Day Six: Swap-a-Lot

So I’m finally putting something (small) in motion. I’ve been on swap-bot for over three years now. Swap-bot is a pretty neat, free site, that allows users to host and participate in swaps of almost anything: letters, cards, craft supplies, jewelry, photos, pretty much anything you can come up with. Some of the people are a little nutty about things, but if you carefully steer clear of those swaps, it can actually be a lot of fun! 

I’ve participated in over 200 swaps, but only ever “hosted” one: Scissors Beats Paper, a cut paper page.  I just started a new swap today- I’m going to try to host a monthly swap for handmade earrings, since that’s what I’m currently working on, and hopefully expand from there. I think it will be nice to see what other people make, as well as help spread the word about my own jewelry. Plus, let’s face it- I LOVE earrings and could always use another (free) pair!! 

I also added links to my etsy shop and to this blog in hopes of slowly starting to branch out from my comfort zone. 

The year before last I used swap-bot as a way to find participants for a travelling art journal project I was working on. The project itself didn’t last too long, but I’m still hoping some of those journals make their way back to me. I also plan on re-vamping the project into something on-going in the near future.

Baby steps…

Day One: A Day Late & Quite a Few Dollars Short

I already have a countdown going for when we can move into a new apartment: 364 days  

I’m honestly more than a little bummed that we ended up signing another lease here. I had my heart set on a different apartment, a yard, a garden, a porch and most importantly; a dog! I was hoping that we’d be in the position to make all of these things happen after the year that we’ve already spent in this apartment, but unfortunately, that didn’t end up being the case…

So what now? 

Well, there’s the obvious option of moping and being disappointed that I have to stay here another year and wasting all of that time being unproductive.
But I’m thinking I should do something else instead... I’m thinking of treating this year of wait as its own little project. See what I can accomplish in the next year, keep track of the adventures that I have, big and small, and just try to make the most of the year ahead, even if it’s not how I was originally planning it. 

My best friend and I are in the midst of a project called 100 happy days, which is basically posting a picture of something that makes you happy, every day, for 100 days in a row: http://100happydays.com/ And it’s actually going really great! We’re on day 56 and so far have outlasted every other person I’ve seen doing the project so that’s what gave me the idea. 

One of the projects I want to start working on is actually a series of Travelling Art Journals, so I thought this image would be perfect for day one (this image is not mine):