SandbookNet PenPal and Swappers Magazine

Hello Sandbook-ers! Are you tired of placing your ads all over and over again so that they are in the most recent ads? From my personal experience I know how annoying and time consuming that can be! That's why I decided to come up with the idea of a magazine, which will collect ads for penpalling and swapping and present them in a more organized matter. Interested? All you have to do is to email us your ad at magazine@sandbook.netThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with you ad,name/country/email addy/twitter/facebook. Also if you have a little business, blog or website on the topic of PenPalling or something that deals with it - we want to know about it - send us your ad, together with a banner or a simple logo.Let us know how long you want us to keep your ad in circulation 1 or 2 or even 3 months! You will also receive the magazine for FREE in your email box. If you want to further get involved into the production of the magazine, write an article on a topic that deals with PenPalling (your choice) and we will print the best ones in the magazine. We are hopeful to release the first issue in mid to late Nov 2010 for the birthday of Sandbook.Net - we are going to be 2 years online on Nov 11, 2010. So come on and email us your ad! Happy PenPalling! Raia

Video Tutorial on how to make nice and neat Fbs!

Hello, everyone! :)

I am working on a video tutorial on how to make nice and neat Fbs (yeah, those really cute Fbs with cover that we all love to swap). It's my attempt to make a quest against sloppy Fbs as I am sure that people would totally fall in love with the high quality FB's when they see them (and know to how to make them). That's why, I need your help!

I will be collecting photos/pictures of the FBs that you are making/have made to add in the video. That way, the video will contain various ideas about cute Fbs made worldwide, not only my own tips and decorative solutions. If you are as excited as I am, just send the photos to: fun@sandbook.netThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or at my personal email raiasandbook@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . I will give the credit for your photos by placing your name and country (and facebook profile/email if you want to) and putting them in the video. Let's make the video as colorful and diverse as we know that high quality Fbs can be.

We will be collecting photos all October till early November, so you have time to make your creations! You will be given the credit for your photos - we will publish them with your name/country or your facebook account so others will know how creative and resourceful you are! Don't be surprised if many decide to swap with you seeing your cute Fbs.

The video will be released on Nov 11th, when our humble site will become 2 years old. We will also reveal our new website design then which will offer a lot of more interactive features.

So get crafty and creative! We are waiting to see your Fbs!
Happy crafting!
Raia

Enrique Iglesias live in Sofia, Bulgaria

Enrique Iglesias live in Sofia, Bulgaria

Most of you might have already heard the good news. Enrique Iglesias sang live on Sept 28, 2010 in Sofia, Bulgaria! And of course, I went to hear him play and sing. He was here on a free concert for the 15th birthday of one of the major cell phone companies - Mtel. As it was a free concert, I thought that he'd go on the stage and sing just a couple of songs. For my surprise it was everything BUT that! :) The show started weirdly since Sugarbabes had canceled their part of the show in the last moment, so some house Djs were trying to take their time. Then Sonique was on the stage and she made quite a show, singing for over half an hour. Then after a little break, guess who was on?! Yeah! It was Enrique.

He sang for over a bit of an hour and well, he managed to put up quite a big show - effects, interaction with the audience, song list - everything was simply awesome! So despite the drizzle and the mud (the concert was in one park downtown Sofia and with the rain the grass was kind of patchy from all of the people who came out to see Enrique), I really enjoyed myself there. Here are some photos, just like I promised on my Facebook user Sandbook Net.

Photos are made by Sandbook Net Team.
Enjoy! :))

Kayla's Handmade  Letter Writing Sets

If you are looking for out-of the ordinary letter sets and envelopes, then perhaps you are already very familiar with the designs offered by Kayla at her Facebook Group: Kayla's Handmade Letter Writing Sets Stationery

Her idea about setting up the Facebook group begins with her own experience as a penpal and swapper just like all of us. Most of the shops out there that offer lettersets are theme specific but also quite popular and widely seen. However, if you a member of the small but very vivid group of penpals that prefer to have your own and very unique set of stationary, checking out Kayla's designs will be the right thing to do! She offers you the chance not only to customize your own stationary, but also provides quite diverse pre-made designs – you’re your favorite TV series and actors through stationary that are movie specific to the usual cartoon characters that you always wanted to have. I just randomly picked few of her designs that I personally love. As you can see my top 3 would be from the TV screen: Twilight design and True Blood (Yeah, vampires are very popular these days!) and lastly but not least the supernatural David Borreneaz in Angel. They are super cute and on very reasonable prices. I would say even very cheap prices. The payment is done through paypal or through stamps (you have to ask Kayla about the last option).

Janet's Store

If you are a fan of Kawaii stationary, you would probably know that it is really hard to get hold of. But not anymore! I was cruising on google.com and searching for nice and neat stationary, when I discovered Janet’s store. I was amazed that it offered simplicity of the whole website, competitive prices and great variety of products.

Firstly, I was impressed for the diversity of the products that were offered. Fact is that I was searching for stationary for my correspondence, but to be honest with you all, the moment I saw the product’s listings, I wanted to buy everything. Yeah, as you all know me, I am addicted to shopping and online shopping makes no exception. But let’s put it out there – how often do you find a nice online store that offers items that you have always wanted to buy, but never actually found? Yeah, that happens really often. Far too often that I might want to. So when , by the luck of the stars, I ended up at Janet’s Store I had to look around and satisfy my curiosity. Online-Window shopping is really fast and you don’t have to deal with those sellers that ask you “How can I help you?” or “What can I do you for?” when you have not yet had the chance to look around and see things for yourself. How can you want to buy something or need help picking out something that you don’t know that the shop is offering? So having that in mind, I looked around the categories and friends, I must say it – Janet has it all. Whether you want to buy stationary (like me) or you are up for some accessory shopping spree or you wish to get some cool new designs on clothes – Janet’s shop is where your search should begin. There are a lot of interesting ideas (combined with photos of the products) how to make your life more “kawaii”-wise.
In addition, the prices are really down to Earth and very competitive, when compared to other online shops. As I think about ordering from Janet’s store, I discovered this cool feature of her site – estimated shipping calculator. Yes, indeed, the prices are without shipping, but have no fear – you can calculate the shipping yourself and do not pay for those “overrated” shipping expenses. Just select your country and the “weight” of your purchase and you will be able to estimate the shipping costs even before you place the order.

Finally, the navigation across the site is really easy to handle and straight forwarded. You simply can’t lose your way throughout the checking out or while browsing the site. An interesting point is earning  bonus points with your order. They can be later used / exchanged for gifts. Sounds great, huh? Shipping and checkout are done easily and the payment is handled with PayPal, so there is no banking information that is exchanged – everything is done so conveniently and it is simply ready to use.

Having said all this, you might be wondering where the shop is. It is linked directly to the Logo that I got from the site. What is left for me to say but only – HAPPY SHOPPING!

Michelle’s Memorial Bracelets

“I came up with the idea of my memorial bracelets when I lost my baby due to a miscarriage. It was a way to help create a memory”, says Michelle Dayson when asked about how her idea of her Memorial bracelets came to light. She continues: “A lot of people have memories of their babies being born, but unfortunately they don’t have the opportunity to spend much time with them. I didn't get to make many memories, so I decided to create some myself!”. Using her creativity, she started working on the Memorial Cards, then started customizing them for other grieving families. Later on, she started making Angel Bookatrixes and Memorial Bracelets. Her message is moving in its simplicity “Cherish every memory you can make or have made”.

I took the liberty to show you some of her handcrafted creations on the pictures bellow. I Hope you will enjoy them. And for everyone out there who wants to contact Michelle and have a bracelet, card or Angel Bookatrix customized – just follow the link to her Facebook Page.

Memorial Angel Bookatrix | Memorial bracelets and the cards | Create a Memory Facebook Group

Creative cards!!!

Creative cards!!!

Corresponding is not simply writing letters, it is about bonding with the other person, being there for their special moments in life, sharing your life with your penpal. What a better way to do so than keeping tap of your friends’ special days with wonderful cards. What about handmade cards? If you are too busy to do them yourself you can simply order them. For example, you can visit etsy.com and find the seller mrsvaught, who is selling wonderful cards. Here’s the link to her site:

MrsVaught's Etsy Shop (click here)

If you are more of the creative types, then you can just look around and get some ideas to make your correspondence cute and welcoming, just like MrsVaught’s cards. Hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.

Yours,
Raia