VirginiaBailey

1. Tell us a little about yourself, your family, your job, your home, etc.?
I was born a small, white, girl child in 1945. I was born into a family of an older sister and four older brothers. After four boys in four years my parents expected another boy and thus had no female name picked out, so they named me after the hospital I was born in, Virginia Mason Hospital. I was only surprised my middle name wasn't Mason. I married my highschool sweetheart and thirteen years later we divorced. He just didn't understand you were suppose to stop dating once you got married. I did end up with two lovely children. A daughter named Margaret Ann (Annie), and a son, Michael John. Now I have a wonderful daughter-in-law, Barbara Jo. I lost a beautiful baby girl at her birth. I have been married 21 years to a wonderful man. He is my heart and soul and everytime I see him I fall in love all over again. He spoils me and I love it!! Best of all he likes to find stamping "surprises" for me. I haven't worked, except as "Goddess of the Home" since I was electicuted ten years ago. I have had some interesting jobs during my stay here on Earth. I taught pre-school and kindergarten readiness for twelve years and really > enjoyed watching the delight in their eyes when things began "to click" for them. I have also owned an indepentent insurance agency and a gas station. I also worked for three years in Emergency Room Admittance at two hospitals. I taught religion classes for many years when our kids were younger.In my
free time I offer free tutoring to the kids in our area in English, Science, Reading, and Math. We live out in the boonies of Riverside County on an acre of land. We grow flowers for a hobby and have over 300 roses and many tropical flowers. I am a gourmet cook and have completed classes to be a Chinese cook. I take great satisfaction in being a good wife and mother. We are very close to the kids and all of us enjoy getting together to eat and gab.
2. How did you first get involved in stamping?
I was visiting my evil younger sister and she casually said we were going to > the store. She took me to her local stamp store. She told me to pick out a > stamp I liked and then the owner of the shop showed me how to emboss it. She > used Judikins Egyptian Gold. That;s all it took!! I was totally hooked!! As a return favor, I hooked up my sister's daughter when she was visiting me. Almost everyone in the family now stamps!!!
3. What is your favorite technique?
Michele told me how to do the "glitter lace" and I think it is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I just love the intricate look of the different patterns you can use.
4. What is your favorite card you have ever made: one you are the proudest of?
I think my favorite card is one of the shadow box cards done in an Asian motif. I felt it looked very nice and I figured out the shadow box technique from pictures I had seen of cards using the technique.
5. What are your favorite stamp companies and why?
My favorite stamp company is Bartholmew's Ink (now owned by Stamp Francisco) because it has such totally off the wall stamps. You have to think of a way to use them. I love just about every stamp that Leavenworth Jackson has in her collection. I think she is unique and refreshing in her outlook of what stamps can offer. Magenta because they are magnificent.
6. What are your favorite type images you use in stamping?
Totally weird and different. They reflect my bizarre look at life.
7. What are your favorite colors?
I love red, hunters green, and deep blue. I like the richness of the jewel tones.
8. What is one dream you have that you wish could come true?
Win the lottery. I have always wanted to have my own soup kitchen and to have a safe home for abused women and their children. Not some place they can stay for a few weeks, but a place that offers daycare so they can get training for a job that will support them without fearing for their children.
9. What is your biggest pet peeve?
Whiners and lurkers. Whiners because everyone has bad days so just pick yourself up and move on with your life. Lurkers because they are willing to glean ideas from everywhere yet feel no need to contribute.
People that really annoy me are people that don't take responsibility for their actions and people that have forgotten how to laugh. Life is just not that serious so get off your high horse, stop trying to be so PC and enjoy life.
10. Anything else you would like to share? Like things you collect, things that make you happy, and so on?
I collect promotional toys, baskets, sunglasses,Pez dispensers,jokes and quotations that touch my heart. I'm happy almost all the time. I count it as a good day if I wake up alive. I consider each moment a gift, a gift to be enjoyed and appreciated. I try to find the good side of everything. I have had poetry published since I was fifteen and now I am trying a short mystery story.
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