The Shoes of Princess Mei -- A Thrift Store Shoe Tale

The following is a story swapped at swapbot for a theme of creating stories about unusual shoes found in thrift stores or similar places. The story is from a book being written by my son and myself.

The Shoes of Princess Mei

The sad tale of these beautiful shoes was told to me by the shopkeeper, who said that her great-great grandmother had heard it as a child. Princess Mei was the adored wife of the Emperor, who enjoyed her beauty, but never heard the words or dreams of the Princess. The Princess fell in love with a fisherman while out walking along the sea. The Princess and the fisherman made plans to run away, and decided to meet at the boat dock when the moon was at its highest. Princess Mei eagerly arrived first, and early.

Suddenly, the Emperor stepped out of the shadows of the boathouse, with his trusted guard. "Why do you think you can walk away from me?" he demanded of Mei. With a quick gesture to his guard, he turned his back. Mei felt the cool blade before she could run, and screamed as she fell to the ground. The Emperor told her, "You will never walk away from me again," and his guard picked her up and carried her back to the palace.

When the fisherman arrived, he found Mei's beautiful shoes, with her feet still in them.

(She description: These sandals have solid wooden soles, with hand-painted flowers on black lacquer. Straps have sparkling sequins and beads.)

Inchies !

I had never heard of 'inchies' before I started playing at swap-bot.com. Inchies are like artist trading cards, but much smaller, only 1 inch by 1 inch in size. This swap required that only recycled paper goods (such as envelopes, mailers, cardboard, etc.) be used for making 9 inchies.

Slipper Swap at Swap-bot

These are the cute slippers I received from my swap partner at swap-bot.com for the Slipper Swap; my partner even added some unique candies to the package.

Mixing It Up With Strangers This Year....

Since I recently discovered swap-bot.com, I've decided to give it a year and join in the fun that's going on there. They've got swaps and trades going for every item or subject ever thought of in a creative mind. There's even swaps asking to trade stories on "How you will survive a zombie attack"! And of course, more sedate being the tea bag swapping. But if you search for a topic or item that you want to trade or swap with someone else, you are sure to find it, and if not, you can start your own.

Another good thing about the site is that they monitor good swappers and bad. They have a system of earning 'hearts' for good swapping (this being mailing your items off in a timely manner, and mailing items that are good enough that you would want to receive them yourself); and no good feedback for bad swapping (not sending items, even though you signed up for the swap....etc.) will earn you bad ratings and get you banned from participating.

So far the swaps I'm signed up for are Bubble Swap (trading those vending machine toys that come in a plastic bubble....this swap is international, so I really hope I get one from out of the country); Slipper Swap (creating some slippers for swap partner); Stuffy Swap (sewing up a stuffed creature for a partner); Link Swap (swapping home page links for viewing), Angel Cat Swap (swapping cat ATC's); and Mardi Gras ATC swap.

I believe that being creative is more fun when you are making something that will be given to someone else, so I think I will enjoy swapping at this site all this year! I will post photos of items received.