SpewKnitter

NOTE: Thank you to everyone who is being so supportive during my marriage issues. We're working things out (a big yay!) it's just a bit slow going (a big boo!) But we'll be moving soon to cut two hours off his commute, and hopefully that will speed things up a bit! In life and in love! LOL!

NOTE: I AM GETTING READY TO MOVE SOON, SO MAY NOT BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN GROUP SWAPS AND SUCH UNTIL I SETTLE IN, SOMETIME TOWARDS THANKSGIVING. ALSO, I AM NOT ABLE TO SEND A LOT OF HANDWRITTEN NOTES. I'VE BROKEN MY RIGHT HAND SEVERAL TIMES IN MY LIFE, AND TRUST ME, YOU DO NOT WANT TO DECIFER THAT JABBLE. LOL. SO NOW I MAINLY PRINT OUT NOTES ON THE COMPUTER, AND TOSS THEM IN CARDS YOU ARE FREE TO RE-USE. THANKS!

I'm a big hearted girl, who loves crafts, gardening, baking, and bento. My husband and I have been married for nine years, and currently have five dogs. They are the joy of my life, and I love them! I work part time at a consignment store, where I spend far more than I make. LOL! My love of vintage milk glass is going to send me to the poor house.... I've always loved baking, and recently I've delved into candy making a bit. I sew and knit, and it seems I can never find enough crannies in my house to stash the wool. I stumbled across the art of bento a couple of years ago and I've been obsessed ever since. I finally started a Flickr account, and I update bento pics on my Facebook several times a week. Making bento just for me isn't enough, so I pack my husband and best friends off with bento lunches too. :D I think my wisest investment was my rice cooker. I'd be eternally lost without her. My husband and I eat through so much rice I have to buy two 20-pound bags at a time just to cut down on fuel cost, since the closest Asian market is forty minutes away. My husband and I keep a vegtable garden every year, and I can, preserve, pickle, freeze and dry every bit. :D There's a hundred square feet of blackberry bushes in the backyard, so jams and tarts are on the menu all summer long.My kitchen is decorated in ivy leaves, but the breakfast nook is decorated in my secret passion, CHERRIES! Between baking, crafting, bento-ing, and gardening, I stay busy-busy!

I am just now discovering the really creative world of paper crafts! So if you have extra scrapbooking or paper crafting supplies that you'd like to pass along, I never turn up my nose at a little bit of regifting! It can be any size, color, pattern, or accessory! I never knew of brads until a generous swapper sent me some bunny brads! So go ahead, unload your leftovers on me! :D

I'm getting my very first Pullip Doll for my birthday, November 24th! Please don't buy anything for my little Lola (isn't that the cutest name ever?) but if you're crafty or have leftovers, I'm sure she'd appreciate anything! I've bought a few Re Ment things, and I'm slowly getting together a "Japanese student goes to Hogwarts" house for her. ::BIG Grin:: But like I said, please don't spend money on her, Pullip and Re Ment are expensive! But if you don't quite like the shirt that came with the skirt you adore, or you REALLY wanted the teapot, but you didn't like the tea cozy, then by all means, share your blessings with Lola! We'd both love that! And if you happen to like to make miniture clothes/food/etc, well then I'd be thrilled to see your artwork! I'll be keeping a Flickr Journal, I hope you all enjoy the photos! :D

Harry Potter-you've changed my life

Lord of the Rings-you started my geekness

Star Trek paperbacks-without you, I never could have fallen so deeply in love with my husband

Cookbooks are my dearest companions. Not only do they inspire me in my bento adventures, but they spark my imagination for baking and fun! I wish I could list them all, and maybe one day I'll be able to, but I will say I was raised on the fundamentals of "The Joy of Cooking." I almost always have a bento cookbook in my messanger bag, to flip through at odd moments in the day..... And one of my favorite gifts was for my birthday a few years back, my best friend Kristine sent me a cookbook all about rice, and recipes from around the globe. My husband jokes that "normal" woman carry romance novels to bed, while his wife cuddles up with a cookbook. Well, romance novels never sparked culinary delights. :D

I love COFFEE! everything about coffee, the color, aroma, warmth, even the many ways of preparing that tasty little bean. My whole life is measured between cups. My friends joke that my house smells like a cafe, which I suppose is only testiment to how many pots actually DO get brewed each day. I recently was blessed with a Keurig Coffee Maker. If you also have a Keurig and would like to pop in a K-cup, I'm always looking to try new flavors and brands. Please note that decaf makes me very sick, HOWEVER, I can regift them to my Nana who loves decaf and I love spoiling her. Cheers!

I can't say there is a lot out there I DON'T like! :D I grew up really poor, so I've always been thankful for the smallest of things. I do have a few Like-Likes though! With bento making, I've been trying to collect anything Disney, ecspecially Stitch, Toy Story, and Mickey and Minnie. But those are grand crown jewels! I do like Hello Kitty, and I really enjoy Hello kitty pens, stickers and stationary sheets! I LOVE those little tins of hard drop candies from Japan that come in all sorts of crazy flavors! How fun are those! I love everything pink. I'm not sure when that happened, I used to baulk that woman should be better rounded than a stereotype, but POOF! I really like pink. I suppose I'll just have to be a well rounded pink puff ball. I'm a Trekkie, and since Star Trek hasn't released a bento box YET, I'm currently making one of my own. I'm going to seal a print out of the Star Fleet Academy Insignia under resin on the lid of the stainless steel bento box. I'm sewing up my own little bento bag with a Star Fleet Academy patch, and to complete my set, I bought a Star Fleet Academy Spork. :D I can't wait to finish it!

This is by no means a request list for swap partners, more of a collage of items I really like to give other swappers a better idea of my personality. I would never want a swap partner to think I would only appreciate a swap if it contained one of these items. So here goes:

A Hungry Catepillar Bento Box! SQUEAL!

A pressed penny! I have a collection of pressed pennies and they are the coolest! Got an old one in the bottom of your sock drawer you've forgotten about? Well I'll give it a good home!

Anything at all with sheep, ecspecially black sheep. I'm a geeky knitter that way.

I adore handmade items. If you put love and time into it, I'm going to treasure it forever.

Children's flatware in different designs, to add to my bento collection.

Tea! I do love my coffee, but August to March is a hot cuppa season. Loose tea, pod tea, bag tea, I love it all.

A laptop lunches 2.0 outer box only. I have the inner boxes, and boy are they cute, but I still need to get the outer box one of these days....

Crazy linen hand towels. Ever seen those touristy ones with a map of Florida printed on them, or a recipe for peach cobbler? LOVE THOSE!!! And while I'm on the subject of weird, I love old tourist trinkets from Florida. You know, a gator toothpick holder, a postcard of Key Lime pie, a tin tray with painted Florida sea shells on it. The weirder the better. I just recently stumbled across a porcelian plate with the map of Florida on it at a second hand store for a dollar. Happy Sigh, I love that little plate!

Oh, and I'm obsessed with Animal Crossings, the video game. Obsessed! One of these days I need to make a Pictural Bento of one of the characters, maybe Slider......

Russian doll anything. ANYTHING! Scrap of fabric, paper, hair clip, pencil, an actual doll (does not need to be a whole set of nesting dolls, one of them alone is awesome!) ANYTHING! :D

I LOVE FORIEGN COINS!!! IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SLIP A FORIEGN COIN INTO MY SWAP, EVEN IF IT'S A SMALL DENOMINATION COIN (I wouldn't know the difference anyway), THAT WOULD TOTALLY MAKE MY DAY!!!! :D

Once again, this is just an insight to my personality, and isn't a request form.

When I was sixteen my grandparents were killed in a car crash. I was closer to them than anyone in the world. My Grandfather was proud to be in the army and to have traveled the world, and had always encouraged me to travel as well. So with my inheritance, I went overseas for two weeks with my school. We spent the first week in London, and for the first time in my life I felt completely at home. Parts of that trip have stayed with me forever. We also got to go to Switzerland and Germany. To this day, those experiences still influence my life. I still drink hot tea, and I host Afternoon Tea for my friends. My husband has become a big fan of my fish and chips from scratch, and my German Sausage dinner nights, which were two of my favorite dinners I had on my trip. In Germany I had a deep apple streasel covered over in cream that was amazing. I haven't yet perfected streasel, but I make a close deep dish apple pie covered in cream that my husband really likes. My friend Kristine and I want to travel to Japan in a couple of years, and I can barely wait! The more of the world you get to see, the more you realize, the world is a pretty amazing place!

Serendipity

New Beginnings

Spontenaity

Romance

Cuppa Tea

Espresso

Cafe

Coffee

London

Exploration

Discovery

Whimsical

Well, just a few fun words I love to use. I thought it would be fun to share!

I love Candy. Maybe I just didn't get enough as a kid??? British candy is just amazing, how can you not love toffee? And the Japanese! Between the pocky and hard drops and the fruit gummies I'm in heaven! American candy certianly has it's place. Jelly Belly's are a dear favorite, but so are twizzlers and fruit wedges and sour lemon drops. And I just love novelty candy! And powderd candy and chocolate candy! And Kudos to those execs that put Mickey and Hello Kitty and Snoopy on the box! What's better than gum? Gum in the shape of Mickey's head!

Lion King

Nightmare before Christmas

Mickey Mouse Cartoons

Totoro

All of the Harry Potter films

Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Toy Story Trilogy

Wallace and Gromit cartoons featuring Shaun the Sheep!!!