messymama

UPDATE: 12 July 2022 I am finally getting to contact my partners of 3 missed swaps. I've been ill, and without access to my crafting supplies. I expect to be home within a week, and will mail the two that are ready-to-go, but still on my desk, and will complete the one I haven't finished.

I'm going to take a break from swapping, or at least tread carefully. I have reduced energy, but am feeling a bit more capable every day!

PREVIOUS PROFILE:

I like writing, reading and paper crafting swaps. When I'm in a "what have you read" swap, I carefully record all my reading, which is super helpful. I love also to receive or give book recommendations based on likes and dislikes.

Besides swapping, I like to:

• read (widely). I read mostly in historical fiction, science fiction and mystery, and challenge myself to read out of my usual genre at least once a month, including a classic.
• do genealogy. I love helping others, as well, with their trees. I'm currently doing descendancy research, so that if new cousins take a DNA test, it will be easier to identify them.
• play advanced strategy games (Euro games). I often play on BoardGameArena.com. I like Thurn & Taxis, Innovation and Love Letter.
• watch youTube videos about crafts, writing, journaling, cognitive behavioral therapy, geology, history and ancient genomes.

I'm learning about writing a novel. I feel pretty confident about how to structure a novel. I'm still learning about character arcs, which involves identifying the characters' mistaken beliefs, unsuccessful attempts to get what they think they need (but actually just want), their self-discovery of this flaw, and their difficult, but successful, journey to growth.

To prep for a first draft of my first novel, I'm researching:

• permaculture and food forests
• inventing an alien species
• contrasting a bucolic culture with an urban one
• psychic healing (or like Jill Bolton Taylor's "My Stroke of Insight)
• stages of psychological development
• hospice
• sailing, and storms at sea
• ana-Baptist culture and history

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I'm using several personality systems to give me ideas to make characters distinct from each other, especially the Enneagram and Clifton Strengths.

I like Zentangle, mosaic, and mock-quilting patterns. My absolute favorite patterning is batik, and wax resist on watercolors. I haven't yet learned to do that --> this year (2022)?

I love hand drawn images, particularly if they tell a story or convey a feeling. And anything watercolor.

I'm not so into vintage, I think because I love color so much. But when I like vintage, it's because of how the pastel tones are used to effect. My favorite color palettes vary quite a bit. Some current favs:

• Fuscia, gold, buttercup, cream, dark purple
• Turquoise, sea green, golden yellow, blue
• SW USA palette: purple, turquoise, gold, umber, yellow, and even pink
• Olive, Forest Green, Light Green, Ivory, Tan.

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OTHER CRAFTS: I like to make collages -- ATCs, and larger formats.

I've made a few simple bound books in the junk journal style. This year (2022) I hope to create a vision book, with a spread for each of my main projects.

SOME BELIEFS:

I'm not traditionally religious. I lean more toward Solstice than Christmas. But I'm good with others expressing their own preferences and experiences. Hymns and Bible verses remind me of the wise, kind people I met as a child and young person attending a Lutheran Church, and later Catholic Mass for a few years. I feel that "Christ consciousness" is as good a way to refer to the Presence I sometimes find in meditation, and when I need to draw on something greater than myself in my personal life's travels.

My favorite tarot deck is the Light Seers Tarot, because I adore the art on every card. I also use the HeroRise Masculine Archetype Deck, which I got on their Kickstarter.

My favorite themes or images are dragonflies, birds, celestial images, the Moon, urban settings in pen-and-ink, townhouses all in a row, water-color-ish anything, Zen doodles.

Unfortunately I am allergic, so please send NO SCENTS or PERFUMES.

I can use:

• washi tape
• pretty napkins for collage
• little pockets
• letter sets, or stationery that fits in a 6"x9" envelope
• greeting cards
• handmade envelopes of ALL sizes
• ATC's, Coins, inchies, twinchies
• materials for ATCs, inchies, twinchies
• book pages in foreign scripts
• any of the items I've mentioned above in image form (for art journal)

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