LilyO

Hi, I'm an avid scrapbooker living in Oxford, England. Since becoming hooked on scrapbooking 8 years ago I've completed 15 albums and still have an insurmountable pile of photos to work through! Scrapbooking led me to cardmaking and then more recently to ATCs. I gave up work in March to concentrate my time on my family. Since then I have had more time for papercrafting, and I have joined the SB website with a view to expanding my horizons and pushing myself out of my comfort zones. I am a part-time scrapbooking / cardmaking tutor.

Love, love, love the Killers! I also like Kanye West, Fatboy Slim, The Sugababes, Eminem, James Morrison, Barry Manilow...

Anything with murders, pathology, and blood and guts!! My favourite authors are Ian Rankin, Patricia Cornwell, Nick Hornby, James Patterson, Jodi Picoult and Harlan Coben.

My husband, Ian, works for a car manufacturer teaching the engineers and designers of the future - something he loves doing. Jake, who's 9, has a zest for life and enjoys football, karate, and his own sense of humour. Holly, who's 7, is away with the fairies and loves to create things. She has her own private stash of craft materials and always wants to join in with whatever I'm making

My favourite colours are black and white. They dominate my wardrobe but not necessarily my crafting! I love brads, the more unusual the better. Buttons, all shapes, sizes and colours. Anything pink and girly that fits with the hundreds of layouts I need to do for my daughter. Tortoises, Koala Bears and Meerkats. My favourite places are London, Paris and Edinburgh. Ribbons feature on almost everything I do and I can never get enough of them! Pens, especially gel pens and roller balls.

I like to think I'm quite amenable to most things! Apart from a few niggles, my only big dislikes are;

Stickers!!! I like to think I'm quite modern in my approach and don't really like or use stickers much. Any stickers I have/do receive get given to my daughter who sticks them around the house which means I then have to listen to my husband grumbling while he cleans/repaints everything. So please, unless it's a sticker swap, no stickers!

Clowns (give me the heeby geebies.) and snakes, which terrify me.

Papers!! I have always bought way too many (especially patterned) papers just because they look nice. I have more than I'll use in a month of Sundays, even with Holly's help, so I really really don't need any more!

I've been a member for almost a month now, and have become seriously addicted!! Please note that there is no need to send me 'extras' in order to gain a heart. If your swap has been done nicely, on time, and (where my profile permits) takes account of my profile, I will give hearts. As with other Swap-Botters, I feel under increased pressure to go the extra mile sometimes and would rather put the extra effort into the swap rather than sending 'extras' in the hope of getting hearts... I always view profiles before compiling my swaps and hope that recipients notice.