splashofjoy

UPDATE - Nov. 12, 2014 sigh 2014 has not been kind to me. I ended up in the ER a couple weeks ago and in bed for over a week. Needless to say, I got behind on my swaps AGAIN. What really sucks is that several were done but my husband didn't know to mail them for me :( I'm mostly up and going again, so I will be plugging away at getting caught up. I will privately message everyone waiting for a swap from me but that will take some time, so I wanted to put the info here, in case any of them come looking to see what is up (that is what I tend to do first when someone hasn't mailed me a swap.) EVERY SWAP WILL BE SENT! I WILL NOT FLAKE ON ANY OF THEM!!!! I also have a huge pile of lovely mail to go through, so I will get ratings up as soon as I can. I do want to get my swaps out first, though. I hope you understand. If you are in need of my rating asap, let me know and I'll put it at the top of the list. So sorry!!!

OH NO! I was SO excited to find my Aloha shirt stamps that I used them on a couple of letters before I noticed they were NOT forever stamps! They were only 32 cents!! So if you were one of the two people who received a "postage due" envie from me, PLEASE let me know so I can send you something to make up for it!!!

I am a stay-at-home wife, hoping to become a stay-at-home mom. I admit it, I'm "crunchy" - we eat very little commercially processed food. I even grind my own grains for my homemade bread. We use glass instead of plastic and I already have a cloth diaper stash started for when we are blessed with a little one. Meanwhile, because I am home all day, I am able to be a foster mom to bottle fed kittens, as well as being on the monk seal response team. It's not a bad life, having little bundles of fur to love on or sitting on the Hawaiian beaches watching the wildlife!

We recently moved into a house that is four times the size of our old apartment, so I've been having a BLAST decorating a house for the first time! Our living room is vintage travel and old cameras. The man cave is old cars and planes. I got some Life magazines from the 50's and have framed some car ads from them. I also have several old style tin signs and we are working on an old license plate collection for the wall. The kitchen is shabby chic in mint green and pink. My bathroom in vintage glam in black, white and pink.

I am a jeweler, photographer and crafter who is slightly obsessed with the color pink. Okay, more than slightly. I love to do research and know a great deal about nutrition, natural remedies and fitness. In fact, my husband and I hope to open a fitness retreat here in Hawaii some day. But this past year I have had some major health setbacks and we are just now figuring out the cause.

I have lived in Michigan, West Virginia, Virginia, just outside Washington DC, New Mexico, Arizona, France, Mexico and Hawaii.

I absolutely LOVE to travel. I lived in France for 7 months, then traveled Europe for a month before coming home. My favorite city was Barcelona. I adore Gaudi's work, especially Parque Guell! I also lived in Mexico for a month, working at an orphanage. I've been to 39 of the 50 states, including doing a three week, coast-to-coast road trip by myself (Virginia Beach, VA to San Francisco, CA). To make sure it was truly coast to coast, I put my toes in each ocean! I want to tour Asia next but my husband has already traveled Asia and wants to tour Europe next, so we'll see where our first international trip together takes us.

Amazing Race (my husband and I auditioned when we were dating and we'll try again when I hit my goal weight), Warehouse 13, NCIS, Criminal Minds, So You Think You Can Dance, Biggest Loser (I haven't watched for several seasons but it was the inspiration for my 130 lb weight loss and I've had the privilege of getting to know over 20 TBL alumni. I even won a nationwide contest to go do a Ragnar Relay on a Biggest Loser team! Nothing like spending 2 days living in a van with some of your most inspirational heroes!)

Bible, Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Clive Cussler novels, older Grisham novels, older Clancy novels (before all the co-writers), fitness and nutritional research, currently reading Culture Shock: Japan (and learning a lot about why my husband is the way he is!) and Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome (and learning a lot about why I am the way I am!)

I love to upcycle/recycle, especially when doing paper crafts but sometimes even with my jewelry. In my jewelry making, I typically work with sterling silver wire and glass beads but also do some fiber art. I have a HUGE rubber stamp collection and a die cut machine but rarely use them (other than when I was making everything for my DIY wedding) so I am hoping to find some swaps where I can put them to use. My favorite photography subjects are buildings and nature. I especially love intricate detail work on old buildings, so traveling the UK was AMAZING. I do sell both jewelry and photography in a couple of galleries but mostly just create for my own enjoyment.

I'm super excited about jumping into the world of ATC and Inchies! And I've been doing smash booking since before I even knew it had a name. My latest project has been covering a cheap bookcase with craft paper decoupage and rubber stamping vintage travel designs in a warm cocoa ink onto the paper. It looks amazing! I'm also putting the names of the major cities my husband and I have been to throughout the world. And as we have house guests (we are couchsurfing hosts) we add their city to the design. Other than my wedding, this has been my absolute favorite project and I'm looking for ways to incorporate the craft paper rubber stamping into some of my other projects.

anything travel related: I love designs with suitcases, travel stickers, non-USA postage and money, maps, etc. Our living room is decorated in vintage travel and old cameras.

Old license plates! Even if they aren't very old, although the one I have is from 1947 :D

Vintage ads for cars, travel, cameras

ethnic angels: I have a collection of angels from around the world, primarily non-Caucasian. (Nothing cartoon-ish or cherubs.)

metal/artistic crosses but not crucifixes (in other words, decorative crosses without a Jesus hanging on them)

PINK: My favorite is raspberry or fuchsia, my least favorite is neon but any/all pinks work for me :)

Dragonflies and Butterflies: especially in blues/greens/purples (my next favorite color combo after pink+anything)

Asian designs

Christmas designs: Christmas ornaments, Christmas lights, snowmen, snowflakes, Christmas trees, stars (see below for the Christmas designs I don't like) I decorate with iridescent/silver/clear/white rather than the traditional green and red, although now that I am married, we do 2 small trees: my normal one and his decorated in more traditional colors with a penguin theme :D In fact, if you send a penguin themed Christmas ornament/gift, address it to Dan instead of me and I'll give you an automatic heart

Fall colors: I know, I know, I'm horrible. And I really do enjoy SEEING fall leaves but don't enjoy fall decor or the colors red/orange/yellow (unless the orange is combined with pink, then it is fine!) Hey, there is a reason I live in Hawaii ;)

Santa, elves and Rudolf: nothing personal against them but just not my preference

Halloween/Ghosts/Ghouls/Zombies/Skulls/Witches (even cute ones)

Nudes: well, my father owns an art gallery and I've actually seen several nudes that I absolutely love but I am really, really picky about my nudes, so it would be safer to not send them my way. Thanks!

Ah, the Christmas swap season is here and I LOVE getting stocking gifts and 24 days of Christmas gifts for my hubby, Dan, so I'll join/host as many gift swaps as possible. Even if the gift is supposed to be for me, if you would rather get something for him, I am totally fine with that! Just let me know so it goes in his pile instead of mine (LOL - last year someone sent stuff for both of us but didn't label them, so we were just guessing Christmas morning!) He likes the San Fran 49ers, zombies, Dr Who, planes, Minions (Despicable Me) and cartoon penguins. We actually each have our own Christmas tree and his is decorated mostly with penguins but with other animals, as well. He also collects old license plates and vintage car/plane decor for his man cave. We are covering one wall with the license plates and vintage metal signs relating mostly to cars and and a few planes. Knickknacks, photos, ads... if they have old cars and planes, we'll find a place for them! He also wears a lot of t-shirts - not white, mostly darker colors but a bright blue or red would be great - size M. He buys his music off of Amazon (NOT iTunes.) He enjoys good coffee but rarely drinks tea. With Christmas swaps, we WILL wait to open the gifts but I will rate you as soon as they arrive.

Oct 9, 2014 To the best of my knowledge, I am completely caught up. If you are still missing a rating from me, PLEASE let me know. I do have a stack of swaps that I'm going to go through and confirm that they have all been rated before I put them away, but I'm 99% sure they have been.

August 29, 2014: We are on vacation until Sept 3rd and my house sitter tells me I have some fun mail waiting for me! I will rate as soon as we get back. Meanwhile, my old swaps are under control (have another to mail when I get back from vacation) and my ratings are as fixed as they are going to get. There is no "fixing" the 3, as it is completely deserved. I'm so glad to have stuff resolved! Fortunately, the swappers I was resolving with were MUCH more gracious than hosts of other swaps. I was really, REALLY disappointed with how rude some hosts were when I was explaining my ratings (and how they were in process of being resolved.) I was actually banned from some swaps, even though I met the requirements! LOL - one, um, not nice 'lady' even banned me from an ELECTRONIC swap - as in, COMPLETELY FREE TO ANGEL if it came down to that (not to mention that I even offered to SEND HER the digital photographs ahead of time so she would KNOW that I wouldn't flake.) Seriously, people? I understand being protective of swaps that involve a lot of time and/or money. But this is also supposed to be FUN, not a place to be a judgmental and mean person. sigh End of rant, I guess. But man, these 'ladies' need to get over themselves!

Aug 7, 2014 - I got out most of my old swaps this week! Just a few more to go. Meanwhile, I've joined a few easy swaps (already have a TON of postcards available to send out) to help start getting my rating back up. No flaking! I promise! LOL - I'm even making sure to send my new swaps early before I leave on vacation, just in case my plane crashes (kidding, but not really kidding!)

July 2014: My world was turned upside-down last December (2013) and EVERYTHING other than caring for my family was dropped. I am only now beginning to feel I can pick back up with "fun" stuff. It is going to take awhile, but I am absolutely committed to getting out the swaps I flaked on. Some of them were already done and I will get those mailed this week. The others I will work on as I can. I can't begin to express how sorry I am for the people I let down. Please forgive me. As for those who sent me stuff and did not receive a rating, message me and I will get your rating done. Otherwise, I'll focus on getting my swaps out before trying to figure out ratings.