Heidiieee

Currently on an art/swapping hiatus :( I'm just super busy with my 2 year old, enjoying summer, and working a new job that isn't leaving me much time to be in my studio. I hope to get back into my art and swapping, once the weather turns and we are forced to be indoors more. :)

IG: Heidiieee

Hi there! I'm Heidi. I live in Indiana, about 30 minutes from Chicago. It's a pretty cool place to live, especially if you like to experience multiple seasons in one day haha.

I'm a self taught, mixed media artist. My first love with art was scrapbooking and from there I got into card making, and eventually started doing mixed media canvases. More recently I've gotten into swapping ATCs which I love. Most of my trading has been done through Instagram so swap-bot is new to me, but I was looking for a way to find more swaps to participate in. I took a slight hiatus from doing art stuff while I was pregnant and had a newborn, but as she becomes a little more independent, I've had time to get back into creating.

When I'm not creating art, I'm a stay at home mom to a rambunctious almost 2 year old little girl. I'm married to a wonderful guy who I've been with for 15 years...basically most of my adult life. We've been married 9 years. We love being outside, seeing live music, and spending time together as a family. We also love traveling, and I love planning vacations. I might have missed my calling as a travel agent. Most recently we visited Hawaii which was incredible. We are planning our next big trip to Jamaica.

In my pre-mommy life, I was a teacher and a school leader for about a decade. I have a masters degree in educational leadership and am about half way done with my PhD. I took a break to care for my dad when he got leukemia, and then I had my daughter. I'm just now starting to get back into the education world by doing some teaching related things remotely. I also would like to go back and write my dissertation and finish my PhD when my daughter is a bit older.

I hoard crafting supplies like it's a job. My biggest weakness is pretty papers, but I also have a pretty massive rubber stamp collection, as well as enough acrylics to paint an entire town. I'm kind of a Jill of all trades when it comes to crafting and I like to dabble in all sorts of stuff, hence the huge collection of supplies. While not my favorite mediums, I can hold my own with a crochet hook [but I hate following crochet patterns], and I can also sew a bit [but again, I lose my patience when it comes to dealing with the paper patterns]. When I was younger, I used to sew a lot of my own clothes and did things like rip out the seams of jeans, add a panel of fabric and turn it into an awesome skirt. I've also dabbled in cross stitching, though my eyes are getting a bit too old for the tiny stitches, and I've done some latch-hooking and macramé. Basically I enjoy trying anything creative.

My favorite crafting currently is ATCs. I like having a small canvas to create something on. I'm not much of a drawer, but I like to mix media and collage and layer things in interesting ways.

I love all types of music, but especially classic rock and progressive/jam band stuff like the Grateful Dead and Phish. I guess I'm kind of "crunchy" or "hippie" though I find that most labels don't necessarily apply to me. Growing up I was raised on classic rock. I found my way into punk/goth/industrial music. A piece of my heart is still that pink haired riot girl of my youth. When I met my husband he turned me on to a whole new music scene that was reminiscent of the classic rock I grew up on. His eclectic taste in bands and love of live music hooked me and we've been seeing live music together for the past 15 years.

I read a lot and it's hard to narrow down a list of favorite books. I primarilly like dystopian/fantasy; chick lit; young adult. I'm a huge Harry Potter nut. I also love the Hunger Games trilogy and I'm always on the hunt for the next great series. I am admittedly pretty terrible at reading non-fiction [unless it's education related] but I've been pushing myself this year to read more non-fiction. I can usually get through a memoir if it's someone that I like. I'm also trying to find non-fiction that is about unusual topics (Mary Roach is awesome for this!).

Some things I've read recently and loved are:

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry; The Night Bird; Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet; The Night Circus; The Paper Magician Trilogy; Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex; Scrappy Little Nobody; Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things; Too Late; Bright Side Trilogy; Life and Other Near-Death Experiences; Pretty Little World; Wreckage; Delirium Trilogy

I'm always looking for good reading suggestions so let me know if there is something out there that I should be reading!

Trashy reality tv is one of my guilty pleasures. I love Survivor, The Voice, Amazing Race, Big Brother...a lot of that garbage lol. I also like crime drama like Law & Order, Criminal Minds, CSI (and I have no problem watching repeats of these shows). I'm also a big hockey fan so a lot of nights you will find hockey on our tv, that is, when we can pry our daughter away long enough to turn off Disney Junior.

I like pretty things, coffee, sleep, mythical creatures, literary references, stickers, pretty paper, fun pens, cute animals, collages, Gorjuss girls, making art from unusual objects, and happy mail.

I don't like things with strong scents [stupid allergies], watermelon, and close-mindedness.

All in all I'm pretty open to making new friends, swapping fun art, and sending/getting happy mail. I'm pretty easy going and laid back so if you're a decent person we will probably get along fine.