shreve

Hi everyone! I'm Laura. Had some health challenges and a major life change a few years ago and was absent from swapping for a bit. Feeling more settled these days and looking to get my creative life back on track, I am 56 years old and I am a wife and a mother of four adults (only one still at home). So basically an empty nester. Untill recently I lived in Central New Jersey, USA. I just moved to Wilmington, North Carolina in November of 2022. Wilmington is a fun coastal town close to the border of South Carolina. I work as a graphic designer for a sign shop & I am a stylist for Color Street (message me and I will send you a free set to try) I love all kinds of crafts, was an avid scrapbooker and paper crafter. and have moved on to Zentangle, collage and visible mending. Really I like to play with anything that catches my fancy and makes me feel creative.

My favorite color is green...but I really like all colors and use them all in my crafts.

Since moving to the beach I have been attracted to all things ocean and beach. Especially shells and octopus and fish images.

I have been doing a lot of collage lately so vintage book pages, cool images, stamped papers, and items I can use in my creations are always appreciated.

I also love images of lotus flowers, anchors, vintage images like old typewriters, phones, mason jars, light bulbs, anything really.

I also have a love for polka dots. All my craft storage bags are black with white polka dots. I was looking through my paper the other day and noticed so much of it is also polka dots.

Just a note: I usually send my swaps out quickly often within a few days of partners being assigned and I rate quickly too. If I didn't rate you...I probably didn't get it yet. If you are waiting for a swap or rating from me please let me know:)

Also, I love real stamps and prefer to use them for most swaps. I have started collecting vintage unused postage for this purpose. However, for many large or international swaps... I am sorry but I often do not use stamps. The metered mail at my post office allows me to get tracking and proof of mailing. My post office is very cranky and gets annoyed at me for using stamps. So I am sorry if occasionally you will get swaps from me with metered postage.

I love washi and deco tape. All colors. I do tend to go for patterns over solids.

Washi Stickers are a new favorite.

Would love some music paper or foreign language items for collage.

Address labels & air mail stickers are always appreciated.

I really enjoy decorating my envelopes and packages, so anything like cutouts, ephemera, fun pens, decorative paper napkins, or things I can use to decorate them will make my day.

I also enjoy making my own envelopes out of recycled paper items like shopping bags & magazine pages.

Also, with all the notes and letters I am writing to go along with my outgoing swap-bot packages... stationary items would always be welcome.

Recently have started visible mending on clothes so fabric scraps, embroidery floss, lace and appliqués are always on my wish list.

Post cards Swaps: I do not collect them (...yet) but love participating in postcard swaps. I don't care what is on them. I have a good sense of humor so even funny and bizarre ones are welcome! I also really enjoy creative handmade post cards that are made with care.

Mail Art: I love creative envelopes and packaging. I love to decorate everything I send out and was doing it long before I joined swap-bot even just drawing on them with sharpies. I also used to make a lot of postcards and mail when I was studying in college to send to friends made out of bizarre upcycled things. It is so much fun. So if you enjoy creating mail art too I would love it:)

I do a lot of reading. I like all kinds of books. I love to read mostly fiction and often what my friends or kids are reading so we can talk about it. I do like to read some non-fiction books and biographies too. Some of my favorite authors are Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Anne Rice, Barbara Kingsolver, & Coleen Hoover. Always love a good book recommendation.

I like all music really. I can listen to anything from classical to rap. My playlists are filled with such a wild mix and I love to put it on shuffle and let it go.My all time favorite band is Pink Floyd.

I love all kinds of movies. I especially like thrillers that keep you guessing. I also love science fiction movies and time travel is a favorite.

I like to watch TV series but I have a full life. So I tend to binge watch series when I have a block of time.rather than watching something weekly.

I like chocolate really all kinds, although I really don't like white chocolate much. But I LOVE things sweet and salty. I am GLUTEN FREE so I need to be careful there is no wheat in my snacks. I also like chocolate covered cherries. I also like to try unusual snacks that I can't locally get or are unavailable in the United States. I am adventurous but again I am GLUTEN FREE. Plus I have a husband and he will appreciate any sweets or snacks I don't like:)

I love lip balm and gloss in fun flavors. I am also fond of burt's bees products.

These are not really dislikes but things I am not that interested in... Disney items (although I love Alice in Wonderland), ATC's unless of course it is an ATC swap (just because I have so many), white chocolate, anything wintergreen flavored, foam stickers, & teacher reward stickers.