Belles1982

Well, what can I say about me?

I will shortly be relocating back to an old Victorian cottage in a town in England from New York City. I love the countryside, and enjoy spending my time with my 2 year old daughter and husband. We have another baby due December 2011 on Christmas day, so looking forward to that!

I enjoy photography and reading, but am quite fussy with the books I read. Nothing is better than a hot cup of coffee and a good novel on a rainy afternoon.

I love all things old or re-purposed and most of our furniture is second hand thrifted furniture I have refinished or re-purposed. Any tips on furniture restoration are always welcomed!

I love crafty bits and pieces, and have a lovely collection of beautiful papers, stickers and ribbons which I am always adding to! For stickers I prefer ones that would be suitable for my daughter, but nothing cartoon themed if possible.

I love lace and lace ribbons, Yankee candle samplers (any Christmas or autumnal scents!) I LOVE buttons and beads and enjoy working with scraps of woollen felt. I have recently starting needle felting and am finding this to be an extremely enjoyable past time! I would love to receive felted ornaments or hand made felt stitchies. Bits of woollen felt and wool for felting in any colours would be a lovely surprise! I collect red and white baubles also.

Primitive handmade ornaments are one of my many weaknesses, so anything ‘rusty’ or a bit ‘grubby’ is treasured! Wooden, ceramic or tin hearts are lovely!

I have a slight addiction to American Candy Corn! But this falls in with my love of Autumn- so think colours of the changing leaves, crisp mornings, the smell of baking apple and pumpkin pies. Scarecrows and baking spices like cinnamon and nutmeg! Spiced teas and anything crafty relating to Autumn or winter. You can never have too many wooden buttons to use in autumnal crafty projects! I love hand dipped candles,beeswax candles, rusty stars and hearts, raffia, fake autumn leaves, fake apples. Dried miniature pumpkins- in fact anything pumpkin themed!

I love Snowmen! My Christmas tree is red and white themed, but I have a special place in my heart for snowmen so would love to add to my collection. Other Christmassy things I love are decorative candy canes! Must be the love of red and white again! I love gingham ribbon, polka dot ribbon or any red/white combo ribbon. In fact, how could I write this much already and forget how much I love polka dots!

Every year I make a gingerbread house (or two) at Christmas, so would love to receive candy from different countries to decorate it with! Preferably nothing chocolatey.

I love to bake, especially cookies- so cookie cutters are always welcome! Or anything to decorate the cookies with i.e sprinkles, chocolate chips etc. I am still on the lookout for ‘the’ chocolate chip cookie recipe which I will be baking for my grandchildren one day!

Another baking related item I would love to receive is paper cupcake cases- you can never have too many and I love pretty ones in bright colours of any size! Decorating cupcakes is a great way to relax- as is eating them!

I love shabby chic styles, birds in cages, birds nests, pretty candles and metal or ceramic birds, small wooden bird houses etc.

I love handmade doilies, and have many many projects on the go which require these!

Shapes or wooden cut-outs of the letter ‘T’ f to add to my collection are highly prized! ) Finished or un-finished! I love to decorate them, so this is another project that I love to use my stash of scrap book papers for!

My summer loves are fabric bunting, pretty tea lights, small glass jars in any colour, pretty napkins, flowery themed rubber stamps, fruit flavoured teas. Every year in my garden I grow heirloom tomatoes- so if you have any seeds you’re able to share I would love to have a go growing them! Summer is my scrap booking season, so am on the look out year round for small journals to scrap book into.

I can’t crochet, so am envious of anyone that can crochet small flowers and snowflakes and would love to receive these to use in some of my projects!

The colour combination of red and turquoise or turquoise and yellow together makes me smile every time I see it. Other favourite colours are earth tones, and scraps of fabric or anything in these colours can always be put to good use. I’m starting out on patch work so although not very good yet, hope to be one day! Fabric scraps in any colours, threads and advice welcome!

I have a printers tray that stands empty, but I long to fill it with shells, pebbles, sea glass, tiny jars with sea sand or bits of drift wood. Each item must be able to fit in a space no bigger than the smallest size match box!

Other things I love glitter, sequins, seed beads, fat quarters, wild flowers, flat bottomed glass gems, bits of dried moss, wooden cotton reels, wooden buttons, miniature pegs.

I'm always on the lookout for pretty hair accessories for little girls! Any bright coloured ribbons are so useful for making bows for hair!

(I may sound fussy, but I’m really not- just trying to be as descriptive as I can to help you out)

I love animals, but personally would not prefer to receive anything with images of them.

I have have sensitivities to a lot of products- so would prefer all natural ingredients. Love honey!

And lastly, I love homemade and handmade and would prefer to receive these in my swaps, however please send whatever it takes to inspire you! I will be thankful for anything and will always see the effort that went into putting a swap together.