CatInTheHat

I work for a conservation charity in Dorset, south coast of England since doing an Ecology degree at the University of East Anglia. I'm passionate about the environment and conservation and I enjoy crafting and scrapbooking and love taking part in swaps. I also love all things vintage!

My favourite colour is probably green, at the moment! I especially like soft, mossy greens and greyish greens. I generally prefer natural looking colours to bright ones, but I also love sunny oranges and yellows. I prefer dogs to cats, the countryside to the city, and tea to coffee (of course, I'm English!).

I love receiving handmade items, as long as these have been made with care. I don't have pierced ears but do wear clip on earrings. I love to receive fabric items, especially patchwork, such as quilts and tote bags, or any kind of bag really! I would also love to receive softies and art dolls in any style. Any handmade items will always be happily received!

I love vintage buttons, ric rac, ribbons and lace. I collect lots of odds and ends for making collages such as old bingo cards, game pieces, victorian scraps, old photographs, letters, postcards etc, so if you're having a clearout of your stash I'm always happy to find a home for these sort of items!

I love creating in all sorts of styles and media. I make jewellery which I sell on etsy and have been experimenting with more use of found objects and recycled treasures, although have not had the courage to list these for sale yet!

I enjoy collage and make ATCs and larger mixed media pieces, again encorporating found and repurposed items when I can. I am also interested in assemblage and more 3 dimensional creations.

I also love fabric and sewing, although still very much a beginner! I would love to learn to follow a pattern but at the moment I'm mostly sticking to small scale items such as purses and softies that I make up.

I am attempting to learn to crochet, and am constantly amazed by the quality and range of yarn available. I am fascinated by amigurumi and would love to learn to make them!

I also love art dolls of all kinds and I enjoy playing around trying to create a doll that is original and representational of my own style and character.

Too many to mention really, but I love fantasy books, especially tolkien, Philip Pullman's His dark Materials and James Barclay's Raven series. Other great books that come to mind right now are Memoirs of a Geisha, Chocolat, the Earth's Children series, Five Quarters of the Orange, The Da Vinci Code, The Mosquito Coast and By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept.

The Lord of the Rings, Pretty Woman, My Best Friend's Wedding, Love Actually, Much Ado About Nothing, I Capture the Castle, Pirates of the Caribbean, That Thing You Do, The Holiday, probably lots more that escape me right now!

My fiance, Matt, is starting to get a wee bit jealous of all the wonderful mail I receive so if you'd like to send something for him in a swap instead of for me that would make his day!

He likes cricket, sailing, funny monsters, cooking (especially trying new unusual recipes), old cartoons (warner bros, flintstones etc), art, biographies, the sea, Ricky Gervais, golden retrievers, Jeeves and Wooster, socks, and other boy-type things!

• birds
• mushrooms (images, softies etc)
• cottages
• lizards, especially chameleons and leopard geckos
• actually, any and all reptiles! (In the wild! Not as pets)
• the sea
• blues, greens, colours from nature
• anything vintage
• marsupials
• chocolate
• tea (not really fruit teas though)
• old childrens books with beautiful illustrations
• buttons
• fairies
• badgers
• unusual rubber stamps
• anatomical drawings
• japanese fabric
• cupcakes
• seahorses
• amigurumi
• meerkats
• vintage jewellery

• big chain stores and multinational companies
• mass produced goods
• the smell of cigarette smoke
• items not made with care