StarryEyedOpossum

PLEASE scroll to the bottom of my profile for information regarding past profiles and flaked swaps

If you are my partner and don't want to risk any spoiled surprises, do NOT visit any of my Instagram profiles until your swap is received!

October 2018: I am taking a brief mental health hiatus as well as some time to work on my current commission commitments. I will be sending out all RAKs, tags, and swaps, as well as catching up on ratings and then I will be off of Swap-bot until November. Take care and don’t hesitate to message me if something is not received; I will be keeping an eye on my inbox.

Hello! I spend my days in a cubicle and my nights drawing silly pictures and playing with paper and stickers. I love dogs, OPOSSUMS!!!, indie music, books, paper crafting, and being as silly as possible. Kind of a weirdo, but I’m learning to embrace it.

I wrote and decorated letters a lot as a kid with penpals I found in online art communities (oekaki boards and DeviantArt mostly). It is something I’ve always really enjoyed. Themes, organization, and visual aesthetics really get me goin’! I love anything I can slap into my non-bujo. Stickers, washi tape, cut outs, etc.! I'm kinda sorta addicted to paper.

My favorite aesthetics and visual themes are:
💌 Victorian Memento Mori
💌 Kawaii (I do not care about brands as long as it fits the aesthetic and preferably wasn't manufactured or designed in the States)
💌 Pastel/soft grunge
💌 Retro futurism
💌 Digiwave/Early 2000s digital nostalgia
💌 Vaporwave
💌 90s nostalgia
💌 Web 1.0
💌 “Alternative” (modern witchy/goth)
💌 Floral, trees, & plants
💌 Cosmic/galaxy (but not astrology-centric)
💌 Aliens/UFOs
💌 Macabre and occult (some)
💌 Art Deco
💌 Vintage Disney Parks
💌 Americana
💌 Vintage anything, but especially fashion and advertisements
💌 Wildlife, but particularly deer, opossums, raccoons, hedgehogs, rabbits, etc.
💌 Anything involving dogs

Favorite colors:
💌 Any and all pastels but particularly that sort of babydoll pink
💌 Black and all shades of grey
💌 I very much like the primary colors (red, yellow, & blue) when they are bold and paired together, especially with black accents
💌 Black & white contrast

Themes within my own illustration work:
💌 Body/fat positivity
💌 Mental health awareness
💌 A healthy dose of whimsy

Other random interests and things I like:
💌 Social history
💌 Psychology
💌 True crime
💌 Carl Sagan
💌 Buckminster Fuller
💌 Defunct Disney
💌 Abandoned malls
💌 Female illustrators
💌 Mental health advocacy and awareness
💌 Journaling
💌 Animal rescue
💌 Memory keeping
💌 Organization
💌 Indie music and good lyrics
💌 Books, books, books!!
💌 Tattoos

💌 Illustration (digital and traditional)
💌 Diary comics
💌 ATCs
💌 Zines
💌 Non-bullet journaling (like regular bujo but more neurotic and less pristine with some planner techniques sprinkled on top)
💌 Any paper craft, really
💌 Crochet (kinda but I'm not very good at all)
💌 Fashion customization of any kind! Patches, pins, buttons - you name it.

Just a list of themes, imagery, aesthetics, whatever that just don't appeal to me and I have no interest incorporating into my art/crafts:
💌 Faith-based and/or religious
💌 Butterflies or any other insects. Not a huge fan of birds on things either but eh.
💌 Overused, forced posivity type quotes. ("Live, Laugh, Love" - "Make today so awesome that yesterday gets jealous" kinda stuff.)
💌 Animal prints
💌 Metallics/foil - especially gold
💌 Beach/tropical/summer themes
💌 Most fandom stuff. The only exceptions are Harry Potter and Disney Parks.
💌 Traditional high fantasy (elves, fairies, dragons, etc.)
💌 Reward/School/Kid/Pre-Teen things (Emojis, unicorns, cartoons, etc.)

💌 Letter writing supplies, primarily stationary
💌 Washi tape (samples are great!)
💌 Stickers of all kinds
💌 Envelopes of all sizes
💌 Vintage fashion magazine cutouts
💌 Pretty paper (Any size is lovely but I very much appreciate the large scrapbook types because I use them to make envelopes)
💌 Anything featuring schnauzers or opossums
💌 Pens! All colors, but preferably with fine tips
💌 Planner accessories
💌 Scrap paper, clippings, project leftovers - anything I can transform and repurpose! Note that this doesn’t mean trash
💌 Basically anything made of paper. I'm really not picky as long as it's not something on my dislikes list
💌 Blank ATCs
💌 Vellum sheets
💌 This is boring but I actually quite need some good glue (recommendations welcome too!)

Just a couple of things worth noting about the way I swap and the kinds of things I swap.
Note: This is all just some "takin' care of business" kinda stuff and I promise I'm not this serious and pragmatic in regular conversation/letters, hahaha.

💌 All of my ATCs are hand drawn and colored. I do not do collages or anything of the sort (there's nothing wrong with those though and I love receiving them - it's just not my preferred method of creating art). I will occasionally use stickers or washi to embellish but even then, they are used sparingly.

💌 My local post office is only open during my working hours so all of my mailing is done after hours using their self-service kiosk. I've never had any trouble with it, nor have I had anything returned because it was inaccurate. However, this means that I can't buy pretty stamps at the moment. My envelopes are heavily decorated but they will be stamped using postage I print from the machine. I know some people don't like this but I don't really have any other options at the moment. I do hope to up my stamp game in the future.

💌 In addition to the above, I mark my swaps as sent when I drop them in the box at the post office. My personal prime mailing hours are between 11pm and 2am so whatever I send may not be postmarked on the same day I marked it as sent. Please keep that in mind. I do tend to send well before the swap deadline though so hopefully it's not an issue.

💌 I am a very laid back (not lazy, mind) swapper for the most part. I'm not going to get my feathers fluffed by postmarking discrepancies, ugly postage, or other tiny details like that. If you are going to be late on a swap, just communicate with me and there is a 100% chance I will be understanding and cool with it, unless I feel you're trying to take advantage of that. The only things I'm a bit of a stickler about are: non-communication, sloppy/lazy work, and not meeting the swap requirements.

💌 If you don't receive a swap from me or don't receive a rating in a timely manner, MESSAGE ME. The only reason you wouldn't receive a swap without communication from me is because wires got crossed at the post office, in which case I will re-send ASAP. Just please message me first. As for rating, I always make it a point to rate (weren't we all taught to say "thank you" basically in infancy??) so if I haven't yet, it's just because I got caught up in something or I haven't received it. If a few weeks have passed without a rating, shoot me a message! This really doesn't ever happen, but still.

💌 At the moment, I absolutely do not do high dollar or pricey postage swaps. They aren't in my budget, nor do I feel I need more "stuff" (other than papery goods to add to my ever growing stash).

💌 In addition to the above, I'm very much a budget crafter. I grow my stash through bargain & clearance bins, flash sales, upcycling, dollar stores, and cheap overseas ePacket shopping. That being said, the stuff I have is not tacky, ugly, or low quality; I don't just buy junk because it's cheap. I'm very selective about the supplies I buy so most of the things I have look like they cost a lot more than what I actually spent. Most of my stuff was actually very pricey at one point but I snagged it on clearance or during a weekly sale. So don't worry - you won't be getting any trash in your mailbox.

💌 I've started posting most of my swaps (both incoming and outgoing) on my various Instagram accounts. All addresses and personal info are censored, but if for some reason you're not comfortable with something you're sending or receiving being shared there, please message me and I will gladly withhold it. :)

Outgoing

💌 Cheap postage tag - @manachai - Tagged on 10/3/2018 - Mailed 10/5/218

Incoming

💌 Paper lovers tag - @bbsporty - Tagged on 10/2/2018 - Pending
💌 Cheap postage tag - @NaomiRisa - Tagged on 10/2/2018 - Pending
💌 Washi sample tag - @manachai - Tagged on 10/3/2018 - Pending

TRANSPARENCY: I have 2 previous profiles on this website; they are @zoiemo and @cemeteryparty and a cursory glance at them will reveal what looks like some flaked swaps before dropping off the planet. I'm not going to give you a detailed sob story because it doesn't matter. I'll just tell you that a) I was very young and b) my mental health was suffering.

What matters is that I am taking steps to make good. I have contacted the Admin to request that the profiles be merged; but it's my understanding that they are perhaps MIA at the moment. As for the flaked swaps, I've contacted the partners to request the opportunity to complete the swaps.

Please understand that I've returned to Swap-bot because I am a far more responsible and stable person at this point in my life. I'm making it a point to only seek out swaps that I have the time and resources to complete, and I'm avoiding multiple swaps of the same type within the same time window to prevent getting overwhelmed. I have made it a point to only join swaps I am 100% positive I can complete.

UPDATE: As of September 19, 2018, I have completed all the possible outstanding swaps. The partners have all confirmed receipt of my swaps and re-rated. There are only two unresolved swaps that are both on the @zoiemo profile. One is a 1 rating because it was never received and the other is a 3 rating that claims I did not meet the swap requirements; however, the users haven't logged on since 2013 and 2014, respectively. I have messaged them both and responded to the ratings and if they return to Swap-bot, I will resend. Still waiting on response from the Admin about merging profiles.