pianoheart

I am on swap-bot to make friends and have fun. Here is a little about me:

I love musical instruments and instrumental music from all over the world. I love small instruments, strings and accessories, CDs of instrumental world music, but not so much things with music themes, i.e. things with music notes or pictures of musical instruments on them. I'm interested in Chinese brush painting, making soap, handmade paper, artistic bookbinding and making/restoring ukulele. I make jewelry and lei using seeds, nuts and flowers from Hawaiian plants and trees.

I welcome pen pals who want to share friendship. I currently have tons of mainstream writing stationery, so no need to send more to me, unless you have written a pen pal letter to me on it. I love to travel and explore new places. I am always looking for interesting places to visit next. I would love to read about your own travel experiences rather than from a travel book. I am more interested in traveling and forming friendships than accumulating stuff. I would like to find some like-minded people.

I love to cook. I experiment with adapting recipes for use with local Hawaiian ingredients. I grow many kinds of tropical fruit and like to use them in recipes. I cook mostly vegetables, fruit and whole grains. I don't cook with dairy, eggs or meat. I have too many vegetarian cookbooks, so no need to send more to me.

My husband collects retired license plates from all over the world. They don't need to be old, just no longer on a vehicle. If you would like to add to his collection, please send me a message to see if he already has a plate from your area.

I'm more about giving than receiving, so if you are sending to me in a flat rate box swap, you have the option of sending an electronic amazon gift code to save time and postage - envelope or small box 15, medium box 25, large box 35. Amazon codes count as profile-related, so if we are partners in a value-specific swap, you can send a code and save the postage of mailing a package. Hearts for these options because I use amazon.com to buy my books for school, instrument strings, music books, instrument construction books.

Some favorites:

• Ocean - I love walking and swimming at the beach.
• Earth - I love being outside, hiking to waterfalls and great views, planting native trees.
• the color gray and the gray scale from black to white
• exercise: walking, hiking, bocce, mountain biking, pickleball, kite flying, table tennis
• worry dolls - these are tiny handmade dolls, made by you or from their native home in central/south America.
• thin, durable bookmarks - I use them in my cookbooks, so ones that can be wiped clean are great.
• natural, plant-based essential oil soap
• Favorite scent: real ginger root
• big tree forests
• international and USA pen pals
• musical instruments

• For shopping and physical gift cards (not electronic), my favorite store is Lowes Home Improvement.

  A agriculture, Anthony of Padua, additional ounce stamps

  B beach sandals

  C cacti, clay flower pots, carnivorous plants, coral beads, cotton clothing

  D dog treats, dulcimer, drum

  E Earth, essential oil soap bars, exfoliator, envelopes (5 x 7)

  F forests, fruit trees, face scrub, forever stamps, flute

  G Garden tools, gift cards, ginger, glow-in-the-dark dog toys, guitar, global forever stamps

  H hats for sun, herbs

  I instrumental music

  J Japanese gardens

  K kites

  L long-sleeved cotton t-shirts

  M musical instruments, magnesium bath salts, marbles, mechanical pencils, milagro

  N newts

  O Ocean, oatmeal soap, o-furo

  P piano, pen pals, piccolo

  Q quartz crystal balls

  R rosemary essential oil, rain, recorder instrument

  S sundials, stretch tubes (for exercise), succulents, solar power, sage herb, sumi-e, seeds to grow herbs

  T t-shirts, trees, tank tops

  U ukulele, unused USA potage stamps

  V violin

  W work gloves, worry dolls, white whippets

  X xylophone, X-acto knives

  Y

  Z zori

  Things I Use:

  • Pages of clear vinyl pockets to hold coins, banknotes and trading cards

  • packets of viable (not outdated) seeds to grow herbs, cacti and succulents. I can use actual seeds, but not so much things with plant designs on them. It's too hot here for most vegetable and flower seeds. I'm always looking for swapping pen pals in warm climates to exchange seeds. Please do not send packets of wildflower seeds - these can be invasive in Hawai'i.

    • art supplies: medium and fine grit sandpaper, mechanical pencils and lead for them, wood glue, classic X-acto knives and blades, any Dremel tool attachments, small drill bits, wood carving tools, double-sided tape, wide packing tape, white-out tape

  • For flat swaps, I like: unused USA postage stamps, seed packets, sandpaper, milagros, origami paper, nice flat (not puffy) stickers without words...I don't use planner stickers.

• For papercrafts, I like origami, bookbinding supplies and supplies for making handmade paper. I also use writing instruments like mechanical pencils and sketching tools. I like art pens with colored ink, but the multipack ones from dollar stores usually don't write well or are old and dried out when still in the package.

• Things for the puppy: collar, harness (size medium - must be new due to his skin allergy), leash, dog treats, chew toys that are not fiber-filled, glow-in-the-dark squeaky ball

• Things for the plants and farm: sharp hand-pruners (Corona or similar), padded leather work gloves (please no thin dollar store gloves - those don't even last a day on my farm), grafting tape, outdoor digital thermometer, solar powered anything

• Nice stickers to use on envelopes, larger (5 x 7) colorful envelopes to mail swaps, larger notecards (5x7) with matching envelopes.

  • Vintage glass Pyrex containers with glass covers. Must have glass covers, not plastic. Also glass Pyrex measuring cups.

• Sealed, unused packages of natural skin care samples/products, like exfoliator, face scrubs, face wash, moisturizer, essential oil perfume, magnesium bath salts, essential oil soap bars

• Jewelry: I wear mostly anklets. I like sterling silver, coral and shell beads, tiny glass beads, must be waterproof.

• Clothes, must be new:

  Shoes - Simple beach sandals/flip-flops - black or dark brown, (Dollar Store ones are too thin, kiawe thorns go right through them.), size 8.

  100% cotton tank tops, no words on them, size S.

  Hats - big sun hats with chin straps

  Things I Don't Need So Much:

  • Allergies:
    dust mites - I cannot use large pieces of fabric, stuffed toys made of fabric, pillows, knick- knacks and other things that collect dust.

    skin sensitivities - parabens, preservatives, propylene glycol, sodium lauryl sulfate (common in liquid soap). Unfortunately, I cannot use products that are used, unsealed, or do not list ingredients.

• I don't make scrapbooks, junk journals or greeting cards, so please do not send glitter, stamped images, embellishments from a craft store, journal cards/project life/prompts, memo paper, things cut from magazines, ATC supplies, list pad paper, book pages, post-it notes, ephemera, feathers, blank recipe cards, synthetic fabric, used postage stamps, coloring pages/cards/books, scrap paper.

• Please don't send food or drink (this includes tea bags)..these tend to melt, get weird in the tropical heat or the gecko living in my mailbox gets to them first.

• Please don't send makeup or nail polish - I don't wear them. I prefer natural skin care products - see above.

• Please don't send things that smell of cigarette smoke or cigarette smoke with perfume/dryer sheet smell added to it. Thank you for understanding.

  It is difficult to remove plastic on an island. watch this to learn more