Q: Tell us about your family and pets.
I was born, raised, and still live in the middle. I'm now a middle-aged (okay, maybe over into the senior side! LOL) middle, middle child: older brother, older sister, younger sister, younger brother. I live where I always have, in a middle-sized town, named Midland, in the middle of a valley of beautiful Michigan.

But I have an extraordinarily wonderful life, spoiled rotten by everyone. I've been married for 33 years to a terrific man named John, who has a fulltime job and is the world's most thoughtful man, and a great cook, and he does the all the housekeeping! We met in 8th grade Art Class, and dated sporadically until we were Juniors in college, when we finally got engaged and married. John has two aliases. To my crafting friends, he is known as Cabana Boy. He does all the fetching, carrying, serving drinks and making fabulous snacks and meals when I have my Craft'N'Chat parties. He is also known as The Judge (self-appointed). Every year from Thanksgiving to Christmas, The Judge and I (Judgette or Elf) drive around Midland two or three times a week past all of our friends houses, looking for Christmas decorations. Then the Judge writes alternating sarcastic, enthusiastic or pleading emails to everyone about their Christmas spirit or lack thereof. People respond back with excuses and bribes for the Judge (Everyone is always tied for second place----there is no First!). The whole thing is really funny, and brings us together with everyone, just like Christmas should be. Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love the sparkle and glitter and decorations and music and shopping and gift giving (I'm not actually big on receiving gifts, mostly---of course there are exceptions!---- but I love to give them).

John and I have no kids, no pets, just lots of nieces and nephews to spoil. My "real" work is Facilities Engineer for Delphi, The premier automotive parts supplier. See the ATC below for the definition of my job. It's the best job in the world, different every day, and I get to work on a lot of interesting things. I've worked in Saginaw for 33 years, and had responsibilities for a 440 acre complex, with over 3 million square feet of buildings. My primary tasks have been construction management, fire protection, real estate, and I'm Furniture Queen (I design Dilbert cubicles for the 1400 office people). Plus, I've always got an excuse for being wherever I'm at. Just standing there, looking at the ceiling, I could be deciding where to run the new plumbing or just daydreaming, but nobody knows for sure... My sister says I'm the only person she knows that goes into a hotel room and actually looks to see where the sprinkler head is, and then goes back out and counts the doors to the exit stairwell. It's been a great career, but now I am expecting to retire within the next year so that I can play with my crafting bibhuiy full time.

  

At least one vacation a year, I try to go to an art retreat in a State I haven't been to before. It helps me to be constantly learning, to get to all 50 states before I die, and most importantly, I get to meet new friends. I met one of my very best friends at a retreat in Santa Fe last year, and of course I met several PWA friends at the WLSBP this year.
 

College Friends

Q: Tell us about your childhood, where you grew up, and when your creativity began. I spent most of my childhood in the top of the elm tree in the backyard, reading a book---thus fulfilling the mother-driven obligation to "go play outside" while doing what I really wanted to do---read!--- when I wasn't making messes with craft stuff on the dining room table. I had a wonderful childhood, full of the Golden Encyclopedias and salt dough and crayons and coal gardens and ice candles. Does anybody else remember melting crayons and paraffin in an old pie tin and plunging it in a sink full of cold water to see the great sculptures it made?

Q: To what do you attribute your talents and what inspires you?
My creativity is definitely from both my Mom and Dad. Between them, they could make anything! I grew up knowing from example that everything was possible, and that it was all worth trying. My Dad passed away several years ago but he left a legacy of making things from the most minimal of materials. Of course, I'm overcompensating and I keep maximum materials on hand! Love that bibhuiy!

My whole family is creative, actually. Currently, my Mom's fields are sewing, ribbon embroidery and polymer clay. Greg is a woodworker. Brooke is the Microbeader Extraordinaire. Pam paints, decorates, and does jewelry and other beadwork. Chris has been making his own guitars. Like the rest of the family I've tried most crafts and a few arts, but my long-term "specialty" is mixed media collages------known as "Earls" to my family and friends----using leather and my handmade paper and bits of glass and wire and whatever else strikes my fancy.
 
Q: How did you find PWA?
I went to an Art Retreat in Santa Fe the Spring of 2005, where Vesta Abel showed me how to make amulet bags using microbeads and gold leafing. I came home and demonstrated it to my sister Brooke. Then when Brooke decided to make larger versions for presentation bags for bracelets at Christmas, we needed an inexpensive source for microbeads and tape, because those bags take a LOT of microbeads. Joe Nathan from the Amstamps Yahoo group recommended Pennywise, and here I am! I will always be grateful for the serendipity that led me to this group.

Q: When did you begin stamping?
I can tell you exactly: April 7th, 2006, at the World's Largest Shoebox Party III. I didn't know PWA was a "stamping" group, until I got to Washington. I was in it for the microbeads. It might not have been the first time I ever picked up a stamp, but it's close-----I know I only owned about 6 stamps before the WLSBP, and for me, only owning 6 of something is about the same as having "none". I suffer from Sam's Club Syndrome-----where I have to have hundreds of something, or I'm almost out of it!

Q: What is your favorite stamping technique?
Probably Polished Stone, so far. I love alcohol inks! But really, usually, it's whatever's being taught on the PWA Yahoo group this week. I don't have enough stamping done to have developed too many preferences!

Q: Do you have any other hobbies or interests, besides Stamping?
I read several books a week, and I play hundreds of games of Freecell on the computer. I do a lot of crafts, primarily knitting, bead jewelry and paper items right now, but it varies a lot. I have just about all the crafting tools available, and I do a lot of shopping to keep that current. I want to be prepared in case I want to try something new... I have Craft'N'Chat parties about once a month in the winter months, where my friends and I try out new crafts, often 4 or 5 new things simultaneously.

I have been asked to help with the decor in several of my family/friends homes (bless them for letting me do this!), so I spend time choosing colors and accent pieces and buying items on "spec" for them. I'm also busy trying to Bead the World a lot of the time. I love the Color Challenges and the Beadie Buddy Bonanzas because they give me some direction.

I collect things: Santa Clauses and mechanical pencils and floaty pens and shopping bags and postcards and silver charms and artist-blown glass Christmas ornaments and Swarovski crystal. I have a whole room in my basement just for souvenirs! I used to collect McDonald's Happy Meal toys, but when the number reached into the thousands, I gave most of them away to the Ronald McDonald house, just to make room for storing Christmas decorations.

Q: Will you show us some pictures of your stamp/craft room?
After many, many hours of relocation/reorganization in the last two months, here is the finished product. You have to see the "before" pictures to really appreciate how much work this was! LOL