Thank you for reading my profile!

Quick update: I am going offline for a while. I am up to date with sending out all swaps I am signed up for, and have rated all I've received at this point. I will continue to rate promptly any I receive.

I'll be out of touch for a few months because, as they say here on swap-bot, life is happening. And my life is happening to me in a big way at the moment. My husband is having both his knees replaced in mid-March, and we are having to do a lot of things before his surgery that he won't be able to do again for several months up to a year. There is also quite a bit of preparation we need to do to get ready. He will need my full-time care for about a week after the surgery, and then if things go well, there will be a steady decline of his need for help as he is in physical therapy to regain function and the ability to walk again. But I am told by the nursing staff that because he will have so much PT, it will be his new "job," that caregivers often have to do additional tasks like driving and shopping for several months following the surgery. I am looking forward to this time of being close to him, and to serving my family. ^_^ And until I am back on swap-bot, my deep affection and I look forward to the days when I'm back here swapping.

Hugs, Traci

I love swap-bot. I've been swapping papercrafts through Facebook and people I meet at scrapbook retreats and art classes for years, but discovering swap-bot has really changed my life! I love the variety of swaps~the people here are so creative! I've also "met" some wonderful people through swa-bot, and made some great new friendships too.

I ALWAYS send out any swaps I sign up for. If you do not get something from me promptly, please message me before giving me a bad rating. I can look up the tracking number or resend if necessary. I try never to disappoint, and given the chance, I will make it right. :)

I will always send you my best work and things. I like reading about you in your profile and making up something thoughtful I hope will suit you. If I would not like to get it, I'd never swap it out unless it is something you specifically state you want or collect.

I try to rate within 1 day of when I receive. I appreciate the time and effort put into swaps, am pretty easy to please, and am a generous rater. Happy Swapping!

My Backstory

I'm a technical writer by day and a card-maker, scrapbooker, art and junk journaler, doodler, jewelry maker, beader, and mixed media and assemblage artist by night. I love to reuse and repurpose mundane everyday things in innovative, interesting, and humorous new ways.

I have a lovely small family in Austin, TX, the Weird Capitol of the world. ; ) I live with my handsome, kind, funny soulmate husband, who is not artsy but is thankfully an avid athlete whose hobbies create lots of free time for me to putter and do art. We have two teens, an 18-year old daughter who is an amazing oil painter away at art college up north, and a 15-year old son who rocks an electric guitar, throws the discus, is academically inclined but organizationally challenged. My furry children are a fluffy happy fun-loving white Samoyed, and 3 mischievous and cuddly cats.

I'm so excited to have found swap-bot!

I have large collections of:

• vintage ephemera, including 40s and later greeting cards, old valentines, Christmas cards, vintage books/magazines/scrapbooks

• vintage silverplate silverware

• old board games and game pieces

• small toys

• vintage marbles

• vintage buttons

• vintage costume jewelry

• lace, ribbon, trims, ricrac, yarns, fibers

• vintage and kitsch holiday decor (Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's, Easter, July 4th)

• Liddle Kiddle and Flatsy dolls, mod Barbie/Skipper/Francie (the ones with small boobs, normal looking bodies, and real eyelashes), including paperdolls, coloring books, packaging, etc., ephemera and digital. I restore these dolls, reroot hair, and repair vintage clothes

• project plans and good intentions ; )

If any of these things strike your fancy, please do let me know. De-stashing my hoard is one of my main reasons for joining swap-bot!

I love to make:

• cards and envelopes

• scrapbooks, mini-albums, acrylic albums

• art and junk journals and smash books

• doodles, kawaii animals and food, and Zentangles

• just about any kind of papercrafting

• altered art shrines, bottles, jars, books, museum-like shadowboxes, tins, silverware

• jewelry: assemblage, beadwork, looming and beadweaving

• home decor, like mosaics, decoupage, shadowboxes, typedrawers, clocks

• handpainted and decoupaged furniture

• felted wool animals

• ceramics

• paintings

• baking, and decorating fancy sugar-cookies

Loves

• All colors, especially cool colors, indigo, purple, magenta, mint, aqua, teal, turquoise. There is no bad color! okay, maybe avoid puce.

• Paper: My Mind's Eye, Simple Stories, Graphic 45, October Afternoon, Daisy D, Crate Paper, Basic Grey, Rusty Pickle, retired/discontinued is fine with me!

• non-English-language book and magazine pages

• vintage greeting cards, postcards, Valentines, name cards, letters

• Styles: junk gypsy, Tim Holtz grunge, distressed, steampunk, mid-Mod/atomic, kitsch, English cottage, shabby chic, eclectic, log cabin/ranch/farmhouse style a la "Fixer Upper" US TV show

• Favorite artists: impressionists Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Cassatt, Seurat; surrealists Magritte, Dali; Art Nouveau Alfons Mucha; anything art deco; symbolist Klimt; the pre-Raphaelites; Renaissance Rembrandt, Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Boticelli, Vermeer; the Mother of modernism O'Keefe, Matisse, Mondrian, Kandinsky, Warhol, kitsch, too many to name, really...

• mehndi hand and feet tattoos

• kawaii - paper only. Lettersets, note sheets, memos, stickers, sticker flakes.

  • kitty/nyanko stuff: kutusita nyanko, Nyanpuku, chococat, hello kitty, maneki neko,
  • food with a face
  • desserts, waffles, pancakes, cupcakes, ice cream, anything "sweet"
  • cute animals with desserts, coffee, tea
  • Q-lia fairy tale: little red riding hood, hansel and gretel gingerbread house, peter pan, alice in wonderland;
  • USA USA love x happy
  • designs with clouds, rainbows, sky, stars, mushrooms, clover, cherry blossoms
  • crux bunnies, kitties, birds, squirrel, sheep
  • kamio kitties, bunnies
  • san-x/sanrio
  • brand is not as important as style/quality

• foreign and old coins, tokens

• risqué items, pinups, humorous things; I'm not easily offended

• little samples of cosmetics, skin care, and nice smelling things

Wish List

• Postage stamps: new Forever US to use, or pretty used ones for art ;-)

• Notecards & Envies I can send in swaps & RAKS ;-)

• stuff for my art journals and smashbooks

• Washi tape roll or samples on playing cards

• Anything with a heart or hearts on it, esp. your stamped images, colored or outline only for me to color; punchies, diecuts, fussy cuts of painted, collaged, or unusual paper scraps

• handmade, textured, handpainted paper, gelli prints, even scraps for collage and journals

• ephemera and embellishments: birds, dragonflies, bees, butterflies, flowers, stars, gears, skeleton keys, hearts, brains, crowns, corsets, scissors, measuring tape, typewriters or parts, pens/nibs, sweets like ice cream, cupcakes, and macarons

• vintage images: housewife or women working, laundry, cooking, ironing, cleaning; 1960s era Mad Men-style office scenes and workers, typing, talking on the phone, at a desk; cheescakey pinups - male or female; Dick and Jane reader illustrations, Little Golden books, children's books; kitsch or scary/realistic halloween, witches, black cats, ghosts, skeletons, sugar skulls; santas, snowmen; cats and kittens; scientific and medical illustrations; nature/botanical; gypsy, circus

• modern/timeless images: attractive or unusual hands, eyes, lips, faces, attractive natural-looking bodies of all shapes, sizes, ethnicities and ages; native people; doors, windows; beautiful landscapes, stars, clouds, trees, mushrooms, butterflies, moths, dragonflies, bees, ladybugs, birds, eggs

• fancy paperclips, pins, binder clips

• stickers: gold, flourishes, positive/inspiring, airmail, unusual, printables are fine with me!

• metallic and other temporary hand and body tattoos

• doilies ~ crochet, lace, or paper

• mini locks and keys

• doll parts, watch and clock parts, skeleton keys

• crosses, very old or Catholic looking items, rosaries, religious medals, broken/damaged ok

• skulls, skeletons, sugar skulls, scary creepy supernatural stuff, vintage halloween - scary or kitschy cutesy

• altoid and other small tins

• Egyptian, Native American, and ancient native cultures

• Anything from or about Austin Texas

• Flavors: chocolate, butterscotch, toffee, caramel, peanut butter, peppermint, wintergreen, sour or natural fruit like raspberry, blackberry, lemon, lime, grapefruit, strawberry. Hard candy in plastic bag May - October (Texas heat!!)

• Drinks: lemonade, raspberry, pomegranate, berry tea, jasmine tea, Earl or Lady Grey tea; floral tea. Hot cocoa.

• your art work or things you've made!

Included for profile-based swaps.

• sea shells (have too many already)

• reward/tiny cheap stickers, but I do like kawaii, Lisa Frank, and sticker flakes

• licorice or artificial cherry-flavored candy

• confetti or glitter bombs (loose glitter inside the envelope) in my cards, but glued-on glitter and bling or little packets enclosed are great!

• junky plastic beads

• twilight related stuff, miley cyrus, hannah montana, precious moments

  • not a fan of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto; but I love all the Disney princesses and animated film characters. Sleeping Beauty and Kuzco are my favorite Disney princesses. All the evil characters like Maleficent, Cinderella's sisters and cat, and Izma.

Deadliest Catch, Life Below Zero, Naked and Afraid, Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet, Dr. Poll, Dr. K Exotic Vet, Animal and nature shows, Jimmy Fallon, Saturday Night Live - from the beginning thru now, the People's Couch, Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, Orange Is the New Black, Orphan Black, House of Cards, Game of Thrones, Vikings, Downton Abbey (been to Highclere Castle, love the Tut/Carnarvon story), most Masterpiece Theater series, BBC shows, archeology, science, medical shows, forensics, Fixer Upper, Property Brothers, Travel Channel, History Channel, ancestry investigations like Who Do You Think You Are. Cartoons: Adventure Time, Bob's Burgers, Steven Universe, Foster's Home for Imaginary Pets, Samurai Jack, Warner Brothers cartoons - Elmer Fudd, Roadrunner/Coyote, Bulldog/Kitten

** Chick Flicks**

Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, A Room with a View, Enchanted April, Atonement, any Merchant Ivory epic production, The Notebook,

Comedies and cult classics

Mean Girls, Heathers, Pineapple Express, I Love You Man, Bridesmaids, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Princess Bride, O Brother Where Art Thou, Fargo, Spinal Tap, Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman, anything by Chris Guest, Three Amigos, Napoleon Dynamite, Sixteen Candles, Ghost, Goonies, Stand by Me,

Scary/Thrillers

Dark Water, The Ring, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Amityville Horror (the newer Ryan Reynolds one is so good), The Village, The Witch, The Others, classic vintage horror like The Werewolf, The Blob, The Birds, Rear Window

SciFi/Special Effects (my brother is a special effects artist on some of these films)

Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Predator, Alien 1-3, Prometheus, King Kong, Cloud Atlas, Jurassic Park, Contact, Tron, the Moon,

Action/adventure

The James Bond films, Mission Impossible, the Jason Bourne films,

Animated

All the classic Disney and Pixar animated films; Totoro, Ponyo, Spirited Away, all the Miyazaki films; Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, Tim Burton films, Triplets of Bellville, the original The Grinch who Stole Christmas, the original the Lorax and Horton Hears a Who, all the classic Christmas claymation specials like Rudolf and Santa is Coming to Town

Love almost all music. Play different things according to my mood.

Adele, Sam Smith, Gotye,

British invasion, Woodstock era rock including The Who, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, the Animals, the Kinks, Santana, Creedence, Joe Cocker, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, ...

Classic Rock like Chicago, Bread, Steely Dan, Christopher Cross. Three Dog Night, the Beach Boys, the Mamas and the Papas, the Pretenders,...

Southern Rock like Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Creedence, ZZ Top, Black Crowes, Tom Petty, ...

bluegrass, outlaw country through current country, 40s big band, 80s metal (Ozzy Osbourne) and pop, 90s grunge and pop, light classical esp. romantic, spa/nature music, Carlos Nakai, world music, anything happy

I've sent several messages to my partner, but I'm waiting to be rated for:

2/7/17 I Choo Choo Choose You Valentine Card & Treat - @auntiepandie

2/1/17 MEGA Valentines Day Card Swap - USA - @buananoche

2/1/17 Mail Art Valentines Day Card Swap USA - @No1Sassygrl

I'm waiting for:

2/1/17 Mail Art Valentines Day Card Swap USA - @kbaver