March is woman’s history month. This is a nice time to honor woman who have made a difference. Rubber art stampers are a female dominated field. There are so many talented women that spend their day creating works of art using rubber stamps. This article is about one women who has made a difference in the rubber stamping world, but it really is in honor of all the woman who have created and inspired others through their work in this field.

This week I had the good fortune to speak to Karen Canto; the owner of Alextamping. It is Karen’s energy and creativity that makes her rubber stamping company such a wonderful experience. Karen is also a Reiki Master. (Reiki is an ancient healing technique by spreading positive energy.) Talking to Karen you can feel her positive energy, and her wonderful philosophy on life. And, it is just a little ironic that her address is in Soulsbyville, California.

Alextamping.com is a fun place to visit. At the top of the page Karen announces that she is an artist, writer, motivator, teacher, web mistress and lover of all things purple. Her rubber stamps are purple instead of the traditional red. And there you have it… Her personality shines through even on a web page. She has included photos from her childhood, and photos of her family now. You are included in her life before you meet her.

Karen began playing with rubber stamps in 1980. A few years later, she left her teaching job to become a mother. She began selling other people’s stamps doing home shows, but then decided she would use her artistic skills and put her own line of stamps together. Within six month, her husband quit his job and joined her venture.

Karen continues to come up with new images and techniques to keep her company original. Unlike many rubber stamping companies, Karen’s images are all intertwined to create landscape scenes. You can use an image of the sky, some buildings, and some trees, and you’ve created a beautiful cityscape picture. Karen teaches a technique that gives skies and waters the illusion of movement. She has recently added a new technique to give the work the look of watercolors.

Her techniques and stamps are all viewable on her web site, but Karen says her favorite part of the business is teaching classes. She gets to travel all over the country teaching classes and spreading her positive energy. Her class is designed for six hours, where each participant can make 30 cards.

And if you decide to purchase from Alextamping, maybe you can feel Karen’s positive energy with your order; she performs Reiki on each order before it is put in the mail.