I’m so amused to be writing this! I imagine half of you going, “Dina who?” Still chuckling at Lydia’s email saying she was working on some upcoming tutorials and hoped I could help her out. It is such a thrill to be one of the Dirty Dozen! If I had a bucket list, this would definitely be on it.

So I’m Dina Kowal (pronounced Deeeeena, and in my last name the emphasis is on the KO… too many people have made my name rhyme with Simon Cowell. Noooooo.), I post as dini around here, and I blog at Mama Dini's Stamperia. About me: I’ve worked cross-culturally with my family overseas since 2005. My training is in linguistics and intercultural studies. We homeschool our 4 kiddos (3 boys and a girl) and looooove interacting with the students we work with. Just about every Saturday night is pizza night and our door is always open. I help out as a campus ‘Dr. Mom’ and also teach a basic health class yearly. I love to cook and bake, sing and play the piano... I’ve always loved art, and stamping has been a wonderful escape from the pressures of cross-cultural living… I’ve noticed that my color contrasts become a lot brighter when I’m under a lot of stress! I love winding down after a long day with my watercolors, pencils, stamps, and cardstock all in reach.

I ordered my first stamps from an Inkadinkado catalog back in 1995… one of them was a 3 piece set of something like the Loch Ness Monster… one piece was his head and one was his tail, and there was a ‘loop’ that you could stamp as many times as you wanted to in the middle. Not sure what I was thinking with that purchase….! Regardless, I was hooked from that point. I started doing freelance design in 2002, blogging in 2006, joined my first design team in 2007, and found that I truly love creating one-of-a-kind cards, pushing my limits, and thinking outside the box. During that time I also started designing stamps, which are now available from several different companies. Partly due to being in a developing country and partly due to my own stubbornness, my work tends to be a little bit old school, but I’ve worked hard to stay true to myself and to what I like and do best.

I’ve been so blessed and encouraged by the international stamping community and the friendships I’ve made through this art, and I can’t wait to see what the next six months hold!