JenDiggityDirt

UPDATE 9/28/11: Just popping in to leave a note in case anyone stops by. I am unable to commit to any swaps right now. I had a baby! Hooray! He has severe medical issues. Boo! He's super awesome and doing better every day, but there is just too much to do and swap, too. I'll be back one day!

I'm a 37 year old girl (37??? When did that happen???) in Southern California's Inland Empire with a wonderful husband and an evil (but lovable) cat, Cat.

We operate a small business from our home so I have a lot of time where I have to be home to get the phone, but I could be doing fun, creative things between calls to break up my day. That's where Swap-Bot comes in!

-I really love vintage stuff. The early 1850's - early 1950's is my favorite century. I like old adverts, pharmacy (health and beauty aids) bottles and labels, fruit crate labels (especially from California and even more especially from the Inland Empire, but I do love and collect them all - favorite labels to collect are cowboy/Indian/old west themed, pretty labels from pharmacy bottles/beauty products, poison labels, matchbox labels, broom labels, soda labels...yes, I really love my labels! I also collect anthropomorphic miscellania such as salt and pepper shakers, little knick-knacks or figurines, or other junk that has a cute little face (especially veggies), vintage kitchen utensils and decor, tea towels, tablecoths, and vintage California items. More of the kind of old junk I love: art deco frames, little vases, anything that looks like it's from the 40's or earlier, old childrens' picture books (even ones in bad condition can be used for projects), antique trade cards (Like the kind they used to put in product packaging) or calling cards with pretty images, any old-timey clip art...I think you get the idea.

-I collect tiny dishes, like ramekins and little dishes they often sell for sushi. I use my tiny dishes daily. I am always looking for new ones to add to my collection!

-I don't like a lot of modern stuff for home decor, but I do like graphic prints in my stationery and anything else to do with writing and correspondence (journals, notecards, stickers, etc.). I like vintage and kitschy/shabby chic with that stuff, too...anything goes when it comes to stationery! I am a paper/notecard FIEND!

-I love tin robots, spaceguns, and other space related tin toys.

-I love all kinds of ephemera I can use in making notecards and ATCs.

-I love picture frames, especially those that go with my home's themes.

-As far as dress and my personal style go, I'm pretty normal. I don't really wear anything too flashy or trendy. My hair's just shoulder length so I don't wear any hair doo-dads except decorated bobby pins and kerchiefs/bandanas for when I'm working in the yard. I like everything from rhinestone flowers to edgy skulls in my hair pins.

-I am not a fan of undersea life unless it's a random cute little octopus or crab or something. But stuff like dolphins and tropical fish really do nothing for me.

-I love little jars, boxes, and other containers that I can decorate and turn into something new.

-I love and collect all kinds of little woodland themed items. I especially like cute little squirrels, owls, beavers, skunk, racoons, and bears (real bears, not teddy bears)...woodland creatures! Classic gnomes and pixies, mushrooms, and other woodlandy things are also going to be a big hit with me, however I'm not too into most fairies (both cutesy and those fantasy style fairies) I have seen lately, dragons, wizards, or any of that sort of "realistic" looking fantasy stuff.

-I like to write with extra fine point black ink pens. I love anything to do with writing. I love writing with nibs and real ink, too!

-I collect vintage planters and other neat little, creative objects I can plant my succulents in.

-I do not drink alcohol.

-I do not have tattoos or piercings beyond my ears.

-I don't really wear jewelry. I do change my earrings occasionally. I like small studs or little dangling earrings.

-I like totes.I use my totes all the time for packing stuff on trips to going grocery shopping.

-I love stuff in the bedtime story theme. My prized possesions, for example, are a big vintage ceramic Red Riding Hood and a cast metal Jack in the Beanstalk candleholder from the 20's. Anything vintagey-looking that has anything to do with the classic bedtime stories would make my day.

-My husband and I go on a lot of road trips, often very far into the desert or mountains on dirt roads, searching out historical sites or old mines. Sometimes we are gone for days at a time. We love adventure!

-I like to stay organized and tidy. That doesn't mean I AM organized and tidy. It's something I strive for and am always starting new projects to get my household in better order. Little boxes and bins definitey get used around here.

-I am a strict vegetarian (no meat, dairy, eggs, or other animal products like gelatin, although I make rare exceptions for some of my local honey and beeswax) and generally like pro-vegetarian/vegan themed things.

-I generally do not wear any cosmetic, beauty product, or perfume that is not 100% natural or that contains animal products with the exception of a few bee products from sources I've already investigated). This can be tricky to determine so it might be best to leave beauty products off any gift list you might be making for me unless you're really sure it fits my criteria. I love everything from 100% Pure or anything from Apothena. There are also a ton of great beauty product sites listed on the All Natural Beauty Portal. Thank you for understanding!

-I am equally picky with my food. If I eat packaged foods I usually make sure they have ingredients that are recognizable, are vegan, and aren't synthetic (like articificial sweeteners or high fructose corn syrup). I'm not perfect, though! I do treat myself to less healthy snacks once in a while. There's a great list of vegan "mainstream" foods here. Again, thanks for understanding my quirks!

-I have a lot of themes going on in my house. The living rooms is all acorns and pinecones, and a dark, cabiney feel. My kitchen is all vintagey with a lot of kitsch. My library is vintage old west/pioneers/early California history. My bedroom and bathroom are vintage pirate/Carribean (not campy pirate like with a "Surrender the booty!" flag over the bed, but classic bronze pirate statues, big seashell specimens, and my beloved collection of pirate girl pin-ups from the 30's).

-I usually do not like commercial characters/cartoony/Disney stuff. Think Spongebob, Nightmare before Xmas, Strawberry Shortcake...just not my style. I cannot resist the charms of Sanrio, though, so Hello Kitty and her pals are okay (especially Keroppi and Chococat) as are most of your kawaii stuff that isn't too weird. Cram Cream stuff is insanely cute.

-I do a lot of gardening and decorating on my patio, but I try to avoid the outdoor decor that's too cutesy (like frogs and fairies). I do a lot of container gardening in big pots. I have a huge collection of succulents in the back and all tropicals in the front yard.

-I like to exercise.

-I am not a big fan of the country look when it comes to decor (cows and pigs and fat little angels with yarn hair...that sort of thing).

-I love all the holidays. When it comes to decorating for the holidays I usually got the more classic look than the cutesy look. I especially love HALLOWEEN and have been going ga ga over the trend in more classicly spooky decor.

-I belong to no organized religions.

-I have a good-sized library and love to display things on the shelves next to books about those particular things. For example, my tin space toys go in the sci fi section, zombie finger puppet goes near the zombie books, magnets and bird's nests in the science section. etc. I am always happy to get some neat object to display in this way.

-I love music. NO, I mean I really, REALLY love music. But I'm sort of picky. I especially love silly punk rock like from Guttermouth or the Vandals or DI or Angry Samoans or anything else that is fast and funny and, usually, really offensive. I love rural American music from the 20's and earlier (scratchy sounds and all), old (and some new) ska, stuff from the 30's and the 40's, old folk songs (not too much past the early 60's or so - then it gets to be a little too hippyish for me), Dan Zanes, classic, old school punk stuff from both sides of the pond, Zappa, good rock like Fu Manchu, the Melvins, Big Business, and Clutch, and themed music like for Halloween and Xmas or "silly songs" or "disco hits" - stuff like that. I'm not too into the usual stuff they play on the radio nor really techno sounding stuff. The only radio I really listen to is the 70's rock station if my husband's in the car or the 40's channel on XM. I also love children's music. I mean REALLY love children's music. Not the cutesy lullaby kind, but the silly, playful kind.

-I love handmade stuff! Anything handmade would be treasured. I'd especially love to receive anything knitted or crocheted, an apron, felted animals or mushrooms or anything else that would fit my themes. I'd also love to receive a shrine or any kind of embellished artwork like that. I'd also like to see someone bring back the artform of the shoebox diorama! Remember how fun those were?

-I love crafting and usually find myself doing stuff with paper: notecards, postcards, magnets, decoupage, ATCs, etc. I also do ceramics because a) it's fun and b) my mother must has a huge studio. I love to paint, I just suck at it. I could get excited about any craft, really! I like to get creative. I bought a bunch of stuff to learn how to knit, but I just got confused. Maybe someday...

-I love vintage images especially. Interesting old photographs, little old trinkets (figurines, antique die cast toys, old ticket stubs, magazines from the 50's and earlier), interesting little pieces of the past...these and all things like them are things that really get me excited.

-I love nice notecards! And sheets of stationery/letter sets!

-My favorite stores are Paper-Source, Tuesday Morning, The Alley, Cost Plus, the Salvation Army, Goodwill, and any and all local thrift and antique shops. Oh, and yard sales and flea markets, of course. And estate sales. God, I love shopping.

Here are some places and things around the www that I thought I'd share... ---MyPaperCrane.Com ---Swatch Portraits ---Rad poison bottles ---RoboJunker! ---Ephemera Society of America ---The Toymaker --Magdalena Bors --Happily Ever Over --Cutest Stuffed Animals EVER --Great Collection of Scanned Images from Old Books --The Vegetable Museum --The amount of ephemera available at these links boggles the mind! -- Really Great Free Posters from Gardenburger! -- The Vegetable Museum -- A Really Cute Idea