A swap is where you combine to achieve something greater!! This is an example:
You are in a swap where each person in the swap is to make a 5x7 framed quote. You can print the quote off the internet, hand letter it, or use rub-on letters or your computer to print it up. You cut it out and glue it onto a piece of cardstock or scrapbook paper that's complementary (you can matte it as many times as you like) and it ends up being 5x7. You do 10 of these identical quotes so you only have to come up with one idea. (If the hostess of the swap specifies "embellished" that means you should also put some kind of flower, brad, button, punch, yarn, eyelet, paper piecing, jewel or some kind of glitzy goo-gaw somewhere on the finished product). SO you make 10 and then get all together and SWAP - trading all of your quotes for one from each of the other 9 participants, ending up with 10 different quotes.
If that sounds confusing, you can start with a really simple one. It's the same idea as a cookie exchange. You make a dozen cookies and bring home a dozen different cookies.
The first swap I hosted was fiber. Fiber can be any kind of yarn or ribbon, fancy or not, unless the hostess specifies some color or whatever. So I had a skein of pretty purple eyelash yarn and I measured out one yard and put it in a zip-lock bag. I did 10 of those. I had 10 zip lock bags with 1 yard of purple eyelash yarn in each. People signed up like this:
1. Hostess - Purple eyelash
2. Sandy - White fluffy
3. Audrey - Blue and green varigated
4. Theresa - Red fuzzy
etc. down to 10.
They all mailed in their yarn to me. I took their return envelopes and made sure each person got one of each of the yarns mailed in, plus a hostess gift from me (EVERYONE likes a surprise!!) and mailed them back out.
Everyone was delighted and I got to more than quadruple the fibers to use in my scrapbooks. Because you aren't going to use a skein of yarn in scrapbooking! Just a little for fun here and there to accent your page...Or in cardmaking, you'll use some on a card but not much.
SO If you are interested this is a quick easy swap with the added lovely luxury of costing NO postage because we're local. Don't go bagging up your fiber just yet, wait and we'll see how many sign up and we'll do that many. You can sign up for more than one slot if you like. Also since we are not mailing we can just wind the fiber around a spool (I will be glad to give these out). All you need to come up with is 10 yards of one type of fiber.
Please email me heidiathome@live.com and I will post the fibers as they come in. If you have questions I will try to get more information to you or post pictures.
THat's it! Our first swap! <3 If this works and there is interest we will do more complicated things. I don't want to make things I won't use but it is really fun to put together a kit this way... such as Back To School theme, where you sign up like this!
Back to School
All items will be black, white and primary red, yellow, blue and green colors. No construction paper, acid free scrapbook paper and cardstock only. Please make things you would be proud to put in your scrapbook: Items due to hostess no later than 15 November:
1. Journal box
2. two matted photo boxes 4x6
3. Four 1 1/2" squares, embellished
4. bag of goodies - buttons, brads, eyelets with theme
5. Paper piecing
6. Two matted photo boxes, one 5x7 and one 3x4
7. Title "Back to School" matted and embellished
8. Two text boxes "First Day of School" and "My Classroom" or "My Teacher"
9. Two borders, embelleished, 12x1" each
10. Matted/decorated poem about school
If you are a new scrapbooker there may be some terms you haven't heard in there. A journal box is a place for you to write notes about the experience. I made a chalkboard and framed it in a wood-patterned paper, put an "eraser", "ruler" and "apple (which was a punch) on the chalk tray. I used black cardstock so you would have to have a white gel pen to write on it; alternatively you could do the green chalkboard or a whiteboard. Once on your page you could write a little about your cutie patootie's first day. Journalling in scrapbooks makes them personal and meaningful and tells stories you forget in later years!
Feel free to google and see what you like and get ideas. Scrapbooking, journalling, cardmaking and just being prepared for school assignments (if any of you want to see my kids' poetry books, let me know) is a useful skill and can bless your life and the lives of those around you!
