raegun83

My name is Raelene. I live on Vancouver Island in Canada, just a boat ride away from Vancouver. I have been crafting all my life, ever since I could hold a crayon! I enjoy a variety of crafts and materials, but my first love is jewelry making.

I have one fur child, a beautiful tortoiseshell cat named Snoop. She's very friendly, and we cuddle at least once a day. She would also love to receive treats in the mail I'm sure, and she's not picky. :)

I'm not allergic to anything, that I know of at least.

The mail can sometimes take a little while to get from here, because it has to take the ferry first. Please contact me if you think it's been too long for my items to arrive, I don't want to upset anyone.

I love to make jewelry, and have a huge bead collection! But by no means do I only use beads to make things, I love making earrings and necklaces out of miniature things, charms, polymer clay, plastic bits, old jewelry... anything that interests me, really. I have a large collection of jewelry that I've made and bought, and am always interested in adding to it.

I also love to embroider, and recently learned how to do a French knot. I don't know a lot of stitches yet, but practice makes perfect. I have a ton of plain thread from my mom's collection, but would love cool metallics and other unique threads.

Recently I started baking and candy making, and can't really get enough of it. I am building up a cool collection of chocolate molds, cupcake picks and other decorating materials. I also love to package my goodies in fun ways.

I've recently started loving mail art, making my own envies and decorating them. Why send a plain envelope through the mail when you can send a special one? I love little bits of ephemera and am slowly amassing a collection.

I dabble in a lot of other crafts too, the main ones I probably don't really do are scrapbooking (but I love little bits of pretty paper!), knitting and crocheting (at least not yet), and anything that involves drawing/painting. Not to say I wouldn't like any of these kinds of items, I just don't do them.

I listen to mostly indie music, and am always interested in hearing about other indie artists, especially if they have a really unique sound. I like Black Bear, Kings of Leon, Andrew Bird, Camera Obscura, Band of Horses, Stars, The Dears, Wolf Parade, just to name a few. I also like some 80s music. I'm open to other genres though.

I love to read! I've been a voracious reader since i was really young. I tend to stick to fiction, but I like a good non-fiction biography or a psychology/pop culture book once in a while. I like authors like Jodi Picoult and Wally Lamb, who deal in heavy subjects, and also Jennifer Crusie, who is pretty light and hilarious. I also like mystery and action, Lee Childs, Harlen Coben, Lisa Gardner. I read romance here and there for a light read.

My craft book collection is somewhat small, but I think it's probably because I'm kinda picky about craft books. I don't really like jewelry ones if they have mainly bead stringing projects in them, but I love the Naughty Secretary Club book because it is so diverse! I have a huge collection of cookbooks and cooking mags, so I am good on that front. Unless it is a Halloween or Christmas magazine! I love almost anything Martha Stewart does.

I have been watching a lot of classic movies lately and really enjoying them, with actors like Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Clark Gable, Rock Hudson. I like musicals as well, contemporary too, as well as foreign. I like most movie genres and have watched a lot of movies. Right now I love Pineapple Express, probably because I really like Seth Rogen, and I Love You Man, for Jason Segal. Amelie is a favorite movie of mine.

My favorite TV show is Arrested Development, I can't get enough of it! I would love to have a swap based on this show. I also love CSI, Vegas is my favorite. Grissom is the best! And the Office - Jim of course. I also love Dexter.

True Blood is a recent favorite of mine too - I can't get enough of Bill!

• birds
• forest animals, nature
• pirates, mermaids, nautical things
• unicorns
• dragons
• fairy tales - Snow White and Rose Red, The Emperor's New Clothes, Hansel and Gretel, The Fish and the Ring
• flowers
• breakfast
• outer space
• dinosaurs
• candy and sugar!
• pinup girls
• lots of colour and patterns - bright, jewel tones, pastels, houndstooth, floral - nothing too gaudy
• Disneyland
• food, dessert
• robots
• kitsch
• tattoos
• miniatures
• aprons
• pets
• polymer clay
• Strawberry Shortcake - the 80s one
• aliens
• tea parties, teapots, tea cups
• the 20s to the 60s, the 80s
• burlesque
• zombies

Craft supplies! Any small charms, plastic things, beads, papers, feathers, glitter etc. I would love to receive cameos and plastic/acrylic flower cabochons.

Handmade things - I love to receive things people have put time, effort and love into. Anything, really.

Jewelry - handmade or not. I like cutesy pieces, vintage, large necklaces and long earrings. I would also like old, broken jewelry that I could take apart to make other jewelry. Nothing too dirty or unusable please.

Most vintage/retro things - fabric, jewelry, paper, recipes etc.

Baking supplies - chocolate molds, cookie cutters, picks, anything to decorate or package goodies.

Craft magazines, ones that don't focus on bead stringing projects - too simple. :)

Candy and chocolate I can't get in Canada.

I'm interested in zines and whimsey jars from hearing about them on Swap-bot, but I've never seen them in person. I would love to get some of them to see what they looked like before I tried to make them!

Anything related to my likes, above.

I don't really want to say I would dislike anything, just maybe that there are certain things that are not my favorites.

• lavender scent
• Twilight
• black licorice, I like any other kind though
• "princess"/"diva" things
• Harry Potter
• religious things

This section is obviously a work in progress, it's hard to think of things you don't like if none of them are around!