Crafterateur

Most of you 80s and 90s kids probably remember giving or receiving a Mrs.Grossman’s sticker at some point in your childhood. I was never really a fan of the designs, but I have always been a sticker fan. So when I learned the only US-based sticker company was less than an hour away from home and they gave tours, it became my mission to visit one day.

Tours are offered Monday through Thursday, and are about thirty minutes in length. The tour started with a video on the company’s history and then our tour guide walked us through the factory to see each step in action. At each station, we were rewarded with a sheet of stickers.

So. Many. Stickers. (We were only allowed to take photos of the sticker wall and sticker roll storage due to confidentiality agreements with some companies they work with and print labels for.)

How to make a Mrs. Grossman’s sticker:

• Each sticker starts with a design.
• Templates are made for each layer of color in the design.
• Sticker paper is inserted and color is added one layer at a time, up to ten colors total.
• Stickers are die cut and, depending on the sticker, the negative sticker space is removed from the sticker sheet.
• Another machine checks to make sure the sticker was printed properly, and still another is responsible for packing the sticker sheets.
• Should the design require foil designs, the almost-complete sticker is fed through another machine to receive 12,000 pounds of pressure.
• For more intricate designs, stickers are cut using the LaserWeb machine.

We ended our tour in the sticker shop, and we received even more stickers to work on a postcard/sticker activity. My parents had all the fun.

And finally, my sticker haul! I am definitely more excited about the newer releases like the Puffies. I also love how they credit the sticker artist on the back of the sticker sheets. Nice touch!

Who had a sticker collection growing up? Raise your hands!