ccmmsu

*** I am taking an extended break from Pass-It-On type swaps, except for small decos and one or two group-specific swaps. That means no more bags, round robins, collaboration postcards, etc. Please do not send me anything that will need to move on to another person unless it is specifically called for in the swap we're in. Thank you :)

*** updated 2-21-23: DECO SWAPPERS, please note -- I am no longer swapping decos that can't be mailed at letter rates. Please don't send me any decos that are more than 1/4" thick (if it can still fit in an envelope when opened like a book, then that's fine) or over 3oz. I will not be signing up for deco swaps that include regular/larger decos, so this should only affect any extra decos you might decide to send me. (But please double check that I can take extras before sending.) I'm sorry to sound like an old cranker pants, but I'm staring down college tuition for 3 kids in the next few years, and I could buy a lot of textbooks by cutting out those overseas package costs. On a positive note, I'm happy to take homers that can be mailed at letter rate. Thanks for understanding. :)

Hi! My name is Christine (she/her), and I am a freelance writer living in Michigan with my husband and 2 of our 3 kids (our oldest just moved out -- I've managed not to cry... yet). We have two rescued sister cats named Cinnamon and Sugar, and just added a puppy, Bo, in December 2023.

I love crafting, making art, reading, travel, animals, hockey and kayaking. My favorite colors are cobalt blue and apple green. My biggest goal in life is to visit every continent. I've made it to Europe (France, England, Ireland), Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia), Asia (South Korea), and South America (Peru) so far (plus Mexico, Canada, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, and lots of US states in North America). My oldest kid (20) and I just got our plane tickets to go to Japan in early May 2024. I'm trying to keep it together, but OMG! I'm so excited. Also trying to figure out how to bring back ALLLLLLL the stationery.

I have Essential Tremors, which means my hands shake a lot. It is managed pretty well with medication, but if a swap includes a longer letter I may type it to ensure it's actually readable. :)

I started a group for those of us who have sticker subscriptions like Stickii, Pipsticks, Four Bears, Postix, or Violette. If you're interested you can find Sticker Subscription Swaps here.

My Profile is getting kinda long, so here's a Table of Contents of sorts in case you want to skip down to a certain section:

• About Swaps
• Favorite Books
• Favorite Movies and TV
• Favorite Crafts
• Likes and Dislikes
• Kawaii
• Postcards
• Wish List

I consider signing up for a swap a contract. I never ever flake, so if you have not received from me, please let me know so I can resend. I don't want any of my partners to miss out on the fun of a swap! I do not mark items sent until the mailman has picked it up from my mailbox or I've dropped it off at the post office. If for some reason I will be late, I promise to message my partner(s) to let them know. If a partner is going to be late, I understand and just ask that they communicate with me. I do my best to make sure I have correct postage on the things I send (I use a postal scale to weigh everything), but I have had different clerks at my local post office charge different rates for similar things, so if for some reason there has been a mistake and you receive something postage due, please let me know. Finally, I promise to rate and do so soon after receiving. If you have not received a rating from me after 6 weeks (domestic, 8-10 weeks international), I haven't received your swap. Please feel free to message me. I also very much appreciate the ratings I receive. I may not respond to them all, but please know I do read and appreciate them! :)

I write book reviews, so most of what I read is assigned to me by editors, but when I get to choose I've been gravitating to YA Science Fiction and Fantasy lately.

• To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Kindred by Octavia Butler
• Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• Maus by Art Spiegelman

other favorite authors:

• Bill Bryson
• Cassandra Claire
• Alice Walker
• Christopher Paul Curtis
• Dr. Seuss

I love old black and white movies. Philadelphia Story and It Happened One Night are probably my all time favorite movies. I'm also a sucker for Brat Pack-type teen movies like Breakfast Club, Say Anything, and Some Kind of Wonderful. Some favorite animated/anime movies are Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, Brave, Kiki's Delivery Service (Jiji!!), Howl's Moving Castle... really, pretty much anything Studio Ghibli made, Your Name, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and The Secret of Kells. I like all kinds of movies, though.

I don't watch nearly as much TV as I used to. Some shows I really like are The Mandalorian, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Gilmore Girls, Big Bang Theory, Dr. Who, Stranger Things, Erased (Japanese) and MST3K. I've been watching a lot of anime lately, and I have an inconvenient addiction to Korean Dramas (inconvenient because I can't multitask while they're on because I have to read the subtitles). Those are saved as rewards for getting lots of work done. :) Some of my favorite K-dramas are Goblin, My Love from Another Star, and Cinderella and the Four Knights.

I mostly do papercrafts and mixed media art now, though I have dabbled in many types of crafts over the years. I used to make and sell jewelry until my tremors got to the point that it took too long to do things. I still make custom pieces for people, which was my favorite thing to do anyway. I love creating something specifically for the recipient. :)

I am a true Gemini, so I like many different artistic styles depending on my mood: vintage, Steampunk, shabby chic, clean and simple. I adore Graphic 45, Finnabair, and Tim Holtz style. Dyan Reaveley's bright, saturated colors make me swoon.

Likes:

I am pretty easy to please. I love seeing other people's artistic styles, and I'm grateful for all the happy mail people share with me.

Here are a few things that make my heart flutter:

• vintage
• steampunk
• science
• metal
• wood
• washi
• Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz
• Old Hollywood
• old photographs
• old ephemera (over 20 years old), especially with handwriting on it (old postcards, letters, receipts, tickets, ads, ration or supermarket stamps, greeting cards, library cards, etc.)
• rockabilly and snarky housewives
• dragons, gargoyles, mythical creatures
• Gorjuss Girls and Julie Nutting dolls
• bright, happy colors
• LGBTQ+
• Libraries and books, and really love the old library check-out cards. My favorites are the ones from school libraries with little kids' names written in little kid handwriting -- I always wonder what little Sally grew up to be like after reading Green Eggs and Ham :)
• school/office supplies
• stationery, especially Korean or Japanese, but any
• stickers
• birds and animals (all, but especially red pandas, sheep, llamas & alpacas, cats, and turtles)
• dark and supernatural (think Edgar Allen Poe, dancing skeletons, ghosts -- especially if it has a hint of morbid humor to it)
• kawaii (I know this is kind of the opposite of dark and supernatural -- see, I told you I was a Gemini! lol). See below for more on this...
• postcards -- see below for more

Dislikes:

• Please no religious or political themed items.
• Please don't send me anything x-rated. Nudity is fine, but getting porn from strangers creeps me out.
• And obviously, nothing racist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, or otherwise abusive or hateful.
• I love stickers, but would prefer not to receive teacher/reward stickers or stickers with baby/little kids' themes or characters (like dumptrucks, Dora or Barney).
• Loose glitter -- It always ends up in the corner of my eye (and everywhere else). You have no idea how happy I was when they started varnishing over glitter on scrapbook papers. Trapped glitter that cannot leave the surface it's on? Yay! Love that sparkle. Loose or shedding glitter? {shudder}

No Thank You Items: These are things I don't swap, so sending them to me is like sending them to purgatory: friendship sheets/books, label bags, x-slips.... In general, please don't send anything that has to be passed on unless a swap specifically calls for it. Thanks!

I fell in love with kawaii 25 years ago while living and working in Seoul, South Korea, though I didn't know it had a name back then. A few years ago I discovered online kawaii shops and become a collector (hoarder) of Japanese (and some Korean) kawaii. I swap memos, lettersets, letter pad sheets, sticker flakes and sheets, envelopes, deco and washi samples, and more.

I especially like pandas, red pandas, cats, manga girls and boys, and kawaii with weird backstories. My fav characters are Tarepanda, Kutusita Nyanko, Capuri Mono, and Sumikko Gurashi (especially Zassou/Weed). I pretty much love it all, though, and love discovering new (to me) characters from my swap partners.

Current Kawaii Wish List (anything from these characters/themes -- even a single memo sheet):

• older Tarepanda
• San-X Toromi French Bulldog
• Buru Buru Dog
• Rilakkuma Rainbow collection
• Zombbit
• Sanrio Kuromi

I tend to like non-touristy more than touristy, but really I am happy to receive anything. Sometimes I get a touristy postcard I love. You never know. If a swap allows for handmade postcards, I like those, too, especially if they show the sender's art and style. I'm equally happy with naked PCs or ones in envelopes. Some themes I'm particularly interested in collecting are "Greetings From (State or City name)," black and white, old Hollywood, book and movie related, and indie art.

If it's a naked PC swap and you're wondering what to write to me, here are some ideas:

• What does your Swap-Bot ID mean?
• What is your favorite food to cook at home? What's your favorite food to eat out?
• Do you come from a big family or a small family? Do you like the size of your family, or do you wish it were smaller/larger?
• What was the last book you read? Do you recommend it?
• What was your favorite cartoon when you were a kid?
• If someone offered you plane tickets to anywhere in the world, where would you go?

I'll add and subtract from this over time. If you happen to have one of these items laying around and want to toss it into a swap, I promise it will be going to a home where it will be appreciated and loved. :)

• My daughter is adopted from Ethiopia, so I'm always looking for items that feature African American kids or Ethiopian/African images to use in her scrapbook and other crafts.
• used postage stamps with images of people or animals and any used stamps from other countries --- currently looking for used US red fox stamps to use in a project I'm working on.
• sheets of tiny stickers like these 5mm ones from Pipsticks: I use them on postcards and letter margins and all kinds of other itty bitty spots. If I'm in a swap for sticker sheets that says the stickers have to be a certain size, you can still send me a sheet of tinies. I'll count it as part of the swap.
• anything from Cavallini

*** profile updated 4-18-24