blanketfort

Profile last updated on the third of February, 2021

Thanks to the uncertainty and the horrendous mail hold-up the pandemic has brought with it, I’m mostly sticking to Europe-based swaps at the moment.
Click here to see which countries I can send mail to.

On the 18th of February, I’m having surgery done on my right hand. My dominant hand. Yikes. All swaps will be sent out before the surgery, and then I’ll have to take a hiatus from creativity for about a month as my hand heals. Not particularly looking forward to that part.

Full disclosure: Due to me not reading the swap-bot rules and being completely oblivious, I had a profile here before this one. Username: pastell ratings. I made that account when I didn’t have time for swapping, and as a result it stood empty for years. When I was finally ready to use it, it looked dodgy as heck to other swappers and I was being dropped left and right from swaps. So I thought “ah, the swaps I’ve joined haven’t started yet, I’ll just drop out from them and make another profile! That’ll work!” I was then politely told that it didn’t work like that. This was … almost three years ago, and I’m still working on getting the profiles merged. Maybe it’ll happen this year!

My aim is to put a smile on my partner’s face, so I put a lot of time and effort into what I send out. I read my partner’s profile carefully to tailor the swap as much as possible to their liking and aesthetic. I will sometimes add extras in my swaps, but this is not for the heart – it’s because I notice that I have something my partner will enjoy. If my partner or the swap specifically say that extras aren’t appreciated/allowed, I won’t add anything.

A note on the Norwegian postal service: They operate Monday to Friday, which means that if I post something on a Friday afternoon, it most likely won’t get stamped until Monday. Same goes if I post something late on a weekday – it won’t get stamped until the next day. The new thing they’ve started is that they only collect/deliver mail every two days, so one week I’ll get mail M-W-F, the next week T-T. It’s incredibly annoying, but that’s the way it is. I’m pretty sure that mail from the post office is collected daily though.

Every swap I send out is accompanied with the anxiety of mail goblins that feast on outgoing mail, so please: Don’t get too annoyed with me if I ask if you’ve received your swap yet. And if I don’t ask and a reasonable amount of time passes – please let me know if you haven’t received what I’ve sent you. Because of this mail goblin anxiety I rate promptly, as one should.

I’m Kat, a creative soul from Norway. I’m happily married to the man of my dreams, and I work as an Early Education Teacher with the ages 0-2 as my specialty field. I love the great outdoors and adventure, just as much as I love my sofa and a good glass of wine. I’m the happiest when I can go to my room of creativity and write letters, create stuff and experiment with colour, papers and glue. Snail mail is my passion, and I love that I’ve found so many interesting people to communicate with on this site.

My interests and aesthetics are a mix and match of everything. I enjoy cute, beautiful, inspiring, lovely, and feel-good things just as much as I enjoy dark, twisted, weird, eerie, and inappropriate things. Even better if it’s all combined. In my room of creativity I’ve saved an envelope I got once. It’s a row of Peter Rabbit and his siblings floating through space with flying and terrifying octopuses. I love it!
I’m not easily offended, and I am a living, breathing pile of sarcasm and bad jokes. Yay!

I dream of owning my own house with a kitchen garden.

• Favourite colours: Black, especially the deeper and calmer shades of black, charcoal and it’s colour scheme, yellow tones, especially the darker and warmer tones, soft and warm pinks, the whole spectrum of blue, green and purple, ocean colours, and soft and warm oranges.

• Postcards. I prefer postcards sent naked and written on. I like displaying postcards I get, so send me something interesting looking. Something weird, spooky, funny, food, something beautiful, or artwork to mention some things. I’d absolutely love a postcard of Edward Hopper’s Automat and Nighthawks. If you find an altered version of Nighthawks, I’d love it. The stranger the better.

• Art and artwork (by you and others). Favourite styles: Impressionism, realism, symbolism, street art. Love the artwork by Gustav Klimt, Tove Jansson, Erika Rier and Edward Hopper. I also like altered art and weird parodies.
  

• Hi, I’m Kat and I’m a sticker and washi tape addict. Seriously, I can’t get enough. Almost anything will make me happy when it comes to stickers and washi (see my no thank you list for more information). Especially anything weird and unusual.

• Mini-zines. I love making them, and I love receiving them. Hit me up for a private zine swap if you want to.

Other random things:
- 90’s aesthetic – I love this decade. Clothes, music, movies, series, you name it
- Harry Potter. Proud Hufflepuff here
- Goth, grunge, emo and punk aesthetic and culture
- Folklore and mythology, especially Norse, Egyptian, Sámi and Celtic
- Crows, magpies, ravens and other so-called spooky birds
- The ocean, the coast and most things nautical and maritime
- Hygge, the cabin feel and everything cosy

And a mash-up of things to conclude the likes:
Moomins, plants, mountains and forests, sexuality, mental health, psychology, social anthropology, inappropriate cross-stitch, list-making, arctic vegetation and wildlife, subcultures, the moon and moon phases, happy mail, witchcraft and the mystical.

IMPORTANT
I am deathly allergic to all kinds of nuts. Peanuts, hazlenuts, cashews, nuts in general. I can’t eat anything containing nuts, anything that might contain traces of nuts, or anything that was packed in a place that also store nuts. So that’s fun, and makes every dining out event an anxiety filled experience. Due to this, I would really appreciate a table of contents when sent any food or drinks. Most foods and drinks have one on them already, even tea bags. If they don’t have a table of contents on them, I won’t be able to drink them and I’ll either regift them or throw them away. I’ll be repeating this a lot, because I find that it’s necessary…

Tea
Nothing is better than sitting down with a nice cup of tea. I want to try all sorts of flavours, so please, send me the strangest thing you can find if at all possible. Just make sure that the tea bag has a table of contents on the back.
My all-time favourite flavour is ginger and ginger combinations. It’s a fail-safe, and I just can’t seem to tire of it.

Coffee
Scolding hot or icy cold, I love coffee! It gives my brain just what it needs to kick into gear. I’ll love any flavours, especially if it’s spicy. Just again, make sure there’s a table of contents somewhere on the satchel.

Hot chocolate
A favourite for the cold winter months. Same as above: Would love any flavours, especially spicy, just make sure there’s a table of contents.

Other food related stuff
- Anything spicy is right up my alley.
- I love sour candy. And salty candy. I don’t particularly care for super sweet candy.
- Would love some Wrigley’s Extra Stawberry flavoured gum, can’t seem to find it in Norway…
- Same goes for Lay’s Salt and Vinegar crisps, the ones that comes in small packets. Oh, and prawn cocktail!
- Food recipes. I love cooking, but I suck at finding new recipes to try out. Any kind of recipe will be highly appreciated, especially vegetarian/vegan recipes. I’m trying to eat less meat. Just, no nut based recipes, please.
- I’m trying to find chocolates that I can actually eat, especially with mint filling in them (because I looove it!). The problem is that almost all chocolates contain or may contain traces of nuts. If you find a chocolate (that isn’t Kindermaxi or Smarties), I would love to get some.

A brief overview of some of the stuff I like. In no way near completion, and I’m always looking for recommendations.

R.E.M., Patti Smith, Iggy Pop (with and without the Stooges), Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Dia Psalma, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, OK Go, Matisyahu, TV on the Radio, Sia, Nick Cave (with and without the Bad Seeds), First Aid Kit, Gogol Bordello, Sex Pistols, OnklP, Maria Mena, Hans Zimmer, NOFX, The Black Keys, Gåte, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Muse, Vivaldi, Placebo, Massive Attack, Foo Fighters, The Hu, Nirvana, The Beatles, Slincraze, The National, Violet Road, Bright Eyes, Arcade Fire. And a million different songs from a million different bands and artists. I will save you that list.

Reading is one of my favourite pastimes and browsing bookstores is another one. My all-time favourite is the Harry Potter series. I simply can’t help it. I grew up with the series, and it’s helped me through some tough times. My house is Hufflepuff, and my favourite characters are: Nymphadora Tonks, the Weasley twins, Luna Lovegood, Charlie and Bill Weasley and the Marauders.

Some of my favourite genres are: Comedy, fiction, fantasy, horror, thriller, crime, paranormal, non-fiction, biographies, autobiographies, fairytales, folklore, ethnographies … you name it, I’ll read it.

My newfound obsession is horror/thriller/paranormal. Give me recommendations, preferably to stuff that will torment me psychologically for years to come.

Some books/authors I love: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, A Song of Ice and Fire, the Lord of the Rings, the Hunger Games, Alice in Wonderland, Marian Keyes, Terry Pratchett, Stephen King.

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, the Stand, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, the Good Place, 30 Rock, Arrested Development, the IT Crowd, the Office, Community, Grey’s Anatomy, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Supernatural, Friends, Pride and Prejudice, South Park, Rick and Morty, Black Mirror, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Coupling, SKAM, Sons of Anarchy, American Horror Story, Firefly, Skins (UK), Outlander, Scrubs, The Crown, Doctor Who, Sherlock.
Terrible guilty pleasure: Bad reality TV, especially with tons of love drama and stupid fights. I hate that I love it.

I love movie nights! Comedy, action, romance, fantasy, thrillers, dramas, horror … I really have no preference. I’m a sucker for a good action comedy though.
Eternally in love with Disney, Pixar and Dreamwork movies. The Lego Batman movie is amazing, and I will probably never tire of Marvel movies.
Suggest horror/thrillers/paranormal movies to me, please.

Red Dead Redemption 2, The Sims, Rayman, The Legend of Zelda (Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask), the Pokemon games, Super Mario All Stars, Mario Kart, GTA San Andreas.
I love old school games and open world concept games.

Other stuff:
Stand-up: Bo Burnham, Doug Stanhope, Anthony Jeselnik, John Mulaney, Mike Birbiglia, Tom Segura, Jim Jefferies, Eddie Izzard, Amy Schumer, Dylan Moran, Fluffy. Open to new suggestions, especially for female stand-up comics.
Documentaries: I love watching documentaries. They can be about any topic. True Crime is definitely on top of the list though.

• Anything with nuts, traces of nuts, or things made somewhere that store nuts

• While I respect your religion, and can talk about it with you, I have absolutely no use for or interest in religious scripture, icons, pamphlets, and the like

• Anything from any fandom that aren’t mentioned on my profile

• Anything homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, or anything of the like. I have absolutely no patience for closeminded, ignorant, and hateful people

• Items absolutely reeking of smoke or perfume. I don’t mind lightly scented items, but there’s a big difference between lightly scented and absolutely drowning something with perfume. Items reeking of smoke will be thrown out because that smell is disgusting

• Teacher rewards stickers and the like. Actually, no stickers and stuff that’s for children

• Bullet journal stickers and the like, it’s wasted on me. Same goes for Valentine’s Day stuff and Halloween stuff. Spooky and eerie I love, but I don’t need smiling sheets wishing me a Happy Halloween

• Touristy postcards – unless you’re on vacation and want to send me a postcard, or you’re showing me the place you’re from in a letter. I’ve no interest in blank postcards from places I haven’t been