My two, wonderful Sons who are my dreams come true, although they grew up and made me enormously proud by giving me wonderful Daughters-In-Law and THE two MOST wonderful Grandsons in the entire world. I always heard "You only think you love your children, wait until you have grandkids." I had no idea how true that statement would be. Growing up, all I ever aspired to be was a Mommy; when Nicholas was born, I realized that dream and was happier than ever. Three and a half years later, when Thaddeus was born, my joy doubled. As we all know the depths of a Mother's love, I never realized my heart and soul could love anyone as much as I do Will & Izzy, those two incredible Grandsons...how much fun can one woman have?!!? The Good Lord knew what he was doing by giving them to us when we had more patience to enjoy them...because it's so fun to play without worrying...I do remember letting Nick & Thad play in the mud, I just don't remember doing it WITH them!! <ggg>

 

I have been married for over 29 years to Myron, who is my husband and life's companion. We've experienced SO much together, some good, some not so good, some even absolutely wonderful! We married in Florida when I was rather young, he was in the Navy aboard a ship that deployed to the Mediterranean within a few months. I don't think I'll ever forget the excitement of his first homecoming...nothing compares! We moved quite a bit while he was in the Navy, living in such places as Key West, FL; Ohio; Cuba; Tennessee; Pennsylvania; and Virginia. Although it wasn't always easy to "keep the home fires burning", I feel incredibly Blessed to have experienced some of the adventures the Navy brought...remember the operative word there was "some"! Key West brought us Nicholas...that was an adventure that has lasted 27 years so far! Ohio brought Thaddeus...another long-lasting adventure as well! Cuba brought scuba diving...the beauty of the Caribbean Sea and NOTHING compares to that! Tennessee brought living in a one-room efficiency apartment for two months with two elementary school-aged boys in the dead of winter while Myron was going to school himself...NOT an adventure, that was awful...although we got out and hiked the nearby, surrounding parks every chance we could. Pennsylvania gave me the opportunity to return to the working world...oh, DEFINITELY an adventure there! Then Virginia brought us all kinds of adventure as Myron returned to the fleet...the boys and I learned to adjust to having Dad come & go in addition to things like preparing the house as well as ourselves for hurricanes...since the ships have to leave port...WITH the crew! Then, one morning...actually during the middle of the night, the phone rang...it was Myron calling on the satellite phone from the ship off the coast of Somalia saying "it was time"...time to retire, enough was enough...so he put in his request to retire and did so. Fortunately we stayed in Virginia, a state I love, although we moved away from the coast to where we now reside...I've actually lived here longer than anywhere in my entire life...11 years now...I guess I'm homesteading!

Q: Tell us about your childhood, where you grew up, and when your creativity began.
While my Father was in seminary, I was born in Louisville KY. I was the fifth child, first daughter born to my parents...a Southern Baptist preacher...THAT explains a lot, doesn't it? <ggg> We moved around quite a bit when I was growing up so I can't tell you *where* I grew up other than to say numerous places in Indiana, Ohio, and Florida. I come from a long line of quilters...my Mother is an avid quilter, her Mother was a quilter, etc...however, I do not like to quilt! I love, admire, and appreciate quilts but it just doesn't "grab" me. I have sewn since I was eight years old, just not quilts! I almost feel bad about it because I don't want be guilty of the family tradition stopping with me...but, "oh well" I'll just start a new one or ten! I prefer creating with other medium. In my younger years I "did" ceramics, even worked in the ceramic shop on the base in Key West while we were stationed there. The bad part of that is, I gave away everything I made and now have nothing from that "era"! For my own sanity's sake, I took a tole painting class in Tennessee, I LOVED that! I continued painting for several years until having surgery on my wrist and elbow; afterwards holding a paintbrush and sandpaper proved to be too arduous. So, in an effort to find a suitable substitute I found rubber stamping...and the rest is history...so to speak!!

Q: To what do you attribute your talents and what inspires you?
Of course my talents come from God above, without whom I am nothing. My inspiration comes from the beauty all around...especially those two wonderful Grandsons of mine...they make the most beautiful scrapbook pages ever!

Q: How did you find PWA?
I can't remember exactly who it was...how terrible...but I remember WHAT it was, does that help?!!? I am a ClubScrap-A-Holic (ClubScrap.com) and someone on there posted a project that was absolutely, incredibly beadiful! It was a beaded slide mailer. Well, she mentioned in her message that she was teaching an online class on how to make the project at PennyWiseArts@YahooGroups.com *JUST* in case anyone was interested...YYYEEESSS!!! I wrote her, thanked her for sharing, told her how beautiful/beadiful her project was, and asked her how I could take the class...which I couldn't find in the archives incidentally...ahem.

  

Q: When did you begin stamping?
Oh this IS a funny story! I remember it was the fall/winter of 1995...shortly after moving where I now live...because Nicholas wasn't quite old enough to drive yet. He had a very good friend in Virginia Beach from whom he had to be separated by the move...they were, needless to say, upset. Prior to moving, they were inseparable...where you saw one, you saw the other...which was great for the Mom's because if they weren't at our house, they were at Denny's. I knew Denny's Mom "stamped" and sold cards that she made, but that was all I knew...I never saw one...not a stamp nor a card. Until the weekend after Denny got his driver's license. He wanted to drive here to see Nicholas but that was over 150 miles...a little too far to go alone, so his "over protective" Mother thought! <ggg> So, as a compromise, she offered to follow him...letting him drive his car while she followed...he could spend the weekend with Nicholas and she would go on a little farther west to see a friend; on the way back, she'd stop in so they could caravan home...after all, it would be good practice for Denny. Well...Charlene ended up staying the weekend here too...I showed her how to tole paint...and she brought a few new stamps that she'd just purchased. They were pretty! I was intrigued...enough so that when we went shopping I picked up a few "odds & ends" to try "IT". As the weekend passed, we continued to paint more & more...never really thinking about stamping anymore...until she was walking out the back door to leave. I had started cooking supper, a roast was in the oven...I said to her "Oh, wait! You never got to show me how to stamp or emboss." She didn't seem phased and said she'd do so the next time...I convinced her to at least show me what to do so I could figure it out myself since I'd bought some stuff...that way I'd at least know what to do with it. I literally grabbed an index card, a black pigment ink pad, SOME stamp, and black embossing powder. She stamped the image on the index card, sprinkled the powder on the image, poured the excess back into the bottle, tapped off the "stray" bits, then said "Oh shoot! I forgot all about an embossing gun. Oh wait, no problem...we'll use your oven!" "WHAAAAAT?" I thought? Mind you, I'm only 5' 3 1/2", she's about 6' tall...I have a wall oven...the vent is at the top of it...she held the stamped, embossing powder covered index card over the vent only a few minutes, then brought it back down to MY level...OH MY GOD...and as they say, the rest is history...

Q: What is your favorite stamping technique?
Truly, I have no single favorite technique...my favorite happens to be whatever I happen to be doing at any given moment. Sad, but true...I'm a junkie and love all of them.

Q: Do you have any other hobbies or interests, besides Stamping?
I love to scrapbook as much as stamp...actually, I always combine the two...if I scrap, I stamp; somehow, scrapping doesn't seem complete to me without stamping somewhere. Also, I LOVE to travel. I take small trips very often...every chance I get. Only about a month ago I went to Wisconsin for a scrapbooking retreat...I intend to get to TWLSBP eventually...promise! I went to Bermuda in 2004 and Canada this summer...who knows where next.

Q: Will you show us some pictures of your stamp/craft room?
NO! Not until it's clean...which will probably be never!! :-p