{Swap Sketch} - May 2012

First I want to thank each person who participated in our first swap.  Thank you for your time and lovely homemade treasures - each one was true art and craft.  I also appreciate your understanding and patience as we all figured out the swap thing together.  Didn't I tell you it would work itself out? Haha. Now, we're all pros!

And thank you to The Sweet Life Bakery owners Stephen and Jill and staff for hosting us.  What a perfect and appropriate place for our first swap! 

Thanks for the awesome chalkboard design, Kylee!

Here's a recap of the swap items present:  Almond Pound Cake, Lavender Rosemary Garden Scrub, Strawberry Rhubarb Jam, Canned Jersey Tomatoes, Canned Jersey Peaches, Rhubarb Boozy, Strawberry Honey Butter, Thyme Plants, Strawberry Rhubarb Mint Butter, Olive Oil Pizza Dough, Salted Caramel, Chocolate Macarons With Chocolate-Peanut Butter Ganache, Vanilla Macarons with Fresh Strawberry Buttercream, Red White & Blue Granola, Fresh Herbs, Apricot Orange Biscotti, Lemon Rosemary Biscotti, Fresh Organic Tomato Sauce,  Granola, Farm-Fresh Eggs, Salted Caramel Cookies, and Green Olive Bread!

Marlise and Terry sampling Lauren's Rhubarb Boozy

Swappables

The Sweet Life Bakery owner Jill with Terry's little guys.

Notes for next time:

• I learned that it's probably best to have more than one type of item.  For example, someone with 3 different items may only want to swap once with someone that brought only one item.  Having a variety gives you more leverage.  And options.  
• Also, maybe a week or so before the swap, people should start posting their items on the SJS Facebook page just to get a quick idea as to what else will be at the swap. 
• Another good idea would be to let everyone know exactly how many people will be at the swap so they can plan accordingly. 

Amy making an offer

Jennifer sampling Abi's Olive Oil Pizza Dough

I'll start working on planning the next one.  Everyone else: keep sharing your experience, spreading the word, posting pics, tagging, tweeting, poking, mentioning, and however else you communicate these days :)

A quick funny story: The morning of the swap, Amy and I went to Sparacio's to pick more strawberries.  The next row over I noticed these two adorable old ladies going to town picking.  They had a wagon full of containers full to the brim with berries.  I immediately had a vision of them in aprons, baking pies and canning jam.  I thought for sure they'd share a secret recipe with me if I only asked.  So I did.             

"Wow, that's a lot of berries you have there. What are you going to do with them?" 

She replies, "I sell 'em."


Check out our Facebook Page for the rest of the photos!  See everyone again soon.