The first challenge was to pick a theme. Several options were put up for vote and the winner was Magic.

A sign-up sheet was posted in the swaps thread and eight people decided to try their hand. Then I posted the rules and hit the first snag.

I asked everyone to include US$5.00 for the return postage only to discover no money could change hands in a swap. So I asked people to include postage, only to discover international people can't get American postage! Since CDHM is a global site I wanted everyone to be able to participate and after long meetings with the postal service we concluded because there were not a lot of international people in this swap Mary and I would pay for their shipping and figure out a better alternative next swap.

Next hurdle was to find a safe storage spot for the submitted items. Since I'd given people the option of making one or two items in a set of eight that was going to be a lot of pieces that had to be kept in one place and away from little fingers. A big box on a high shelf solved that problem.

It's so exciting to get the packages in the mail and check off and post items received. It's important when hosting a swap that you, as host, not only make your own swap items but special back up items in case someone who signs up doesn't send an item.