Spring Fling Sale

I'm having a "Spring Fling Sale" to celebrate the demise of old man winter. We had a couple of weeks of unusually cold weather this year that just might have killed off 1 or 2 of my bushes. I'm still hoping for signs that they're not complete goners. The weather has been getting milder and everything is starting to green up. So what better time to celebrate!

From now thru April 30th you can save 20% off just about everything in stock (some exclusions) All savings will be refunded after transactions have been completed. It may take me a couple days to do the refunds so don't worry if it doesn't happen over night.

Enjoy the mild weather while you can 'cause you know a hot summer is on the way!

Help Wanted

I'm looking for a couple of good artists to design & create projects using MadRat rubber stamps. While most small stamp companies use Design Teams that are only committed for a set period of time, I'm looking for 1 or 2 people that are willing and able to commit for the long haul. People that I can count on to produce consistently great artwork using my stamps and products and to promote MadRat on their own blogs, social networking sites like facebook, as well as forums, yahoo groups, etc., etc.

MadRat Rubber is literally a "one woman show" I do it all and I just don't have time to create samples & projects or even post on my blog on a regular basis while trying to take care of everything else. Being a small business on the great big, world wide web, is a bit like being a needle in a haystack, it's hard to get found. So any word of mouth would be greatly appreciated.

My requirements are that you are a regular blogger with a decent following, are familiar with various yahoo groups that specialize in stamping, and are active in stamping forums like splitcoaststampers, rubberstampchat, etc., and not least of all, able to produce impressive artwork with the kinds of images I carry.

At this time I'm only able to pay for your services with free products as well as a commission on any sales you send my way. If things work out well, I hope to eventually offer a small monthly stipend as a retainer of sorts. If this is something you might be interested in, please contact me for more details and with any questions and include links to your blog or other places that showcase your work. Please, only serious inquiries welcome.

Valentine / Love Sale

For quite a while now I've had a pretty dismal collection of images for Valentine's Day. Not that I've got anything against it, it's just that I'm not a frilly, gushy, kinda girl. (Though I did always appreciate my husbands gifts of roses & chocolates) And I have to confess, my timing has never been really good around that time of year, 'cause one has to plan ahead for these things. Ya know, images need to be gathered, drawn, planned etc. plates made, rubber made, announcements made, etc. etc. When one is a "one woman show" it sometimes hard to get all the things you want & need to do - done. This year I actually managed to do it though I'm cutting it close in getting the rubber out in time for my customers to have lots of time to play.

And as usual I'm having a Pre-Sale to introduce them and I'm going to be placing my order for the rubber pressing anyday now.

I think of Valentine's day as more of a "express your affections for those you love" kinda day, whether it's someone you have romantic feelings for, wanna sleep with, or family & friends. I think it's a good opportunity to let the people in your life know how you feel about them and it makes those people feel good that someone is thinking of them in a nice way. Kinda like how it was in grade school, everybody in class usually got a Valentine whether you really knew them or not. I think it made everybody feel a little special and there's certainly no harm in that!

That said, I'm also a bit of a cynic & realist

Pardon me, I was just interuppted by one of my cats bringing a mouse in to play with. I had to rescue the mouse & get it out of the house. These silly cats of mine don't get that they're supposed to keep mice Out of the house instead of bringing them in to play with. Now, where was I...

Oh yeah, about me being a realist & a mite cynical.. The images I've created of hearts, are overall "grunge" partly because, if we're honest with ourselves love can be a little messy. It's not all bon bons, pretty lace, blue birds singing, soulfull staring into each others eyes, etc., etc. You get my meaning, sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's messy, funny, frantic, impossible, ordinary, lonely and sometimes it hurts. We've all been through it at some time or another. And I thought having some images that can be used to express some of that messiness might be appropriate.

Okay, the other line of reasoning for the "grunge" hearts is the vintage aspect, I love vintage stuff, and I think the hearts can speak to a more romantic vision. Think of unending love for the ages, or love without end or love standing the test of time (ooh, those sound like good ideas, I'll have to make a note for next year) I also saw the pop art aspect, after I had them laid out, it reminded me of Jim Dine's artwork & a little of Andy Warhol.

So, that's my verbal bit about the stamps, go see them. And, if you're interested in the Vagabond Die Cut machine inspired by Tim Holtz, my sale is back on, here's the direct link.

I'll be back later with a couple of comments about mine.

Cyber Week Sale

I'm having a Cyber Week Sale!

"What's that?", you say..

It's my version of Black Friday & Cyber Monday
wrapped up into one week long event.
It runs from November 25th through December 2nd

You'll save 20% off site wide, including grab bags (excluding magazine subscriptions) Discounts will be refunded via Paypal after transactions are completed (along with any extraneous shipping charges)

I've been adding lots of new inventory lately including, Nunn Design Heart Pendants & punches, Memory Frames, glass and capsules, more Tim Holtz Idea-ology products including 2 sizes of the configurations & a few of his Cling Mounted Stamp Sets, plus library due date cards & pockets, envelope assortments and a Christmas Paper pack. I've also added several new Cling Mounted sets of MadRat Rubber. Good for gifting to your stamping pals.

Inventory is limited on some items so shop early for best selection.

I'm very Thankful for your business and your time
Be sure to Enjoy the Holidays!

This is a birthday card I made for my brother, his birthday was on November 7th - I'm a little late getting it to him since it's still sitting on my desk. Hopefully, it'll be a nice surprise when he does eventually get it.

It's a puppet card, since he can actually be manipulated - the photo shows 2 poses. I used my Pierrot Doll stamp, as well as the Small Reaching Hands found on this Alice page. The Pierrot doll's hands are covered by his sleeves so I cut the ends off & used the small hands instead. I stamped each arm twice, then cut them so I could articulate them at the elbow, then joined the various parts using the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Fasteners for the joints. They're the perfect size for this sorta thing. The doll parts were stamped onto a patterned paper then glued to "grunge paper" for extra resiliency. I hope it manages to make through the mail okay.

Happy belated Birthday Kevin!

August updates

Well, here we are in the last few days of August. I always feel a little bit melancholy around this time of year, even though the "official" end of summer isn't until September, the end of August, for me, is the end of summer. I think it's because the end of summer seems to have a much wider symbolism than just the closing of idle summer days from our childhood (not that mine has been idle!) I guess it's basically a reminder that time is marching on and no amount of wishing it would slow down will have an effect on it. And maybe the fact that each August marks another notch on my belt, of the years slipping through my fingers. HA, maybe that's why it's always kinda sad.

Enough introspection, here's what I made on my summer vacation....

Actually, I just made this yesterday.
I don't have vacations anymore, it's all work work work ....
When I omit a stamp on a customer's order I like to make a little mail art to send the missing stamp along in as a mea culpa for my momentary lapse of efficiency. It also gives me an excuse for playing with my stamps & supplies, which unfortunately, I never seem to have the time to do. ~ This envelope uses 2 of the papers I have in stock plus leaf ribbon, leaf stamp from the flower set, simple scroll stamp and the checkered frame for the address block. The extras are ginormous ric rac, buttons & other paper I had on hand.

Now for the actual updates part of this post. (thanks for asking dr. koolarama ;-) For those that have been paying attention, my relocation plans are moving very slowly. I listed my house around the 1st of July & have only shown it 2 maybe 3 times - small town, not a whole lot of buyers out there I guess - very depressing. I'm trying to mentally will my house to sell by the end of August - X (that's my fingers crossed) I'll post more news on that front when I have any.

Business updates...

My annual August birthday sale is in full swing, in fact it has been all month. If you missed the announcement, Visit MadRatRubber (it's 20% off just about everything in stock) I've been meaning to pop over here to the blog to post about it but I have only the usual excuse - Many things to do - Little time in which to get them all done, huh huh huh (that's me panting from all the running I'm doing) here's a partial list, refinish the deck (major project), pull 6' high weeds, keep the house clean for showing, mow 1/2 acre yard, clean up studio, process orders, do something about laundry room, call plumber, add new products to web site, update customer files, paint the front door, fix flat on bicycle, etc etc etc. A lot of the list wouldn't be a big deal if my house wasn't on the market, it's just the added pressure of wanting everything to look great for any potential buyers.

Okay, reading over my list is making me antsy, I'll have to wait & post about the cool new Tim Holtz products I've added to the inventory later, I promise, but for now I've got to get busy...

New Items

Well, I've finally finished with the remodeling (except for a few things here & there) & the house is on the market. Unfortunately things are so slow here in the real estate market that I may be here awhile. So on to business..
I've added some ceramic Cup & Saucer planters for altering. The cup is 4-5/8" across (5-7/8 including the handle) the saucer is 6" across & the cup has a drain hole in the bottom. I came across these & thought they'd be fun to alter. One could make a crazy cup that would fit right in on the Mad Hatters tea table. Even though they're meant to be used as a planter I think they could be used as a candy dish or change bowl.

I haven't had a chance to play with one yet but will post photos when I do.

The other items I've added are vintage bingo slider cards. I even dissected one to see how they were put together. See the photos below.

The edges are sewn together and come apart easily enough with a seam ripper or sharp knife. Once apart different images or letters could be put behind the little windows. The red sliders come out easily so they could be removed completely or not. Reassemble & attach it to a collage or assemblage. Both of these new items can be found on the Miscellanea page.

And as a reminder I'm having an inventory balancing sale right now on select Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz & the most recent batch of New images that include lots of travel themed images. Go check 'em out @ MadRat Rubber

Alice overstock sale, new products & more news

Things have been very busy around here lately, I’ve finally got some new products listed on MadRat Rubber, repaired a bunch of bad links and added a new section of stamp sets & posted an overstock sale on Alice in Wonderland stamps.

First off - The Alice in Wonderland sale is 20% off select overstocked stamps, once the inventory is reduced to normal they’ll be removed from the sale so shop early for best selection.

If you haven't seen the movie - go, it's loosely based on the original books, but seems to be more of a cross between them & The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. Beddor wrote "The Looking Glass Wars" trilogy which is "the real story of Alice" (I've only read the 1st book so far) but Tim Burtons story line made me think of Beddor's story. It's an imaginative re-telling of a classic. So, go see the movie, 'cause, personally, I think just about anything Tim Burton does is worth seeing. And if you haven't read Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass, I highly recommend you do. They're classics everyone should read - IMHO.

Okay, so as long as I'm recommending books, check out "The Life & Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" another trilogy that takes a classic, "The Wizard of Oz" and re-imagines it brilliantly.

Secondly - The new stuff I've added is a selection of PinkPaislee products which includes clear stamps, a couple of papers, some patterned tapes, rub on transfers and my favorite, Artisan Elements. The elements are embellishments that are made out of polymer clay, at least, I’m guessing that’s what it is. They’re approx. a 1/16” thin (thicker in some areas) flexible detailed pieces in 3 styles (alphabets, swirls & frames) that can be altered with paint, ink, markers etc. If you’ve ever stamped into polymer clay than that’s what these are like. Thin enough to use on cards but would also be cool on altered books or shrines, they're flexible so they could even be attached to something cylindrical.

Queen Bee Clear Stamps

Artisan Elements - Swirls

Thirdly - The new stamp sets section is just that, all the stamp sets that are available, in one place.

And lastly, In the coming months, MadRat Rubber will be relocating. I'm in the process of completing some remodeling to get my house ready to put up for sale and will be moving back home to Louisiana. I've lived in New Mexico for over 20 years & though I absolutely love it here, it's time for me to re-acquaint myself with my home state. This is a move that's been planned for some time but since the recent loss of my husband I need to relocate as soon as I'm able.

What this means to my customers is that, for the time being, there may be slight delays in getting orders processed and not much happening as far as new products or sales, etc. I have been & will be, busy working my butt off getting the house ready and packing up years of stuff. I'm sure many among you know what it's like to contemplate packing up a studio full of treasures collected for assemblage work!

Of course, once the house sells and I'm preparing to move I will have to shut down completely as far as processing orders, the website will remain "open" but any orders placed will not ship until I can unpack my boxes. I will be sending out notices to my mailing list as things progress.

Thanks for your continued business & your patience, when the dust has settled on all this upheaval I hope to be posting on a more regular basis. ‘Till then, happy stamping!

Hot off the Press ....

Well, not really, But they're coming soon! MadRat Rubber is adding 57 new images to it's inventory and I'm having an Introductory Pre-Order Sale where you can save 25% off the new images for the next 14 days. Once I place my order with the manufacturer the sale ends & the stamps will be ready to mail out 1-2 weeks later (hence the "pre-order" sale)

The new stamps include 5 "grunge frames" and an assortment of Travel themed images. The rest of images fall within other categories but work well with both the frames & the travel stamps. I designed the images with the frames in mind so they could be used to create interesting stamped collages. Swing by & have a look around, I also carry a growing assortment of other items for for card making, collage & assemblage projects and just recently added some new ribbons (see previous post) papers & chipboard book covers.

Valentines Ribbon Just In

Six new ribbons have been added to MadRat Rubber in time for last minute Valentines projects. They're available by the yard or you can pick up a set of all 6 (1 yard of each design) in my etsy store MadRatMiscellanea.

1. Has a fine velvet finish with embossing & cut outs (the white background shows through, use the little heart openings to frame tiny picture.)

2. Is Floral Felt, 2 1/2" wide, you can cut the flowers apart & attach them to cards or I think it'd be kinda cool to sew into the ribbon to add texture & detailing.

3. Loose braid - has fine wires running down the middle threads but they can always be pulled out if you'd prefer.

4. Heart edged organdy, has tiny satiny hearts along the edges & a sheer panel between.

5. Red velvet 3/8" wide

6. Satin red puffy hearts, use them as ribbon or cut apart & attach separately.

Drawing Winners Announced

For those of you who have been paying attention, I've finally gotten around to drawing names for those gals who placed an order in December. The winners are Barbara Scott & Jennifer Mehlman. I'll be notifying them shortly & getting their new stamps in the mail tomorrow.

Due to the dearth of orders that qualified for the chance to win only 2 winners were picked but there's always a possiblity that I'll find another reason to give away the 3rd set so stay tuned...

I hate to post anything without something to look at so here's a card I made for my sister's birthday. The image on the left is the front of the card, behind it the envelope & to the right is the inside of the card. I got the paper used on the card & envelope from Paula's Kit Club, the letters are grungeboard letters from Tim Holtz's line of Ideaology products (which I hope to start adding to my inventory before too long) The leaves are faux suede "ribbon" that I carry on my Ribbon page. I inked the letters with yellow ochre & used some distressed embossing powder to give them some texture. I then sewed the letters to the leaves & glued the leaves to the paper. The "birthday" word is done the same though the background is green ribbon. The inside of the card was inked with a combination of greens, yellows & blues then stamped with the leaf stamp from the "Flower Set" Last of all I ran the edges through my sewing machine. She didn't get it until 2 weeks after her birthday 'cause it took me a while to finish it between interruptions. It was also hand delivered rather than mailed so I don't know how well it would have held up in the mail.

End of the Year Sale @ MadRat Rubber

The end of the year is rapidly approaching so I'm having an "End of the Year Sale" on select stamps in order to balance out my inventory. These are images that are on sheets where some images have sold faster than others, which leaves me with an excess of certain images. Here's your chance to save 30% on these specially marked stamps. Anywhere you see Green you'll save 30%. Some of the images have a limited number available and once that number is reached they'll return to regular price. All savings will be refunded after transactions have been completed ~ Any orders placed after Dec 18th won't be processed until Jan 5th or 6th.

Anyone who places an order with a subtotal of at least $25 (after discounts & before shipping) is automatically entered in a drawing to win 1 of 3 stamp sets ~ The Witches of Oz, Flower Set & Ancient Pictographs ~ The sets are mounted on static cling mounts & come packaged on a storage board in a re-sealable bag. 3 winners will be chosen after the turn of the new year & will be announced around the 5th of January.

If you've not started your card making yet I do have Rub On Transfers by Letraset ~ 2 different sets with Christmas and Birthday sentiments. Each sheet is 6 x 8 & has over 30 words or phrases for card making or other projects.

PS ~ If you need gift ideas I have gift certificates available in a variety of denominations & grab bags for your favorite stampers.

Have a Happy & Safe Holiday Season!

Mail Art

A couple of recent-ish postcards I made for a mail art exchange, using old maps, patterned paper, packing tape transfers & of course stamps from MadRat Rubber.

A tutorial of sorts...

I was asked some time back if I'd do a tutorial of how I make my envelopes - so here it is - the photography isn't the best as I grabbed the shots haphazardly as I made a pair of envelopes. As always I had to steal some time to get these done but get them done I had to do, as they were for a couple of my customers. I like to do a little mail art when I need to send a customer an un-mounted rubber stamp that went missing from their order - kind of a little "sorry for my error" stamped apology. The 1st 2 photos above show where I cut the paper from, it's approx. 1/4 inch larger than the envelope all around. I find it's much easier to start a project with a piece of patterned paper rather than blank white. I'm using some of the paper I carry at MadRatRubber but you can always create your own patterned paper by starting with a sheet of colored paper & adding visual texture by stamping a pattern with a coordinating ink color.

Since I'd already decided to use the Running Skeleton, I stamped it out in black ink. But before I put stamp to paper I drew an outline of the envelope on some scrap paper & stamped them out to make sure they would fit. It's one of the great things about stamping - the ability to create several rough drafts of a project before using up the "good stuff". In a relatively short period of time you can try several variations on a layout & decide which you like best.

This is my preliminary layout, the Running Skeleton's upraised fists suggest he should be holding something so I stamped the Checked Frame on a piece of green paper, I wanted the other 2 to also be waving or carrying something so I found 2 stickers - the left one says "been there" and the right one say "done that" I'd draw in a pole or string to connect the sayings to the skeletons hands later. For the other variation I have the skeletons waving postage stamps. The blue paper was actually a scrap left over from a previous project & when I laid it down on the paper I decided it looked like an awning. I added stripes to add to the illusion.

The stamp used for the stripe is from my Flower Set, I used blue ink for the stripes & to distress the edges a bit. Since I was making 2 similar envelopes I made 2 of the awnings. The second version of the envelope had less pattern in the paper so I decided to add a bit more using my Primitive Pattern stamp & a darker but coordinating ink color. I'd already stamped the skeletons so I made 3 masks, which is basically stamping the image 3 separate times on scrap paper & carefully trimming out the images. Using removable tape attach the masks to the stamped images matching them up very carefully. Be sure to put the tape where it won't interfere with the image to be stamped on top or you'll end up with a portion that doesn't get covered. The image below shows the masks on the left & right skeleton. Before attaching the address block & the awning I decided to try and add a little depth at the bottom of the awning so I used a little black pastel to darken the space below the curves. When I finished with all the stamping, I used 77 spray glue on the front of the envelope and stuck the envelope to the back of the stamped paper. I then laid it face down & trimmed off the excess paper (being very careful not to cut into the envelope itself)

The awning & address block are attached with Xyron adhesive. I recently discovered Xyron for myself, I'd seen & heard about it but finally bought the small "X" shaped label maker & played around with it to see how it worked. It comes in 2 parts - the bottom or white strip has the adhesive on it & the clear top (which is very thin plastic) is the receiving surface for the adhesive. The "machine" or holder dealy doesn't have to be used - for these 2 pieces, I pulled out enough of the white adhesive paper & tacked it to my work table, (sticky side up) stuck the paper to it than laid the clear stuff on top. The clear stuff adheres to any exposed adhesive & removes it from the white backing board. The adhesive is now only on the back of the paper. You then peel the paper off the backing & stick it in place. Very cool! Nothing I've seen on youtube or the product info explained how this actually worked. Now that I know, I'll get the 5" wide stuff but will only buy the adhesive cartridge, less waste & more control in my book.
The envelope above has the drawn in strings & the 2 stickers I mentioned earlier. I also added the little star pattern to both envelopes.The last 2 photos are of the finished envelopes with postage & addresses (though I obscured the addresses) They both received their envelopes without any problems. I usually mail them in a clear outer envelope just to protect them from mishap but I do attach the postage stamps to the envelopes themselves & have them hand canceled at the post office.

I hope this inspires you to make some mail art - birthdays & the holidays are a perfect time to send a little creative greeting through the mail!

August Birthday Sale

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's time for my annual MadRat Rubber Birthday Sale!

August 20 is my birthday so everyone gets to shop for 20 days & save 20%. Between Aug 4 & the 24th you get to save on just about everything in stock while supplies last. (magazine subscriptions & grab bags are not included) Savings will be refunded via PP as orders are processed.

You've also got 1 more day to take advantage of the 25% off the Pre-Sale page, For those of you who've already placed orders from the Pre-Sale page - feel free to shop some more & I'll consolidate your orders & refund your savings & excess shipping. Just remember, orders won't ship until the new rubber arrives.

The newer rubber includes lots of Wizard of Oz images that'll work great for Halloween (pumpkin heads, witches, crows, flying monkey's etc.) You'll find most of those on the Wizard of Oz page. I've also got some new skeletons & phrases coming for the Day of the Dead, which of course, can also be used for Halloween. (The large skeleton dolls should be a lot of fun to play with)

I've also been busy adding lots of new stuff lately on the following pages:Paper, Ribbons, Doll parts (vintage German doll heads), Hardware (vintage PO box doors), new Brass Charms, Electronica, etc. etc.

For those of you on Facebook, I've created a page for MadRat Rubber Stamp Co.and have uploaded some of my recent mail art - I'd love to see some of the artwork you folks have been creating with some of my products so feel free to upload some pics. I've also been thinking I'd like to start some kind of mail art exchange & / or contest. Let me know if you have any thought's on that. I'd also be interested to hear any suggestions about the web site, products you'd like to see me carry, opinions about the kinds of images I carry, etc.

I'm real new to the whole Facebook thing and am still trying to find my way around (without a lot of free time on my hands to do it) So stop by & friend me or become a fan, (however that's supposed to work ;-) )

Hope you're enjoying the summer - it will be over before you know it!

MadRat Rubber Pre-Order Sale

MadRat Rubber's supplement #3 is now available for pre-order. Save 25% for the next 8 days (give or take). I've added a few more images from the "Wizard of Oz" and some Mexican proverbs that are perfect for Day of the Dead & Halloween projects. I've also got some great skeletons, the largest of which are dolls, (can't wait to play with those!) See all the new stuff Here.

And yet more mail art

Two of my most recent pieces of mail art. The top is an envelope sent to a customer using some of MadRat Rubber's newest stamps, paper & collage sheets & the 2nd is actually a postcard created using layered pieces of paper, MadRat Rubber stamps (of course) a die cut of the shell, a brass shell charm and the leaf trim/ribbon. The leaf ribbon was actually orange but I colored it red with an ink pad. The leaf ribbon is a new item in my inventory & I currently have it in black & orange but basically with a little ink or paint you can make it whatever color you'd like.

The final bit was to sew the black stitches around the edges - this was for 2 reasons,

No. 1 - The postcard I used was covered front & back with patterned paper attached with spray glue & the paper edges were actually about 3/16" larger all around than the actual postcard. To ensure that the papers didn't separate I stitched it all around. And..

No. 2 - It looked good + I've always liked the idea of combining stitches with paper.

For my next session of creating mail art I'll take some photos & do a little tutorial.