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Canada Post Service Alerts

We're in lockdown but my post office in a pharmacy, is open. I'm limiting myself to 2 visits a week. I plan on visiting tomorrow (Saturday January 16).

I went to the PO today (Saturday). No mail. Sigh. Considering I pay almost $200 a year, it would be great if it included an email alert when there's mail to pick up, so I don't waste a trip and risk contracting the COVID virus.

I'm nearing retirement.

In mid-life I started to lose my hearing and now I'm profoundly HOH. I lip-face read. I do not know sign language.

Personality style: ISFP - Adventurer

Married. Childless by choice.

🤗 Things I find interesting:

• Hygge concept - cosy, comforting, calm, zen
• Little Free Library visits while wandering and exploring
• Dogs (and generally all animals including spiders and insects)
• Coffee shops
• Whimsical things
• The beauty and peace of trees and forests
• Tartan and plaid
• Coronation Street viewer for over 30 years, but there have been many times where I've thought about quitting -- the writing can be more miss than hit most of the time
• Landscapes
• Farm/rural/pastoral scenes
• Wiener Werkstätte
• Folk art (e.g. Maud Lewis, Grandma Moses)
• Canadiana (or your country's stereotypical/cultural/characteristic things)
• Outsider art --learned the term from @Wanda
• Public art galleries
• Artist Co-op stores
• Keri Smith--in particular her Wander Society concept. Solvitur Ambulando!
• Documenting things a la the Wander Society

Study Says Making Art Reduces Stress, Even If You Kind Of Suck At It

"Reduction of Cortisol Levels and Participants’ Responses Following Art Making," found that 45 minutes of creative activity significantly lessens stress in the body, regardless of artistic experience or talent.

Crafting can reduce your chances of developing mild cognitive impairment by 30% to 50% according to a 2011 study published in The Journal of Neuropsychiatry.

ATCs

Currently I'm doing a lot of ATCs (artist trading cards). I like the small format and that each ATC is handcrafted.

If you have a Canadian mailing address, there's a Canuck ATC Group available.

Your creative art is enough to make me happy. Please, no need to include extras in swaps you send to me. But I do value a note to go with your ATC. Maybe let me know what inspired you to make the ATC and/or how you made it.

Postcards

Borrowing from @NRGordon s description, I like making postcards from found images. If you like making postcards and you are my swap partner, send me one of your creations. Let me know how you made it and tell me something about the image you picked (why you picked it, what you like about it).

Cut n Paste postcards are one of my favourite style of postcards. They are fun to make and receive. I like rummaging through magazines for images that will make a great postcard.

I prefer postcards naked, stamped and written.

Private Swaps

If you're a swap-bot member in good standing, also like self-made postcards and ATCs, and want to have a private swap, let me know. Send me a PM (personal message).

📺 What I've been watching:

• Glitch

Netflix. Australian. The undead. Mysterious. I like the characters. Finished episode 3. Good so far.

• Somebody Feed Phil

Phil is a quirky, silly, sweet guy with a big grin. He loves food and people. I recommend starting with the San Francisco episode.

• The Crown

4th season. I'm not liking the Royal family in this part of history. Diana was a pawn in the royal saga.

• Forensic Files Collection

Finished 9 seasons. I will miss this show.

📘 Currently reading

• The Art of Noticing: 131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration, and Discover Joy in the Everyday

Really like it so far. Getting some good exploring ideas.

To all those people who join my swaps and rate promptly and with a nice note...

A quote from VivaLaDiane that I like:

• I feel a 5 says - you did what you said when you said.

• A comment says "and I appreciate that".

• A heart says "you cared about more than just fulfilling your obligation - you cared about my happiness"

My hope is to brighten someone's day with what I send.

Canada Post delay announcements

I put a return address label on everything I send out.

If you haven't received a card within a month of my send date, please let me know.

I keep a photo-log of my outgoing swap items--front, back and at the mailbox.

I will gladly resend when necessary.

Sending and receiving mail, including global, during Oct/Nov 2020 have been approximately 10 days on average for me.

Re-sends sent to:

• montigneyrules -- August 2020 -- Ontario to Maryland, first postcard never made it. Second postcard made it and in normal time. 👍

• Coss - August 2020 -- Ontario to Tennesse, first postcard never made it. Haven't heard back about whether the second postcard arrived.

Happy to report that no re-sends were needed in September, October, or November 2020.

• dawnakaulen - December 2020 -- Ontario to California. PM'd to ask if she got my hippo for PC FPRU: Print Your Own Postcard - Theme: Animal. Unfortunately she did not. Sent another PC on December 14. She ended up getting both and rated me January 4th. 👍

• blubutterfly - December 2020 -- Ontario to Alberta. My cow postcard for PnS: Cut and Paste, never got to blubutterfly. Sent a second postcard on December 14. It arrived and blubutterfly rated me on Dec 30th. 👍

If you join one of my swaps here's what you should know about my hosting style:

Nudge

I send out nudge 'please rate' messages around the 2-week mark after everyone has mailed their cards. Please, no serial nudging, it makes my hosting job harder. Rate quickly so it doesn't end up forgotten in a pile of postcards.

If you haven't received a postcard around the one month mark, let me know.

Blank comments

When rating please comment on the card received. Let's make our partners feel like their postcard matters. So please, no blank comments. If you have a hard time thinking about what to write, this example might help you: Thank you for {describe the item}. It brightened my day...Thank you for the Van Gogh sunflower postcard. It brightened my day.

Finished

I check to see that everyone is rated and will add a "Finished" stamp to the Discussion section when all postcards are sent, received, and rated.

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Great advice and a checklist here:

Thinking of hosting a swap? Things you should consider.

Groups I help manage (founder/co-founder):

All about ATC

Free Postcards "R" Us

Snapshot Photo Craft Projects

Swap-Bot Terms of Use:

• You must be 18 years and older to use this site. You are responsible for any activity that occurs under your username.

• Swap-bot is a service and venue where all adult people (over the age of 18) are welcome to participate

• Swap-bot's services are not available to children (persons under the age of 18)

Here's a great wysiwg site for writing in Markdown. https://stackedit.io/app#