gypsymouse

I am a counselor in a residential treatment setting, as well as a handcrafted jewelry artist on Etsy. I have recently moved from Wisconsin, where I lived down the road from a Mars Cheese Castle (No, I am not making that up), to Illinois, where I originally am from.

Please note, I do have some ridiculously bad allergies: Anything perfumed or strongly scented items...extremely allergic to them! Vanilla and lilac scents are usually okay, though.

Cigarette smoke...PLEASE, please, please, if you are a smoker...try to avoid the item you send coming in contact with smoke...you will trigger sever allergic reaction when I open it. I'm not telling you to quit, just asking you to not smoke while you handle the items you send to me.

I love thrift and flea market shopping, and am always looking for vintage treasures!

I love doing my swaps and will ALWAYS send mine out! If you do not receive anything from me, please contact me first!

Please note that I prefer to recycle packaging whenever possible, but will always send my swaps out in clean packaging. I will also dress it up, so you won't even notice!

Jewelry, scrapbooking, painting, sewing, refinishing furniture, felted sweater crafts, baking and cooking to some extent.

The Monkees, The Beatles, The New Pornographers, She & Him and Grant-Lee Phillips/Grant Lee Buffalo take up the majority of my listening time, but I have an ever-changing playlist of classic rock, punk, alternative, indie, and classical music. Not a big fan of rap or country.

Any Audrey Hepburn movie, Marie Antoinette, Elizabethtown, Lord of the Rings, The Thin Man movies are some of my faves. I am an avid movie-watcher and have seen a seriously ridiculous amount of movies and TV shows, but am oddly picky about what I will watch.

Pushing Daisies, Gilmore Girls, Doctor Who (classic and current), Life on Mars(UK), Leverage, Psych, White Collar. I enjoy watching a variety of shows, lately it's mostly sci-fi and comedy.

Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, The Alienist series by Caleb Carr, children's books by Margaret Wise Brown(my all time favorite book is actually The Little Fur Family by her!)

Anything nicely handmade

Cartoon Characters: Hello Kitty and Chococat, Snoopy, Classic Mickey Mouse(ones with the black dot or Pac-Man eyes!), Danger Mouse

Scents: vanilla, lavender, cherry

I collect a myriad of things, but the main ones are:

Model horses--Breyer, Hagen-Renaker, etc.

Mold-A-Rama figures-- these are the molded plastic machine souvenirs that some zoos and museums have. I only have access to Milwaukee and Chicago area ones, so I love getting figures from other locations!

Children's books by Margaret Wise Brown

Vintage rhinestone buttons, record albums, hardcover books, stuffed animals(but please do not send unless it is for a specific swap!), music, movies & TV shows, Temporama dinnerware, mercury glass(vintage and new), Monkees memorabilia, photographs, old barrel-type skeleton keys, coins and paper money. I'm always open to starting new collections!

Colors: pretty much any color blue or green(except emerald green), deep reds, neutral colors.

Animals: horses, foxes, cats, dogs, birds(esp.owls), tigers, deer

Time periods/aesthetics: mostly mid-century(50's & 60's), but I also like victorian/steampunk/gothic and french/country styles. I'll be the first to admit, my decorating tastes are, um... eclectic (to say the least!)

Coffee or tea--I don't drink either, so it just goes to waste. :(

Anything with neon colors

Overly perfumed or scented items...vanilla scented items are usually okay.

Clowns

Anything mint flavored

ALLERGIES: Perfumed or strongly scented items...extremely allergic to them!

Cigarette smoke...PLEASE, please, please, if you are a smoker...try to avoid the item you send coming in contact with smoke...you will trigger sever allergic reaction when I open it.

Just for my reference, angels are welcome but not necessary:

3rd Annual Your Winter Dose of Snowman Luvin' by @HomeGrownGarden

Stuffie Love by @parrotheadchic