prettymonsters

Note: I will always rate the day I receive a swap, usually as soon as I open it. Also, I save all postal receipts and customs forms, etc. from all swaps/tags for proof of shipment, so if a package I sent hasn't arrived in a reasonable amount of time from the send date, please PM me before leaving a bad rating. I haven't had any packages get lost yet, but I realize that these things do happen and I will re-send if any of my swaps should ever get lost. Thank you!!

Hi! I'm Amanda- I'm new to Swap-Bot but a veteran of other swap-groups... ATCs, books, art, etc... I DO NOT FLAKE! And I'm totally not picky about what you send me, so relax! Have fun! :D I live way out in the wilderness with just goats and cows for miles around, so it's such a happy thing to get neat stuff in the mail from other humans.

I do animal rescue, and currently have 21 cats, three dogs and a rabbit who were all abandoned and/or abused by former owners, and a few who were unadoptable due to being feral or "special needs" animals with chronic illnesses or disabilities. Every single one of them are now big fat rotten snuggle-babies who bring all kinds of joy and madness to my life.

[steps up on soapbox]

PLEASE, pleeease have your pets spayed/neutered, and encourage others to do the same. It is SO IMPORTANT and reduces so much needless suffering. And, if you have the ability, space and resources, please consider adopting a shelter animal. :)

[steps down off of soapbox]

I love to make things; creating is the only thing that makes me feel truly happy and fulfilled. Well, besides being with my mom and my varmints. ;) I also love meeting kind and creative people, but I lead such an isolated life in the "real world", that doesn't happen very often. I've only been on Swap-Bot for a little while and already I've met so many wonderful, talented, amazing people... it's incredible. :)

Sculpting, painting, fabric/needlecrafts, dollmaking, miniatures, ATCs/ACEOs, paper crafts, jewelry making, bear and plush making ("soft toys"), crazyquilting, too many to list.

Mainly I'm a sculptor/dollmaker/miniaturist... you can see examples of my work on my DeviantArt and Etsy pages by clicking the links above. Most of my work is fantasy & urban fantasy themed.

Whew... I'm a film junkie. Here goes: Stylish weirdness Jodorowsky (utterly weird but visually amazing), Jeunet & Caro, Tsukamoto, Takashi Miike (not a big fan of the ultraviolence, but omg I love his style), Kusturica, Kurosawa, Eisenstein, David Lynch (some I love, some is just meh), Tim Burton, Wim Wenders, the good ol' Frenchy newwave- a la Truffaut and Godard, hmmm... Messed up love stories in the vein of Garden State, Buffalo 66, Johnny Suede, Wristcutters, Camille... Angela Carter's The Magic Toyshop & The Company of Wolves, Stop-motion animation: Jiri Trnka, Svankmajer, the Quay Bros, Ladislaw Starewicz... Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal are all-time favorites... Italian horror, zombies!, PREDATOR, omg i heart the predators. They are they badassedest of all alien species, no doubt. and i heart them. oh yes. heart heart heart. predator. ok: non-crap avant garde/experimental, spaghetti westerns, good film noir, classics, Gilda, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Laura, hmm... Dagon,Julie Taymor's Titus, Forbidden Zone!, Star Wars, badass scifi/dystopian/cyberpunk/post-apocalyptic type flicks like Blade Runner, Logan's Run, Mad Max, and the like. and a ton of really uncool mainstream movies and anything with talking animals. Animated films from Studio Ghibli, anything Rankin/Bass (The Hobbit, The Last Unicorn, every Christmas Special ever made, Mad Monster Party, etc.), Watership Down, Starchaser: The Legend of Orin, Fire and Ice, UNICO... sword-and-sorcery flicks (Conan, Red Sonja, Beastmaster, etc)...did I mention Nightbreed?

I don't watch much tv, but I do like cartoons, various Britcoms (Are You Being Served, Keeping Up Appearances, Little Britain, Black Books), Prison Break (awesome), Buffy (mostly for Spike, I'll be honest), Firefly, Carnivale, random interesting documentaries...

Favorite genres are postpunk, newwave, ethereal, old-skool alternative, gothic, deathrock (not the same as death metal! really!) , neofolk/altfolk, industrial, indie, altcountry, etc... But I really listen to a little bit of everything.

Kids books, lots and lots of kids books and YA fiction, especially vintage titles. Russell Hoban rocks my socks...hmm... The Runaway Bunny, Wind in the Willows, glossy fashion mags, anything with pretty pictures, classics, poetry, speculative, "weird fiction", dark/urban fantasy, magical realism, fairytales... I read like a fiend. Some favorite authors: CHINA MIEVILLE, Angela Carter, Francesca Lia Block, Terry Pratchett, Charles de Lint, Neil Gaiman, H. P. Lovecraft, Clive Barker, Tanith Lee, Lord Dunsany, Theophile Gautier... Favorite comics include Hellblazer, Preacher, Sandman, most anything on Vertigo, really... and several oddball indie titles, like MeatCake. When I was a kid I loved ElfQuest more than anything, and I still have a soft spot for it and reread from time to time. :)

Like I said, I'm not terribly picky. I'm not going to rate anyone badly unless they send me a dead rat or a used Kleenex or something like that. And even then I'd probably just make the rat a dress out of the Kleenex, tie some buttons to its tail and turn it into a Dotee doll. ;D

That being said, I personally find swapping much easier when my assigned partners have wishlists or likes/dislikes in their profiles. So here is a small list of things I can use in my arts and crafts and other themes I enjoy. :)

• print outs or copies of your favorite poems or short stories

• mix cds of your favorite music

• ANY art/craft supplies, new or used. Torn or dirty paper is fine, also, since I usually distress everything I use anyway :)

• fabric scraps in light weights or tiny prints that might work well for miniature doll clothing, especially tiny stripes/dots, gauzes, silks, velveteens. Again, torn or stained is fine.

• really any scraps or tiny bits of fibers, lace, buttons, ribbons or other trims; I can use almost anything

• scraps of wool felts/fabrics

• Halloween items, especially vintage styles

• vintage ephemera of all kinds

• Antique or vintage childrens books/artwork

• vintage/unusual paperdolls & artdolls

• ATCs or other small format art

• cat toys or treats for my army of furbabies

• something that your child or grandchild made/painted/drew. I ADORE children's artwork and collect it whenever possible... It makes me so happy.

• random scrappy stuff from your junk drawer or trash stash, like stray buttons, paper/fabric flowers & leaves, cutouts, stickers, findings, papers, beads, odds and ends, whatever...

• Since I work mostly in small scales and miniature, I do not mind AT ALL if you want to throw in tiny scraps of paper/fabric/trims/etc. that other crafters might consider "trash pieces" or throwaway bits. I work mainly in 1/12 dollhouse scale, meaning 1 inch = 1 foot. So a 5 inch piece of ribbon is like 5 feet in mini scale. :)

• Circus/Carnival/Sideshows

• Enchanted Woodland (deer and rabbits, toadstools, gnomes, etc...)

• Dark Victoriana

• Anthropomorphic Things (from antique dressed-animal postcards to smiling kawaii muffins, I love it all)

• Gritty Steampunk

• Vintage/Antique Childhood Imagery

• Mythology & Folklore (especially Nordic and Asian)

• Monsters/Ghosts/etc.

• Fairytales

Not a theme, but I love marzipan. I love it so much. Sooooo much. swoon!

• mean people.

This is a list of things I need for current projects, and will happily trade one-on-one for:

• handmade decorative papers, especially mulberry and silk papers.

• fibers of all kinds, especially in earthtones, neutrals and black and white/cream/ivory.

• narrow cotton lace, the thinner and finer, the better

• dyed fiber rovings/tops, in any color

• instructional art/craft books on altered art/jewelry, polymer clay and/or miniatures

I have, over the past decade, accumulated literally thousands of dollars worth of fantastic instructional books and videos on dollmaking, sculpting, dollhouse/miniature making, etc. that I am willing to swap for Amazon giftcards or other how-to books (there are specific books that I'm looking for, though). If interested, PM me for a list of available titles.