CHAPTER ONE

Once upon a time, there were two Nancy's. There was Nancy B. and Nancy L. Each led their own lives, totally different, yet so much alike.

Nancy B. was born of Sicilian and Italian immigrants on Brooklyn, N.Y., and Nancy L. was born of Polish and Austrian immigrants in Philadelphia, Pa.

Although they didn't know each other, they both grew up in the arts. From an early age, they both danced, they drew, they painted and they wrote.

Not knowing eachother, they grew up day by day, each day bringing them closer to the moment that destiny would bring them together to create the most beautiful art stamps.

As they became "big" girls, they still danced, they still drew, they still painted and they still wrote. And now they both acted and performed. Each of them separately, yet somehow side by side, developed the talents they would need to design their beautiful art stamps.

 

After college, Nancy B. took off her tutu and put on a business suit, setting aside years of accomplished professional dancing and being a stagehand. She was elected as a prestigeous international officer of the Stage Hand and Motion Picture, Studio Mechanics and Allied Artist's Union. Yes she was one of those cigar smoking, contract negotiating labor leaders who fought for the artist's and worker's rights within the arts and entertainment industry.

 

After college, Nancy L. set aside her ballet slippers and donned a reporter's hat, and fought for women's rights and the rights of soldier's with her pen. She followed and supported Barbara Makulski as she became one of the first woman Senators from the state of Maryland. She was there as women cheered when Barbara declared that she "really did have legs" under her pants suits.

Nancy L. also turned in her paint brushes for needle and thread, creating award winning textile art. In the process, she mingeled her textile arts with her writing and innovative sewing machine methods, publishing ten books on quilting, applique, seminole patchwork and crafts. She traveled and lectured promoting her books and methods, piling up blue ribbons for her award winning quilts and wall hangings.

 

And the two Nancy's were one step closer to the moment that destiny would being them together to create their beautiful art stamps.

All the gentle breezes of time passed, and the two Nancy's were raising their families and further expanding their artistic accomplishments.

Nancy B., always drawing and designing, discovered the desire within herself, to create stained glass windows, inspired by the many cathedrals she had visited while traveling in her position as an international union official. So Nancy B. designed and built large stained glass windows for many churches, businesses, homes and architects. She challenged herself to think outside the box, and perfected many innovative styles and techniques.

 

Meanwhile, Nancy L. turned her attention to creating wildlife art. As one of her majors in college was Natural Science, her inward appreciation of God's creations, moved her to design and produce wonderful wildlife quilts and accessories which were sold to well-known conservation organizations, who auctioned them to raise money to protect our environment and save wildlife

She was still amassing more awards for her work and was featured in a prestigeous wildlife art magazine.

She was soon "discovered" in the commercial world and turned her attention to creating textiles and bedding for the home. She became a famous designer in the home fashions industry. Her designs are sold to major retailers and catalogers throughout the world.

 

And the two Nancy's still didn't know each other, yet were moving ever closer to the moment that destiny would bring them together to create their beautiful art stamps.

After living in five different states, Nancy B. and her family moved to central Illinois. having been raised and working in big cities for most of her life, small town living sounded great to her and her family.

 

At the very same time, Nancy L. and her family were drawn by the same feelings, and left Chicago for central Illinois.

 

And the two Nancy's, having built their lives throughout the US and Canada, were somehow drawn to practically the same location, and certainly the same geographical destination for what they feel now was destiny that they should meet and and find that each one has an immense love of art and should share it with the rest of the world.

So close and yet so far, the two Nancy's still didn't know each other. Fear not, destiny still had the upper hand to find a way where there was no way to bring them togather to create their beautiful art stamps.

 

Nancy B. now had her glass studio in an old abandoned one-bay gas station in Sidney Illinois to do her art.. Despite remnants of oil spills and Mustang memories, she soon outgrew the space and purchased a historic building in Sidney. Built in the late 1800's, it previously housed a general store and an opera house, what good vibrations! Imagine Stained Glass Studio had a new home.

Nancy B.'s horizons grew as she created a new business, Imagine Scrapbooking and Stamping in 1997 in a 1000 sq. foot store front in Champaign, Il. After just a couple of months, she expanded to 4.000 sq. feet. For five years, she sparked the imagination of Champaign scrapbookers and stampers, as well as art students, inspiring them to preserve their cherished memories into their won works of art.

After five years of great sucess in the retail business, Nancy B. decided that it was time to play again. Her success in the Champaign-Urbana area led her to invite her students and fellow avid stampers to form an advanced stamping group known as the Tuesday Night Stamp Club.

With much encouragement from high ranking Stampin Up demonstrators, she became an independant demonstrator with Stampin Up and quickly rose to supervisor status. Although she felt that Stampin Up is a quality product, after more than a year, she felt that it was time to go back out on her own. Back at the historic building in Sidney, which now housed both her stamp and stained glass studios, life was ever changing. Since the building was so large, Jim, Nancy's husband moved his long established accounting business into half of the inspiring building.

Meanwhile, Nancy L. just several miles away, needed an accountant to help her manage her business affairs, and Jim came highly recommended.

One, day as the warm summer winds drifted across the plains of Illinois, Nancy B. was working on some new designs as Nancy L. walked through the door-----------------right past Nancy B., ------------------to meet her new accountant. The magic had begun----Nancy B. and Nancy L. just didn't know it.

After Jim, her new accountant, discovered that Nancy L.'s passion was art and design, just like Nancy B.'s, HE THOUGHT THAT THEY SHOULD MEET!

The winds of destiny crossed and the universe took a deep breath, and the two Nancy's met at last. What they thought would be a brief Hello--------who are you--------nice meeting you!----------turned into

You like that?------I like that!---------You can do that?-----------I can do this! And four hours later, sharing their love of the art world and their mutiual vision of bringing joy into people's lives through their art, turned into "WE CAN DO THAT!"

Countless discussions, vision sessions, and connections to the universe, grew into--------WE ARE DOING THAT!---------------turned into--------------WE ARE SO DOING THAT!

And as they say in the theatre----------the curtain goes up, and here we are. TWO NANCY'S ART STAMPS.

Lights--------Action-------------Design---------Stamp!

And we hope you love our performance!

Peace, the Two Nancy's