bigmamabird

My name is Carroll, spelled that way due to my father's desire for it to seem more Irish. I do appreciate when people take notice and spell it correctly!

I have been a red headed army brat gypsy kid for fifty four years now, born in Germany and traveled all over. Settled down these past 17 or so years to give my kids a more stable growing up time. We've nestled into the back country of Vermont, it is nigh on the most idyllic place we could have chosen. I do miss public transportation and easy access to museums and such. My number one son has left the nest. He spent a year volunteering at the place where he was born in Northern Ireland and is now gainfully employed in Germany, with his girlfriend, yay!!! I miss him more than I thought I would! The second son who had apologized for any teenage behavior in advance is now a teenage kid who is ever so pleased to be out from under his older brother's shadow! He is insanely taller than me now., making me the shortest person in the family.. Hubs is a supportive partner in all ways and I adore him for that as well as many other fine attributes. I do art to keep my sanity, it's a thing I have always done and I will tie a brush on my hand if I have to in order to keep on being able to! I have chickens and ducks for eggs and three pet geese who are so cute... Two cats own us all, they are way too fluffy and could possibly add their hair to any project I undertake. So apologies to those allergic- there is no way to guarantee my sending won't have cat hair, though I do try.

I like ---- Spending a lot of time being creative such as mail art (zines, ATCs, postcards, art envelopes, etc...) wall painting, canvases, etc

Spending lots of time looking at art....

Taking care of my animals- cats, geese, chickens, ducks...

Cooking healthy foods from scratch, baking from scratch...Sometimes with recipes, mostly without, though I love reading cookbooks...

Gardens, forest trails, health food stores, art galleries, museums, second hand stores, art stores, books and book stores, coffee shops with second hand book stores, people watching!

Independent and foreign movies...

Polka dots, leaf patterns, doodles, skeletons and skulls, faces...

Pretty much all colors- reds, blues, greens, purples, yellows, oranges, turquoise, pinks, golds, silver...etc. My color heaven trifecta would be purple blue and green, highlighted with gold and glitter most likely..!

Old stuff-- ephemera, stamps, maps, letters, photos and tickets etc, icons, saints and symbols, bones, random rusty stuff, books that have been saved from being burned but have their edges singed and blackened...

Images of gods, goddesses, Buddhas, saints, holy peeps and animals of all kinds...

Book pages especially in other languages, ATCs, all postcards- handmade, old, new, tourist, quirky, art, and everything in between, artist stickers, artistamps, artist doodles and dawdles and dingles and dangles...

Drawing, painting, and collage.....

Articulated paper dolls...

Bunnehs.

mermaids, witches, weirdos, strange other beings...

Stuff which is self imagined and made rather that assembled from precrafted products...

Abandoned things...found items, bits and pieces, leaves, flowers, bark, shells, bones, pebbles, rusty things, seedpods, pine cones, butterfly wings...

Entrances into secret realms..

Interesting words and quotes...

Animals- especially hippos, elephants, owls, crows and ravens, butterflies, cats, dogs, chickens, ducks, geese...oh yes, and the fantasy creatures, mustn't forget them!

Angelled by the kind SFreer for the Merry Mushrooms swap...Many thanks Shannon, it's wonderful! Thank you to Stephanie for angelling the DIY pattern design envelope swap, I love it!

Please note that I post a lot of my mail art on instagram. I often post as stuff gets finished , so don't peek if you are my swap partner and don't want to see anything early...I took the link off as some people had a hard time resisting and then felt disappointed when the swap came and it wasn't a surprise..? Send a message if you want to go there.

Scented stuff, including personal sprays, room refresher products, body products such a perfume and cologne, scratch and sniff or other scent imbued things... This is becoming more important as the years roll along. Please please, I cannot keep such things around!

Smoky stuff, I quit smoking years ago, and the smell is crazy yuck now even when sprayed with the above...

Food

Drink items, unless a swap requires them

Disney or other cartoon brands

Religious solicitations, even the gentlest are unnecessary!