This piece originally ran on the Mennonite Women USA blog. 

The Discovery

I will never forget the day I picked up a rubber stamp for the first time. I had bought a little stamp set for my kids and I was showing them how to use it. I remember picking up the stamp, inking it and pressing it down on the paper. As I lifted the stamp and saw the image, it was that “AH-HA!” moment. It was one of those moments in my life when I realized I had discovered something amazing and it would shape the course of our future.

Our family for generations back is Old­ Order Amish. Our education went up to 8th grade in a one room Amish parochial school. Growing up infused with tradition, legalism and living in a Northern Indiana rural farming community was not conducive to thinking “outside of the box” or “being creative.” We did not have access to any stamp or scrapbook stores in the area and hiring a taxi to shop for stamps was not an option at the time. But the stamping bug had permanently bitten me.

Previously I had done bake sales, sewed handmade quilts to sell and even tried my hand at painting. Anything to help us make a living on our little farm where we milked cows by hand, worked the fields with horses and worked from dawn to dusk.

A Growing Entrepreneurial Spirit

In 1997, we built a new house on our 80-­acre farm. By this time, I had accumulated a shoebox full of stamps from mail­ order sources I found. Our family now had more space in our new home and I asked my husband if we could use a small corner of our dining room and get stamping products for resale. I told him, “You know, just a few items for some friends and family. Maybe a few stamps, some ink, embossing powder, and card stock.”

That small start kept growing as word spread throughout our Amish community. Later that year, we moved the store from the dining room to our attached porch area that was 16×20 feet. I have always enjoyed drawing and art, so the next step was designing my own line of stamps. Again, I thought I would just do a few, but this venture turned into several thousand images.

Around that time we started attending stamp conventions. We hired a taxi with a trailer and hauled our product to shows across the Midwest as a family. We built a large addition to our shop in 2002 and moved our retail store there.

A New Beginning

In the spring of 2004, we sold our retail store. We had also come to the realization at this time that who we are in Christ Jesus is not dependent on our dress code, our way of life, and everything else we had been so strictly taught all our lives. So at the age of 41, we left the Amish way of life. My husband and I got our drivers’ licenses, along with our kids!!

Was that scary? YES! We sold our farm and moved to another location.

Starting Over

In 2006, we started another retail store in Nappanee, Indiana (now closed) and in 2007 we started attending conventions again. At this time, our daughter Emma Lou and her husband Richard were doing all the shows. As the oldest, Emma Lou always wanted to do everything I did. She was the one who insisted on doing the demoing when we set up at our first conventions. She started demoing glitter at the age of fourteen! Our second daughter, Ellen, started doing most of the shipping and making sure customers’ packages were assembled correctly. Ellen would also help at some of the shows. Our youngest son, Harlan, was busy in college majoring in Communication Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NY. Our son-in­law, Richard, was doing all of our IT work at the time. My husband, Willis, was production manager and helped with shipping when we were in a crunch. And I, Linda, was kept busy designing.

Where Are We Today?

Through Heartland Creations, we serve a global community that continues to grow. We design a unique line of rubber art stamps, coordinating dies and papers. Our oldest daughter, Emma Lou, excels in writing blogs, demoing at conventions and on TV, teaching classes, and demonstrating useful techniques

in short instructive videos. Her husband, Rich, is our CFO and works with our larger accounts and customer relations. Ellen works as Creative Administrator creating classes, card kits and coordinating travel. Her husband, Ben, is Operations Manager, oversees manufacturing and ensures that everything is done correctly and efficiently. Harlan manages social media, marketing, does typography, graphic art and also contributes to artwork for stamp designs. Willis does all of our custom built cabinets, storage, shelving units and maintenance. I am the main artist, the passionate scrapbooker and stamper, and the CEO. Together with an amazing team of employees, we make the world more beautiful one image at a time.

Some things we learned in this process of growth in business are to stay humble and teachable and surround yourself with people who are good at things you are not. Technology is not my thing, but I have two amazing people on our team that are very patient with me and have taught me so much in this area. We are always learning and growing.