craftynut

8th January 2023 There are no postal strikes at the moment but that does not rule them out completely. Hopefully, the backlog will start to clear. I am disappointed though because from 31st January, we can no longer use old stamps for postage. I prefer the old picture stamps and used these whenever I could get hold of them. Now, we can only use the rather large ones with the funny code bit attached. As I have built up quite a few from places like the Isle of Man and other islands around our mainland, I am going to use them on the left side, where the message goes, for added interest. I will also use my pre-decimal mint stamps too. So this means that you will get a little bit of British postal history with your message.

December 2022 Just to let everyone know, we are having postal strikes for a day or two each week at the moment. So, please be patient with us. The post date that gets stamped could be different from the date marked as sent.There is nothing we can do except hope that the dispute is sorted out soon.

I mark swaps as sent after I have either put them in the postbox or taken them to the post office if they need to be weighed. Sometimes if I put items in the postbox on my way home from work, it means I have missed that day's collection and it may not be collected till the next day. Be assured though, if I mark as sent then the swap has begun it's journey. Occasionally we have what we call in England, bank holidays, which means items could be sat for 2 or 3 days in the post box. Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about this and it may mean, the postmark is different to the send date. I have no control over when post is picked up from the postbox.

If you feel you have not received my swap in a reasonable length of time, please message me. I am sure we can sort it out. Also, I always rate. If you have not received a rating, then it has not arrived.

Just to give you an idea, international swaps can take up to two months to reach me but that does not matter because I am very good at being patient. I will usually wait at least that long before messaging to say a swap has not arrived.

I love to be outdoors. It doesn't matter whether it is sitting in the garden, going for walks in the woods or camping. Sometimes we put the tent up in the garden just for fun. I spent a night out in a thunder storm. It was amazing seeing the tent light up with the lightning.

I like to spend my spare time creating things for the grandchildren. I like to knit, sew and attempt to crochet.

I live on a dairy farm with my husband and some of the children, the rest have their own families and homes. We have several pets 4 dogs, 3 geese, 7 chickens, 5 cows - they are not part of the farm, a pond with fish and tropical tank in the house.

Just to let you know, I do not drink any hot drinks. If the swap suggests sending these as part of the swap, save them for another person who will enjoy them.

I would like to read much more than I have time to. I read a lot of children's books as I work in a primary school. At the moment my favourite authors are Julia Donaldson and Karen Kingsbury.

Update 14/3/2021 When I go anywhere I like to get children's books in the language of that country.

I will try nearly anything, although I am no good at art. I cannot draw or paint. I prefer to mess with fabric or paper/card. I produce better results. Knitting is what I do most, followed by sewing.

Following advice from another swapper, I am not going to say that I am no good at art. I am now still practising and as I have not yet found my niche.

I am beginning to dabble with junk journaling, journal cards, making envelopes and pockets. I have been watching You Tube videos to learn more and bought my first ink for going round the edges of cards etc. Still so much more to learn.

Jan 2021, I have discovered paper napkins and love them. I am going to have a lot of fun seeing what I can do with them.

March 2021 I have found the theme that I like when I make junk journals. I love vintage. So now I collect old tickets, photos, receipts and anything really. My favourite recent buy was a collection of greetings cards from the 1920s. I have quite a stash of old postcards and love to read them and discover about people. Also, now having a go at Zentangle inspired art and ATC's and having loads of fun.

We do not watch television but we do watch DVDs. We watch boxed sets of TV series inbetween repeatedly watching Star Wars, although I have not got all the films yet. The rest of the family prefer action films.

This may take some time to do. A little will be added at a time.

A- animals of the large kind, Aboriginal art,

B- books, buttons, birds,

C- cows, celebrations from other countries, candles, castles, cross stitch,

D- dragons,

E-

F- flora and fauna, fresh cut grass,

G- grandchildren visiting, Gruffalo,

H- Harry Potter, hand-made envelopes,

I-

J- jigsaws, jumping in puddles, junk journals, journal cards,

K- knitting, keychains,

L- learning something new, languages ( I would love to be able to understand much more than I do), Lego,

M- mushrooms,

N- New Zealand (my favourite country), needle-felting,

O- owls,

P- postcards, patchwork,

Q- quotes that make you reflect or uplift,

R- reading, ribbons,

S- sewing, stationary of all kinds, social history, storms, Star Wars, space, stamps,

T- trees,

U- upcycling,

V- visiting National Trust places - or anywhere old, vintage ephemera,

W- watching the birds on the feeders, wool - I have lots of it, woodlands, walking,

X-

Y-

Z-Zog,

Impatient people especially drivers, earwigs, feeling like I have wasted time, anything rude or crude, tea, coffee, make-up, roses, potatoes, cooking,

I just wanted to say what an amazing site swap-bot is. I have had some really amazing post. I love the decorated envelopes I receive - something I need to get better at. I use a lot of the decorations in my journal, to make it look more interesting than it is.

Thank you everyone.