Meet Raisin Boat!

I am so thrilled to bring to you an interview today from Raisin Boat. If you have not met yet they are a stamp rental (and sales) company and just amazing!!! We, the designers of If It's Groovy, have been playing with their stamps for weeks now, and will be showing you so many projects using them that I can hardly contain my excitement! I hope you will feel inspired! I will be waiting to hear what you think, in fact after all projects have shown I will toss the names of each person who leaves a comment into a hat so that you too can enjoy Raisin Boat Stamps, generously donated for YOU! Each comment will earn you more chances. Cool right?

You can find them here and if you would like to visit and "like" them on Facebook go here.

Now let me introduce you to Kim and Bobbi!!!
Deb♥


Hi Kim and Bobbi! Thanks for taking time from your day to answer a few questions!

First, please tell us about you!
We both grew up in the Madison, WI area and are now raising our families here, too – yes, despite the chilly winters! J Kim is married to Mike and has a 10-year-old daughter, Bella, and a 6-year-old daughter, Alayna. Bobbi is married to Kevin and has nearly-9-year-old twins, Olivia and Tarek. We both left jobs in corporate marketing to start up Raisin Boat.

How did you start Raisin Boat? How did you decide on the cute name?
We’ve always loved stamping and scrapbooking, and we found ourselves constantly loaning out stamp sets to friends and vice versa. It just gets impossible to buy and store every single stamp set you’d ever want to use, especially since occasions and design trends change all the time! We thought rental would be a great solution – it gives access to sets for almost any given project or need without the forever-long commitment. Plus there’s no more guilt in using a set for just one image or one creation!

The name gets us a lot of raised eyebrows, but it really does have a meaningful explanation! If you take our kids’ first names and shuffle them around, you get the acronym BOAT. We’re “raisin” our kids to dream and to take a leap of faith for their passions in life like we’ve done with Raisin Boat.

Stamp Rentals? Genius idea! Can you explain a little about how it works?
Our rental service is really easy to use! Our renters just pick a plan (based on how many sets they want out at a time per month). Then they make their own Pick List of the sets they want, in the order they’d like to receive them. We ship sets out with a postage-paid return envelope, and they send them back whenever they’re done for the next ones on their Pick List! All of our plans include shipping both ways, so it’s such an affordable and fun way to stamp and scrap!
 
If a customer finds that they cannot part with the stamp set they are renting can they purchase that set?
Yes! In fact, they get an extra good deal doing this! By clicking “Buy this rental set” next to the checked-out set name in their Pick List, they keep it at a 20% discount and zero shipping cost since it’s already in their hands. Plus they automatically get the next rental on their Pick List as a replacement – no matter how many sets they’ve already received that month!

By the way, we also sell brand-new, unused sets that are not part of our rental circulation. If renters want to buy a totally new set, they still get a 20% discount on it but they do pay the shipping charge in this case. And we should also note that anyone can buy from Raisin Boat – not just renters!

So, we’re really kind of like the “library” and the “bookstore”!

What are your stamps made from?
Our stamps are made of clear photopolymer. This was the clear choice for us (sorry, couldn’t resist!) when we started producing Raisin Boat stamps because the transparent material allows such easy, error-proof positioning when making projects. (We all know how frustrating it is to stamp with a wood block and end up with a crooked phrase when the rest of the card is all done!)

It was also a storage decision – clear stamps take up so little space, and they’re lightweight to haul off to scrapbooking getaways and such. We store each of our own personal Raisin Boat stamp sets inside a plastic CD case. The stamps cling naturally to the case – so slick.

We know there are really bad clear stamps out there, but our customers will tell you that Raisin Boat sets stamp cleanly and crisply and hold ink like a true rubber stamp. If you want to try them out for yourself, our rental introductory trial is a perfect way to give them a test drive!

Because a customer will be using the stamps and sending them back to you, does it matter that stains may show on the stamps before returning? Do you recommend a special way of cleaning them?
It doesn’t matter at all! Every stamp on the market “stains”, often on the very first use – but that doesn’t change how well it stamps.

When sets are returned to us, we have a team that very thoroughly cleans the stamps with professional solution and refreshes the entire packaging before they go back into circulation. So even though some of the images may be stained, no one ever needs to be concerned about getting “dirty” stamps. And there’s also no need to worry about staining the stamps – we want you to use them and have fun with them!

To clean stamps before returning them, you can simply wipe them off gently with a damp rag or stamp cleaner like you would with any other stamp. If a stamp doesn’t feel as sticky as usual, it can be restored by swishing it in warm water and mild liquid soap.

How often do you release new stamp sets?
For the last year, we’ve released a new stamp set nearly every week to reach our current total of over 210 exclusive Raisin Boat sets. During the upcoming summer months, we’ll turn our focus to other exciting new product developments and preparations for the CHA trade and consumer show, but we’ll start right back up again with a series of new weekly releases in the fall. We’re always working on new set designs!

Thanks for letting us learn more about you and Raisin Boat, thanks for the opportunity to show you how we loved creating with your stamps, thanks for the sponsorship! You rock~!
Deb♥

See you tomorrow with the first project!!!