2010 lovely package exchange:

hi friends! i've been getting quite a few emails about a lovely package exchange so i thought i should make an announcement. another exchange is coming very soon! in the meantime, i wanted to get some of your feedback for those of you who participated in the last exchange as well as any feedback for the 2010 exchange!

if you participated in the last exchange: please comment with your thoughts about the last exchange, ideas to make the exchange better, complaints, anything!

some things i am considering for the next exchange:

- only allowing bloggers/shop owners to participate, to help to filter out people who don't intend to send a package.
- a 300 person limit in the exchange (last time there were over 250)

if anyone has any online websites that will randomly match partners for a swap/exchange, please let me know about them! (one suggestion i received is elfster.com) i think that will make it a lot easier instead of how i partnered everyone individually like last time.

note :: for those of you who did not receive a package, please be sure email me or comment with your partner's name and/or website (if they had one) so i can make sure to not include them in the next exchange if they try to sign up again.

(image by: inthisistance on flickr)

( 2010 lovely package exchange )

updates:

march 2: over 350 sign ups have been received

but you may still continue to submit your forms in case

someone falls through. sign ups will close on march 4 instead

since the response was so fast. thanks!

march 4: sign ups are now closed..

thanks to everyone who signed up!

500 responses received:

will do my BEST to try to get everyone in :)

april 1: all partners are almost assigned.

everyone will be emailed within a couple days, promise!

thanks for your patience. sorry i'm about a month behind!

---

hi friends! hurray, the 2010 lovely package exchange is HERE! :) i have reviewed a lot of information from the last exchange and tried to figure out the best way to host this...last time it took me about a week to pair everyone up. so we're trying a different method this time. we'll see how this goes and if it goes smoothly, we can hopefully have another swap in the fall. it's a lot of information, but please be sure to read all of it to get an understanding of how it will work. thanks!

if you've followed my blog, you know i LOVE pretty packages. i started the lovely package exchange as a way for the blog community to get involved with one another. my hope in the exchange is for you to make new friends with fellow bloggers and express creativity in sending a really thoughtful lovely package.

How the exchange will work: For this exchange, we will be using the site elfster for part of the exchange. I figured this would be the easiest way to pair everyone up. I am not sure how many people are intending to sign up but just in case, the limit is 350. I will also need 35+ 'group-leaders' please read more about this below. here are the 5 simple steps, to hopefully make this understandable:

Basically, everyone participating will be placed into groups of approximately 10 - 12 people based on your interest forms that you will fill out below. Then you will be notified by your group leader to join the elfster. Once everyone in your group joins elfster, partners will be randomly assigned. So, you will eventually need to sign up for an account on elfster.

Swap Partners: This time we will be doing 1 swap partner only. This way, we can focus on putting lots and lots of effort into our lovely packages!

Swap Dollar Amount: Suggested amount I feel is reasonable to spend is anywhere from $25 - $30 before shipping costs. So the $25-$30 can include packaging your gifts as well, but please use your discretion. Don't spend $20 on packaging and only send a $10 gift. If you own a shop, please don't just send $25 worth of items to promote your own shop...however, feel free to include an item or two from your shop in addition to the other gifts you will get your swap partner.

Exchange Group Leaders: I need 35-40 friends to head up a group on elfster. Once I break down all the sign ups into groups, the group leader will be emailed with the people in their group. Group leaders will then invite their group to elfster and have them all join the swap. Here is a timeline of the info:

This will also be my way of communicating with all 300+ people. If I need to tell everyone something, I will simply email the group leaders and the group leaders will relay the message for me. Once everyone has joined, the group leader must tell elfster to assign the partners. It is not too hard and it would be such a BIG help for me! :) There is a place on the sign up form to mark if you are interested or not: please don't feel obligated but I do need about 35 people.

Overseas: Unfortunately I received a few emails about people not receiving their packages from overseas. So I'm afraid this time we will keep overseas friends in their own groups and vice versa. There will be no option to send overseas. If you are in the us, you will receive a partner in the us and if you are in Europe, you will receive a parter in Europe.

Signup Form + Interests: The sign up form is simply to sign up: Once you sign up on elfster, you may add your interests, likes/dislikes, your wishlist for your partner to see. When you have your assigned partner, it is up to you to email them and get to know them :)

Flickr: we have a lovely package exchange flickr group. post all your images of packages sent and received! also see the nice package! flickr group for lots of package inspiration!

Dates: Sign ups begin today, March 1st and will remain open until Tuesday: March 9, 2010. Please tell a friend and spread the word! Everyone will be placed into their group by the weekend (hopefully by March 13) and I will have the group leaders invite everyone into their elfster groups on the 15th. Partners will be assigned March 18. Then you will have about 2 weeks to send your package. Please plan to have your package sent by April 1st.

Unfortunately, there is always someone who doesn't follow through :( It is unavoidable. But hopefully this will filter out some of those people.

The requirement for this swap is that you must have some sort of reliable website to participate: a blog, shop, twitter account. (and they must be active! you can't have a blog that has one or two posts from april 2008)

If you don't have one of the above requirements but did participate last time and your partner can vouch for you, you will definitely be allowed to participate. If you have been reported by your swap partner and are on the list of non-senders from the last swap, you will not be allowed to participate in this exchange.

Please note filling out the sign up form is your contract: you are committing to sending a great package! Please plan to put some time and effort into the things you send, as well as how you present it. That is all I ask :)

If you've made it all the way to here, thanks so much for reading everything! Please fill out this form and leave it in the comment form. I receive so many emails and it is too hard to keep track so please do not email me your forms at this time. Please also be thorough with the information - I don't have time to email everyone individually seeking out missing info so incomplete forms will be skipped over, so sorry!

Name:

Website: (blog/shop/twitter)

Email Address:

Location:

List top 5 favorite things: (things you may collect, your favorite shop, blogs, sites, etc)

5 words to describe you or your style:

Would you be open to being a group leader:

Anything else you'd like to mention:

please support the swap by blogging, twittering, or linking one of the swap buttons. i've designed 3 buttons for you :) images can be found at my flickr: banner one | banner two | banner three. please link it back to this post!

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whew! are you on information overload? i sure am! ;) sorry it had to be so much! if i thought only 20 people were going to sign up, i would have just said "comment if you want to join" but since i am anticipating over 300 people, i needed to organize it somehow. i've reviewed this post over a dozen times, so i hope i didn't miss anything. (thanks to nicholas for helping me proofread, hehe) but if i did miss anything, additional information will be updated at the top of this post, so bookmark this post and check back!

1. Lovely Package Exchange, 2. Untitled, 3. signed sealed delivered

4. metal letter stamp, 5. Lovely Package Swap, 6. wrapped,

7. lovely package exchange, 8. Lovely Package Exchange, 9. Untitled

lovely package exchange:

hurray friends! exchange details are finally here! apologies for the delay. i am really excited about the swap! i really hope for it to be a fun 'blog community' thing for us to do: to get to know one another and see each other's talents! please read through all the information, and be sure to sign up! ;)

information updated: august 6
sign ups: closed

wow, we've reached over 250 people for the exchange!
thanks to all friends who blogged about it.

( updates )

August 6: only a week late :) heh -- partners are now ASSIGNED! I am emailing everyone individually now! thanks for your patience with me!

1. Pretty packages for clients :), 2. 3/365 ~ pretty packages, 3. magnets, 4. stamps and wrap, 5. packing., 6. Untitled, 7. Red + White Baker's Twine - sample, 8. Black & white lucky parcel sent, 9. happytape: japanese masking tape package gift wrap

The lovely package exchange is a swap of lovely things with an emphasis on ... packaging! It is for anyone who appreciates a good package: both receiving and sending them.

I love love love sending a pretty package - all the details, packaging, ribbons, papers, tags: it is so fun to wrap up and send something to someone special. and of course, it is so nice in return to receive a pretty package as well. I've received several of the most loveliest packages - you know, the kind that make you immediately bust out your camera to take pictures before you open it up! I've actually waited overnight to open a package once because I wanted to take pictures of a package I received during the daylight! (it was from madebyhank, hehe) Okay, I'm a bit of a nerd. but anyway, you get the idea of a lovely package ;)

So with that said, your package in this exchange obviously should have emphasis on the presentation, as well as of course the contents of what is inside! Here are all the details!

Swap Partners: You can request up to 3 people to exchange with (this is if you want to send and receive more packages) or keep it simple and request 1 person! It's totally up to you. Of course, if you request 3 people, please be sure that you're able to put just as much effort into all 3 packages as you would into 1. I will do my best to pair you accordingly and with someone with similar interests.

Overseas: If you live outside of the usa, you will be paired with someone who is willing to send overseas. If you are in the usa and willing to send overseas, that person you are sending to will also send to you - so you can receive something 'international' as well :) I personally love receiving packages from other countries!

Interests: The form includes all necessary information so please fill it out thoroughly :) Also include any favorite links, etsy shops, etc so you can give your partner an idea of the things you like.

Ideas: item ideas you can include in your lovely package: photograph prints, notebooks, pencils, stickers, stationery, pretty packaging supplies, pouches/wallets, eco-goods, stuffies, candles, coasters, pins, jewelry, scarves, bags, soaps, vintage goods, mix tapes. buy from etsy or local!

Flickr: we have a lovely package exchange flickr group! -- to post all your images of packages sent and received! you can add package images for inspiration as well, if you'd like but there is also the group nice package! for now, visit the group for blog buttons to promote the swap.

Dates: Sign ups will remain open until Monday, July 27 so you have 1 week to sign up, tell a friend! Partners will be assigned Tuesday, July 28 and you will have about 2 and a half weeks to send your package! Please plan to have your package sent by August 14.

Sorry for this to sound so strict and take all the fun out of it, but I decided there must be requirements for the swap .. for everyone's safety ;)

So, you must have an active website to participate: whether it be a blog, shop, twitter, etc. Since there are not many ways we can regulate who joins, I am hoping by requiring that you have some sort of URL, that this will keep the exchange honest. Hopefully there won't be any people who join with bad intentions but you never know.

If you do not have any website to include, please email me personally and we can figure something out. I do want everyone who wants to participate to be included!

For a dollar limit, I would set it at anywhere from $20-$30. It is up to you if you want to spend more but I think that is a reasonable limit and a good quality package can be sent with that amount. If you own a shop, please don't just send $20 worth of items from your shop to promote your own shop... but feel free to include items from your shop in addition to something you might get for your swap friend.

If you join, you are committing to sending a great package! Please plan to put some time and effort into the things you send, as well as how you present it. That is all I ask :)

I think that is about all! I hope I covered everything. Please email me with questions, concerns, or suggestions you may have. Any additional information added will be updated here, so bookmark this post and check back!

Please comment here with your form if you are signing up so I can get an accurate count :) I am not having you include your addresses, I will leave it up to you to email your partners once assigned, to get your mailing addresses from each other.

Name:

Website:
(blog, twitter, shop)

Email Address:

Location:
(city and/or state)

How many swap partners would you like:
(choose 1, 2, or 3!)

Are you willing to send overseas:

What are your interests:
(things you would like to receive, etc)

Favorite shops links:

Anything else you'd like to mention:
(special requests, notes, etc)

it'd be lovely if you could spread the word about the exchange and i'd really appreciate it :) i've created 3 blog buttons, for you to link on your blog. feel free to take them and resize them and please link them back to this post or here. each individual button is available here in the lovely package flickr group. there are also some 'inspiration collages' that you can post on your blog as well!

1. a Parisian moment, 2. giftwrapped presents, 3. Papiertüten, 4. Watering Can 2in 3, 5. yellow stripes, 6. Piratenpost, 7. sneak peek "a little fabric, a little chocolate" sent to chmihen, 8. Embalagens Laranja Limão 2009, 9. handmade house-shaped box.

lovely package exchange 2011:

The lovely package exchange for winter 2011 is here! I started the lovely package exchange in 2009 as a fun way for the blog community to get involved with each other. My hope was for participants to find new friends within the blog community and express creativity in sending a really thoughtful 'lovely' package. The 2010 exchange was a bust, I totally and completely dropped the ball. People signed up, actually, 550 people signed up. I sorted through about 400 of the sign ups. Then nothing. Awkward, I know. Deep apologies to anyone who has been around that long and did sign up. Anyway, it's back. For real this time, promise! This will be a fun gift swap for the holidays. Read on for details!

Swap Partners: You'll receive 1 swap partner, so we can focus on putting lots and lots of effort into our lovely packages!

Swap Dollar Amount: This is a gift exchange, with emphasis on the packaging. So suggested amount to spend on a gift is around $30 before shipping cost. The $30 can include packaging for your gifts as well, but please don't spend $20 on packaging and only send a $10 gift. If you own a shop, please don't send only items from your shop to promote your own shop.

Overseas: Unfortunately due to some people not receiving their packages from overseas, friends in other countries will be paired with people in their own country. There will be no option to send or receive from overseas. If you are in the us, you will receive a partner in the us and if you are in Europe, you will receive a parter in Europe.

Interests: The form includes all necessary information so please fill it out thoroughly :) Be sure to include any favorite links, etsy shops, etc so you can give your partner an idea of the things you like.

Flickr: Please join the lovely package exchange flickr group! Feel free to post all your images of packages sent and received! Please add package images for inspiration as well if you want.

Deadline & Dates: First 125 sign ups will be accepted. Sign ups will remain open until Saturday, November 12th or if there are 125 sign ups, whichever comes first. Partners will be assigned Wednesday, November 17th and packages must be sent by December 10th.

The requirement for this swap is that you must have some sort of reliable web presence online to participate -- blog or shop (link must be active, ie: you can't have a blog that has one or two posts from 2009)

Please note filling out the sign up form is your contract - you are committing to sending a great package! Please plan to put some time and effort into the things you send, as well as how you present it.

If you'd like to sign up for this years swap, simply fill out this form and leave it in the comments section! Please do not email me your forms, it is very hard to keep track of comments and emails and who signed up where - I will be sure to get to all the information here. If your form is incomplete or there are problems with your website, I will unfortunately have to skip over it and move to the next sign up.

Name:

Website: (blog/shop)

Email Address:

Location:

List 5 favorite things:

(favorite shops/blogs, things you'd like to receive, items you collect,etc)

5 words to describe you or your style:

Anything else you'd like to mention:

If you're participating, place a button at your blog Simply copy and paste the code below! Note: If you didn't know, you can adjust the width of the banner to fit your sidebar! Within the html code below, where it says "width="100"/> Just change that '100' number to whatever number will fit your side bar! Not sure what size fits in your sidebar? Trial and error always works best, that's what I do ;)

Button #1:
<a href="http://www.ohhellofriend.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn206/ohhellofriend/lovelypackage/LPE-linkbanner3.jpg" width="100"/> </a>
Button #2:
<a href="http://www.ohhellofriend.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn206/ohhellofriend/lovelypackage/LPE-2011banner.jpg" width="100"/> </a>
Button #3:
<a href="http://www.ohhellofriend.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn206/ohhellofriend/lovelypackage/LPE-linkbanner2.jpg" width="100"/> </a>

lovely package exchange, summer 2012:

I know lots of you love packaging, it's some of the first content I blogged about because I love a nicely wrapped package. Well, the lovely package exchange spring 2012 is here! Limited number of sign ups are open to hurry to the comment form to sign up! update sign ups are now closed, thanks for participating! :)

Swap Partners: You'll receive 1 swap partner, so we can focus on putting lots and lots of effort into our lovely packages!

Swap Dollar Amount: This is a gift exchange, with emphasis on the packaging. So suggested amount to spend on a gift is around $25-$30 before shipping cost. This amount can include packaging for your gifts as well, but please don't spend $20 on packaging and only send a $10 gift. If you own a shop, please don't send only items from your shop to promote your own shop.

Overseas: The trade is open to friends in other countries! Please note that Canada + US will be counted together so US residents may receive a partner in Canada. All other countries will be paired with each other. There is no option to send or receive from overseas.

Interests: The form includes all necessary information so please fill it out thoroughly :) Be sure to include any favorite links, etsy shops, etc so you can give your partner an idea of the things you like.

Flickr: Please join the lovely package exchange flickr group! Feel free to post all your images of packages sent and received! Please add package images for inspiration as well if you want.

Deadline & Dates: First 125 sign ups will be accepted. Sign ups will remain open until Sunday, June 24th or if there are 125 sign ups, whichever comes first. Partners will be assigned Thursday, June 28th and packages must be sent by Thursday, July 12th.

If you'd like to sign up for the summer 2012 exchange, simply fill out this form and leave it in the comments section! Please do not email me your forms - I will be sure to get to all the information here.

Requirements: This swap is open to anyone this time around. But if you do not have some sort of link (blog/shop) you will be paired up with someone with the same. This keeps it fair for those who want to document and blog about it.

Filling out the sign up form is essentially signing your contract - that you are committing to sending a great package! Please plan to put some time and effort into the things you send, as well as how you present it.

Name: 

URL: (blog/shop) 

Email Address: (please type your email as it is, ie: ohhellofriend@gmail.com + not like ohhellofriend[at]gmail.com - thanks!)

Location:

List 5 favorite things: (favorite shops/blogs, things you'd like to receive, items you collect,etc)

5 words to describe you or your style: 

Anything else you'd like to mention: 

If you're participating, place a button at your blog.

Simply choose a button and copy and paste the codes provided below.

Note: If you didn't know, you can adjust the width of the banner to fit your sidebar! Within the html code below, where it says width="150", simply change that '150' number to whatever number will fit your side bar! Not sure what size fits in your sidebar? Trial and error always works best, that's what I do ;)

Button #1, Circle:

<a href="http://www.ohhellofriend.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn206/ohhellofriend/trades/LPE-banner1.jpg" width="150"/> </a>

Button #2, Square:

<a href="http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn206/ohhellofriend/trades/LPE-banner2.jpg" width="150"/>

Button #3, Triangle:

<a href="http://www.ohhellofriend.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn206/ohhellofriend/trades/LPE-banner3.jpg" width="150"/>

New Column! Blog Discussion:

Thanks to MyMonography for the beautiful photo above!

Hi friends! So in the spirit of promoting community, I've decided to start this new column titled "blog discussion" - where a topic is posted and we discuss it! Super simple. The topics will be mainly related to blogging, since that's what we all have in common, but there may be some other topics thrown in along the way. Some of them may be controversial. But I know you guys and trust that we can all be nice and respect one another's opinions :)

The reason this came about was because I recently had a situation where I faced with what we're talking about today. I honestly did not know what to do and I wondered what you, my dear readers, thought about the subject.

So today's blog discussion is: receiving items for free (aka gifts) in exchange for some sort of blog post/advertisement/promotion.

In my situation - I was basically invited to go on a trip to attend a conference. The subject of the conference was not really related to my blog, and there was really no way to spin it where I could tie it in. A trip did sound really fun, but I just couldn't do it. Occasionally I'll get an email from a company that wants to send me their product in exchange for a blog post or review. I usually just turn it down because even though it may be a cool product, it's just not related to the content of my blog. While I don't want to compromise the integrity of this blog, at the same time I think it's fun to get free stuff ;)

I think that at a certain point, if your blog gets to super-star status, lots of shops will shower you with free stuff in hopes that they'll get a post on your blog. I think that's understandable.. One speaker at ALT told us about how she gets lots of things sent to her, and I'm sure her readers know the items she blogs about are things she receives for free. But some blogs I come across have a disclaimer stating that they don't accept things in exchange for blog posts.

We learned at ALT that trust with your blog readers is #1. If I started posting about random things unrelated to this blog only because I was getting free stuff, would that upset you? Cause you to unsubscribe? Would you care? If it was fully disclosed in the blog post, would that be okay? Perhaps there are some of you out there who are all for accepting free things! or don't care if a blog accepts free things & posts about them. I don't know, but I am quite curious to know your thoughts! Have you ever accepted anything in exchange for a blog post? How did it go over? How do you feel in general about the overall topic?

So yea, based on how this discussion goes, next week I'll post about a free car I got. just kidding! I wish. That would be pretty awesome though, huh? ;)

lovely mail (& a lovely package exchange note at the end)

i received some very lovely packages in the mail recently.

pretty packages are just the best to receive, don't you agree?

i mean, when the package is equally as pretty as

what's inside, that's a real treat. thought i'd share the

packaging as well as the goodies inside:

package one.

from belladrummer.

package two.

from One Fine Dae.

package three.

from saratops.

---

since this post is about packaging, i should make a mention about the lovely package exchange. i know many of you are wondering: what ever happened to that exchange? you signed up and nothing happened. i have no answer except that i am very truly and deeply sorry for getting you all excited and not following through. i did match everyone together, i just didn't take the next step in emailing the group leaders.

i think i took on too much, and it became too overwhelming for me. so what was the spring package exchange, will be pushed to the fall (after our september 25th wedding) as i still have all the info from the last sign ups. everyone will be emailed and if you can't participate at that time, then you'll just let your group leader know. more details to come much later. but i am very sorry to have dropped the ball friends. xo.

lovely package update:

hello dear friends! hope your weekends are going well. just wanted to post a quick update about the lovely package exchange, for those of your participating!

August 22 - today was the date to have your packages out by. If your package is not sent yet, just keep your partners updated :)

lovely package flickr group - don't forget to take pictures of your package! and if you get a chance, please upload them to the flickr group so we can all see your lovely package.

blog posts - if you blog about your sent + received packages, please post the link here! I'd love to see everyone's packages and share them here in a follow up post!

and if anyone is having an issues or concerns with their partners or the exchange, please let me know. thanks everyone!

ps: i have received many emails and inquiries to whether or not there will be another exchange in the future - the answer is: most definitely! most likely in the fall or even a Christmas exchange! so keep an eye out!

lovely package update ll:

a quick update.. by now many of you have either sent and even received your packages! if you haven't sent them, no worries: just be sure to let your partners know.

i'll probably do a follow-up on the exchange in 1 or 2 weeks, so be sure to get your images posted and please link to any of these posts if you blogged about the packages.

for those of you who have been wondering and asking me when there will be another exchange: do not worry! :) i will probably host another in the fall and perhaps even the winter. while i was at jessica's last week making cupcakes, she was talking about how it'd be fun to exchange a journal with someone which got me thinking about even more fun exchanges we could do! if you have any ideas, please feel free to share!

here are just a couple images from the flickr group of lovely packages exchanged. so incredible and amazing to see all the creativity! please be sure to upload photos of your lovely packages sent + received!

runlucasrun


fallon akers


jessicajanelove

and just a note: if you are having any problems or issues please contact me and i will do my best to help you figure it out!

lovely package exchange - followup:

this is long overdue.. but for those of you who remember, we had a lovely package exchange back in july. :) the criteria was to send a really lovely package... with the emphasis on making the packaging really lovely wrapped and everything.

over 250 people signed up! it was such a neat thing to see our blog community come together ;) each person was carefully partnered with another and here is a follow up of some of the many lovely things that were sent.

perhaps you can get some packaging inspiration as you begin to wrap your presents for Christmas!

packages exchanged between Carolynn from two brunettes and lindsay from run lucas run



packages exchanged between jessica from jessica jane and lisa from the red thread




packages exchanged between amanda from amanda rae and tawny from tawntawns

the following packages were sent by fallon from olive.etsy.com.
they are so amazing, i love them all :)

sent to jessica jane and ruby from cakies.
the packages jessica + ruby sent were equally lovely.




a lovely package sent by tara from in this instance


from dandee designs


from lockette


from becca blogger


from gin pins


from k is for calligraphy

anyway, stay tuned next year for a whole new 'lovely favorites' exchange :) hope you enjoyed. xo.