shelleym

I'm 50, married, and have a 20-year old daughter and 18-year old son; plus our 20-year old nephew lives with us.

Things I do for my soul: * Send long chatty letters and other happy mail * Art journal * Keep a written journal * Draw * Collage * Watercolor and gouache * Cook and bake * Sew * Garden

I sketch, art journal, make mail art, keep a written journal, and I also paint with acrylics and watercolours. I'm trying my hand at illustration lately too. I have several favourite thrift shops where I pick up vintage papers and fabrics and all kinds of stuff that makes me happy and find their way into my work. My daily journal is a Seven Seas blank book filled with Tomoe River paper and I use a fountain pen as much as possible in it.

• Interesting or hand-drawn typography (found or created)
• Vintage ledger paper
• Anatomical imagery
• Anything written in old fountain pen ink
• Doodles and sketches (yours, someone else's, something you found on the ground at the bus stop...)
• Hand-carved stamps
• Cassette tape imagery / mix tape
• Old skeleton keys
• X-rays
• Blueprints
• The unusual, the weird, the inappropriate
• Vintage wallpaper samples
• Black/white striped tissue paper like the stuff from Sephora
• Sketchnotes
• Make me laugh - the less appropriate the better.
• Old passports
• Airmail theme
• Eco-printed paper
• Gelli-printed paper
• Labels, onion-skin paper
• Skulls (real ones, not sugar skulls)
• Vintage ink blotter papers
• Getting mail in re-used envies
• Steampunk
• Washi tape, especially if it features numbers or letters
• Typewriters & typewritten stuff
• Vinyl stickers
• Collage stuff - interesting pictures, bits of typography, patterns, textures, anything you think is too nice to throw out
• Daily ephemera - I use these in my journal, and don't worry if it's got a footprint or other sign of use on it. If you think it looks cool, then I probably will too.
• Vintage ephemera yummm
• Stationery for writing letters
• Personal, chatty letters
• Favourite colour is orange; but I also love neutral palettes; or colourful things; or analogous colours (side by side on the colour wheel); or complementary colours (across from each other). Yep. I like colour.

***Disclaimer: these may have been taken completely out of context. "You write like a serial killer." - April, 2015 "Your letter had just the right amount of cock." - August, 2015

The Gentleman Bastard series by Scott Lynch

John Rain series by Barry Eisler

Nowhere Man series by Gregg Hurwitz

John Sandford - anything he writes

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

Currently reading:

Louise Penny

Robin Hobb

Stephen King

Jen Sincero

Thomas King

Also starting The Good Money Revolution by Derrick Kinney, based on a recommendation from Jon Acuff, another favourite

Other favourite authors include Neil Pasricha, Johann Hari, Katherine Ryan, Joy Ellis, David Sedaris, Harlan Coben, Bill Bryson, Glennon Doyle, Elizabeth Gilbert, Joshilyn Jackson, Jenny Lawson, Robert Galbraith, Sarah Knight, Gretchen Rubin, Max Berry... I could go on all day but that's a good handful of authors I watch for. I enjoy mystery, suspense, police procedurals, a little bit of spicy romance now and then, personal development, fantasy, action/adventure, humour, autobiography, art/craft how-to, and children's books with great illustrations.