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Date Joined: August 29, 2016
Last Online: June 22, 2025 Birthday: July 7, 1968 Country: Costa Rica My Amazon Wishlist |
Hi friends!
Please note that for all purposes, my official address is based in Costa Rica, especially for swaps, just in order to stay aligned with Swap-bot rules:
Maria Gallardo
PoBox 1891-2050
San Pedro de Montes de Oca
San José, 11501
Costa Rica
However, I also have a side address in the USA, which you’re welcome to use for tags, RAKs, gifts, or any mail as long as it includes a tracking number. This helps ensure my carrier can properly scan and forward the items to Costa Rica:
Maria Gallardo
2107 NW 79 AVE
CyM BoxD11164 / 3592
Miami, FL 33122-1611
USA
My email: mgallardo68@gmail.com
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Hello! I’m Maria — 56 years young, proud mom of three amazing grown children, and the happiest grandma to six beautiful grandbabies.
Our family recently downsized from a larger home into a condo community, where we now live across several units — still together as one big, joyful family of 15. :)
Family is everything to me. I also have a deep love for art, reading, travel, the internet, movies, classic and indie music, meaningful conversations, philosophy, philology, history, anthropology — and yes, even politics.
Though I’m an atheist, I’m genuinely fascinated by religious iconography, spiritual symbols, angels, and pagan imagery. I welcome items inspired by these themes — just kindly no Jehovah’s Witness materials or conversion attempts.
I’m a minimalist at heart. I don’t believe in hoarding and love to share. I always strive to send thoughtful, high-quality swaps, and I truly value quality over quantity in return.
I’m honest, passionate, intense, and very straightforward — which sometimes gets me into trouble, but it’s just who I am. I value authenticity, thoughtfulness, and meaningful connections. I truly look forward to sharing creativity and kindness through every swap.
Creativity is my heartbeat. I quilt, sew, embroider, create mixed media art, alter and upcycle items, and enjoy giving new life to recycled materials.
I’m deeply inspired by nature, the cosmos, stars, trees, the ocean, planets, and the changing seasons — especially Fall, Christmas, and SNOW (yes, snow!!).
I especially love:
Handmade items that reflect your soul
Decorated and/or painted envelopes (4"x6" and larger)
Happy mail, jelly prints, painted papers
Unique items, antiques, and vintage supplies
Lighthouses
Cherry blossoms, stars, roses, dandelions, hydrangeas but all flowers are beautiful
Hot air balloons
Nautical themes
The sun and the moon
Water
Whimsical and fairy imagery
The 1920s and 1950s, Middle age
Supplies that spark creativity
Quilt shop-quality cotton fabrics
Ethnic textiles and batiks
Fibers, buttons, and beautiful paper
Vintage treasures
Supplies for collage, journaling, and Flowish-style creations
Postcards:
No touristy type unless the swap called it for Blank and in an envelope, even if the swap calls for them to be written on (don’t worry — I won’t rate down!)
Note:
I love reused postcards, greeting cards, and note cards for collage and creative reuse. You might even receive one back from me as a handmade or repurposed envelope!
I also collect used postage stamps, de-stash supplies, and all kinds of paper ephemera.
Please do not send:
Dirty or smelly items (especially anything with smoke)
Childish or baby-themed items (no Disney or cutesy designs, please)
Tiny stickers, reward stickers, or those designed for children
Home-printed notepaper unless it’s truly exceptional
Postcards with visible price tags on the back (I can’t reuse them)
Nude images (even of babies — I don’t find that cute)
Vulgar or rude content
Pet-themed items
Comments
Thank you so much for the awesome package of postcards that you sent me for May WTA: PH. I love that Japanese watercolor one and the Kawaii one as well!
Thank you for granting my daughter’s Amazon birthday wish… Dinosaur shirt.💕 CPG June Wishlist
Wow Maura - you have outdone yourself on my Pick 2 - Global tag items! You have not sent me 2. You have sent me a googol! I haven't even finished exploring, but I wanted to message right away to let you know how special this package is, and how fun it was to open the layers. This is my first mail from Costa Rica, so I'm even excited about the stamps! The envies are gorgeous and I'm about to explore the PCs. Your handmade ephemera are beautiful as well!
thank you very much
for granting my CPG wish for artist pens! :)
Hi, Maria: I came home from our campsite yesterday and a notice was here saying I had a package at the post office to pick up. I had no idea who it could be from, but was very pleased when I picked it up today to see it was from you. Thank you for the 7 postcards you sent me; a very nice way to give something back to somebody in some way, and I was the lucky person who is the recipient!
Oh. My. Goodness. You have blessed me with the most amazing package of blue inspiration! Where do I begin - well, with the lovely blue print envelope decorated with blue stickers and even all blue postage that the mailman personally brought right to my door. Then the incredible contents - just wow, Maria! I had so much fun going through ALL the envies and packets of goodies: aquas, baby blue, navy, soft and bright blues- such luscious color. I mean you even put ephemera in an all blue and white Guitar String envelope! That cool envelope will be the star feature of one of my journal pages! A blue seed packet for blue curled kale will make a clever pocket on a jornal page. Absolutely love the sweet Little Prince bookmark. (I once chose a Paris hotel just because it was next to The Little Prince Store!) So many pretty blue postcards - my favorites are the Milky Way galaxy, watercolor sailfish and cute Dick Bruna bunnies in the bathtub. Gorgeous handmade envelopes - but will I mail them or use in my journals - not sure i can give them up! The delicate glassine envie with blue postage from around the world! That unique notecard of dresses that comes with a set of little colored pencils! (I think you saw that I like paper dolls.) Snippets of interesting textured and print papers that will soon be in my collages! Oodles of great stickers! I like that you recycled the front of a greeting card for your swap note: and I will fussy cut the image to use it again! Thank you also for sending some of my favorite non-blue things: Hello Kitty and Flow magazine items! That Flow Flower Drawing Book is so pretty. And that Disney mini notecard of Bambi and Flower is the sweetest thing ever! Thank you SO MUCH for this Creative Mail RAK. I hope you can tell I just love everything you sent me.
Thank you so very much for the purple inspirational kit you put together as the Creative Mail RAK! It was such a beautiful package to receive and go through. It will go to good use in my projects. ☺️💜
Hi Maria, your package stuffed with goodies arrived today (so fast!), thank you so much for thinking of me and putting together this Creative MAIL RAK inspirational kit! I'm looking forward to using the goodies in my crafts (and all the wonderful envelopes themselves)! Thanks again!
Thank you so much for this fun sailboat stamp! It will be so fun to use for Mail art! Thanks for thinking of me! This was for the CPG June wishes!
Thank you so much for the adorable beautiful lettersets for cpg wishlist 💕💕💕