I send all of my swaps and I send them on time usually within a few days barring emergencies. if you do not receive something, please send me a message so I can resolve the matter. I don't bite. The postal system isn't perfect, especially international mail. Please give me the beneift of the doubt instead of just rating and assuming I flaked.

My name is Rose and I am a 32 year old married mom of one. I love swapping, collecting, and making new friends and penpals from all over the world. I love purple, goth, fairies, skulls, flowers, kawaii, winnie the pooh. I collect stationary, postcards, pens, stickers, and all kinds of bits and bobs.

I do have a fetish for purple and adore the color. I would have purple hair every day if I could.

To tell you a little bit more about my journey, I used to be a very well respected ER nurse, working 13 hour shifts in a busy high pressure ER. I was a damned good nurse and I still am. That has not changed. But about 3 years ago, things started falling apart. I started getting really ill and had a hard time keeping up with the demands of my job and family life. I had been fighting Depression since I was 14 years old but this was something a lot worse than that. I never stopped being a good nurse and they could never fault me for my professionalism but one day I just personally snapped. I walked into work straight into my directors office after a night of self injuring myself so baldy I required stitches and said I couldn't go on. She instantly helped me and they all did and found me help and we fought the good fight. But after three hospitalizations, I had to quit my job for a more low key job. But even that was not meant to be. After two more hospitalizations, I was put on permanent disability with a diagnosis of Bipolar disorder with Acute Post traumatic stress disorder. For the last three years I have been fighting my way back through self expression, creating, and music. Through every form of therapy there is. Through diet and exercise. Through journaling and singing. Through smash booking and drawing. I am not a real artist by any means. But when you receive a swap from me, it will have my heart in it and I will have given it my best shot. I tell you all of this because sometimes a swap is a day or two late because my disability kicks my ass some days. I don't give up and I don't give in but there are some days where it wipes the floor with me. I will never ever flake. Not ever. If you don't receive something from me, it's because it got lost in the mail, not because I didn't send it. But it's a fight every day, so please, if I send something a day late, or I do mess up and do something wrong, call me on it. I'm on a lot of medication that makes it hard to concentrate some days. It's easier as time goes by but I still occasionally ask for a microwave pancake spatula when I am looking for a metal mixing spoon lol. My family has learned to speak my language. Even my ten year old. And if you have a mental illness and want a friend to talk to or know someone who has a mental illness and want someone to talk to, please don't be afraid to write me. I am very open and honest and knowledgeable as I have seen it from both sides, as a healthcare practitioner and as a patient. Or if you just want to say hi and talk about Mary Roach or Storm Large, give me a write about that too!

I love music. It's one of my passions. My tastes are eclectic and range frm country to rick to rap to r&b, to pop to top 40, to folk and indie. My favorites thus far: Alice Cooper, ACDC, Dar Williams, Marion Raven, Storm Large, ZZ Top, Kings of Leon, Rhianna, The Black Eyed Peas, Blake Shelton, Rascal Flatts, Lady Antebellum, Indigo Girls, Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson, Adele, and many, Many, MANY more. I have at least 180 GB worth of MP3s on my computer. I also love listening to new wave and mediatation. And I enjoy listening to comedy albums as well like Bill Cosby and Carlin.

I love reading just about anything and everything. My favorite books by far though are the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. I also love the All kids go to Heck series by Dale Basye. My other favorite authors are Mary Roach, Isaac Asimov, Steven King, and Tom Clancy. I also enjoy reading medical history books about the plagues of the 17th and 18th centuries as well as about some of the epidemics of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Other topics I enjoy reading about are womens history, female power books, art books, inspiration, horror, scifi, world religion, how to and "for dummies" books, and human sexuality books.

I love sci fi, horror, and animated movies. I love classics like The Rocky Horror Pictur Show and Grease. I love The Shrek movies, Disney Movies, Insidious, The Wrong Turn movies, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies, zombie flicks, vampire movies, Ghosts of Mars, The Red Planet, Sherlock Holmes, and heaps of others.

I really enjoy comedy, sitcoms, anything on the science channel, national geographic channel, food network, or cooking channel. My favorite shows are Family Guy, American Dad, Cleveland Show, Oddities, Taboo, Firefly, Eureka, Dirty Jobs, Bitchin Kitchen, Two Fat Ladies, Two and a Half Men, Mike and Molly, and Futurama.

I enjoy needlepoint, pastels, mandala making, crafts in general, beading, embossing, cardmaking and papercrafts, and anything new and fun like soap making kits or candle making or mosaics or stained glass or anything else that comes across my path. I have recently entered the wonderful world of ATC's and am positively addicted! I love it! I also love smash booking and junk journalling. And really any kind of fun art projects. But those are my two big loves at the moment, most especially ATC's.

My new experiment is Genesis Heat Set Oil paints. I have received a generous gift of three sets worth and am not a painter so it will be fun to give it a try. They belonged to an animator and cartoonist and when he found out that I really like to experiment and try new things he offered me 3000 dollars worth of paint for 50 dollars including his artist cart. He has parkinsons and can't paint anymore and wanted them to go to a good home and I of course very graciously accepted.

I guess I just kind of walk to the beat of my own drum. I am a fun loving eclectic human being with lots of interests and hobbies to numerous to mention on here. I can be crazy at times but ussually in a good way. I love to make new friends and penpals from around the world. I love to laugh and just have a good time.

I am always happy with surprises as they are the best gifts of all. However on my special list is

• Anything purple

• Collage sheets

• Anything handmade by you whether it be a soap, a candle, a drawing, a poem. If it comes from you whether you think you are artistically inclined or not, I promise I will love it.

• Copic markers. I am building up my collection one by one. So if you have me for a swap that is between five and ten dollars and don't know what tog et me, I love copic markers.

• Hand me down arts and crafts and drawing books.

• tubes of watercolor, any color any size. I am also building up a supply tube by tube.

• anything from your country: candy, a newspaper article, book pages, anything that shows off your culture or language

• any extra fibers or ribbons you may have leftover offhand that are not enough to make a project with I am always happy to find a home for.

• Anything that smells good. I love essential oils, bath products etc.

• finally Paper anything! I love ephemera! Pass it my way if you need a home for it.

I am always happy to do private swaps and do my best to go out of my way to make people happy when swapping so if you ever feel like swapping for anything even if it's not on my list of interests or you want to try something and you don't feel like trying to alone, I'm happy to give anything a whirl and we can learn and even look silly together if need be. Just give a shout.

The only thing I can think of that I dislike is the smell of sage. it just give me a wisked headache. everything else is great!

Hi! While I love everything I have been sent so far for smash booking I am looking for more informal, less crafty supplies since I am totally stocked on crafty goodies. I am looking for ephemera of all kinds, postcards (old,new,used), goth stuff, spooky and halloweenie type stuff, ghosts, goblins, paranormal, nature stuff, magazine cutouts and interesting bits and bobs and articles etc, anatomy pictures, anything purple, anything having to do with ANY kind of spirituality or religion of ANY kind whether it be christian, buddhist, wiccan, etc, Funny things, cartoons, comics, jokes, fortune cookie fortunes (I particularly love these) quotes, poems, old book pages, old illustrations, different embellishments and stickers and fibers, unique candy wrappers, free ad cards, labels, ticket stubs, just about anything you can think of. But still the crafty pretty stuff is good too so if you want to pass that my way I will love it just as much!