user5311

60-ish mom and wife, avid reader, crafter and thrifter.

My husband is from Spain and when our daughter was little (she's 26 now!), we lived there (in Madrid). We would walk along on the streets and people would stop and point out that we were speaking 2 different languages (my English to their Spanish)! I did learn Spanish, but it took hard work!

Now we are back in Cincinnati, which is where I grew up. We live in a neighborhood that feels European-like - we can walk to shops, restaurants, post office, etc.

Our house is a 1926 Arts & Crafts style bungalow. The kitchen has 8 doors but the house has a stained glass window in the dining room and a fireplace in the living room. We've been here forever now and I don't anticipate ever moving.

I have my own craft room (our daughter's old bedroom). I try hard to be organized but seldom is the room presentable. I have 2 tables to work on and shelves on 2 of the walls.

I like mysteries, Regency Romances by Georgette Heyer, romances by Betty Neels, British chick lit, craft books and lots of other things that don't fit into any of the above categories. I read about 150 books a year.

In addition, I listen books on my MP3 player. Recent listens include U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton, Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger and The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde. I loved the Girl with Dragon Tattoo series by Stieg Larsson.

Casablanca is my all-time favorite but that dates me - lol Last movie I saw in a cinema was Julie and Julia, which I liked, especially Meryl Streep's role as Julia Child (one of my heroes).

Sometimes I think I'm too ADD to sit and watch a movie at home - at least I seldom do so.

Paper crafts mostly bookbinding. I do traditional bookbinding, Japanese-style plus I have a couple of machines to bind books with (Rollabind punch, spiral punch plus a double-0 ring punch/binder).

I like quirkiness. My 2 favorite craft magazines are Somerset Studio and Cloth, Paper, Scissors. .

I love magazines. Love, love, love them. I like to read them and then cut them up. I use the images in my journals, to make postcards, covers for books and more. I use cut-out letters for ransom letter-type headings and cut-out words and phrases in my journal.

I also keep idea books - pictures of rooms I like, clothes, shoes, or other things that caught my eye as I was paging through a magazine.

Right before Christmas 2008, a local Borders went out of business and all their magazines were 75% off. That day was one of my all-time favorite days, as I spent $50 for a huge pile of magazines to cut up.

I make lots of postcards. When our daughter was in college, I sent her a homemade postcard a day. Mail art is so much fun..

I am also an avid journaler. I like to add cut-out words and photos to my journals. Also, sometimes I cut out an article from the newspaper or a news magazine and journal my reactions to it.

After 7 years of only wearing green clothes, I gave them all away (well, except for my rain coat). I now wear dark blue, black, white and red. And as soon as I can thrift a raincoat/poncho, I will be regifting the green raincoat to a thrift store.

It is NOT necessary to send me anything extra to get a heart. I only list these items to give you a sense of who I am.

• old photos
• maps
• magazines (I might have mentioned that above)
• buttons
• postage stamps (used or new)
• needlepoint
• ribbon
• tarot cards
• children's book illustrations (Dick and Jane, Maurice Sendak, Charley Harper - ok, not technically a children's illustrator but I think children love his brightly colored animals).
• old beginner readers
• Nancy Drew
• paper flowers
• rubber stamps (non-cutesy)
• wood rulers
• Copic markers
• Japanese craft books.
• paper dolls, especially paper doll animals
• zines
• board & card games of all sorts
• flashcards
• rub-ons
• polka dots
• rickrack
• graph paper
• anything postal related
• mail art
• magazine headlines that follow the formula "40 is the new 30" or "brown is the new black"
• old postcards (either written on or not)
• foreign postage (used is fine)

• country cutesy
• little puppy or kitten drawings, unless vintage
• religious images
• political images

I prefer not to receive FBs, Slams,Decos and the like.

Please let me know if something I mailed has gone missing and I will immediately send another package to you.

Sadly, for health reasons, I have a restrictive diet, so no teas, gum, candy, etc. I wish i could eat these things, but it is not to be.

I think swapping should be fun. I like to give hearts. I am not here to ding anybody.

I appreciate decorated envelopes. It's great when someone takes the time to read my profile. I love to write and receive letters, so if you are looking for a new penpal, let me know.

Postcards I like state map postcards, art postcards, black & white postcards, old postcards. OK, I like postcards!