WoodlandBanshee

Tuesday July 4th 2017 - I am so bummed to have been rated a 1 for a beauty package that I sent out and was not received yet. I have put a lot of time and effort into the swaps I choose to join, and I take these swaps seriously. It's super disheartening to be unable to join swaps I am interested in because of this rating. I am hoping that the communities I am in which require 5.0 ratings will allow me some time to get back to a 5.0. I am hoping the package has just been misplaced and will arrive shortly. Cheers!

JULY 25 2017 - I have not gotten a response from Nicola, and her address is not available to me anymore to resend because @NICOLA4720 has numerous 1's on her profile. If anyone knows how to remove a 1 from a person who is partially suspended, I would love to know. Thanks!

August 23 2017 I sent a message to swap-bot admin a couple weeks ago and haven't heard back yet. I probably just have to live with the 1 rating. Thanks to those who sent messages with ideas or support. Cheers.

Sept 9 2017 I am going to use the stuff in the resend package for other swaps today. Now that I have raised my ratings to over 4.9, I can join a lot more of swaps I like since getting the 1 rating. I don't think I will be sending the resend as I do not think she is coming back with twenty 1's.

I am hugely introverted, musical, and creative. I love art/craft exchanges and am stoked to find this community.

I love photography, especially photos from the first half of the 1900s. I greatly appreciate things from the past. They have stories. In my crafts, I also include things that look vintage, even if they are not from a long time ago. It adds to the story I am sharing within my own art.

I currently mostly enjoy making mixed media pieces; larger pieces often take me weeks. Sometimes I turn larger pieces that I've done on cardboard into atcs, postcards, or inchies, or sometimes I will include it onto a larger piece I am making on canvas as I love layering and incorporating many smaller crafts onto bigger pieces.

I love mixing paint, paper, photography, and stamps. I find it really satisfying to create texture and make layers. I have a lot of paper products; sometimes I spend more time just looking at the paper and organizing it in colour combinations than I do actually making something!

I used to host casual craft groups in my living room, mostly for card making, and sometimes for atc making and swapping, but it's absolutely exhausting for an introvert and now, with kids, I just don't have the energy!

I also have a few pen-pals, some that I have had for well over 15 years through livejournal and other online communities, although over the years, some of them have drifted away as they do! Ultimately, I'd love to connect with like minded crafty folks who enjoy letter writing.

I recently started an Instagram account to track some of the atcs and cards I've made for swap-bot. My user name there is: helene.in.the.woods. A lot of the images are taken while things are "still in progress" but you can get an idea of my style here:

https://www.instagram.com/helene.in.the.woods/

I garden everyday, and we have urban chickens. I have kids and a wonderful partner. I love camping and exploring with my family. I wish that I cycled to work, but it is just too far. I work with people living with Dementia at a day program where we do crafts and dance together. I love every minute of it.

Some crafty things that I would love include but are not limited to:

strips of lace

metal charms

brads of all shapes, sizes, and colours

leaf skeletons

old keys or key images

textured papers

anything vintage or vintage looking

Steampunk, Victorian and Space themes

nature themes and fairies, gnomes, fantasy and forest creatures and folklore

trees, leaves, plants

Dark, Hallowe'eny, Witchy, and Spooky themes

handmade paper

really sparkly paper

rubber stamped paper in all above themes photography/imagery

Woodblock or rubber stamps

Old photography or postcards

die cuts and wood or wood like elements

anything handmade, especially by you

anything for mixed media art making like artist trading cards, inchies, cards, smash books,paper art on wood/canvas/cardboard etc

I am not a big fan of using stickers in my crafts unless they are like the Tom Holtz Ideology "Paperie Salvage Stickers", or more high end mixed media use style stickers. I do use key stickers when I have them.

I love rich colours, deep dark reds, rich browns, oranges, blues, and greens. I prefer nature themes and woodland animals. Mossy and inviting. While I like both in my crafts, I prefer silver colours over gold, and coppery colours are particularly wonderful!

No foam shapes please

I am not interested in city postcards, unless they are very old

No stickers, I just don't use them

No religious or holiday stuff please (unless I have specifically joined a swap for it)

Cheesy quotes and words of wisdom

Childlike stamps or images

**I am not a big fan of pink shades or princess stuff (except crowns, I love using crowns).

Please, if we do a swap and you like to write or keep penfriends, include a letter and I will likely write you back. I am particularly looking for penfriends that like to include crafts and papers with their letters. It's so exciting to get a letter along with some creative inspiration as well as make lovely little packages, cards, and crafts for penfriends!