athena1970

I'm a married mother of two daughters (19 and 17) living in Tennessee. I've been married for eighteen years, and have lived in TX, MA, WV, and TN during that time. We live in a house near the lake with two cats,one dog, and three hermit crabs.

My Flickr name is athena1970

Now that I'm done with the basics, onto the STUFF!!!

Private Trades: I'd be very interested in trading with anyone in France or Belgium. My older daughter is majoring in French, my husband is half-French (mom is from Bretagne), and my daughter plans to teach English to little ones in either France or Belgium when she graduates. I'd love to see more than just the average tourist does. Maybe swap local stuff for local stuff (food and candy, newspapers, brochures, local galleries, etc.)?

I'm a foodie. Lovelovelove food! Sweets and salties in particular. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (food of the gods) are my absolute favorite sweet!! I don't particularly care for hard, fruity candies, although I make an exception for tasty Creme Savers. Cookies: I love chocolate chip, peanut butter, and shortbread. I'm not a fan of raisins, and don't particularly care for an overabundance of nuts.

I'm allergic to almonds.

For drinks, I do love coffee. Tea, I prefer tea like Earl Grey or PG Tips.

I love postcards. Kitschy, dark, weird sayings, souvenir and state/city postcards- those are examples of what's on my filing cabinet and fridge. Nothing cheap-looking or cutesy, though.

I'm an avid cook and baker, so any kitchenware is welcome. I have retro glassware and collect Fiestaware, and love kitchen kitsch. My shelf of old salt and pepper shakers and my retro cocktail glasses can attest to this. ;) I also collect those old cookbooks from the Culinary Institute of America- there's that kitsch side again!

I'm a huge Edward Gorey fan. HUGE. He is one of the reasons I'm drawing today, and the reason my motto is, "Subtle, not gory."

I love to garden, and always save my seeds. Zinnias, marigolds, coleus, poppies, cosmos, Indian paintbrush, coneflower, and annual/perennial wildflower mixes are my focuses right now. Seeds and lovely little packets would be a joy to get, and I try to save enough to give out, too. :)

I love photography. I have a little collection of old cameras: a Brownie Starflex, a couple of Kodak Duaflexes, an Ansco Shur-Shot, and four Polaroids (one closeup, two pack film cameras, and a new one). I also have a Holga, a Diana+, and a 35mm fisheye (and I really need to finish off the roll!).

I primarily use the Duaflexes for TTV (through the viewfinder) photography. If you're not sure what TTV is, there is a terrific group on flickr: www.flickr.com/groups/throughtheviewfinder/.

My favorite types of/kinds of photography are: TTV, black and white, lomo, cross-processed, and just plain strange or odd photography that really stops you dead in your tracks. Not scary, per se, but... interesting. Like Ralph Eugene Meatyard.

I celebrate Halloween in a BIG way. I used to live in Salem, Massachusetts and I brought it with me. ;) I'm the crazy lady on the street who goes all out decorating the yard like a graveyard, and I have quite a few large boxes in storage that I drag out for Halloween. Orange and black, green goblins and black cats, candy corn and gumball eyeballs- bring it on!

I make polymer clay miniature foods, namely right now cakes, cake slices, and cupcakes. I also make Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) skulls. I'm just branching out into "rest in peace animals"... I guess you can guess what they are! ;)

For my art, I'm always on the lookout for cool patterned or handmade paper.

I have an office full of doodads, both retro and "dark". As an alt dark artist, I love finding little toys to scatter around my desk and work area. To get an idea of what I like, I have a Sugar Pops Pete action figure, the skeleton children from "Corpse Bride", Halfsies, a windup shark, Lenore, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Corpse Bride figures, a Strange Doll, and an origami crane...

Jewelry: I have very sensitive skin, so I only wear silver, stainless steel or nickel-free.

I do like Hello Kitty. Choco Cat and Nyago are my favorites. But I've gone and passed through my Kawaii phase. :)

I'm an avid collector of Day of the Dead dioramas and figures. This is the Mexican holiday- not the movie! ;)

I like most colors, but my favorites would be black, red (scarlet, crimson), purple (fuschia to deep), and green (hunter and darker). With the eclectic mix I've got around the house, anything goes.

I'm a Walt Disney World *freak. That should probably say enough. Not Tinkerbell, though- don't get the fascination with her. I really like retro Mickey, Haunted Mansion, and vintage WDW images and things. When I go to Disney, I pick up pins, coffee and mugs, cocoa, postcards, magnets, and edible treats.

I'm pretty open, so I'm not going to be easily offended. Things with weird, outlandish sayings make me laugh.

I also love Alice in Wonderland, but I'm partial to things with the illustrations of Sir John Tenniel.

I'm always on the lookout for pens. I can never seem to find one when I need one. Slender, regular-sized pens are what I like-- fat ones are too clunky to handle!

Dislikes: I don't l like serious-looking gore. I don't like to be grossed out.

Other dislikes: I'm NOT interested in: teddy bears, most 'normally' cutesy animals, music trades, and "Hallmark"-like greeting cards. Nothing religious unless it is Unitarian-Universalist-related. Hard fruity candies. Fabrics- they're lovely, but I can barely sew and usually don't do anything with them. Same goes for knitting, embroidery, quilting, etc... basically anything that has to do with the lovely-but-impossible-for-me sewing arts. I don't care for bugs. Thanks!

If you have a question about anything else I like, please feel free to message me. :)

Stephen King, Edward Gorey, JK Rowling, Peter Straub, Robert McCammon, John Farris, Roald Dahl, old Dean Koontz, John Saul, Richard Matheson, Shirley Jackson, Roman Dirge, Gris Grimley, Crab Scrambly, old cookbooks! Especially the ones with the nasty pictures of food you'd never touch with a ten-foot pole.

drawing, jewelry, decoupage, paper crafts, clay, drawing, digital coloring, painting

postcards, retro cookbooks, Lenore toys, Corpse Bride toys, Nightmare Before Christmas toys, Disney pins (especially the Disney Piece of History pins), political buttons, satirical buttons, just plain old buttons, gallery and artist postcards and business cards, souvenir mugs, souvenir magnets (only of places I've visited), salt and pepper shakers, Fiestaware, old glassware, Dia de Los Muertos figurines and dioramas, mother and child art, old cameras

I'm an artist, and I draw and decoupage them onto painted or decorated (handmade paper) canvasses. I also got into photography several years ago, and was pleasantly surprised to find that with a digital camera, I have quite a knack for it. I do these and concentrate on getting them into galleries and shows.

For my Etsy shop, I make miniature food charms and pendants (cakes, cupcakes, etc.), Day of the Dead clay items, and photography-based jewelry.

Pretty-Please-With-Sugar-On-Top: don't forget to rate me! I always leave ratings for those great folks who send to me, and it's disappointing/perturbing/confusing when I myself don't get a rating. It's just a couple of clicks away!