From Amish to Creative: The Story Behind Heartfelt Creations Rubber Stamps
Every company has a story of how it started. or where they started, or even the difficulties they went through to get to the top, but I would dare say there is no story like Heartfelt Creations. A leading manufacturer of rubber stamps in the scrapbooking industry that grew from the farms of Northern Indiana to now become a company famous for artisans around the world. Since the summer of 1995, President Linda Bontrager took her first stamp and went from Amish to creative and never looked back. Now, 10 years later, Heartfelt Creations is one of the leading suppliers of quality rubber stamps with innovative and cutting-edge designs. They inspire, make you dream, and bring out creative genius in everything. But how did all this start with an Amish lady on a farm?
The company
The summer of ’95 is when Linda had her first encounter with a label and the rest was history. Living on a farm and being raised Amish, Linda wasn’t taught to think outside the box or explore creative imagination until a short and simple demonstration of how a stamp worked for her children would change that forever. As he put it in his own words, “I will never forget the day I first picked up a stamp. I had bought a small set of stamps for my children and was showing them how to use it. I remember picking up the stamp, inking and pressing on the paper. When I lifted the seal and saw the image, it was that AHH HA moment. It’s one of those moments in life where you realize you’ve just discovered something amazing, and that would shape the course of your future. ” By the winter of 1997, she had collected a box full of stamps and started the family business in her new home on an 80-acre farm. In a way, you could say that it was a symbol of starting a “new” life and leaving the old one behind. In any sense, the stamping journey began for Heartfelt Creations.
Seals
Heartfelt Creations currently offers four types of stamps: assembled, disassembled, pre-cut, and rubber sheets. Wood mounts are deeply etched 1/8-inch foam rubber images, mounted on hard white maple, indexed in black, and lacquered. Disassembled would be the image of the stamp itself, but without foam. Precuts should be used with the acrylic block. They are cut out and have the EZ Mount foam for the acrylic block. Then lastly the rubber sheets, which are typically 8.5 x 11 inches unless available with wood mounting foam or the EZ mounting foam for the acrylic block. There is also a newer type of product that is making headlines. They are the most popular stamp line that is coordinated with Spellbinder’s exclusive dies. This process of combining the stamp with the die results in a detailed image on your die cut, allowing you to create a stamped dimension without using scissors. The Spellbinders Die With Matching Rubber Stamps from Heartfelt Creations gives you an explosion of 3-D possibilities and adds depth to any project.
As stated in the article’s introduction, the innovative and cutting-edge designs is what makes these rubber stamps highly desirable for any crafts lover. With a sincere little family from Indiana and an amazing imagination for creation is what keeps this company strong. A simple thought in 1995 to a passion for design in 1997 to a total lifestyle change and risk in 2004 really defines that there was a moment for every season and a rhyme for every reason. And now, from 2007 to the present, Heartfelt Creations has its retail store in Nappanee, Indiana, and continues to express its stamps at all scrapbooking and craft fairs. What was once a simple idea on an Amish farm has now made history as a creative legend and will live on for years to come for the Bontrager family.