Hi! My name is Rick and my partner of 16 years Terry, and our passion is rubber stamping! We've been stamping for about 10 years now and see no end to our addiction. We love stamping with friends, going to demonstrations & teaching others. (Oh, and margaritas.)
Terry and I were both born & raised in the south suburbs of Chicago. We currently are lovingly living in the city of Chicago and are never leaving! We have the most beautiful city ever!
Since I was old enough to remember I have enjoyed drawing, coloring & even painting. It was my escape. I had taken art all through school & did very well. Now as an adult I have taken those elements and combined them with stamping. Neither of us have art degrees or formal training, but consider ourselves very creative, totally hands-on, extremely passionate and definitely fun!
In the summer of 2003, Terry & I decided to open a rubber stamp store, named Stamp On In, located in Chicago's popular Lincoln Park area. I had quit my 16 year career in visual merchadising & a long commute to follow our creative dream. Terry remains in his finance position for the last 12 years. We met so many incredible customers & talented people, that we now call our friends & extended family. I executed the store's floor plans, handled the merchadising, created store diplays, came up with all the fabulous class ideas and taught them. Meanwhile, Terry did all the merchandise ordering, website managing, searching for new products, and of course, handling of the books! It was great.
The tough economic times of 2009 forced us to make the unfortunate decision to close the store in February 2010. We were very sad to say goodbye to all who supported us & to all those that we had gotten addicted to stamping. We continue to run our online store www.morethanink.com as well as crafting on a regular basis. Can't stop...it's in our blood now.
So the next chapter upon us is this blog. Please be patient with us as we are new to this. I am currently unemployed & now have time to dedicate to this venture. We want to stay connected to everyone that we have met in the greatest 7 years of our lives. If it wasn't for the store, we would have never met all these great people! To that we are very grateful. We will update you with new products, card ideas, try to do video demos & will host classes either at our home, at yours or elsewhere. I've already had 2 classes so far & it was fantastic! We will let you know when everything is finalized.
We hope that we will inspire you to find your inner crafter or keep it alive!
Thanks for lookin',
Rick
