soul Retreat 2009 by

I was at the Art and Soul Retreat in Portland, Oregon, Oct 1 to the 5th. It was so much fun. I thought I would share it with you…

It is amazing to meet Swap-bot friends, you feel so comfortable right off. It is amazing!

I rode the train down to Portland on Thursday and it was so nice. The train is so quiet. You have so much more space and you can get up if you want to. The seats are nice and comfortable and pretty views for a lot of the trip, if you can stay awake. The Art & Soul Retreat was at the Embassy hotel and at the Holiday Inn hotel. The main office and the store were at the Embassy and they had classes at both hotels. We were staying at the Holiday Inn. Both hotels had shuttles that would take us back and forth and we could ride on either one. It was like a mile and a half – too far to haul a bag full of crafting and art supplies! The drivers were so nice and friendly.

Brenda () got in on Friday night. Her flight was an hour early and I was not in the room when she got there. I was surprised when I opened the door at 9:30 and there she was. I was expecting her after 10! We chatted a little bit before it was time to hit the sack. She was tired from her flight and I was tired from my day of crafting.

We met Lori () on Saturday at the Portland Saturday Market, which is a an arts and crafts market. Then, she took us to lunch at a really cool restaurant and took us to the Rose Garden where we sniffed hundreds of roses, and then to the biggest book store ever, Powells bookstore. She was a lot of fun. We did a lot of chatting and laughing.

We had dinner Sunday with Marina () and her boyfriend Steve. They came back to our room with us and we did show and tell with our projects we had made. Marina brought some gorgeous quilts that she has made and Steve makes the most gorgeous wood items out of exotic woods. He could name every one of them, and everything he made was so smooth and beautiful. Two very talented people! It was so cute how proud they are of each other.

Of course, I bought too much stuff! The Saturday vendor night at the Art and Soul Retreat was amazing. It was even larger than I expected. Lori and her partner came. Most of the artist teachers had tables with their original works and books they have written. All of the other booths were full of old vintage items that could be used in altered art. There were only about two booths with some new stuff. I bought three precut book leathers for only $10. I could not believe how low her prices were!

The on-site store at the retreat was just great. It had pretty much everything you could possibly need for the classes and a ton of collage sheets and ephemera. My teachers were wonderful. The classes were a lot of fun! I just need to do some finishing touches on two of the projects, and the third project I have more ambitious plans for.

Friday, I had a class on Coptic binding a book with window and niches. We made the book from the very beginning decorating our covers and cutting windows. Then we learned the double Coptic stich. I have a few more finishing touches on mine. Or, maybe a lot if I decide to keep it and decorate the inside. Lots of joking and laughter in this class even though there were only seven people in it.

Saturday was our sightseeing day and we met Lori and had a fantastic time. It was great that we had picked that day so we could get to know each other a little better.

Sunday, my class was taught by the owner of . We decorated “Dream Boxes.” We got to use so many of the products from her store, which were high quality and fun to work with. I recommend the German Scrap and transparancy and collage sheets . We made a little pendant one first and then we made a larger one. I have a couple of finishing touches I want to do on this one also. Again, lots of joking and laughter in this class even with only six participants.

Monday’s class was called the “Ultimate Passion Book” – a cute name for making a book. We started with an accordion book kit and glued pages together so that it was a four page book. Our instructor was really into Gesso and gave us some great ideas for using it. Her basic formula for making the book after the pages were glued was to gesso the pages, putting it on real thick sometimes stamping into it and sometimes using a stencil to put it down. Then, rub in paint and wipe off. I stuck to a palette of blue, green and an antiquing color (similar to a yellowish ochre color). The next step is to collage if desired. Then, add some more paint and add any pictures or text that you want to show. Finish it off with pastels to emphasize elements. I did not get to the pastel point on this one. I choose to go with an Alice in Wonderland theme, they had a collage sheet in the store and it is the theme for next year’s Art and Soul. The instructor had music playing while we were working, not too loud just a good background when people got real quiet and into what they were doing. She had so many people sign up that she had two rooms! She did all her demos in one room and in the other she had a drying station set up with heat guns and an ephemera table. She was so nice and patient with people. There were thirty-two people, but we had lots of room to work. It is amazing how much supplies everyone brings! People freely share items and borrow tools.

Like I said, all the instructors were just awesome. Knowledgeable, talented, friendly, cheerful and pleasant. Almost all of the attendees were friendly, cheerful, and pleasant with various degree of skills. In the last class we had one lady that did not have much of a clue, but since a lot of people did the instructor was able to spend more time with her. But, she was careful to spread herself around and not concentrate too much on one person.

It was such a fantastic trip. I hope that I can go when they are in Portland next year.

That’s my story and I am sticking to it, Linda

More adorable holiday Ernies!

Check out these additional Ernie the Envie altered graphics created by Swap-bot user, . She says she just can’t stop making new Ernies! I love them. They are all so crisp and professional… not to mention cute! I especially like these Halloween ones… I guess I am just in the Halloween spirit.

erniehalloween

You’ve already seen “Happy Holiday” Ernie, but look at how sweet he is as the Easter bunny and in love for Valentine’s Day:

holidayernies

Thank you for sharing your creations, .

weekly swap: Good Newspaper News

This week’s featured swap, , is a truly unique and happy swap. The international swap is hosted by and it is open to anyone (with no recent 1 or 3 ratings) who wants to hear good news from around the world. Here are the swap directions from the :

“I guess we’re all tired of reading about bad news on the newspapers – murders, violence, wars – so what about sending to your swap partner a journal full of GOOD and HAPPY news taken from your local/national newspapers? That’s what you have to do: you’ll collect as much newspapers’ cuttings as you can and stick them into a journal/notebook, then send it to your swap partner. It’s quite cheap because you only have to buy a journal, but you can also make it on your own. If you read non-English newspapers, you can translate only the article’s title or the whole article if it’s short. The articles MUST talk about GOOD, HAPPY, NICE, or FUNNY things.”

The swap sign up deadline for is October 25th, but the mail deadline is not until January 23rd. That gives you plenty of time to collect lots of feel-good news stories for your partner. What a great way to stay positive and focused on the good things that happen in the world everyday!

New Dashboard Stuff

dropdown

When you next log into Swap-bot, you may notice two new additions to the Dashboard.

First, we have added a drop down menu under the Dashboard link so that you can get to your different swap lists more quickly.

Second, we have created a new list within your Dashboard just for your hosted swaps. All of the current and previous swaps that you have hosted will be listed there. If you have not hosted any swaps, you will not have a “Hosting” Dashboard section.

We still have a lot of work to do on the site navigation and organization, but this is one small step in the right direction! Enjoy!

friday link love: October 9th, 2009

Just a short little list of links today, but remember to check . I have been adding to it! There is a lot of great Halloween craft stuff out there!

Linky Links:

  • October is SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) Awareness Month, and for the entire month of October 20% of all sales at will be donated to , a SIDS organization. Order some zines to help the cause! (Click Clack Distro is run by Swap-bot member, .)
  • Do you love cute things? Do you love food? How about cute food? Then you need to check out .
  • There is a wide variety of handmade stuff out there… features some of the more unfortunate items. (Warning: some posting on Regretsy may be NSFW… also, some are a little mean.)
  • I ( on Swap-bot) have a today. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Altered Ernie Graphics

Recently, Swap-bot user hosted a unique electronic swap for . I was blown away by the creativity and variety of the graphics created by the swap participants and wanted to share them with everyone!

myrrhmaidmissu

The first Ernie badge was created by , and the second Hello Kitty Ernie was created by . So cute!

ocean11two

These two excellent holiday Ernie renditions were created by . Fantastic work!

mishybelleheidic

This is Emelia (one of Ernie’s MANY girlfriends) created by , and the Queen of Snail Mail created by .

mishybelle

had so much fun making her graphic that she created three more themed Ernies. So awesome!

I am constantly impressed by the amazing amount of creativity within the Swap-bot community. These Ernies really made me smile! Thank you all for sharing! </u>

weekly featured swap: Book Themed Matchbox

swapThis week we are featuring a really creative and unique matchbox swap, the , hosted by . The swap is a bit detailed, so I will quote the requirements directly from the excellent swap description:

“In this swap you will create 1 matchbox for 1 partner based on one of their favorite books. Use the 32-count size [free template ] and make the outside of the matchbox look like the book – it doesn’t have to look like the actual cover (unless you are really creative, that would be awesome!) but it does have to look like a book. It must have the title of the book you choose. Fill the inside with items that relate to the book. For instance (I’m just using this as an example because it’s so well known) for Twilight you could put in a tiny fang, something to represent blood drops, an apple bead for the cover? Try to find at least 3-5 items that represent the book. You can make them if you wish. If you can’t fill the matchbox up with those things, add some brads and buttons and ribbon, etc in the color scheme and fill it to the brim!”

To join the , you must have completed at least five previous craft swaps and have no 1 or 3 ratings. You also need to have a healthy listing of favorite books on your profile page so that your sending partner will know what type of matchbox to create.

The swap is international and you must get signed up before October 15th. I think this swap is such a fun and unique idea! I am going to get signed up right now…