PerArduaAdAlta

A warm hello to the person reading this!

I live in the US on the Oregon coast on the Pacific Ocean. I am very fortunate to live where I do. It is beautiful!

I am a 35 year old mother of five homeschooled children. In fact my daughter will be helping me put together many of the items, and she loves FOXES and anything astrology or astronomy themed, she is a Leo (if you're interested in surprising her!). She is 12, so cannot sign up yet.

Like so many Americans, I am a mashup of genetics, but I am Dutch, Irish, German, and Lithuanian mostly and so am especially interested in these areas! 💖

I am interested in so many things, being an aquarius, and I find it hard to make up my mind as to what I want to learn about at one time. I perform with a very small local group of talented people to put on a Vaudeville style show, in which I sing, dance, play piano and ukulele, perform comedic skits, I'm learning how to juggle and am breaking into the realm of the performance clown, especially the silent characters. I love performing, and do it wherever I can!

I am also interested in the silent arts (lol), collage, calligraphy, etc. (as I'm sure most of us here are!). I used to collage a lot as a teen, and am hoping this will give me an excuse to get back into it! I just love finding things that normally would be discarded as junk and turning them into something beautiful! And am excited because it seems that this community is full of people who appreciate just that! There is something magic in that scrap of paper, that little button, that old black and white photo....

I could tell you my favorite colors, or whatever, but I'm less interested in coaching you into how to make me something I'll like, than just seeing the results of the creative process from each and every one of you! We are creating magic, and I can't wait to see what all of you are inspired to do! I feel honored to me a part of this amazing group of people!

I have no dietary restrictions or allergies. The only food I don't like is radishes, and I doubt anyone will be sending me those. Oh, and I LOVE DARK CHOCOLATE!

I love to try and experience new things! If you want to send me a really weird tea flavor, I'm in! I'm the person where before you were like, I don't know if they would like it, I'm your person! I love the unusual and different. That's how I found out that mustard and peanuts are the worst flavor combo ever... 🤣

Also, you should know, my passion is really to make something out of nothing. My husband has a junk removal business and I am a housecleaner, so often we are hired to remove things from houses that are going to be put up for sale. And sometimes those houses have some cool stuff, which I try to donate before it just goes to the dump (most of the time it just needs to go to the dump). And i always collect anything crafty that was left behind. So what you get from me may not be fancy and store bought and in the most recent style, but it will be made with love and creativity and the TIME it takes to gather disparate objects into a cohesive whole. 💖

I ALWAYS send out my swaps on time. I am obsessed with checking swaps off as sent, and 95% of the time send within the first day or two of partners assigned. I NEVER wait until the end. And I ALWAYS rate my partners' swaps when they arrive, 99% of the times the same day. I really appreciate all the work you beautiful people put into tailoring and digging and lettering and creating fantastic art, and I want to let you know how much I appreciate it, and also allow you to mark it off and archive those swaps! Of course I will resend a swap that didn't arrive, or reimburse postage due!

Foreign, old, or unique coins and currency! I have a small collection! Also any foreign (non-american) stamps will go into my collection. Or any American stamps, especially if they are vintage or unusual looking.

Handmade postcards! If you love to make them, I will accept them as part of any PC swap, regardless of swap perameters! They're like big ATC's! Also ATC's themselves. I mostly do collage, but recently have been learning more about layered mixed media and have also been playing with my watercolor pens. I never fancied myself a "real" artist, just someone with a good eye for layout and balance, hence collage, so this has been pretty exciting and unexpected! I would love to see your style. I have been quite inspired by the variety of ATC's I have received! I would love to be inspired by yours!

Washi stickers, any translucent or transparent printed item that I can use for layering in collage!

Woodland animals. The raccoon is my spirit animal - stays up too late, dark circles, can eat anything... I also like octopi, birds, wolves, tigers

Astronomy/astrology related. I am an Aquarians, Sagittarius rising, and love to meet other Aquarians (because I'm biased). I would also love to hear about your own sign

Vintage, steampunk, Victorian, anything old time circus/sideshow feel

Sailing ships and nautical

Celtic, Irish, Dutch, Scandinavian, "Viking", old European folky, things like that

Paranormal, cryptid, aliens, conspiracy, X-Files, ancient aliens theories, etc. I would love for you to write to me about any strange encounters or occurrences you've had, or any off the wall or out of the box ideas or theories you may have. Don't worry, it probably won't be the first time I've heard it, but it would be great if it was!

Address labels! I do not have a printer, so these are a treat!

I am not afraid of or dislike any animals like insects, spiders, worms, snakes, eels, etc, so feel free. I'm not offended at bones, and macabre things.

Botany, flowers, gardens, landscapes, MUSHROOMS

Black, all shades of brown from dark to creams, earthy natural shades of other colors, olive, eggplant, goldenrod, etc. But I can use all colors, even red and pink which are my least favorite, but I need them sometimes to include in a swap for people who like those colors, since I won't buy them myself 😆

Please feel free to send me any handmade items you enjoy creating! I think art and creativity are such beautiful things!

Lastly, I collect handheld fans. I'm not expecting anyone to actually send me this, but thought I'd mention it if you have one lying around you don't want.

I listen to a ton of music! It's an aquarius thing... I'm a professional housecleaner, so I have headphones in all day. I primarily listen on Spotify, and I'm always digging for music to use in my shows, and to play at jams (which are like open music circles). I rarely find an artist that I enjoy most of what they create; usually it's only one or two songs. So here I'll list some favourites - artists of whose work I enjoy the majority!

Anda Union

Too Many Zooz

The White Stripes

Alan Gogoll

Wardruna

Smothers Brothers

Kathleen MacInness

Circus Contraption

Psychostick

Parker Milsap

Charlie Parr, especially the Stumpjumper album

Vocal Spectrum (I don't know how he holds that note that long at the end of Go The Distance!)

Carolina Chocolate Drops

Tom Lehrer

I don't listen to popular music, so I never listen to the radio...

I also love listening to podcasts while I work, especially anything paranormal, conspiracy, cryptid, I also really enjoy radio lab.

I don't have at tv, but I have watched a few things on my phone.

Game of Thrones

Vikings

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Black Mirror

Sherlock

The X-Files

Also I really like the talent shows, like AGT, BGT, etc. I love getting new performance ideas, or things I can learn.

My all-time favorite movie is Master and Commander, Far Side of the World. This movie was incredibly well-made, clever, funny, and historical (War of 1812). It was based on the book series by Patrick O'Brien, which I have yet to read, but was lucky enough to run across almost the complete series in a move-in out clean (😮 see above).

I also loved Dances With Wolves

Shackleton with Kenneth Branagh

The Aeronauts

I really don't watch that many movies, because I don't have much time and I'd rather fill it with my family and creating things and performing, but also I love quality movies and they are hard to find... Suggestions are appreciated

I really only read non-fiction. I'm just addicted to learning, and plus I teach my children so my house is full of learning materials. But also, we only have so much time on this planet, and I'd rather spend it learning something.

That being said, I really liked the Circle of Ceridwen series. Historical fiction about the era of the Viking invasion of England.