February 2013 update

So, you know when you think that you are superwoman and you work and have a family and then you decide to go back to school? I did that so I can be a real live (degreed) librarian in two years. It turns out that I am not superwoman. Darn! I will be checking in once a month and will possibly join a swap or two during our week breaks between semesters but I will be a minimalist for awhile longer.

If you could stop making such awesome swaps for me to join, I would much appreciate it. :) In the meantime, I'm going to resist anything I can't complete before swap partners are assigned.

I will try any craft at least once but I prefer needlework and paper craft. I'm learning that I can make nearly anything out of either one. I've discovered that I hate knitting but I love the things you can produce with knitting. It's kind of a pickle.

I am the wife of a very sweet man who puts up with my craft clutter (and a has a painting table of his own!). I have two boys, one of whom aspires to craft but gets bored pretty quickly. He loves handmade stuff because he's watched us put so much care into gifts and decorations for the home. He just finished making a beaded (seed beads!) woven necklace for me and we were all shocked that he did. It's gorgeous and I couldn't be prouder. The other boy is working on destroying everything in his path in his quest to conquer the world, so his creative plate is full.

Our general themes are fantasy, dragonflies, Pokemon, space, goats, cats, and monkeys. Our house is a real hodgepodge and we love it!

When I'm not at home, I work as a Teen Librarian. I get paid to plan, read, and play. Best job ever!

I know that I will love whatever postcard you send me but if you'd like to help me out with a postcard project, please see my "Working on" section below.

Indigo Girls, Musicals, Country,Christmas Music, 80s Music

This one is ongoing and long. Hunger Games, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Free-Range Kids, Blink, 100 Year of Solitude, Lamb, To Kill A Mockingbird, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Little Prince, The Bone Doll's Twin, Anything by Terry Pratchett...

My favorite parts of the children's department are the 398.2s (Fairy Tales) and 745.5s (Art). The books I carried around with me as a child were a small compilation of Grimm Fairy Tales and Ed Emberley's drawing books. Who knew there were picture books for every fairy tale and Ed Emberley was so prolific? Those sections are treasure troves of inspiration. I particularly like Little Red Ridinghood, The Six Swans, The Goose Girl, The Frog Prince, Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Nightingale and The Tinderbox. Grimm versions before Anderson versions.

You know what, I'll be back to update this but I read at least two books a week and mostly stick to fantasy, mysteries, non-fiction, and sad sack fiction.

Singing in the Rain, Stranger than Fiction, Shawshank Redemption, You've Got Mail, Dream a Little Dream

Psych, Burn Notice, Leverage, NCIS, American Pickers, How I Met Your Mother, Dancing With the Stars, Work of Art, The Daily Show, Glee

Crafts I'm good at:

Cross-Stitching, Embroidery, Kid's Crafts

Crafts I like but am still working on learning:

Beading, beading embroidery, Book Making, knitting (why, I don't know.)

Things I use in crafts:

My husband makes fun of me for always picking an alphabet based sampler and paper with letters on it. Anything dragonfly. Anything cats. Old paper (wrapping, maps, books, pictures), any kinds of beads, stamps, tag board, glue, pens (oh, how I love pens!), blues and greens especially though I like all vibrant colors, water themes, forest themes, odd dictionaries...

I'm just starting to build up my fabric collection. I've pieced together a few quilts and it seems I like everything but pastels. I like contrast in my work.

Nathaniel is 9 and likes almost everything. He particularly likes:

• dragons (and making dragons)

• Pokemon

• random drawings that have hidden pictures

• cats

Smelly stuff (even pretty smells!), Dog stuff, I like dark stuff but not gory stuff, Pink, pastels, Cutesy, television characters, movie characters, boring marketing (different from clever or pun-ny marketing)

Your trash. If you don't want it, I don't want it either. :)

This is a work in progress. Thank you for the inspiration @CajunLady

A-- Alphabet, ATCs, Architecture

B-- Books, blues (the color, not the music), boxes

C-- Christmas, cats, cooking, competence

D-- Dictionaries, Dia de los Muertos, Dragonflies

E-- Elephants, embroidery

F-- Full moons, flea markets, fabric

G-- Gypsies, greens (the color and the food), green left turn arrows

H-- Herons, Halloween

I-- Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

J-- Jelly beans, journals

K-- Kiwi (I like the fruit and the word.)

L-- Loons, Laughter (Specifically kid laughter)

M-- Maps, music

N-- Nathaniel (How awesome is it that we get to pick our favorite names for our kids?)

O-- Ott Lights

P-- Private swaps, postcards, pictures, pressed pennies, pelicans

Q-- Quotes, quilting, quilts

R-- Rhinos, Red Riding Hood

S-- Stars, sunrises, sunsets, summer, spring, shrines

T-- Tattoos, Tie Dye

U-- Useful things (I really prefer useful over pretties though I love pretties too!), Umbrellas

V-- Variegated thread

W-- Words, whisper

X--

Y-- Your craft (make me want to learn how to do something new!), Yarn

Z-- zombies, zentangles

Things that don't fit neatly, In no particular order... Good pictures, Learning something new, Finding something beautiful, Making something that I want to touch over and over, Curling up with a good book, Spring after Winter, the five minutes when everything is tidy and clean, Handmade pieces that reflect someone else's obsession (I never know when I'll find a new obsession for myself!)

Things that make my kids happy: High contrast, monkeys, outer space, legos, cats, running (or crawling as the case may be), swords, a bad guy to conquer

I've just discovered how cool ATC's can be. I'm still not feeling hugely confident about mine so I would love a one-on-one swap to keep practicing!

I am very fortunate to have a library that has a fantastic Fine Arts collection. I check books out to try their crafts. These are some that I'm either reading or trying right now:

• How to Make Books
• Expressive Handmade Books
• Stitch Alchemy
• More Softies Only a Mother Could Love

• Handmade Home:Simple Ways to Repurpose Old Materials into New Family Treasures

• Amigurumi Knits: Patterns for 20 Cute Mini Knits

Private trades:

If you happen to be a confident crocheter, I would love to do a private swap with you. I have my eye on half a dozen free patterns on the internet that I would love to have!

Post Cards and Other

Our summer reading theme for Summer 2012 is Night. I'm not a huge fan of things that go bump in the night though about half my teens are. If you have something that you think teens would like and falls into the theme of night (Stars, Monsters, Bed time, Fireworks, etc.) I would love to trade with you. It would be nice to have a collection of night postcards for a display. Even better if it has your town, state, or country listed on there. It's funny how it's a revelation that night happens everywhere!