Can someone please explain progressive swap?

[wendystamps]

I've been looking at some interesting creations in the Progressive Swap gallery and am wondering... how does a progressive swap work?

[kathynruss]

I'd like to know, too. Please esplain, someone.

[StampinPixie]

In a progressive swap, the hostess mails two or three colors of paper to the participants. The first person decides what is the background and foreground, and what the sizes are. She sends on to the next person, who decides what to do next, usually the stamping. She sends them on, and the next person colors in, next person adds embellishments, etc. Each person includes a note of what they did. The last person returns to the hostess. She lists all the ingredients/techniques and sends them out to the participants.

I have to be honest with you. I did this and only got two cards back. I probably misunderstood at the beginning. But it was a lot of work and mailing expense do do work on 8 cards and get two mediocre cards in the end. If you had lots of people participating and got back as many cards as you worked on, it might be worth it.

And, the people involved didn't take it very seriously, either. It was 4 1/2 months from the time I signed up till I received my two cards!!! This has turned me off of doing mail swaps for a while.

And now, I will say, this swap was NOT through Split Coast. :lol:

[edith199]

The progressive swaps that Kimberly hosts (aka keagle) are somewhat different than what Stampinpixie described because she's including a whole lot of different "mediums", if you will.

The one I've participated in have been a lot of fun with great participation from everyone.

As an example, one of them was "the color red". I received a whole package of red items - cs, fiber, foam, buttons, brads, etc.... The swap was to try to create as many items using red as possible (couldn't be valentine's or christmas related). Because 4 people were in this swap, each person made four of everything. In the end, it was all returned to Kimberly who swapped everything back out. In this case, I received cards, post-it note holder, dress/purse embellishment, photo album, tag. There may have been more that I can't remember (apologies to the rest of the swap group if I've forgotten your contribution). These are posted in the gallery under Progressive Swaps, #37.

HTH