Laura Kelly is proof that you can start a successful business with little more than a  Sharpie permanent marker.

The owner of Laura Kelley Designs in Cedar Rapids is a second-year member of the Sanford Co.’s “Sharpie Squad,” which promotes Sharpie use by exhibiting ways to use the markers for personal expression.
Kelly, 42, is an undisputable sharpie with a Sharpie. She’s signed licensing deals that allow 16 companies to use her Sharpie images on products ranging from printed fabric to candy to soap. She’s even signed a deal with Ganz, the manufacturer of the Webkins toy line.
Kelly has drawn children’s books and created her own line of stationary. She’s been approached to draw characters for an animated television series.

A collection of images from a Laura Kelly princess collection. Companies license Kelly's images for products ranging from candy to fabric. (image courtesy of Laura Kelly)

Perhaps the most interesting part about Kelly’s story is that none of it was planned. She has no academic background in business or art.
“It’s really cool how with no business plan and no sense of financial responsibility I’ve been able to take my talent and give back to my community,” the former teacher said.  She quickly added that she’s gained financial responsibility in recent years via her success.
It began by accident.

Nearly 16 years ago, Kelly was an elementary schoolteacher in Raleigh, N.C., fascinated by the wild imaginations of her inner city students. When her first son was born, she drew the mailed birth announcements herself because she couldn’t find any commercially printed announcements that she liked.
Whimsical caricatures on the announcements looked like gracefully curved stick people with colored parts. They delighted her friends and family so much many of them asked her to design stationery with caricatures of their own family members.
Kelly’s first creations for friends and families evolved into The Paper People, her first collection of images. They included kids and grown-ups doing what they loved to do: Playing soccer, dancing ballet, and so on. She has since created another major line, “Me and My Peeps.” Both lines consist of thousands of images of people and objects that belong in their lives.

“Eventually, I would like to create a whole world with them,” Kelly said.

Designing and selling stationery provided enough income that Kelly decided to leave her teaching job. When her biggest success arrived in 2008, it was equally surprising.

Kelly was at a trade show when a printing company that specialized in personal checks inquired about licensing her images for a stationery line it planned to introduce. When a thick contract arrived in the mail a short time later, she signed it without even reading it.

Before long, checks began arriving in the mail — big ones.

“I had to figure out where all the money was coming from, so I went back and read the contract,” Kelly said.
 Kelly now seeks out licensing opportunities and works closely with product development with numerous companies, flying to New York, Dallas, and other corporate headquarters cities to meet with clients. She has a legal team and an accountant.
Kelly splits her time between homes in Cedar Rapids and Apex, N.C. She moved part-time to Cedar Rapids two years ago when she met a Cedar Rapids man and fell in love.

Laura Kelly poses with Sharpies for a publicity shot at MVP Video Production in Cedar Rapids. Kelly is a member of the Sanford Co.'s Sharpie Squad, which uses social media and other outlets to promote creative uses of the company's vibrant permanent markers. Kelly splits her time between homes in Cedar Rapids and Apex, N.C. (photo courtesy of Laura Kelly)

In November, Kelly opened a work studio in the Cherry Building at 329 10th Ave. SE. The Cedar Rapids business community has been unbelievably supportive and interested in her work, Kelly said.
“There’s so much passion in that building that it just breeds creativity,” Kelly said.
Kelly’s drawing talents didn’t arrive by magic. She loved drawing as a child until her muse was killed by a random comment. She passed a note with drawings to a guy she liked on the school bus.
“He said my drawings looked like I was in kindergarten,” Kelly said. She was crushed, and didn’t draw again until after college.
Although Sharpie is her primary medium, Kelly likes painting, ceramics and many other forms of creative expression. Some of her most rewarding experiences have been working with youth groups on art projects. She’s also contributed images for fundraising T-shirts for schools and non-profits.