Jan Swap is

White elephant gift. Let me know if you want to join by Jan 5.

October Swap

Here are some of the pics of the swap from October. I have a few more that are on my camera and I will get them off tomorrow.

From Debbie F to Marilyn

From Marilyn to Lisa

From MaryKate to Debbie T

From Lisa to Chanel

I hope I got these right if I got any part wrong please let me know so I can give credit to the right person.

Thanks

December Swap

I am posting this early for everyone so you have time to decide if you want to do the swap or not. December will be an ornament exchange. Along with the ornament send one tradition that you do during the holidays.

Let me know by Nov 21st if you want to join.

Thanks
MKB

Gratitude Journal

Here is an example of what you could do for this swap. It has blank pages on the inside so you or others can write in it. LOVE IT! OH and ps sorry I am horrible about posting the swap pics you have been sending me. They will be up by the end of the week I PROMISE!

MKB

NOV SWAP

Since we celebrate Thanksgiving in November we will be making a gratitude journal for this swap. Let me know by Sunday, Oct 26th if you want to join. I will have your swap partner and all of their info to you by the end of the week.

A gratitude journal is just a regular journal but you write in it what you are grateful for. This swap you will make a gratitude journal for someone else to use. THIS PART IS NEW...You will also let the person know of a few things you are grateful for (you can write them in the journal itself or send pictures, or whatever you want to do it is your swap). I hope that clarifies things if you have any other questions let me know.

If you have come across this blog and want to join leave me a comment with your email address and I will email you back

thank
mk

September Swap

Here are September's swap pics:

This is from Debbie F to Connie.

This is from MaryKate to Lisa

From Lisa to Shawna

October Swap

Hello!

October's swap is going to be Halloween themed. I am not exactly sure what just yet but once I know I will update the blog. Let me know if you want to join by Friday, Sept. 26. I will have your partner emailed out to you by Tuesday. If you came across the blog leave me a comment with your email address and I will email you.

September Swap

Hello Everyone.

Well in honor of school being back in session September's swap is all about school. For this swap send 3 things that either remind you of school or is something that goes along with your favorite subject.

I hope this is fun and exciting for everyone. Let me know by Saturday, August 30th if you want to participate.

Thanks
MKB

If you know anyone who wants to join please let me know or leave a comment with your email address I will email you.

Favorite Swap

Here are pics from people who have already received their swap:

From Andrea to Debbie F.
Mint oreo cookies covered in chocolate, pasta roni (Andrea loves pasta and cheese together), Yummy smelling candles, and purple pens...which two are from her Alma Mater UW (boo)

From Debbie T to Krista

*Favorite Gum (OMGoodness, mouth-watering Stride fruit); Candy; CD (Jazz for Lovers); candle fragrance (rich vanilla!), holiday (cute Christmas wrapping for the candle); and notes representing faith, family, and friends! (I left the pink bubble wrap in the pic, too, since I love it, and so does Kiddo!)

From MaryKate to Sara C. Diapers, buttons and brads, and tins with respective candy in them.

This is from Sara C to Connie. An awesome tin, which is super cute, 3 old movies, and hershey kisses.

This was from Debbie F to Lisa. An Apron with daisies, chocolate, and a scrapbook notebook that looks like it could be for recipes. 

From Krista to MaryKate. Some yummy soap (it smells so good I could eat it. A purse that was a replica of the one she got in Spain when she went (it had a coin 5 pesa? in it), and Dove milk chocolate with caramel. (They are almost gone...I got my swap on Tuesday....I love chocolate and I am a PIG!

I am getting a little theme here so far. Everyone has sent chocolate.

August Swap

Well it is almost that time again to take sign ups for Augusts swap. We have had two kind of pricey swaps the last two months so I thought we would do something a little less expensive this month. For August it is a postcard swap. You will need to send out two postcards to your partner. One will be of a postcard you personally like, it can be anything, anywhere or anyone. The second one has to be a postcard of the town/city you are currently living in. If you have any suggestions on something to add to it please let me know...remember though I want to keep the cost down and so it NEEDS to be inexpensive. Let me know if you want to join this swap or not by Wednesday July 30th.

If you just happened upon this blog and want to join leave me a comment with your email address and I will email you with your partners name.

July swap

Here is July's swap idea. Let me know if you are interested. I am doing a swap like this right now so I just stole the moderators words. If you have any questions please let me know.

The whole idea behind this swap is to send at least three objects (although i don't think your partner would object if you decide to send more) that are some of YOUR favorite things... maybe it's an apron you made, your favorite book, or a favorite CD. Objects can be new or vintage, bought or handmade.

An important lesson I have learned from swaps is that you don't necessarily have to spend a lot of money, in order to create a wonderful package. Take the time to put some thought into preparing your package... think about your "presentation". Some of my favorite packages may have contained simple items, but everything was wrapped individually with lots of care. It's always nice to include a note or letter explaining why you choose the items you've included as well. It is my hope that you will be creative, put lots of thought into this & most importantly have fun with it!

The best piece of advice i can offer is to remember, it is probably best to send a package that you'd be pleased to receive yourself!

Let me know by June 27th if you want to join. I will send your swap partners info by June 30th at the latest. With this swap I will want everyone to send a picture of their swap package so we can see what everyone got.

Thanks
MaryKate

Profile

Hello Everyone!

I have had a few request for having everyone do a little profile on themselves and I thought it was a good idea. Please email me with:
with your age
interest
favorite color
favorite food and
your obsession
I don't know really just thought that would help people out. If you want to add more feel free to do so I have no objections. Once I get them I will post them on here so everyone knows a little something about you so they don't feel like a deer in the headlights when they send you your swap stuff.

Thanks,
MaryKate


Profiles:
MaryKate
*27 and NO Aimee I am not old
*scrapbooking, swimming, biking, running, and my 1 year old
*my favorite colors are yellow and orange
*twin dragon mandarin chicken, taco's and burrito's, taco spaghetti oh the list could go on I LOVE FOOD!
*my current obsession is training for a triathlon and couponing, (yes I am a nerd) and Reagan

Sara C Age: 32
*Interests: Classic Movies, (especially anything with James Cagney, Cary Grant or Humphrey Bogart in it...), scrapbooking, photography, figuring out the whole couponing thing.
*Favorite Color: Blue (But I also like pink and brown together and pink and green together...)
*Favorite Food: Fettuccine Alfredo, Cheese Whale Crackers, Bacon Cheddar Potato Wedges from Jack in the Crack
*Obsession: James Cagney. And taking pictures of my kids. And trying to get back in shape.

Lisa M.
*Age: 27
*Interests: traveling, snowboarding, my kitties, Wii, cooking, hiking, swimming
*Favorite colors: red and brown
*Favorite food: pretty much anything except tomatos, cauliflower, and olives. I love thai, indian, and chinese.
*Current obsession: Playing soccer, working out (trying anyway), and traveling

Aimee H
Mental age? 5 Physical age? 102 (real age 26)
*Interests: Getting beat up on the soccer field and then showing off my bruises to everyone, Greek men, food, music, movies
and reading
*Favorite color: Blue or green
*Favorite food: I like most everything (except peanuts, I'm allergic), but I can always eat grilled cheese sandwiches or mac and
cheese
*Obsession: I oddly enough don't have one right now. For awhile, I was obsessed with Korean dramas, but right now I don't seem to be obsessing over anything. Give me a few days, I'm sure I'll find something though. I do really love TV though. And sleep.

Andrea S:
*still 26
*interest: soccer, martial arts, critters, crocheting, snowboarding, learning new languages
*favorite color: purple and red
*favorite food: CHEESE and noodles!
*your obsession: CHEESE! my bengal kitty, trying to catch up in my new online class, snugglin
*****side note Andrea is getting married too******

Sara S:
*interests: scrapping, bowling, Disney movies, and the pure entertainment of my two boys
*favorite color: purple purple and more purple
*favorite food: chicken, cheesy potatoes, and biscuits and gravy
*other stuff: age 28, two kids (almost 3 and 8 months), maya (doggy), cuetip (kitty), and a husband!!

Debbie F (MY MOM)
*age 57
*favorite color: yellow
*favorite food: chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate
*interest: scrapbooking (she's very anal), sewing (she didn't pass that talent on to her daughters), and grandbabies (and grandPUPPIES)
*obsession: dishes and halloween (my parents built a casket one year for Halloween, the kids had to come see my dad to get
candy)

Krista N
*Age 30, married w/a very empowered 2-year-old
*Interests: music (playing, listening, composing – although composing is taking a hit b/c it requires neglecting my family for extended periods, LOL…); languages; our Wii (sports ROCK! – “which thing I never had supposed”); computers/programming (getting rusty); politics/issues/the Constitution/history; working on figuring out a way to get into shape - I love TaeBo, but finding an hour w/o chasing Kiddo every day is kind of tough now; self-reliance…
*Favorite color: green
*Favorite food: Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food!!!
*Obsessions: Consitutional government/liberty; helping Kiddo learn; computers/blogging (SOOOO obvious, LOL…)

New idea

So...I have been meaning to post this since the beginning but when I remember to post I can't and when I can I don't remember to do it. SO here goes

When you receive your swap in the mail please post that you received it and what you like about it. I know I wonder if whoever I got likes what I sent them or not and I am pretty sure other's do as well.

Thanks
MKB

oh and just so you know. I am super excited for next month!

June's swap

For June's swap we will be swapping your favorite book. That way we can all enjoy the nice weather and hang outside while reading a good book. Let me know if you want to join by Friday. That way I can get everything together and have your swap partner to you by Sunday.

Have a great rest of your Memorial Day weekend.

MKB

May's Swap 2

Just to let everyone know May's swap is almost coming due. The CD needs to be sent out on Monday...but seeing as how Monday is Memorial Day Tuesday is the latest it can be out. Email me and let me know if it is going to be out later than that so I can let your partner know to expect so delays BUT PLEASE try and be prompt about this.

Thanks
MKB
ps I will be posting soon about June's swap...I am a little late yes I know.

The Rules

There have been some new people that have joined so I wanted to post the rules of the swap:

1. Send the monthly swap NO LATER than the deadline. If there is a problem in you sending it on the deadline day please let me know so I can let your partner know it will be late.

2. If you end up not sending out the swap you don't get to participate for 3 months if it happens a second time you are banned from the swap.

3. Have fun with it and respect others wishes...please.

May's Swap

It's a little early but I thought I would give everyone a heads up on what the next swap will be. Let me know if you want to participate or not. Remember if you don't want to participate I am not offended at all. Since it is getting to be really nice outside and I figure people will be spending quite a bit of time outside I thought it would be fun to do a CD exchange. Make a CD of your favorite songs to hang outside to. How easy and awesome is that? Well I thought it was awesome at least. And thank you to Chanel for giving me this most excellent idea along with many others ( I can't take credit for it). I will take names until April 30th then I will draw names for partners and have them emailed to you by May 1st.

Like always, if you know anyone who would like to join or if you are a random visitor and would like to join let me know by commenting here with your name and email address or by emailing me. Or if you have a swap idea let me know and one month that will be our theme.

I hope you all are having fun with April's swap. Remember if you have any questions let me know. I didn't really understand this swap thing until I did one myself so don't feel stupid or think you are bothering me.

Have a great Friday and an awesome weekend. I know I will I get to go watch soccer games and make fun of one of my old coaches from back in the day. WOW I FEEL OLD.

MKB

April Swap

Hello Everyone!


Here are the instructions for April's swap again.

You need to send a recipe for each meal:
breakfast
lunch
dinner
dessert (yes I consider dessert a meal)
AND with the recipes you need to send your partner a box of YOUR favorite cake mix.

I didn't think about this until later but you might want to make sure if you have a food allergy to post it. OR you can email me your allergy and I will pass it on to your partner.

If you have any ideas for swaps down the road I am more than willing to take them.

Hope you all have a great rest of your week. If you have any questions feel free to email me or leave a comment here and I will comment back.

MaryKate