Q: Tell us about your family and pets.
I am the eldest of seven children, 5 boys and a sister who is 10 years younger. I was born in Washington, D.C. My parents moved to College Park, Maryland when I was 4 years old and that is where I lived until I got married. Joe and I have been married 40 years as of April 23, 2006. Seems like a long time, I guess it is a long time. My grandfather lived with us from 1959 until it was necessary for him to go into a nursing home in 1972. One of my brothers came down with MS and mom was unable to care for my brother and my grandfather who was in failing health. We always enjoyed "Pop" and when Joe and I were married we would go to the beach with him.

Our first born son Jay (Joe, Jr) and his wife Kim are the proud new parents of Peyton Alexander Miller born August 2, 2006. They live in Raleigh, N.C. Jay works for G.E. and is lucky enough to work at home most of the time. If he is not at home he is overseas as that is where his clients are located. He works with computers but other than that I can tell nothing!

Our youngest son Jeff and his wife Lori live the furthest away from us as they live in PA. Jeff works in Washington, DC and has a long commute every day. Lori owns a beauty salon with her mother. They are in the process of selling the salon and will both be retiring soon.

To keep us company we have two cats, Tom, I guess you'd say he's the "oldest" as we got him in 1994. He is a gray tabby. Troubles fits his name perfectly and I'll not go into details on that suffice to say he has cost us lots. Troubles is 1 year younger than Tom.

Q: Tell us about your childhood, where you grew up, and when your creativity began.
Seems like times were a lot easier in some respects. There was very little television to watch but as children there was always something to do. We had a very large yard and in the summer time a very large garden. "Pop" loved to tend the garden and had wonderful veggies that I would help mom can. With such a large family to feed any home grown foods were preserved for the many lean times.

Pop owned a beach home in Deale, Maryland and we would love going there every summer. We'd all be out crabbing and bring home those famous Maryland Blue Crabs! Mom would get the pot going and we would all enjoy. Corn on the cob would be in and so would watermelon! Couldn't ask for a better meal. As everyone grew up it was harder to get time to go there but when Joe and I married we would always take Pop down for the weekends. It was sad to have to sell after his death.

Mom and dad moved from Maryland up to Bonneville, PA about 1974 and lived there for 14 years before moving to Deltona, Florida in 1988. My brother Ed, who has MS is the only one of my siblings living with my mom. My dad passed in May of 2004 and mom and Ed moved over to Palm Bay, FL in an apartment. This way she is closer to my brother Chuck and his wife Rita who also live in Palm Bay.

I don't remember being creative much growing up, I helped mom with canning, cleaning and raising younger siblings. Then 1 year after Joe and I married our children started arriving. I was mostly a stay at home mom - you know the kind that are at the childrens school all the time. As our children were in Catholic school it was pretty much a given, if you didn't work for pay, you worked!!!

Q: To what do you attribute your talents and what inspires you?
All the wonderful artists here on Pennywise and I am also on Splitcoaststampers which is primarily, but not totally, Stampin' Up! demos. Great ideas and great projects from both groups.

Q: How did you find PWA?
Our own Miss Beki first introduced me to our group. I took a year or so off but now am back and hope to pretty much stay, that is if I can get this computer running right. Hubby and I do take a fair amount of trips so I have to leave on occasion.

Q: When did you begin stamping?
A little over 6 years now. A friend kept telling me about stamping but I wasn't interested. We had moved to Virginia but would go back to Maryland on a monthly basis for Joe to attend meetings connected with an organization he is a member of. I stopped at her house and she was stamping and made me sit down and try it. As they say, the rest was history! Since I live in a rural area there is nothing around and I told her that. She told me about Stampin' Up! I contacted them and have been a demo since. Mainly hobby as it is very difficult to break into it where I live.

Q: What is your favorite stamping technique?
Right now I must say that Pearly Window done with Acetate and Pearl Ex is my tops but that can change. I also love anything with glitter and ribbons.

Q: Do you have any other hobbies or interests, besides Stamping?
I love gardening and have many plants. Depending on the season my favorites include azaleas, hostas, day lilies and almost any perennial. I am also very much into genealogy.

Q: Will you show us some pictures of your stamp/craft room?
I'll be glad to it's a mess right now.