isabellasnow

Hello Fellow Swappers! My name is Kristy, crafting is my favorite pastime and I love all things handmade. My husband is on disability retirement and we work a small part-time job together. I love mail art; I think I enjoy making and decorating the mail as much as I enjoy creating the contents. Even if it's not a decorated envie, I love to create envies for my swaps from vintage book pages.

I haunt Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and JoAnn Fabrics. I am lucky to live close to all three. In December 2015, 'my' Hobby Lobby moved their location and now it's far away--sad for me! I also adore shopping for supplies online. My latest collection obsession: washi tape! It has become a truly guilty pleasure. There are so many pretty ones! Oh . . . and postcards--just finished organizing then all (6/16) and I have 32 photo boxes brimming with them.

Postcards: I do not care for color-your-own postcards. Here are some of my favorite postcard themes:

• Cats

• Animals (photos or illustrations--no monkeys, please ;+), especially bears, foxes, and other woodland critters

• Nature cards

• Nouvelles Images cards

• Sumo wrestlers

• Alaska and Alaska animals

• Fotofolio cards

• San Francisco cards (especially Alcatraz!)

• Unusual images

• Zoo or Aquarium cards

• Little Otsu

• Trolls and gnomes

• Moomin

• Any card with swans

• Map cards (just starting to collect!)

• Interesting black & white photographs

• Vintage deckle-edged cards

Those are my favorite themes but I'm always open to receiving something different. I always prefer my postcards sent blank in an envie, even when the swap says to, 'send naked.' I understand if you can't do that, but it's my preference.

BESIDES POSTCARDS, I LOVE:

Anything Halloween

Paper, paper, and more paper!

Cats cats and more cats

Vintage stationery sets

All vintage paper ephemera!

Elephants

Snail anything (especially things that say "snail mail")

Frogs

Gnomes and other woodland creatures

Pink anything (my favorite color)

Heart-shaped things

Vintage buttons and needle cards, or any other vintage sewing notions

Koi fish images

Bird images

Handcrafted/decorated envelopes of ANY size--especially ones that are sewn!

Anything crafted of paper

Stickers--especially cats!

Although I am not Catholic and have my own beliefs, I adore images of the Virgin Mary and the Catholic saints. I think they are beautiful!

Recommendations of good books and bookmarks

Kind people

RAK's (sending & receiving)

Rain, snow, and cold weather

Swappers who are here for the joy of the creative process and not the opportunity to become rule-enforcers. Sheesh . . . we have enough rules in our lives already.

Short and sweet here:

Foam crafts or stickers

Color-your-own anything (including postcards)

Scented products (I get a headache!)

Although I LOVE washi tape, please do not send samples--I have over 2000 rolls.

I do not like user profiles with a HUGE "do not like" list--some of these are more detailed than my family's Christmas lists! haha!

Some favorite movies: The ORIGINAL Fright Night, Prometheus, The Talented Mr. Ripley (this is probably my favorite movie of all time), Aliens, Last of the Mohicans ("Stay alive; I WILL find you!"), Hocus Pocus, Shawshank Redemption, White Oleander, Terminator series, Blood Creek (LOVE Michael Fassbender), Stephen King's It, Venom, Fright Night, The Thing. I love well-made scary movies! Not a fan of romantic comedies. My movie & tv choices might not seem to "fit" with the rest of my profile but I have always loved science fiction and scary movies!

I'm a fan of: Homeland, Top Chef, Unreal, Silicon Valley, Veep, Project Runway, The Monsters Inside Me, Game of Thrones, and more. So sad that both Penny Dreadful and Banshee have ended ;+( I'm a past fan of TWD but am increasingly irritated by the weird story arcs. Rick & Michonne . . . Really? Carl's dead . . . Maggie (the newcomer) is suddenly completely in charge of the Hilltop . . . Rick and Negan are chasing each other around in the dark. Pfffft.

I think (ok, I know) I watch too much TV but there is a TV in my craft room so I'm not likely to stop any time soon.

Mail art is also one of favorites. I love to jazz up all my envies before sending--fun, easy and what's more fun than a colorfully decorated envie in your mailbox? I especially love the postoid rubber stamps--the ones that look liike a postage stamp but say something funny. I have quite a collection!

I love paper of all kinds and, along with the beautiful papers, papercrafts. Creating envelopes is so much fun, too--I think I join every envie swap I can.

And, of course ATC's! I used to hate them and be consistently irritated at how many ATC swaps there were here on swap-bot. Now I love them! Also love twinchies and other paper crafts.

Love creating junk journals using vintage ephemera and I'm crazy for using vintage books in all my work.

I LOVE to read but am super fussy about what I choose to read. If you are an avid reader and read anything in the suspense/thriller/horror genres, please send me a recommendation! With so many book choices available, a recommendation from an avid reader is worth its weight in gold.

Although hubby and I are nearly retired, I'm trained as a middle school language arts, social studies, and math teacher. I still tutor for reading comprehension. Hubby was a park ranger.

I am a mom of four grown children and a granny to four adorable grandchildren (Noelle, Xander, Lucas & Evan). Unfortunately, my sweet Noelle and Lucas live in San Francisco ;+(--much too far away from their granny.

My hubby is the light of my life (we met on match.com and have been married for 10 years already!). We are so lucky to be able to spend a lot of time together.

I am an only child and have always wanted a sister to share with. I love that I have some crafting 'sisters' here on swap-bot!

My four-legged furbabies are: Mizzy and Junebug (2 shelter cats). I truly enjoy the company of cats. For me, a house is not a home without a pet.

I'm not a stickler about postmarks. I do understand the need for rules and regs within this swapping community, but if you're going to be late in sending a swap to me, just be courteous and let me know. Although I take my role as swapper and host very seriously here, I will never engage in public shaming of other swappers or have a 'Flaker List' on my profile. Let's be kind to each other!

In a community of inspired, thoughtful, and artistic swappers, I believe we should show each other kindness, grace, and understanding. When I read posts in the forums, I'm always puzzled that some focus on policing and informing on others. Why join a site for swapping and spend your time investigating everyone else? Very puzzling! I believe this amazing, FREE site (what a gift!) should be a place for creativity, sharing, and making new friends. We all have enough stress in our lives outside of swap-bot--let's not let swap-bot become a source of stress and negativity instead of the joy it is meant to be!

I appreciate kindness in any form. One of my favorite quotes is from the Dalai Lama: "Be kind whenever possible . . . it is always possible."