lois

Hi! I am a married mom of 3 boys! I am a perennial plant grower and work at a lovely nursery selling them along with other nice things.. I love books, paper,art,dance,music and life...i love sending and receiving real mail...I am very excited to join the swap!!I am creative and love making weird things(haha). I like antique furniture and everything in the Anthropologie stores..unfortunately...they are usually way overpriced for my budget... I sometimes write or draw. One of my children is a dancer/choreographer and WOOOHOOO he was just accepted to Juilliard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ,one is a college graduate with an amazing incredible mind, and one is a baseball player,yo-yo expert and all round funny guy. I feel lucky! I do watch television, its just that i hardly ever have time...someday though!! I Love movies, foreign and old as well as new...theres only so many hours in the day... I do not like anything having to do with hunting or fishing or for that matter, anything which causes pain to others;human or animal.

I listen to everything...literally because my kids have hugely varied music tastes,. I like so many different things, instrumental, jazz, classical, r&r, pop,foreign music, "alternative", small town band... I love soundtracks and interesting "talking" music as well. CURRENTLY i am obsessed with kate nash, and love morrisey forever.

Books are one of my favorite things in the entire universe... I LOVE reading...its a wonderful part of life. SOME authors i love are Barb.Kingsolver ,John Steinbeck, Jonathon Safran foer, John Irving, Dave Eggers...TOO many to name. Some all time faves:' The god of small things', 'Extremely loud and Incredibly close', 'Life of Pi', 'Animal dreams','Native son', 'To kill a mockingbird','Eat pray love'..and I love good non fiction and documentaries too... .OH I COULD GO ON AND ON... aren't stories amazing? recently discovered the hilarious humor of Jen Lancaster's books...so funny.

I just enjoy so many things...i love seeing new places and experiencing life and friendships. i love paper, making collages and things. Love postcards, artwork, bags,(the kind you carry stuff in), great clothes and shoes, food, old dishes, coffee, small bakery/bread shops, thrift stores, the fabulous city of Chicago, plants, dance, movies, theater, seeing other people's artwork, graffiti, dark beer, watching my talented children do funny things haha, love NYC, trees, rainy days,sunny days, french things...(really want to go to Paris), good humor and laughing, and springtime!!!!! I try to re-use and recycle as much as I can. I love being able to use packaging and shipping materials more than one time. I truly enjoy putting together an awesome swap and sending it off.

I must say that I love collage, found object art and altered things like journals as well as other things... I am not currently a scrap-booker. I love painting and drawing... I see art in EVERYTHING, everywhere I look. Fabric is extremely interesting to me ...hmmm.Love to receive homemade things even if they're not my style. I am working on a few projects in my home, which are very mixed-media. A lot of my art is created using recycled and re purposed materials...especially "junk mail"(heavier paper and cardboard) Hoping to learn to use a sewing machine in the near future!

card stock, watercolor paper, textured paper,interesting patterned paper, letterpress cards, die-cut papers, tissue paper, blank books/journals, colored sharpies and good markers, calligraphy pens, fabric bits, old postcards, text in any language other than mine (English), typography,quality brushes, maps. old black and white photos, old book pages, vintage maps, vintage book illustrations, french things, things from Anthropologie :), bits of beautiful old china, nice wood,