Amyellabella

Hello! I'm an American who moved to London a few years ago and I absolutely love it here! My biggest interest and greatest ambition is just to travel and if I had unlimited time and resources I think it is all I would do! I also love a great many other things such as reading, sewing, music, politics and cooking. I like trying new and different recipes from all over the world!

I think snail mail is wonderful and always feel cheered to receive it so this site is just great! Real old fashioned mail and crafting all together? Seriously, what more could a girl want??

Reading is one of my favourite pastimes and I've always got a book with me. I love to read pretty much anything I can get my hands on from fiction to travel books. Some of my favourite contemporary authors are Margaret Atwood, Barbara Kingsolver, Carol Shields and Maya Angelou but there are so many amazing writers out there and not enough time or space to name them all! Lately I've also been really loving historial fiction! It's a fantastic way to learn about a particular time period or event without being too text booky!

I've been sewing a lot lately. I love fabric and my once quite small stash is quickly growing out of control! My newest fascination is buttons! I love how different and creative they can be and we can all be with them. I like to make assorted things such as apparel (especially with vintage patterns!), quilts and more crafty things such as post cards or pot holders! I'm not perfect at it but I'm learning all the time! I also do cross stitch and needle point when I can find the time! I would love love love to learn to knit but somehow it eludes me, every time I try I think I need an extra two hands to make it work! I will learn eventually though but I'm starting to think that trying to learn from a book isn't the best way!!

I enjoy other crafts as well such as scrapbooking, making collages, making cards, candle making, soap making and really just about anything that can either make the things I use every day a little more personal or I think will make a nice gift for someone. I love different stationery items but I've never tried my hand at papermaking and I would love to give it a go!

****I haven't been doing any scrapbooking lately (too caught up in other crafts!!) so I'm sadly not really using any of the lovely items I've been receiving! So thank you so much for the thought but for now please save your scrapbooking things for someone who will use them more! Thanks!!****

I'm just starting to make dotees and I really don't know what I'm doing yet! Dotee supplies will always be welcomed!

I never knew how good films could really be until I met my bf who is a total film buff. So for the past four years we've been together I've gotten a serious education in classic cinema and some of the not so classic as well! I enjoy a lot of films but I'm really not into most action films and my favourites tend to be foreign language films (I find that the ones that make it from their original countries all the way to a cinema here are usually worth my attention!). My bf and I now have unlimited cinema cards so we're there constantly with the result being that I see most of the new fims (the good ones and the bad ones!).

One of my degrees in college was in music- opera and vocal performance. As you might guess from my studies I like classical music and opera but I also love folk, rock, oldies, showtunes and lots of others! I can't think of any music that I'm totally against and I'll listen to anything at least once!

I don't watch as much TV as I do movies but some of my favourites are The West Wing, Frasier, Ugly Betty, Anything narrated by David Attenborough- especially Planet Earth and Blue Planet, and Doctor Who (David Tennant is so lovely!). Project Runway is my guilty pleasure!

Just a few things that might be pertinent for swaps but don't really fit into other categories!

My favourite colour is pink. I guess I'm more of a girly girl than I like to think I am and I spend a lot of time denying my girlyness! I've just always loved the colour pink and I wear it quite often!

I love fun socks and try to wear them whenever I can get away with it because it feels like they are my little secret. I can have on a suit but I know that my feet have something like bright green frogs all over them and that never fails to make me smile. Knitted socks would make me love you forever and ever.

I work in politics and love politics. I live abroad but I'm still voting in the US election!

I have always had a cats until I moved to my small flat in the city and can't have one! My cat, Isis, lives with my parents and she is more their cat then mine but I miss her so much!

I'm originally from Georgia, USA and I've lost my southern accent but you can tell I'm from the south when I'm cooking! I miss my family a lot but I'm lucky that I get back to the States to see my them fairly often and I'll be there at Christmas!

I also love lip balm, nice colourful pens (especially the clickable kind for some reason), earrings and other jewellery, lotions, bubblebath, flowers, ribbons, stationery sets, water (rivers, ocean, lakes), scarves and anything at all knitted, the Constitution (I know that probably sounds funny but I'm a politics geek, what can I say?), things from different places (like your town! T-shirts, postcards, etc.) and the Atlanta Braves (I'm a home town girl at heart!) My favourite flowers are daisies. My t-shirt size is a medium (unless it is one of those crazy fitted t-shirts in which case I'm more like an XL!).

Also...I absolutely love shoes. All kinds from vintage heels to modern flats- I love them in all styles and colours! I'm a size 7 UK (9.5 USA) and shoes (even way cheap ones!) will always make me smile!

My bf is Ryan and he loves batman, travelling and graphic novels and wishes he could live life as a private eye in a 1940's film noir.

I love Christmas! I mean I really really love it! Every single little thing about it I love! Even all the commercial stuff. Can't help it! So if you want to send anything Christmas-y that would be fantastic! I would love to receive Christmas Mix CD's of your favourite Christmas songs/Christmas songs from where you are from!

ATCs, matchboxes and little knick knacks. Sorry, they are really lovely but I just don't have anywhere to put them!

My astrological signs. I'm on a cusp which means I'm a Leo or a Virgo depending on what you consult so I've never really identified myself as either!

****I'm allergic to eucalyptus so please don't send any lotions, lip balms or mints that contain it. Thanks!!****

Also-- I can only have sugar free sweets but sugary sweets will never go to waste in my flat! Just no sugary sweets with nuts please as dbf won't eat them!