Crafty Cruisers
Intermediate Stamping Team Designer

I am a native Southern Californian.  I was born in Pasadena, CA and have lived in this area my whole life.  My home town is San Marino.  I attended local schools and USC.  I am in the prime of my life and married to a freelance photographer, Herb.  We have one son. Alan, who lives in Portland, Oregon and is married to Amber.  We do not have any grand kids yet, but I am hopeful we will in the future.  I love to travel and am looking forward to taking some special trips. 

My educational background is in the field of art.  I have studied art history, painting, art education, and graphic design.  I love to teach arts and crafts.  Most of my adult life I have been active in some kind of artistic endeavor.  Ask me if I have tried a craft, I probably have!  I am not very good at crochet or knitting, but I do love needlepoint and quilting. 

I have enjoyed the art of stamping for the last ten years.  I discovered this great craft when I wanted to decorate hand made paper and wondered what I could use to do that.

I tried rubber stamping. I loved the effect I achieved on the paper.  I have been doing various hand stamped projects ever since then.  It is so much fun to use different stamps and techniques to create your own artistic expressions.  I really like to stamp three dimensional projects like books and boxes.  I love jewelry making.  I have tried fabric stamping recently and that fascinates me.  I look forward to sharing my ideas on these different stamping arts. 

I would say that my main goal on RRA is to spread the joy of art stamping around.  I have already made good friends among the other designers and have fond memories of the projects I have done.  I think that this is a great opportunity and will be a chance to grow creatively and express my ideas.  There is a tremendous amount of artistic inspiration here and new vistas to explore. 

My favorite stamping techniques are water-coloring and colored pencil.  In general, I like to try anything new.  I have been experimenting with new products such as the Suze Weinberg melt pot and the Hot Marks tool.  I look forward to doing more stamping projects using new exciting techniques and tools.  Stamping is a really stimulating artistic medium.

Check out Mary's work here - November 2004, December 2004, January 2005, February 2005, March 2005, April 2005, May 2005, June 2005, July 2005, August 2005, September 2005, October 2005