Paper Artsy!

Today's featured rubber stamp retailer/designer is Paper Artsy! An amazing company with a fun, funky, eclectic line of stamps ranging from vintage to modern designs!

The owner of Paper Artsy ~ Leandra Franich was kind enough to share her thoughts, art and stamps with us!

When asked how Paper Artsy got started she replied....

"Originally ‘PaperArtsy’ was a stamping group of about 30 people who would meet monthly in Brentwood, Essex. 3 other craft ladies and I would teach 3 projects on a Saturday in a local hall. We would always teach with the latest products, ideas and techniques. The four of us would meet weekly to plan and kit-up for the classes – it was probably more work than we expected it to be, but it was a lot of fun.

At the same time I was demonstrating at Craft shows and on TV for another UK Stamp Company. They suggested I should design a line of stamps myself. As luck would have it, I knew someone who had designs ready to go to market, but didn’t have any idea about the manufacturing, and she didn’t want to be involved with marketing, branding etc. So we purchased designs from her and launched in 2004 with the Ink and the Dog collection under the PaperArtsy logo. The name “PaperArtsy” was the brainchild of Mark, my husband. It’s catchy, simple, easy to spell and representative of our style, so we felt this would be a good name to stick with.

Since then, every year we have introduced a new collection of stamps from other unknown but very talented designers, all people whom we have stumbled across at some point. My husband Mark (we call him Mr PA) is also fully involved these days, and he also has been designing stamps in the last 2 years. He has a great eye for design, if you have seen any of our adverts, catalogues or flyers, they are all his work. I guess it’s no surprise that he’s so ‘digitally’ talented considering pre-PaperArtsy he was a chiropractor! (Did you see what I did there…the pun on digits???). We’re lucky that we can work really well together, and we have different skill sets which are both valuable for running a business. It’s been a steep learning curve, but I’m feeling a bit more settled into it now. We have developed some unique tricks within our manufacturing process, and often when exhibiting here or in the USA we are complimented by competitors on the fantastic quality of our rubber stamps, which is a great compliment for us coming from other long-established companies."

When asked what inspires Paper Artsy's designs she replied, "We watch trends on the High Street fashion stores, particularly for colours and patterns. Interior design stores also reflect themes in the wallpaper or textile patterns and textures. Music videos and adverts also have subtle (or not so subtle) graphic trends. Mark reads loads of Photoshop and graphic design magazines which tip us to new trends very early. So I guess we pretty much look outside the Craft Industry for our ideas.

The next step is we discuss with designers what we are ‘seeing’ and how we can reflect that in our current collections. For example 4 years ago we saw altered art and making your own bespoke papers using inks and stamps as important, 3 years ago we identified flourishes and background elements as being wonderful to work with. 2 years ago, birds nests, birds, trees, twigs, and in the last year we have seen butterflies and dragonflies doing another round, plus small houses and of course hand-drawn elements have grown in popularity.

We work closely with designers to discuss how we can theme these ideas to seasons, and grouping sets of designs together. It’s a team approach - bouncing ideas off each other until we are all happy with the end result. Then we release stamps to the design team to come up with new art samples and ideas with new products. It’s important to have ideas of what you can do with the stamps when they are released to the public for sale. These ideas also can be presented to shops as ideas for art samples, classes etc."

Here are a couple of projects she made recently using the newest Paper Artsy release in the Squiggly Ink line of stamps ~ Egg Nog ~ just in time for Christmas!

On to the stamps!!

Paper Artsy offers 4 very distinct lines of stamps - Paper Artsy's original line - Ink and the Dog; Urban Snapshots, Paper Artsy Mini's (the perfect size for ATC's!!) and Squiggly Ink. In addition to the stamps they also offer some awesome German Scrap designs as well!!

I have to tell you about how these stamps are packaged...each set comes with it's own heavy duty plastic index card. It's got the stamped image on one side and the stamp is stored on the other. I love it!!

But I love the stamps even more!!!

Just a bit about each line....

Ink and the Dog is a line full of surprises ~ with varied subjects such as Ancestors, Buttons, Femme, Wings and more! This is my favorite line because you just don't know what you'll find...

Urban Snapshots are contemporary images with a twist. Modern day images paired with great quotes, sayings and sentiments. Such as Nature, Stage Lights, Young Love and...well, I'll let you find your favorites. These stamps will surely spark your creative imagination!

Paper Artsy Mini's are the best of Paper Artsy's images shrunk down to credit card size for use on ATC's, Cards, Inchies and more! Individual stamps mounted on EZ Mount foam ready to go right out of the package. You'll see very quickly which is my favorite below!

And last but certainly not least....Squiggly Ink! Wildly fun stamps with all of the squiggles, dots and doodles that is so very popular right now... You'll definitely find something that is a must have for your stamp collection!

Below are some of my favorite images offered by Paper Artsy....

Sportsman - (mini 08)

Father - (mini 08)

One True Friend - (Kids Plate 6)

Jack & Jill- (Kids Plate 6)

Two Roads... (Nature Plate 4)

Now, you might be wondering why I didn't use any stamps from the Squiggly Ink line of stamps....

Wellllllll.....

I am saving that set for one lucky reader!!!

Yep, that's right...just tell me what your favorite(s) stamp(s) are in the entire Paper Artsy line and you just might be the proud new owner of...

Egg & Nog Plate # 8!!

You have until October 5th to post your favorite stamp set. At which time I will draw out one lucky winner using Random.org. So...have fun window shopping and remember.....

YOU CAN"T WIN IF YOU DON"T POST!!!!

Have a great evening everyone ~

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!