Every few months I do VIP Tours of the backstage of  ”Studio Tangie”. These special passes allow guests get all new products for one low price, a very special guest appearance here on our blog and sneak peeks of what is going on behind the scenes at Studio Tangie! Make sure you join the newsletter for info on when the next tour will be available.

(Love the way she sent me the answers to the questions…like a story!)

My full name at birth was Mary Elizabeth Rain Olympia Christine Crowe….whew! I was the last child and got both grandmother’s names, the Irish/Scottish half and the Italian half. I shortened it all up after graduating from chiropractic school to Rain Olympia Crowe, then married Gary almost 20 years ago now and became a Klepper. My father was 52 when I was born, and called me “punkin” my entire life, eventually student doctor punkin, then Dr. Punkin. He died when I was in my early 20′s, I’m 54 now, so I cherish all my memories of him, and do have a deep affection for pumpkins!

I live in a teeny town in western Colorado, the “western slope” of the Rocky Mtns. We bought this 14 acres with a 110 year old mess of a house back in 2002, spent almost a year remodeling and building, and have been happily here since. I am an avid organic gardener, and produce the majority of our vegetables for the entire year in the warmer months. Our neighbors trade and sell the rest, fruits of all kinds, including 17 varieties of heirloom apples, meat, poultry, and sheep’s milk. I became a cheesemaker a few years ago and have conquered both soft and hard cheeses with sheep dairy, as I am horribly allergic to cow’s milk since birth. Gary and I practice together, both chiropractors and naturopaths for more than 30 years, he is also an acupuncturist and cranial osteopath. We work with very ill folks, supporting patients going through cancer and autoimmune treatments, as well as complicated neurological disorders. I have been a textile artist for many years, spinning, knitting, weaving, quilting, surface design, embroidery and then 6 years ago began to seriously enjoy painting and art and design, as relief from dealing with illness. Probably also the reason I have glorious flower gardens.  I am brand new to digital art, and the blog pages and journal anthology gallery pages are my first art journal adventures digitally.

Animals: two very beloved Shiba Inu dogs, 9 and 15 yrs. old. 3 parrots, a yellow naped Amazon, a red lored Amazon, both 29 years old, and a 30 year old African grey with a 360 word vocabulary. Outside, we have made this land a wildlife sanctuary, last winter I counted 42 different species of birds at our feeders. Now we have 25-30 hummingbirds daily as cheap rural entertainment! Plus nesting pair of eagles, many hawks, wild turkeys, bobcats, garden snakes, bull snakes, and this year, about a thousand grasshoppers.

My favorite book, this is a hard one, as I am a reader. Pride and Prejudice…I re-read it every year, and have visited Jane Austen’s home in Bath, and in Winchester. I have held a pen and touched her handwritten notes from Persuasion in a behind-the-scenes tour at the British library in London. Sigh. On the same trip, I held Elizabeth I’s common book of prayer with a cover that she embroidered herself. I was weak-kneed and giddy for about a year after that. Why is it my favorite? Probably the hilarious and acidic characterization Jane Austen wrote in all her books. Darcy. Elizabeth Bennett. Oh sigh. Love your kit by the way!

When I hear rain outside, all I can think is, “mushrooms!”. We love to hunt edible porcini, chanterelles, boletes, hawkwings, and hedgehogs here. We built a lab and grow room last summer and are growing lots of oysters and lion’s manes, and shiitake.

I love to sing opera in the shower, or bluegrass tunes.

To spend a day playing hooky from work…painting, photographing, making rubbings of tree bark, getting lost in a bookstore, tea with a friend. Baking beautiful French breads or hamburger buns.  Playing mandolin. Sewing something new to wear.

I dance with abandon even if they are looking.

I also wear violet and red violet and red orange, even if I’m not in my 80′s.

I love to experience foreign places, though I don’t enjoy air travel much these days, and yes, I buy things from kids, just can’t help myself.

I would love to see you make a kit with tree bark textures, rust, embroidery over entire papers, velvet, shells and coral patterns, antique kitchen items, fruits and vegetables. Musical instruments, like harp, mandolin, guitar. Architectural elements. Art tools, pens, paints, etc. Textured anything. New Mexican santos, milagros, or other folk art objects. Medieval tiles. Anything Da Vinci. tassels, kumihimo braids, quilt blocks. Japanese crest patterns. Orchids, bonsai. Book of Kells.

and she sent a photo of her Studio too!

Thank you so much Rain, it’s an absolute pleasure to have you with us on VIP Tour #7!