RSC Fall Virtual Convention

It's time for the RubberStampChat Fall Virtual Convention. MadRat Rubber has a "booth" & you can save 15% on just about everything in stock. Follow the link to MadRat for the details. If you're unfamiliar with RSC, it's a forum for rubber stampers where you can chat, learn techniques, participate in exchanges & browse the various galleries. The sale runs from October 29th through November 2nd. They're having a scavenger hunt, ghost stories & a costume contest with prizes donated from the many vendors that are members of the community. So swing by join the conversations & see what the other vendors are offering in their booths.
Happy Haunting!

More mail art ...

I've been at it again - the 3 envelopes above are all envelopes sent through the mail. (I've omitted the addresses) The top "Fish" envelope was for my Mom, she loves fishing, the other 2 are for customers of my rubber stamp business , MadRat Rubber. I like to do a little mail art as an apology when I screw something up on an order. In both these cases I sold them a stamp I hadn't actually had made - thought I did but soon found out I'd made a mistake. Damn - hate when that happens. I had my whole flock of flying monkey's laid out for a plate of stamps & inadvertently flipped one the wrong way, which gave me 2 identical images instead of mirror images. I'll be fixing that on my next bunch of stamps I make but in the meanwhile I like to send them something to cheer them up. Ladies - thanks for your patience - you know who you are...

One of the reasons I love doing the mail art is that it gives me a chance to play with my own stamps & other items of inventory. Having a "deadline" of sorts assures that I actually take time out from all the other things I need to be doing & get a little creative. I, personally am always thrilled when I get something interesting in the mail, which unfortunately doesn't happen very often.

Some of the new products I've added to the store are papers and ribbons. I find patterned paper is a great way to jump start a project - kinda eliminates the blank white paper syndrome. On some projects I may end up completely covering up the paper so much that it's not recognizable. Even though it becomes obscured it still played an important role in the creative process. A good example of that is the flying monkey (Wizard of Oz rubber stamps) envelope. The paper used has yellow ochres & rust colors with a vintage flower pattern and I changed it up a bit by stamping patterns on the paper with a slightly darker colored ink, (as well as rubbing inks over it in general). The original paper color & some of the pattern can be seen within the address frame held by the monkey's.

Rubbing ink over really graphic patterns is also a good way to tone the paper down. The blue paper at the top of the fish envelope was originally white & blue, very stark & very visually busy, I used a similar shade of blue ink rubbed over the paper to tone down the contrast & give it a watery look. I was really pleased with the way it came out. The paper was not one I would have bought because of the very busy pattern (got it in a kit) but I was able to use it anyway & am happy I did.

Some of the other new products I've added are ribbons, my favorite has been the leaf ribbons used on the flower envelope. It creates a great silhouette & adds texture to a piece. I currently have it in black & orange but they can be painted any color you want.

Well, I guess that concludes my tips for the day. heh heh, time to get back to work, I'm hoping to have new set of stamps ready for August & have lots to do.

Cheerios!

Fish Mail

I've been having bit of fun lately creating some mail art. I made the fish above for my Dad for Father's Day. He has been a long time stamp collector so I thought he'd get a kick out of receiving this in the mail. I cut the fish shape out of 1/4" Masonite and used paper, ribbon & charms from Paula's Kit Club and some MadRat Rubber stamps to doll it up. I was a little afraid of sending my fish off without an enclosure so I had the brilliant idea to use my (MadRat Rubber) fish net stamp & staz on black ink on a clear bag as the "net" for my fish to travel in. I only had to stamp one side leaving the address side clear for the postman to read but the net effect shows through the back. To top it off, the post office just happened to have some dolphin stamps - a perfect bit of serendipity!

P.S. The new Wizard of Oz stamps are now in stock and I've added a new page called Electronica that has vintage circuit boards And I've recently added new papers & ribbons. I've got lots more interesting items to add as soon as I can get them photographed.

We're off to see the Wizard ...

I hadn't really planned on doing another set of stamp images so soon after the last batch but the stars aligned just so, and here I am again. I'm not sure where the thought originated, but I decided I wanted to read "The Wizard of Oz". I had seen the movie for at least several years in a row when I was a kid but for some reason never actually read the book. To be honest, I don't even remember the last time I saw the movie, way back then. I do remember one year, watching the movie and being aware that some members of my family were missing. It's a vague memory but it seems like maybe my younger brother & Mom were at the hospital? Can't remember why or if it's even true, it's just there.

Anyway, I began looking for some of the vintage copies of the books, (L. Frank Baum wrote 14 Oz stories) on ebay & started collecting them to read and for the images. Denslow illustrated the 1st book, "The Wizard of Oz" than apparently had a falling out with Baum & John R. Neil started illustrating the rest of the Oz stories. Personally I prefer the illustrations by Neil, to me Denslow made Dorothy look like a 4 year old instead of the 10 year old she was supposed to be. The only other characters that Denslow drew that I think are ok are the Tin Man which really looks like the character designed for the movie and the flying monkey's. As I was going through the books I noticed that a lot of the images would be great for Halloween. Not only are there witches but Jack Pumpkinhead (created from sticks & a pumpkin and brought to life by magic) and flying monkey's (not as bad as the movie made them out to be) as well as crows and several other illustrations that would work for the holiday. Sooo, I put together the 1st installment of Oz images specifically for Halloween.

Now until June 15th they can be bought for 20% off on my Pre-Sale page with the rubber expected in by the end on next week (approx. June19th) get the details at MadRatRubber.

RubberStampChat Virtual Convention

In conjunction with RubberStampChat, MadRat Rubber has a mini sale going on this weekend. Save 15% off just about everything in stock til Midnight Monday May 18th. If you didn't take advantage of my earlier pre-order sale now is a good time to pick up some of the new stamps. Just be sure to shop the rest of the site for interesting items for your mixed media or altered art projects.

To see what's available from the other vendors, visit RubberStampChat, sign up & check out the other sales that are taking place. It's free and easy & you might feel like joining in to learn something new or see what other stampers are doing.

Mail Art

I received an order the other day from one of my customers in this arty envelope by Sandy N. I love getting mail art as well as making it. Though unfortunately I have a really hard time finding the spare minutes to do much of anything creative lately (& I have so many projects I want to do!!) As you can see by my previous post that I've spent the first 2 months of the year finishing up several pieces for a gallery show. I sold 4 of 9 pieces (& am very happy!) The gallery will continue to display the remaining 5 for a while longer.

For the bulk of March I've been working on New Rubber! yea!! which I'm having a Pre-order Sale to introduce. There's a total of 44 new images. The new sheets include a half sheet of 70's inspired flowers which I can't wait to play with. I've got several projects in mind already for them. The other images include some more mirror images of the Alice in Wonderland/Through the looking glass, that I already have in stock (well, there's one or 2 that are out of stock but will be back in along with the new rubber), 9 new backgrounds or textures that are roughly sized for ATC's. I'm planning on using some of these for making impressions in clay. I've got 2 more antique French dolls (Pierrot & Pierrette) + several pairs of shoes & some fun frames or banners for adding birthday words to or, shoot, fill 'em with incoherent ramblings. Say whatever comes to mind! Here's a sample I made with one of them, admittedly I had to do it on the computer 'cause I don't have my rubber yet.

I can think of lots of fun things to say, like "pick up your clothes!!!" or "eat your peas!" I'm going to make "eat your peas" into a stamp. I get a kick out of that phrase. I'll be doing some of the standard phrases like Happy Birthday, etc to fit in the billboard spaces. But those won't be ready until the next round of rubber which I'm hoping to get done by August/September, gotta have new images in time for Halloween, don'tcha know.

Ooohh, I smell dinner cooking. Hubby's fixin ribs. Gotta go....

Chinese Dancer Card

At long last I managed to finish this card & envelope I started 2 months ago. I got a really good start on it in one day but didn't have the right eyelets to make the doll articulated. I originally tried to find some 1/16" eyelets but the only ones I found are made of brass, which I'll save for metal work. I then ordered some 1/8" eyelets but realized I did't have a setter for that size. In between these sporatic hunts for needed supplies, I spent all of September & into October working on getting my latest "Day of the Dead" shrine finished (see previous post). No time to take a breath, I'm now at work on several new pieces for my show in March & building frames for the pieces that are already finished. I did manage to finish this card & matching envelope yesterday, one less unfinshed project is off my table, Yaaahh!
This guy is articulated so he can be folded up for mailing (1st photo) & unfolded for fun, (above photo) I'm thinking about using some kind of attachment method so he can be removed from the card if desired. The matching envelope is below. I used a striped patterned paper that I had to tone down with ink to get rid of the garish yellow. The MadRatRubber stamps I used are the Scroll Corners, Psychedelic Circle & one of my newest stamps, the Chinese Dancer Man Doll.

I've been so busy lately that I only just recently took stock of the time, Yikes! the end of the year is upon us & will be over before we know it~! Holy Crap Batman ~ Where did the TIME go ???

OK, just to make my life even more interesting & busy (what AM I thinking?) I decided to have an Inventory Balancing Sale. Most small stamp companies (like me) have stamps made in sheets, sometimes, some of the images on the sheet sell faster than others which leaves an excess or imbalance in inventory. So in order to get myself back in "balance" I'm marking the overstocks down.

OK, technically, I haven't ACTUALLY physically, marked them down but the ones that are On Sale have been noted on the website & I'll refund your savings once the transactions have been completed. Now until sometime around Dec 20th, these select stamps will be On Sale for 25% off. As soon as the inventory on these particular stamps are back in balance, they will be removed from sale. So to shop early for the best selection.

And if anyone out there knows where I can get some 1/16" aluminum eyelets, or something smaller than 1/8", let me know, will ya?

New Halloween Art

Just got some more great Halloween art from Lynne Tears & had to pop over & show them off. This little pocket with card uses all MadRatRubber images, including quite a few of the New Halloween images recently released. The top photo is the card inside the pocket, don't cha just love the way the skeleton's shown biting on the card through the thumb cut out? Looks like he's trying to pull something out. I also like the way she's used the crow upside down, looks like it's playing dead. I've always seen it as a flying crow but now I have a new way of seeing it.

The 2nd & 3rd photos show the card out of the pocket, front & back.

Thank you Lynne!

Time is running out to take advantage of my Birthday Sale!

Go Now to see what's new.

B is for Boo - Halloween book by Lynne Tears

This wonderful Halloween envelope book is the work of Lynne Tears. The photos above show the front cover & a couple of the pages she made using some of my MadRatRubber stamps. The bottom photo is a picture of how the backs of the envelopes are finished. You have the chance to own this one yourself - if you hurry. She's got it up for auction on EBay as I type. Follow the ebay link to see more photos and bid on this beautiful book. Which by the way, would make a great memory book for photos of your own little goblins. & a special heirloom for when they've grown.

The MadRatRubber stamps used in theis book include, Seaside Excursion, Headstone, Sounds of the Cemetery, Skeleton Fingers, Coffin, a Small Bat & Tales Worth Telling. All of these can be found on the Halloween page except for Tales Worth Telling, which can be found on the Words page. If you'd like to know where she got some of her other great images, visit her blog, MoonLightJourney & ask her.

Oh, my August Birthday Sale is still running, so now's a good time to pick up some rubber to make some of your own creepy art! Be sure to check out the 41 new images Here.

Birthday Cards & Humorous Headline

It's my birthday this month so 2 of my mail order customers sent me birthday cards along with their orders. The one on top is from Diana Y. & uses my Musical Elephant stamp & the bottom one is from Sandra L. & uses my Distressed Diamond, Vine Frame & Crowned Alice. All of these can be found @ MadRatRubber. Thanks Ladies, I really appreciate your thoughtfulness.

My Birthday Sale is going on now so be sure to drop in & see the new images.

Now, for a good laugh, you have to go read this news headline & story at the Telegraph.

My husband is always finding these funny bits on the web. This one I had to share.

MadRat Rubber New Images & Birthday Sale

The Time has come, the Walrus said,

To talk of many things.

Of shoes & ships & sealing wax.

Of cabbages & kings.

And why the sea is boiling hot,

And whether pigs have wings.

I just love that quote. It's from "Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll & I think it's one of the best stanzas from "The Walrus & the Carpenter". It's also one of the new Alice stamps I'm adding to my inventory this month. As you can see from my odd little man above, I've added 41 new images this month & having a Birthday Sale to boot. My special day falls on August 20th, so for the month of August everyone gets to save 20% off of just about everything in stock, (while supplies last) Among the new images are several more quotes from Alice (& I've got a list of a bunch more to come) As well as new Halloween images, of course, and some dolls I've been wanting to add for some time. Dansuer's Chinois or "Chinese Dancers" are vintage French Jumping Jack's from some antique prints I aquired a while back. I have a couple more, Spanish Dancers & Pierrot & Pierrette that I'll be adding to my inventory in the coming months. Along with the complete dolls are miscellaneous parts you can use to mix & match to create your own art dolls. All of the new images are on their own special, "Pre-Birthday Sale" page They're in the process of being made so they won't be available for shipping till approx. mid-August. In the interest of saving time & money, all orders that include any of the new images won't ship until the new rubber arrives.

So if you're into rubber & other interesting objects or supplies for your artistic pursuits, be sure to visit MadRatRubber, just don't forget to check out the new rubber as well. There are links to the "new rubber" on the Home page & here & there throughout the store.

Ok, now on to other things...

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These 2 Fabo pieces are from Lynne Tears who is my Design Team, yep, she's the whole kit & kaboodle, Lynne does wonderful work and I am really pleased with these two pieces. Can't ya just hear the woman on the left saying, Fraaank, the coffee's cold! & the one on the right capture's the essence of the 50's 0r 60's perfectly, I'm sure the Yucca Lounge must have come into existence somewhere around that time period. The stamps she used are Frank's Restaurant & Yucca Lounge. Both these stamps come in 2 versions, what I like to call, positive & negatives. They can be bought & used separately but I think they're great combined. You'll find them here.
I'm so glad to have Lynne on board, she makes wonderful samples using my images. See more of Lynne's work on her website, MoonLightJourney & Blog. Thank's Lynne!

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

One last thing for this unusually long post...

I'd like to invite everyone to visit GirlGoneThreadWild to read all about the wonderful thing Monica Magness started. She had the seed of an idea to create a doll in the hopes of raising money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation to help find a cure for Breast Cancer. She did a general "call for artist" to donate a 2x2 inch squares of fabric to be used to embellish the skirt of her doll. 182 women & men produced a total of 490 squares in response to this request. More than enough to cover the skirt. It came to be know as the "The Pink Artist Project". If you surf the blogs I'm sure you've come across it. I did & decided I would participate, so I made 2 squares & sent them in, I'm very proud of the fact that one of my squares made it onto the dolls skirt. I always have the best intentions towards society but rarely ever have the monetary funds to donate towards a worthy cause. This gave me the opportunaty to be involved in an important cause & I thank Monica for that. I'm truely honored to be included with so many other wonderful artist. The doll has been dubbed, "Love Squared" and has been written up in the autum issue of the Art Doll Quarterly & the Artful Blogger. If you'd like to be involved with helping to find a cure, visit GirlGoneThreadWild to make a donation. For every $10 you donate, you get 2 chances to win the "Love Squared" Doll. The drawing will be held October 15th.

Whew, the end!

New Artwork

I received these cards in my electronic mailbox a week or so ago from Chris S., She's been having fun playing with her new MadRat Rubber stamps & gettin in the mood for Halloween. I'll have more new Halloween images coming in just a matter of days, so stay tuned!

More MadRat Mania Entries & New News

"Voodoo Queen" sent by Roberta S.
Wow, she went whole hog with the MadRat Rubber stamps. All of these images can be found at, you guessed it, MadRatRubber! Thanks Roberta!

"Momento Mori", (which means, remember death, in Latin)is sent in by Linn P. This is her 2nd card sent through snail mail, though it actually got here pretty fast. A nice collection of skeleton images. The ones that can be found @ MadRat Rubber are the words, Momento Mori & the background text, The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, ... you know the rest. These can be found in the Halloween section of MadRatRubber.

Time is running out for anyone else who'd like to send something in. Let's say the deadline is midnight but I don't stay up that late, so any entries that come in after I shut my computer off will be posted in the morning.

Now for the new news...

I've got fairies!

To be more precise, flower fairies. I just added these to the web last night. They are made of resin and can be painted with acrylics, they measure 2-1/4 to 3" tall and have flat backs which are great for glueing down to your projects. I'm thinking maybe for a shrine or in a protected niche in an altered book. I have 4 different styles available, 2 of which are limited in quanity. They can be found in the Glass section of MadRat Rubber.

I've added 2 new ribbons to the Ribbon page.

These are 5/8" wide & sold by the yard. I've always liked these simple ribbons with the saddle stitching. I've include smaller versions in some of the collages I've done. The larger sizes are great if you want to add some stitching or wording in between the dotted lines.

More Milagros

I've added 5 more sets of Milagro's to the mix. It's taken me awhile to do this since I been sooo busy! Find these in the Metal section.

Last of the new announcements, for now,I've added a couple sets of Vintaj jewelry assortments to my Etsy store, MadRatMiscellanea.Etsy. The one pictured has bees, dragonflies, flowers & misc findings. If you're not familiar with Vintaj, it's a company that specializes in "natural" brass. It has a nice aged patina which I think is perfect for adding to altered art projects or jewelry. I will be adding this line to the charms section of the website when I can, hopefully within the next couple of days.

New Collage

"Flight"

This is one of my most recent collages, actually, it might even be considered one of my 1st if you don't count the assemblage/collage pieces I posted awhile back. I haven't done many "flat collages", though this one isn't completely flat either, the egg is floating & the tips of the wings are bent up or forward. The birds are applied using the contact paper transfer method I learned from Claudine Hellman's 1st book, "Collage Discovery Workshop" & the winged woman & pattern on the egg were transfers made using gel medium & images printed on transparencies. The butterflies across the top & the architectural elements at the bottom are cut paper. I used dry grass for the texture in the green field behind the egg. The cloud pattern on the background & the wings are from rubber stamps. (the wings are from my line of stamps at MadRatRubber). More grass & other plant stamps were used in the green area below the birds. The rest is acrylic paint, I love the idea of combining painting with collaged elements.

This was photographed in a frame which is why there's a shadow on the left side, I haven't actually gotten around to finishing up the frame job, when I do, it will be shadow boxed a little so the wings won't be pinned down. I'll also create a little tutorial on how to make a shadow box frame when I decide to finish it up. I'm not sure what my hesitation is about as far as finishing it, I feel like it's done but the black area at the bottom might need a little more work on it. Tell me what you think.