Ok. You caught me. I missed last week’s featured swap… sorry. We are back in action this week with a fun featured swap: Make Me Smile. The swap is all about making yourself and your partners happy! It is coordinated by lindalinda and it is open for sign up through April 30th. It is an international swap with three partners and three parts. Following is the swap’s description of the three things you send to each partner:

1. Put together a mix cd of about 15-20 tracks that make you smile. Might include sugary-sweet 50s pop, anything with smile-worthy lyrics, songs that bring back happy memories, a recording of a favorite comedian, maybe even a silly song you listened to as a child. Whatever works for you. Please don’t include more than 2 songs by a single artist. Be sure to include a track listing sheet. You might even want to write descriptions about why some of the songs you chose make you happy.
2. Make a list of 100 things that make you happy. I did this a long time ago in a writing class, and it was a real challenge, but fun and worth the effort.
3. Include a little inexpensive surprise in the envelope that you think will make your partner smile. Could be something handmade, could be candy, could be a cute little notepad, a pen, glittery stickers, whatever.

Making the list of 100 things that make you happy will be tough, but fun! I am pumped to try, anyway. How fun will it be to get three mix cds of music that is bound to make you smile?! I can’t wait!

I am very excited to announce the new layout of the profile pages! We spent quite a while trying to decide how to organize all of the things that we wanted to include on the pages, and we finally settled on an arrangement that we hope you like…

You will now notice that in the upper right corner there is a designated ratings box. Here you will find the user’s average rating, their number of hearts, and soon you will be able to see their number of stars. Stars will be used to indicate exceptional swap coordination (for hosts/hostesses), but that feature is not ready quite yet.

The full list of a user’s ratings is still located at the bottom of the profile information, but there is one exciting addition to the ratings – you can now RESPOND to any rating given to you! Your response will show up in a gray box beneath the rating. Many users have been requesting this feature for a while, and I am very excited to see how it works out.

Another exciting new feature we added to the profiles is a comment section. Here any Swap-bot users can leave comments on your profile. It is separate from the messaging system and we thought it would be a great way for swappers to thank their partners in a semi-public way. It is also an easy way to communicate.

We know that there may be a few bugs to work out on the new profile pages, so please notify us if you see anything weird. Also, the profile pages are now 910 pixels wide, meaning that some of you using lower resolution computer screens may have to scroll horizontally to see the whole thing. We are sorry about that inconvenience, but there was just no way to include so much info in such a small area. All in all we hope you love the new layout and enjoy the new features. We will continually try to improve and update Swap-bot to make it more fun and easy to use. xoxo

UPDATE: I forgot to add an explanation about the lists of “Currently In” and “Currently Hosting” swaps (On the right side of the new profile pages). The “Currently In” list shows all of the swaps you are currently signed up for in which you have NOT yet marked as sent. The “Currently Hosting” list contains all of the swaps you coordinated that have not closed yet. Meaning that other swapper can still sign up for them.

This week I couldn’t pass up the Baby Names Swap for our featured swap. I do not have kids, and I not planning on having any for a while, but I love thinking about baby names!

The Baby Names swap is coordinated by Jellybaby and it is an international swap. Each participant has four partners to whom they send their list of top ten girl names and top ten boy names. A quick and easy swap, but make sure you read all of the instructions before signing up. This swap would be great for expecting parents who haven’t picked out a name, yet!

For some inspiration in determining your top baby names, check out the following sites:

• BabyNames.com
• Baby Names World
• The Baby Name Wizard’s Name Voayger – very cool!</a>
• Think Baby Names
• The Social Security Administration’s Popular Baby Names Lists – They have lists of the most popular names dating all the way back to 1879!

This week’s featured swap is the <a href=http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/2327”>Fabric Art Charms Swap</a> coordinated by funkychickenoriginals. Yes, funkychickenoriginals was also the coordinator of last week’s featured swap. I did not mean to pick the same host twice, but this swap just looked so original I couldn’t pass it up. In the future, I will be sure to spread the coordinator love around a bit more…

Anyhoo, the Fabric Art Charms Swap is all about swapping a fun new art item: fabric charms. Each swap participant has only one partner to send to, but they must send twelve fabric charms. It is an international swap, but please read all of the swap details before signing up. The swap is open for signup through April 1st.

So, what exactly is a fabric art charm? Fabric art charms are 1″ squares of fabric and fibers that are stitched around all of the edges. They can include beads, buttons, or other embellishments, and they often include a grommet so that the charms can be attached to jewelry. They can also be called fabric collage charms or fiber art charms.

More information about fabric art charms can be found on these sites:

• Fabric Charm Tutorial by Sue Bleiweiss
• 1″ Fabric Collage Tutorial by Dotee
• Info about Fabric Charms by Ruth Rae

Happy swapping!

… and a few problems.

We spent some time working on Swap-bot over the weekend and we made some improvements/changes:

• The most important change is that we extended the login time. Which means you can now stay on Swap-bot for up to twelve hours without being automatically logged off. Sweet!
• We made many more opportunities to see a member’s profile. For example, member names on the partner info pages and on the Forums now link to their profile.
• Lastly, we re-ordered the ratings on everyone’s profile and added the date that each rating was given. Unfortunately, this change has caused a few bugs. We hope to have it totally fixed by tonight, but until then some of you ratings may be missing and some of the rating dates may say 1999, which is not correct. Please be patient. Everything will be fixed (and better than ever) shortly!

• Broken Bridges film

We are continuing to make changes and improvements to Swap-bot, but there are bound to be a few growing pains. Please bear with us and continue to keep us informed of any errors or glitches you see on the site. Some of the other changes we hope to implement in the next few weeks: Improved messaging system with a “Sent Messages” box, greater search capabilities for swaps and perhaps member profiles, and an organized system for viewing information about coordinators. Fun!

• Objectified full

Travis worked hard all weekend to make you a fancy, new present: The Swap-bot Discussion Forums! Now there is a place within Swap-bot where you can ask for help, share ideas, or just chat. So far, we have created five main forum categories: General, Craft Chat, Bad Swappers, Ideas & Suggestions, and Help & Questions. Anyone can view the Swap-bot Forums, but you must be a Swap-bot member and be logged in if you want to reply to any of the topics or create your own topic within any of the categories.

We are going to be continuously updating and improving the Forums, so please lets us know what you would like to see. What other categories should we add?

Go check out the Forums and start your own Swap-bot discussion!Broken Bridges trailer

I have a fun and unique featured swap for you this week (aren’t they all!). The Mail Art Swap, organized by funkychickenoriginals, is all about being creative and making mail beautiful. Each member of the swap has five partners to whom they send one piece of mail art. Mail art can be anything from a handmade postcard to a decorated envelope, or even a lovely letter, zine, or newsletter. The swap homepage says this about mail art:

“Mail art is art which uses the postal system as a medium. The term “mail art” can refer to an individual message, the medium through which it is sent, and an art movement.”

For more information about mail art, check out the following sites:

• Mail Art on Wikipedia
• Postal Art History
• The Envelope Collective
• Mailart.org <p style="display:none"> Dunston Checks In movie download </p>

The Mail Art Swap is open for signup through March 28th. This would be a great swap for collage artists, computer designers, painters, or anyone who would like to send something fun through the mail. This swap could also be a great opportunity to challenge yourself and try a new type of craft or art style. New swappers are welcome, but please check all of the parameters on the swap homepage for more details. Happy swapping!

Do you have a [twitter](http://twitter.com) account? If so, follow us or be our friend and receive updates when new swaps are created.

ATCs are hot, hot, hot! ATC stands for Artist Trading Card, and they are one of the most popular items being traded on Swap-bot these days. I figured it was about time that an ATC swap was featured here on the blog, and then I stumbled upon this funny and clever swap: The Dating Game ATCs swap hosted by wackystuff. (BTW, wackystuff is a fabulous swap coordinator who has a perfect 5 rating and 10 hearts after participating in over 40 swaps! wow!) The Dating Game ATCs swap is an international swap and each swapper has two partners to which they send 3 ATCS. Here is what the swap description says:

Swap-bot is like a blind date, so let’s make Artist Trading Cards of Bachelor #1, Bachelor #2 and Bachelor #3. These could be portraits of your ideal date or some of the less than perfect characters that have crossed your path. Make a set of 3 ATCs each for 2 swap partners. All media welcome.

How fun and funny! Will you send your swap partners three hunks, three nerds, three celebrities, or some combination? Be creative and make up clever descriptions for each of your bachelors. Make your partners laugh!

_To learn more about ATCs visit this artist trading cards website, and for examples of trading cards made by other artists check out the ATC Flickr Pool.

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If you listened to the podcast, you know that I really like mix cds. This week’s featured swap is the Music to Craft to swap coordinated by Kimmie. This swap is a great combination of crafting and music. Each swapper has three partners to whom they send original mix cds. This is a great way to show other swappers and crafters your personality and style!

One note about cd swapping: We have had a swapper, or two, take advantage of cd swaps (in a way). A few people have been waiting to receive cds from their “sending” partners and then they copy those mixes and send the copies to their “receiving” partners. When swappers do this some members of the swap end up getting two of the same mix. That does not make them feel happy. Mix cds are a chance to show your creativity and personality. Have fun with it!