breepre

I'm a 30 year old wife, mother, and full time student. I'm currently living in Southern New Mexico right outside of the Texas border, but we come from all over. As a family we've lived in North Carolina, Maryland, and Kansas before we moved here and I, personally, have also lived in Missouri, California, Arizona, and Texas thanks to the military. The plan is to move back to Maryland in about three years. I can't wait. NM is ok, but it's not exactly a hoppin' place.

I enjoy crafty pursuits of all kinds. My passion is for paper crafts. I desperately want to learn how to sew (I've even bought two sewing machines at different points when I was positive that THIS was the time I was going to actually learn).

I have a love of words. I read voraciously, write horrible fiction that will never see the light of day, and keep journals obsessively. I can't write emails or IMs that are of a reasonable length. They always end up 4 pages long. It's my fatal flaw.

I love people and socializing, but I hate to leave the house (pants are for suckers). I am a huge fan of the internet and all the treasures you can find there. My kids and I are HUGE fans of LOLcats and I have been hard pressed not to start captioning my life in a similar manner. Of course I would think it's hysterical, but everyone else would think I'm illiterate.

The other thing that I'm very very into is video games. My favorite genres are god games and RPGs. I love the Sims and I'm really having fun with Spore. We got the kids Rockband, but I spent 3 hours the first day singing until my throat hurt. Supposedly it was to unlock all the songs for them, but really I was just having too good of a time to stop. I'm also eagerly anticipating the release of Fable 2. I can't even wait! I'm a former WoW addict, but I'm off the junk as of this last winter.

I don't have any real collections, per se. I spend all my fun money on books, magazines, video games, or craft supplies. I'd love to start collecting Amy Brown fairy items. Post cards are always appreciated, handmade or bought. I'm interested in hand embroidered tea towels, but I don't have much of a collection at this time.

I loveloveLOVE my Ipod touch. I call him Steve and I literally sleep with him beside my bed. I spend waaaay too much time looking up apps to add.

I was also fortunate enough to turn our extra bedroom into a full fledged art room (thanks Target for your reasonably priced- but a bitch to put together- college aimed white laminate furniture!) So I've been more productive than I've ever been. That's not hard though since my "studio" up until a couple of weeks ago was a 4 foot plastic table from Sam's Club and a suitcase to hold the essential supplies (the rest was in boxes in the garage) at the foot of my bed. I still use it, don't get me wrong, but it's been joined by a 6 ft version and several various storage units. And a door! So I can keep the kids from coloring on my half finished ATCs! I feel like a princess.

I love 80's music. I'd list bands, but so many of my favorite songs from that era are one hit wonders.

Really, I like a little of everything. I'm not a big fan of instramental music though. I like to sing along and you need vocals for that. Otherwise, I'm game to try it all.

TEN SONGS ON RANDOM SHUFFLE:

1. Tears for Fears- "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"
2. Edgar Winter Group- "Free Ride"
3. Katherine McPhee- "Over It"
4. Scorpions- "No One Like You"
5. Loverboy- "Take Me to the Top"
6. Eric Clapton- "Wonderful Tonight"
7. Blue October- "The Answer"
8. Offspring- "Keep 'Em Separated"
9. Spin Doctors- "Two Princes"
10. Hinder- "Better Than Me"

Horror, suspense, thrillers. I like to be scared.

I also enjoy the occasional cheesy romance. There is a specific category called paranormal romance that combines my love for the dark with some hot and sexy action. I should be ashamed, but I'm totally not.

My favorite authors are Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Chuck Palahniuk, and Piers Anthony. And Nalini Singh's Psy/Changeling series is rocking my face off currently. LOVE it!

As far as nonfiction goes, my library is very eclectic. I have books on every subject that has ever interested me. The majority of my shelves are devoted to either fiction writing, scrapbooking, visual journaling, or mixed media projects.

We rent movies every Tuesday when the new releases come out, but even so I can't really say that I have any stand out favorites. I do enjoy stupid comedies and horrors above and beyond, but I'll watch just about anything.

There is a special place in my heart for zombie movies. It could happen. Are you ready?

I mourn for the loss of Veronica Mars. It was my favorite show ever.

As far as what's actually on, I love The Soup and Best Week Ever. I can never resist VH1 count down shows because I have a special weakness for pop culture.

I have recordings set on the DVR for South Park, Drawn Together, Family Guy, Futurama, Heroes, House, Cold Case, and Rock of Love (ok, that one DOES embarrass me a little bit).

Other things I like/enjoy/prefer are (in particular order):

Buttons; ribbons; bright colors; Prima (and similar) flowers; clear acrylic stamps; anything by Elsie Flannigan; double sided sticky tape; UTEE; fairies (especially art by Amy Brown); Happy Bunny; rub ons; products designed to add journaling spaces to pages; watercolor pencils and crayons; my itty bitty Xyron sticker maker; blank sketch books; office supplies; fruit scented candles; vintage nude photos and other ephemera; gel pens; beads; embroidary floss; colored duct tape; colored masking tape; Pilot V5 Precise Point pens; textured cardstock; tissue paper; gnomes; hedgehogs; toadstools; birds; butterflies; handmade anything, but especially postcards and ATCs; beeswax

In general I'm pretty easy going, but I thought it might be helpful to list the things I'm not so wild about.

I don't drink coffee drinks or hot tea. I'm not a big tea person as a rule, but I do like the lemon flavored sugar filled Lipton brand.

I don't really care much for bath and beauty products. I keep my bath rituals short and to the point so those kinds of treats are kinda wasted on me at this point in my life.

I don't like anything floral scented because it gives me a headache.

I don't do any gardening because I have a yard made entirely of rocks. This particular growing zone is really hot and dry so few plants grow well out here anyway.

I also don't cook or bake beyond the necessities for survival. Recipes and cooking stuff is wasted on me.

Fancy home decor stuff is in serious danger at this point in my life with what feels like a million little hands constantly touching (and breaking) everything they can reach. So if there's a choice between some fancy glass doodad and a less pretty, but more rugged version, please opt for function over form. It'll last a lot longer, LOL.

Ummm... nothing else springs to mind at the moment. Like I said, I'm pretty easy to please and I'll take care not to join any swaps for things that I don't like or don't have any interest for.

Grrr... I really dislike trying to format lists in my profile.

I've tried at one point or another lots of different crafts. The ones I return to time and again are:

Digital Scrapbooking; I haven't actively scrapped in a couple of years, but I keep up with all the current books, magazines, and web sites. And of course I spend a small fortune on supplies.

ATCs; Love them, but I'm horrible at making them.

Altered Books; I start them, but never do more than a few pages. I have no idea why since I really enjoy the projects.

Visual Journaling; I have this obsession with building the perfect "journaling on the go" kit. We never travel more than an hour or two from home, but I still have this fantasy of keeping a fully formed journal full of memorabilia from an extensive (and hopefully life altering) trip.

Collage; I do this mostly in terms of my journal, ATCs, postcards.

Stamp carving; I really like the process of carving stamps, but I'm not much of an artist so mostly I find myself carving simple geometric shapes and I must have something like 8 circle stamps of different sizes (I have a drafting stencil of circles, what can I say?). I'm actively trying to get more ideas for things to carve.

Knitting; I only do this when it's cold. So obviously I haven't accomplished much the last year that we've been living in New Mexico

Crocheting; I'm a newbie to it and I haven't done much with it yet. I'm dying to learn how to make granny squares so that I can make afghans, but I can't seem to get the knack.

Cross Stitch; I do this from time to time, but only the wee little kits. I would get bored halfway through on a bigger project.

Plastic Canvas; My friends mom used to do these really elaborate projects and I learned enough to do projects from time to time, but it's not a major hobby of mine.

If anyone has any recommendations about websites, books, classes, or anything that could help me learn some of these crafts in my like to learn list, please let me know.

Crafts I'd like to learn more about:

Sewing! I desperately want to learn how.

Quilting; Dependant on learning to sew.

Cloth Doll Making; Again, see above because I can't hand stitch a straight line to save my life.

Slams/Decos/Friendship Books/Crams/Label Bags/etc...; I really want to learn the differences between these different kinds of mail art and figure out if they are something I'd enjoy or not.

Polymer Clay; I've seen some really pretty projects and I'd like to learn more.

Jewelery Making; Just cool.

Silk Screen Printing; I wish.

Candle and Soap Making; Can you even imagine the smelly goodness?

Embroidery; I'd love to make my own set of tea towels. They are so kitchy and cool and I love them.

I'm adding Dotee dolls and inchies because by God, I want to try them both.

If anyone has any of these things for sale or trade, PM me so we can discuss it.

1. Melting pot for my UTEE (right now I'm using a recycled metal dog dish and a heating tool and it's not working as good as one would hope)
2. Vintage photos and ephemera
3. Buttons
4. Ribbons
5. Clear stamps
6. Cropadile
7. Beeswax
8. Love, Elsie products
9. Newspapers written in various languages
10. Scrapping and mixed media resource books (we can discuss titles I have and what I want)
11. Dremel tool
12. Prima flowers and similiar paper and silk blooms
13. Chipboard accents. I haven't really experiemented with these yet so I'd prefer to buy someone's castoffs for cheap to see if I like it
14. Some sort of binding system
15. Button maker. This is one of those things that I totally want, but I know it serves no useful purpose in my life.
16. Square and circle punches of various sizes
17. I always need UTEE and gel medium (preferably Golden brand)
18. Old books for altering or cutting apart for phrases
19. Old magazines for collage. Travel magazines seem to have the best pictures, but any are ok
20. Bazzill cardstock
21. Rub Ons
22. Interesting fabric scraps
23. Tissue paper
24. I have zero Kawaii, but I'd like to start collecting it so that I have some on hand for partners who do collect it. Please no plushies though, I think something like that would collect cat hair and I'm not trying to kill any of my partners. Anything else is fine, I think. I don't know anything about it so if you send it feel free to educate me a little bit on what characters they are.
25. I love art tools. You buy rub ons, you get to use them once, but you buy a stamp and you can use it forever. I always want things that will increase my artistic possibilities. When I know something will eventually run out, I slip into a horder mentality and can't bring myself to use it even if I know I can buy more or even if I have extras. Weird, I know.

I try to send out my swaps as early as humanly possible and I'll often send out US swaps the same day partners are assigned (unless it's a profile surprise, then obviously it'll take a couple of days of thought). I send all of my International swaps from the post office. My husband is off on Mondays so that's when I'll send 99% of my out of country and package swaps. If a dead line falls within the middle of the week, I'll make a special trip to the post office, but please note that as I have to do this with all my kids I try to avoid it as much as possible. Please keep this in mind if you don't see me mark something as sent right away. It's entirely possible that if you are a US partner your things are already on their way.

As I do more swaps I might start holding back all my swaps until closer to the due date so that I can combine shipping as necessary. So far that hasn't come up, but if I start to see myself getting the same partners for several swaps within the same due periods, I might do that.

I reuse evelopes and packaging whenever possible since it's probably the easiest form of recycling ever. Please feel free to do the same with any swaps due to me.

My swaps come from a smoke free home, but I do have a cat. I don't think it should be a problem since she doesn't sleep on my swaps or anything, but I thought I should mention it in case of deathly allergies.

Also, I've been burning pumpkin pie scented candles in my studio for the past few weeks to try to get into the fall mood so you might notice that your swaps smell like warm fuzzies. Sorry about that. :)

I don't mind receiving second hand items within reason. I mean if we're talking about something like a pen with no ink, then why bother? But things like stamps or bits of ribbon or paper scraps can still be useful even if it's not fresh from a package and I'm all over that. I'd rather have an envelope full of scraps and used goodies that I love than something brand new that I'll never use.

I'm always thrilled to receive handmade if you feel like sending it. Don't feel like you have to buy me something fancy for a swap if you are able to make something similiar. You'll still get a 5 as far as I'm concerned.