The current swaps on my dashboard, that I have yet to send or assign partners for in the year 2021, will have little to no craft components (or time-intensive crafting). This is because we had a pipe burst in our wall that forced me out of my office/craftroom for a little while. Now that all has been repaired I will focus on getting my creative space back in working order and moving my supplies out of our storage unit. My swap participation will remain VERY minimal during this transition, but I’m looking forward to fun swapping adventures in 2022! Thank you for understanding.

📮📫💙💙💙💌💙💙💙📫📮

Postal Services are doing the best they can to keep us connected!

Please remain patient & kind during these uncertain times.

📬💌📬💌💙📮💙💌📬💌📬

This is my actual mailbox. I use it to send swaps on-time, if not early.

Partner/Coordinator Communication will take place should this status change for any reason.

Missing Mail? Please direct message me before rating. I keep a photo-log of swap contents and packaging.

Spoiler-Alert: My Flickr account often has photographs of swaps I’ve sent.

Postage Due? I now have a postal scale! 😁 But, I have learned of this happening 4 times since joining SB. I'm truly sorry for the inconvenience this causes. Please message me if this happens to you. I will reimburse via PayPal or with unused USPS postage stamps.

Allergy Alert: My home is pet-friendly and smoke-free. But I shed a lot, due to Hashimoto’s. So, I apologize ahead of time if there’s any hair/fur stuck in packing tape. I understand how unsightly that can be, and try hard to send shed-free mail. 😆

Please scroll down to “Do Not Send” section if you’re just here to review my 🛑 Dislikes list. 🛑 Thank you for your consideration!

❤️🧡💛💚💙💖💜🤎🖤🤍

My Motivational Word for 2021: Gratitude

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” —JFK

🌺Aloha!🌺

My name is 🎵Harmony Joy🎶 I like both my first and middle name as a reminder of who I'm called to be. Others refer to me as either "Harmony", "Joy", "Harmony-Joy" or 🍪"Cookie" (because of my last name) - call me whichever you please, just don't call me late for dinner! 🤣

My name is musically-inspired because both of my biological parents are hippies. I am a Berkeley ☮️-born and Nor-Cal foster-system raised “love-child”, who currently lives on the other side of the nation. I met & married my husband in the Sunshine State, while we were both active-duty Air Force.

"Children are not distractions from more important work. They are the most important work." --C.S. Lewis 💞👩🏽‍💻👩🏽‍🎨👩🏽‍🏫👷🏽‍♂️👨🏽‍🎓💞

Together, we have three children (2 daughters, 1 son). Being “Mama Bear” is my favorite part of life, and I literally get more excited about 💙 Mother’s Day than my own birthday!🎁 The title also includes all my animals (past & present). 😉

🐾 At the moment, our fur-family consists of 3 feline & 3 canine rescues: Kyna (a Carolina Dog) and Ella (a Great Dane & Pointer mix), plus a Pit-bull "grand-dog" named Luna, two tortoiseshell shorthair "grand-kittens" named Lily and Piper & Theo, who is a ginger tabby.🐾

Perhaps you can surmise that I've always really enjoyed my animals. I think my pets help me cope with “people problems” better. 😉

Whether finned, feathered, furry, or humanoid animals, my ohana really is “my whole world” 💕🌎 And I believe that family is who we make it (beyond DNA).

I’m proud to be a Mama Bear 🐻🧸 Can you tell why Bettie White is my favorite Golden Girl!? 😂

My family says I’m “the jack of all trades, master of some.” 😆 I’m simply never bored! 🎨

So, besides my “V.I.Peeps”, I also enjoy many Hobbies:

• (indoor) Alterations, Art-Journaling, Ballroom Dancing, Card-Making, Coloring, Crocheting, DIY, Face-Painting, Genealogy, Painting, Paper-Making, Pottery, Pressed Flower Craft (oshibana), Reading, Sewing, Smash/Scrap-booking, Watching Movies, Weaving, and West African Dancing.

(I own a Sizzix Big Shot Plus, Portable Tim Holtz Sidekick, & The Cricut Explore Air2)

• (outdoor) Hiking, Horseback Riding, Hula Dancing, Kayaking, Rollerblading, Shooting, Stand-up Paddle Boarding, Swimming, and Shopping.

• I 💙 crafting! I like to try new techniques too. My new-found interests are ATCs & APCs. However, my portfolio is varied from fiber arts and beading to woodwork and pyrography. My style often varies and is sometimes "moody" because I tend to make what I feel. Most of the time I embrace the mixed-media, distressed looks of inky grunge and painterly splatters. However, I enjoy the beauty of clean-and-simple (CAS) designs too.

• My current collections are: Cartophilia (trading cards) to include ATC/APC and the 7-of-❤️’s playing card (in all sizes & shapes), Deltiology (postcards), and Philately (postal stuff).

• I enjoy listening to audiobooks & many different genres of music. My go-to’s are usually country, & reggae. I have an all-in-one Radio/CD/Cassette/Record Player in my craft-room, and I 🖤 my vintage vinyl! Even in silence, I often have a tune playing in my head! 🤭

• I am most comfortable at the ocean where I can lose all sense of time hunting for sea glass, smooth rocks, and tiny shells to use in my crafts! I also enjoy fishing, but this ol' gal ain't cut out for boats! I've got a fair pair of fins 🧜🏽‍♀️, but no "sea legs!" 🤢

• I also enjoy spending quality time at libraries, museums, galleries, or studios. This is because I really enjoy folk-arts & handicrafts. I ❤️ experiential arts.
• In my youth, I enjoyed traveling the Americas and spent time living in Chile as a foreign exchange student! Now, I prefer to travel in good company, whenever possible. However, my current travels have been vicariously via postcards!

I 💜 snail 🐌 mail! 💌

• When handwriting, please print as I have difficulty reading some cursive penmanship.

Neatly written or typed things are always welcome!

I am 3 hours ahead of Swap-bot time!

• As a swap coordinator, I often "close" my swaps a day earlier than the posted date because I am a "night-owl" and do most my work while others are asleep! :-)

• As a co-founder or officer in multiple groups, I coordinate regular/recurring swaps that are often posted months in advance. However, to mitigate any further misunderstanding based on the perceived appearance of my dashboard, I will only participate in 16 (or less) swaps at any given time. If my dashboard = 16 swap capacity, but you’d like to swap privately, please direct message me.

• Posted swaps that are left without any interest for 72 hours, will be deleted to perhaps repost at a different time. Sometimes my swaps have a Sunday send-by date even though there’s no service because swaps can still be dropped off in the outgoing mail boxes. I often drop by the P.O. on my way to do other errands on Sundays, and once the swap leaves my possession it’s marked as sent!

• I only coordinate swaps that I am willing/able to angel. I also make a sincere effort to vet each participant before assigning partners.

If you end up needing a swap angel'd, please direct message me after you’ve contacted your partner.

• • I follow-up on swaps if it's been thirty (30) USPS business days from the date I logged my swap as sent, (and at least two weeks from the deadline date) but no rating has been posted. I will contact my partner about a resend because I know postal services lose things sometimes.

• • I {rate} incoming swaps within 48 hours of their receipt. It’s my practice to only archive them once received/rated!
• • I am not concerned with postmark dates. They’re completely unreliable and have been counterfeited by swappers here before. As far as I’m concerned, if I receive the swap described you’re good to go. 👍🏼 🖐 I will never rate a 3/1 without contacting my partner and coordinator.
• • I appreciate feedback when rating and do try to make the time to respond to rater's comments accordingly. Even “silent” ratings I’ve received will often receive a simple “thank you” to show my gratitude for remembering to rate! However, there are times when I cannot get to all of them. This does not mean that I am any less grateful for the valuable time that you’ve invested in me or the happy mail! I promise.
• • • I do not visit the public forums on purpose. My first visit there felt terribly negative and since it's not a membership requirement, I have made a healthy choice to avoid the unnecessary distress. I simply swap on Swap-bot because I enjoy sharing happy mail!

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Interested in ATC Buddy JAMS?

Try The ABCs Group

Current USPS postage rates are as follows:

• First-Class Forever Stamps = 58 cents
• Postcard Stamps = 40 cents
• Large Envelope “FLATS” = $1.16
• Global Letters/Postcards = $1.30 each

Flat Rate Priority w/tracking is not guaranteed

• Flat Rate (FR) Priority Envies = $8.70
• FR Padded Envies = $9.30
• FR Large Box = $22.65
• FR Medium Box = $16.25
• FR Small Box = $9.20

For postage stamps, here are some themes I enjoy (they can be used or new, from all countries and any year):

• Bears
• Butterflies (esp. Monarch)
• Mother w/baby and the Madonna and Child
• Maps
• Flowers (esp. those with 5-petals)
• Hearts/Love
• Outriggers or Ships (esp. Pirate-type Schooners)
• Sea shells & Corals
• Whales, Mantas, & Fish (for my son)

For Postcards, I most enjoy:

• Female Pin-Ups (esp. bomber-girls & tasteful photography of risqué brunettes)
• Post Office Buildings
• Mailboxes 📮📭
• Giant Trees 🌲
• Studio Ghibli: Ponyo, Kiki’s Delivery Service & My Neighbor Totoro

• B&W Photography! Especially of:

  • People Dancing📻💃
  • Close-ups of Hands or Paws
  • Vintage Boots, Hats & Instruments📯🎻
  • Abandoned Cars, Trucks & Trains
  • Old Books, Globes & Typewriters
  • Saturday Evening Post, Life or Time
  • Indigenous, Pacific Island & Polynesian Cultures

• Handmade postcards are always welcome too. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💗💜💖🤎🤍🖤💝 I heart art!

Please share your PC collage, coloring, drawing, graphic design, painting, or photography. I also like receiving “print on-demand” PCs by Zazzle, Red Bubble, Cafe Press, Society 6, etc. If it’s a postcard that you think I will enjoy (even if the swap says "No"), mail it and let me know why! I promise I’d never rate down for thoughtful intentions!

🍪🥠Special Request:

Please add a cookie to the back of my postcard🍪🥠

• I also ask that my postcards please be sent ✏written🖊 on, but in an✉ envelope🌎 (if the swap allows a choice). The envelope (or clear sleeve) simply protects the image on the postcard from being smudged or torn by the USPS machinery (and they seem to be arriving damaged more recently).

WISHLIST (a.k.a. Insta-smiles 😃 & hearts 💕)

• Star Wars Postage Stamps (new, used, or faux)
• Sea Turtle Postage Stamps (new, used, or faux)
• Husky Dog Postage Stamps (new/used)
• Postage stamps from Pacific Islands, esp. Fiji, Papua New Guinea, or New Zealand
• Pocket Letter with an Americana/Patriotic or Military Appreciation (Air Force) theme
• Scraps of an Acrylic Pour, Marble Painting, or Citrasolv Page
• Stitched/Sewn Paper Scraps or (tiny) Fabric Snippets
• Typed/Written Poem, Song, Zine, or Story by YOU
• Book Pages from Gospel & Spiritual Song Books, specifically the songs “Roll Jordan Roll”, “Wade In The Water”, “Nobody Knows”, and “Amazing Grace”
• Postage Stamps with: giant panda 🐼 bears (or Orca, Penguins, and Zebra; I have a B&W animal project in progress) 😉 😁
• Any “flats” with perforated edges or shaped like postage stamps (the small flake sticker kind are super useful)
• A 2020 Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Quarter (25 Cent U.S. Coin)
• If you have ATCs that you don’t want, I’ll gladly make room for them in my collection! My only ask is that the cards be correctly sized (2.5” x 3.5”) please. I keep my cards inside standard trading card sleeves in 3-ring binders.

🤙🏽 Mahalo nui loa! 🤙🏽

• Some swappers enjoy having a list to “shop” from, while others feel squelched by too many ideas. For this reason, I have tried to create “harmony” in my profile by listing some of the things I like. This is not an extensive listing, 😉 so swap partners can breathe easy because my default mode is to find the good in whatever is mailed my way. 😉 😃 😊

🚫 Scorpions, Spiders, Snakes

🚫 Dolls, Zettiology Creatures, Clowns

🚫 Monkeys, Gorillas, Baboons

🚫 Perfumes or Cosmetics

🚫 Soy Anything