Meet the Rubbernecker Design Team 2023!
We are very excited to share our Rubbernecker Design Team 2023 members! These talented creatives bring you all the inspiration and ideas on our blog and we feel blessed to have them all as part of our family! Scroll down and get to know them all!
Kittie Caracciolo is a Rubbernecker Associate Designer, who constantly inspires our die-cut products; she even has her own line of dies within the Rubbernecker Shop. After a four decade career in Medical Administration, Kittie is now enjoying being home with her husband and her two aging cats and two young ACTIVE dogs. She loves having lots of time to spend playing in her craft room and sharing her creations with you. Fun Fact: her mother was a florist and she learned so much about floral design from her. When dies and die cutting machines were introduced, Kittie completely fell in love with using her floral design skills to create dimensional floral designs as well as dimensional scenes. WOW! That’s is such a beautiful way to honor her mama! Kittie has served on many design teams over the years and is thrilled to now work exclusively with Rubbernecker. Kittie says “They make me feel like part of the family.” We love you, Kittie!
Julie Warner is an Associate Designer who creates many of our stunning projects and is actually the artist behind the coloring of our product artwork for packaging. Julie is a Texan now living in northern Georgia and says she HAS to always in creative mode with art, music, decoupage, knitting or any other fun creative activity. Julie started stamping “way back in high school art class” where she carved her own stamps out of erasers and linoleum blocks! She started her own rubber stamp collection before anyone really knew what to do with them and rest is history! Julie says the only downside to her ever growing collection of creative goodies is that she wishes the space to store everything would expand along with the supplies themselves!
Meet our creative Designer, Lisa Bzibziak. Lisa has been papercrafting for 25+ years and is amazed at the changes that are constantly happening in this arena! She loves having crafts in her hands and her pups by her side. In the last few years she discovered Copics and mixed media, so you’ll find lots of different mediums, color and dimension on her projects. She says the best part of crafting is, “the never ending inspiration I get from my fellow crafters!”. Lisa has been on our team for several years, and we are so happy that she’s continuing on with us for the 2023 year. Welcome back, Lisa!
Meet our fun-loving Designer, Jamie Martin. Jamie started stamping when her kids were tiny and she was a stay-at-home mom. Stamping was her way of relaxing after a fun-filled day with the little ones, now they’re grown-ups and she’s still stamping. Her stamping experience has included teaching classes, starting a stamp club in Oklahoma that meets at her house twice a month, and being on several design teams before joining the Rubbernecker team. She told us, “I’m lucky to have a wonderful husband who has not only supported my stamping addiction but has also encouraged it.” That’s so AWESOME! Jamie has been on our team for several years, and we are so pleased to have her back for the 2023 year.
Meet our awesome Designer, Carol Hintermeier. Carol joined the team in 2020 but has been inspiring us for years. Carol makes her home in Texas (born and raised) with her husband of 34 years. She has two grown daughters who live close by, and although they are empty nesters, they do have a Maltese fur-baby named Baxter. Carol has loved crafting since childhood, doing things like embroidery, crochet, sewn clothes, macrame and scrapbooking. She started making cards 16 years ago and its become her most favorite craft! Please join us in welcoming Carol to the team for another year!
Meet Melinda Stearns, our watercolor goddess. Melinda and her husband make their home in a small Northern California town with their dog Darby. She started making cards in 2015 and has been completely obsessed ever since! She doesn’t have a card making style – she just enjoys trying all the different techniques and designs. When it comes to stamps, she’s a big fan of red rubber and florals of any kind. We adore her watercoloring and style and are so excited to have her as part of the team for another year! We are so thrilled to have her on with us for another year!
Meet our sweet and crafty designer, Dawn Gavlinski. Dawn has been crafting since 2009. She started with scrapbooking and made her way to cardmaking; working with paper and dies is her current love language. Dawn has always been crafty, and prior to her cardmaking adventures, she owned a business where she sold mixed media canvases that she made. We love that! Dawn makes her home in Maryland and is married to her High School Sweetheart. She admits that her husband is her biggest enabler for card making and crafts (lucky girl). She has three grown boys, one of which has Downs Syndrome and blesses their family with joy beyond measure. We are so happy to welcome with sweet soul to our 2023 team and look forward to all the crafty goodness she will bring our way!
Meet our “insanely positive” new designer, Ricky Burton-Romero. Ricky has been making cards for over six years and says his passion for coloring led to many opportunities in the crafting world. Ricky is an avid animal lover and philanthropist, volunteering his time to many organizations that help animals in need. Ricky has a wide range of cardmaking styles but always loves to incorporate Copic coloring and ink blending techniques. We adore his coloring! Ricky makes his home in Chicago with his husband and two dogs. Please join us in welcoming Ricky to the 2023 Team!
Meet our lovely new designer, Sammi Offield. Sammi has been crafting for over 20 years, moving from scrapbooking to cardmaking. Like many of us, she loves all mediums, especially Copic coloring. She gravitates to florals and scene cards, although she can do all different styles. Sammi is a huge Disney fan and with her love of travel, she makes it a priority to go to Disneyland at least once a year. So fun! Sammi makes her home in the mountains in Northern California where she is a dog mama to two amazing pugs. Please join us in welcoming Sammi to the 2023 team.
Meet Meghan Kennihan, our vibrant new designer! Meghan loves BRIGHT colors, patterned papers and her cardmaking style leans towards cute and whimsical creations. We love the playfulness and color palettes her style brings to the team. When Meghan is not crafting, she is a Personal Trainer and Nutrition Counselor. As you can tell from her profile pictures, she is a fun-loving dog mom to Maddie, as well as an Identical twin, and an Aunt to two nephews and two nieces. So Fun! We are so excited to have Meghan aboard this year, join us in welcoming her to the 2023 team!
Rubbernecker Stamps started in 1993 as a catalog and wholesale stamp shop in Ontario, California. The 90’s were good to us; we specialized in red rubber stamps mounted to perfect little wooden blocks. Our stamps were so fun/unique, you would bend your neck to get a closer look (lol), which is where the name “Rubbernecker” came from. We had a huge paper catalog and people ordered through the mail (can you imagine?). We thrived on making relationships within our small face-to-face crafting community and went to stamp shows around Southern California. In 2006 we did a huge renovation on the company and entered the digital age with our very own website. This allowed us to reach more people and really see how giant this community was. At the same time, we started traveling to stamp and scrapbook shows all over the United States and were inspired to continue looking for ways to stay competitive in this growing market. We switched to the “cling cushion” style of stamping using clear acrylic blocks to help keep our famous red rubber relevant. In 2014 we expanded our products to include clear stamps and dies, and we were amazed at how innovated stamping had become.
In 2017 we FINALLY got on the social media bandwagon and we are so happy we did. The outpouring of love and community, as well as the opportunities to be inspired and learn, are something we cherish. In 2021 Rubbernecker relocated our business from California to Tennessee. We were able to create our own line of Inks and stencils in 2019 and our new line of paper pads in 2022. Last year we finally said goodbye to our beloved red rubber stamps, making way for the clear polymer sets which are in high demand. With only four employees, (Dave & Pat, their son Rob, and his wife Beth), we have cultivated a reputation for amazing Customer Service, high-quality products made exclusively in the United States, and a heart for teaching.
– Dave, Pat, Rob & Beth
We know there are so many choices when shopping for your crafting supplies, but we just want you to know that this small family business thrives on your support. We have made it 30 years in a changing and growing market, and we look forward to serving you for many more to come.
