♥ ♥ ♥ I give from the heart not for a heart.. though i sure love to get them ♥ ♥ ♥

I am a mum to 3 (mostly) wonderful kids (2 boys and 1 girl), wife to one (mostly) wonderful husband and 2 legged mum to far too many cats and 1 dog.I teach part time french/german at primary school..

I was born in Germany, have lived in holland, france, belgium and moved to the UK in '96, where i still am. We live in a village in Essex, about 30mins outside of London.

Im also a total geek according to my family and friends.. if it's electrical in any way shape or form, has buttons, lights up, makes a noise, has a touch screen im sure to WANT if not NEED it. I love tinkering on our pcs/laptops and tweaking around the systems.

I wont commit to more than i know i can comfortably cope with, please feel free to contact me for any private swaps you would like, but i may ask for your patience and contact you when im all set and ready to go before i agree to setting up the swap. This is to make sure that i dont get overloaded and start messing up. I hope you will understand :)

A quick note to my overseas swap partners: I send packages out airmail, but sometimes even that takes a lot longer to get to you than domestic mail. Please be patient, if you have worries, contact me and i will supply you with a proof of posting, which i always obtain.

I promise to take care when preparing your swap and to take your likes/dislikes into consideration. I always check out profiles, even for swaps that dont call for this.

I will rate fairly and promptly. I will never rate a 1 or a 3 without contacting you first and giving you the chance to explain your side of the swap. Please do the same for me :) we are all human, and we all make mistakes sometimes.

I like to rate ♥ but, random extras put into the package do not guarantee you a heart from me. If i feel, that you have thought about my package, put a lot of work into the item you made for me or tried to put a smile on my face in any way, even by just including a small note, you are showing that you care and to me, caring about a person you have never met deserves a ♥ every time.

music...

I have music blaring away ALL day and need to listen to my ipods to fall asleep... i need music in the car, while im cleaning, while im crafting.. while im thinking...

I mostly listen to Indie (thats the original from way back then in the 80s to the newer ones)... but also enjoy other type of music, the only stuff i tend to turn off asap is classical and country and western...

some of my favourites are: The Cure, Siouxie, Snowpatrol, Killers, Nickleback,One Republic, Razorlight, Chemical Romance, Audioslave, HIM, Dragonforce, REM, Nightwish, Evanescence, Bat Out Of Hell, Billy Idol, Clash, Smiths, Kings Of Leon, ...

Crash bang whallop as my dh calls my passion for loud base heavy music :) but i also love to bop away to some ministry of sound or wigan pier stuff...

books...

we have LOTS of books as all of us love to read... piles and piles of books...

I love books with dragons, wizards, magic in them... i also like to read the odd horror book.. And my biggest passion has to be The Hobbit and Lord of the rings.. i have about 20 editions of each, in 4 languages.. yes.. i am slightly obsessive.. i know.. but what can i say? the BEST books ever written!!!

Those are closely followed by the Dragonlance books.. what else could a dragon lover wish for? I also love Terry Pratchett, Tad Williams, James Herbert, Trudy Canavan, Stephen King (especially Rose Madder and Green Mile), Feist, Eddings, Gemmel, R.A. Salvatore, Cornelia Funke, d'Lacey, Anne McAffrey of course (cos she writes the best dragon books EVER apart from LOTR :D), Stephenie Meyer, Karen Chance and so on and on and on ...

movies

We go to the pictures a lot. I have a huge collection of dvds, some of my favourites are: the lord of the rings films, stardust and enchanted, beetlejuice, top gun, backdraft, noman's land, lost boys, labyrinth, green mile, never ending story... I adore disney films, especially POTC and Sword in the the stone.. thats my all time favourite disney ever

I dont do chick flicks im afraid.. a good horror film is cool too, you know the kind that makes you hide behind your teddy, just so that you can still peek round his head at all the gory bits..

TV

.. i tend to watch series like ncis, jag, csi, cold case, bones.. army wives, big love... but its no big deal if i miss an episode or 2 or 3 or in fact totally forget to watch it. I love watching animal programs and the history channel (believe it or not)... some stuff on there is really really cool :)

other media stuff

I play sims2, wow, spore and a whole host of other games... i LOVE our wii, finally a console that i can manage, i love playing harry potter and star wars and waving my wand and lightsaber about :D

I love all my ipods and am getting an iphone YAY I also like playing with fireworks and paintshop pro.. and am getting quite good at restoring old photographs or adding pizzazz to current shots..

I live on caffeine :) starbucks and costas are GREAT... i love mixing and matching the pods we have for our tassimo... if i dont have a coffee first thing im useless for the rest of the day... I love diet coke.. cant be full fat, cant be pepsi.. it just has to be ice cold diet coke. I love tinkering with smoothies.. just throw it all in the blender and see what happens :D had some very very interesting concoctions ...

My main food supply seems to be chocolate.. galaxy being the favourite! I swear they put something in chocolate that makes it sooo addictive... Im also quite partial to other sweets.. jelly belly beans... those fizzy thingies.. strawberry laces.. if its sweet im likely to like it :)

I love baking.. cakes, muffins, tarts, pies.. flapjacks, bread, scones...

*bright colours (not neon though)

*cute things

*DRAGONS,fairies,magical beings

*Diddl, Pimboli, Mimihopps, Galupy & co

*Pens, notebooks

*milk CHOCOLATE and other sweeties

*lip gloss/balm

*socks, scarves, hats

*christmas and advent

*SUMMER

*daisies, dandelions and sunflowers

*eeyore

*disney anything and everything

*kawaii (though i havent got a lot yet)

*mobile phone charms

*bento

*rubber duckies

*scented candles, vanilla, cinnamon, cookie, chocolate, fudge, fruit..

*chunky braceletts

*im seriously addicted to totes, handbags and purses/coin purses, especially cute or "different" ones

*anything handmade for me :)

*anything goth

*gizmos and gadgets

*amigurumi, momiji dolls and stuffy monsters

*cats, lions, penguins, elephants,SLOTHS, tigers, panthers, comodo dragons, bearded dragons, most reptiles, frogs not keen on bugs or spiders EEEEKKK

*memory sticks in all colours of the rainbow, novelty (like hk), promotional etc.

*keyrings/fobs/chains/lanyards

*stuffies, cute critters, cuddlies

*brads, eyelets, charms, anything to use in scrapbooking

*ribbons and fabrics

*My favourite colours are purple,pink, yellow, blues.. i like most colours actually, im not too keen on green, but even green is nice as an accent colour or when its a dragon (a LOT of dragons are green)

Those are just "a few" of the things I like, im easily pleased and i adore surprises, so dont go stressing about this list :) if you think ill like it.. chances are that i will.

And if you are still not sure what i might like, well... And if you are still not sure what i might like, well... theres always something my kids will enjoy:

my little girl is a typical girly girl, think explosion in barby factory, with some glitter and sprinkles and you got her down to a Tee.. she loves hello kitty and generally anything cute, furry and tiny... She loves her ipod and listening to music, especially funky tunes shes not heard before.. and audiobooks (kids ones that is). She has no allergies, but doesnt like chocolate (go figure THAT one out).. She likes art and crafts, does scrapbooking and cardmaking. Shes into the whole lipbalm/lipgloss/nailvarnish, pretty hair thingies stuff as well (though i please politely ask that you send NO bright red or strong coloured lipstick or nailvarnish) She also plays soccer and rugby...

The boys like typical boy stuff, especially yu-gi-oh and pokemon trading cards, anything with pokemon on/in.. They are autistic, so we have huge collections of any collectable toy :) Our oldest is obsessively interested in football (soccer)..

• anything with red grapes in cos im really really allergic to them

• anything with latex in, again, im severely allergic

Those two are a major problem for me as they send me into anaphelactic shock, so please no latex or red grapes

• any jewellery and things that have skin contact with nickel in.. im allergic to that too, but can get around it by coating the item in clear nail varnish provided its not earrings :) so, please, if you do know of nickel content in anything you sent, please let me know.

• incense or other very very intense smelly things.. flowery scents trigger my asthma especially no roses or lillies in any shape or form please the scent makes me very ill .. im ok with fruit and foody type smellies :)

• dark chocolate

• pastelly coloured things

• crystal things

• anything too flowery or twee

• makeup and perfumes, i have very sensitive skin and my ecxema will flare up if i use products that are not specifically made for hypersensitive skin :) its not that i DONT like it, its more that my skin doesnt cope with it

• explicit materials - we have little ones about who usually "help" me with the mail Thank you for understanding!

I am addicted to minibooks.. i tend to fall behind on my 12x12 scrapbooking albums, but find that minibooks come together really nicely.

I have just about every tool and gadget a girl could wish for, but my favourite at the moment is my bind it all :) I dont seem to be making cards as much as i used to...

I love trying out new techniques, and my family swears that i will alter anything and everything that is stationary for more than 30 secs... i DO love to alter stuff... I also love making mini flowerpot people/animals/angels... and will cover anything and everything in napkins (dont ask)...

I am totally useless at drawing freehand or painting in any way shape or form though... its just not me... my spatial awareness is practically non existant so putting pens/colours to paper doesnt happen.

I seem to go through fads and phases a lot.. having done lots and lots of atcs just to not do any for a while..

I have recently rediscovered my crochet hooks.. they had been gathering dust since i was about 7 .. i learnt that you can make DRAGONS and other cool stuffies.. so anybody who knows me is now in possession of at least one amigurumi made by me.. i just love to make those.

I wish i could sew, i try, i really really do, but i cant even manage a straight line (?? that what you call them).. i would so love to make myself some fancy totes and purses, but i guess thats all a bit ambitious at the minute.