MissBrenda

9/15/2018 I am back from my break and hosting some swaps and participating in a couple of others. It feels good to be back in the swing of things, but sad summer is over. I did buy a different vehicle at the end of July, so now I have a car payment again, grrrr. The seats in it are very comfortable, and that was the deciding factor. Not crazy about the color, but I can live with it. (It's black, and shows everything!) I hope you will join in my swaps, as I plan on doing many. Happy swapping!!

5/22/2018: Taking a short break, but will be checking to make sure all swaps are taken care of. This will be done on a daily basis.

Enjoy the weather and Happy swapping!!!

I'm in my 50's. I love receiving snail mail that isn't a bill. Some of my favorites are ATC's, PC's, cards and anything zentangle!

I live in Minnesota and I dislike winter (the cold, snow and sleet) so swapping helps me fill the void of the long winter days and nights. Summers are too short, and full of bugs. lol The humidity gets to me and thankfully not too many days have high humidity.

I like to hang around my house and spend time with my 7-year old female chihuahua named Charlie. She is so cute! She is a rescue and I got her when she was 6 months old. She was so timid and very shy and scared of everything. Now she is more sure of herself, but still gets scared easily. She gets nervous around children.

I don't have any food allergies that I am aware of, which is great! I like Chocolate and have discovered I have a sensitivity to it. This is not an allergy. I also like to have my daily cup of coffee and a relaxing cup of herbal tea is always nice. Iced tea is wonderful, too. Especially on warm days. Who remembers the old commercial "Take the 'Nestle Plunge' " and a guy with a glass of iced tea on a hot summer day would fall backwards into a pool? I didn't like tea in those days, but I sure do now!

I have an eclectic taste of music, however I do not like most rap or any head-banging music.

My favorite artists: Def Leopard, Garth Brooks, Billy Idol, Martina McBride and nature sounds and most everything in between. When I am in my "creative zone", I like the background noise to be soothing and non-intrusive.

I love to listen to podcasts. My favorite are Unsolved Murders: True Stories, Serial Killers, Once Upon a Crime|True Stories, Conspiracy Theories and many more. What I like about them is they are based on true stories of unsolved murders (for the most part) and then dive in and give a compelling retelling of the facts based on the story. It's intriguing and I enjoy listening to them.

I recently discovered a couple new podcasts not related to murder. One is from the Michigan NPR called Believed. It is about the Olympics Gymnastics Doctor Larry Nassar who was sexually abusing the gymnasts for nearly 2 decades. So interesting! Check it out! Start at episode one.

Another one I found is The Dream. Another podcast to start at Episode one. It is about MLM's and Direct Sales. Opened my eyes. Believe me. Can't wait for these to episodes to be uploaded so I can download them to listen. So interesting.

My bookshelf is full of goodies! I have the Harry Potter series, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Water for Elephants, The Clan of the Cave Bear series, Reiki books and many Bibles. Plus so much more!

I don't watch a lot of tv. I can go a couple of weeks without even turning it on! But I do own two, one in my living room, and one in my bedroom.

Podcasts. I listen daily. Recommend your favorite; I tend to listen to Parcast podcasts Useless Information, Once Upon a Crime/True Crime (One of my favorites), My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, Wild Thing (they are on the trail for Bigfoot) and Unsolved Mysteries, just to name a few.

Swapping with Me: I will try to send out my items as soon as partners are selected, but if something doesn't make it to you, please let me know BEFORE rating. I want to make sure that you get the items! I want HAPPY partners. I keep a close watch on my swaps, and I usually will contact my partner before she/he contacts me concerning any possible mail mix-ups/hiccups. I will gladly re-send the swap to you. I would rather you receive two items than none at all!

PLEASE RATE UPON RECEIPT OF A SWAP....if all requirements of the swap are met, you must rate a 5. That is required of ALL swaps.

If you're going to be late in sending out a swap, I'm very understanding, so let me know. Communicate with me and we'll work something out.

If there is postage due on a swap I sent you, please let me know, and I will reimburse you.

I really love doing the Found Image swaps here on SB. Totally fun to search for items of interest.

My ABC's for swaps:

A: Aquamarine. Albus Dumbledore.

B: Blue. Brown. Buttons. Bows.

C: Coffee. Charms. Colored pencils & pens. Cardinals. Crocheting.

D: Diamonds. Dobby. Draco Malfoy.

E: Elephants. Essential Oils.

F: Finger-less Gloves. Frankincense E.O. Flamingos. Fred Weasley.

G: Gems. Gnomes. Green. Gold. God. Gorilla's. George Weasley. Ginny Weasley. Giraffes.

H: Homemade PC's & Cards. Hedgehogs. Honey. Harry Potter. Hermione Granger.

I: Ice Cream. Iceman. Invisibility Cloak.

J: Jam. J.K. Rowling.

K: Kites. Kangaroos. Kittens.

L: Lavender. Lilacs. Lemurs. Lollipops. Lipstick. Luna Lovegood.

M: Magenta. Myrrh E.O. Mom. Minerva McGonagal

N: Note cards, new or homemade. Napkins. Never-never land. Nordic Gnomes. Niffler.

O: Owls, cool animals. Orange. Orangutans.

P: Postcards: Love Vanity Fair, Master Painters (Monet, Manet, Renoir, etc, unknowns, as long as the pics are fabulous, etc.), cute and funny. B & W are good also. Harry Potter PC's. Magical Beasts PC's. PC's from your City or State. Purple. Pink. Pens, .07 fine line. Podcasts. Presents. Phoenix.

Q: Quartz. Quidditch

R: Red. Rosemary. Ron Weasley. Remus Lupin. Rubeus Hagrid.

S: Stationery. Silly things & sayings. Sloths. Sisters. Squashed Pennies/Nickels. Severas Snape. Sirius Black.

T: Tea, no black or green tea, please. Tiny things. Themed items. Trading cards. Themed tissue paper. Turtles. Teal.

U: Unicorns. Unusual items. Ukulele.

V: Violets (the flower). Violet (the color). Violins. Velvet.

W: Washi tape. Woodland creatures. White.

X: ??

Y: Yellow. Yorkies, owned one for 14 years. She was a treasure.

Z: Zentangle. Zines. Themed Zines.

PLEASE DON'T SEND:

Teacher/Reward Stickers. I have no need for these. Children's puffy stickers. Can't use them on envies and all my kids are grown and the grand-kids are too old for them also.

Dislike: Hello Kitty. Well, I don't dislike Hello Kitty. I just have no use for her. Mean people.

Sloppy work. If you wouldn't want to receive it, neither would I.

I like to Crochet. I have made tablecloths and many, many doilies along with stuffed toys for my kids and grandkids. I have made quite a few wrist warmers and have even sold a few. What has been particularly popular is Harry Potter house colors and NFL team colors. It's very relaxing and fun to do!

I have also been sewing dog boots for our furry friends. They are made primarily of fleece, but have suede on them, so our friends have sure footing when walking in cold weather. They also help keep the salt off our friends paws, which damage their paws. In the summer, on those sultry, super hot days, they keep our furry friends from burning their paws on the tar and cement! If it is too hot for us, it is too hot for them. Dogs sweat through their paws, so we need to protect those precious paws!

ATC's; I am finding I am enjoying making these very much. They are a fav of mine! The Found Image-type is a big hit with me. It is interesting to see what others find.

Zentangle; I discovered it here on SB almost 2 years ago and I checked out YouTube for a swap to see if I could actually do it, and was instantly hooked! I have made myself a book filled with samples of the different types of tangles, and had to move to a 5 x 7 drawing book I've had for years (I can't draw) to add more zentangle samples along with the zentangle names. I really love zentangle, but since I am not an artist, it is really like chicken scratch.