Sassy and Flirty Apron Swap – Sugar, Spice, & Everything Nice
Last Day to Sign Up: January 9, 2009
Last Day to Mail Packages: February 2, 2009
I invite you to join Lucy and Shawnee's first co-hosted apron swap! We've been chatting for months, sharing ideas, getting to know each other, and talking about the ups and downs of hosting swaps. We are so excited to team up together for a special Valentine's Day swap. In addition to using an online registration form and sharing the responsibilities of assigning partners, we are also initiating a $5.00 participant fee to go toward prizes and "angel" contributions for the participants whose pals drop out from the swap.
We always hope that the angels needed will be few and far between, as we'd like everyone to fulfill their commitments to the exchange. However, in the past, the funding for angel contributions came from either swap participants or from the hostesses themselves. This time we thought we'd help defray that cost by collecting for it up front.
As always, we would encourage you to be sure you can commit to the swap requirements before signing up, especially as we only have room for a limited number of participants this round. A quick decision will guarantee your spot!
If you would like to sign up, click on the "BUY NOW" links to right for Shawnee's team and you will be directed to a PayPal checkout. Once payment is made, you click on Return to Merchant and will be taken to the registration screen. Then, visit the swap blog at http://sassyflirtyapronswap.blogspot.com to save your favorite swap badge and post on your own blog!
If you have any questions, please let either Lucy or Shawnee know right away at lucyandshawnee@yahoo.com!
Here is one more thing we would like you to consider before joining this swap: To join in this swap you don’t have to be an expert seamstress, but you do need to be experienced enough to pull a nice apron off. We expect an apron that would pass in 8th Grade Home Economics - not an "A" but at least passable.
We don’t want to get too fussy here and scare anyone off. As Lucy says, we love to see the work of new seamstresses and have had some as partners in swaps and have loved the work they do. It is fresh and full of enthusiasm. If you feel that your work is not good enough, you can also swap an apron made by another crafter. There are many at Etsy worth buying from. Just be sure to give credit where it is due and honor the apron artist!
Dagger! I really waited for this sign-up, but the $5 fee is what is holding me back now. I hope everyone enjoys this swap!!
ReplyDeleteI signed up. Posted my fee and sent my info! Now need to wait for my partner's info!
ReplyDeleteAlso not sure if I'll be participating - $5 seems a bit steep to pay (times 200 people - $1,000, really?) to be involved in a swap. I had fun in the holiday hostess apron swap, but I think I might just try to find another, freebie swap.
ReplyDeletepaid & signed up...looking forward to another fun round of 'stitchin & swappin'....
ReplyDelete>^..^< aka grace
i am really sad this costs 5 dollars, i have been waiting for the new swap to happen, i missed the last one by a few days, and i can't join if it costs money. sad day. can anyone reccomend a free apron swap?
ReplyDeleteWill all of your new swaps have a fee? I know $5 is not a lot, but I will not be signing up. I'll just make myself a pretty apron to go with the theme. Or maybe I'll make two with the what I save from postage and the $5!
ReplyDeleteShawnee,
ReplyDeleteI have loved participating in your swaps, but I do echo the concerns expressed by some others. Will all of your swaps now have the $5.oo fee? I know it doesn't sound like a lot of money, but after spending money on fabric, package goodies, and postage, the extra $5.oo might really be prohibative to potential participants. As a recipient of prizes during your swaps and as someone who had a parnter "flake out" and not send an apron, I do appreciate you and Lucy trying to address these issues. But, the extra money is going to be hard to do. Thanks for hearing my concerns, and please know that I really appreciate all of your hard work in hosting the wonderful flirty swaps. You have been a great swap hostess and really make them fun to participate in.
I was really looking forward to this swap, but was kind of suprised to see the $5.00 entrance fee. Can you give a little bit more info as to what the $1,000 will be spent on. I understand covering the cost of swap angels, but is that much really necessary? Also, in the past the prizes have been from sponsers who want their business advertised, do you pay them?
ReplyDeleteThat was the main reason why I did not sign up, $5 may seem like petty cash to some, but my thought is where does all this money really go to? Cynthia voiced my concerns--what was to happen in the event everyone sends all of the packages as was the case with the most recent swap? Do you return the money to everyone? I have never seen a swap that charged anyone to participate. Anything that was donated or whoever made an apron for someone who did not receive was because they wanted to out of the goodness of their heart--You state that the items that you have for the lucky winners were also donated by them so where will all this money go to if not just for Shawnee and Lucy? Please respond--or post something on here to explain. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI am with everyone above. The $5.00 alone does not seem a lot but with 200 participants that would be $1000! What will that be spent on? Even if 5 people didn't receive an apron, buying 5 @25.00 from a site like Etsy would only come up to $125.00. Add in $5.00 for postage that is $25.00 and maybe some goodies at $10.00 x 5, $50.00 it would only cost $200.00 tops.
ReplyDeleteI will have to wait for a free swap. That was the whole point to begin with.
Cant wait for the next one.
Hi gals,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad everyone feels comfortable leaving honest feedback! LOL!!
As we said in all the promotional and sign up info, this is a different format. We have lots of very nice prizes planned and a guarantee that you will receive an apron package. If everyone sends out their packages like they're supposed to, then even more prizes will be awarded. And my family will appreciate me not spending several hundred dollars out of our family budget like I did last year, not counting the hundreds of hours I spent last year, too.
I would personally pay $5 for the chance to win aprony prizes and a guarantee of a swap not falling through, but that's just me. It's okay if joining a swap "club" (per se) isn't your thing. But please don't assume the worst about us.
Lucy and I will both be hosting our regular free swaps this year, as well as a few other surprises. Check back soon!
I agree with previous posts: Five dollars is quite an entry fee when considering the number of participants. Thank you, Giabella Designs, for a nicely worded explanation as to why $1000 is ridiculous. Five dollars is obviously alienating a lot of potential swappers. With our depressed economic times, I think people will be less willing to fork over even $5 when a phrase like "chance to win" a random prize is provided as a defense. I'm really sorry that people flake out and do not send their partner a package. I'm also sorry that you are spending your own money to compensate for that flakiness, Shawnee, but I thought that is why you accepted donations of aprons during one of the previous swaps when people could not make aprons due to some natural disaster. I personally would rather make an "angel" apron than submit $5 to the vaguely defended $1000 pool. Good luck to all those who participate. I'm sitting this one out and considering starting my own alternative apron swap!
ReplyDelete