Betsi

I'm a mixed-media collage artist, currently working most often in ATCs and art journals. I love using bright colors, sparkles, and unusual found objects in my art. I’ve also been trying to branch out into drawing and painting lately.

I absolutely ♥ anything sparkly, bright colored or neon, rainbow striped, vintage-kitschy, or "aurora borealis"/prismatic. Love it, love it, loooove it!

ALLERGY NOTES: Please don't send anything spearmint, licorice, wool, or anything with a really strong perfume/smoke smell (includes incense). Thanks!

I've been an ATC maker, trader, and collector for several years. (I'm also one of the organizers in my local ATC group. If you live in or near Massachusetts, please check out the link above; we are an awesome, friendly, ever-growing group of artists and we'd love to meet you!) I don't mind receiving quality prints/ACEOs, but originals are preferred.

I would be happy to get many themes, but here are a few I collect:

• ATCs that make me chuckle
• ATCs made primarily with unusual materials/media (such as clay, metal, fabric, beadwork, cross-stitching, crochet – but NOT felted due to a wool allergy)
• ATCs with moving parts
• Sun and or Moon
• Science Fiction, Outer Space – especially robots and rocketships!
• Graffiti, junk mail, and anything urban-feeling
• Steampunk or – if you are feeling adventurous – cyberpunk… like steampunk but chrome, neon, and circuitry, instead of brass, lace, and gears
• Marie Antoinette or other royalty themed cards (castles, thrones, generic princesses – not Disney)
• Vintage Underwear (corsets, bustles, etc… preferably Victorian/Edwardian era, but mid 19th century or anything else really can be fun too!)
• Generically cutesy things like rainbows and cupcakes and shooting stars
• 80s cartoons I like: Lady Lovely Locks, Jem and the Holograms, Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Brite, She-Ra/He-Man, Care Bears -- OLD SCHOOL/original versions only please
• Other cartoons I like (enough that I want ATCs of them anyhow!) are Futurama and Invader Zim - particularly Gir!
• Fairy Tales, Myths, Legends, Tall Tales, etc (includes any sub-genre you can think of; urban legends, old wives tales, Aesop’s fables)
• Unusual or made-up merfolk or other human/animal hybrids… new spins on mythological creatures; like a zebra centaur (don't have one, want one!) or a shark merman (have one, would love another - or a squid, or crab, or anything you like!).

SPECIAL: I love any and all fantasy, scifi, or whimsical places, people or creatures... including but not limited to: robots, mermaids, griffins, unicorns, dragons, mad scientists, castles, tree houses, rocket ships, underwater cities, hot air balloons.

I am ESPECIALLY CRAZY about cards that include multiple things like this - I have two robot pirates, a mermaid in front of her castle, and a robotic/steampunk mermaid. I love them all, and would always love more like this!

One last note - I have a bizarrely strong preference towards vertically aligned cards (short sides = top/bottom). I'll never hold it against you if you send a horizontally aligned card, I just wanted to mention that I prefer them vertical. :)

A big creative outlet the past several months has been art journaling. Kind of like scrapbooking meets traditional journaling meets mixed media collage.

I’m also starting to get into making Dotee dolls, but I have plenty of fabric and embellishments. Though I could use white, peach, or pink felt for faces and real fiber-fill; I’m stuffing them with cottonballs right now, it’s all I have! :)

Art/craft supplies I prefer to get: Gluedots/glue runners or any other "dry" adhesives like that, self-adhesive lace, deco tape, stickers, acrylic/foam/rubber stamps, brads, rhinestones, pens/markers especially Sharpie Water-based Poster Paint Pens or Atyou Spica glitter markers. Paper is good too, but I have WAY too much already! :) I love handpainted or unusual papers though, especially colorful ones.

I'd love any "learn to draw" books you don't want or need anymore, especially weirder ones like sci fi or fantasy worlds. Kid-oriented is just fine. :)

Craft supply themes/imagery I use most: travel - especially sailboats and compasses, heart/mind images – anatomical or not, anything outer space like rockets and planets, anything good for journals and introspective symbolism, anything that conveys movement or progress, simple non-specific embellishments like stars, swirls, check marks, circles, borders. Other themes and imagery I can use: Flowers, books, cityscapes/skyscrapers, birdcages, rainbows, cake or cupcakes, butterflies, letters, words.

Other stuff I like receiving:

• Unused postcards (non-tourist ones - art, animals, etc)
• Blank notecards - I go through these like water!
• Return address labels made for me, especially the tiny 80/sheet type or the clear kind
• Anything to decorate my studio. See my Flickr photos (there is a studio set) to get an idea, but really any funky, kitschy, sparkly, or colorful item I can possibly hang on the wall is appreciated
• Good gluten-free recipes, especially South Beach Diet friendly ones (low carb)
• Adult size novelty (patterned or fuzzy) socks. Colorful ones especially appreciated, please no "toe" socks, or knee-high.
• Stretchy (not hard plastic) headbands, adult sized, bright colors preferred. Handmade is fine!
• Unused Coke Rewards codes
• Canceled postage stamps
• Fortunes from fortune cookies
• Any clear plastic "pocket pages" made for three-ring binders. (Like those made or organizing postcards, trading cards, or photography slide.) I am working on getting my craft supplies organized into binders, so I can use an essentially infinite number of these, include the "one pocket" coversheet protector type ones.

I’m pretty easy to please, but there are a few “no thank yous” I figured I’d mention. Not a big deal if you send them, but please know they’ll just get passed along.

Craft supplies I don’t use/need: buttons, ribbon, yarn or "fun fibers", cutesy scrapbook-themed stuff like "it's a boy!" or "graduation time" etc.

I don't really have any use for licensed characters (Disney, Sesame Street, Hello Kitty etc). The only exceptions are those listed under ATCs I collect. (For those, I like anything I can get – stickers, postcards, bookmarks, you name it!)

It says this above, but it bears repeating: please don’t send anything wool, spearmint, black licorice, or really heavily perfumed/smokey.

Please note, I prefer my postcards "naked" (not in an envelope) - unless the swap is for blank, unused postcards. If you are my partner in a swap for blank, unused postcards in an envelope PLEASE don't send me touristy ones unless they are Massachusetts or New England. I never send tourist postcards except from my own area. I would much rather get 3 non-tourist cards than 10 tourist ones.

If you don’t know what to write on a postcard you are sending me for a swap – aside from the swap name and you username, of course – just draw me a little doodle. I don’t care if you don’t think you can draw, I don’t think I can draw either. I just like doodles!

Favorite types of postcards:

My likes for ATCs and postcards are pretty similar, so if you want to make me an ATC with one of these themes or want to send me a postcard with one of my ATC themes, I’d be delighted!

• Mythological places or creatures (mermaids, fairies, etc)
• "Home of the..." cards that show something invented there
• NIGHTTIME cityscapes
• Castles or palaces, ruins or temples, gargoyles, or beautiful cemeteries
• Rainbows, Lightning Storms, or Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis)
• Sunsets or sunrises, flowering gardens, waterfalls, interesting or unusual trees, beaches
• Carnivals, Arcades, Circuses, Roadside attractions
• Statues (people or things, not abstract monuments)
• Famous landmarks of your country (Eiffel Tower, Niagara Falls, Great Wall of China, etc)
• ...basically, anything weird or unusual, not just a plain landscape or building – the more weird and unusual the better, in fact!

I'm a television junkie, I really can watch hours of the stuff. It’s how I “shut off” and relax. I watch a ton of current shows, mostly dramas or “dramedies”.

I have to say though, I think all of my truly favorite shows are off the air. These include Futurama (soon to be back!), Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Buffy/Firefly/Dollhouse, Invader Zim, Star Trek DS9 and Voyager.

My favorite author, by far, is Jasper Fforde. Completely brilliant, words simply cannot describe his awesome.

I'm also a fan of Michael Marshall Smith, Chuck Palaniuk, Christopher Moore, and Douglas Adams. I’m a complete sucker for themed short story anthologies such as the “Chicks in Chainmail” books and “Alien Pregnant by Elvis”.

Too many to list, really. Comedies of the era of "Harvey" and "Arsenic and Old Lace". Visually enchanting films like "The Cat's Meow" or "Stardust". Most classic ‘80s fantasies. The comedic gems of Kevin Smith and Mel Brooks. Anything with Eddie Izzard or Matthew Perry.