9O96O

Updated March 10, 2023

Got my first homer Pass & Paste postcard back! Thank you PrincessLeia. I made and mailed it in October 2022.

• ISFP - Adventurer

• Enneagram 9 - a desire to live in peaceful harmony with their environment.

• Married. Childless by choice. Not retired yet but I qualify for senior discounts.

• 🦻 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. I had cochlear implant surgery and activation in August 2022.

• Gmail: [email protected]

• Canada

🤗 ABC List - Things I find interesting

Handmade is what I like because it's unique and personal. There's a greater feeling of camaraderie and community when sharing something we've made. It's a means of supporting and encouraging play, mindfulness, creativity, originality, and authenticity.

CREATIVITY IS GOOD FOR US

• 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.

DECOs & COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS

Definition: basically it is a blank little handmade book (usually 4-6 pages) that has a theme (it can be open theme). When you receive it, you decorate 1 page and pass it to the next person. When it is full, it gets sent home to the person who made it! So they get a nice little decorated booklet back!

I've started a group for Collaborative Swaps

About decos, deco resources, collaborative projects. Also my preferences, and available decos

If anyone has unfinished Pass&Paste/Add&Pass postcards they no longer want to participate in, you can pass them on to me. Address: R Smith PO Box 31013 Willowwest, Guelph, ON NIH 8K1, Canada

Deco swaps are my favourite swaps to host. Everyone sends and rates quickly. Most of the time all of the decos are sent before the swap deadline and I'm flabbergasted when all of the decos are rated before the swap deadline. Deco makers are a great group of swappers!

I hope I don't jinx myself but I feel fortunate to have had about half of my decos come back to me, 8 out of 20. I'm attributing it to my note in my decos that says I'll send each contributor a pdf copy of the finished booklet. And maybe also because I include a FOB number (Following Our Booklets code) in the deco.

Other Sites

A list of other papercraft swapping sites

Extras

No need to send extras to me. Rest assured, I do not rate based on extras.

The things I send

I put a return address on everything I send out.

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

It takes on average 10 business days to get to most places. However, delivery is often 4 weeks to many places in the United States.

I will resend if my swap doesn't arrive within 6 weeks.

Canada Post Service Alerts

Postcrossing Postal Monitor: Ongoing mail suspensions

ICC Logistics site - Mail disruptions

📩Re-sends sent to:

2020 - 2022 Re-sends

2023

Jan 2023 - CookieMomster78 for DB: Small Deco Booklet #338836. Mushrooms by PaperPassion got lost in the mail. Sent Snowflakes by DeboraCreates as a replacement. Received Jan 31. I let PaperPassion know that her deco is lost in the mail. Sent her photos of the deco pages.

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

Screening

I screen participants to minimize the risk of flakers getting in, and those who do not rate, and those who leave blank comments. I will remove participants with swapping histories that worry me. If you have any negative unresolved swapping history and want to join my swap please proactively message me to explain.

Nudge

If you haven't received a postcard around the one month mark, let me know. I will send out a nudge message.

If I have had to send more than one nudge message to a member, I may "ban" them from future swaps.

Blank comments

Please, no blank comments. When rating please comment on the item received. Example:

"Thank you for the Van Gogh sunflower postcard."

As a host, I read the comments each participant receives. I really appreciate reading a little description of the item. A description tells me the item was received and noticed.

Finished

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

Angel

If your partner flakes, PM me to let me know you posted the "1" and I will angel the swap.

Swap-Bot Frequently Asked Questions: What are the rating criteria?

Thank you to all who join my swaps and rate promptly and with a nice note.

Great swapping advice, tips and checklists:

Thinking of hosting a swap? Things you should consider.

Joining a swap tips

Hosts: Rating Requirements Too Low?

Giving/Getting/Reacting to a Poor Rating

Groups and Tags I help manage:

NEW! : Collaborative Swaps

Hand Carved Stamps and Images

Snapshot Photo Craft Projects

All about ATC

ATC's Only

Handmade Postcard TAG

Zeen TAG

Deco Books TAG

I will create a private swap for the two of us. Contact me.

While you are in the honeymoon-phase of membership, successfully completing private swaps are a great way to show you are serious and committed to swapping.

Many hosts have felt the sting of accepting a new member into a public swap before the 6-month mark only to have them disappear, leaving behind unfulfilled swaps. An example that affected me.

Helpful topics for newbies:

• Top tips for newbie profiles

• Safe Swaps for New Members

• Join the group CPG Newbies

• Check @OrigamiGrace 'Currently Hosting' list for 'Nice to Newbies' swaps

Markdown Language

• A WYSIWYG site for writing in Markdown

• Dingus wysiwyg Markdown site

• So You Wanna Trick Out Your Profile

• Formatting text on this site

• How to embed an image on Flickr into your markup text on Swap Bot

Miscellaneous

• Printing--cheap way to make personal postcards

The meaningful comments you leave are a big reward and motivator!