moongypsy

Please let me know if you do not receive your swap from me. I always mail out on Saturdays, but have been having problems lately with mail to Canada and the Ukraine. I want to ensure that my swaps get to their destinations, so please pm me if it has been longer than a week since I mailed it out.

I am a longtime crafter that has loved making creative gifts for family and friends. I am currently into ATCs. I am also dabbling in Rolos, altered journals, boxes, etc. I enjoy papercrafts of any kind. I began with scrapbooks 25 years ago, and have continued with many projects including bead crafting, painting, and others that have run their course. I inherited my crafting addiction from a very talented seamstress mother, who still crafts and has her falls booked with local, state, and out of state shows! (I despise sewing of any kind) My father also is a very talented artist in any medium, and has influenced me greatly throughout my life. He has also instilled this love of the arts in both of my children. I am an elementary teacher with a master's degree, plus MANY more semester hours beyond... and 20 years under my belt (with another 20 to go..ugh) in a small rural school district. I am a Christian, a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a best friend. I love nature, animals, family, and friends. I live on a family farm in a 200 year old house with my husband of 22 years, 2 beautiful and talented daughters, both of whom are juniors: one in college, one in high school (wth was i thinking when i planned their births??--two graduations at the same time???!!) , a menagerie of domestic felines, all of which have names and quirks. We are currently without a dog, and I miss having a best friend to greet me everyday.

I am known for being OCD in reading, Native American History, ghost stories, local history, and treasure hunting in unexpected places..aka thrift shops, junk shops, and other peoples' rejects...crafty recycling! I have always been interested in the paranormal, and now with it being so mainstreamed, it is easier to find others with the same interest. I am planning a few ghost hunts this fall with some friends. :) One being Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, OH. I will post updates!

I enjoy sitting outside. I LOVE nature, angels, fairies, meditation, spiritualism, gemstones and crystals, the moon, inspirational messages, being surprised, Chinese food, vintage, antique, dreamcatchers, tattoos, laughter, coffee, and geneology. I have Russian and Irish heritage ( i am very interested in my Czech heritage and am eager to learn anything i can about my background since i am only the 3rd generation born here in the US, including learning to speak Russian). Scents i enjoy are maple, hazelnut, coffee, chocolate, berry, vanilla sugar, euchalyptus/spearmint, coconut, roasted marshmallow, and new puppy smells-front end only...Yes, I am a little sarcastic, (but not hurtful) and i work hard on those skills everyday. :) heehee

I choose to surround myself with positive people, from whom i can recharge my positive energy. Life is too short to waste on those who suck the life out of you. Although i love a good laugh, and am a little ornery myself, i do get offended with extreme vulgarity/smut/perversions etc...if you think material may be offensive, just PM me. No harm in asking! Chances are, i may want to see it!! lol

FAVORITE MUSIC: Guilty: I'm an 80's fan, and love all pop music from that era. I enjoy rock, pop, contemporary Christian, and Native American flute music. I absolutely dislike country, jazz, and classical music...

FAVORITE BOOKS: I have to be one of the luckiest people in the world! I teach reading to unenthusiastic 5th graders, and by the end of the schoolyear, each one of them can smile and excitedly tell you about a great book that they read this year!!
I enjoy all genres. Right of the top of my head some of my favorite books have been Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Follow the River, Archangel, The Book of Ruth, The Poisonwood Bible, The Lace Reader, The BFG, Touching Spirit Bear, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The DaVinci Code, Janet Evanovich 's Stephanie Plum series, the old V.C. Andrews' series, Nora Roberts' trilogies The Red Tent, One Thousand White Women, The Help, Grimms Fairy Tales, .....to be cont.

FAVORITE MOVIES/TV: I am ALL over the place here! LOL Of course, my list must include ALL of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, the Harry Potter series, The Help, Ferris Bueller, Fried Green Tomatoes, Steel Magnolias, Indiana Jones, The Exorcism, Heaven Help Us, St. Elmo's Fire, Gone With the Wind, The Shining, The Notebook,Cider House Rules,...any "feel good" movies. I must watch my weekly ghost hunting shows...Ghost Hunters, Ghost Lab, Paranormal State, Psychic Kids, and sometimes Ghost Adventures..I love CSI, Criminal Minds, Law and Order,Mob Wives, Swamp People, Finding Bigfoot, MonsterQuest, and Real Housewives of New Jersey! I secretly watch Hoarders to make myself feel better about my house!! ( quick fact: did you know dust is a protective coating??!) lol

CRAFTS: I have been going to the Scrap Shack (Spoiled Swappers) every Friday for over a year now!! That is when I do my crafin...overnight for over 12 hours straight!! Love love love being with my friends and playing with our stuff!! Who knew that therapy could be so fun and addicting.... I love anything vintage, shabby, ephemera, chunky, the more junked up the better!! I enjoy any color palette except neon and baby pastel colors. I love fibers and ribbon, silk and sheer, eyelash and twine...I am currently eyeballing Ebay for metal embellishments in antiqued finishes...I love brads, rubber stamps, inks, charms, glass beads, anything that I can dangle from an altered book or other project I am working on. I use lots of pop dots, foam dots, and glue dots on my crafts, always in need of those! I enjoy digging through old jewelry to find odds and ends that can be reused to beautify something new. That is one of the fun things about treasure hunting is thinking of new ways to reuse everyday items, especially if it is free!! When i joined Swap Bot in August 2011, I was introduced to ATC's...now I am HOOKED! Love working on miniature works of art and sending them off to fellow swappers...Hope to find other areas that are just as fun!

FLICKR I post my creations soon after they are created, so...if you are in a swap with me and want to be surprised, DON'T peek at my Flickr before you get ur item!! :)

DISLIKES:
hip hop, animae, Hello Kitty, Lisa Frank art, Asian art, Disney versions of Fairy Tales, Martha Stewart, stickers on ATCs, drama, black lacquer furniture, generic toilet paper, kidney stones, cancer, diabetes, animal abuse, teacher themed items, liars, cheaters, or thieves. I dislike scents of pine, rose, cigarette smoke, and body odors.

WISH LIST; anything i can craft with!
red tape!! (adhesive)
glue: dots, sticks, zippy glue
fibers
metal embellishments
polished, predrilled gemstone pendants
glass beads
BLING!!
anything with moons
vintage/antique photographs
Native American items
dreamcatchers
anything paranormal related
healing/meditation cds
crystals, stones totem animals: wolf, deer, catbird
Celtic/Irish items
Czech culture items
anything handmade
odd/unusual metal junk (from a junkdrawer) junk/broken metal jewelry or watches (non-digital)
sterling silver jewelry
flavored coffee (not cinnamon or sickly sweet flavors)
biscotti
ATC's
voodoo dolls
ephemera
vintage/antique black and white photos
arrowheads
any non-paper craft (im challenged in many areas and would love to see what i cant make!) ephemera from other countries
CHOCOLATE!

SURPRISE ME!

I hope to learn lots of new and fun techniques with swap bot! I have had a great experience so far with swaps i have been in, and hope that the kindness and generosity of fellow swap bot members continues. I'm currently addicted to ATCs, Zentangle, Rolos...i've joined a variety of groups and hope that i will gain lots of new knowledge, skill, and most of all--new friends!
I have started a new group, The Paranormal Swappers. This group is for anyone interested in the paranormal and the swaps focus on personal experiences and art/projects related to them. Come check it out!

My Current Project Wish List

WE HAVE BEEN IN OUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER on the front page!!!! I had one swap with my classroom of 36 5th Grade Reading students and another classroom in Canada. We made ATCs based on a novel we were reading. With the ATCs we sent, we included a copy of the book for the other classroom to enjoy. My students LOVED this, and so did I!! I am not getting any response to the request I have posted in my Classroom ATC group, so I will post here as well and maybe inspire another teacher out there to swap with us! Such a GREAT way to get kids hooked on Reading with Art!!

I am a member of Classroom ATC, but I have been getting more hits from other teachers reading my profile.

I am currently fulfilling another crafting dream of having an art journal swap with someone on the other side of the world! I am swapping an art journal with @MichelleK in Australia! We are definitely artful sistas!!! I am loving this long-term swap!

Now for the bad news...
Non-raters:
@JenniferKaos for Animals a-z: W
@MoominStar9 for Animals a-z: T
@Bright for Animals a-z: U
@ Lucky12324 for ATC Halloween Series #3: Cats, Bats, and Ravens
@tishous for ATC Twice a Month #12 Show Me France!
@mrsmoore for Zentangle W ATC