annstanley

I'm swapping very little these days. My daughter & I are starting an Etsy shop featuring our paper bag mini albums. We plan to list merchandise by the end of February 2012. We're hoping to create a part-time job for her, so she can stay home with her little ones for a while. I plan to join some swaps soon. When I do, I always rate the same day I receive a swap. If I have not rated you, I haven't received your swap. I will not give a rating of 1 unless I've contacted you and made every attempt to complete the swap. I ask the same courtesy from you.

I'm an elementary school teacher (16 years), wife (34 years), mom of 2 grown children and grandmother of 2 handsome boys & 1 beautiful girl. I've done just about every kind of craft, quilting, sewing, counted cross stitch, and now scrapbooking, ATCs,altered books and mini albums. I collect roosters, scarecrows and snowmen.

Granddaughter Emily (age 4) loves Tinker Bell & I collect Tink stuff to scrapbook for her and to decorate her room.

I listen mostly to country music, but also love Bing Crosby, some 1970's rock & roll, some classical. I've recently discovered David Garrett's Rock Symphony - a mix of rock & classical. Fantastic!

I love the old black & white Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Gene Kelley movies. One of my favorite recent movies is "Lake House". I'm a sucker for a great love story. Don't like scary movies or action flicks with over-done amounts of blood & guts.

My husband & I live way out in the country (25 miles to town!) in a log home we built ourselves from running lumber (not a kit). We are currently finishing up the inside and decorating it with family "junktiques" and flea market finds. I love old stuff - ephemera to add to my art - especially vintage postcards (reproductions/copies okay), old doily's, handkerchiefs, buttons, charms, lace,anything with roosters, snowmen or scarecrows on it, bird houses (minis for inside or full-size to put in my garden), flowers especially day lily's, iris, anything pink, purple, teal, blue, old cookbooks and kitchen "stuff".

My current favorite crafts are art journals, ATCs, chunky books altered books and other altered art. I love the old-fashioned, vintage look with lace, buttons, torn edges and lots of distress ink! I've just started making paper bag albums. My daughter Katie and I have been working together and it's been great collaborating with her! Her 2 little ones (Alex - 6, Emily - 4 going on 20!) even have their own albums that they work on when grandma & mommy are creating. They get all our scraps, so nothing goes to waste.

Likes: I love vintage women (20's - 50's), the naughty but nice vintage pinups, anything Zetti, artistic nudes, vintage papers, letters, stamps and other ephemera (real or reproduction), buttons of any kind, ribbons and fibers, paint pens (especially a good opaque white fine line one!), vintage feed sacks and reproduction prints, postcards, vintage children's books (reproductions okay).

Dislikes: Scented lotions, candles, etc. (I have allergies), can't have candy (diabetic), anything political, overly religious, dark subjects, vampires, nudity for shock purposes & not art, porn, cruelty to anyone/anything.