How To Host Your Own Swap: Part I
Often times after someone has started gaining experience in participating in swaps, these swappers start to come up with their own unique ideas for swaps, but have no idea where to start. It is my goal today to help you learn how to host your own swap, so that other scrappers can benefit from your great ideas!
One of the first things I must say is that hosting a swap is not for everyone. Swap hostesses must be extremely organized, knowledgeable in the scrapbooking, and, of course, they must be friendly. As you read on you will find out more of what is expected of a hostess, and you will be able to better see if hosting a swap is for you.
WHERE WILL YOU SHARE YOUR SWAP
Before you even start deciding the type of swap you would like to host, it is important for you to know where you are going to share your swap. If you don't have a forum where you can share your swap, you won't be able to get participants to sign up. One of the best places to share your swap is in swap or scrapbooking discussion lists. I recommend searching YahooGroups for "scrapbook swaps" for a listing of email lists that will allow you to post your swap.
When joining any new list on the internet, be sure that you read and understand their rules for hosting swaps. If you are not totally clear on what the rules are, be sure to write the listowner to find out.
DECIDE THE TYPE OF SWAP YOU WANT TO HOST
The next step in hosting a swap is to determine the type of swap you would like to host. This can only be done if you already have experience in the swaps that are out there. There are endless swap ideas out there. I will share a few with you here:
~34 & 55 cent Envelope Swap
~Sticker Swaps
~Page kit Swaps
~Recipe page Swaps
~Punchie Swaps
~Punchart Swaps
~Diecut Swaps
~Border Swaps
~Paper Doll Swaps
~Paper piecing Swaps
~Title Topper Swaps
~Decorated Quote Swaps
~Round Robins
~and many more!
If any of these swaps ideas are new to you and you don't understand what is meant, I would suggest you join one of the many swap discussion lists hosted on the web. By joining these lists, and hopefully participating in a few of the swap listed there, you will learn more about their differences.
DECIDE YOUR THEME
Now that you have picked out the kind of swap you are interested in doing, think about your theme. For example, if you would love to host a paper doll swap, what kind of dolls do you wish for the participants to create or buy? A lot of times the theme you choose is going to be something that you particularly have an interest in. If I know that I am going to have lots of winter and Christmas photos to scrapbook soon, I might host a winter themed paper doll swap.
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