missstamper

1/18/12 The New Year is coming in with a BANG! I cannot believe how hectic things are so far this year. So, my computer time will continue to be very limited over the next few weeks. Please be patient, I will answer convos, etc. when I am able. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

• Classic Rock
• Contemporary Country
• Contemporary Classical Piano
• Acoustic Guitar.

I really do like almost any music, but I am not into Heavy Metal or too keen on the techno type music. I am always willing to check out new music and sometimes and surprised at what I find myself liking. Right now I am loving Darius Rucker and still drag out the ole Hootie and the Blowfish music for comparison sake. I listen to XM Radio most of the time, so I don't buy many CD's.

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• Sander's Starfish,
• Three Weeks With My Brother,
• Suzanne's Letter For Nicholas.

Reading is a passion on mine and I love checking out some of the non-mainstream books that aren't even close to best-sellers... yet! I also enjoy reading "what my kids are into". Even though it may not be my thing, I like knowing what types of books they are interested in. It is so fun to see how their tastes change as they grow. I've just read the 9th book in the Sookie Stackhouse series. The Aurora Teegarden series is by the same author and quite enjoyable.

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• Tara Allred Niekamp,
• Nicholas Sparks,
• James Patterson,
• Charlaine Harris.

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• An Affair To Remember,
• Sabrina (both the old and new versions),
• Grease,
• Sleepless In Seattle,
• The Wedding Singer,
• The Breakfast Club,
• Say Anything
• A Knight's Tale
• Serendipity

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• Wings,
• How I Met Your Mother,
• MAS*H,
• Little House on the Prairie,
• American Idol,
• Fox News.

Loved Ellen as a judge on Idol. I think the show needed her wit - too bad she only stayed for one season. I think she would have been awesome with JLo, Steven Tyler, and Randy Jackson. Speaking of American Idol, the Kris Allen CD is great. I have to admit, I wasn't really into him at the beginning of the season, but he really grew on me. Love "his sound" now and thought his duo with Keith Urban was fantastic! I think season 10 was great and I love Scotty's new CD.

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• Scrapbooking,
• Stamping,
• Sewing.

Okay, if you really want to know, I have "done" almost any craft that has been invented. I am better at some than others. Knitting, crocheting, tatting, are not my thing, but I love tatted items. I grew up with a very crafty mother, and I think we paper mache`ed (sp?), decoupaged, tole painted, leather tooled, any and everything imaginable in the 70's. I love crafting of all shapes and sizes and am always interested in the next big fad for crafters.

I love my Cricut, serger, and sewing machine. I'm trying my hand at polymer and paper clay. I've made a few things out of molds and have made a few flower canes. I also made a few molds of my own. My youngest daughter and I have really enjoyed working with the clay. Eventually, I want to add some of these creations to my Etsy store.

Thanks to @zerofantasies I'm now hooked on hand-carving rubber stamps. As if I didn't already own enough stamps. I like being able to really personalize a profile package by adding a nifty stamp.

I also love making and receiving matchboxes. I'm always on the lookout for cute and tiny treasures to put in them. I finally put found a cool shadow box shelf to display the matchboxes I've received from so many talented Swap-bot participants. I love every matchbox I have ever gotten. Each one has it's own "personality". I would love to also add matchboxes to my Etsy shop!

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I have hundreds of bells in a collection I started in my late teens. I like mainly porcelin and glass bells, but have a variety of others, too. I can't pass them up at garage sales, but try to keep myself from the thrift stores ones. Only because every thrift store has dozens and I would quickly outgrow my collection cupboard it I grabbed all of them. As my collection has grown, I am more selective in the new ones I add to my stash.

Did you ever wonder how a penguin collection starts? In my 20's, I happened to comment after watching a National Geographic program, that I loved penguins. Someone who heard me make that comment, bought me a keychain that said, "I ♥ Penguins". Well that is all it took for a collection to start. Suddenly I started getting penguin items as gifts, just from friends seeing the keychain. It's amazing as one little keychain can turn in the a big collection. Now, 20 some years later, I really do ♥ my penguin collection.

Oh my, I almost forgot to mention my two biggest collections: Cookbooks and Cookie Cutters. I love old cookbooks (except the ones with bugs in them, but that's a whole 'nother story). I have 100's of cookie cutters, but try to stick mainly with metal ones, unless the plastic one is too hard to resist. One of the newest cutters in my collection is one of the Space Needle. I haven't used it yet, but I will, sometime in the future, when that perfect occasion for a space needle cookie arrives. I've gotten so many cute ones in swaps: angels, crowns, ornaments, and many, many others.

Thoughts my 1st & 2nd Swap-bot anniversary: When I signed up, I really was just looking for a place to swap a few scrapbooking pages or kits. I had no idea how much fun was in store for me. Check this picture out, that is just from my first few months on Swap-bot! As I looked around this morning, I noticed that there is not a room in my home void of Swap-bot swap items. The bathrooms have candles, scrubs, and lotions. The kitchen has linens, cookbooks, and cookie cutters. The piano room has some lovely knick knacks. The TV room has the Swap-bot additions to my bell and penguin collection. The girls' bedrooms have many goodies that they have claimed as their own, like stickers, stationery, and jewelry. My son's room has a few items that caught his eye. My desk is literally overflowing with swap related stuff. Even my husband's desk has a Swap-bot thingie or two on it! Thanks so much to all my awesome swap partners for making me smile everytime I open my mailbox! This community really has enhanced my life, crafting and otherwise. Y'all are really awesome.

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I love Swap-bot and am so thankful that the administrators (yep, that's you Rachel and Travis) have provided such a great place to swap. I've been scrapbooking and stamping since 1994 and have participated in and hosted 100's of swaps throughout those years. I loved scrapbook page swaps, but my favorites were the Secret Sister, Birthday Club, and RAK type swaps. I'm loving tagging, but have to police myself a little bit to keep from getting carried away with them.

Please contact me if your item does not arrive on time. I will always send my swaps by the deadline and I will rate as quickly as possible. I would appreciate my swap recipients doing the same.

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I am reluctant to list all my likes, because I really enjoy the mystery involved in swaps. One of the best things about participating in swaps is getting something that I never would have bought or crafted myself. I love seeing what YOU think is great! I tend to get in ruts with my color choices, etc. and love the variety of swaps. But here is a quickie list.

Bright, vibrant, colors. Any season, just not the soft muted tones. If it is "groovy", I will love it! I love patterned papers, and double sided cardstock. I prefer acrylic stamps and am in the process of whittling down my huge wood mounted rubber stamp collection. BUT, sometimes I do see a wood mounted stamp that has an image too tempting to just leave on the shelf. So, I have to buy it! I love brads, eyelets, and all sorts of other embellishments as long as they aren't too bulky. I think paper piecing is just too cool, but don't have the patience to do the work myself, (if it involves using a tweezers, it's way too detailed for me).

You can rarely go wrong in giving me fabric of any sort. I love vintage fabric and new fabric, yards of it, or fat quarters. I spent the summer hitting estate sales and I now have quite a stash of vintage sheet fat quarters. I don't even care if I have no need for a particular piece, someday I might!

Please don't feel restricted into sending only the colors and such that I've listed. Who knows, if you send your favs, they may become my new favs.

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I RE-USE PACKAGING:

Be warned, your package may arrive looking like it has been around the world a time or two - maybe it has. I just can't justify throwing away usable bubble envies, especially the decorated ones.

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Special thanks to Spin for angeling the Bottlecap Pincushion swap (Hanane).

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PRIVATE SWAPS:

I can usually do a few private swaps each month. Right now, I have vintage (1914-1947) book page assortments, mystery bags of deco tapes, vintage sheet fat quarter bundles, and whimsey jars of dollhouse minatures like the things in these. I'm also open to swaps for Etsy purchases.

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REGARDING SWAPS I HOST:

I stand by the guidelines as listed in each swap. In fairness to those who meet the requirements, I don't make exceptions. Swaps come around again and again, most likely you'll be able to join a similiar one another time.