Sunday, June 22, 2008

smART Rubber - smARTworks

Today's featured rubber stamp designer/retailer is smART Works owned & operated by Susan Trask and features her line of smART Rubber stamps. You might have seen her original line of "Incredible Shrinking Women" Shrink Art Dolls/Templates in RubberStampMadness...in addition to these dandy little templates she's got a huge line of art stamps just begging to be inked!!

Susan said that, " My personal rubber journey started in 1999, but my rubber as a business journey started a few years later, in 2002, when I designed a line of shrink art dolls called "The Incredible Shrinking Women."

Having seen these little ladies published in RubberStampMadness (Issue #133), Ruth Ann McAuslin, owner of a LSS asked if I would teach each one as a class, and to do so, I designed some templates which I then sold through her shop.

Eventually, one thing led to another, and Ruth Ann pushed and prodded me to expand my designing horizons into the world of rubber... Ruth Ann was acquainted with Bill Walsh and Wendy Wyman of Repeat Impressions (my rubber pressers), and actually set up a little "visit" for me to meet them, and find out exactly what designing a line of rubber stamps would entail... This was late in the summer of 2004. smARTworks become "official" that same fall, and the rest, as they say, is history..."

Since then her rubber stamping catalogue has grown to over 150 pages with new stamps added two to three times a year! Be sure read more about Susan and her rubber journey on the "About Us" page and find out just who her "helpers" are...both the 2 and 4 legged varieties!

While many of the images are designed in house smART Rubber also plays host to several free-lance artists. They include - (The prefix codes and the artists they represent are as follows:)

ABC- images by Angi Brown, former owner of the Angi-B & Company stamp company. Stamp manufacturing rights to the Angi-B images were acquired by smARTworks in 2007.

DK- images by Dina Kowal. Along with husband Russ, Dina is a missionary currently serving the Lord with New Tribes Missions in Sul-Ut, Indonesia. In addition to designing artwork for rubber stamps, Dina keeps a stamping blog (Mama Dini’s Stamperia),and operates a digital watermarks/banners business. She is also the smART Cookie Design Team co-ordinator for smARTworks.

HSD- images by Darlene Poole of Heavenly Smiles Original Designs. Darlene is a free lance, sketch artist living and working in North Carolina.

smART Works rubber stamps are deeply etched red rubber dies which are sold un-mounted and usually in sets. They also offer handcrafted premium 3/4" acrylic mounts.
smART Works is an Angel Company - all forms of mechanical or digital reproduction, as well as photocopying are strictly prohibited. As a courtesy to their customers, smART Works offers a "Designed Using smARTworks Stamps" - image at no charge (use item # DUSS-N/C when ordering).

smARTwork sells its stamps retail only, via mail order, and at http://www.smartrubber.com/. smARTwork's accepts checks, money orders, and credit cards via Paypal. Susan says, "We gladly ship internationally, but International orders MUST be paid using Paypal. We charge EXACT shipping on all orders. That's why we ask our customers to e-mail their orders and provide a zip code... We calculate the shipping, then send them a total (if they want to pay by check), or a Paypal invoice. It may seem slightly inconvenient, but is saves them a bundle. After all, where else can anyone order a single stamp set, and depending on it's weight with packaging pay only $0.59 - $0.75?" So very true!! It's wonderful that they offer such a service! Most places wouldn't think twice about charging $4.00 + for shipping.

Susan also wanted to pass along some additional information for everyone to keep in mind...

The following pages of our website are updated monthly -- News, Monthly Feature (card project), In the Spotlight (special pricing for stamps used on our feature card), and Overstock Central (50% off savings).

In between updates, anything noteworthy is posted on our smART blog, "In the Works..."

We also vendor at A Monthly Rubber Stamps Club (AMRSC) which features 1-4 stamps sets at 25%off their regular retail prices.

Let me tell you smART Works has such an amazing line of stamps...I cannot get over the variety offered here. There truely is something for everyone ~ from vintage to country cute, nature to a stamping diva! Spirit Dancers, Petroglyphs, several pages of oh so popular Birds, Mail Art, and much, MUCH more!!! Just so much fun rolled up into one place!

I tried to narrow my favorites down to a few but well ~ it just wasn't possible. I found so many stamps and entire lines of stamps that were simply must haves.

Let me start with the Domino Darlings - these are a line of stamps available in 2 sizes. The small DD fit dominoes measuring 20mm x 40mm, the larger DD's are sized for the 1x2" dominoes. Many designs are available in both sizes but there are a few unique to each size. My favorite set of the Domino Darlings is "Looking At You". This set has 3 of my favorite images... Mona Lisa, "the Look" as I like to call her and a spiffy rooster giving you the "Chicken Eye" as my son likes to call it! I have other favorite domino sets as well - "Loggerheads" found on the same page as "Looking At You", "Sand & Sea", "In Style" and "Framed".

smART Works also has several pages of cool Background stamps, my favorite being the "Weave" pattern! They also offer up many many leaf images scattered about their catalogue...you can never have too many leaves as just in nature they are all so unique and special (you know Autumn is my favorite time of year!!) Masculine stamps are also included in their line up....from this life-like fish image and snazzy pair of shoes to one of my favorite stamps in the entire collection - the Moose image in the "Happy Father's Day" set. I have to say that one of my most favorite sets of all has to be from the "On My Desk" line of images .... Every set in this line is highly desirable but I just LOVE the "Pen & Ink" set!!! I have a fascination with pen nibs so this set is just the berries in my book :)

Then there are the seasonal stamps - many pages of Christmas sets, Love/Valentine's Day sets, Mother's Day, and Father's Day (shared above), Easter/Bunnies, and well I'll let you explore the rest for yourself!!


Now for the fun stuff....Tell me which set(s) are your favorite and I'll enter your name into a drawing for a surprise set of stamps and an acrylic block from Susan and smART Works!!! At the end of the week (6-28) I'll use Random.org to determine who the lucky winner of this gift pack will be! So, start your browsing (drooling) and remember...you can't win if you don't post!!!

Ohh! Eeeeek!!!
T-Storms are starting up again...Gotta run!
Be sure to check smART Works out and let us know your fav's!!
TTFN Folks!!

37 comments:

  1. These stamps have amazing details. I love the ferns (pg1) and leaves (p32) best.

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  2. I love the quote and dancing ducks in Best Friends ... also great sentiments in Friends Listen.

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  3. Roni - These stamps are really neat and I'm so glad you introduced us to them! My favorite is the birds stamp "Small Things". I will post a link to your giveaway on my blog!

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  4. There are some amazing stamps on that site.... how you can expect us to pick a favorite is beyond me! However if I must then I think it's the Autum Leaves and Sayings that can be viewed on pages 31 - 33...... or then again I LOVED the doggy saying about a dog wagging it's tail with it's heart.... and then again all those gorgeous natural/florals... eeeek I just can't do it.. pick a favorite that is!

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  5. Awesome, awesome, AWESOME! :) I love the Spring, Rabbits (Page 129). Thanks for the chance!

    bunnybox9 at gmail . com

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  6. Yikes Roni! How about if I pick my favorite 15 !!! I really love the Looking at You Domino Darlings, and I am just taken with the vintage kids images! Have to say that the Whole Lot of Happy image with the giant fish just makes me smile! And the Daydream collage is gorgeous!! Heck, I love them all!

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  7. I am SO glad you featured this shop on your blog. I actually found smARTworks a couple of months ago and bookmarked the site. They have a really amazing embossing powder called Faith's Transcendence that I want to get - and now that they have your "stamp" of approval, I am going to place and order!

    In addition to stamps, they have some fun things like dominoes, bottle caps, coaster, key chains, etc. They prices on supplies are very reasonable, IMO, and I LOVE the shipping policy. Honestly, I am so frustrated with shipping costs these days that I am just not ordering online as much as I would like to. So yeah - that's a big deal to me.

    Great catalog! I love all of the Naturals and also the trio stamps. Those are really, really cool.

    ~phinny

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  8. Oh my I'd never seen this line of stamps before! I love them! From the domino stamps to the naturals, but I loved the spirit dancers in particular where it said that you can dance even if only in your heart, I probably did not quote that right, but since I've been on an oxygen machine for my respiratory failure and I'm housebound, I did have to learn that I can still sing, dance, dream and live, in my heart and mind if not with my body. Congratulations on the company and THANK YOU for featuring this line. I had not seen it before.
    Donna B
    donnalb@newsguy.com

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  9. I have purchase a few times in the past year from smARTworks and I must say I would rate the customer service is exceptional! It is so wonderful to still get personnalized attention. I purchased an ATG from her and she went to extremes to package and get it to me very promptly...with personalized notes on refilling it!

    A couple of remaining things on my wish list include-Butterfly wishes page 20 and the wheat grass page 21

    Roni thanks for the wonderful review and history of the company.

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  10. These are great stamps...how do you choose? I like Dragonfly Ferns from the Nature set and Looking at You from the Domino Darling Framed set. I like to make necklaces out of Dominos and never knew someone had a line of perfectly sized stamps for them! Thanks for the review.

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  11. Oh, dear! I definitely NEED some of those domino darlings!! Do I have to choose just one????

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  12. She has some wonderful stamps!! But I'd have to say my favorites are the Autumn leaves stamps. I don't know what it is but I love leaf stamps!!

    Thanks for another great contest!

    Hugs, Nanette :)

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  13. I really like all the critter stamps, including the loggerhead turtles, message mouse, and the snails and mushroom. That mushroom look so realistic. I also like the Diamonds and Dazzle background set, especially the circles!
    Thanks for your exciting contests Roni. I love my ink blending tool and have already tried it out.
    Sachi H.

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  14. There are too many great stamps for me to choose from but some that really caught my eye are the domino darlings. The designs are so fun and/or beautiful! They would be great to use on tags as well as dominos...or any small space.
    Patti In Santa Rosa

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  15. Wow - that took me a while to get through the whole catalog ;) I picked 3 fav's - One Smile (pg62), Letter Girl (pg) 122, and Thought of a Stamping Diva (pg 63) was just a little too funny LOL

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  16. wowee i love the background stamps!!cross my fingers to win.

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  17. Hi, Dini sent me over!
    Too many to choose from! But two I really love are Four Sisters & the Dancing Ducks! So cute!!!

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  18. Count me in on this awesome giveaway. I really love all the stamps and love the details. The Domino Darlings are just to cute. Thanks so much for a chance at this sweet rubba.

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  19. The spirit dancers caught my eye! How cute!

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  20. I really love Rose trio #1 (That Dina is SO talented!) I also love the vintage images Susan carries, such as the the little girl Sledding (pg 36). My wish list is very long. So many good ones.

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  21. My favorite is the hummingbird w/the flowers. I would love to win more of her stamps!

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  22. Oh my! I have lots of smARTworks stamps and they are all favorites. So I will tell you which set I use most often. WD-180 has 2 stamps, both birthday word stamps. I make lots of BD cards for my ever increasing family members, and when I look for the perfect inside words among the thousands (literally) of stamps that I have, this is my choice more often than any other.
    I like Cone Flowers and Daffodils and Gathering flowers to name a fes others.
    Great stamps, and a great company.
    Dina Kowal has recently created some trio sets, and has inspired me with her wonderful cards.

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  23. I think my favorite is the combo sentiments.

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  24. My favorite? Wow, that's hard. I love the Mad Hatter tea set, but I am having a really hard time waiting to get Dini's amazing three-step roses! Those are my next purchase, to be sure! I had literally been searching the internet for such stamps, and was thrilled to find them at smARTworks which is my favorite place to order (Susan is so professional, and has such great prices), and to find that my friend Dini was the designer!

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  25. I did it! I placed my order today. I got the Faith's Transcendence embossing powder to try and these stamps:
    FL15 Grow
    BG09 Screen background
    DK12 rose trio #3
    DK06 daisy trio #1
    ENV-02 Borders and Seals

    I'll let you guys know when I get my goodies and start making some fun things. Those trio stamps, especially, are so cool!

    ~phinny

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  26. Ooh! I am a lover of smARTworks, so how thrilled was I when Dina pointed me over here via her blog? Although I am familiar with Susan and the smARTworks story, your info was fascinating to read! I have MANY favorites, but I would have to say my #1 favorite would be:
    Letter Girl,
    as well as all of the Bible verse stamps she has.
    Thanks for the chance to win such a great prize!
    Michelle Adams
    shellapoo@hotmail.com

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  27. wow!cute stamps!i love the background stamps too. :)

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  28. I love all the nature stamps, ferns, birds, etc.
    Claudia
    scfranson@charter.net

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  29. Found your blog from Dina Kowal's blog. I just got a stamp set from smARTworks and love it. I love the Trios stamps and also the set God Bless.

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  30. i like the images seen in page 24, the little girls and the sentiments about friendship/friends. these are very cute stamps and sayings. {{when my budget permits, i will definitely place an order. i am just afraid of shipping cost because i live outside of US}}

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  31. My favorite is 'Real stams & Blossoms'. Greetings from Belgium, Annelies

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  32. My favorite is lunch time- I love frogs and this set is really different- I fell in love with is when mama Dini showed a card with it.

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  33. There are so many stamps I love...
    Spots background, "Summer" has a great dragonfly. I love the flower in Standing Tall and the Isaiah 30:15 and 61:10 verses.

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  34. I love the little message mouse, High Hopes and the domino duos! Lots of great images!!

    DeAnna M

    p.s. MamaDini sent me your way!

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  35. Oh, gosh, these stamps are beautiful. I love the Bible verses, but my favorite is Caring Thoughts on page 41. Those 3 roses are beautiful!!!

    sandyh502001 at yahoo dot com

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  36. I love Smart Works Stamps. One of the sets I'm drooling over right now is Daisy Trio #1 on p. 142. I haven't tried any of the trio sets yet and they look fun.

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  37. Wow, I have never seen these stamps before. Thanks for getting me to this site. There are so many stamps I like, but the one that I have to have is the 4 sisters. I have been making a mini album for my sister. It would be perfect. There were only 3 of us, so I will have to mask one of the girls off, but I love it.
    I also really like all of the beautiful quote stamps and scripture stamps. The empty ones are cute too.

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Thanks for your thoughts and comments!