Sternenfee

Jan 2023: It has been a while since I have been around. I'm curious to see if anyone remembers me /if I still see names I know. So if you remember me you are welcome to leave a "hi" here.

It has been a tough time, fighting depression, loosing all my dear cats...they were family and it still hurts. And with so much more that knocked me down I'm still on the way. So many broken pieces. But step by step I return to my inner self and to what once made me feel better. I miss being creative so this is what brought me back to this site.

So there's a bit about me. I'm Manuela, living in the east of Germany. I'm 42 and married. We don't have kids, it was a hard decision but the better one under all circumstances.

Pets can become part of the family and this is what they are for us. We now have two young kittens (Xeni and Pauli) born last spring. Sometimes they drive me crazy but they are responsible for all the smiles I have. We also have two gerbils called Merle and Marit. They don't seem to believe that they are prey, lol. They really always enjoy to see the cats (of course within their safe place only).

So my cats distract me a lot.

I also love to watch sports (soccer and basketball).

We love to travel but it costs a lot so I can't do it as often as I'd love to. I love beaches and Italy is in my heart. But also Spain somehow and I still dream of living on one of the Canary Islands (Fuerteventura) one day.

Postcards are a great way to travel the world. I'm a member of Postcrossing as well and enjoy sending and receiving cards. I also love to write letters and of course I have plenty of stationery here at home :-)

I don't like to cook but of course I have to...we have to survive somehow. Baking is nice though.

Reading is another thing I like, mostly novels with a historical background (fiction or real).

I used to do more papercrafts in the past, now I'm happy if I manage to make an envelope :-) Well, and ATC's. Mine are mostly collage style, sometimes also mixed media, drawn etc. Depends on the topic and how I feel like. I don't consider myself an artist but always put my heart in what I do.

Another passion are languages. I speak German, English and Italian. I also understand Dutch and Spanish but still need to practice it more to actively speak it. I learned French at school, I guess I still understand it...

Last but not least I love music and I'm happy to discover new artists that Spotify suggests. Since my playlist is mostly Italian I don't mention any artist here, I guess most are unknown in the world.

Since they changed the rules here in Germany it's more difficult to send things around the world. So I think I will do smaller swaps only. If it's abput small surprises or so I want to give you some idea of what I like.

• Postcards (see other section)
• writing paper
• something in your language (quotes, newspaper clipping etc.)
• I'm always happy to get a handwritten note/letter
• I love beaches, flowers, cats, quotes, sunsets
• I try to get myself into journaling and don't like to only write in it
• supplies for paper crafts (mostly for ATC's) are always welcome
• I appreciate your creativeness and artistry so handmade things are welcome

I collect postcards and I'm always happy to swap them. Favorite themes are:

• Touristy, from where you are or from rare countries

• Map cards

• Soccer stadiums or other sports stadiums

• Cats

• Quotes

• Sports

• Hands and Feet

• Dance