Swapping, Swapping and more Swapping

One of the greatest things at Convention is swapping. In a nutshell, you make X number of the same project and trade with other people to get different ideas.

Organized swaps are swaps that you sign up for and commit to making, typically involving a theme with rules and guidelines to follow.

General swapping is a little more relaxed as there really are no rules and you make as many as you want. I have heard of demonstrators bringing as many as 400 general swaps! While not mandatory, swapping is an integral part of the Convention experience. It can begin right in the airport as you wait for your flight, in a line up waiting for Memento Mall to open, in the elevator, or even in the line-up to the bathroom. It is so much fun to meet new people and receive beautiful and wonderful projects.

Below is the card that I designed for my general swaps. It was very simple and quick to make which was a good thing as I decided to make 80 of them.



Paper: basic black CS, WW CS, brushed silver
Stamps: fabulous phrases
Ink: basic black
Accessories: vintage wallpaper EF, scalloped heart embosslit, silver cord, sponges, silver smooch spray

This is a card that I designed for a Christmas Card swap. It may look familiar as it is a stepped up version of our 2009 Hirst family Christmas card.



Paper: WW CS, cherry cobbler, brushed silver
Accessories: snowflake punch, 1 1/4 square punch, XXX embossing folder, dazzling diamonds, jewel

A shoebox swap is where you bring a box filled with supplies to make a particular card. You spend an evening going from station to station completing the cards, very similar to a stamp-a-stack. This is the card (CASEd from Ilina Crouse) that I brought for the shoebox swap.



Paper: crumb cake, early espresso
Stamps: fresh cuts
Ink: early espresso
Accessories: scallop border punch, early espresso satin ribbon, very vintage stencil, sponge daubers, log cabin smooch spritz, pearls