craftgasm

I live with my fiance Dan in a 19th century rowhouse apartment near Dupont Circle, in the middle of the action in Washington, DC. We are car-free and walk, bike, or Metro to everything and love life in the city. I work full-time running my crafty business, {craftgasm}, where I reclaim and upcycle lots and lots of paper. http://shopcraftgasm.com

I'm addicted to:
blogs,
craigslist.org,
pretty things,
mail art,
thrift store shopping,
bargain hunting,
politics and political humor,
hoarding anything that might one day be useful (which is notsogreat for the smallish apartment),
maps,
maps,
maps,
my lovely step-through bicycle,
globes,
postal or mail-related items,
old books,
cute apples,
birdies,
rickrack,
baker's twine,
graph and ledger paper in all forms,
paper with foreign words on it,
ephemera,
postcards (blank, to me, or written on years ago),
pumpkin-flavored foods and drinks (Pumpkin Spice Latte Season deserves to be capitalized, in my opinion)
green and pink and aqua,
thrift store fabric,
teacups,
...and all things vintage.

By no means an all-inclusive list: Jump, Little Children; Incubus; Army of Me; Suitcase; Maroon 5; Death Cab for Cutie; Rilo Kiley; anything from local artists or semi-obscure so I can attempt to feel hip and with-it while listening to it. :)

The Daily Show!
The Colbert Report!
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson!
The Office!
Community!
Firefly!
Battlestar Galactica!
Star Trek: TNG! (the one with Patrick Stewart being all bald and grandpa-sexy [because I am a huge nerd])
Heroes! (though mostly prior to season 3, when it kind of jumped the shark)
most anything on BBC America

I was an English major, so I can't possibly pick just a few. I do have a few different genres, though.

-- anything two to four centuries old and written by a British chick
-- classic British and American lit
-- classic children's literature (I'm a huge L. M. Montgomery fan)
-- contemporary children's lit (His Dark Materials, Harry Potter, Lois Lowry's The Giver trilogy, etc.)
-- modern & classic African-American lit (Toni Morrison, Richard Wright, Douglass, etc.)
-- non-gory apocalyptic books (like The City of Ember series)
-- modern judged-by-its-cover books that are all pretty on the outside (hey, it's how I discovered I love Melissa Banks and Sue Monk Kidd!)
-- anything by Carl Hiaasen
-- classic sci-fi (Asimov & Orson Scott Card, yes; Star Trek #5464, notsomuch)
-- non-fiction about crafting, flea market finds, cooking, urban planning, bicycling, politics, & women's issues
-- anything YOU have really loved if you tell me why

I have tried, but I really have no use for romance novels. Please save them for someone who will enjoy them.

I don't mind having multiple copies of books I've read, because then I have them to swap with or give to friends, so if it looks like something I'd like, but you're worried I have it already, it's OK; send it along!

I've been a member of BookCrossing.com for about 8 years now, so I'd love any books registered there. Even if they're not a subject I'm particularly interested in, I love being able to track where they go!

Anything papercrafty (cardmaking, bookbinding, stationery-making, stamping, journal-assembling, etc.), and all manner of sewing projects with my too-good-for-me Bernina.

I'd be super-excited to open any packages or envelopes that contained:

-If you are sending from France, I'd lovelovelove to get an envelope with some of the new V-Day stamps on it - thank you so much!

-I'm currently making a quilt (eek!) with reds, blues, whites and off-whites, and grays for my awesome grandparents. If you had fabric scraps in any or all of those colors, especially plaids or striped patterns, I'd be thrilled to receive them. I'm not picky on the source of the fabric, and anything that's at least 50% cotton would be put to good use. (I'm using old shirts and sheets from my family, so definitely not picky on where it came from.)

-anything relating to my above-mentioned obsessions

-vintage sew-on or iron-on patches,especially of states or scouting badges

-zakka-style items, either handmade or store-bought

-blank rubber blocks for me to make my own rubber stamps with

-something repurposed or reworked, either by you or someone else

-fun blank notecards or blank lettersets for me to use in my swapping and pen-palling

-books registered at BookCrossing.com

-vintage or interesting stamps, both cancelled and uncancelled (US) or any foreign stamps

-for that matter, actual stamps on my package as postage, if possible :)

-air mail envelopes, especially vintage, especially from foreign countries

-anything to do with maps (the actual kind, less so on the cartoony, stylized, or drawn sort)

-anything to make pen-palling more fun

-vintage mail-related things, like old airmail envelopes or rubber stamps or official stickers or forms that are free from your post office, especially non-US ones. Used or unused are both fine!

-new mail-related things from non-US post offices

-official-looking and bureaucratic-esque stamps and ephemera, authentic or not (I have a library-style date stamp and it's one of my favorite crafty purchases ever)

-weird papers like old accounting ledgers or architectural blueprints, either blank or written on

-things with polka dots

-things with bumblebees or honey on them (both because of my name's meaning and because honey is delicious)

-stuff from the supercute Japanese-style dollar stores (like Daiso on the Pacific coast of the US)

-secondhand things for a swap you found for supercheap at the thrift store or a yard sale (reuse, reuse, reuse!)

-pretty blank labels, new or vintage

-handmade anything, either from you or someone else (because, as Kelly Rand says, "handmade will save the world.")

-vintage bedsheets to use as fabric (in fat quarters or just random scraps of a few inches)

-fun tins or boxes or glass jars for me to store things in

-a real note from you!

P O S T C A R D S

I enjoy all postcards that have a real note on them to me. I don't collect postcards for the fronts, people! Instead, I love hearing about you, your day, a funny story -- whatever! Or if you think you have nothing to say, draw a fun picture on the back. :)

In postcards sent blank in an envelope to me, I especially love unusual designs, artwork, ad cards that were intended to be used as postcards (meaning they're mostly blank on one side), vintage, anything relating to my likes, food, animals, and causes. I don't generally enjoy blank scenery postcards that have the name of a place on them (like most touristy ones) because if I've never been there, I feel funny sending a postcard of the place. If that's all you have available, though, I can always find a home for it somewhere. :)

I prefer my received ad cards to have been intended for use as postcards, complete with a space to write an address and a note. If you need to use a two-sided ad card instead of being able to find a one-sided ad card, please cover over the more boring side with blank labels or paper-and-tape to write your message. It's a snoozefest to get an ad card that only has my address on it and your name squeezed in somewhere amongst the text.

Some things that you should save for those who will appreciate them more:

Tchotchkes or knick-knacks other than anything related to my interests. (I'm sure it's lovely, but I have a hard enough time keeping the clutter contained as it is!)

Romance novels

Country decor (cows, Mary Englebreit, etc.)

Disney items (I don't regularly see enough small children to be able to pass them on, and I'm not one myself)

Religious anything other than for historical purposes (pictures of a pretty temple or church on a postcard or whatever are fine; a religious tract or passages from religious texts in a note to me is not). In fact, including such is usually a quick way to not be rated with a heart. I respect others' beliefs and request they do the same with me.

Anything homophobic.

I always, always, always send my swaps, so if you have not received something from me, please let me know so I can either try to track it or send another to replace it. The same goes for if you receive something from me that for whatever reason doesn't fit the requirements or that you're not happy with. I contact my partners before rating them anything lower than a 5, and would expect the same courtesy.

Please write your name and the name of the swap somewhere in your note to me or on the outside of the package itself. It's awfully time-consuming to track people down, and so easy to avoid the hassle. Thanks so much!

I rate for everything I receive when your name and the swap name are legible and easily found. If you think I owe you a rating, please let me know. I'll check to make sure it's not been put to the side because I didn't know who it was from, or if it just hasn't arrived yet. I won't be offended if you have to PM me for a rating -- we should both work to figure out where it is! Similarly, please rate me, as well. I keep track of all my swaps and it's frustrating to have to contact someone multiple times for a rating when I know the swap arrived.

If you're going to be late in sending your swap, that's totally fine -- I understand life crops up unexpectedly sometimes. But please just let me know as soon as you're able before the send-by date. Letting me know a package will be late a week after the send-by date or sending late without telling me ahead of time is a stupid reason to get a 3 when you could have gotten a 5 +

A quick note for anyone concerned with my "no sends" from 2007: I most definitely DID send them (and have pics of the swaps before they were sent, if you'd like proof!) and have never received the packages back in the three+ years since. I've also tried contacting those who rated me as not sending to see if the package had come a few months later (one was international and a fairly large box), but without any response. I follow through, I promise!

I'm sad that this even needs to be a section, but am including here so others, especially swap hosts, can be warned. :(

@sunflowerpast Christy Traylor No Spending Swap #2 (Angeled by @Merimax AND @memtree within a week of each other - what dears!)

@Fernweh87 Anita Dietzinger Design Your Own Letterset (Angeled by the excellent @mar1l1ze

@mykateyes77 Katrina Benitez and @BooksNBears Jackie Bell, New Year's Eve Postcard Extravaganza {Angeled by @pdxyogini -- thanks so much!}

@user993 LeeAnn Easterwood, Coolest Thrift Store Finds

@user634 Trish Smit., Scrapbooking Fever Swap