Interview with Ladi Pattie of Structured Chaos

Pattie is going through a bit of a rough patch so after reading her interview, please go leave her some words of encouragement on her blog! After this interview was completed, Pattie broke her nose! Yikes! She normally sells stationary, invitations, and purses in her shop but she is doing some maintenance right now. Let's meet Ladi Pattie!

SwapDex: Tell us a bit about you.

Ladi Pattie: My name is Ladipo. I currently have 20 years under my belt and, I live in Georgia.

Right now I am in college majoring in interior design, but lately I have been thinking about changing my major to Public Relations and Advertisement.

I also run a small business out of my apartment where I make stationary goods and purses for my online store Structured Chaos! (www.sturcturedchaos.bigcartel.com)

I love to craft all sorts of things! My favorite type of craft work is working with paper goods. There are so many possibilities. And, secondly I like to sew :)

Making things just helps my mind to unload.

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

L: I have actually been swapping for less than a year. I found out about swapping in 2008 from flickr in one of the group forums, and a young lady was talking about swap-bot. So, I went and took a look and I was hooked from then on out!

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?

L: Swapping is so fun, and I feel like the possibilities are endless to what you can swap! I have done themed swaps (like color themes) , Atc swaps, writing journal swaps, and question and answer swaps!

When it comes to swaps that I join, all it has to do really is interest me and I'm in!

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

L: Most of my swapping is done through swap-bot. I really just never thought of swapping outside of it until recently when I was introduced to swap-dex and its plethora of wonderful swaps!

Now I have joined swaps from all over the place and am having a blast preparing for them all :)

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

L: The swaps that I like the most are color themed swaps! It really sets a tone for the swap, and I can get really into them. Although once I did get a little carried away, and I had to step back for a bit.

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

L: In order to make my packages mean something to my partner I usually try to get to know them a bit and incorporate things that I know they would really like.

I also like to wrap them up in cute packaging, and when I send a big package I put it in a gift bag!

My favorite part of swapping is making people happy!

SD: Do you have a good story about hosting or participating in a swap?

L: Well, one time I did a cupcake swap on swap-bot, and I spent over a week preparing for it. I made a cupcake zipper pouch, did a cupcake girl painting (they are the little girls in my shop), and then I went shopping with my boyfriend and best friend.

I drug them all around the county complaining about how everything was awful (because I was running late on sending out my swap) and I was buying everything I saw with a cupcake on it. (This is an example of me getting carried away)

Well by the end of the day I had spent over 100 dollars (of my boyfriends money hee he) on cupcake items, not including the things that I had at the house, and I was still complaining.

The funny thing is that I would have this anxiety that my partner would completely hate what I would send them.

It turned out that I was flaked on that swap, it was really disappointing, because I was really looking forward to it.

But because my partner loved my package so much, it kind of made up for me getting flaked on!

But after that swap my boyfriend banned me from swap-bot until I learned how to be less stress impulsive!

SD: What do you think is the most challenging part of hosting a swap? Any advice for someone who is thinking about hosting a swap?

L: I feel the most challenging part for me was making all of the rules comprehensive for everyone, and assigning partners.

To combat this I try to break things down as much as possible so that each step is able to be visualized, and I also stress everyone to read the rules carefully.

And, when it comes to assigning partners, it is best to be organized from the start so that you have an accurate list and can work from there. Fortunately, I have an awesome sister who loves to deal in things like that :D

I'm pretty new to the exciting and stressful world of swap-hosting, but if I were to give advice I would say, run your swap when you know you will have time to address participant questions, and issues.

SD: Any exciting plans for the near future? Swaps, projects, new products?

L: Currently I'm taking a bit of a step away from big projects, I'm trying to dedicate myself to the upcoming exams.

But, this upcoming summer I do plan on running another Shop Swap & Blog event so be on the look out!

What a sad story about you getting flaked on, but it really shows the power of swaps. You still felt good about the swap because the giving part is just as important as the getting part for a good swapper! Great to meet you!