• I spent two months making a dress and accessories for San Japan, only to get food poisoning thursday evening before the event. I was crazy busy with all the travel and costume details up until then, and am now trying to get over being depressed about the stupidity of missing something I'd been planning since February....so I have not replied to a few penpals yet. Nobody likes getting letters full of complaining, right! So, I'm back on track now, and will have some letters and notecards headed out asap.

• I did not have the opportunity to wear my lolita dress yet, but as soon as there is a new meetup scheduled, I will put up some pics of the finished product. It has come quite a long way since the last pics on my photo blog!

The Basics and Necessary Information

• In 2013, after deciding to take a long break from swap-bot, an ATC swap went missing, and I was not aware until I returned in 2015. I contacted my partner, and the rating of 1 was resolved to a 3.

• I am a 30 year old housewife, with five wonderful animals whom I love dearly; three dogs- a lab named Bella, a husky named Holo, (from Holo/Horo in "Spice and Wolf"), a terrier mix named Hachi, and two fat tabby cats, Musashi and Katana. I spend most of my free time reading, sitting in the backyard garden sipping tea, at the dog park, or searching for new hiking trails.

• I have days where I feel very feminine, and will don a lace baby doll dress and curl my hair, and the next day I may wear a cut-off tank and ripped jeans with harley boots. It's a very humorous sort of duality, and it goes very hand-in-hand with my love of cute and macabre.

• I like to decorate things- notebooks, backpacks, my clothes, my desk...and I like to make accessories and various small trinkets, but I do not scrapbook- all my photos are digital, and I never really got into the whole "project life" thing.

PLEASE DO NOT SEND

• ATCs

• Bookmarks

• Postcards

• Magazine Clippings

• Scrapbooking Supplies/Project Life .

• FBs, Slams, Sticker Bags, Decos

• Religious Items

• Babies/Children

• Disney/Pixar

• School teacher type stuff, like apples, pencils, abc's, smiley faces...

• Hannah montana, High School Musical, etc

• Dinosaurs

• Cars/trucks/bikes

• Bugs

• Lisa Frank

• Owls Why do people keep sending me owls? Every envelope has an owl on or in it. Seriously- it's like they're taking over the world. If you have to pick an animal, send me wolves. I love wolves. :)

• Photos

I Especially Love These Things:

• Kawaii ~I like sentimental circus, mamegoma, natto-san, nyan-puku, sushi-cat, and non-character things like cupcakes, macarons, and noodle bowls, etc. No Hello Kitty

• Steampunk

• Food/Dish Miniatures ~Especially sushi, noodle bowls, tea cups, and cakes/sweets. Decoden, etsy clay pendants and trinkets for jewelry-making, 25 cent machine toys- any kind of miniature works here.

• Coffee and Tea

Especially love florals (lavender, rose, jasmine, etc), earl grey, herbal blends, matcha, and latte or Milk Tea mix packets. No popular US brands like Lipton, Tazo, Stash, or Celestial Seasons, etc. In other words, if I can buy it at Walmart, please don't send it to me. I swap so I can try new things not available to me locally!

• Things from Japan or South Korea

Books, Newspapers, Magazines, Manga, or Manhwa written in Japanese or Korean, and Tea, Coffee, Sweets, or Cultural Souvenirs.

• SPOOKY stuff

The more macabre the better. Think horror, hauntings, abandoned insane asylums, poltergeists, gore, zombies, possessed dolls, rusty medical instruments. If it scares you or creeps you out, great!

(I've had to remove the word "Halloween" from this section title, because it gets me a lot of "Trick or Treat", "Happy Halloween", pumpkins, candy die cuts, other children-oriented characters and quotes, big-nosed witches, pointy hats, and a whole lot of bright orange and purple. Not my cup of tea, folks. These things are usually passed right along in another swap.)

I love realistic skeletons, books on real hauntings, creepy or goth-ish stickers and small scrapbook embellishments. When in doubt, go for goth stuff. Creepy is good. ;) Cute and creepy is good, too.

• Crochet or Embroidery Thread

I am an avid crocheter, and I frequently make my own lace, clothes, and amigurumi. The thinner, the better- I'm not a fan of bulky yarns. I especially love Aunt Lydia's size 10 bamboo crochet thread in Natural. :) It's so soft!

• Vintage Themed Fabric

I make dresses out of handkerchiefs, and I like to make drawstring bags and tea wallet type things, too.

• Classic Cartoon Fabric

The cheap, thin stuff is fine for this) My little pony, The little mermaid, Care bears, Sailor moon, Strawberry shortcake- those kinds of things.

• Lace

Venetian, Cluny, Eyelet, or Embroidery. Please no stretchy nylon or scratchy raschel.

• Themed Stationary

I love vintage, horror, tea and cake, and postage type themes. Please, no Japanese envelopes with a vertical address style, my post office frequently loses them or returns them to me.

Other Stuff I Like

• I love most vintage things, antique and/or distressed look, shabby-chic, things that have "weathered", etc.

• Victorian-inspired, Classic Lolita (Mary Magdalene, Victorian Maiden, Innocent World, etc), Tea Towels, Tea Cups, Marie Antoinette, Rococo, Peignoirs.

• The macabre, unusual, dark, or scary. Ghosts, Cemeteries, Horror, Vampires, Zombies.

Favorite Characters and Themes

• Steampunk keys, gears, clocks, tim holtz, embossed stamps, distressed colors.

• Silent Hill metal grates, gore, creepy nurse, pyramid head, hell hounds

• Geisha/Maiko kanzashi, kimono, traditional makeup, geta.

• Dracula/Vampires Dark, romantic, or scary- no high-necked halloween capes and receding hairlines, twilight characters, or count chocula :p

• Tank Girl Movie or comic themes~ offensive material is expected here. :)

• Hatsune Miku Classic blue, snow miku, or sakura miku with the pink hair.

Comics and Geekery

Comics

• Dawn
• Vampirella
• Purgatori
• Johnny the Homicidal Maniac
• Lady Mechanika
• Tank Girl

Movies

• Harry Potter
• Lord of the Rings
• The Hunger Games
• Serenity
• Evil Dead

T.V.

• Firefly
• Buffy: The Vampire Slayer
• The Walking Dead
• Kindred: The Embraced
• Dollhouse
• The Vampire Diaries
• The L-Word

Video Games

• Final Fantasy 7, 8, 10, and 10-2
• Xenosaga
• Fatal Frame
• Silent Hill

NOT a Fan of:

• Dr. Who
• Star Wars
• The Hobbit Movies
• Minecraft
• WoW
• The Dark Knight

Barrons Books and Baubles

Basically I read anything with vampires, werewolves, or fae...mostly paranormal romance novels (Authors Listed) and manga (Titles Listed).

• Sherrilyn Kenyon
• Karen Marie Moning
• J.R. Ward
• Laurell K. Hamilton
• Anne Rice
• Kim Harrison
• Vampire Knight
• Fruits Basket
• Fake
• Chibi Vampire Karin
• Chobits
• Junjou Romantica
• Strawberry Panic

I like a lot of Music

• Bullet for my Valentine
• Killswitch Engage
• Breaking Benjamin
• A Perfect Circle
• Hamasaki Ayumi
• Tommy Heavenly 6
• Wakeshima Kanon
• Ailee
• IU
• 30 Seconds to Mars
• Atreyu
• Flyleaf
• Taylor Swift
• Pink
• Sara Bareilles
• Paramore
• F(X)
• Girls Generation
• Younha
• Abe Mao
• Jolin Tsai
• Evans Blue
• Lady Gaga
• Letters to Cleo
• Jimmy Eat World
• Reggie and the Full Effect
• Metallica
• Mindless Self indulgence
• Jack off Jill
• Shiina Ringo
• Hikaru Utada
• NIN
• The Cure
• Lacuna Coil
• Fiona Apple
• Depeche Mode
• The Used
• Linkin Park
• Within Temptation
• In this Moment
• Avril Lavigne

I like a lot of Movies, too

• The Fifth Element
• Resident Evil
• Interview with the Vampire
• Underworld
• Milo and Otis
• Memoirs of a Geisha
• Izo
• Killer Clowns from Outer Space
• Saving Face
• Dragon: the Bruce Lee Story
• My Big Fat Greek Wedding
• Girl with a Dragon Tattoo
• Death Note
• 30 Days of Night
• Vampire Journals
• House of 1000 Corpses
• Return of the Night of the Living Dead 3
• Fido
• The Secretary
• Dracula 2000
• The NeverEnding Story
• Hudson Hawk
• The Count of Monte Cristo
• Deathproof
• Planet Terror
• Silent Hill
• Spaceballs
• The Lost Boys
• Bulletproof Monk
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• Honey and Clover
• Braveheart
• Les Miserables
• Phantom of the Opera
• REPO: The Genetic Opera
• Rent
• Chicago

Swap Tags

FLAKERS:

• I wish for...tag: @nightdescends

• I feel like writing about...: @Margo 5/29/15