Wendy says "I was 4 years old the first time I announced that I was going to be an artist when I grew up. Many years and many sketchbooks later I found myself with a BFA in Graphic Design. I spent the next 11 years working in advertising, freelancing and running a printing company. And then it happened... my mother became a rubber stamping addict and the rest was history. Her encouragement lead me to try to turn my collection of illustrations into fine art rubber stamps. And Bill who was looking for a career change at that time, jumped at the idea of learning a new skill and the opportunity to play with power tools on a daily basis. And so Repeat Impressions was born and rubber stamping took over our lives."

Wendy is the artist behind all of Repeat Impressions' designs. She creates all the pen and ink illustrations that become the art stamps. She also enjoys writing many of the verses to go with her illustrations. In addition, she designs and produces their catalog, handles all the advertising and marketing, designed and maintains their website, and handles incoming orders as well as the billing. On a good day and for a nice change of pace she likes to spend some time helping Bill assemble stamps.

Bill manufactures all of their art stamps in his home workshop. Each stamp is carefully produced using deeply etched red rubber. This method begins with a specially made deep etched magnesium plate created from the original artwork. This metal plate is then used to produce the matrix board. The matrix board works like a mold. Sheets of raw rubber are placed on the matrix board and the rubber dies are pressed in a vulcanizer using a lot of heat and pressure. After the rubber has been cured it is pulled from the mold to cool and then the individual images are cut apart to create the rubber dies. These are then mounted on grey cushion, skillfully hand trimmed with a scroll saw, and attached to hourglass shaped hardwood mounts.

Repeat Impressions art stamps are used to create many unique handmade items including greeting cards, memory books, wrapping paper, gift tags, writing paper, invitations and bookmarks. They are also used to decorate envelopes, picture frames, even your walls. They can be stamped on fabric to design a T-shirt, a tote bag or quilt squares. You can even stamp them on clay and create your own jewelry. Rubber stamps are a wonderfully creative tool!

Wendy and Bill sell retail and wholesale via their website or by catalog through mail order, fax, or phone. The Repeat Impressions website features the entire collection of their designs, offers a secure shopping cart system, project pages and galleries for stamping inspiration. Additionally, they travel around the country throughout the year participating in rubber stamping, scrapbooking and paper arts shows where they sell direct to the hobbyist and Wendy also teaches classes. Repeat Impressions designs are also carried at many wonderful stamp stores across the country.

You can visit their website for inspiration and more information by going to http://www.repeatimpressions.com