kureopatora

Hello!

I'm Cam, nearly thirty three years old, and I like to spend my spare time making things. I'm a bit of magpie and like to gather lots of visual stimuli for my creations.

I'm socially anxious/generally anxious so I can be a bit awkward. I'm growing to accept this part of myself through therapy. I share my life with my boyfriend and two dogs, Cassie and Lou.

I love dance - particularly bellydance which is a passion of mine - and visiting art galleries, exploring small towns and trying new places to eat. I'm currently trying out different types of beers whenever I can since craft breweries are everywhere now...

I have an interest in the darker side of human nature, the psychology of control - cults, dictatorships, etc. I would love to receive a postcard from someone in North Korea talking about their life but that's very unlikely. : /

On the flip side, I love the camp and ridiculous things in life! Drag queens, wrestling, Takarazuka theatre, films so bad they're fabulous...all great!

"Worry is a misuse of imagination" - words I try to keep in mind everyday.

About my swaps: I tend to reuse packaging if possible, put a reflective value of the item on custom forms and always mark them as a gift. I've been lucky with the post so far but if something isn't with you in a couple of weeks, let me know.

About my hosting: I take hosting very seriously, regularly lurk the forums, read feedback on profiles and check dashboards, etc. I reserve the right to ban anyone from my swaps (I mean...it is my swap after all...) and I always angel.

Swap Wishlist (some of these I'll run as public swaps, some will have to be private because of the nature of the swap):

• Blythe doll clothing: I have three Blythe dolls who I hope to sew for more this year so it would be wonderful to swap creations with other doll owners.

• Stuffie/dolly holiday: myself and my swap partner each make a stuffed toy/cloth doll, send it to each other and then take the stuffie on a little holiday tour of our local area, taking pictures, etc. At the end the dolls go back to their original homes with mementos of their trip! I'd really like to do this one...

• whimsy jar: any theme. These don't seem to run in Europe/local area swaps and aren't international for obvious reasons.

I'm lucky to share my life with two dogs, hopefully there'll be some swaps for them so I'll talk a little about them here:

Cassie is a sprollie (border collie/spaniel mix) though she definitely favours her spaniel side. She's definitely a papa's girl. I adore her, she's very gentle and loving.

Louis is our recent addition, he's a cocker spaniel and food obsessed. I would love any little bow ties to go on his collar as he's quite the dapper gentleman. Naturally, he's a mama's boy.

They both love treats, chewy things like bones/rawhide (not plastic chewy sticks) and soft squeaky toys - about the size of your fist and no bigger two fists. Bandanas are welcome for both of them.

Both our dogs are rescues and cost us nothing to adopt but have enriched our lives so much I can never fully repay them.

Louis Theroux made a documentary about street dogs of L.A. and ended it with this as he accompanied a dog that was being put to sleep:

"Dogs love us too much and know us too little."

Sewing: I enjoy English paper piecing immensely and find it helps settle my mind, I also like making and embellishing Teesha Moore patches. I machine sew bags, simple clothing and lots of our household linen. I have three Blythe dolls and I'm starting to sew items for them too.

Knitting: I'm a shawl/ette junkie. And a sock yarn whore. And a yarn snob. I don't knit as often as I'd like but I do prefer to work with non-acrylic yarns.

Needlework: I love embroidery, needlepoint and x-stitch. I particularly love Japanese patterns for these and folk art style needlework.

Quilting/patchwork: I love scrappy blocks! I'm working on making 12.5" scrappy blocks, a 12.5" quilt as you go scrappy blocks with extra embellishments and I like modern quilt patterns.

Paper: I can do some very basic book-binding, keep a smash style journal and like to make collages. I like to carve stamps and use stamps in my crafts, especially unusual ones.

Paint: I've just started watercolour (though I need to make it higher priority in my life!) and am slowly assembling things to get started with painting in acrylics. I do some basic lino printing and want to explore gelli printing at some point.

Jewelry: I like making basic necklaces and bracelets, want to develop my skill set in this area some more!

• fabric scraps (each side bigger than 1").
• micron pens.
• anything Lucky Neko.
• bellydance items.
• miniskeins of yarn.
• sari ribbon.
• milka/kinder chocolate.
• cut out pictures of/postcards/ephemera: the moon, goddess imagery, things to do with my likes, bingo cards, Japanese things (particularly kimono!), bright patterns and textiles.
• fortune cookie fortunes.
• tapestry wool.
• anything Tim Holtz!

A: Alexander Henry fabric, amigurumi, art galleries, Angela Carter, amulet bags

B: bracelets, bellydance, brooches, yummy bar soap, bingo stuff, unusual beads, Blythe dolls, baking, bullet journaling, body positivity, bottle green, Bust magazine

C: cookie cutters, circus/freakshow imagery, cute/kawaii monsters, anything cats!, chiptune music, Castle of Caligstro, Cloth Paper Scissors

D: drag queens, dala horses, Dia de los Muertos

E: essential oils

F: frogs, feminism, flower seeds,

G: green tea flavoured candy, Gudetama, gardening,

H: Hello Kitty, hygge, Halloween fabric,

I: interesting playing cards,

J:

K: kaiju, kimono, koi,

L: luchadors, linen fabric, Lotta Jansdotter, Lush, libraries,

M: magpies (my absolute favourite animal), moths and mothman, moomin, the moon, magical girl anime (not Pretty Cure though...), mermaids, mala beads, mori girl style, magical realism

N: narwhals, Neko Atsume,

O: Of Montreal,

P: pinback pins, illustration/art postcards, peppermint scent, podcasts, Pokémon, polka dots,

Q:

R: retro anime, retro advertisement imagery, ribbon, riot grrl

S: spaniel dogs, scarves (not knitted), long socks, squishy yarn, sashiko thread, shojo manga, sequins, smash book stuff, Star Trek: Next Generation, Star Wars, Shonen Knife, Studio Ghibli, self care, Steven Universe, saris

T: tabletop board games, interesting textiles, the tarot

U: UFO's, The Last Unicorn

V: vegetarianism

W: white chocolate, wrestling, witchy things, washi tape, wax tarts, wire wrapped pendants

X:

Y: yoga

Z: zines

I'm currently going through the Konmari process so please don't send me any extras unless it's from my wishlist.

No: colouring pages, reward stickers/childish stickers, anything dirty/stained/broken, anything with spiders, political or religious items, earrings, nail varnish or liquorice.

For the moment please do not send tea, I have so much!