I spent some time this afternoon and evening working on a few swaps that I’ll be sending out tomorrow. The origami paper swap I organized on Craftster was pretty easy, especially since only one person signed up. There was a bit more work for my very first Flickr group swap — the color-themed Swap-O-Rama group — but I had fun putting it all together.

Swap-O-Rama has a color theme every month, and then everyone can send pretty much whatever to their partner, though at least one item has to be handmade. It’s pretty open beyond that, so people send things like craft materials, decorations, beauty supplies, and other little gifts. I ended up including a little bit of all of these, and here’s a photo of it all:

For the handmade part, I started by making a mini envelope/flat card set, much like ones I’ve posted previously, but using some new metallic papers I bought recently (Stardream FUSE).

I didn’t feel like this was enough, so I made a purple and green drawstring bag next.

I thought I’d do a bit more though, so I played around with the wrapped postcard/flat card idea as well. I had some problems with the first batch, and decided to use one as a note inside the swap, but I made another set to give to my partner.

I really hope my partner likes what I chose, though I’m somewhat worried that I went a bit overboard. I have a tendency to put a lot of effort (and often money) into my swaps, mostly because I want to send something good stuff. You know, the rule of send what you’d like get. Unfortunately, my partners in group swaps don’t always reciprocate, so sometimes it’s disappointing when I get my package. Not that I am expecting something specific, but you know.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking more about doing one-one-one swaps instead of group swaps. It’s just so much more personal that way, and the effort is more often worthwhile. So…is anyone up for a crafty swap with me?

I think I’m on a bit of a rubber stamp kick now, due to pulling some of mine out for the wrapped postcards I made. I went to a local stamp store this morning, but after leaving emptyhanded, I remembered the Japanese stamp books I’d found some time ago. I’ve really been interested in the stamps that other crafters have made and posted about online, so I thought I’d finally dig in and try my hand at one.

I found the image in a Japanese craft book, and it looked like it would be easier than the ones that were only outlines. I remembered reading that slicing through a Mastercarve block is like cutting through butter, and that was definitely true! The only tricky part was all the center flower bits, but I think it turned out ok.

I’m curious to know what types of blades other crafters use on their stamps, especially for some of the tiny parts. I only used a regular X-Acto blade this time, having recalled some bad experiences with other ones (gouging your hand with a C-shaped blade while carving wood is not fun). I think I’ll read up a bit more and try something else for the next one I try.

So, yeah, that wasn’t so bad, and I wish I’d played around with these sooner!

Oh, and here are some related links that are pretty cool to look at:

• Carve your Stamps Flickr group
• Another Japanese stamp book
• Carve Your Own Rubber Stamps tutorial
• Mollychicken’s stamps
• moki’s stamps

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that I started my first Craftster swap this morning! After my origami paper kick, I thought it would be cool to swap for some, so I put together an origami paper swap. Hopefully someone will sign up now!

I also plan on doing one for handmade envelopes soon, but I figured I should see how one swap goes before starting another.

Following the idea I saw on a card the other day, I decided to try my hand at making wrapped postcards, using some patterned scrapbook paper and cardboard that a local scrapbook shop offered (for free!) in place of the chipboard they didn’t have in stock. It took a few tries, including some failed pieces that curled and wrinkled, but here are the results:

Originally, I thought I’d just wrap the paper around the cardboard and see how they looked plain, but after seeing stamped images on patterned backgrounds (in this Japanese craft book), I added the bird and hamsters. I especially like how the bird ones turned out, mainly for the cheery, spring colors of the papers.

I actually tried a few different glues and other adhesives as I worked on these, and I definitely like dry adhesives a lot better than wet ones. They’re just a lot quicker and easier to apply, especially if you have a Xyron machine to run a full sheet of paper through.

I haven’t tried mailing one of these yet, but I figure they’d work well as postcards — with extra postage — or as flat greeting cards, should the post office have a problem with them outside of an envelope.

Although I’ve been following various craft blogs for awhile, I haven’t really participated in any of the lovely projects and swaps I’d read about on some of them. Personal swaps seem especially nice, but I was also drawn to a few of the organized projects floating around there, mainly created as incentive to keep crafters crafting. I felt like I could use a little push to keep up my crafting momentum, and here are a few I’ve joined so far:

I found Color-iffic Swap-O-Rama by clicking around the Flickr accounts of a few crafty folks, and the photos of past swaps looked really great. Every month, a theme color (or two) is chosen, and everyone participating creates a package of crafty or other items of that color. What goes into the package is pretty much open to the sender, with only a few guidelines given. I’ve started working on a package for April’s purple and green swap, and I hope to post photos soon.

Just this morning, I came across Project Spectrum, which has a similar theme of a color or colors, but without requiring any swapping. The colors are provided as an inspiration, regardless of what craft you like, so the results can be made from paper, fabric, fibers, or whatever else, just so they’re done in that month’s colors. No pressure though, so you can make a lot or a little. There’s also a postcard swap related to it, and I’ve decided to join in on that too.

These two will probably be plenty to get me going, though I’m also thinking about joining the Use What You Have project. Members promise not to purchase any new craft supplies during the month of April, and will only make items from their existing stash. I’ve been trying to do more of this for awhile now, but it’s a lot harder than it sounds. This group sounds like it would provide some pressure and incentive to stick with it, but I still worry that I’d cave eventually.