Stamping grounds

RIVERTON — There was a time when rubber stamps were mostly practical, a convenience. They saved a lot of repetition for people writing return addresses, for example, or allowed businesses to stamp "paid in full" on invoices.

Then they became decorative.

Along came the scrapbook revolution, and stamps became a simple way to embellish pages. And it didn't stop there. Today's rubber stamps are used for everything from scrapbook pages and cards to the walls of rooms.

What Shelli Gardner likes best about rubber stamps is "they let you be creative, even if you are not artistic. I can't draw a stick figure, but with the stamps, the art is there."

They are also versatile. "You can use them in so many different ways."

As a co-founder and CEO of Stampin' Up, based in Riverton and a leader in the country's craft and hobby industry, Gardner knows a lot about stamps and how they can be used.

With her sister LaVonne Crosby, "I fell in love with them 18 years ago." The two women had grown up in Kanab but had left their hometown when they married and both ended up in Las Vegas. That was where they discovered the hobby of scrapbooking and stamping. What she loved most, Gardner says, "was that they provided a social outlet."

As they got more into stamping, however, they had a hard time finding the stamps they wanted. So they decided to start their own company. At first, they offered stamps designed by others, and they filled their orders from Gardner's living room.

But soon, they began custom designing, manufacturing and selling their own stamps. And to keep the social aspect strong, they decided to sell them through in-home demonstrators and distributors, much like Tupperware and Mary Kay cosmetics.

What Gardner likes about that approach are the "ah-ha" moments it provides. You don't get that from products on shelves, she says, but if someone shows you how to do something different, you can catch on immediately.

A lot of scrapbookers seem to agree. Stampin' Up grew and the co-founders first relocated to Boulder City in Nevada, and then, in 1993, they moved back to their hometown in Kanab. But the company outgrew Kanab. They kept a manufacturing plant there but moved the corporate offices to Salt Lake City in 1996. In 2004, they moved into a 300,000-square-foot office/distribution center in Riverton.