Our Story

The Prickley Pear Rubber Stamp company has been in business since 2003 and has a rich history of bringing to market beautiful designs in red rubber stamps and clear photopolymer stamps with coordinating steel dies.

Owners Sharon and John Ware consider it an honor and great privilege to have the opportunity to move Prickley Pear Stamps into its next chapter and continue to build upon the strong foundation of this wonderful company.

Read more about our personal journey...


Our Story:

When I was introduced to bright, colorful Crayons and fascinating coloring books as a kid, I fell in love with art. I was a ‘you-have-to-color-inside-the-lines’ kind of kid, always striving for perfection. When I received a set of paper dolls one year for Christmas, my imagination went wild. I pulled the Sears catalog off the shelf and with the approval of my mom, I designed and cut out skirts, blouses, slacks and accessories of all kinds from those pages to make new outfits for my paper dolls.

My mom and aunt taught me to sew at age five. I started with a nine-patch crazy quilt and soon began designing and sewing clothes for my Barbie dolls and then to making my own clothes. I learned to throw perfection to the wind, think outside the proverbial box and started modifying existing patterns to make my own creations. As a teen, I belonged to the local 4-H club and won many blue ribbons for my creative designs. My favorite pieces to make were long flowing vests, halter tops, short shorts, fringed bottom plaid ponchos and brightly flowered bell-bottom pants.  Flower child?  Yes!

In High School, I discovered scrapbooking. My first scrapbook showcased drive-in movie ticket stubs, prom corsages (flattened and dried of course), every little note I received from a boyfriend, playbills from high school plays, chewing gum wrapper chains and much more. I became an avid collector of memorabilia!

My hands have always been busy, creating something. Scrapbooking became a creative outlet and a way to document my family’s special trips, moments and cherished pictures of family members. Some of my proud achievements from those days include winning several state and national scrapbook competitions with an organization I belonged to many years ago.

Fast forward a few decades and a multitude of life experiences that have landed us in five different states along the way, and in 2007, hubby John and I inherited a family farm and moved to our current home in Kentucky. I am the sixth generation to live on this land. We are enjoying being closer to family, new friends and our wonderful church, all here in the beautiful Blue Grass state of Kentucky!

Along the way, I discovered stamps and dies and started making my own cards. By circumstances I call God-winks, John and I became the proud new owners of Prickley Pear Stamps in 2019. Did I ever think we would own our own company that would allow us to design stamp and die sets that can be used to make beautiful cards and scrapbook pages? No. Not ever! But here we are, and I am in creative heaven! We have worked in the e-commerce field for over 15 years and knew this is something we would enjoy as well. Wow… we both love it!

The Prickley Pear Rubber Stamp company has been in business since 2003 and has a rich history of bringing to market beautiful designs in red rubber stamps and clear photopolymer stamps with coordinating steel dies.

We love people, and the opportunity to travel to stamp shows, see new places and meet new folks who love to craft and create is wonderful! We have always made great friends in every city we have lived and in every organization we have belonged. Many of those have become cherished, life-long friends that are now like family.

It is an honor and great privilege to have the opportunity to move Prickley Pear Stamps into its next chapter as we continue to build upon the strong foundation of this wonderful company.

We invite you to be a VITAL part of our growth by liking our Facebook page and posting pictures of your cards and paper craft projects there, joining our Facebook Prickley Pear Pal Group, following us on Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.  Here are the links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PrickleyPearRubberStamps

Facebook Prickley Pear Pals Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/603304783460735

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prickleypearstamps

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pprstamps

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PPRStamps

Videos on our YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/PrickleyPearRS

And now, once we are able to participate in stamping conventions, we look forward to meeting you! Be sure to look for us and stop by to introduce yourself at the next Stamping Convention you attend.

Thanks for reading our story! We hope to see you soon!

Sharon and John Ware