captkristi

UPDATE AUGUST 2021

HAPPY NEWS on the dash tonight. My 1 is GONE!! I am literally jumping for joy about this. Getting a 1 made me want to stop swapping. Dramatic I know, but man, bone-crushing to see that. Weight lifted to have that changed and know that my swap partner received her package.

The 3 I earned - completely and irrevocably. I was so focused on the painting that I created for the swap that I wasn't paying attention to the requirements of the swap and sent to the host in a plain envelope.

I live in the middle of nowhere and I am finding more and more that it is imperative to give my mail time to make it to where it's postmarked - not here in the town I live, apparently. So I am trying to send out well before the deadline to avoid issues with this.

PLEASE let me know if you are missing something. I am always happy to resend swaps that don't look like they are going to show up. Thanks so much for visiting my profile

I love all things art!! About 4 years ago I got back into Zentangle. I let it push me beyond the things I thought I could do and I am so happy that I committed to making art and believing in my talents. These days I am not Zentangling all that much but I AM drawing, painting, collaging, lots of wonderful art making and feeling confident in my creations.

For my day job I am a pediatric mental health therapist (clinical social worker) in Nevada. Opening my own agency and serving the children in these rural areas has been the highlight of my life thus far. I have two dogs that I absolutely adore - they are super active so they keep me going!! I also have a flock of chickens that I am frequently adding and subtracting from. My dad and I "trade" chickens as I am a vegetarian and wouldn't hurt a spider (literally) and he is a farmer that doesn't buy meat at the store. Win-Win All my chickens have names and one in particular follows me around and calls for me when she's getting hungry. She also comes when I call her. It's SO funny and makes my day!

I am a lover of colors! As a watercolorist I get to explore pigments and mix up some amazing shades from the world around me. Rainbows and happy, bright colors are the best. I tend to lean towards turquoise, pink and purple - but, truly, I LOVE colors!! I don't know that there is a color that I would say I don't like.

I like inspirational quotes - especially handwritten little art pieces. Botanical Line Drawings, florals, fun characters - any artistic endeavor or watercolor paintings/prints/postcards are awesome!

I make ATCs here and there as I have time to put my attention to it. I do some paper crafting and spend the bulk of my creative time using watercolor and pens to create handmade postcards for swapping. I like getting vintage ephemera, paint chips and samples of watercolor or other interesting papers. *Graphic 45, Stamperia & Tim Holtz are top favorites for paper crafting. If anyone wants to do a private swap for these I would love that. I want to buy almost every new paper set that comes out - Always thought it would be cool to have someone to trade 50/50 so I can get a variety!!

I have had lots of changes in my life in the last year - who hasn't, right!!?? I have almost entirely stopped watching TV since my boyfriend's schedule is the opposite of my own. We aren't often home together in the evening so it's not as fun to watch movies and TV. Instead I usually paint/draw/listen to Audible/watch tutorials on YouTube.

I love to cook vegetarian meals, bake homemade bread (the smell?!?! oh my!) grow things (houseplant addict over here) and spend time with my friends and my pets - and sometimes my family. But honestly - art and swapping are my two favorite past times currently.

Let me see - what else. Social Work is my passion. I wholeheartedly believe in giving of myself to all those I meet. Even a warm smile and nice word can brighten someone's day. The kids I work with are usually the ones who have been left by every person that was "supposed" to love them and keep them safe. That can be hard to witness at times. Not being able to make things better for them is one of the most challenging parts of my job.

I am spiritual but definitely not religious. I am big into the "mystical" (I can't really think of any other way to put it) and I am a GIANT tree hugger.

currently reading The Wheel of Time series. Have had it in my wish list forever. Some people in the Sunshine Swaps and Mail group are reading it together so that will be great! I don't have many (any?) book loving friends

Stephen King is my favorite author. I wouldn't say that I am typically a horror person. I am easily spooked, but King's writing style is phenomenal …so, yeah, I love him!!

I have an hour long commute to and from work, so I am an avid Audible listener. You will see below - I absolutely love book series because you can stay in the land and life of the characters you have come to know. Wonderful!! I have also been listening to books while I make art in the evenings and have been averaging 15 books a month.

This year I finished the Riyira books by Michael J Sullivan; Shadows of the Apt series by Adrian Tchiakovsky; the Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski. A recommendation from my little brother. Excellent series. Some of the other books I have read in the past year include: The Traitor Son Cycle by Miles Cameron; Don Winslow's crime series with a big plot section in rural Nevada super close to where I grew up; The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner; the Hell Divers by Nicholas Sansbury Smith - the 8th novel in this series was released so I read them all again.

Hard to say what my very favorite books are. The Stand is my all time favorite story. I also love a well written series where you can follow characters for more than one book. - Narnia books; The Time Quartet, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Hunger Games -

I had to add some things as I have found in my two years as a Swap-Bot swapper that there are some things I don't like that I wouldn't have necessarily thought of before.

I prefer not to receive teacher/reward/kiddie stickers. If they come on a roll, I don't really have a use for them. I don't have kids and prefer a more grown up aesthetic. Foam stickers get a thumbs down from me as well. I don't use catalog/magazine cutouts or random photos of things in your life (Polaroids or vintage photos are an exception). If you use those things in your handmade PCs I don't mind at all. I just don't need them for myself.

No food or tea/coffee please. I have specific stuff I eat and drink and probably won't drink the tea that gets sent my way.

I don't like creepy, dark stuff (with the exception of Halloween time). And don't like anything that's hateful, based on bigotry or superiority. TO each their own, but I don't want to see that stuff in my mailbox.

I don't really like adult cartoons. I would say I don't like crude humor, but I am not sure that's what you call it. I love Step Brothers the movie, don't like Rick & Morty; Big Mouth; American Dad and King of the Hill.

Saw this on a couple of profiles and thought it would be fun. Allows some prompts to help give ideas of things that I like and/or that I would enjoy receiving should you be looking for ideas. Recently "heard" that some swappers see the ABC's on profiles as arrogant and "a little much" - if you don't like this section you literally don't have to read it. For those that like ideas - read on for a long list of them :D bold for faves {always evolving}

A: huge animal lover; art; ATCs; astrology; Amazon and Audible; angsty teenagers; Americana decor; Australian accents (meaning spoken word!!); argyle; authenticity; (human) attachment (this is my area of study and expertise in my work - SO fascinating)

B: books; (old) book pages; best friends; botanical art (drawings, stickers, etc); bravery; berries; (my) backyard; board games; bees

C: cussing; cooking; chickens (alive!); cuddling; Corgis; old country music; (actual) cowboys; children; COFFEE (so much coffee); card games; cactus

D: dogs (especially my own); dreams; the desert; dinosaurs; dancing; dolphins

E: ephemera. vintage especially; elephants; eggs; Earth; energy fields; envelopes; empowering others

F: frogs; fish; farmhouse aesthetic; festivals; flames; friends; fruit; folk/indie music; funny people

G: girls (we rock!); ginger; glass; galaxy theme; getting lost with someone I love; gerbera daisies ; Gary Allan; Graphic 45

H: herbs; healthy food; horses; home; helping others

I: indigenous tribes; ink; imagination; ivy

J: journaling; joking around;

K: knights; kites; kids

L: lily flower; learning; laughter; leaving work early; life, love and light {borrowed this from a fellow swapper because it was such a wonderful answer and definitely applies to me!}

M: Mexican food; masks (beauty kind); mentoring other therapists/interns; Mason jars; maps; mysteries; melon; movies

N: nature and a natural aesthetic; nests; narwhals; never give up outlook; (finger) nail wraps/polish strips

O: organ donor; owls; oceans; opportunities; outer space; ocean animals (minus realistic great whites, this scares me)

P: pebbles; Primitive stuff; postage that's unique; Plants; play therapy

Q: quiet times in the morning before the dogs get out of bed; questions; quirky sayings

R: rain and rainbows; rebels; robots (cute kind as well as functional housecleaning kind) Rooster (and chicken) home decor

S: stickers; sunsets (Nevada sunsets are incredible!!); sharing; Starbucks; Superman and other Superheroes; sloths; Subaru (have a new Crosstrek and I love it!!!); Stamperia; sparkling water; social workers

T: therapeutic everything (I love learning about, talking about, engaging in - I love everything about being a therapist); turtles; Tim Holtz aesthetic and energy/inspiration; tutorials

U: underwater things; upcycling; Unicorns; underappreciated little pleasures of everyday life; the Universe as a living entity that is constantly responding to all the stimuli/energy that is life

V: vast spaces; vintage everything

W: warm water, warm clothes out of the dryer, warm bread - WARM ANYTHING :) the Spirit of the West; weekends; whales

X: X-MEN; XCITEMENT; X-tra special surprises

Y: yellow; yelling (it's fun sometimes); Yosemite NP

Z: Zentangle; zen feelings; zero bullshit