Hello! My name is Joanne and I live in California. My top craft-related hobbies are: card-making, photoshop, digital scrapbooking. I love making cards and I have tons of materials and tools for card-making. My favorite techniques are stamping, die-cutting, coloring, and dry embossing. I also enjoy receiving handmade cards, postcards, and ATCs.

In swaps, I am looking forward to exchange of ideas, inspiration and good will and not simply exchange of materials. It is the personal touch and thought of sharing which make swaps unique, otherwise why not just go out and buy your own stuff? After experiencing two years of closed doors due to the pandemic, I want to explore a new way of connecting with people. I am hoping that swap-bot could provide that link through sharing art, paper craft, stationery, and creative writing.

I try to decorate every postcard/card and make it special for the recipient. I hope each piece of mail can brighten someone's day. "Anything worth doing is worth doing well." Right?

Favorite Crafts

Beyond doubt, card-making is my top favorite craft activity. I like to make relatively clean designs delivering positive messages. My favorite techniques are stamping, coloring, and die-cutting, as I don't really know how to draw. I am still having lots of fun nonetheless. Haa! I am open to exploring new techniques which are not so complicated or messy. My techniques, styles and interest are constantly evolving. Here is my "Odyssey":
1) 2003: Joined Stampin' Up.
2) 2004: Quitted Stampin' Up.
3) 2004: Designed and sold my own stamps.
4) 2005: Created sample cards for my line of stamps (confession: it was not fun because stamps which sell are not the styles I like).
5) 2006: Frugal style: buying grab-bag rubber stamps.
6) 2012: Quitted selling stamps; started selling decals.
7) 2014: "Decal Rush": design, make, sell, ship like crazy.
8) 2018: Quitted selling wall decals.
9) 2019: Wonderful discovery of Copic markers.
10) 2020: Started splurging on Aliexpress.
11) 2021: Pop-up card frenzy.
12) 2022: Swap-bot & Postcrossing fever!
13) Mid-2022: Die-cut mania: my own designs.
14) Late-2022: "Handmade Craze": I want to send everything handmade 😂
One thing is certain: I am having more and more fun 🤩

Favorite Activities

Other than paper crafts and scrapbooking, I also enjoy playing the piano, biking, hiking, swimming, puzzles & legos.

Favorite TV

PBS and NBC news. (yes, seriously!😉)

Favorite Movies

I rarely watch movies. I'd rather be making cards and playing the piano ;-)

Favorite Books

I don't really have a favorite book, but some books which I have been reading recently are: Discrete Math, Physics by Giancoli, Calculus, and Big Ideas Geometry (yes, my kids are in high school ). I enjoy intellectual challenges as well as catching up with my kids so that I can participate more in their lives.😊

Favorite Music

I enjoy classical music and certain kinds of contemporary music. I practice piano every day! I enjoy Sonatas and compositions by Chopin except the really hard ones like Heroic Polonaise... which is hopeless to me 🤣

My son and I also like music arranged by Patrik Pietschmann but these can be rather hard to play because the arrangements are so rich and flavorful (sometimes requiring all ten fingers and I don't have large hands). My favorite pianist is Lang Lang - his passion displayed during each performance is overpowering.

Favorite Foods

Corn flakes, ramen, egg tarts, eggettes 😆

Other Favorites

I like positive, witty quotes and short poems. You might be seeing some of these on my postcards. I particularly like Winnie the Pooh quotes about friendship. I still like Disney Art although I have outgrown Disney Theme Parks.

About Swapping

Likes

Handmade cards
Handmade postcards
ATCs
Die-cuts
Disney Art
Harry Potter
Foxes, bunnies, elephants
Doraemon
Interesting materials for cardmaking
Write to me in German (beginner level, LOL)

Dislikes

(things I don't want to receive)
Tea bags
Edible items
Note papers
Coloring pages
Religious items

Preferences

I prefer to receive greeting cards or notecards written inside rather than sent blank.

Postcards sent naked are fine but I prefer to receive them in clear sleeves if possible (even if the swap states "naked and no plastic sleeves") as they tend to get smeared and ruined easily in the mail.

I always welcome and appreciate handmade/homemade and will not rate you down because it is handmade even if the swap states store-bought only 😊

No Swap Name?

I rarely forget to write the swap name but if you ever receive a swap from me with no swap name, please contact me and I will be able to find the swap name for you quickly. I keep a spreadsheet of all swaps sent including pictures. Sorry for any confusion caused in advance.

My Pledge

I am serious about every swap that I join and I will never intend to flake. I put solid effort in each piece of mail and I also want to send them out fast. I create everything ahead of schedule and I typically send out stuff right after partners are assigned. I plan to be 100% on target with no exceptions except for unforeseen human errors like mail returned to me due to inadequate postage or an envelope on the floor which is supposed to be mailed last week 😂

I mark "sent" on the day when mail is ready to go in the outgoing box. Most of the time I leave outgoing mail in my mailbox for the postman to pick up but occasionally I drop off mail in the mail collection box. Kindly note that in some cases, the item could be postmarked on the next business day after the "sent" date - e.g. if I drop off the items after 3pm or if the "sent" date occurs on a Sunday or postal holiday. I send out most swaps on day one or day two after partners are assigned, so the postmarked date should be well before the send-by date.

If you have not received something from me in a swap, someone (me or the post office or both) must have screwed up. Please contact me and I will be happy to resend it. If I have not received something from a partner, I also promise to contact him/her first before leaving a rating. 3-5% of the mail handled by USPS gets lost routinely so lost mail is a reality we have to deal with. Let's give each other a chance to make things right!

Disclaimer: Images which I use in my die-cut artwork or swap pages I host are obtained from an online image database with a paid subscription. Most of the time, I modify and combine images in Photoshop or Illustrator to make them suitable for each specific project (rarely a straight copy).

First written: March 30th, 2022.
Last updated: Feb 3rd, 2023.