Enter to win this great sponsored giveaway from The Ultimate Handmade European Sample Box. Bree from geteurofied.com is launching an all-European, bi-monthly sample box filled with amazing craft samples from independent artists and crafters from all over Europe on December 1st. A sample box is a great way to find out about up and coming indie artists and crafters. They contain full-size samples of handmade goodies made by small, independent businesses. Bree wanted to give Swap-bot users an early chance to win one of the grand opening Get Eurofied sample boxes. Fabulous!

I asked Bree a few questions about herself and geteurofied.com :

How did you come up with the idea of The Ultimate European Handmade Sampler Box?

I had participated in another sampler box for my own etsy shop and had such a great time creating fun samples. I then purchased The Spotted Box and realized all the sellers participating were based in the states. So I thought… let’s get the Europeans on the map! I am an American living in Denmark for the past two years and I am so inspired by all of the great designs here. Just while walking down the street to grab a cup of coffee I am inspired by the European culture. Then…the story begins.

How did you get involved in independent arts and crafts?

I have always been a creative soul. I remember coloring in my Rainbow Brite Coloring Book and designing outfits with my Tomy Fashion Plates. (uh-oh, did I just give away my age?) That then led me to becoming a Wardrobe Stylist after high school and the creative streak has never gone away. After 10 years of fashion, style and design, it is who I am. I also write a fashion blog that’s filled with fab ETSY shops! I love to be able to dig into my craft stash, turn on some great music and let the party begin!

How does the sampler box help independent artists and crafters?

Get Eurofied is a fantastic way for all of the skilled, independent Europeans to show off their online shops and share their talents with the world. The boxes are filled with handmade items that will show the buyer what kind of quality they will be getting while shopping at each of the participating stores. Once the buyer is enticed by the unique samples it is obvious that they will generate more business.

What types of things will the Get Eurofied sample boxes contain?

Some of the samples are earrings, fabric pouches, brooches, hairpins, necklaces, bookmarks, and MANY more fab surprises! (Go here to see the current list of Get Eurofied participants.) When I say samples I really mean a “FULL SIZE ITEM – ready to use” for yourself or to give as a gift that you will be proud of giving. These boxes are over the top!

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Would you like to win one of the Get Eurofied sample boxes? Simply answer the following question in the comments section of this post.

What is your favorite type of item to purchase from independent artists or crafters?

We will draw one lucky winner on Sunday, November 30th. Each person can only enter once. You must have a Swap-bot account in good standing (not suspended) with a valid mailing address to enter. You must include your Swap-bot username somewhere in your comment. (FYI: This prize will be mailed directly from Bree at geteurofied.com. I will provide her with the winner’s mailing info.) You must comment on, or before, Saturday, November 29th, to be entered in the drawing. If you have trouble commenting on the blog, you can send me an email at rachel [at] swap-bot.com. Good luck!

If you are not the big winner, don’t fret! You can get your own European Sample Box starting December 1st at geteurofied.com.

This week we are featuring the Season of Giving~Charity Swap hosted by dBowie . The holiday season is upon us and it is a time for fun and for giving. Why not participate in a fun swap while also helping out others in need? Perhaps you already plan to donate to a special charity this season. Why not spread the word about why you find your cause so important? The Season of Giving Swap is open for sign up through December 10th, and you have a whole month to complete the swap. It is an international swap which welcomes new users.

Here are the rules of the swap from the description:

• You will make/buy something to donate to charity. This is any item you wish. This could be Warm gloves, Baby Blankets, Pet items for pet shelters, Toys for Tots items, anything you wish to make or buy to be donated.
• You will then take a picture of the item you are donating. Print a picture of the item you are donating. You do not have to print high quality images or even on photo paper, printer paper will work fine, just make sure you can see the image clearly.
• Donate the item.
• Write a note to your partner about what you gave to charity & why you picked that particular charity.
• Send the note along with the picture of what you donated to your partner!

Doing good feels good! Let’s spread the goodness around!

We have now implemented a universal twenty-swap limit on ALL Swap-bot swappers. You have NOT been dropped from any swaps – even if you are signed up for 100s. You simply cannot sign up for any new swaps until your current list is less than twenty swaps. This may seem quite sudden, but we felt it was necessary to move forward on the swap limit at this time. Remember to use your watchlist to keep track of swaps that fall outside the limit.

All new users start with a five-swap limit. Now, once they receive three “5” ratings, they are moved up to the twenty-swap limit. BUT, the watchlist is always completely UNLIMITED. (Previously the watchlist had a glitch and was being limited to five swaps for new users – we fixed that.)

This universal swap limit may seem harsh, but we have been discussing and receiving feedback on it for what seems like a long time. We believe it is necessary in order to protect good swappers from high levels of swap-lifting by dishonest people. In previous polls on the blog82% of respondents thought there should be some sort of limit<?a> and

64% of respondents thought that limit should be twenty swaps or less. Obviously not everyone participated in the blog polls and we are still totally open to feedback. However, our main objective is to prevent massive flaking and stealing. We have plans for a tiered system in the future.</p>

Remember to continue to come check out the Swap-bot blog. I have been posting a lot of important information as well as fun stuff like giveaways and crafty links. We do still have plans to start a Swap-bot Wiki, but for now this is the place for lots of good Swap-bot info! I think I will be announcing another great giveaway on Monday or Tuesday, so be sure to check back for that.

There is more info about recent site changes here and here. Our changes can get really confusing, but I will always try to keep you as updated as possible.

One more thing: For any adventurous beta testers out there, we have created a Swap-bot chat room! Yes, you read that right, a SWAP-BOT CHAT ROOM! woot! Travis has been working really hard on it. It is not quite ready for a full release, but we really need people to try it out. Everyone is welcome, but please keep in mind that there will definitely still be some bugs to work through… Also, it is a PUBLIC chat room, so be sure to watch yourself accordingly. Ok, if you are brave GO HERE to start chatting! Thanks for your help!

xoxo

The winner of the November Giveaway for the Xyron sticker maker is HeideC ! Here is her comment from the entry post about her favorite thing to swap:

“My favorite swaps are one-on-one swaps. I love looking for items based on what someone has on their profile and finding or making just that special thing that

will make them smile. HeideC”

We did the drawing a little bit differently this month since there were so many participants. We basically took out any duplicate comments by the same person, added people who had emailed me, and then used a random number generator on the computer to pick the winner. Not exactly as fun as making Travis draw from a bucket, but still totally random. Cool. Thanks for playing! We have more drawings coming up soon.

Woah, Thanksgiving is next week! Wild! I don’t really have any Thanksgiving-ish links for you today, but here are some other cool things to check out. Have fun!

• These Holiday Mailing Secrets from Avery are very helpful. Remember, mail times get much longer as the holidays approach. Take that into account when sending out your swaps. (This great link was submitted by muincat.)
• Speaking of the holidays, not martha has a good list of gift ideas that features things she has reviewed on her blog throughout the year. There are ideas that would work for a wide variety of different types of people.
• I am just loving this: Elizabeth Holcombe’s Holiday Corsage tutorial. Her corsages are so fun and wild!
• Have you heard of Spoonflower ? It is custom fabric company where you can have your own designs printed on fabric. It recently opened up to the public, so no anyone can create their own custom fabric!
• Just for giggles: Horny Bacon – a blog all about bacon!
• Remember! Today is the very last day to enter the November Swap-bot Giveaway for the Xyron sticker maker. You have to comment on that blog entry to be entered. Good luck!

Craftlog is an extensive blog that has been kept up for over five years. It is a simple website, but a great resource for sewing projects and many other crafts. The site’s categories range from Blythe dolls to crafty book and TV reviews to cross stitch and embroidery to paper crafts. There is also a major list of crafty links and a group of crafty book reviews . Craftlog is definitely a site you will want to bookmark for future reference!

The long-term plan is to create a Swap-bot wiki to which everyone will be able to add helpful info. In the meantime, I am going to be collecting some helpful tips here on the blog. We have lots of new members signing up all of the time and sometimes it can be overwhelming to jump into the land of Swap-bot. Today I want to give some tips to consider when picking and choosing which swaps to join.

There are many things to consider before signing up for a swap. Two of the most obvious things to consider are your own interests and your time restraints. Once you have set your own guidelines for the type of swaps you would enjoy and have time to complete, there are many other criteria which can help you determine which swaps will be most successful. Each swap is created and owned by its individual swap coordinator… and some coordinators are more successful than others. Sometimes coordinators abandon swaps or do not check over swap participants (and weed out problem people) before assigning partners. To avoid those types of situations, be choosey about which swap you join.

These are my suggestions for determining which swaps will be most successful:

• Good swaps have detailed swap descriptions. Don’t sign up for swaps with one-sentence descriptions. You want to see that the coordinator put some time and care into their swap. A custom swap graphic or a fun and detailed description are usually good signs that the coordinator is invested in hosting a successful swap.
• Check over the swap coordinator’s profile (by clicking on the coordinator’s username) and swap record. Don’t sign up for swaps hosted by coordinators with poor ratings. Also, make sure that the coordinator has a filled out profile and has participated in a good number of previous swaps. Experienced swappers make good swap coordinators.
• Once you have signed up for a swap, view the full list of swap participants. If there are many swappers with bad ratings, or if there is a particular swapper you don’t get along with in the swap, drop from the swap. Remember to go back and check the list of participants right before the sign up deadline to make sure you still feel comfortable swapping with the other participants.
• If you have questions about a swap, feel free to contact the swap coordinator. If they are committed to hosting a successful swap they will not mind answering your questions.
• Be especially picky when joining high dollar value swaps. Swaps that ask users to go out and buy expensive items for their partners can be suspicious. Make sure to only join swaps which you consider completely affordable. Sometimes (sadly) swappers flake on swaps and you do not want to send a very expensive swap and then not receive anything in return.
• Only sign up for swaps which you will absolutely love creating and sending. Swapping is about sharing and meeting new people – not making monetary-based deals or trades. There are new swaps being created all of the time, so you don’t need to sign up for anything that seems questionable.

So, those are my suggestions. What else do you think swappers should consider before joining swaps? Please add your suggestions in the comments. Thanks!

In a previous poll I asked if there should be a swap limit on all users. Eighty-two percent of respondents thought that there should be a limit. Travis and I agree that a limit should be implemented on all users in order to prevent huge amounts of flaking when an emergency comes up… or unfortunately, when a swap-lifter signs up for many swaps and then abandons the site. However, we need your help. How many swaps do you think would be a good limit for all users? We may implement a tiered system in the future, but for now it will be a universal swap limit. Thanks for you help and input!

This week we are featuring an ingenious and very helpful holiday swap, The Gift Idea Swap, hosted by oneofthosegirls . From the swap description:

“This is a bit of an unorthodox swap – for people who like to browse online and find gifts, and for those who need some gift inspiration. In this swap, each person will post some stats about 2 recipients for whom she needs gift ideas. You will look at your partner’s comment and come up with gift ideas for her…. Find online links to examples of at least 5 of your gift ideas for each recipient. Compile all this into an email, and send it to your partner!”

The swap requires a rating of 4.7, or higher, with no no-sends within the last three months. You must also have completed at least one previous swap in order to participate. IMPORTANT: This swap sign up closes on November 20th . That is this Thursday, so if you are interested you should go sign up now ! Make sure to read the full swap description. Your gift ideas must be mailed by December 5th.

We all need holiday gift ideas for our hard-to-buy-for friends and family. Why not let your fellow swappers help you out?!

I’ve always got more links to share! If you would like to see your link featured in a Friday Link Love post, please email me at rachel [at] swap-bot.com. We are always looking for more fun, crafty, or creative new websites to visit. Thanks! Have fun with the following link selection:

• Make Baby Stuff – This new-ish website offers a ton of baby crafts projects, instructions, tutorials and fun ideas. You can learn to make all sorts of cute things for your little person on Make Baby stuff – from food, to toys, to clothes! The well-organized site also offers a Make Baby Stuff blog and Newsletter. Definitely a site to bookmark if you are a crafty mom! (found via whip up)
• Crafting a Green World – From the site description: “Crafting a Green World features do-it-yourself projects that incorporate reused, recycled, and natural materials. Find knitting, sewing, crocheting, and other project ideas for eco-friendly and fashionable clothes, crafts, gifts and more.” Crafting a Green World is a a blog produced by the <a href=http://greenoptions.com/”>Green Options Network</a> and it is written by multiple crafty (and green) contributers. It features super-resourceful and environmentally friendly tips and ideas for using your DIY skills in all aspects of your life.
• CraftSanity – “A blog and Podcast for those who love all things handmade.” Another resource for great craft podcasts!
• For Portland, Oregon, peeps: There are two great handmade sales coming up that you might be interested in. Little Winter is a holiday market/trunk show happening this Saturday, November 15th (tomorrow), at 1723 SE Nehalem St in the sellwood neighborhood. And, Crafty Wonderland is having its annual Super Colossal Holiday Sale on Sunday, December 14th from 11am-7pm at The Oregon Convention Center, 777 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Two great places to get holiday gifts and support local crafty artists at the same time!