Pancua

WARNING!! I take pics of my crafts on my Flickr and blog about them. If you are waiting on a swap from me and want to be surprised, wait until you get your swap. :)

Austinite crafty girl looking for new and exciting ideas from around the country and around the world.

As for me, I am 35 years old (My birthday was in May and I was just incredibly excited and already planning my 40th birthday), I live in Austin, Texas through necessity though I call Boston, Mass my home. I share my space with my awesome significant other, two cats Layla and Vincent as well as a fish by the name of Mickey and Sammy the snail.

I appreciate all kinds of cultures, having done some fairly extensive traveling all through the US as well as Canada, Mexico and Australia. I am always looking for a new and interesting concept or item to add to my eclectic collection.

When I am not off playing at an event with the SCA, I am at home playing around in Second Life and either photo manipulating in Photoshop or cross stitching something. When hanging out with friends, we are usually playing some sort of board game like OOTS or Settlers of Catan or Twilight Imperium. I very much enjoy non-traditional board games.

NOTE I always rate! If for some reason, you didn't get a rating from me, drop me a PM. I will rate as soon as I get it. I always try to rate right when I get an item sometimes, it's not always that simple.

I love all kinds of crafting but my all time favorite is Sewing. I am an active member of the SCA (http://www.sca.org/) and love making historical outfits for both men and women. So I am always on the look out for renaissance looking buttons or trim to add to a garment.

Along with sewing I also really enjoy doing my own embroidery to add to the necklines and sleeves of chemises and gowns, it really adds alot of character to the outfit and doesn't look as 'costumy' once you start adding some of these personal touches.

I love scrap booking (I am so behind on my book!) and am always looking for neat little trinkets or paper to help make my pages.
Not a huge Hello Kitty fan but I can always find a use for them, but I like happy go lucky stickers, things that are fun and the more abstract the better.

Along with all of that, I try and find time to do some cross stitching, crocheting, beading, painting, pottery, maolica, beading and jewelry making. Anything really to keep my hands busy and make something unique and fitting to my own personality.

Yes, yes yes!! I just love music!

It is not uncommon to hear me go from Garth Brooks to Mozart to Metallica to Eminem. I just love music and appreciate the work that goes into it. I may not exactly agree with some sentiments within the music but I applaud anyone who has the courage and tenacity to get their music out there.

I used to play the alto saxophone when I was in high school. My all time dream at that time was to play the sax solo in Bruce Springsteen's "Santa Claus is coming to town". Yes, I'm a big dork but I remember that fondly and it still makes me smile.

I would love to be sent any underground or local music. I think those are some of the best. My all time faves have been Dar Williams and Bow Thayer and the Euphorians.

Color! What a drab place this would be if not for the wealth of colors available to us!

The darkest of greens to the palest of blues, the vibrancy of reds and the brightest of yellows, they are all so fantastic!

My all time favorite colors are: Royal Purple, Sapphire Blue, Ruby Red, Emerald Green and Silver. I tend to use these alot in my clothes, home decor and crafts but I complement them with an abundance of other colors (depending on what I am working on, I wouldn't want to send anyone something that looked like Rainbow Brite had exploded all over). :)

The only colors I tend to shy away from are pastels, they are so incredibly delicate and refined. Colors that I would not associate with myself. :D

Also pink is atrocious and vile color that should be banished from the world. I DO NOT like pink so please, send that cute ribbon or button or paper to someone else who would appreciate it cause I simply would not.

I love teas of all kinds, abhor coffee though I do have a certain weakness for espresso. Go figure. I am a walking contradiction!

I love Chai, can't get enough of it. There is one regret that I have about living in Texas and that is that it does not get anywhere cold enough to thoroughly enjoy a good hot cup of tea.

I love shortbread and biscottis. I don't have a favorite yet, I quite enjoy them all!

If you have me for a freestyle swap, the things I like the most are fantasy based and Medieval/Renaissance time periods.

I am looking for anything to put on clothing as far as embellishments go or on hats. (i.e. buttons, trim, beads, silk ribbons, etc)

Decor wise, I love having knickknacks and art to display on the walls. If you send me something, I will post a picture of its new home in my house.

I am not overly picky, anything would be truly appreciated but some people like to have a set theme so if this is you, this is my theme. :)

Anything cartoonish (Disney, Barney, Wiggles, Dora, etc): I do not have any children and do not plan on having any children so I really don't have any use for them. Unless that is all you have to send (I know some people that do) and as long as you do not mind me gifting them out to someone else, that is probably what I would do with them.

Roses: I don't really like roses, in any aspect. Call it childhood trauma but I just do not care for them in the least and do not include them in any of my crafts.

Layla is the Tabby on the left and Vincent is the grey on the right.

Two cats that I absolutely adore and fuss over as much as they let me. They love playing with small stuffies, anything they can carry around or bat around the house.

If you would like to send them a present, all I ask is please make sure that it doesn't make noise. Cause they will show absolutely no interest in it until around 3 am.

I have the honor of sharing my life with a wonderful person.

His name is Brandon and on June 26th, we will celebrate our first year together. We have been through some incredibly tough times that started with a long distance relationship (him in Florida while I live in Texas) to his being laid off at his job.

Through it all though, we have stood together and faced each and every adversity with our resolve strong and obtuse natures in check. It's not all been sunshine and light but those moments are far and few between and the handful of times it has happened, we walked away from it stronger and learned something new in regards to communicating with each other more effectively.

What more could a girl ask for? :)

Brandon's favorite color is Blue and he is insanely geeky. He is an electrical engineer and loves playing with widgets, just to see how they tick. He is the cook in our family and loves all kinds of kitchen gadgets. (He has hinted at a stand mixer for Christmas. Oy vey!)

Past that, he is a very simple person and enjoys video games, sweets, popcorn, teas, going for walks and futzing around with computers. He loves hockey and is a huge fan of the Red Wings and Michigan University. He also has an insane obsession with Rain Kissed Leaves body wash from Bath and Bodyworks. He absolutely loves the stuff.