Sticker bags-smaller edition

Lets get those sticker bags out and going. Now that we've had a few hopefully we'll get some going home in the next few swaps. If you happen to get a homer feel free to keep it for about a week just in case you get more to send back to the person. This way they get their stickers back without it costing so much for you to send it back to them :) Also I have noticed some stickers that aren't that great in sticker bags so please people-start these with decent stickers and put in the same quality that you get out. :)

You will have 1 partner. To your partner send 4 (four) sticker bags. These can be "homers" (ones you send back to the sticker bag maker after you sign the last spot), starters or established bags. You can send upto 1 homer per swap partner. Please try not to send it to the maker of the bag. If at all possible try to not send it to people who have already signed it. If you have to send it to someone who has already signed it make sure there are at least 3 signers between when you send it back to them and when they last signed it (for example they were signer #1 and you're sending it to them as signer #5). This way they have a variety to choose from that are new to them as well. These can be new or established bags.

Not sure what a sticker bag is? Well, neither was I! The internet proved to be basically NO! help-that's a first for a while LOL. So I did some serious searching of previous swaps here on swap-bot and found some pictures of some.

To make a sticker bag you get a envelope, put a note on it as to who made it, who it is for (if it's made for you and for you put made by and for and list your name.) the address and email of who it is for, your instructions and somewhere for the people to sign. This is alot more confusing than it sounds. I'll spell it out more with a example of what one would have on it in a second.

I handmake my envelopes out of scrap book paper so they are slightly smaller than a small envelope so that I can fit more than one into a small envelope. However, there are no set rules on the envelope size-there are even ones that are just normal envelopes with the name, rules, etc on them.

Here is the example of what to put on your envelope:

Made for and by:

First-name Last-name

Street address

City, state, zip

Country

Please take # stickers and put in # stickers. After # signers please send home.

(Usually on back so people can have room.) Please sign and date. Please send home after # signers.

I then put lines for the people to sign.

The # are where you put how many stickers you want the other people to take out and put in. I usually put take out 5 stickers and put in 10. As for the amount of signers I like putting 6. Put as many as you want, as long as you realize that they need some room to sign. You can also add other rules. I usually say no reward stickers.

Please also make sure that you put a few extra stickers in it then what you ask for them to take out. For example, if they take out 7 put at least 10 in. A good variety is nice too as people want to be able to pick something they like even if they're the first signer.

Optional information to read:

A small note here,

I have seen many of these coming marked as packages to me. If you are willing to spend a little bit on getting bigger envelopes you can often fix the bags to be a somewhat even consistancy. As long as the envelope isnt rigid you can usually get away with either it still being letter rate, or large envelope. Large envelope rate for 1 ounce (in the USA) is $0.90 where 1 ounce package is $1.95. So save yourself the $1.05 in postage and get some bigger envelopes! Even if you spend 30 cents on a envelope that's still a lot cheaper.

My suggestion is to go talk to your post office. See if they can give you a "first-class mail shape-based pricing template" They are fantastic and what the post office uses to determine if it's a letter, big envelope or package.

Just remember if the items have any of the following they are automatically package rates:

Rigid-can not easily bend.

too large of size (large envelope goes upto 15" longx 12" high x 3/4" thick)

uneven thickness (within 1/4th of an inch.) Anyone who gets swaps from me probably notices I do placements in my envelopes to get uniform thickness. I will also sometimes use rubber bands to keep the contents of the envelopes where I want them. If you don't want to spend a lot on postage spend a little time on being creative on getting the package how you want it.

I hope this helps some people to be able to spend less on these swaps while still having fun!