Crafting and Shopping and Swapping OH MY!

While my writers block is still firmly mortared in place, my crafting inspiration has been up and running for the past few weeks. If I am ever going to get back into my blog groove I figured that posting up some new crafts is a great place to start.

I've been back to swapping on Swap-Bot since I am in the down season at work, so there have been a lot of new crafts around my craft table lately. If you have never tried Swap-Bot you should go there right now and check it out, if nothing else go read the Swap-Bot Blog, Rachel has the very best links to new projects and fun tutorials there every week, and she also puts up an Etsy round up each week which is well worth looking at.

I am working on a new tutorial for a Needle Case for one of the group swaps I am hosting, here is the preliminaries:

I will be posting the whole thing up as a tutorial once I get the test version sewn up, and if you don't want to wait take a gander at these beauties you can grab over on Etsy right now:

by fiberliscious on Etsy

by fiberliscious on Etsy

by Homespunstitchworks on Etsy

United States Postal Service

Dear Postal Workers of the United States of America,

I APPRECIATE YOU.

Love, Me

Dear Everyone Else,

Help save the USPS. Help save 6 days a week of mail. Help save millions of jobs.

All you have to do is send a letter, a postcard, a crazy package. Everyone likes to get mail, especially if it's not bills. Write a love letter to your own husband or kids, pay for postage and send it to them. It's inexpensive compared to many other things and every single letter counts.

Get your bills in your inbox if you want (I do), but get your correspondence in your mailbox.

Join a website like Swap-Bot or Postcrossing to make it fun and a little more social. Find pen pals on Facebook or twitter. Whatever you do DO IT FAST.

Also, tell your postal workers you like them, appreciate them and be nice, they have a thankless job.

Love, Me

I've been crafty

I've been a little crafty lately, in my quest to NOT have my kids glued to the TV during the holiday break we have been making things. I signed Autumn and I up for a few new swaps over at Swap-Bot so she would have something to look forward to after all her hard work (and because I love getting mail.

Here is my Paris ATC for THIS SWAP. I love making ATC's, as you know I am all about the instant gratification, and these little babies are such a small canvas to work with I can fill them up fast. LOVE IT. Plus the best part is TONS of artists make these and they are all different so you can get them traded all over the world and its always different.

This is my AMAZING dragon "Three Toes", it's watercolor, colored pencil and marker. I love him, he makes me so happy. I have not drawn or painted in so long it was so nice to just sit with the kids quietly and work on something.

I've started Zentangling too, I can't wait to finish some of them so I can show you how awesome they are. Mine are still a little wonky right now, and it's too dark to photograph them... I will try to get some good ones to share this week.

ATC Swapping Preparations and Pretty Holiday Nails (these things are not related)

The thing about making a ton of holiday gifts is that my craft table becomes overrun with scraps of paper, material and all the little tiny things that get trimmed off a project. I usually have scads of these little things all over the frakking place which means the usable space on my craft table keeps shrinking and shrinking as I work.

Factoid about me: I hate throwing things away that I know can be useful. Also, if you recall I have a tight budget when it comes to crafting (my husband says it's not a necessity, go figure?).

Paper and fabric scraps get chucked into containers, and boxes and baggies and, you get the point. One of my destash projects is making ATC's (I like to swap them on swap-bot.com). As with many of my projects I tend to start and stop because of the myriad of interruptions that can happen at any given moment around here. So I prep the actual cards in bunches, clear up all my scraps and then keep those handy for when I have a spare moment to whip some up.

Here's how I prep and destash for ATC's:

1. Cut my base cards from heavy card stock, standard ATC card size is 3.5 x 2.5
2. Cut all my larger scraps of paper into backgrounds, same size
3. Gather a bunch of strips and squares to make collaged backgrounds.

4. Adhere backgrounds to bases with a gluestick and make a few backgrounds with the strips.

5. Turn over and trim all the edges so they are the correct size

TIP: ATC traders and collectors are pretty particular about sizing! Make sure that if you are making ATC's for trade that you get them to exactly 3.5 x 2.5 or as close as possible. Most collectors use trading card sheet protectors to store their trades, you want to make sure that your cards will fit into their collection.

6. I like to sew up the edges of my collaged bases to ensure the pieces stay put. If you choose to collage and NOT sew, make sure you are using a tough glue that will really hold on tight!
7. Now I have a stash of bases I can use to create ATC's whenever the mood strikes me and they take up 1/2 the room the scraps did, giving me more work space.

For more information on ATC's check out THIS, for more info on trading ATC's check out THIS.

PS: My nails are super freaking cute right now! I love the new Salon Effects for Christmas! I got mine at Rite Aid, but I think you can pick them up at WalMart too...

Kiwi's Blogger Followers #5

It's been a LONG time since I did some swaps, I feel like I have been neglecting my duties over on Swap-Bot, but honestly? I have been so busy! I really wanted to connect with my buds over there again so I started up this blog swap to get back into the swing of things.

If you are a botter (or not) HI GUYS! I hope to get some new fun swaps started up soon.

Whether you are a botter or not I hope you will stop by and check out my new Four Heart Friday posts starting this week we will be having a link up party each week so I can see all your favorites too!

I hope you will all add to the playlist down there, poke around a bit, oh yeah AND one of my fellow botters will be here on Monday May 2 for Meet Me Monday. I am SO excited to welcome Rebecca Ednie (thebragal on swap-bot). She is so amazingly talented and she has some super cute projects to share!

Weekend Happy Mail!

Don't forget to enter the Chandelier Acrylic Stamp Giveaway Here!

I got the most wonderful happy mail from honeybee on Saturday! I have only participated in a few swaps since I was let go from my job in December. Unemployment was about 1/4 of my regular salary, and even the temp job I have now only lasts until August and they pay about 1/2 what I was making before. With gas prices... WAIT A MINUTE! I thought this post was supposed to be about happy mail? Geesh, get on with it already!

I know, awesome right? In case anyone is interested you can find the swap details here: Woodland Theme Swap. If you enjoy fun mail and meeting some really nice people I HIGHLY recommend Swap-Bot.com, I have nothing but good luck over there. If you join look me up! My profile is HERE under Kiwivandal (what else?)

Dresses Continued...

Here is the link to the swap: Dress up your craft space!

The template was created by: MEL click her name to go to her cool blog and get your own free templates for all sorts of great stuff!

This is the front of the box, I still need to add the flowers and the handle...

All the little dresses line up so cute inside!

These are the finished dresses with their flower and blingy broaches.

Darling Dresses

I LOVE using tracing paper, so any excuse to trace it up makes me happy. This project is a swap I created at the behest of @RyeRye, who is such a great group founder. I just love her ideas and whever I am stuck for inspiration she is always there to give me a little pick me up :)


These little dresses have many different uses. I created them as cards, so my partner can use them as a card, or pin them up in their craft space as a little clothesline decoration.


After cutting out all the little dresses I cut out aprons and pockets and sewed everything with my sewing machine. Then Inked everything with my favorite Distress Ink (Vintage Photo).


I ran out of zip dry so I used Glossy Accents to attach the little flowers and the bling centers.

There is an awesome box template that all these cards fit right into, it will be posted above since blogger can only handle 5 pics at once.

Also I will post the link to the swap and the templates so you can make these yourself!

See My Writeups!

OOOh here comes the fun part, 5 people will be writing about my store too! Here they are, keep checking back with their blogs to see what they have to say about yours truly! (they have until Jan 22nd, so be patient :)

@funkylindsay - BLOG
@MissThundercat - BLOG
@provadia - BLOG
@madaboutpink - BLOG
@klow - BLOG

Just an FYI to participants, it is not a requirement to acknowledge your partners that will write you up, I just like to spread the love as far as possible.

To visit any of my partner's ridiculously awesome shops click their Etsy shop banner below!

One of our participants @MissThundercat made a super suggestion in the swap comments to have a coupon for anyone shopping at our shops from reading these posts so here you go: KIWIETSYLOVE1 . Anyone shopping at MY shop from now until February 14th can use that coupon code at checkout to get 10% off their order. Happy Shopping!

Swappiness

I've been trying to think up some fun and unique money free swaps so I can keep active over on swap-bot.com. I have hosted a few Blog Follower Swaps in the past, and just recently finished one last week (see post below). This time I wanted to do something a little different.
I just started a new swap that brings Etsy sellers and bloggers together! It's located here if you want to see all the details. Basically If you have an Etsy shop and a blog (on any platform wordpress, blogger or other) you can participate! It's been live for only a few hours and I already have 4 participating and 10 watchers, so get on over to the bot and get swappy with us!
The First Participants and their awesomeness:

• @Bandeau: SHOP / BLOG
• @jenthewen: SHOP / BLOG
• @xiwang: SHOP / BLOG
• and of course @kiwivandal (that's me :) SHOP LOCATED IN SIDEBAR

EDITED TO ADD NEW PARTICIPANTS!!!:

• @xSugar: SHOP / BLOG
• @Drachenfrau: SHOP / BLOG
• @apurplerat: SHOP / BLOG
• @lovetherain: SHOP / BLOG
• @klow: SHOP / BLOG
• @bluefeather: SHOP / BLOG

When the time comes around to finish up this swap you will see my FULL reviews of my 5 partners, but as host of this swap I feel it's important that I mention all my participants here as they sign up. I will post up everyday the new participants :)

Kiwi's Blogger Followers Swap #3

Welcome fellow botters!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! For signing up for my swap :)

I hope you all enjoy reading my blog! Here are the swap requirements in case you need a refresher:

- You must have a blogger blog
- Post the address in the comments section of the swap homepage here.
- Create a post entitled "Kiwi's Blogger Followers #3"
- Go read your partners blogs, follow them and leave a comment on the post with said title.

I hope you all have a great time, find some new blogs you LOVE, and get some fab ratings!

Please PM me on Swap-Bot if you have any trouble with your partner's blogs not working. Most importantly HAVE FUN!

Promotions, Contests and Swapping

Hello Ladies and Gents! It's time for some housekeeping. As you are all aware I enjoy chillin out over at swap-bot (click banner to be taken to it's magical homepage). I am the founder of a fun group called Scraptopia. I hate to brag but I think I am pretty clever (ok I love to brag, you know this). Lately I have been getting major brain blasts, my latest was a way to bring attention to some of my fellow crafty swappers. EVERYONE in this group is sooooo creative it's insane. So I figured, why should I get all the horn tooting? So as of today our newest promotion went live!

The details:
- Members send me a photo of their amazing work, and a short blurb about the work, how we contact them, their Etsy shop or blog etc.
- I post their blurbs and photos on the front page of the Scraptopia group along with a little commentary and a link to their profile
- They are automatically entered to win a FABULOUS prize!

So, I know you are all thinking "How can I get in on this action?" JOIN US!!!! (insert shameless peer pressure here). At the very least you should definitely join up, join some fab swaps, make some great friends and congratulate @ArtyBeth3 on being the first contributor to the contest!

YAY!

Click, Print, Decorate!!!!

My latest swap! Now that things seem to be settling down I'm working my midnight but off to get my current dashboard clear! I have a bunch of swaps due on Saturday that crept up on me. This is one of them:
I chose to use Mario characters for my theme for the click, print, decorate swap. I think they came out pretty good!

Here is the blank card that needs to be decorated, I printed the template on ultra white 110 lb cardstock so it would be nice and sturdy when I added my images.

And here they are all done up. I love it, the picture doesnt show how nice the colors came out and how cute they all are. The eyes are a little wonky, but I never have been able to get faces right...

A whole lot a mail today!

My big stack of fun ready to be opened:


BIRD, BIRD, BIRD ATC Swap from @weeatcrayons on swapbot, this ATC was too cute! It's hard to tell here, but it is made with felt and ribbon, all stitched up. It was very thick and hard to fit in my collection binder but I trimmed a little of the cardboard backing and it made it in :)

This ATC was for the FOOD ATC swap:

These images are so awesome, they were from a wish list item posted in the Scraptopia Group forum on swap-bot, there are about a billion TEA themed stamps in here I am going to use to make invitations to a Winter Wonderland Tea party I am hosting in January (more on that after the holidays).

I got a huge surprise when I went to the PO today, a BIG box from My happy mail partner Amber, and a bunch of swaps. It was almost like Christmas! Thank you for all my goodies guys!

More Fall Themed Craftiness

Getting ready to craft it up!
Checklist:
- Coffeeeeeeeeeee
- Fave table
- Sewing machine
- Pretty fall colored papers
- Clutter from last project...
CHECK!

After I punched A MILLION scapped circles (these are about 15 other stacks not pictured here, christmas papers, wintery papers, halloween for decorating my office and more...)


Most of the papers I used were all double sided, the one's that didn't have 2 sides I cut double of and adhered them back to back so no matter which side shows they will look pretty


Finally, after stitching all the circles together and adding ribbon to the ends to use for hangers I added some green sparkly letters to the tag shapes to read 'Happy Fall'. After taking these pictures I decided that the tags were too large for the letters and they looked a little naked. I took my fave Staples brand gel pens and glittered them up with some really fun swirl doodles to finish them up.
This weekend I've been making paper garland. This set was for a swap on swap-bot Fanciful Fun Fall Frippery, sadly no one has signed up :(. It was a group swap for the Crafting Queens group, I'm thinking of changing it up and hosting it publicly. It's such a risk to host public swaps I hate to do it unless they are electronic, but it seems like I may have to broaden my horizons for this swap. Anyone want a beautiful set of Happy Fall garland?
I had such a great time making these, they were quick, easy and I am a huge fan of instant gradification :) I whipped up 5 other sets in different styles, I'm thinking of dropping them into my Etsy shop, I haven't had anything on the 'shelf' over there in a LONG time. If I end up posting anything over there I will be sure to let you all know.