A look back over 5 years!

Divinity Designs is so blessed to be celebrating 5 years in the rubber stamp business.  Back in March 2008 when I first began this venture, I asked God that if it be His will for this business to succeed then I was going to need all the help I could get..LOL!  Knowing nothing about rubber stamp production, websites, or online commerce, I set about the task of learning what I needed to know. Even today, I learn more and more as time goes on.  

We strive to provide to our customers what they request. We work hard at maintaining our roots as a scripture based stamp company, but also are providing more main stream themes that include messages of love, giving and support by utilizing more inspirational and faith based sentiments and quotes.

During the planning for our 5th year anniversary, Grace suggested that a NOW & THEN type post might be interesting for our readers! So I will be walking you down memory lane, showing some of the changes that has taken in the last 5 years.

THEN: First thing I needed to purchase in January 2008 was a vulcanizer, to press my rubber for our first stamp set (and remains our company logo) Light of the World. It was a huge purchase for me but Rick encouraged me to give it a go! 

I went about ordering the plates, making the molds, pressing the rubber, cutting out the stamps and packaging them up! This is what is referred to as a table top model and can press a sheet of rubber every 15 minutes.

NOW: We have a company that carefully custom color blends our rubber for us (orchid) and presses our sheets. It is hard to tell in this photo, but this machine is pretty massive!

THEN: Back then I would spend hours and hours cutting the stamps on my old scroll saw.....

NOW: We have Tanya, Dreama and Cheryl cutting now!! 

THEN: My first show, a 10 foot booth, was in October 2008.  By June 2009 we bought our first trailer, a 16 footer, shown here before and after we had our custom wrap installed on it, and small enough to be pulled by an Expedition.

NOW:  We have anywhere from 50-90 foot long booths now and have expanded to a 26' trailer and a F350 to pull it!

THEN:  Simple, small booths were a start for us... (I am shown her with my wonderful sister in Christ, Randi Barret who passed away in November 2012.)

NOW:  Rick and Josh worked very hard welding together our custom carts that get wheeled on an off the trailer to make set up easier and to enable us to bring more product to the shows!

THEN:  No photo, but I started out in my daughter's old bedroom...

NOW:  In July 2010 we moved into Rick's barn!

THEN: I think it is interesting how much new products have changed the look of card making throughout the years.  Here is a somewhat more simpler card I had made with our first stamp release:

NOW:  With the vast array of dies available now, cards are getting more and more detailed! We have a large selection of our own custom dies that continues to grow each month!

THEN: No CHA wholesale show

NOW: CHA! (shown with Josh getting ready for opening day!)

THEN: No wholesale business. All orders are important to us, even a single stamp order! Josh is one of our full time employees and is our Operations Manager. (NO, he is not my son!)

NOW: We are so pleased to be able to offer retail stores our scripture stamps!

The stores we cannot reach, our distributors do!

I hope you have enjoyed having a small glimpse into the growth of our business.  We thank God for everything! His guidance has led us to where we are today and we pray for His continued blessings for our future!

I want you to know that even with God's help, it is our customers who make it possible for us to continue to provide you with the word of God through our stamps! We thank you so much for your support!!

Stay tuned tomorrow for our 5th Anniversary release post and the Blog Hop.  As always we have PRIZES to give away!

Blessings,