Interview with Melanie of A Country Dream

Melanie is an Enlgish swapper and hostess, with a blog for you to visit. She's also on twitter, Vintagebelle, so let's meet her and then you can go say hello!

SwapDex: Tell us a bit about you.

Melanie: I'm Melanie, married to the most wonderful man, John, we live in Sunderland, England, have 3 pets, 2 staffordshire bull terriers called Foxy and Scrappy, and a cat called Jack. I'm 24 years old, a housewife, and I love crocheting, sewing, baking and reading.

SD: How long have you been swapping? How did you first learn about swapping, and what made you decide to start?

M: This is only the second swap I've hosted and took part in, the first one was a Rose Swap which was quite popular. That swap ended about 2-3 weeks ago. I wanted to start swapping as I read on lots of lovely blogs about it, and saw how much fun it was. I did not fancy taking part in the swaps that were going on, so with some advice from my bloggy friends, I hosted my first swap.

SD: What is your range of swapping? Do you stick to swaps hosted by people you know or are you likely to swap with anyone, anytime?

M: I will swap with anyone, I am not one for just sticking to people I know, I think swapping is a great way to make new friends.

SD: Do you swap with any organized groups like yahoo groups, flickr, groups on swap-bot, other message boards, etc? Why or why not?

M: I do not swap with organized groups, I prefer blog swaps.

SD: What's your favorite swap you've ever been in or hosted?

M: This, my second swap I've hosted and took part in, the Cosy Crochet and Knitting swap is my fave so far, I think this will be a really fun swap to do.

SD: What do you do to make your packages special?

M: I like to look on my swap partners blog, to find out the kind of things she likes, and include them in my swap package. I am making homemade things for this swap package, and I think everyone loves homemade things.

SD: What do you think is the most challenging part of hosting a swap?

M: I think the most challenging part of hosting a swap is the pairing up, making sure you have paired up everyone, getting everyone's address and sending them to swap partners ect...

Thanks, Melanie. Great to meet you and we'll see you around the swapping scene!