Getting Swap-Bot Savvy

As many of you already know, I absolutely love receiving post! So when I saw Wisher’s blog about Swap-Bot and Postcrossing I knew that I had to find out more!

When I first signed up to Swap-Bot, I was a little bit daunted about signing up to swaps. There are three different types of swaps and you receive ratings for your swaps. There is also a lot of swap jargon used that can be incredibly confusing the first time you encounter it! Some of the swaps are also very strict about who can join, requiring a certain rating average or to have completed a certain number of swaps. This was pretty overwhelming and put me off signing up for anything for a while in case I did something wrong, but Wisher wrote a great jargon buster with clear guides as to what everything means. This made me feel a little more comfortable with the instructions the swaps and I soon found plenty to sign up to!

I have now completed 14 swaps on the site! This means that I have sent off my side of 14 swaps that I have taken part in, although I still haven’t received some of the items from my partners yet and some of my 14 still have to reach their destinations.

The first swap that I took part in was the Hello! I’m from…Round #4 swap, which involved sending a bundle of goodies from your city to tell your partner about where you’re from. I still haven’t heard if my parcel has reached its destination yet, but it was a huge package and it is travelling all the way to Canada! So fingers crossed it reaches its new home soon, and similarly, I’m still waiting to receive my package from Alaska! I am looking forward to receiving my collection of 3 postcards, magnet, map, thee bottle caps, local paper, pen/pencil, traditional recipe and flag from so far away though!

The second swap I took part in has been completed though so I have some photos to show you! I wanted to take part in a heart mail art swap but I didn’t have a high enough rating. Luckily, the organiser was kind enough to organise a private swap just between the two of us to help me get my rating up. She picked an owl theme for our mail art and this is what I sent:

Front

Back

Apologies for my poor editing out of the addresses! It was quite daunting to design some mail art to send as art is most certainly not my area of expertise! However, it was really fun to do and I enjoyed taking part…even if I did get a funny look from the post office!

Here is what I received from Jennifer in Canada in return:

Front

Back

I love the owls on the envelope! Plus, Jennifer also included some pink envelopes with owls stamped on them for me to use in future swaps and an owl card. I sent her a postcard with owls on and a funny owl picture that I had encountered online.

I have also taken part in several type 1 swaps…these are electronic swaps that you send via email to your partners. I have swapped two Pinterest boards (Penguins and Funny Pictures) where I have sent my partners links to my boards and I have got to look at other people’s boards in return. I have also taken part in a Your Country From Your Eyes electronic swap where I had to send my partners some photos of where I live and tell them about it through my eyes. I had a tough jobs as I was paired with people from Paris, Barcelona and Frankfurt…and I had to promote a city that no one in my country has heard of…never mind anyone outside of it! Fortunately, my love for my home really shone and I had some great feedback. I also took part in a blog comment hop where you visit people’s blogs and comment on them…it’s a great way of discovering new blogs!

I took part in a cross stitch swap too (my crafts haven’t been sidelined for my new hobby!) where you had to cross stitch a fairy for your partner. I sent this to my partner:

It gave me an excuse to FINALLY use the fairy cross stitch book that I bought over a year ago, and it has encouraged me to get a wriggle on with stitching my fairy initial!

And this is what I got from my partner:

How lucky am I!!! I received my cross stitched fairy from the swap organiser and, as you can see, she has clearly gone to town! My fairy is HUGE! I love the way she is carrying a floss basket and holding a needle! I think she will look lovely on a project bag for my cross stitch projects so it looks like I have another sewing project to tackle!

The last swap that I have completed (I have received my package and my partner has received what I have sent) was the Sticker Scavenger Hunt. Here is a list of what I had to find:

animal with four legs, animal with two legs, Polka dots, Stripes, vehicles, plaid, heart, animal with wings, occupation, food, treat, drink, flower, forest, fun, cold, hot, ocean, mostly green, mostly pink, mostly orange, mostly red, mostly yellow, mostly purple, colourful, holiday, cartoon character, love, sports, school-stuff, music, health, rainbow, Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall, shiny (metallic), fuzzy, puffy

As I was so eager to get my parcel in the post, I forgot to photograph it (you will see that this happens quite frequently…) but I am told that it was gratefully received. My partner was collecting stickers to make a scrapbook for her daughter, so I felt so privileged to be a part of something that she will treasure for the rest of her life. It was going all the way to New York so I included some stickers of British items and flags so that, when she gets older, her daughter can see how far the stickers travelled specially for her 🙂

Here is what I received from my partner:

 

Look at all of the exciting stickers I received! These are some of my favourites:

 

I love the rather guilty looking penguin! And I think the spring cleaning babies are so funny…especially the one with the sponges on his feet!

I have also completed some postcard swap, but I will share these with you at a later date with my Postcrossing cards too 🙂

I have some swaps in progress too, which I will share when everything reaches its destinations, but so far I have sent; handmade envelope stuffed with goodies; Romeo and Juliet Artist Trading Card; Cross Stitch Surprise; Lists and More – Book Lovers; Hello! I’m From… Round #4. For some of these swaps I have received my parcel but  my partner hasn’t had theirs yet, or alternatively, my partner has received what I sent but I am still waiting for mine to arrive so as soon as everything is where is should be I will upload photos!

I also have some active swaps that I haven’t yet bought/posted and these include; Identical postcards; Kawaii swap; Blog Comment Hop #2; Postcard Scavenger Hunt and Ribbon Scavenger hunt. As you can see…these swaps are addictive!!!

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