cassandracarol9

Hi, If I am your partner in a swap please let me know if you do not recieve a swap sent from me and I will resend. About me: I am a mother of 3 beautiful girls with one precocious 10 year old grandson. I work full time as a process analyst and craft every free moment I get. Looking forward to retirement where I can craft, garden and sight see full time! I come by my talents naturally, my father was a very talented sculptor, writer and artist. As a child I spent many hours with him in his workshop assisting when he needed an extra hand or working with bits of this and that left from his projects. I have always been crafty and prefer handmade gifts to store bought. There is so much commercialism and mass production very little is unique anymore. I love the holidays and any excuse to make cards. Halloween is my favorite with Christmas a close second. I see art in everything. I love thrift store finds that can be made into something else. My kids cringe when we pass someone's house who might be throwing out a table or chair or what have you because they know I will stop to check it out. I have been known to go on road trips to visit thrift stores and flea markets out of our area. In my minds eye I see what could be not necessarily what is. I have several artists that I follow on facebook and etsy. I love the look of Jasmine Becket-Griffith's work as well as Horka Dolls,Dorote Zaukaite,Myka Jelina and Odd Princess Dolls to name a few.

I love to craft with clay, both polymer and paperclay. I scrapbook and make cards, I have been known to do a few collages,I paint a little and do pyrography. On occasion I do a little sewing when necessary. Sometimes I incorporate all of the above into my work. I love texture and color. Mixed media really calls out to me. Most likely because I can't always decide on just one medium to work with. :-) When scrapbooking I rarely do 12 x 12 pages and or books. With a full time job and raising teenage girls I have not always had a great deal of time for crafting so I lean towards projects that can be completed in a fairly short amount of time. As a resilt I love the smaller chipboard books/scrapbooks and have done many for family and friends. I have started a couple of altered books and have done a few ATC pieces. I love the texture in mixed media and have done a few pieces to hang in my studio previously our guest bedroom. Since I work for a building supply co. I have access to plywood cut offs and other sheet goods which make great panels for collage etc. I have a large collection of rubber stamps and love to stamp not only paper but clay. I love using embossing powders and almost anything that adds interest to a piece. Layers of color, images, and texture fascinate me.

All music except heavy metal :-) Love the kid's music, pop and light rock. Anything with a good beat. Current favorite band is The Maine

Anything by Nicholas Sparks. I am really into audio books right now and have discovered a whole new world of entertainment at our local library. When crafting I wear my apron with the big pockets so I can work comfortably with my portable CD player going and a good story. My girls roll their eyes and my husband makes fun because of course I am in my own world at the time but it works for me. I love historical romance and have recently gotten into some teen lit (Stephanie Meyers etc.)

The Notebook (who does not love Ryan Gosling) and Sweet Home Alabama for starters. I like chick flicks and pretty much anything romantic. I am a big sap at heart and love a good love story!

I don't get to watch much television because my husband is one of those people who thinks he can watch several programs at one time so he is always switching back and forth which drives me absolutely NUTS! So I spend most of my free time in my craft room working on my next project what ever that might be. The programs I watch when I do get to watch TV are usually the fix-it up shows and such. I have watched several series like Buffy the vampire slayer on Netflix but not much on TV. I have been known to watch those hoarder shows but those folks scare me (might recognize a little of myself ...hmmmmm:-( )

I am currently working on some new items for my Etsy store - 44th Terrace Designs. I have quite a few wooden boxes decorated in my store with a little bit of this and that however I want to get into more mixed media. Collage, painting etc. I don't know what it is about the wooden boxes that draws me, I love things that store other things. Maybe kind of obsessive but there you have it- I am currently working on my first Art doll. I used to collect porcelain dolls. Since my girls are almost all grown I have been working on downsizing. Last year I sold off most of my collection on Ebay and started following a couple of doll artists on Etsy. I love how unique and creative they are so I decided to try my hand at making an art doll. Faces and hands are troublesome but like antything else I have found practice helps. Recently I spent an entire afternoon sculpting lips until I could get that little bow at the top of the lip to look just the way I wanted. As an analyst I tend to lean towards linear/mechanical thinking so Art lets the creative side of my personality out. :-)

I love things with wings. Birds -especially owls, peacocks and sparrows Angels Fairies Butterflies Dragonflys Dragons Winged horses etc Even those little flying pigs make me smile.

Other things I like Mermaids, frogs and lizards

Blue Purple Teal Tiffany's green Pink Aquamarine Coffee Bronze Copper

Rubber stamps Decorative jars (good to store craft stuff in) pomanders cookie cutters vintage metal tins (like cookie tins) cool buttons (love blue buttons :-))