graydragon

My Father, who has been very ill for a long time, has suddenly been placed into full time hospital care so I am going to spend a few days with my mother and help her adjust, sorry for yet more absence!

I am sorry that I haven't been so active around here lately, this is because I have been waiting to have surgery to remove a lump from my shoulder. The lump is harmless but was pressing on nerves so causing a lot of pain and making me feel quite ill which as slowed me up. I finally had the surgery on friday (19th) so now I am temporarily in even more pain and still getting over the aneasthetic! Hopefully I will be feeling much better soon and be back to full speed but I will do what I can untill then. Thank you all for understanding .

It seems that the postal service is none to reliable and a percentage of what I send out never makes it to it's recipient. Please don't give me a 1 rating without contacting me first and giving me the chance to resend.

I always give fair ratings. If I recieve a swap from I will give you a 5. If I really love something or it's extra special I will give you a heart too. I will not give a 3 unless there has been a problem and we have discussed it. I will only give a 1 rating if I have recieved nothing after giving many chances and I will change it if the situation changes.

CRAFTS SUPPLIES; Papers, ephemera, vintage items, origami, inks, rubber stamps (especially unmounted polymer stamps), buttons, ribbons, brads, charms, beads, fabric scraps, small tins, bottle caps, book pages, ATC backs.

STATIONARY; Pencils (mechanical), memo pads/sheets, letter sets, envelopes, postcards, stickers, deco tapes and colourful pens (gel).

POSTCARDS; B+W, vintage, art, sculputes, architecture, country, state, nature, buddha, kawaii, cute, free ad, handmade. I prefer them sent without envelopes and with real stamps if possible.

FOOD; Herbal or fruit tea, dried fruits, koolaid, candies (sweets), milk or dark chocolate (with cornflakes or rice puffs are my fav), chips (crisps),cookies, cup cakes, instant noodles, marshmallowfluff. FLAVOURS; ginger, mint, cinnamon, raspberry, apple, mango, rose, lavander, vanilla.

BEAUTY; Lipbalm, soap, fruit flavour toothpaste, tissues, floral scents; lavander, rose, vanilla etc.

JEWELLERY; Braclets, necklaces, pins, Stud earings (sterling silver only due to allergies), handmade, beaded, funky, silver.

COLOURS; Jewel bright, rich or pastel shades; purple, blue, turqoise, pink, brown, cream/beige and silver.

COLLECTIONS; Dragons, rabbits, puppy/kitty/zoo in my pocket,me to you bears/tatty teddy, Hello Kitty, buddhas, postcards, world coins, used postage stamps, used metal bottle caps, chopsticks, tea bag papers, playing cards (jokers and aces).

OTHER; fabric/reusable shopping bags, fish, frogs, butterflies, dragonflies, rainbows, fairys, mermaids, candles, crystals, angels, wicca items, anything matryoska/babushka, anything Japanese, birds (especially owls), giraffes (for my hubby), diddle or other mice (for my Mum), vultures (for my Dad), rabbit treats (for Mina).

DON'T LIKE; Coffee, black, red or green tea, white chocolate, bannana flavours, florescent colours, plastic beads, gold (metal). The smell of cigarette smoke sets off myn asthma. I won't rate you down if you do send me these things as I will just pass them on to someone else!

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I live with my husband and our house rabbit Mina. She is dwarf lop and my baby! We live at the Steiner school where we work, we actually live in with a group of 6 teenage boys with learning disabilities and behaviour problems, it is challanging at times but a lot of fun! We have not yet been blessed with children of our own.

When I'm not with the boys or Mina or crafting I like to go for walks in the country, cook/bake or go to the cinema. I am learning the wiccan craft at the moment and studying british traditional religion.

I have chemical depression and agraphobia, I have been taking a break from work for almost a year now and currently volunteer at the school. Being part of a creative community and living in beautiful contryside is helping me a lot. My confidence is returning and I plan to start working full time again in September. Crafting and swapping are a life line for me, as they are for many here, and I feel very privilaged to have found swap-bot and met so many great people.

I have several blogs and a flickr account where I display photos of my art work and other random stuff. I have also just started trying to sell cratf supplies and some of my craft items such as Cards, earings, magnets and Keychains on Etsy. My greatest dream is to make a living from crafting.

I have 3 blogs on blogspot.com. I would love it if you visited and said "Hi".

The first is a kind of wierd fairytale I'm writting in installments which was inspired by a softie I made; The adventures of Kiki Mallow

The second is Mina's blog where i put photos of her; Mina's minanderings

The third is for my craft work; haberdasherypie

I like doing private swaps and I'm happy do these with newbies to help them boost their rating. I am also happy to swap with anyone who has a history of being a good swapper but due to health or personal problems has had their rating drop, I have experience this several times and it can be discouraging. If you would like me to set up a private swap just send me a message, some of the things I have to swap are; postcards, stickers, lettersets, herbal tea bags, ATC's and other handmade items.

I reuse packaging and other items as much as possible, not bacause I'm mean but because I think it's important to respect the planet. I would like it if people would send to me in reused packaging. I am also happy to recieve secondhand or unwanted items, as long as they are in reasonable condition.

I am also a postcrosser, to feed my postcard addiction, my user name there is also Graydragon.

I love papers and fabrics and crafts that use them. I go through phases but among my favourites are stamping, cardmaking, scrapbooking, bottle cap shrines, altered books, tins and other items, ATC's, making postcards, stuffies, softies, felties, embroidery, beading, jewellery making and making dolls house miniatures.

I have just learn to crochet so I'm into that at the moment!

I love to read and once I find an aurthor I like I tend to read all of their books in an obsessive way!

I read all kinds of stuff depending on my mood but my favourite genres are horror/supernatural, sci-fi/fantasy and travel writting.

Some of my favourite authors are; Anne Rice, Darren Shan, Phillip Pullman, Kelley Armstrong, Tanya Huff and Alexander McCall Smith.

I also love reading manga, especially horror and fantasy.

I collect fairy stories, folk tales, myths and legends.

I BookCross and have set up a virtual BC zone group her on swap-bot. My BC user name is littledragon.

I am on Bookmooch too as Graydragon

Sending a dotee with a heart to @pookledo Sending a spring envelope to @cosmina

I NEED ANGELS FOR; *WINGS (atc). http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/13982 *Handmade prayer flag. http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/15506 *decorated duckie. http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/15966

Here is a little list of things which it would make me extreemly happy to recieve;

• A cover/sock for my ipod nano.
• An anigarumi.
• Origami Papers.
• Marshmallow Fluff.
• Hello kitty postage stamps.
• Lucky star straws or .strips
• Bento box/acessories.
• Hello Kitty Matrioska doll anything.