Drunken crafts... that could be an entire thread of it's own.
FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS CRAFT DRUNK.

Speaking of, does anyone know of any on-line tutorials for things to do with bottle caps? or any other ideas/links that would be relevant to this swap?

I took one each from the greatest beers I've had so far and put them in an Ikea Ribba shadowbox frame.  I'm drinking my way to a set of 3, but for now the finished one is holding up my books.


You can also squish two together to make checkers.
Or rivet them upside down to a rubber mat to make a nice scrapey doormat.
And I bet there's a way to make a bottle opener out of bottle caps.

This is the swap I've been waiting for! 
And after this, I'm totally going to start homebrewing.  So if my eventual swap partner just happens to have some Belgian hops in their stash... 

I don't know what else to call it.  The idea is to fill one of those plastic divider boxes with supplies, trinkets, ephemera, jewelry, miniatures, and other small crafty items, but to have each cell link to the previous one in some way, physically, conceptually, or in any darned way you wish.  For instance, in a 6-celled divider box, one might put:
1. mixed beads
2. a blue beaded necklace (beads)
3. a little figurine of a blue elephant (blue)
4. an elephant keychain (elephant)
5. random found keys that don't go to anything (keys)
6. assorted jewelry findings (metal)

It would be even more fun to really reach for a link between your items, say, instead of jewelry findings for #6 (because they're metal), how about a Slayer coin purse (because they're metal)?

It would be neat to include how the cells are linked to each other; it's always fun to find out how people think.

If I had the free time to organize this swap I'd do it right now, but I don't.  I would gladly participate.  So if anyone wants to use this idea in any form, please feel free.

This is why I love/hate working retail.  It's three days to Halloween and I'm in the mood for Christmas.

Looking over at the empty six pack sitting by the trash, I notice the harp looks an awful lot like a wing.

So this:


Turned into this:

http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/7443/15404cz6.th.jpg

Cheesy and quick, but the beer-swilling friends should enjoy getting them as gifts.

Congrats on your newfound freedom!  The exact same thing happened to me, only the bastard's new gf flew him halfway across the country to her, so I didn't have to kick him out.  Had to dispose of a lot of his old crap though.

This is the most important lesson that we must never forget: always ALWAYS be true to ourselves.  Do not compromise who you are for anyone.  Rather, find someone who respects exactly who you are.

We used Adobe Illustrator for our invites. We found a free vector graphic online that we heavily edited to use in our invites. All printed on our home HP Inkjet and cut to our specifications at Kinkos. Our pocketfolders were bought at http://www.cardsandpocketsstore.com and the ivory linen cardstock we got at http://www.paperandmore.com. Ribbon for the outside was bought at Wal-Mart. We assembled them with glue sticks!

Free fonts are easy to find. Just google "free font"

I'm going with pocketfolders because I saw your invites and they were freaking awesome.

I'm thinking of doing simple little pin badge save the dates with our crows and a date.  More as a little memento than anything.
http://www.poseurink.com/modbuttons/

A true bustle is done by gathering up the fabric, like from a long train, and kind of folding it over onto itself.  I don't know if mine's technically a bustle, but it's designed so that the ruffled area puffs out in back by layering the fabric inside the skirt.  It has a similar effect anyhow.

I really wanted to go nuts and do a version of Mina's dress from Dracula, but alas, I'm not that talented.

What about a bouquet of dyed ostrich feathers wrapped with a ribbon?  Then again it might look like a hot pink feather duster 

Or maybe a bouquet of pinwheels!

We've already spent a lot of time discussing and planning our DIY, teaparty-themed wedding, but now we finally have a few things to show for it!

The invitations:

I'm dying to order the paper and get started on these, but we won't have a date until his immigration visa is ready.

The dress:
It's loosely based on this dress:


I've finished the lightly bustled underskirt so far. (apologies for webcam image). 

The underskirt is white, and the ruffles are cream.  Over the ruffled area will be a sheer creamy fabric with celadon embroidered flowers and beading, and the dress itself will be a nearly white angel skin satin.

I'll post more as we get things done!