Tuesday Tip: Expensive vs. creative swaps

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This is a quick tip that I think will cut down on swap flaking – or at least make it less likely for you to personally encounter it. When choosing swaps, only join those which you will have the most fun completing instead of ones that you would most like to receive. We all love to receive our snail mail swap packages, but swapping should be a creative process that is enjoyable on both the sending and receiving sides.

In the more than three years that we have been running Swap-bot, Travis and I have noticed a pattern in the swaps that the truly malicious flakers gravitate toward. The more expensive “go buy such and such for your partner” swaps are always targeted by the thieves. Not to say that putting together a fun package of goodies for your partner isn’t rewarding, but it is smart to be selective about which store-bought swaps you participate in. Private or group store-bought swaps are much safer. And never sign up for a swap you cannot afford! Inexpensive mail swaps, like postcards and letters, are a still lot of fun without being as financially risky.

Creative craft and art swaps can certainly still end up with flakers, but most of the fun in these swaps is in sharing your creation with others. The swappers who sign up for craft and art swaps are usually very interested in the creative process and love the challenge of creating something new, not just the promise of receiving a package. Swapping can help you explore your creativity while also connecting you with other artists, writers, crafters, and makers from around the world.

There are a few more tips on how to choose successful swaps in this previous Tuesday Tip post. Please add your suggestions for how to choose swaps in the comments section.

5/14/09 UPDATE:

Here are a few more helpful tips for how to choose safer swaps from Swap-bot user, LINDA50 :

  • Do not sign up for swaps with hosts with less than 40 completed swaps.</a>
    • Do not stay in swaps with questionable swappers. Either have the host ban them or drop the swap.
    • If the swap title has the word bored in it, don’t join. Don’t know why this word attrats flakers but it does.
    • Avoid public swaps for items that require a large time (or money) investment.
    • Go for low value, medium effort public swaps.
    • Do not wait two or three months to give a one. Ones can always be changed, but you cannot go back and warn people. The longer it takes to spot a flaker the more they walk away with.

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    Thanks, Linda!!

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Weekly Featured Swap: Twilight ATC

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I just couldn’t help myself! I had to choose the Twilight ATC swap , hosted by Mysticsweetness </strong> , for this week’s featured swap. I have read the whole [

I just couldn’t help myself! I had to choose the Twilight ATC swap , hosted by Mysticsweetness </strong> , for this week’s featured swap. I have read the whole_ book series](http://www.thetwilightsaga.com/page/books-1) and seen the movie, and I think it is a lot of fun! For the Twilight ATC swap, you make three artist trading cards for your one international partner. New users and anyone with a 4.9 rating are welcome. There are no rules as to whom or what you must feature on your cards, as long as it has to do with Twilight ! The sign up deadline is May 15th.

Here are some links to help you with the swap:

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Twitter!

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Many of you already follow swapbot on Twitter and get updated every time a new public swap is created on the site. We also just created a new SwapbotNews twitter account. With the new account we can announce fun swap-bot stuff without it getting lost within all of the new swap tweets. I plan to only tweet about once or twice a day with the SwapbotNews account, so you can follow without the fear of being bombarded with too many tweets.

I am going to announce a new Swap-bot Giveaway early next week that will utilize Twitter in some way, so get ready by following SwapbotNews now!

(Other Twitter fun facts: you can follow me and Crusher, and crafty stuff like Etsy and Craft Critique, as well as famous folks like Oprah and Martha! Fun!)

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more Swap-bot stuffies!

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Somehow I missed the listing for the Swap-bot Stuffie swap hosted by lilacamy931. I wish I had signed up because I love all of the Ernie the envie stuffies that I am seeing on Flickr now. Check out these three cuties:

This one was created by MaliksMom – so striking in felt!

This floral sweetie was made by synchrodoll for her partner, craftycrocheter.

This one was made by MamaRosita. I love the stamp!

If anyone else would like to share their Swap-bot-themed creation on the blog, please send me your photos! (rachel [at] swap-bot.com)

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friday link love: it is May Day!

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A little late today, but I still love you! Check out these crafty and fun-filled links:

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website review: Craftness

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I stumbled upon the Craftness site while reading some crafty blogs, and despite its simplicity it looks like a very fun concept. From the site description: “Craftness.com is a craft challenge site, every week a fresh challenge will be presented. Our community rate crafts and choose the winning artists and designers. We welcome you to join our challenge and craft using your weapon of choice: Ceramic, Needlecraft, Knitting, Jewelry, Fashion or Crochet using Metal Glass or Wood, all crafts are welcome.”

From what I can determine, there is a new craft challenge presented on Craftness every week. Crafters of all types are invited to enter the challenge contest with their completed craft projects. Then, the site users vote on the winners. The winning projects are featured on the site’s front page and there are prizes! This week’s challenge is “Homage to the 70s” and the winner receives $100 from MisterArt. I have not tried uploading a project, so I am not entirely clear on how the process works. There is also very limited information on the site, so it is hard to determine how often it is updated… Has anyone else tried out Craftness?

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blog review: thimble

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Thimble is an adorable arts and craft blog written by Laural Raine from Toronto, Canada. Raine has been updating the blog with her projects, cooking adventures, and general crafty goodness consistently since its beginning in October 2004. Thimble is a great place to find pretty images, project ideas, and general inspiration. It also contains an extensive list of links to craft blogs and resources .

In addition to publishing Thimble, Raine is one of the people behind goodEGG Industries – an online shop featuring handpicked Canadian crafters.

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Weekly Featured Swap: Handmade Sketchbook or Journal

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This week’s featured swap is the Handmade Sketchbook or Journal swap hosted by revolutionoise . For this international swap you create a handmade, blank journal or sketchbook to send to your one partner. The journal must be at least 4 x 5 inches in size, at least 1/2 inch in width, and hand-assembled – no store-bought books! You will need to know (or learn) some simple book binding techniques in order to create your journal for your partner, and you can choose to decorate your journal specifically for your partner according to their profile if you want it to be extra special. The swap is open to anyone, even new users, but you must sign up before May 9th.

Check out these links for more info on creating and binding books from scratch:

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Swap-bot Stuffie!

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Look at this adorable Swap-bot envelope stuffie! It was made by Swap-bot user Provadia to send to stampkrl. I think it is the coolest thing ever!

BTW: The Swap-bot envelope was named over the weekend – his name is now Ernie the envie. User, VJP, gave the suggestion and I think the name fits perfectly! Now he just needs a little buddy… Polly the package, maybe?

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friday link love: April 24th, 2009

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Hello & happy Friday! Lots of links for you this week:

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