FranT

I'm a New Yorker through and through. I graduated with degrees in fine art as well as design. Don't ask me how I ended up as an account manager at a gift company! LOL! Thankfully I telecommute, which is a real blessing. I love the city and the beach and I'm very happy to be close to both. We are three minutes from the shore, on Long Island, and a quick hop on the train, about 45 min., from NYC. I'm so lucky .... I'm married to a funny fella and have a 12 y.o. son. The three of us are a great team:) I love watercolors and try to paint as much as I can. I am obsessed with Henri Matisse. I also love art journaling...I used to scrap like crazy and getting back into it again... Every so often I work on a page for my scrapbook and will be starting a monthly scrap get-together with friends. Very excited about that! I still love and continue to make cards, tags and ATCs. Just being creative as much as I can, as often as I can. That's the goal. I am new to swapbot. And since I work alot at my day job I only want to do a few swaps at a time for now. I know how i can get, and i don't want to overwhelm myself. I want to be sure to do an awesome job as possible! I try really hard to read the profiles and get a sense of a person's likes and dislikes.. I hope my profile is thorough and will take any comments about my profile- like if I need to add more info. Let me know!

I don't read as much as I used to but I try. Lately though, I start a book but never finish. I am trying to read The Descendents. I don't know if I will have much success... I do like. any book written by Dave Sedaris/A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel/She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb/Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor/

I haven't gone out to a movie in a long time. The last film I think I saw was KungFu Panda 2 or 3. Don't ask. I used to love going to the movies and seeing foreign films. My favorite movie of all time is an Italian film called Cinema Paradiso. I am a huge fan of comedies. Put any funny movie in front of me and I'm as happy as a clam. I adore Albert Brooks and his films Lost in America and Defending Your Life are big favs of mine. I also loved the movie The Royal Tenebaums.

I am pretty much the same with TV. Don't get to see it too often, TV is more important to others in my home than me so I just I catch up on my computer via Hulu. These are my favorite shows I catch when I can - 30 Rock,Modern Family, Parks and Recreation... you get the idea, more funny:) I can't look at detective/doctor/police shows. I want to laugh, people!

I have never been super hardcore music fan of anyone in particular. I'm easy with music. As a kid I didn't collect alot of records or CDs. I mostly listened to the radio. I just figured it was easier:) If I like an album I'll play it to death. I am comfortable with hearing the same thing over and over...haha. That is why I love Pandora, it switches things up for me and gives me a mix. I love to listen to Coldplay, Michael Franti,KT Tunstall, Adele...I also like Ska and Reggae, but mainstream stuff. I'll listen to classical, jazz, soul. You name it.

I love to make ATCs. They are such a pleasure to make and I really really try hard to make a nice piece. They aren't very big so its nice to put some effort into them. I love watercolor painting so my cards are little paintings. I try collage sometimes but not so sure I'm super successful. I know I can paint well so I stick with that:) I like to scrapbook and make cards. I REALLy like making cards when I have the time. I like a clean look but not devoid of ephemera. I just think there is a limit to what gets put on. I like to think I have a good sense of design and try to be sure that everything I do has a good over all look.

here are some things I really like as well as things I like to do, in no particular order: Micron markers, visiting art museums, Giants football, Yankee baseball, the color green, anything having to do with NYC, cancelled stamps, old postcards, washi tape, any and all flowers espcially orchids, dogs, white gel pens, Matisse, linocuts, cold-pressed watercolor paper, Moleskine watercolor journals, painting winsor newton watercolors and drawing with colored inks,creating any type of paper crafts, calligraphy, watching funny movies, drinking gin and tonics, reading fiction, anything related to Japan (except anime), zen painting , all kinds of architecture, magazines having to do with crafts/cards/architecture/design, travelling to Europe, taking photos with my iPhone, Metropolitan Museaum of Art