mercmom41

Writer, Artist, SAH-mom to 5-yr old girl. DIY junkie.

I have an MFA in Writing and love to make and read zines (I have 8 different ones in my Etsy store right now, and I'm working on more). I write a couple of blogs, and book reviews for Rain Taxi.

I'm in a local art group that meets once a month to trade ATC's, and swap projects we set up ahead of time. Last year we did a Day of the Dead shrine swap and a robot paper doll swap, and currently we're doing a round robin with sketchbooks. I went to ARTFEST in Port Townsend, WA for the first time this year and was in absolute art heaven!

I'm into zines, altered books, ATC's, collage and mixed media assemblage art (shrines, etc.),knitting, weaving (mostly with paper) quilting and love to just play art. I have all kinds of weird supplies--store mannequins, bottle caps, twigs, the front of a large birdhouse,etc. Game pieces are my favorite supply, and I love retro imagery and motifs from the 50's and space-age 60's.

little pin-back buttons with cute or cheeky things on them

Pressed Pennies

Kawaii stuff- I like Japanese cute, but not much other cute stuff, deco tape

floaty pens and souvenir pencils

handmade stuff, especially drawings and sewn things like stuffies. I bought my current wallet from Etsy and it is made with Kawaii Little Red Riding Hood fabric and I love love love it.

postcards with b/w photos, esp. old ones from 1950's or earlier

used stamps, esp. non-U.S.

Robot things (postcards, drawings, figurines, stuffies)

tote bags, handmade or otherwise

I am a Mommy, I get it. If you are going to be late sending your stuff to me just let me know. I am not going to check the postmark, and I would rather you take the time you need and ENJOY making the swap item than dash something off at the last minute because you didn't have time after you were up all night with your sick doggie/baby/self. Remember, this is FOR FUN!!

I really love to reuse things, or upcycle them. Going to the thrift store is one of my favorite things to do! So I don't mind used stuff at all. Here are some of the things I go nuts for:

retro/funky knick knacks (no Hummel): dogs, owls, monkeys, robots

Snoopy/Peanuts anything.

Character drinking glass (peanuts, curious george, Disney, etc.), jelly jars fine.

Language reference books: quirky, old, esp. on slang or foreign (foreign to me would be not English) terms. Condition not an issue, it can be falling apart.

Fabric - novelty prints, bright colors, retro, or children's theme.

Rick rack of any color or size

Stationery: almost anything except pretty flowers. I love kids' stationery (I scored some Curious George cards last time I was there).

Rubber stamps of: dogs, monkeys, owls, abstract pattern or scrolly architectural patterns

Chipboard letters or scrolly, curly bits

Religious items, patriotic items,or anything from a smoked-in enviroment (it's a migraine trigger).

I love to read a lot of different types of books:

MYSTERIES: not gory stuff, but police procedurals and psychological thrillers, and some cozies. Here's some of my favorites and why I like them:

Deborah Crombie's Gemma James/Duncan Kincaid series because the main characters are both inspectors at Scotland Yard, they're married to each other and have a blended family and pets, and they have friends. All of these characters are likeable. The mysteries are told in two time periods and Crombie relates the current mystery to something historical. I also like that I usually learn about something I knew nothing about, like in the last one it was the sport of rowing.

Louise Penny's Inspector Armand Gamache series is a new favorite of mine. It takes place in Canada, and I get a little bit of education about the contrast between the english-speaking Canadians and the French-speaking Canadians. What I like most about this series is the Inspector, who is very intuitive and quiet and listens to people and believes in the inherent goodness in people. It's nice to have a police who is not a cynic and an alcoholic.

Wendy Roberts' Ghost Dusters series is really fun. It's a cozy series, not too complicated, but I like it because it's an unusual idea: a woman has a crime scene cleaning business and she sees ghosts at the crime scenes that help her solve murders.

I don't like stuff that's too dark, like I really did not like Gone, Girl.

SCIENCE FICTION, especially post-apocalyptic stories, those are my favorites. I just finished Robopocalypse by Brian Wilson, which was really fun, I liked the episodic way the story was told, and focusing on the survival tactics of different people, instead of the evilness of the one computer that went haywire. I also loved Justin Cronin's The Passage, and am reading the sequel. I liked the way that was episodic, too, how he looked at one chunk of time and made you care about those characters, then moved to another point in time and made connections with each period. The characters were really likeable and it wasn't gruesome, just scary.

I am trying to find more sci-fi to read but I'm not really into fantasy. I tried reading the first book in the fire and ice series by George R. R. Martin and I HATED it. I guess I like cyberpunk, near-future type stuff.

I love YOUNG ADULT novels and read a lot of them. I loved Hunger Games, also the dystopian Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness, Dianna Wynne Jones books, which are kind of magical/fantasy, and books about really smart kids who feel isolated.

I also like QUIRKY NON-FICTION books, especially about popular culture, like Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America's First Lady of Food, Selkirk's Island, about the real Robinson Crusoe, and essays like David Foster Wallace's A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again.