Hi swapper friends!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I have been out of town for the last five weeks, but I am finally back. I will be re-assuming all email, blog, and forum duties immediately. It may take me a few days to get caught up with all of my Swap-bot email and messages, but know that I am working on it diligently.

Thanks for your patience,

Rachel

Swap-bot Admin

I just wanted to let everyone know that Rachel will be in Italy for the next month, which means I’ll be handling your support emails again

. Go easy on me, please

-travis

You will probably notice in the next little while that we have disabled the ability to color your display names. We have also disabled the ability to use HTML to change the format of your text and profiles. For security reasons we can no longer allow the use of HTML for formatting on the site. Any HTML used in your profile pages, swap pages, or in the forums will no longer work.

I know that everyone was LOVING the name colors, and that many of you had very beautiful and creative profiles. You can still use Markdown to format text on the site. We also hope to have a more systematic way of spiffing up your profile page soon. (With the option for background images and everything!) We will even add in an option for changing the color of your profile name. We just cannot allow the use of HTML at this time. You may have to adjust some of the content on your profile pages. I am sorry for this inconvenience.

Check out this forum post [Baby on Board download](http://www.turtlesurvival.org/?baby_on_board)

</u> by Cloverst for instructions for using Markdown.

I am very sorry for this disappointment. We will try to implement the profile decorating options as soon as possible.

TIP:

The Way of the Gun release

You can still put some images on your profile if you would like (although too many images may load very slowly and be distracting). Here is the Markdown code for linking to images –

``

It must have the exclamation point first, followed by the image title in brackets, followed by the image link in parenthesis. Good luck!

In the past I was somewhat known for my slight obsession with Martha Stewart. I love her magazines the most (Weddings is just awesome!) and her new craft line at Michaels is great. Because of my love for all things Martha, I couldn’t pass up the Martha Stewart 101 swap for this week’s featured swap. Here is the description from the swap page:

This swap is for those that really enjoy Martha Stewarts creations from her t.v show, magazines and her online site. This swap requires you to send out a Martha Stewart inspired item, store bought or made or you can even send a kit with instructions to how to make something. Please send nice items out, nobody wants to get junk they will just end up trashing. You will have 1 partner and please try to make the swap $8-$10 before postage.

You must have a rating above 4.5 with a filled out profile in order to participate in this swap. I believe the swap is international, but you should check with the coordinator, LadyYing, to make sure. Also, the swap closes for sign-up on June 1st, so act quickly if you would like to participate!

Following are some links to pages related to Martha Stewart crafts:

• MarthaStewart.com
• Martha Stewart Crafts online store
• Martha Stewart craft tutorials
• Michaels craft store
• Decor8 blog post about Martha Stewart Crafts</a>
  • my blog post about Martha Stewart Crafts</ul> Below are some photos of crafts made with the Martha Stewart Crafts supplies. As Martha would say, this swap is a “good thing.”

  

We have finally updated the rating system! Here are the two main changes:

The top rating option (5) now becomes available immediately. Meaning that as soon as partners are assigned for each swap, the top rating option is available to be marked. So, now you can give your partners a “5” (and a heart) as soon as their package arrives. The two lower rating options (3 and 1) do not become available until two weeks after the mail deadline for each swap. This is a bit of a change. All of the rating options used to become available one week after the mail deadline for each swap. We have had many, many requests for immediate rating capabilities. Please check out the new system and let us know how it is working.

The second big change is that we have implemented the Coordinator Star system! This is a slightly complicated system, but it is a nice way to reward hard working coordinators. Now, when you open the rating window for each swap there is a Coordinator Star box. In that box you can mark either that your coordinator deserves a star, or they do NOT deserve a star. Coordinators do not receive a star for every person who marks yes to the star option, instead they must receive stars from 75% of the rating participants in their swap. Meaning that of the people in the swap who give one of the two ratings for the coordinator, 75% must mark the positive option for a star to be received. If a participant does not rate at all they are not included in the equation. Also, coordinators canNOT be hurt by this system. They can only receive stars, not have them deducted.

UPDATE: My previous statement about the stars is somewhat confusing and inaccurate. The number of stars you receive can change as more members from each of the swaps you host rate you. If the percentage of participants who rate you positively for each swap drops below 75% at any time, you will lose the star for that swap. What I meant to say above is that if more than 75% of people in a swap rate you negatively, that does not hurt you. You simply do not receive a star for that swap. (It does not create a negative star.)

I hope that explains things a bit better!

I hope that makes the new rating changes somewhat clear. Try them out and let us know if you have any questions.[Motel Hell rip](http://londongirlgeekdinners.co.uk/?motel_hell)

Wowzer! The Ratings Booster swap hosted by Kimmie currently has 277 participants! That is the largest swap we have seen on Swap-bot, so far. (Kimmie also has 58 hearts, which I am not sure, but may be the highest number of hearts received by one participant.) Will <a href=”Ratings Booster reach 300 participants by the sign up deadline on May 15th?! Go check it out and see if you want to sign up for this landmark swap.

One of my favorite things about Swap-bot is that it has inspired me to try out new crafts (did anyone say matchboxes?), so this week I chose to feature a swap that is based on that exact premise: the Mini DIY Craft Kits Swap hosted by Origami Grace. Each participant only has one partner in this swap, to whom they will send a craft kit of their own creation. From the swap description:

You will assemble (or buy) a small kit that will provide all materials and instructions needed for your partner to make one or two complete items: for example – two ATCs, two handmade notecards, one mini scrapbook or sticky pad book, one crocheted bookworm or hairband, one mini cross-stitch kit or other embroidery, one pair of beaded earrings, one pendant, one jeweled pin or broach, one bracelet, one mini picture frame, one refrigerator magnet, one altered altoid tin, one matchbox shrine, etc. Omit glue, scissors, tape – I’m gonna assume we all have that.

Please also note that this is a US only swap and it has a high rating requirement (4.7). The signup deadline is May 15th. If you like the idea of this swap, there is also the Craft Kit Swap and the ATC DIY Kits Swap. Check them out!

For inspiration I found a few links to DIY kits you can purchase on the internet. (I believe that for the swaps you are technically supposed to create the kits yourself, but I thought we could get ideas from some of the cool craft kits out there.) Below you will see the La Petite Embroidery Kit from Sublime Stitching and the Candy Shop Magnolia Paper Flower Kit from Paper Source. I also love this Cup O’ Joe Pincushion Kit

by betzwhite and this Needle Felting Kit by madebymoxie, both on Etsy.

Ok, if you have ever checked out my personal blog, you know that I am a sucker for the pastel colors. Because of that fact, I couldn’t resist choosing the Ice Cream Colors Matchbox Swap for this week’s featured swap. I completed my fist matchbox swap a week ago and my little matchbox is on its way to Australia. I can’t wait to start on my next one!

The Ice Cream Colors Matchbox Swap is coordinated by ellawitch. Here are the rules:

This swap is to decorate and fill a 32-count matchbox using what I call “Ice Cream Colors”. The matchbox and it’s contents must be done in chocolate brown and one of the following colors: light pink, mint, light yellow, light blue, aqua or lavender. You can do more than a two color combination but it has to be chocolate brown and at least one of the other colors.

This swap is international, but there are some other rules and restrictions, so make sure you read the entire description before signing up. People fill their matchboxes with all sorts of things, including buttons, beads, brads, stickers, sequins, pins, ribbon, candies, little embellishments, etc… anything miniature and cute is acceptable!

I know that I can’t wait to start putting together my ice creamy matchbox, but in case you need some inspiration, here is some delicious ice cream for you:

Hi. We are experiencing problems in sending our automated Swap-bot emails to AOL email addresses. This means that new users are having trouble verifying their email addresses and current members are no longer getting our reminders and notifications. We are looking into the problem, but for now we suggest using a non-AOL email address for Swap-bot accounts. Yahoo and Gmail offer free email accounts. We are very sorry for this inconvenience and hope to have the problem fixed as soon as possible!

Also, I am sorry about the delay in email responses today and yesterday. A big research paper deadline and an out-of-town webmaster made life a little bit hectic! xoxo

Most of you have probably already figured this out, but we just created a new swap search menu. If you go to the “View all swaps” Fatal Blade the movie page, there are now a bunch of new options at the top of the page that you can use to find swaps. You can still browse the swaps by category, but now you can also sort the list by creation date, sign up date, and mail date. The best part is that you can now use the search box in the top right to type in words to find swaps. Try it out.

We also added a little box on the far right that shows how many swaps meet your search criteria. Right now there are a total of 335 swaps to search! wow!

Have fun. Let us know how the new searching works out.