Ereine

I live in Finland, I'm 33 and a graphic designer. I'm trying to get back into swapping after a few years absence.

I read mostly romance, some mysteries and fantasy. I need happy endings :) (but am not really a "romantic" person) Some of my favourite authors are: Jayne Ann Krentz (in all her incarnations, I collect her books), Jennifer Crusie, Suzanne Brockmann, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Susan Andersen, Loretta Chase, Connie Brockway. I've jut discovered Elizabeth Hoyt and have enjoyed the couple of books by her that I've read. I like books that are funny and I prefer suspense to overly melodramatic angsty books. I started reading detective stories when I was a child, Dorothy Sayers is my favourite. Her Gaudy Night is also in my top 10 of favourite romantic books, even though it isn't really a romance. Another long-time favourite is Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery, I enjoyed other books by her but Blue Castle is more romantic and as the sort of girl who men didn't seem to notice at all, it really spoke to me. Also in the top 10 romantic books (which doesn't really include many "romances") is Court Duel & Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith. I used to read a lot of fantasy growing up but it seems to be either too formulaic or too scary these days :) The only fantasy I read these days is pretty much romantic fantasy (in the style of Sherwood Smith and Robin McKinley) or The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson, which is about as epic as fntasy can get but not very serious about it.
I read some manga, my favourite is Yotsuba&!.

I used to mostly knit and crochet but recently I've been doing all sorts of things, I'm taking a sewing class (lots of fun), I've done some felting, embroidery and decoupage. Pretty much everything that involves yarn or fiber or fabric or paper seems interesting, even if I haven't done it yet. Except maybe cross-stitch. I like glass beads with nice colours but don't really do any beading.

Lately I've gotten into printmaking, it's pretty much my favorite thing at the moment. I take a class once a week, we do we intaglio printing.

Colours are very important to me, I like strong and vibrant but not bright or garish colours the most (but not neon or really bright basic colours), I don't really like pastels or neutrals (except maybe undyed wool and linen). I like pretty much all colours, as long as the shades are right, not muted or pastels or things like that. Pretty much the only colour I don't use is brown, and other neutrals like beige and khaki and such (I do like white and black and grey, if you count them as neutrals). Lately I've enjoeyd the sort of colours you might see in India, vivid reds and pinks and oranges and turqouise. I used to hate pink but recently I've started enjoying it, if the shade is right, like a dusty pink (also other dusty pastels), magenta (which isn't pink of course), rose but not the sort Barbie / baby pink. Or peach, I like my pinks tinted with blue.

And I love baking, if it counts as a craft.

Likes: strange old things, like old ads (I'm especially interested in ads that show full bodies, that is from head to toes, I discovered that it's a lot of fun to cut them out and mix body parts :)) and small scraps of paper, old photographs (the stranger the better, I'm not really into studio photos but don't mind them), pretty much anything pre-1960s, candy from other countries (I actually find supermarkets in other coutries absolutely fascinating, all the strange things on sale, or at least the look strange), natural fibers, strange or old or pretty buttons, felt, scraps of fabric or yarn or thread, vintage sewing notions (I like pretty much everything that's old, especially if it's slightly strange and isn't too decorative), old metal keyes, bicycles, vintage ephemera, hedgehogs, handmade things, green tea, cookies (I pretty much like everything that has sugar in it), hot chocolate, alpacas, white chocolate. Anything to do with Totoro or Ghibli is greatly appreciated (also strange Japanese things). I love trees and nature. And I love getting mail.

Dislikes (these possibly don't come up with swaps: Onions, things that are too cutesy (I like sort of cute modern style but not cute frilly oldfashioned style, if that makes any sense), coconut (I love all other sweets), angels (in a swap, nothing against them otherwise), things that are shaped like animals (I like sheep but aren't really into collecting things that look like sheep), I don't like most patterned papers I've seen, plastic beads, man made fibers, artificial sweeteners (or I'm pretty neutral towards them but my stomach doesn't like them), things that are related to some brand (like Disney or some tv series or something like that, unless it has something to do Ghibli and other anime stuff is also welcome), things that are too commercial or mass-produced (unless it's candy), things that are parfumed, coffee, black tea, variegated yarn, straight needles, plaid, teddy bears, sort of country style (and I can't say that I really care for country music but maybe I haven't heard enough :)). I'm not really fan of glitter, metallic colours or buttons or beads that look like animals or food or things like that. Or baby blue (and also baby related items, I don't have or know any babies). Also, please don't send me FBs or similar things, I don't want to take part in them and they just make me feel guilty :)

I don't watch many movies but I like funny and happy ones, especially if they're slightly strange. My favourite movie is probably Totoro, it describes well the sort of style I like, cute but not cutesy. And happy :)

Recently I've been listening to old sort of jazzy female singers, Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee and such. I also like folk and 60s pop, I used to like 90s Britpop when I was younger but for some reason my tastes have changed. I also like: Andrews Sisters, Ditty Bops, nancy Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Doris Day, etc. My last.fm profile gives a good picture of what I like, if you happen to be interested.