Interview with Beth of A Special Journey of My Own

Beth is another daring swap hostess who jumped in with both feet to host a swap, the first swap she had ever been in!! She has a great feature on her blog where she highlights people doing what they love, really great stuff! Check her out and say hi!

SwapDex: Tell us a bit about you.

Beth: I am an adventurer, entrepreneur and aspiring artist, living in Yorkshire in the North of England. I am 33 and run my own business. I have also recently reconnected with my deep love of art and creativity, discovered a whole new wonderful community, started a blog and picked up my paints and brushes again. I mainly do mixed media and photography, following in the footsteps of generations of photographers in my family.

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

B: The Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap is the first swap I have ever done - and I organised it! Talk about jumping in at the deep end! It was inspired by the sparkling new sewing machine I received for my birthday in May, which I was afraid of breaking. My blogging friends gently talked me round with great advice and as soon as I turned it on I fell in love with it. One of the first things I made was a handful of stitched postcards, as I love the feel and look of stitches on paper. This led to creating The Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap, which I thought would be a great way of seeing what others make, giving myself something to work towards and sharing some stitched love across the world. The aim was to create a postcard using any kind of media but including stitches (whether by hand or machine), within the theme 'time'.

SD: What is your range of swapping?

B: This is my first swap but it has been really eyeopening. I am definitely open to more in the future, and I expect I will run another Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap at some point.

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

The Great Big Stitched Postcard Group has a Flickr group here which is great for sharing everyone's creations as they arrive. The swap is still going on so the number of images in this group should grow over the next few days.

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

B: Definitely this one! It has been amazing - 70 participants from nine countries on three continents, and all with such different interpretations of the theme 'time'.

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

B: Interestingly with this swap the thing we created - a postcard - is actually something that can be sent without any additional packaging. However, I actually sent mine off in an envelope with a second handmade postcard in it, leaving the stitched postcard blank for the recipient to send on to someone else. I also stitched their address on to the envelope in keeping with the theme

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?

B: The beauty about a creative swap is that it is open to everyone, but this can also represent a challenge - different people have different expectations for quality of the final product. But at the end of the day, the most important thing is having a go and making time to create, and the fact that you get something hand made in the post should be a bonus!

Excellent interview, Beth! Thanks so much for taking the plunge into swapping and keep up the great work!