teresa

(For my partner in the International Magazine swap:

My genres of choice would be in this order 1. Fashion 2. Photography 3. Anything else but astrology (astronomy's fine!) or those mags about tv shows!

I'm from New Zealand, so would be great if you didn't send me any NZ or Australian mags. If you are from NZ or Aus, no worries - anything but Frankie, Black, Woman's Day (and similar) or any food mags. Thanks heaps! And sorry to be fussy!)

To start off with: please please PLEASE communicate with me if your swap is going to be late. It honestly doesn't bother me if you have things come up in your life and can't send my package, but a quick email or swapbot message is all it takes - I will totally understand.

Also, please take a look at the bottom of my profile for things I don't wish for in swaps, thanks heaps!

Sorry for the super long profile... but I have had swap partners with really sparse profiles, and I had a hard time finding things I thought they would like.

A research student (cancer biology) and wannabe crafter from Auckland, New Zealand.

To be honest I've never been much of a crafter, apart from keeping a visual journal of sorts. I love taking photos, filling up sketchbooks, beautiful paper, inky pens, exciting colour combinations, packing tape transfers (awesome SIMPLE transfer method, try it!), designing page layouts for a newsletter I do, line drawings, etc. I'm lusting after a Wacom tablet!

Inspiring websites include Posie Gets Cosy, My Paper Crane, Flickr, Design*Sponge, The Sartorialist, Treats and Treasures, Keri Smith's Wishjar Journal, Galadarling and many more!

I also love reading food blogs and imagining myself as a culinary wunderkind extraordinaire :) Orangette, Cooking for Engineers and Chocolate & Zucchini are amongst my favourites.

Cupcake themed items are cool

I've always like the idea of living in a lighthouse, a tree, a teepee, or under a hill - I guess I like cozy. On the other hand, I would also like to live in a light-filled, airy loft-like space, so all bets are off really.

My favourite outfits generally include a dress, stockings, and boots. In the summer, jandals!

I like to travel, whether it's road trips here in NZ or overseas. When I was little we visited Europe (France, Italy, England, Germany, Switzerland and a few other places I don't remember a lot of), the West Coast of the US, Australia, and Japan. My family is from Taiwan originally - we moved to NZ when I was young. Went to Canada (British Columbia) when I was a teenager for a short trip and really liked it there. Last year I went to Vanuatu to do some volunteer work, and that was amazing. One place I've always wanted to visit is Nova Scotia and a little further down the coast from that, sort of the New England area in the states. And New York, I'd love to visit New York! Not sure why, those places just appeal to me. And I definitely would like to live in Europe for a time - I'm thinking after all my study is over.

When I was little I loved playing with coins and fine metal chains (you know, the necklace kind... I like the feeling of them pooling on my hand I think).

I like finding fun magazines. There's an Australian magazine which we get here called Frankie which I really like. Vice is always good for a laugh. Nylon is ok, although lately all the Myspace references have started to piss me off. Dazed and Confused and The Face (while it was alive) were awesome, but it's hard finding them here. Pavement, the NZ mag, was good for finding out about local artists and designers.

If you can make handmade notebooks, you are my hero.

I like taking photos, and have started collecting Polaroid cameras. My collection so far:

1. Onestep 600
2. SX-70 Sonar
3. Colorpack 80 - waiting for film to arrive
4. Spectra - haven't got film for this yet
5. EE55 (takes both 100 and 80 film) - waiting for film to arrive
6. Land 2000 with Polatronic flash (camera doesn't work! Sad face...)
7. SX-70 Model 1 (I think) - the original, old school, folding SLR. This doesn't work, but I think I know what's wrong with it so it's waiting for a rainy day for me to get around to having a poke through its innards!
8. Just got another Land 2000, hopefully this one works!
9. Joycam - waiting on new film
10. Miniportrait 203 - the one with four lenses. Waiting on film for this also! (100 film)

I've also got a Holga, a Lubitel 2 that I need to get fixed, and two Agfa Isolette I's... along with my handy digital point-and-shoot. Flickr is great to browse! I'm also slowly teaching myself Photoshop tricks.

I like quirky-cute more than I do cartoon, kawaii-cute, but definitely won't complain if it's the latter!

I love the smell of jasmine.

I prefer blank notebooks, but squared notebooks have their place. Moleskine notebooks are great! But expensive here... I also love notebooks with kraft paper or creamy thick heavyweight paper (more like sketchbooks really).

I've started collecting old keys.

I would love to learn to knit, crochet, or embroider. Would also love to receive letraset sheets, or even scrapbooking rub-on sheets.

Two words: office supplies - they make me swoon.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again - I love beautiful paper!

... of my favourite things: I have had fleeting flirtations with alliteration; bourbon; caipiroskas; cake; clouds; coffee; cookies; creme brulee; dancing like a mofo; doodling; dresses; fireside confessions; going on holiday; incense; indian ink; jeans; jingling coins; kissing my sneaky dogfriend; lawn bowls; lemon cheesecake; magazines; magical realism; midnight visits to the supermarket; molecular biology; music, sweet music; mussels; naps; photos; picnic bars; pinot gris; pistachio nuts; potato-based food products; reading stuff; sashimi; singing in the shower; sleeping in; staying up; swimming; the irreverent and the absurd; those wax seal name-stamp things; watching movies; water; whiskey

Top five are probably Radiohead, the Shins, Jeff Buckley, Fat Freddy's Drop, Kings of Leon. Ella and Louis rank pretty highly also. Bloc Party and Jose Gonzalez were awesome to see! General genres I like are happy indie rock (the word indie is waaaay over-used, but it gives a good idea of the kind of sound I like), alt-country, new wave, oldies, progressive, dub/roots/reggae, drum and bass, jazz, folk-rock, classical (I learnt piano from a young age, and did a bit of singing and flute-playing), post-punk, downbeat, and fun electronica. Camera Obscura, Gomez, State of Mind, Shapeshifter, Flaming Lips, The Smiths, Thievery Corporation, Air... oh I could go on. I don't particularly like bland rock from cookie cutter rock bands or "mindless" pop (although they have their place occasionally).

Not much of a tv watcher, but some favourite shows are Buffy, Scrubs, Veronica Mars, Arrested Development, the Simpsons, Family Guy, ER, Grey's Anatomy, Friends, Gilmore Girls and Firefly. Generally I think most shows go downhill later on so usually I prefer the earlier seasons. Picky and elitist? Maybe!

So many favourites! A few authors I like are Haruki Murakami, John Irving, Jane Austen, Helen Fielding, Yann Martel, J.K. Rowling, Truman Capote, Simon Singh, Dan Price, Sark, Sabrina Ward Harrison, J.R.R. Tolkien, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Joseph Heller, Donna Tartt, Kazuo Ishiguro, Douglas Adams, and Zadie Smith

Amelie, My Neighbour Totoro, Shawshank Redemption, the Matrix, Spellbound, Donnie Brasco, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Secretary. I have fond memories of Can't Hardly Wait. Stranger Than Fiction made me melt. And, for sentimental reasons, Hostel.

(It's probably better if you don't actually send me food! This is just to give you an idea of what I like)

Eating mussels and frites at Belgian Beer Cafe. Eating hot mini donuts at the markets. Eating pies after a night out. Eating Wendy's in the sunshine on the grassy knoll above the beach. Eating a good tomato whole. Eating salmon salad with avos and capers from the turkish place near work, washed down with some feijoa and apple juice. Eating pasta spirals with feta, sundried tomatoes, and olives anywhere. Eating pineapple from the fridge. Eating salt and vinegar chips by the bagful. Eating toasted Vogels with marmite and a cup of tea (English Breakfast, feck that Earl Grey stuff) while reading on Sunday mornings. Eating with other eaters.

Customs restrictions are fairly strict, so please (as a general rule) nothing that was once living or part of a living thing - e.g. shells, leaves, coral, unfinished wood, seaweed... you get the idea. Also no flammable substances (which sucks because I collect miniature bottles of alcohol and perfume!) And no food!

(Despite the above, recently as part of a swap I got an otherwise lovely notebook which had a shell on it, and the packaging for the whole swap had dust, tiny bits of something that may have been straw, and a dead bug inside. Please, I don't want to get you OR myself into trouble with customs!!! There are really heavy fines here!)

Anything that's fake-fruity scented, or strongly vanilla (a little when it's in a blend is nice).

I don't really like birds - especially realistic looking images (cute ones are fine)

Not a big fan of tie-dye or generic stuff animals. If you hand make stuffies that would be cool though!

Please don't send me junk or dollar store type items - basically stuff I can get myself, you know what I mean? Thanks for understanding.

Spirituality, great. Outright religious preaching, not so much.

I give hearts if you really tailor swaps to my profile, or if you go over and beyond the requirements of a swap.

If you're really stuck...

a copy of the New Yorker or Vanity Fair or US Vogue

scrabble letters - wooden or plastic

a full stationery set - cute, vintage, pretty, whatever goes!

polaroids - either unused film (expired is ok... haha I know, getting film is a long shot, as it's rare and so expensive that anyone who has it would probably want to use it!) or shots that you have taken

a sketchbook or a plain, unlined notebook / moleskines - any size, any kind / a handmade notebook

mix cds, or a copy of an album you think I will like

a souvenir from your area - e.g. teaspoon, shot glass, animal, bookmark, postcard etc (like thazghetto mentions in her wishlist)

amigurumi, filled matchbox or ATC (I've never done them so would be interested to see what they are like)

anything that is letterpressed! stationery, notebooks, cards, whatever. even if you have old invitations or ephemera that you don't want

rub ons - I would prefer Letraset but scrapbooking sheets are fine

vintage paper goods - real or copied ads, patterns, pictures, old photographs, etc

any art supplies! paint, brushes (unused preferably), stencils, punches, pastels, pencils, artist pens, you name it