The 2nd Annual Brown Paper Bag Swap

Last year I hosted my first swap and I was amazed at how creative people were with a simple brown paper bag. So exactly one year to the date (I don't know how I figured that one out, coincidence!) I am hosting The 2nd Annual Brown Paper Bag Swap.

The Brown Paper Bag is such a simple item and how many of us started off as little kids crafting with brown paper bags? In school we decorated them for goodie bags, made puppets out of them, used them for our lunches, etc.... My mom made my little guy, Jace, a brown paper bag scrapbook when he was born. It was so cute and yet so simple. I love it!! Below are some pictures of things that people made last year for The Brown paper Bag Swap.


So what I am thinking is that we (hopefully others like this idea too and join the swap!) could use a brown paper bag and create something for our partner out of it. It doesn't matter how you use the bag as long as it is somehow used in your swap. It could be added to your art piece, made into a tag, it could be the main part of the item, whatever you can come up with.


My rules for the swap are:

1. You must use a brown paper bag in your handmade swap item. You can purchase things to add to or embelish though.


2. You MUST contact your swap partner by email. You need to say "Hi", introduce yourself and then tell them a little about yourself. I am making this a rule because I have participated in a couple of swaps and have never heard from the person I am exchanging with. I think this takes away from the whole point of the swap and kind of leaves everything up in the air. Make a new friend, it doesn't mean you have to email them constantly, but be friendly.

3. Please thank your partner for the package they send to you. I hate when I swap with someone and they don't just say "thank you". I may be late on most of my swaps, but I do put a lot of work into them and I do appreciate the work that my partner puts into theirs. Everyone likes to here "thank you!"


4. There is $15.00 (+ or - a little) price limit. All Homemade is fine!!! Please don't worry about going out and purchasing things. I'm sure between tags, cards, scrapbooks, etc..... everyone can come up with enough stuff to feel satisified. Please just be comfortable with yourself and what you send.



Okay, sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Please email me at sherryreneew@hotmail.com or leave me a comment on my blog if you would like to join the swap. I need your:

Name

Email address

Blog address if you have one


I will take sign ups until May 18, 2009. The mail out date for your brown paper bag item will be June 12, 2009 (that is anniversary day the patent was granted for the machine that makes the paper bags we use now days.)


Please spread the word if your interested and feel free to post info about the swap so others will join. I'm so excited to see what everyone comes up with!!!


I will open a Flickr Group up for the projects to be posted to if you want to join it. http://www.flickr.com/groups/746844@N23/



If your interested, here is a little history on the Brown Paper Bag as we know it now. There were other paper bags before this and other people involved in the invention of the bags. I just decided to post about the type of bags that are familiar to us now days.

Square-Bottom Paper Bag w/ pleated sides

On June 12, 1883 the U.S. Patent office issued #279,505 to Chas Stilwell a patent for a paper bag machine. After fighting for the Union in the Civil War, Charles Stilwell began to tinker with the idea of making a better paper bag. Paper bags already existed at this time, but they had many flaws. They had to be pasted together by hand; their V-shaped bottoms prevented them from standing on their own; and they were not easily collapsible or conveniently stackable. In the summer of 1883, Stilwell put into operation the first machine to produce paper bags. The bags had flat bottoms for standing up straight by themselves and pleated sides that made them easy to fold and stack. Dubbed the S.O.S., or Self-Opening Sack, it remains in widespread use today. With the birth of the American supermarket in the early 1930s, demand for Stilwell’s paper bags skyrocketed. Their versatility, strength, and low cost made them first a nationwide then a worldwide phenomenon.