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*TO THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE MY PARTNERS: I WILL BE SENDING YOUR SWAP PACKAGE THIS MONDAY!! I have done mass dropping from swaps because my husband and I are separating. This came as a real surprise to me so I am not really able to think of swaps right now. I will finish the ones that are already started, and I will try to get them out as soon as possible, but they may be a little late. I hope you all understand! If things go well, I may sign back up for some of the swaps.

I post pictures of all my creations to my blog and flickr account. If you are my partner and do not want to see what you are going to receive, take care when visiting these sites!

My name is Erika, and I am 23. I am married to my best friend in the whole world, and we have a 3 year old son named Aidric. I work at home doing medical transcription, but I also am a consultant for a jewelry-making direct sales business called Gems to Jewels (check out my flickr site). I wish I could do that as my main job! I am a full-time student majoring in Psychology with the goal of becoming an art therapist. Art is my life!

I reuse packaging!

Incubus has to be my favorite, but I also like System of a Down, and other bands of that genre. I listen to a lot of 60's and 70's bands like The Beatles, CCR, The Doors, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, etc. I also really like bagpipe music.

My favorite fiction books are Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder, The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut (a wonderful antiwar book about the bombing of Dresden with a sci-fi twist). I love Harry Potter and the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. I also love anything by Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Gaarder and anything in the fantasy or horror genres. I actually prefer nonfiction to fiction though, and love to read any books about religion/spirituality and philosophy.

I don't have TV. But I do like to watch it on DVD. My recent favorites were The Office, My Name is Earl, Lost, and Weeds. I also really like Seinfeld and cartoons like Aqua Teen, Spongebob, and especially old Nicktoons like Rocko and Ren and Stimpy.

I love the Discovery Channel, TLC, and all other channels in that category. I especially like Miami Ink.

I think I have finally found the media for me...bead embroidery, beaded art dolls, and jewelry! But I will work with almost any craft or artistic media like ceramics, polymer clay, scrapbooking, knitting, sewing, cross-stitching, mosaic, drawing, altered books and other things, collage, and photography. I love to make things out of recycled stuff, especially furniture. I just love to make things, it makes me happy!

Favorite Craft Materials:

Felt, seed and other beads (I LOVE beads!), polymer clay, rubber stamps, fibers, Mrs. Grossman's stickers or other nice stickers, colored sharpies, sheet metal, wire, yarn, fabric, enamel, etc.

Crafts I want to try:

Precious metal clay, glass-blowing, stained glass, stuffies, quilting (my great grandma did this), pretty much anything.

I have to say the Lord of the Rings movies and Practical Magic. I like comedy movies, and the occasional cheesy old horror film. I also really like anime movies like Princess Mononoke.

I LOVE SWIRLS AND BOOKS!! Also I am very into religion/spirituality. I specifically align myself with paganism and taoism, but I find all religions, spiritual traditions, and cultures interesting. I am also very into Reiki, gemstone therapy, yoga, meditation, tarot, some spellcasting, and pretty much anything else. I will love you forever if you send me something from your religion, culture, or country (except maybe Christianity since I was raised Christian).

Colors: Green, Earth Tones, Purple, and Dark Jewel Tones. I also really like rainbow and pink/orange/teal color schemes. I don't really care for pink by itself.

Smells: Chocolate, coffee, or any scent based off of baked things. I also love the smells of mountainous areas, pine trees, burning wood, and thunderstorms.

Foods/drinks: I love cereal. I could eat it for every meal. I also like pastas, my grandma's german cooking, and seafood. I adore chocolate, anything with cream cheese, candy bars, and most anything baked. I LOVE chai tea, and like most other teas as well. I like coffee flavored things, but hate straight coffee.

Other Likes: Traveling, culture (with a specific interest in India and Scandinavia), tattoos, shoes, purses (although I never actually use them), goddess or pagan related stuff, mushrooms, thunderstorms, history, journaling, altered things, anything handmade, candles, incense, unusual jewelry, dreamcatchers, owls, moon motifs, buddha related stuff, asian inspired things, foreign currency, stamps, high quality stickers, kawaii stuff, tree of life, chakras, yin and yang symbols, odin, gaia, liberalism, open mindedness, sociology, philosophy (especially Ken Wilber), psychology, hippies, peace symbols, vampires.

Onions, chocolate covered cherries, cucumber melon and rose scents, cartoony (except kawaii!) or junky stickers, junky collage items, postcards (unless they are handmade of course!), Americana, Christian things, war.

Craft items:

Seed beads, buttons, fabric, felt, doll embellishments, fibers, charms, Nymo thread, polymer clay (of any color), doll forms, handmade polymer clay faces and molds, sewing and sewing machine thread, 1 or 2 skeins of Janlynn brand cross-stitching thread (medium steel grey (414), very dark pewter grey (3799), and white (000)), mosaic tiles, jewelers hammer, mandrel, nylon-tipped pliers, any gauge wire, scrapbooking supplies, etc.

Other things:

*Anything related to my likes list. *Compact powder bronzer or sparkly eyeshadow (can be old or crazy colors, I don't use it as makeup). *Craft or spirituality magazines--My favorites are What is Enlightenment?, Bead and Button, Somerset Studio, Art Doll Quarterly, Shambala Sun, Reiki News Magazine, and others. *Decorative items for my living room in fall colors--olive green, burgundy/red, goldenrod, and some orange. *Candy or anything else I can't get in America--I love Wunderbars from Cadbury! I would drive to Canada just to get these! *Books on overcoming social and generalized anxiety. *Liberal/Coexist bumper stickers

Stuff for my son:

*Anything for a 3 year old boy. *He is obsessed with cars, trains, and anything with wheels. He really likes Hotwheels and Thomas the Tank Engine. *Children's TV or movie DVDs--Since we don't have TV he's always needing new things to watch.

I wear US size medium or 7 in junior sizes and small or 4 in women's. Size 7 1/2 in shoes.

Rings: Size 6-8. Bracelet: 6 1/2 to 7 inches. Necklace: 16 to 44+ inches. Right now I am really into long necklaces that I can double up. Anklet: 9 to 10 inches Earrings: I have three holes in each ear. I am allergic to lesser quality metals so I prefer to receive sterling silver or gold earrings. If this is not possible, it is ok to send other metals, I will just not be able to wear them for more than a day at a time.
Other: I have center lip and septum piercings, both 16 gauge.