mandymo

I am a mother of two beautiful little beings and I am also an English teacher at a local high school. I appreciate artistic expression of all kinds, whether it be a play of William Shakespeare or a painting by Mark Ryden, the crayon drawing of a child or a plastic bag blowing in the wind (just kidding about the bag). But that reminds me of the beauty of film and the lyricism of poetry. . . i could go on and on and on. I definitely look for the sparkles on the edges of life (however cliche that sounds) and sometimes I find the dark and sinister aspects of art and life the sparkliest of all. I LOVE the mixture of beauty and darkness and the seedy underbelly of society.The mere suggestion of something ominous lurking just beneath the surface enthralls me. I also love travel and collecting things as well as experiences. Recently, I have become enchanted by the ATCs and I am passing excited to get swapping.

"If music be the food of love play on." - Billy Shakes. I dig music. I don't trust anyone who doesn't. I am also highly suspicious of those who profess not to like chocolate. I mean really. . . is that even possible?

I love books. I traffic in books. I am part of all that I have read. I love their pages and their mysteries. I interpret much of my life through the filter of great literature. I dig the classics all the way through the contemporary. The power and beauty of language is almost more than I can bear. If I think about how intricate and complex language is for too long it totally blows my mind. My list of faves is extensive so I am just going to list a few: The works of Master William ShakespeareThe Poems of Emily Dickinson (I wish we could have hung out.) *Leaves of Grass *1984 *Cold Mountain *Slaughterhouse Five *Breakfast of Champions *The Things They Carried *Lord of the Flies *Of Mice and Men *One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest *As I Lay Dying *A Good Man is Hard to Find *The Great Gatsby *A Clockwork Orange *The Road *Middlesex *No Country For Old Men *Haunted *East of Eden *Choke

One of the best ways to enter a story is through great film. Again, too many to acknowledge so some I can watch over and over include: *What is Eating Gilbert Grape *The Color Purple *Cold Mountain *The Last of the Mohicans *The Crucible *Pulp Fiction *Shakespeare in Love *Scotland, PA *Bram Stoker's Dracula *Raising Arizona *Little Miss Sunshine *Napolean Dynamite *All of the Alien Movies *Pandorum *Young Adult

I dislike anything scrabooky or cutesy. I don't like it when things look like they were store bought. I also dislike pastel colors unless they are used in the shabby chic theme. I am drawn toward darker images and colors. No teddy bears, sunshine, rainbows or unicorns please!

I love making collages and covering boxes with interesting images and notions. I love the mystery that is suggested by an interesting box. Anything could be inside of it! I love alters of any kind. ATCs are my current obession. I can't wait to expand my collection. I also like to turn old tins into little shrines. I love DOmino books and altered bottles.

Mark Ryden* Lori Early* Ray Caesar* Marion Peck* Ana Bagayan* Angie Mason* Mark Ryden* Natalie Shau* Gustav Klimt* Anahata Katkin* Alphonse Mucha* Misty Benson* Kukula* Miss Tigri J.W. Waterhouse * Ivan AlbrightVictoria Frances* * Margaret Keane* Mab Graves* Karolin Felix* Mia makila*victor castillo

I like dArkly strange objects and imagery that is not designed to appeal to the masses. Old odd thingsArt magazines Embellishments of all kinds* Day of the Dead Art* Skulls* Poems* 50's Kitsch* Rushton stuffed animals* Dollhouse miniatures* Digital Printouts* Interesting images* Beautiful combinations of language* Sterling silver* Unique Jewelry* Old Religious Iconography (although I am not Christian)* Sacred Heart Images* Ribbon* Beautiful and sparkly Brooches* Beads* Quotes* Brads* Glittery stuff* Silk or Velvet flowersRubber stamps Creepy things* Monsters* Boxes* Matchboxes* Old Bottles* Rich textures and colors* HalloweenSkulls Old China doll heads and arms/legsOld Small tins and bottles Blythe dolls* Old/Vintage small dolls*
old or interesting pin cushions* glittery beautiful things* Skullsvintage ladies creepy dolls* old photographs* Poetry* anything used to make ATCs* Cameos Zombies *Fringe society Victorian Mourning Items* Marie Antoinette* vintage/ antique doll heads* anything old or odd for my cabinet of curiosities. Frozen charolettes. Monsters Halloween

Shakespeare* Emily Dickinson* Kurt Vonnegut* Walt Whitman* e.e. cummings* Chuck Palahniuk* Flannery O' Connor* Cormac McCarthy* Annie Proulx* George Orwell Aldous Huxley Ken Kesey* Tim O'Brien* Margaret Atwood* Ray Bradbury* Wallace Stevens* Charles FrazierWilliam Faulkner John Steinbeck* F. Scott Fitzgerald

Not til' the sun excludes you, do I exclude you. -Walt Whitman* Whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. -Max Ehrmann* The minority is always right. - Henrik Isben* To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.-Oscar Wilde* Comparison is the theif of all joy.* Be good and you will be lonesome.-Mark Twain* Dismiss whatever insults your own soul and your very flesh shall be a great poem.- Walt Whitman* It always ends. . . that is what gives it value.- Neil Gaiman* The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts.