I am starting a 4x6 inch post card collection for my son! If you have postcards with animals, plants, nature scenes, buildings, landmarks, or anything else you think a young boy would like, I would appreciate it. His name is Lach - we can set up a swap if you'd like!

Hello! I'm Kate. I'm 33 years old, and I live with my husband and infant son in Colorful Colorado. My hobbies include kawaii collecting, postage stamps, yoga, meditation, journaling, letter writing, sipping tea, and managing all of my Swap-Bot groups! I also love to collect vintage textiles, mid-century rhinestone jewelry, and old medicine bottles. An afternoon at the antique mall is like heaven for me!

The Internet is a fabulous tool, but all the artificial, surface-level communication is getting me down. I always appreciate a personal note in swaps so that I can get to know your personality - it makes the swap so much more meaningful I think!

I mark items as "sent" as soon as they're in the mail. I live in the wild woods of Colorado, so sometimes they're not postmarked until the following day. I'm also not able to get to my PO Box more than once or twice a week (especially during winter snows and at the height of tourist season in the summer!).

I'm looking forward to swapping with you!

Melanoma is a dangerous form of skin cancer that kills 90% of those who catch it too late - if you think a mole or freckle looks suspicious, get it checked out! Early detection saved my life.

Be a Darling Kawaii Swapper and read Kawaii 101.

I'm a founder in the I LOVE Kawaii! Group here on Swap-Bot, and I created the above Flash presentation to help people new to kawaii swapping understand the hobby better. ^_^ Please feel free to share that presentation around - I'd appreciate it if you link back to my profile. (Here it is as an Adobe PDF too.)

For kawaii swaps, I prefer to receive authentic kawaii brands. I love it when people send me some stickers that all came from the same sack, or maybe one of each of the designs from a particular memo pad. I like to coordinate things! You can find my want list and see my kawaii style on my Pinterest too!

Since I got my typewriter, I'm interested in lettersets that don't have lines! If you're looking to unload that sort of thing, PM me and we could do a private swap!

A Very Brief List of General Kawaii Themes I Love!

• collage styles (Booklatte, MindWave "My Favorite"...)
• nature or forest (mori) kawaii
• seasonal themes (sakura, snow, autumn leaves, etc...)
• alpacas and llamas
• sweets
• jewels and sparkles
• bows and ribbons
• clovers
• kawaii poop is hilarious to me...
• travel themes (especially France!)
• sewing or yarn themes
• stuff with crazy English translations
• pastels
• bright colors (neon is okay!)
• I don't dress in any particular fashion category, but I especially admire Mori Girl, Classic Lolita, and Sweet Lolita.
• I also enjoy zakka.

Favorite Kawaii Characters:

• Rilakkuma
• Kutusita Nyanko
• San-X Sweet Street (the cafe and French ones)
• Chou-fleur
• Kireizukin Seikatsu
• Café Café
• Mameshiba
• Mamegoma (but not the baby theme)
• Sabo Kappa
• Berry Puppy
• Sentimental Circus

Kawaii Dislikes: I feel a little strange writing these out, but if you're investing a lot of money or effort, you might want to save these things for people who might appreciate them better!

• I'm not fond of Sanrio. I've got too much Hello Kitty, and the other characters don't appeal to me.
• I don't like kawaii with photo-realistic children on it (but animals, food, and other items are fine - most collage-style is like that!).
• Please don't send Disney, Snoopy/Peanuts, or Diddl.
• I'm not fond of goth themes, ghosts, skulls, and alike. I don't like Kuromi, but Sentimental Circus is fine.
• I can't use cabochons or cell phone charms. I've already got a key chain I love to pieces, so I don't need another. ;D

I'm not sure why people are so stingy with hearts on postcard swaps, but if I see that you've read this section of my profile, I'm pretty generous (especially if you send a fun postage stamp!).

I prefer store bought cards, sent naked (without an envelope), with colorful, unusual, or old postage stamps. I LOVE hand cancellations - especially if the cancellation isn't machine-sprayed again. I mostly collect 4x6 inch cards.

Please date your postcard!

I am also collecting 4x6 inch postcards for my son. If you have postcards with animals, plants, nature scenes, buildings, landmarks, or anything else you think a young boy would like, I would appreciate it. His name is Lach - we can set up a swap if you'd like!

These are some of my favorite postcard themes (and feel free to be inspired by anything else on my profile!):

• Kawaii! Anything with that cute, girly, Japanese esthetic
• anything supremely feminine (flowers, cakes/sweets, bows, pastel colors, dresses, jewelry...)
• tea cups or anything tea related
• crochet, embroidery, cross stitch, or other textile art
• yoga themes, meditation themes, Buddhist themes
• National Parks, historic monuments, or national heritage sorts of places
• castles or grand old homes
• nature photographs and landscapes (sunsets are nice!)
• unique, indigenous plants and animals
• art prints
• antique replicas or old photographs (pre-1960s)
• something special from your hometown or country
• My Postcrossing Favorites

I would prefer not to receive:

• City skyline postcards
• Tourist montage/multi-view postcards
• Advertisement or free postcards

Check out my Steepster profile!

• I prefer to drink tea with honey or sugar, and I usually take my black tea with milk.
• Flavors I love include chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, cherry, honey, peach, apricot, spice, jasmine, coconut...
• I'll drink black, green, white, rooibos, and herbal teas - I'm equal-opportunity. ;D
• Flavorful decaf is ALWAYS appreciated!
• Please only send me factory bagged and wrapped teas UNLESS we've talked beforehand.
• Love love love loose tea, but again, only factory wrapped unless we've talked about it. :)

No, thank you.

• I'm not fond of Earl Grey.
• I love Chai, but I currently have a ton. Unless you can make a case that your Chai is incredibly outstanding, I'd prefer if you sent something else.
• Plain teas aren't my favorite. I prefer something with a little pizzazz!

Please don't interpret this as a greedy "want list" - I'm including this information so that perhaps we can identify common interests! If we're involved in a profile-based or wish-list sort of swap, then of course you may use this list and my other likes to inform your swap choice.

LATEST OBSESSIONS:

• vintage and antique wax seals and seal fobs
• vintage rhinestone jewelry
• fountain pens
• my Canon S68-S electric typewriter
• older, uncancelled postage stamps
• postage stamps from around the world
• um, pretty much any kind of postage stamps, lol!
• Smash* books and junque journaling

• fancy envelopes
• colorful postage stamps (flowers, plants, animals, holidays, and landscapes especially, but I really do like them all!)
• archival journaling
• archival pens
• bright, vibrant colors or pastels (especially pink and purple, but I'm honestly not picky!)
• '80s girl toys (My Little Pony is my favorite, but I also like Jem, Lady LovelyLocks, Rainbow Brite...)
• lace stickers
• washi tape and deco tape

• Irish dance (a sport I took on as an adult - I started competing and performing in 2008, but I've recently had to give it up due to injuries and my cancer surgery)
• shamrocks and clovers
• ladybugs
• rabbits
• hedgehogs
• backyard birdwatching (chickadees, blue jays, flickers, cardinals, robins, juncos, nuthatches...)
• stargazing
• yoga
• meditation
• Buddhism

• lolita fashion (classic, deco, sweet)
• mori girl fashion
• Cath Kidston
• costume dramas
• Edwardian era
• Jane Austen
• Victorian era
• vintage
• antique
• old glass medicine bottles (I'm on an epic search for a textured poison bottle!)
• crochet (blankets, doilies, granny squares)
• embroidery
• vintage textiles (table cloths, dresser scarves, aprons, pillowcases, hankies, scarves)
• old photographs (portraits, landscapes, whatever!)
• stereoscope images

• tea cups and fancy china
• real silverware
• crystal
• Depression era glassware
• tea parties

• sweets
• allsorts licorice mixes
• Pocky
• sushi and sashimi
• strawberries

• curly hair
• no-poo (shampoo- and silicone-free since September 2008!)
• hair toys for short hair (headbands, clips, bobby pins...)
• strange family history
• long car trips
• travel

• violets
• orchids
• card games
• board games
• American football (Broncos and Bears!)

MY BABY BOY!

MY HUSBAND!

Please don't think of this as a "I hate this" list. ;) I actually feel sort of funny even writing this stuff out (I've seen a lot of long, complex "dislike" lists lately, and I think it takes the fun out of swapping)! If you have a passion for something, I'm more than happy to read about it, so please don't get shy based on this list. But if you're sending items you spent time and money on, you might want to save these items for people who would better appreciate them:

• Please refer to my kawaii, postcard, and tea sections concerning those specific preferences.
• Unless you're sending it naked in a swap, I don't like receiving blank tourist postcards. Unused art, nature, or still-life postcards are lovely.
• I'm a teacher, but I don't like teacher stuff! Is that weird?
• I really shouldn't drink coffee. It's just too caffeinated for my system.
• I'm picky about my hair care and skin care products (sensitivities...), so it's probably best not to send me that sort of thing.

As of August 8, waiting to receive:

As of August 8, waiting on ratings for:

• ♥ Kawaii 10 / 10 / 10 Swap ♥ # 2 (contacted @Jesslega on 16 June)

Tags Sent and to be Sent:

Tags Anticipated:

Flakers: @akhilpreeti (ratings flake...), @petitpaindepice @Blacvulturetravels @angelslater @anniina @cfroggie (sketchy...)

Angels!: @Cathleya @cajunhillbilly @loveKawaii

Sketchy transactions not yet angeled:

• Doodle-my-profile Postcard Swap @Juddieland

Non Raters:

• ✉ MZA - Mr. ZIP Says Hello! ✉ (Contacted @isabellasnow on June 26, 2012. It shows "read", but she hasn't replied. Recontacted July 11.)
• @pinkypao (never rated me for a swap she may or may not have received... I'm not sure what to think)