NicolaO

Dear Swappers: Life has gotten a little out of control for me lately -- I've dropped out of most of the swaps where I still could. I've been avoiding the site because it's very hard for me to resist signing up for the yummy new stuff! but I need to stay away at least until I have fulfilled the commitments I've already made. I am hoping to get caught up this week and have everything in the mail by Friday 7/11. I surely appreciate your patience and I understand if you're tired of waiting.

Married, two kids (girls, age 3 & 7), no pets, work in the tech industry. Love scrapbooking; somewhat new to ATC swaps. I've done a couple on another site, photos are in my flickr stream.

My deep dark secret is that I am a terrible procrastinator and sometime (OK, often!) run late with swaps but I promise that I am never, ever a no-send. I'm also a bit of a perfectionist (part of my procrastination problem) and while my artistic abilities don't touch some of the beautiful work I've seen here, I promise I'll never send anything I'm not proud to put my name on -- nothing junky, slapped together or sloppy.

Norah Jones, Big Head Todd & The Monsters, KT Tunstall. 80's pop-- I'm totally excited that The Nails' have released Swing on CD. Currently loving the new Alison Krauss/Robert Plant album.

I love Romances and read them by the dozen. See my blog for more details. Outside the romance genre, some of my favorites are:

Outlander, Diana Gabaldon;
Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Cary;
Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell;
The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley

Scrapbooking; Quilting; Photography; I used to do a lot counted cross stitch. Someday I might get back to it...

I'm addicted to All My Children. Been watching since 1983, when Palmer was going to let Nina go blind instead of curing her, just so she wouldn't marry Cliff. Can you imagine? Anyway, I was hooked. And squeeee! Jesse and Angie are back??? It's like going back in time.

I also watch Survivor and sometimes Gray's Anatomy. Lately there isn't much on my must-watch list.

I have little kids. I haven't watched more than about 10 movies in the theater in the last 7 years.... Not a big movie-goer.

If you're designing especially for me, I hope you find this section useful....Things & themes that make me happy-- florals, especially lilacs and hydrangeas; purples & blue and all their shades; slogans that make you think. I'm a francophile and love scenes, visuals, & graphics that make me think of Paris.

If people who love to eat are "foodies," then I guess I'm a "wordie." I love to read, I love words, I love text as a design element.

I lean more toward an "elegant" style than "cutesy" one. I like traditionally "pretty" things-- I'm not too hard to please. :)

Also, I like to do swaps to get little bits of your artistic vision. So unless the swap rules are really specific, don't feel like you need to tailor your vision to my tastes.

Overtly religious themes (Santa = good, nativity/baby jesus = no)

-Politically conservative slogans or quotes.

-I'm not really a pet person, so cat/dog/animal themes don't do that much for me.

I'm pretty easy to please! -- cards, ATCs, scrapbooking "elements", like a tag, or a fancy corner, etc; or supplies you aren't using. Quilting fabric swatches (prefer 100% cotton). And I like chocolate & coffee (spend way too much at starbucks).

I don't do yarn crafts (yet) but I am a Girl Scout Brownie troop leader, so any craft supplies that I don't personally use will get put in the troop box o' goodies.

I can't really think of anything that I would hate. :-)