rubyragdoll

ABOUT ME Have now completed my house move and just abou settled in to my new home. For any of you who have swapped with me before you will notice I also have a new name - I feel like I am starting a new adventure in life, but back to the swapping thanks to everyone for your patience over the past number of weeks hpoe 'normal service' will now be resumed!! I have been swapping for a while now and find it very addictive. I wait for the post to arrive every day hoping another little piece of art will arrive on my hall floor - sad really!! No it isn't. It's a great way to live my life,making pieces of art for people who appreciate it. It contrasts with my occupation and has become a place of relaxation and enjoyment. Having made quite a few swaps I now appreciate how important it is to get things finished on time and in the post - just as important is the rating. I look forward to the rating nearly as much as receiving mail. SO I make a very real effort to post early and rate quickly and I intend to continue doing so. If I am late for any reason it will be due to something beyond my control and I would ask for your patience. If there is a possibility of late arrival I will forewarn my partner/s to let them know of the situation. I have a lifelong interest in all things arty but have never participated in a community before. I am a clinical psychologist, a very stressful occupation, I work with terminally ill people, it's heavy going at times and creating works of art is my way to relax. I have always painted but have really only discovered arts and crafts in the past couple of years.

MY FAMILY.

I have a family of three. My two daughters are adults now with their own families. They have presented me with some beautiful grandchildren, all of whom love to craft so I get lots of company and plenty of opportunity to work with them and create together. My son is at university and he too is a crafter. He is an avid Warhammer fan and he builds and paints some fantastic models. I guess you could say we are a 'crafty' family. I blame my father, he was a drum maker and a great artisan. So the tradition gets carried on in lots of ways by the rest of us.

GROWING UP

I spent a lot of my childhood painting drums that my father made and I kept widening my interests from there. I loved to draw and paint and write poetry and books throughout childhood and adolscent years.

ADULT YEARS

As a young married mum I didn't have much time to indulge my passion but I took to painting murals for my children on the walls in their bedrooms. That was so sucessful my family and friends commissioned murals for their kids. I went back to my career full-time when my family was grown so time for creating was limited.

OTHER INTERESTS

I am interested in all things spiritual, I practice Zen meditation and make CD's for other people. I consider myself a Buddist and am part of a Zen community. I also have a supervisor for my professional work practice who also happens to be a Tibetan Buddist nun so I have the blessing of her wisdom as well. I also teach Mindfulness meditation in my workplace for clients and staff. I am interested in native American Indian teachings and art work. I like oriential artwork, traditional and modern. My favorite all round culture is Indian. I love their clothes, (the fabrics and colours), I love their music, their songs and their dances as well as artwork. I love Indian food and cook Indian a lot. I am not Indian, I'm Irish but I feel pretty sure if I had a past life it was somewhere in India!! Of course I love Irish as well, the culture, song, music (especially the drums) and dance. The food is not so great, bit bland but you can't always have it all! I love perfumes and oils, especially spicy eastern smells. I like animals, cats and dogs especially. I have a mini schnasuer pup at the moment and she is a real pleasure.

FAV COLOURS

My favorite colour is green, all forty shades but my least fav shade is emerald green. I love the Iautumnal hues, very calming and peaceful. Much of my clothes are based on these colours. Like mauves, pinks and purples. Like gold, copper and silver, in that order. Love greens and mauves together. Greens and blues are 'cool' too.

MUSIC I LIKE

I love most kinds of music so what I listen to is mainly dictated by my mood at the time. I live in Northern Ireland which is heavily influenced by C&W music, we have our own Irish brand! I like it. I also love traditional Irish music and folk music and indeed have been known to entertain with my own renditions, especially or only after a little drop of the 'hard stuff' when I am deluded enough to imagine that I can sing!!.

DON'T LIKE

I'm not keen on Jazz or Opera but again it depends on how a particular piece sounds to my ear. Do not like rock or heavy metal!

BOOKS

I like to read but didn't always have time mainly due to work committments. recently discovered audible books so i get to listen to many more books than I have time to read. I like fantasy, chillers, sci-fi, Spiritual and comedy. My fav authors are Stephen King, Tom Sharpe and Deepak Chopra. I like to own books so I have quite a library at the moment

CRAFTS I LOVE

I used to knit and crochet a lot when my children were small and I did some cross stitch work but these would not be my favorite pass times and I rarely do any of them now except if i am asked to make something for a grandchild. When my dad died I took some time out from my career and it was only then I discovered how much of the world of crafting I was unaware of. I started off making dough models, it was not only therapeutic but gave me some confidence to try new crafts. Since then I have learned scrapbooking, moved on to card making. I next discovered altered art which I absolutely love. I enjoy making altered books and art journals.
ATC's came next, I really enjoy making mini works of art, and I love the idea of swapping with other people. I also make dolls houses and contents, including dolls. I like to make them from new but have been known to rescue and 'renevote' older houses found in car boot sales. I like manga art forms and love to draw and colour manga characters using coptic pens and acrylic paints. I recently came across paper dolls and my grand daughters and I have great fun creating our own. I like to use mixed media on projects, it makes the finished object so much more interesting. I guess I like a bit it of everything really but I do like any expression of art to be a bit out of the ordinary.

THINGS I LIKE

Anything Buddist - statues, jewelry, prayer flags, prayer wheels, photos, postcards, drawings, paintings, in fact, anything Buddist. Stamps, oriental, vintage images etc, bought or handmade. Glittery things of any kind. Collage sheets. Vintage ladies, especially naughty ones! Photos of cute Victorian kids. Asian photos, collages etc. Sari material. paper doll patterns. Mermaids of any description. Gothic art. Fantasy art. fairies, stickers, drawings, paintings, models etc. Canvas art Stampboard - jewelry, medallions etc. Stickers Buttons especially vintage. Dolls house wallpapers. Postcards Vintage family photographs. Native American photos, quotes, artwork, jewelry. Tatoos - I'e always wanted one, so 6 weeks ago aged 59 I decided to wait no longer and got a beautiful (small) wrist tatoo! Now I'm considering another in a less conspicious place! Butterflys Bees Trees Mountains and rivers, waterfalls alcohol inks stamp board All kinds of coloured pencils, pens. Irridescent paints coloured chalks Vintage papers

THINGS I WANT TO TRY

I love shrines but have only ever made one and that was incorporated into an altered book - but I love it. I would like to try a few more shrines and I like the idea I see on this site of using matchboxs for shrines. I like the day of the dead shrines but don't really know what they are yet. They appeal to me I love the colours and the death element!! I want to make some postcards. it never crossed my mind to make some but I'd like to swap bought and handmade - looks like I might get busy.

WISH LIST

My main interest in swaps is ATC's which is why I joined. I had no idea how much people swapped until I read some of the forum messages. I'm new to forums and chat as well!! I feel a bit like a little girl starting a new school!! since reading through the lists of swaps going on I can see I will have to stretch myself beyond the ATC's only. I like the idea of swapping postcards and 'inchies' sound like a lot of fun. I was surprised to see tea swaps but, you know what, it seems anything is possible and I am intent on exploring. Looking forward to learning the ropes and getting started.

A few weeks on from joining swap-bot I have discovered dottee dolls, add these to my list of likes. Have made a few and just joined some swaps - I love making dolls and can't wait to see others' works of art!

THINGS I DISLIKE.

Loud noises. Rude people and bullies. People who boost their self-esteem by putting other people down. Fish and meat - I am a vegetarian. Sleeping late - might miss something. Cigarette smoke. Cruelty to animals. Cartoony craft items not into Disney products

This is all I can think of for now but I'm sure I will add to this profile as I become more experienced in the world of swapping.