All of my shipments of candies were taken out of their packaging as soon as they came in (last April) so I'm afraid I have nothing to show... But thin cardstock (like a cereal box) was cut to the size of a business envelope, and two rows of candy were laid out along it, pretty much like how I showed you in a card. That keeps the envelope thin.

The candies won't shift around because they sort of stick together. Press the card flat with your hand and hold it closed when you load it into the envelope. It's really easier than it sounds.

Here are two beautiful quilts that can be done with our 'candy' squares:

http://www.quiltingboard.com/members...28-476673.html

http://www.quiltingboard.com/members...35-382239.html

Sorry sewbizgirl, guess I should have explained better I was talking about the board that NoraB was talking about for the ironing board, dont take me wrong I appreciate the idea about the cereal box too, will put it in my memory for when I cant get cards.

TG, sure, sure, it's MY fault! LOL! Glad to hear you'll be around for the year. I've sure enjoyed having you in the last couple of booms. Barb, TG has been utterly reliable so I'm glad she'll be joining us!

Nice quilts in those pics, thanks for sharing them. Have to go to town tomorrow so will be looking for Birthday cards. Snowed here today but it's all melted already, still cold but livable...:)

Well I made my cards on my computer. I just found a birthday clip art and cut/pasted it on my document. I printed the front then the inside into an 8.5"X11" sheet of card stock and I bought a box envelopes these cards would fit in. Maybe I can take a pic tomorriw. I do need to create a new card... I stack my "candy" in six stacks of eight with two or more left on the top. And I do wrap them in Saran wrap to keep them together. Not Press'N Seal...it sticks toooo much to the fabrics IMO. But my card is always thin enough that it sends easily with a .70 cent stamp. Once I wasn't so careful packaging them and the po wanted $3-5. I said NO WAY. I took them home and re packaged them. :D

LOL, that makes sense! Didn't think about the ironing board!

Sheri's 'candies' always look amazing when you get them! The six stacks of 8 is a great idea too, for keeping those cards thin.

I would love to join in.

Barbara - hope you got my pm. haven't heard anything.

Almost here one more day cant wait!

What is almost here? Let us in on the secret... :)

Looking forward to another fun year and all the Candy on my birthday. I just finished cutting all my squares for 2015 tonight. Now to put them in a safe place till I get them bagged up so the cat doesn't play with them.

Sewbizgirl, thanks for all the great patterns on your pinterest page. Now, the question is, which quilt to make with my 2014 candies......:confused::confused::confused:

I think Teri means another day before we get our list of names for 2015/2016. As for me, I'm still very much attached to the 2014 group as I'm the last one and my birthday isn't quite here yet! I've gotten 24 of 34 so that's not too bad. I hope the rest come in. It's tough being the last one but then I'm pretty good at delayed gratification or I wouldn't have signed up again! lol

I'm still waiting on a few Candy Cards too and my bday was the 3rd. It's made me vow to be better about being on time with EVERYONES birthday this year! :D

Hello ladies...

Today is the day for the last sign up for the New Swap. right now we are at 28. I have one other person getting me a referral. I will keep it open until Sunday the 22nd (happy birthday Janice ;) ) to get her referral and anyone else that wants to join. Hope you all have a nice weekend.

The following is the list of people I have for the swap so far:

bjsmith57
sewbizgirl
jaba
karen g
moonrise
maT
Patrick's Mom
dottie dodge
J_Cody
ajakol
n10sgrrl
anoka quilter
TPr9258
trish b
lv2sew2011
michellesews
MWUTeach
PeginCo
NoraB
barbarakibler23
Daisy Dew
Happy Lab
nurse bonnie
letsquilt
djmat
Sheri R
Rosemary Attaway
Janice McC

Welcome ladies! Looking forward to another fun year!
Barb :)

Thats right ladies, when I said 1 more day which is today I was talking about getting our names for this month. haha, I am like a little kid in the candy store even tho I dont't get my candies till Sept I love sending things out, so here I am in the freezing cold of Jersey waiting for my ride to go to the freezing cold of Lake George NY for the weekend and I am wondering about the list. Can someone tell me do we get it as a IM or just here on the site or do we get it the old way through the mail. I don't know if I will be able to get on internet over the weekend but I will try, hope to see the list soon

Yes... it's quite lonely to have your birthday come and go without hearing from some of the members of the swap. You feel forgotten, and even tho you may get the cards later, it just doesn't have the same feeling. PLEASE, let's ALL resolve to mail the candies for receipt ON or BEFORE each birthday. It really does make a difference.

Here's an easy way to stay on top of it: Get your cards and cut your candy in advance. You don't have to cut it all in advance, just as long as you prepare a few month's worth of envelopes in advance. Before those are all gone, start preparing some more. Then the birthdays can't sneak up on you and when you get the notices towards the end of each month, you are ready to put the cards in the mail!

Barring a sudden death, we all know when we are going to be away from home for vacation, babies being born, or business travel. So plan ahead and mail that card before you go... don't wait until you get back and get around to it. Traveling is really not an excuse for a late birthday card.

Last year's swap was so much fun, but I hope we can do better this year and not have people saying they only received 2/3 of their packages by their birthday. That just hurts my heart.

Looking forward to this new year and getting to know both newbies and old friends even better!

Last year we got the list of names and birth dates, but the actual addresses to mail to were not given out until the end of the month before their birthdays. That is, you will get the addresses for the March birthdays towards the end of Feb. Barb only gives out one month of addresses at a time... I guess to keep us from mailing *too* early.

Yes, you will get the info in a pm from Barbara, so watch your inbox!

Hello Ladies

Very well said sewbizgirl. Thanks for the ideas to keep everyone on their toes.

I do send addresses out once a month...the biggest reason is so that I have some kind of contact with people at least once a month.

I do have one more that I left off the list....and that is travelinggramma. She will be joining us this year too! Evidently she lives in her RV and travels around so she will give me her address when her birthday comes up. I think we are going to get some great stories from her!!!!!! I am looking forward to them Travelinggramma....where are you now??

Hello ...me again....

So I have decide to do one thing this year that I did not do in the last two years. This is to encourage you to mail your packages ON TIME.

I need the birthday girl to help me with this. On your birthday (or if you are celebrating too much) the day after ...I need a list PM of who you have received packages from.

two things happen.
1) if you are on the list (meaning you were on time) YEAH ...I will send you a POSTIVE Feedback score.

2) if you are NOT on the list. I will give you 10 days to make it right. It must be in her hands by that date. This will give the post office anytime to deliver. Remember you were suppose to have it to her by her birthday. I will not give any feedback score.

3) if she does not have it in her hands by the 10th day I will put on a NEGATIVE feedback. No exceptions. I know life happens .....just have them ready to mail and this should not be a problem.

This is going to give me a lot more work but I really want this year to be on time. It really is NOT good enough to get them mailed out. Let's make everyone's day special.

Hope I have not turned anyone off by this but I really want everyone to get their packages and get them on time.


Also I can only leave 4 feedback per day so I will be trying to get them out as soon as I see a thank you posted.

:) Barb

That's a great idea, Barb. Sorry for all the additional work for you! As usual you are the "Hostess With The Mostess". :)

I think it is a great idea! Will keep us on our toes. Bought 24 B-day cards so far, all cut and waiting to send. Thanks all for letting me join, looking forward to all the fun! Need to add a thank you to sewbizgirl for inviting me too....

I am soon excited this is my first year for this and am looking forward to seeing all the different fabrics and to have a project figured out by my birthday so when I get my squares I can begin. Looking forward to this a little too much

Thanks so much for letting me join in on the fun! I am cutting squares right now. Can't wait!

I finally got all my squares cut and bagged,cards are all ready just need names now!!
This really is a fun swap ,All the newby's you will enjoy it when it's your birthday month!

You are WELCOME, Jaba! I'm happy you wanted to play!

I am so excited about this swap...I'm one of the newbies.....I've finished cutting and bagging all the fabrics and have the birthday cards......I'm at the starting line all ready to go...one more day to wait! My wrist is a bit sore from all that cutting.......but after cleaning out my sewing room and vacuuming (sp?) the room, I was eager to start on a wedding quilt for my neice. I washed and pressed the fabric and started to read the instructions....which call for me cutting all the fabric into ...........you guessed it..........2.5" strips! I cut about 20 strips before I decided I need to go shopping for a bit.....Then I noticed there is a ruler called June Tailor Shape Cut Pro - I have the plain Shape Cut but you have to fold the width in half and then in half again. Well, the Shape Cut PRO allows you to cut width of fabric strips 2.5". So, I've been calling all the local stores (no one has it). Finally, I found a "deal" at Walmart.com and it will be available for me to pick up at Walmart on February 28 (next week). I will not wait until then to cut my fabric because the quilt has to be done by end of March...BUT, I wanted to share the deal on this ruler and also recommend it to others who cut 2.5" strips (it has slots in 2.5" increments only). The price was $41.48 plus tax and free shipping to our local Walmart. That's the best deal.......it goes for as much as $111 at the other sites. So, it pays to shop around, but it also pays to try to "anticipate" what you need before you need it!

Looking forward to tomorrow for the March birthdays!

I love everyones enthusiasm!!!! I will post the entire list of names tonight after 9pm. I have a few more "newbies" making the big decision to join us. I hope they do ...more the merrier :)

NoraB I am going to check out the Pro cutty thingy. Sounds very intriguing. Especially since I love 2.5" squares and all of their patterns.

Enjoy your day ladies...

Barb

Has anyone seen the list for the March birthdays? I don't know where to look for it. Does it come in a private message on this site or does it come via personal e-mail? Please let me know...I'm afraid it's out there and I don't know how to get to it. Thanks!

Nora, Barb will post a full list tonight, I believe. She'll probably PM us each the addresses for March too. Then about March 20 she'll pm us each the addresses for April. And so on and so on. :D It works really well. I'm excited for all our participants. How many March babies do we have ??? :D

Cool. Thanks for the information. I'll check tomorrow for it. I'm not a March baby......September one! Thanks!

Has the list of all the birthdays gone out? I haven't seen anything...

Here it is the list for the 2015/16 Birthday Swap.

Please remember to post a comment at least once a month on this thread...just so I know that you are still around. A good way to remember is to post something after you get my PM with the monthly addresses.

We only have one birthday in March and you have plenty of time to get it to her on time because it is not until the 29th. So let's see how we can all do!

Welcome to the swap!

March
29...bjsmith57

April
9...sewbizgirl

May
1...jaba
14...Karen G
20....moonrise
21....maT

June
8...kele
9....Patrick's Mom
10...dottie Dodge
29...J_cody
29....ajakol

July
6...n10sgrrl
11...anoka quilter

August
28...travelinggramma

Sept
2...TPr9258
4...trish b
5...lv2sew2011
5...michellesews
18...WMUTeach
20...PeginCo
23...quilterjoy
27...NoraB

October
23...barbarakibler23

November
5...Daisy Dew
12...theifer
28...Happylab

December
1...Nurse bonnie
8....letsquilt
23...djmat

January
no birthday babies :(

February
3....SheriR
17...Rosemary Attaway
22...Janice McC

This year we have two sets of birthday twins!!!

I will be posting the address for bjsmith57 tonight. If for some reason you don't get it please send me a PM.

Barb :)

Someone said they could put a chart together like the one we had last year...sorry I can't remember who said they could. Please let me know. Feel free to post it here on the thread for all.

I have PM'd everyone the March birthday address. If you did not get one please PM me.

thanks
Barb

Received the PM. Will mail soon. :)

Here's an adorable little quilt we could do with our 'candy':
http://www.favequilts.com/Throws-and...KVgiKCogZGR.32

Got my PM too. Cute quilt pattern for the hearts!!

Got the listing and that's so great to show all the birthdates...that will help in planning the mailings. No January birthdays.....oh well....that will help us recover from the Holiday season! Fun - Fun - Fun.............Nora

Got my pm too.