About me!
Well, I'm in my late thirties, and I live with my partner, my rather large German shepherd dog, Joe, and my two kitties, Keilo and Pippin. I teach Foundation, GCSE and A level art and design. I have an eBay shop and recently an Etsy shop which I have to find the time to develop a bit. I spend far too much time crafting and definitely too much time swapping *lol*
Ethical preferences: I'm an animal lover, a vegetarian/vegan (I'm practically vegan, but I occasionally slip and have ice-cream or chocolate, my two vices!) so I don't like animal products. No fur, leather, suede, or gelatine (in a lot of sweets) thank you. I'm okay with honey, silk and wool though. I'm environmentally minded and recycle, re-use and thrift alot of things. I don't mind pre-loved stuff!
My favourite colours: I love purple, green, turquoise, and most colours that are deep jewel tones! I like rainbows! I wear black a lot. I'm a brunette so I can wear strong colours but not pastels. Also I can't wear anything with a yellow tone - yellow, or yellow based brown, orange, etc.
Fabrics I like: I love Indian textiles, richly embellished embroidery, Oriental or Asian fabrics. I like paisley, tie-dye, retro, batik and ethnic prints. I'm not too keen on floral or gingham type stuff, or anything too twee. I'm quite a hippy-chick at heart. I like boho stuff, and I probably lean towards the more gothic style too, so skulls would be a winner too! I love tactile fabrics, velvets, velours, silks, satins, natural fabrics are good! I can always do with washable cloth menstrual pads.
Yarns I like: Hand-spun wool, stuff I can felt, or really interesting knobbly stuff. I love space-dyed multi-coloured yarn, yarn with sparkly bits in, mixed fibres, Indian sari silks, novelty yarns, anything except acrylic yarn, which most of my stash is at the moment. I'm learning how to spin with a drop spindle at the moment, so I'd love some rolags, roving or anything ready to spin! I've recently knitted my first pair of socks and would love sock yarn!
Jewellery: I like silver rather than gold-tone, but I'm allergic to nickle. I love glass beads, especially if they're lamp-work, or dichroic glass. I prefer my jewellery to make a statement - I like to wear jewellery that makes me feel like a million dollars! I don't mean that it should be expensive, but I like it to be unusual or hand-made. I don't want to wear something that everybody else might have! I love natural crystal, amethyst is my absolute favourite, but I love most crystals and wear alot as jewellery. I have an obscene amount of crystals on my bedside table! *lol*
Sizes: I'm roughly a UK size 12 (which is about a 36" bust) and my feet are a UK size 4. I'm about 5'3", I think that's about 154cm tall! I prefer fitted t-shirts that don't sit up too high on my neck, scoop, square, sweetheart or v necklines are good! I prefer long skirts (almost ankle length) to short ones. I'm not keen on clothing that is gathered round the waist - I'm not the tallest of people, so I just can't carry it off!
Scents I like: I have quite a sensitive skin and can't use or wear anything with artificial scents. I tend to use unscented hypo-allergenic products and use alot of natural products and essential oils. I make quite alot of the things I put on my skin, scrubs, oils, soaps and things like that and aromatherapy is my preferred first aid choice. I like patchoulli, lavender, rose, geranium and vanilla oils. I love Nag Champa scents!
Crafts I do: I paint glass, knit, crochet, sew, bead and make jewellery, candles, paint, stamp, stencil, polymer clay, wet-felting, needle-felting, spinning, cp soap and silk paint. Supplies for any of these are always welcome! Also, unusual or novelty tools and items are happily accepted! For example, I have loads of knitting and crochet hooks, but if you were to make or find unusual embellished ones, I would certainly love them! I like novelty pens and pencils too, sparkly gel pens, metallic markers, Sharpies, marbled gel pens, glaze pens, that sort of thing! I have recently started getting into altered book art and art journals, so unusual ephemera and handmade paper journals would be great! I can always do with handmade cards, I never seem to have the time to make them myself. Unusual fabric or hand-spun yarn is always a safe bet too, I have a lack of decent haberdashery or yarn shops where I live. I'd particularly like 100% wool for dying and felting (yarn or fibre). Felt sheets, particularly novelty ones are good too. Beads are good, as are ribbons, and jewellery findings. Glass beads are a big hit with me too, I love lamp-worked beads, Indian or Italian glass beads, crystal beads or fused pendants - I have a passion for dichroic glass!
Crafts I would like to try: DIY kits for any of these would be very welcome! Wire-wrapping, enamelling, lamp-working, or glass etching. I'd also like any little diy kit for example, pattern pieces and instructions ready to sew a small project, or fibre and instructions to make a small needle-felted project; you get the idea! I just love doing stuff!
Things I would like to receive: Anything from, or based on my Wists, handspun handpainted yarn, beads, craft books, handmade journals, handknitted socks, hand-knitted mittens or gloves, thrummed mittens, cloth menstrual pads (with an optional purse with waterproof lining), hats (the more unusual, the better!), jewellery (silver tone findings and/or rock crystals/gems), hippy type clothing, big messanger type bags with lots of pockets (I end up having to carry lots round at school and wear out bags quickly!) pens with mad colours or effects, yoga accessories, tribal belly-dancing accessories, or anything that is your speciality! Honestly! I really love and appreciate handcrafted items, so if something is your 'thing' make me one and I'll love it! Even if you think it may not be my sort of thing, I'm open to new experiences.
Craft Books: I love books! I have far too many, but I can always do with more! I like vintage craft books, particularly 70's ones! I don't have any Japanese craft books and I'd like to have a look at some! I'd like some of the alternative craft books that are cropping up now too. I'm particularly after books about macramé, vegetarian cp soap making, and drop spindle spinning at the moment.
Other things I do: I love to read, I attend a regular yoga class, a tribal belly-dancing class, I spin poi and I've just started hula hooping. I enjoy walking my dog (although it's sometimes a chore if the weather's very wet/cold), I try to take my camera and/or sketch book with me whenever I can, I like films rather than the telly, I rarely watch TV, but I quite often have a DVD on when I'm crafting, or I listen to music. I probably spend too much time on the computer, especially on Craftster! I love my Nintendo DS (a Christmas present from my BF) and the Wii. I also love my Gamecube although I play it sporadically. I've just moved it to my nest at home, so I think I'll be playing it alot more now! I like live music and dancing, though my town is rather low on decent music venues. I love festivals and I can't wait for festie season to start each year! I like my garden when the weather's fine, and the BF and I bought ourselves a small caravan, so I look forward to summers on the road again! We used to have an old bus that we travelled in, but lost it in a flash flood, and it has taken a few years to replace it. I live as far from the sea as it's possible to in the UK (stick a pin into the centre of Britain and you'll be somewhere near where I live!), so I like to visit the sea as often as I can, time and finances permitting!
Books I read: My favourite authors are Anne MacCaffrey, Tolkein, Rowley, Julian May, Stephen King, Clive Barker. I like Sci-fi and fantasy books.
Films I like: Again, sci-fi and fantasy are my preference, LOTR, Bladerunner, Aliens, Star Wars, Narnia, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Serenity, Edward Scissorhand, Brazil; I don't mind a bit of horror, as long as it's relatively intelligent, not so much the splatter-gore stuff, think more like Donnie Darko, The Grudge and The Ring. My favourite directors, in no order of preference, are Ridley Scott, Peter Jackson, Tim Burton, and Terry Gilliam
Favourite styles: Celtic, Art Nouveau, Indian, Moroccan, Gothic-ish, Steampunk or hippy; I like most ethnic styles! Not keen on country cutesy stuff, or minimalism - I like strong colour! I also love Amy Brown, Brian Froud, Alan Lee, John Howe, Zettiology and anything Burton-esque! My favourite artists are Mucha, Klimt, Hundertwasser, Arthur Rackham, Haeckel, Gaudi, Kandinski, Miro, Jonathon Green, Klee
Favourite themes: Nature, cats, dragons, pheonixes, owls, dragonflies, peacocks, ohms, lotus', trees, fantasy, sci-fi, gothic fairies, the ocean, sunsets,
Favourite music: Diverse according to my mood. I like trancy ambient stuff that I can either dance to, or do yoga to, depending on the tempo. I like tribal or gothic music to bellydance to. I also like dub, and rock stuff too. Bands I like at the moment are Transglobal Underground, Astralasia, Eat Static, Banco De Gaia, Goldfrapp, Kasabian, Natasha Atlas, and Lemon Jelly. I don't really do mainstream music or pop!
My house is quite small but is overflowing with art and craft stuff! I like ethnic styles, my blue bedroom has an Indian theme, my purple living room has a Celtic theme, my bathroom is a lovely watery green with fishy art and dragonflies, and my studio is a wonderful warm sunset pink. Not usually my colour, but it faces northwest and rarely gets any sun, though it gets the most amazing sunsets - I wanted to bring the sunsets into the room! I love my garden. It's small and at the moment my patio is taken over by a Harley Davidson (thanks to the BF), but my garden faces South and is a summertime sun trap! I love stuff for my garden, windchimes, particularly bamboo ones, mobiles or spinning things (my house is on top of a hill, so gets a good breeze). In the summer, I spend alot of time in the garden.
I also have a craft blog here
My current Wish list
Crafted:
Jewellery
*A crystal/gemstone necklace!
*If you play with hot glass, I’d love one of your creations! Fused, dichroic, stained or lamp worked – I love glass!
*A hippy necklace or pendant (no plastic or seed beads please)
*A bracelet
*A fork bracelet
*A watchpiece Steampunk style resin pendant
Fiber
*A newsboy hat in purple or black or green ;D
*Any funky hat! I love hats, the more unusual the better!
*A pair of bootleg style knitted legwarmers in blacks or purples maybe? (pm me for measurements)
*The Phoenix scarf from Charmed Knits
*A dragon scarf
*Thrummed mittens
*Felted slippers
*A felted and embroidered/embellished brooch.
*Wooden or decorated Needles or Hooks! I love these
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7551543
*Handspun painted yarn
*Strong grocery bags
Sewn
*A jewellery roll please?
*A string of prayer flags or bunting with cool material - or a couple of made up triangles to put towards one *Long bloomers or patchwork pj style pants
*A sewn or quilted water bottle carrier for a 1 lt sports bottle
Household
*Something for my garden? I have a sort of enchanted garden theme going on – mushrooms, fairies, wind chimes, wind-dancers and sun catchers – that sort of thing
* A vinyl/CD wall clock like the one in my Wists
*A wind chime
*Kitchen items in golden yellow like oven mitts, tea towels.
*A cover for my food processor in a nice fabric – pm me for measurements!
Miscellaneous
*Anything dragon related
*A decorated Altoid tin with either a dragon, a LOTR theme, Harry Potter or Pirates of the Caribbean!
*Decorated storage boxes for craft supplies - mine are all in shoe boxes at the moment, functional, but not pretty on my shelves. Flat topped please so they can be stacked.
*A pretty messenger style bag with lots of pockets and a long strap so I can wear t crossways over my body. It need to be strong to take the weight of all the books and files I end up carrying round at work!
*A surprise!
Supplies
*Wire wrapping kit
*Flexible moulds for polymer clay/resin, or some of that flexible stuff for making your own moulds.
*Texture sheets for polymer clay – I can’t get them here in the UK
*Polyclay tool, especially flexible blades or some ribble blades
*Beads (no plastic please) especially gemstone beads, and unusual clasps (can’t find them round here.
*Sock yarn!
*Watch or clock parts (the innards – it doesn’t matter if the watch is broken)
*100% wool yarn for felting or dyeing
*Dragon charms
*Kool-aid
*Any of those single skein project books - I knit and crochet, so I don't mind either *Fabric dyes so I can do some batiking
*One of those pattern-a-day calendars - can't seem to find them here in the UK. I knit and crochet, so I don't mind either.
*Alternative craft books - there are some fab ones about at the moment! Any craft book in fact, I don't mind vintage or pre-loved! I’m particularly after books about drop spindle spinning, macramé and cold process soap making at the moment
Spanish Language Harry Potter Books! Hard to find here in the UK. Can you help me? I don’t mind pre-loved..
Things I wouldn't like:
Edibles! I'm trying to lose weight!
Anything made from duct tape.
Melt & pour soaps - I love vegetarian handmade CP essential oil soaps though. I appreciate the care and effort in those.
Ear rings - I'm very pierced but I don't tend to wear danglies very much as they tangle in my hair. I usually wear ornate sterling silver hoops that I leave in. I like to emphasise my necklaces, bracelets or rings.
No more shopping totes
Cutesy stuff. **shudders** I'm a hippy/goth/techno babe!
Stuffed toys -my dog (very big and destructive) or cats would nick them and that would be a waste of your time unless you're specifically making pet toys, in which case they would be loved by the minions.
Nothing in white or pastel.
Doillies/dishcloths. I'm sorry, I just don't get the point!
Shawls - they're pretty but I just don't ever use them!
PLEASE don't read this and think I'm really picky and "wanty" - it's here to give you a closer look at what makes me ME. I'm always happy to receive handcrafted gifts :-)
