Welcome to the Swappermania Blog!
WHO AM I?
I am a Christian married mom of 2 boys, living in northern Minnesota. We are both veterans (me- Army Reserves, Hubby- Air Force). My husband has had multiple strokes and has a heart issue. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism after the birth of my first child. My youngest son was diagnosed at age 5 with Diabetes Type 1.
I am a work-at-home mom as a self-taught graphic designer. I make and sell computer labels, stationery, and planner stickers and filler pages.
Do you Periscope? I like to participate in bible studies on the #jesusdidit scopes (http://www.jesusdidit.org/) and also occasionally get on Periscope or YouTube and do some crafting and encouraging chats. I do both bible-based scopes and just plain babbling chats and craft scopes (videos). Come and join me sometime! https://www.periscope.tv/createdbybarbi and don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel! https://www.youtube.com/btvrdik
I enjoy all sorts of crafts, paper-crafting, beading, and my big hobby is sending and receiving fun snail maill! I would love to exchange some happy mail with you! I show it on my Mail Call Monday videos on YouTube (don't worry, I don't show addresses). I have met a lot of great swappers and happy mail senders all around the world. Would love to see your name in my mailbox!
Send to:
Happy Mail/Swappermania
Barbi Tvrdik
PO Box 74
Barnum MN 55707
USA
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Check out more fun snail mail ideas on my Pinterest board!
https://www.pinterest.com/btvrdik/snail-mail-fun/
My fave Bible verse:
* Romans 8:28 (KJV) And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Showing posts with label welcome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label welcome. Show all posts
Friday, July 5, 2019
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
New Year - No Resolutions
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JAN 2016
New Year - No Resolutions
Hey there swappers and pals! If you've been following my blog or YouTube channel, you're probably wondering where I've been. Still here, freezing in northern Minnesota. It's been a crazy ride for our family the last half of 2015.
My oldest son had a surgery which led to complications, which led to him being in the hospital (he's ok now, but is having trauma/anxiety issues which stems from this medical emergency).
We took a family trip to South Dakota (no, not Mount Rushmore, we went to Sioux Falls since that is where my husband's job sent him). We stayed in a beautiful hotel and while we were there, they experienced record rain/flash floods, the power went out in the hotel (no generator), and it was mass chaos. The hotel didn't flood luckily, but many cars out on the road were going everywhere. It's a trip that we will never forget.
My husband has had some multiple health issues going on, and then a pharmacy here gave him the wrong pills in his bottle, which he took for a week before realizing why he was feeling the way he was... and then ended up in the hospital with stroke symptoms, and his whole one side being back at 50% strength. He is still doing physical/occupational therapy. He currently isn't able to do his job (precision measurement), but they found other things for him to do there, so at least he didn't lose his job. He is having more hours away from work due to Dr. appts, etc. so that paycheck loss kind of stung us for awhile.
Then in the end of October, our youngest son started feeling ill. One week after my husband was home from the hospital, on Nov. 2, our youngest ended up in the hospital for 5 days. He was diagnosed with Diabetes Type 1 (sometimes called Juvenile Diabetes) and also had a staph infection. We are now living a "new normal" since Diabetes Type 1 is a lifelong disease (still praying for a cure.)
The end of 2015 has been a HELL of a year, to put it mildly....
Then... we got a call from the school saying we were nominated to be a family to receive a Blessing Bag. They wanted a wish list from us for gifts the kids would like (and us, too). I also saw something in our church bulletin about the community collecting gifts for a family and it was a local organization called Best Christmas Ever (http://www.bcemovement.org/).
The family sounded a LOT like us... hmmmm.... so a lady from church asked if she could stop over one Sunday afternoon. We said sure. Since she also works at the school, I thought she might be bringing over the Blessing Bag. Well lo and behold, several cars pulled into the driveway, and our livingroom was full of people delivering presents and more presents, gift cards, etc. It was the Best Christmas Ever! Literally! I was doing everything I could to hold it together, but yes those tears did fall.
(Here's a news clip of this wonderful organization, a month before they showed up at our door.)
(Here's a video of another family that received gifts from BCE.)
The next day, I still had to go to the school to get our Blessing Bag... but it was not just ONE bag... it was several. They gave us gifts, cleaning supplies, household goods (that stuff adds up you know), food, and a wreath. The kindness of our community has just blown us away. I don't even know how to begin to say thank you for it all! Words can't even express it!
So... instead of being bitter and angry at all the BAD things that happened to us in 2015, I am choosing to be GRATEFUL that I still have my sons and my husband here. We still have our pets. We still have our house. We still have electricity and internet (we all know it's a necessity...lol). We still have food to eat. And we are stocked up on Toilet Paper for quite awhile! LOL.
The people here have shown us how much God loves us, and have given us HOPE that we CAN survive through the suffering, with the help of His people.
So... now here we are in the new year. 2016. I am SO happy to move on to a new year and I have HOPE and DREAMS for myself and my family. I am doing something small each day for myself, and CREATING ART is one of those forms of therapy that I really need. (See my art blog HERE). I haven't done any art or crafting for a LONG time. My craft room misses me. It has become a dumping ground... I can't even SEE my desk right now. I just stack stuff and walk out. And say someday, I will get around to cleaning that desk off. I have all my mail organized for each month from Oct-Dec., and am still contemplating doing one mass Mail Call video to get caught up.
My oldest son had a surgery which led to complications, which led to him being in the hospital (he's ok now, but is having trauma/anxiety issues which stems from this medical emergency).
We took a family trip to South Dakota (no, not Mount Rushmore, we went to Sioux Falls since that is where my husband's job sent him). We stayed in a beautiful hotel and while we were there, they experienced record rain/flash floods, the power went out in the hotel (no generator), and it was mass chaos. The hotel didn't flood luckily, but many cars out on the road were going everywhere. It's a trip that we will never forget.
My husband has had some multiple health issues going on, and then a pharmacy here gave him the wrong pills in his bottle, which he took for a week before realizing why he was feeling the way he was... and then ended up in the hospital with stroke symptoms, and his whole one side being back at 50% strength. He is still doing physical/occupational therapy. He currently isn't able to do his job (precision measurement), but they found other things for him to do there, so at least he didn't lose his job. He is having more hours away from work due to Dr. appts, etc. so that paycheck loss kind of stung us for awhile.
Then in the end of October, our youngest son started feeling ill. One week after my husband was home from the hospital, on Nov. 2, our youngest ended up in the hospital for 5 days. He was diagnosed with Diabetes Type 1 (sometimes called Juvenile Diabetes) and also had a staph infection. We are now living a "new normal" since Diabetes Type 1 is a lifelong disease (still praying for a cure.)
The end of 2015 has been a HELL of a year, to put it mildly....
Then... we got a call from the school saying we were nominated to be a family to receive a Blessing Bag. They wanted a wish list from us for gifts the kids would like (and us, too). I also saw something in our church bulletin about the community collecting gifts for a family and it was a local organization called Best Christmas Ever (http://www.bcemovement.org/).
The family sounded a LOT like us... hmmmm.... so a lady from church asked if she could stop over one Sunday afternoon. We said sure. Since she also works at the school, I thought she might be bringing over the Blessing Bag. Well lo and behold, several cars pulled into the driveway, and our livingroom was full of people delivering presents and more presents, gift cards, etc. It was the Best Christmas Ever! Literally! I was doing everything I could to hold it together, but yes those tears did fall.
(Here's a news clip of this wonderful organization, a month before they showed up at our door.)
(Here's a video of another family that received gifts from BCE.)
The next day, I still had to go to the school to get our Blessing Bag... but it was not just ONE bag... it was several. They gave us gifts, cleaning supplies, household goods (that stuff adds up you know), food, and a wreath. The kindness of our community has just blown us away. I don't even know how to begin to say thank you for it all! Words can't even express it!
So... instead of being bitter and angry at all the BAD things that happened to us in 2015, I am choosing to be GRATEFUL that I still have my sons and my husband here. We still have our pets. We still have our house. We still have electricity and internet (we all know it's a necessity...lol). We still have food to eat. And we are stocked up on Toilet Paper for quite awhile! LOL.
The people here have shown us how much God loves us, and have given us HOPE that we CAN survive through the suffering, with the help of His people.
So... now here we are in the new year. 2016. I am SO happy to move on to a new year and I have HOPE and DREAMS for myself and my family. I am doing something small each day for myself, and CREATING ART is one of those forms of therapy that I really need. (See my art blog HERE). I haven't done any art or crafting for a LONG time. My craft room misses me. It has become a dumping ground... I can't even SEE my desk right now. I just stack stuff and walk out. And say someday, I will get around to cleaning that desk off. I have all my mail organized for each month from Oct-Dec., and am still contemplating doing one mass Mail Call video to get caught up.
I have decided to stop swapping FBs, and concentrate more on my art. I am not quitting swapping anything else... only friendship books. I will still swap Decos, slams, any bags, postcards, happy mail, exchange slips, etc. Just not FBs. If I get any in the mail, I have people that will take my excess, so don't worry, I'm not one of those people that tosses them in the circular file (trash).
* RELATED POST: What is a Friendship Book? Deco? Etc.
Now, let's talk GOALS, not resolutions. Who really sticks to those silly RESOLUTIONS every year anyway? Definitely not me. Lord knows I try. Maybe for a week or 2. And then we go back to our old habits, or life just gets in the way. What are your goals/resolutions for 2016? Would love to hear about them in the Comments section below.
* RELATED POST: What is a Friendship Book? Deco? Etc.
Now, let's talk GOALS, not resolutions. Who really sticks to those silly RESOLUTIONS every year anyway? Definitely not me. Lord knows I try. Maybe for a week or 2. And then we go back to our old habits, or life just gets in the way. What are your goals/resolutions for 2016? Would love to hear about them in the Comments section below.
Not necessarily in any specific order, here are a few of my goals for 2016:
* Create more digital stationery and maybe even start selling labels again
* Walk more (hoping to get a treadmill soon for these long winter days)
I look forward to sharing my mail journey here with you on my blog on this new year. Thanks for commenting, watching my videos, and just being here for me. Cyberhugs to you all!
~Barbi
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Current News - 2015
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MAY 2015
Hi everyone! I have been busy shooting and editing my mail call videos and am almost completely caught up. Please take a look at my newest 3 from the end of Apr - May 18. And don't forget to Subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven't yet. I will be doing more mail/swapper videos soon, and will also be branching out and doing more art & crafty type videos soon too.
APRIL 2015
I am taking this blog into a new direction... no more organized swaps. I will only be doing personal happy mail, personal swaps, and showing my Monday Mail Call videos. Sorry, too many people didn't follow through with the organized swaps and I just don't have the time to babysit adults.
MARCH 2015
No swaps this month, as we are still trying to track down Feb swaps... sigh...
FEBRUARY 2015
I had 4 people sign up for the Happy Mail swap in January, and nobody signed up for the friendship book swap... so I think we'll just stick to doing a Happy Mail swap again in February. I tried to contact everyone on Facebook to give you your partner's name, and then you contacted each other to exchange addresses... I hope everyone has sent their January swaps out. If not, please send these out this week, so we can wrap things up for Jan. Now for this month, I am going to be posting more of the fun mail I receive, and we'll do another Happy Swap. I can't do too many swaps yet as we just don't have the number of people participating that I need to do more than one.
Happy Swapping!
~Barbi
January 2015
12:05 AM Jan 3, 2015: Hi everyone! I am so sorry I fell behind on this blog last year. My husband had a stroke in May, was in hospital for 2 weeks, then recovery. Then this Fall the kids have been sick with mono and strep (my youngest had strep 3 times!) -- so my family was my main priority, which I am sure you all can understand. I hope to get back into this blog again this year and do some more swapping.
I also want to do some posts on here showing some of the cool swaps I get from time to time. I have lots of great swappers I met on Facebook, and from friendship books, etc. So I just want to share this fun hobby of mine. Would love to hear feedback on some of the changes I'm doing here on the blog! Post comments below, or find our Facebook Event page and you can contact me on there :) -- link is in upper left of main blog page.
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