AmyMarie

My name is AmyMarie (all one word with NO spaces, 2nd M is capitalized).
Preferred pronouns: she/her.

Please use postage stamps instead of metered postage when possible - especially on postcards. Thank you!

**I am willing to do private swaps for playing cards to make "Franken-decks". Poker size, bridge size, unique shapes, or different sizes.*

I am ALLERGIC to wheat (& other foods) and some scents. I won't be doing food swaps because of food allergies. Please keep anything you are sending me away from perfumes and other scented things. Thank you!!!

Note: WHEAT is sometimes used in lotions, shampoos, soaps, glue, etc so I am very careful with what I put on my body.

I live in central Ohio and am married. We currently have one cat, Grady, who is grey and white. I enjoy trying new things, learning, seeing new places, and learning about other cultures/regions and people -- and traveling. I love being in nature and especially near water (waterfalls, lakes, rivers, oceans). I also enjoy reading books, playing board games, spending time with family & friends, going on adventures, and being creative.

I have been a Quest Scout [QuestScouts.com] for a few years and really enjoy it. I like being creative and trying new things. Quest Scouts is questing for adults and completing Quests and earning badges (stickers & metal tags) through objectives in categories like create art, DIY, literature (reading), travel / explore locally, games, photography, research, geocaching / letterboxing, etc. It is so fun and gets me doing things I wouldn't try otherwise or things I didn't even know about.

I enjoy paper crafts and using mixed media art supplies. The items I use and make shift over time. I have made handbound books, homemade paper, artistamps (faux postage), mailart, handmade envelopes & postcards, collages, zines, ATCs, altered books, altered playing cards, pocket letters, and hand-carved rubber stamps.

In the past I have done scrapbooking and art journaling. Still doing a form of fauxbonichi / junk (ephemera from my day) journaling.

I have lots of rubberstamps & dies (I have a Big Shot and a Sidekick) and like to use the stamped images and die cuts on various projects.

I collect the following items:

• postcards [see Postcards section below]

• postage stamps, international & USA (new & used) [please NO USA flag and NO religious Christmas stamps]

• Airmail/Hand Cancel/Fragile/Priority etc. stickers, including from other countries (outside the USA) and in all languages

• Mailboxes, airmail stationery (plus these themes / designs on items)

• wax seals and wax seal stamps (for envelopes)

• Playing cards: It's fun to see the different designs and special packs, especially those that have images or decorated fronts (different colored or design face cards, fun pips on the number cards, pictures or images on the number cards, etc). I am willing to do private swaps for playing cards.

• Currency (coins & paper bills) from around the world and special USA collections [I am missing US Quarters of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, US Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands]

• Doctor Who items (10th Doctor is my favorite) including TARDIS and River Song.

• Harry Potter items. I am Ravenclaw with strong Hufflepuff traits too. I especially like Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Harry Potter, Owl Post, Hogwarts Express, Platform 9-3/4, wands, stationery, Hogwarts School, Potions & Herbology classes. Ministry of Magic.

I would love to get Maxicards! NOT extra large postcards. They are maximized postcards = postcard picture, postage stamp, and cancellation mark all on same side and all depict the same item / image! I'd even enjoy a postcard that has a postage stamp similar to or matching the postcard image.

I also would love to receive Japanese Gotochi (shaped) postcards.

I am a member on PostCrossing and have collected postcards since I was a child. I prefer postcards sent naked (not in envelope) with postage stamps (not metered postage) and something written on the back - even just a short message. If you do not know what to write, here is a list of 20 ideas: http://www.postcrossing.com/blog/2013/02/05/20-ideas-of-things-to-write-on-postcards

Store bought postcards: waterfalls, mailboxes, post offices, mail / postal theme, letter writing / fountain pens / writing desk / correspondence theme, PostCrossing, libraries / books / reading theme, doorways, windows, maps, National Parks, State Parks, landmarks, historical sites & people, UNESCO sites, earthworks, lakes, oceans, lighthouses, skylines / scenes / images of your town / city / country, images of regional traditions / culture, nature scenery, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Star Wars, wild animals (not domesticated cats & dogs), also check out my likes section below for postcard ideas

MailArt (homemade) postcards: etegami; photography; using art, collage, drawing, painting, ephemera, rubber stamps, etc.

traveling themes, maps, foreign coins, travel tickets and tokens (bus, subway, etc.), passports & passports stamps,

waterfalls, oceans, lakes, rivers, autumn, trees, nature, dragonflies, owls, tigers, cheetahs, rhinos, koalas, polar bears, penguins, butterflies, (animals), sunsets and sunrises, mountains,

mail art, mailboxes, postage stamps, postal / mail / airmail themes, fountain pens & ink, typewriters, fun pens, interesting blank journals & sketchbooks, books,

antique & vintage items and ephemera, small / miniature items, different textures, unique designs,

hand-bound books / book arts, paper engineering, earth tones including terra cotta and rust-ish reds, shades of purple and mauve (pinkish, blue-ish purple), most shades of green (NOT olive green), rubber stamps, embossing powders,

connecting with people, other perspectives and cultures, ancient civilizations, hanging out with family & friends, playing board & card games, interesting playing cards,

celestial / astronomy especially moon / lunar / galaxies, NASA / space travel, science fiction,

candlelight, candles [votive & tealights], candle-holders.

I love to read. For fun I usually read mysteries. I also like general fiction and some science fiction. I do read non-fiction on a variety of topics and enjoy a well-written book and learning new things. Some of my favorite authors: Kate Morton, Andy Weir, J.K. Rowling, Rita Mae Brown, Donald E. Westlake, Dorothy Gilman, M.C. Beaton, Jenn McKinlay, Martha Wells, Elizabeth Berg, Brene Brown.

Some books I have enjoyed: The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton, The Martian by Andy Weir, Artemis by Andy Weir, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman, Crosstalk by Connie Willis, The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick, Lola's Secret by Monica McInerney, Leave Me by Gayle Forman, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows, The Lost Letter by Jillian Cantor, The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

I watch WAY too much TV and am working on reducing the hours spent watching shows. I enjoy Doctor Who, Sherlock, NCIS, Speechless, Stumptown, Mom, Instinct, America Says (game show), Best Ever Trivia Show, etc. Shows I like that are no longer on the air: Firefly, Leverage, Alias, Stargate (SG-1 and Atlantis), Star Trek (TNG, Voyager), Warehouse 13, Timeless, Castle, Big Bang Theory, Elementary. I enjoy British panel game shows like Would I Lie To You?, QI, and the Big Fat Quiz of the Year.

I get to the cinema a handful of times a year but watch movies, series, & stand up on Netflix & Amazon Prime. I avoid horror (used to watch but nightmares and now even scarier stuff in real life). I do like sci-fi, adventure, comedies, action, mystery, Independent films, and some of the older / b&w films. Some favorite movies: Star Wars (& most of the "new" ones), Harry Potter, Marvel movies (Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Thor, Avengers, etc), RED (& RED 2), The Hunger Games, Contact, Love Actually, The Holiday, No Way Out, Miracle on 34th Street, Singing in the Rain. Some current favorite series: The Handmaid's Tale, Good Omens, Man in High Castle, Grace and Frankie.

cigarette/cigar/pipe smoke (I am allergic)

overly glittered items (some bling / shiny is nice but when it leaves a trail of glitter on anything it touches, it gets annoying)

Christian-based religious items (plenty of that available around here).

Random bits of paper, teachers' stickers

Altered Art (puzzle pieces, library card pockets, strands of tickets, etc)

3-D Collage like shrines, cigar boxes, and matchboxes

Book Arts

Paper Arts and techniques

Paper Engineering

The Environment and ways to lessen my "footprint" and save energy (and $$)