Kitastic

6/23/2014 Update We had a rough week this last week. We had a car wreck, t-boned at an intersection. Thankfully everyone is ok, the car is not ok, looks like it will be totaled and we'll be getting a new one next week. We had to spend the night at the hospital making sure my daughter did not have a concussion, or go into shock, but all is well with all involved! However, this caused me to be late on several swaps, including some I had marked sent, as they were in the car at the time of the crash (post office was on our list of errands for that day). I think I have caught up with everything from last week, but if I've missed your swap, or something is not right, please let me know! I want to make it right!! Thanks for understanding!***

I'm a 30-something work from home mom to a lovely 5y/o girl. I own my own business providing children's entertainment, including balloon twisting and sculpture, face painting and bubble shows.

I love all things tiny and beautiful. Also, all things halloween and creepy. Like for example if someone gave me a dollhouse sized coffin, I just might keel over. I love to create things, especially tiny landscapes and settings. I'm currently working on 2 projects: 1. Tiny nature scenes inside of Easter eggs and 2. Restoring an old dollhouse to look like a haunted mansion.

I live in beautiful Birmingham, AL. It's basically a giant small town, and I love it here. I grew up about 15 minutes away from where I'm living now. If you had asked me 10 years ago if I would return to my home town, I would have laughed. My plan was to move to New York to stage manage and never look back. Then I met my now husband and everything changed. I turned down my New York job offers in favor of staying here to be with him. Since getting married and becoming a mother, family has become so important to me, I can't imagine ever leaving.
It is important for me to be the person who raises my daughter, which is both an amazing gift and a crushing responsibility. I work several odd jobs to make ends meet so we can live comfortably. Aside from 2-3 balloon gigs each week, I also babysit for a few other families, clean a house or 2, and sell things on ebay and trading sites. I am always on the go, and I love that my little girl is always up for a road trip or adventure. I choose to show my love to her through experiences. We love to go to the zoo, science center, the THEATER, she loves caves (weird, right?) exploring new parks, geocaching, strange museums (have you ever been to a dentistry museum? Or a telephone museum?) anywhere we can go to learn something new or experience something new, we're game! We collect patches and rocks and pins for the places we go and I love a cheesy postcard from tourist traps. I loved the worlds largest bottle of ketchup just outside of St. Louis. Although I was so sad to learn it was not actually full of ketchup, it's a water tower.

I love singer/songwriters, broadway show tunes, acapella groups, jazz and standards. Really anything, except rap and country.

If I'm listening to something while I'm working or driving, it's usually NPR or podcasts. I am a big fan of storytelling podcasts like this American life, True Story, The Truth, New Yorker Fiction podcasts.

I love Kurt Vonnegut, Neil Gaiman, children's books and YA fiction, just finished reading the divergent series and loved it.

My daughter and I read together every night, and in the summer time whenever it rains, we have reading round ups. In Alabama, during summer, we have what we call "gully-washers"- big fat rain storms that last an hour or less and then the weather goes right back to hotter than hades immediately after. During the storms, We take the time to snuggle up and read together.

As far as what I like to read, I have a hard time sitting still long enough to read, so I often listen to audio books while I work. I can listen to just about anything, except maybe comedy books. Which is interesting to me, since I'm a very jovial person and I love to laugh, but never really liked comedy books. For example, my hubby loves the terry prachett books, and I just think they're dumb, too silly.

Donnie Darko, Moulin Rouge (really anything by Baz Luhrman) Nightmare Before Christmas, (anything Tim Burton)

We are huge movie buffs in our house and often I get swept away watching blooper reels or actor interviews or behind the scenes footage on youtube. I love inside the actors studio (especially when someone curses in front of James Lipton) and Hollywood reporter's round table discussions, and paleyfest.

Walking dead! True blood, supernatural, scandal, American horror story, glee, parenthood, Big Bang theory

We quit cable last year, when the family and I realized we were sitting down after dinner and watching 2 hours of junk, that none of us really cared to watch. So, we get our tv through Hulu and Netflix and amazon. I do miss the big events like the emmy's oscars, Tonys etc, but other than that, we don't miss it at all.

Scrap booking (smash!), sewing, miniatures, seasonal decor, costuming, drawing, beautiful mail, I'm just discovering the world of inchies, and I'm in love!!

I have a third bedroom that is chock full of crafting supplies! I am always finding new projects to start and new hobbies to try. I recently started needle felting, which has such appeal, you stab a ball of wool over and over again, and when you're finished you have a cute fluffy animal!

I'm also slowly but surely teaching myself to draw. It's slow progress but it's something I've always wished I could do.

• Tabletop/board games • Any Game or playing card related items • Vintage 40s and 50s items, especially Halloween décor • Hair Flowers • Tiny stuffed animals • Creepy Dollhouse Miniatures • See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil monkeys, only small ones though • Anything zombie related • Stickers • Freak show/ carnival related things • Lip gloss • Whimsy jars • Tiny hats, especially top hats and witch hats • Skulls • Vampires • Coffins • Spellbooks • Mini mail • Scrabble tiles • DIY toys • Stripes • Penguins • Cthulhu • Costumes • Flannel board pieces • Altoid tin crafts • Fairies • Mushrooms • Fairy houses • Monsters • Pirates

For a child box swap, here's what my Maggie likes: • Costumes • Pens/pencils/paper/notebooks • Mailing supplies • Hoodie towels and blankets • Sidewalk chalk • Tiny animals • 18 inch doll clothes and accessories • Pirates • Favorite color is purple • Tiny books • Puppets

Barbie, monster high, boy bands/justin bieber, kawaii, sports, animal prints, crystals, tea, knit and crochet. Although I hate to limit what someone might send to me. If you would like to receive it, I probably would, too!

If you don't receive something from me, PLEASE let me know!! I will gladly re-send with extras! I'm never a FLAKER!

If you'd like to, I'd love it if you would seal your envie with a small piece of washi tape! I SMASH book all the swaps I receive and I'm covering the book spine with little bits of tape I pull off the envies I am sent.

Thanks to all the awesome swappers!!