M a d R a t S t u d i o

Spring Fling Sale

2011-04-16T08:21:00.007-06:00

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

2011-04-15T18:49:00.014-06:00

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

2011-01-17T13:14:00.014-07:00

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

2010-11-29T11:44:00.008-07:00

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!

2010-11-11T15:11:00.005-07:00

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!

RubberStampChat Virtual Convention

2010-10-29T12:40:00.036-06:00

It's time for the semi-annual RubberStampChat Virtual Convention. Most of the Vendor members have sales & specials running this weekend and ending on Monday. MadRat Rubber's specials are ...

Save 20% off all in stock rubber stamps till midnight Monday November 1st. Save an extra 10% off select stamps scattered throughout the store.

(Discounts refunded via Paypal after transaction are completed.)
Plus
Orders with a subtotal of $25 (after any discounts are deducted)will get a free Tim Holtz Mini Mask while supplies last.

I'm also having a Pre-Sale Sale on the Sizzix Vagabond Die Cut Machine. You may or may not know about it depending on your feelings for all things Tim Holtz. For those of you who do know, you can skip ahead.

Tim Holtz is the "Grunge" rubber stamp guru and has several lines of products that he designs & represents and that carry his name. I've started adding his products to my website because, I gotta admit, some of them are kinda cool, well made & surprisingly affordable. I've been trying to highlight some of them on this blog, albeit, slowly.

But right now I'm going to talk about the new "Vagabond Die Cut Machine" that's due to be released mid to late November. I don't currently have a die cut/embossing machine but have been thinking it might not be a bad idea to have one, since I am in the business and all that. My hesitation in getting one was, "what exactly I would do with it?" I felt they were kinda limited because one could only use specific dies & what if I didn't like any that were out there?

And then I watched Tim's demo of it and the wheels started turning.

It's supposed to be the most powerful die cut machine out there, according to Tim. And it will cut &/or emboss materials up to 1/8" thick, like cork board, felt, fabric, acetate, thin metals, etc. I got to thinking of some interesting things one might be able to use it for. I won't get into my ideas now but it's what decided me to get one for myself. The other deciding factor is that it closes up for easy storage and transport. It's also kinda visually appealing as it looks like a small vintage suitcase, although that's certainly not a reason to buy it. I did do a little research into other Sizzix machines out there and they do make a motorized version called the "Big Shot Express" with a regular retail price of $169.99 (on sale right now for $127.49). What I don't like about the Big Shot is it doesn't close up, it just sits there all exposed - in my messy studio, it'd get dirty fast, not to mention it makes storage &/or transport a little awkward. And if Tim's to be believed, the Vagabond is more powerful than a locomotive, um, I mean the Big Shot. So, them's the reasons I decided to get one for myself.

Now, I'm a very small business & just can't afford to keep the machine in stock but right now I have 3 Deals on offer

#1 - Just the Vagabond Machine

Regular retail will be $249.00 - my price $212.50 + shipping

#2 - Vagabond Mini Starter Kit

Includes the Machine, the "Scallops" - On the Edge dies and cutting pads, Texture Fades embossing folders set (Damask & Regal Flourishes) & the "Caged Bird Die"

Regular price $301.00 - my price $255.85 + shipping

#3 - Vagabond Maxi Starter Kit

Includes the Machine, 2 - On the Edge dies (Scallops & Snow flurries) with cutting pads, 2 Texture Fades folder sets (Collage & Notebook set & Damask & Regal Flourishes set), the "Caged Bird" Bigz Die and 2 Movers & Shapers Dies (Styled Labels & Carved Ornaments)

Regular price $368.00 - my price $312.80 + shipping.

See the details with photos here

As far as I know, I'm the only one offering the starter kits which I think is a good idea if you're new to die cut/embossing machines, like me. If you already have a die cut/embossing machine than your dies may be compatible with this machine. The larger kit has dies that would work well for Christmas since it probably wont be shipped out until late November/early December.

I won't be ordering the Vagabond for a week or 2 so you've got plenty of time to think about it.

Sneak peak ...

2010-09-08T16:43:00.023-06:00

This is a sneak peak of a project that I'm working on. It's going to take me a while to finish it because, well, I have so little time and so much to do. In the past month and 1/2, I've sanded, cleaned & re-stained the deck, replaced rotted wood on 2 exterior doors, sanded & repainted the trim on a total of 4 exterior doors, re-painted the exterior of a large shed & pulled copious weeds. During that time I had a little hand surgery to boot as I have/had a trigger finger. All the work around the house is in preparation for someone to buy my house - anyone - please?

Okay, enough wining, back to the project. The leaves you see above are made from Grungeboard, I painted it, stamped it with one of the leaf stamps from the Flower Set, cut them out, did a little inking for good measure and am in the process of stitching the details with thread. I have approx. 18 - 36 of them to finish. The white & green thing in the background is one of the cup & saucers that I added to my inventory a while back. So far I've painted the saucer green & will attach the leaves to it once I've finished with them. I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with it next as that's as far as I've gotten with the design aspects. I'll post more when I move the project along a bit.

If you're unfamiliar with Grungeboard, it's "A compressed, flexible sheet of dingy material that can be painted, inked, sanded, hammered or grunged" I'd add sewn to that description as well. This is a Tim Holtz / Idea-ology product and one that I think has lots of possible uses. I'd have to say I think it's one of his more interesting products. I've added quite a few others from the Idea-ology line to my inventory, you can find them all on this page, MadRat Rubber Tim Holtz and I've also been adding them to my Etsy store, MadRatMiscellanea.

Although it may be getting a little late for adding Halloween images to your projects, I thought I’d mention that I’d added a small selection of New Halloween images to the inventory back in September. There are 22 in all, 3 black cats, a smattering of skeletons, some Pumpkinheads and a few other miscellaneous offerings. If you're interested and as a little added incentive, any orders placed with MadRatRubber, with a subtotal of at least $25 will get a free Mini Mask (shown below) while supplies last.

August updates

2010-08-24T09:20:00.027-06:00

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

2010-07-05T20:23:00.006-06:00

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

More remodel photos

2010-06-27T21:44:00.010-06:00

View of front door from kitchen

Living room from hallway

View from corner of living room

Kitchen towards carport door

View from carport door, the double doors to the laundry room were made using a modified bi-fold door, that I added Masonite to to give it the look of a paneled door

Guest bedroom

The previous post shows the before & after shots of the kitchen, these photos show the new carpet. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the old, ugly rusty color carpet but take my word for it, this is a big improvement. The house is finally going on the market and with any luck it will sell quickly thought I'm not holding my breath...

New Kitchen Remodel Finished at Last!!

2010-05-26T15:17:00.006-06:00

Well - not quite - I'm still waiting on the new stove & I have a few details to take care of like caulking the counters, replacing a couple doors that are the wrong color & finishing the kick boards. I also need a new curtain for the back door. Just so ya know, I installed all the cabinets, the new floor and did the painting all by myself. There were a lot of curse words flying on occasion but I'm very proud of how it came out. Below are the before & after photos.

Now - on to painting the rest of the house.....

Alice overstock sale, new products & more news

2010-04-17T15:53:00.013-06:00

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 ....

2010-02-09T20:38:00.010-07:00

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

2010-01-19T14:55:00.010-07:00

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

2010-01-14T16:36:00.009-07:00

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

2009-12-03T22:23:00.021-07:00

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

2009-12-03T21:54:00.003-07:00

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.

RSC Fall Virtual Convention

2009-10-28T22:51:00.012-06:00

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!

A tutorial of sorts...

2009-10-07T15:30:00.032-06:00

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

2009-08-11T19:30:00.007-06:00

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

2009-07-27T09:40:00.004-06:00

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

2009-07-27T09:06:00.009-06:00

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.

More mail art ...

2009-07-14T15:27:00.022-06:00

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

2009-06-29T15:24:00.011-06:00

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 ...

2009-06-09T13:39:00.005-06:00

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.

Beautiful chalk animation - music by Firekites

2009-05-16T10:07:00.005-06:00

Firekites - AUTUMN STORY - chalk animation from Lucinda Schreiber on Vimeo.

I came across this in my wanderings and had to share it. Enjoy!

RubberStampChat Virtual Convention

2009-05-15T18:14:00.007-06:00

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

2009-04-08T16:14:00.007-06:00

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....

At long last...

2009-03-10T14:38:00.013-06:00

At long last, I have a smidgen of free time. Since the 1st of the year I've been absorbed in finishing up several pieces for my show at Mariposa Gallery in Albuquerque, NM. I have shown there for many years & have been included in many theme show but this is my 1st solo show with them. The piece above is one of my favorites & the last piece finished. I'm extremely happy with the way they all came out. I've posted the rest of the pieces on my website if you'd like to take a peek, MadRatStudio.

Spoiler Alert!

I mailed out the prizes for the OWOH drawing, I think, the last week of Feburary. (Time has a way of getting away from me) I haven't heard back from anyone one yet so I'm assuming they're still in the mail stream. I've posted the photos of the envelopes below, so if you're expecting one & want to be surprised, don't look any further! I did remove the names & addresses so technically on one knows who's getting what.

These are all envelopes so once postage stamps were added some of the design elements were covered up. Unfortunately I didn't get to scan them with the stamps since I needed to check with the post office for proper postage. All the stamped images used are from my rubber stamp business, MadRatRubber, except for the address box below the woman's feet on the envelope below. The other design elements are rub ons from various companies (including a couple that I carry in my shop) ribbon that's been stamped on, blue raffia ribbon & the grunge board stars which I inked in red & embossed. I even stitched around the edges of 2 of them with my sewing machine, I've always wanted to try that! I had a lot of fun with these & look forward to having time to do more. I hope the recipients like them.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

And the winners are...

2009-02-14T09:30:00.005-07:00

Happy Valentines Day!

I'd like to thank everybody that stopped by to leave a comment, unfortunately I've been so busy that I've had little time to respond to comments or visit other blogs, but I have been making a list for when I do have some free time to surf.

The winners are Tabby of Crookedheartart, Baglady (Nancy), Lori Lennox of Artivity & Dawn of CreativeSandwich (I added a 4th prize). I'll be emailing the winners in the morning for their addresses. And just for the heck of it, I'll pick a couple more names tomorrow to recieve a surprise stamp.

Again, I'd like to thank everybody that stopped by, I had twice as many visitor's than last year - yaa! I hope everybody enjoy's the long weekend.

One World ~ One Heart 2009

2009-01-20T11:19:00.020-07:00

It's that time again!

The One World ~ One Heart blog event has begun again. If you're unfamiliar with it, it's a blog-wide giveaway event to bring together bloggers who may never have found each other in their web wanderings. It's a great way to meet new people & possibly win a prize in the process. To read all about it, visit OneWorldOneHeart for information & the list of participants.

Since I have a small rubber stamp company (MadRatRubber) I thought I'd give away 3 prizes, the first is my Gothic Alphabet Set. It's upper & lower case & numbers 0-9 & Unmounted. (for reference, the caps are a 1/2 inch tall) The photo below is a sample of the capitol letters

The second is my Glyph Set, also unmounted, a set of 12 mysterious symbols based on earlier forms of writing. The height on these is approx. 3/4".

The 3rd prize is a set of Yucca Lounge stamps, positive & negative stamps that can be used together or separately.

To qualify for the drawing all you have to do is leave a comment to This post. Make sure you leave either an email address or a blog so I can notify the winners. Drawing will close at Midnight in New Mexico on Feb 12. Winners will be picked with a random number generator & will be notified via email on the 14th. Be sure to check out all the other blogs participating at One World One Heart Event

Anyone is eligible to participate on my blog but please be aware that this event is primarily for bloggers to get to know each other so some participants may limit eligibility to those folks who have a blog. Just so's ya know!

Enjoy your wanderings!

A New Year & a new beginning...

2009-01-11T11:32:00.022-07:00

The new year is off to a good start & things are finally settling back into the groove. I've neglected my blog for the past 2 months (almost to the day) in order to concentrate on my upcoming show in March, and taking care of business and getting ready for our annual trip to Louisiana to visit family for the holiday's.

Before we left I received some artwork from one of my customers. It's always fun to see what people do with the stamps they purchase. The 2 below are from Ann S. otherwise known as Lady & the Stamp.

I managed to get the piece of mail art below in the post to her as thanks, the day before we left on our trip. It was one of those last minute things I was determined to do before we left town. I hope she received it, Thanks Ann!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since I've been back in town, I've been busy updating the MadRatRubber website. I still have more new items to add but thought I'd give a little sneak peak of one of the doll heads that I've added. I picked up a nice assortment of these vintage German china doll heads. They're approx a hundred years old, give or take a few years, and were dug out of the ground in Germany.

I have 7 currently listed but do have more to add. These are great for making assemblage style dolls. As soon as I get a chance, I'll do a little show n tell on how I plan to prepare them for my own projects. These are now on their own Doll Parts page on the website along with some vintage legs from the same area.

As one last bit, I thought I show you the painting I picked up while antiquing with my sister in Louisiana, I think it's appropriate as an illustration of the new year.

Behind the woman's startled &/or apprehensive look, are 3 doors, she doesn't know what's behind them or where they lead. It's a lot like this new year, with the economy in a mess & all the talk of doom & gloom, no one knows quite what to expect. Here's hoping things won't be as bad as predicted & that peace & prosperity will find us before the year is out!

Hope your New Year is Bright & Shiny!

Chinese Dancer Card

2008-11-09T10:43:00.011-07:00

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?

Welcome to the Afterlife

2008-10-12T11:09:00.017-06:00

Whew, I finally finished my latest Day of the Dead Shrine, it's title is "Welcome to the Afterlife". I started this puppy Sept. 1st, well to be accurate, I really started it back in the early spring. That's when I sketched out the original idea, decided on size & how it was going to be constructed. I cut my wood for the for the main body & the shelves. Aaand, wandered off onto something else.

I tried really hard to get an early start on this, as I do every year. I know there's going to be an annual, "Day of the Dead" show at the gallery and I like to have a piece for it. But for the life of me I can't seem to get something finished ahead of time. Apparently, gasp, I'm one of those people that need an impending deadline to get my ass in gear. Maybe next year.

Fortunately the gallery doesn't seem to mind when I bring something in, although it would have been much better to have it there for the opening, which was Oct 3. Better late than never!

For those of you who've wandered over from the assemblage group, the "You are Here" sign is at the base, (seen best in the last photo) I decided on "unencumbered" for the top space on the kiosk. I'm really happy with the way it came out, I had a last minute flash of inspiration when I opened my box full of rub on transfers. I bought around 20 sheets of various designs & alphabets about 15 or so years ago when one of the local art supply stores were clearing them out cheap. I guess they figured with the advent of computers they wouldn't be wanted. I kick myself that I didn't buy more but I wasn't sure what I'd do with them at the time. Just bought them on a hunch.

Anyway, they've come in very handy over the years & I used some to decorate my kiosk, I was going to just paint it like a concrete base but am much happier with it like this. I have to say that one of the things I've learned about myself is that it's important to take my time with the pieces I work on. It allows thoughts & ideas to simmer a bit before surfacing and usually results in a much richer composition than if I had rushed it. The other thing I learned is that one should always pick up those interesting bits that just might come in handy. The plastic columns were bought several years ago when I was wandering around the cake decorating department of a craft store. I thought they would be good for something. One of the details that pleases me most about this piece is the little fences I made from the bristles of a street sweeper. I've been picking these up for 20 years whenever I go for a walk or bike ride. They're 1/8" wide x 1/16" thick & vary in length from 7 to 12", steel, I think. Most have a nice worn metal patina. I cut them up & soldered them together, backed the top & bottom rails with thin pieces of wood to give them a bit more presence, sprayed painted them flat black & added some blacked wires at the joins for added texture. It was one of my 1st successful soldering experiences & I've got more ideas waiting in the wings.

This was a real "pita" to photograph so the quality is not as good as I'd like, I'm going to have to break down & buy some decent equipment. This last photo shows the side, which has skeletons embedded in modeling paste with a sand like texture, somewhat rough to give the suggestion of an old tombstone.

Well, okaay, enough about that! Time for lunch...

New Halloween Art

2008-08-28T14:27:00.006-06:00

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.

The Queen - Card Art

2008-08-22T13:44:00.007-06:00

Ta Daa, I made a card.

I guess this is my very 1st "official" card. Up to this point I've used my stamps on envelopes or "mail art" & various other projects. For some time now I've been wanting to spend a little time doing some handmade cards but just haven't had the time. So the other day I managed to shake a little time loose & spent several hours playing with my "stuff". I can justify it because I've been needing some samples for my wares, (MadRatRubber) and well, because I spent my birthday working on business stuff instead of having a little "Me" time, so I had a play date with myself & this was the results.

The doll above was made using several of my newer images; the band behind the doll & the border around the card are images from my Banners, Borders & Frames page, the crown is from Alice in Wonderland, the dress is from the Doll page (as well as the Chinese Dancer Doll whose arms & legs I used for this gal) The flower form in the background is from the Design Elements page. And last but not least, the woman's face is from one of my Collage Sheets.

I've got a couple more in progress but needed some supplies to complete them. I'm expecting some micro eyelets in so my "dolls" will have a little movement. Hopefully they'll be showing up soon so I can get them finished.

Remember, my Birthday Sale is still going on for another week so you still have time to get a bargain on some of your own "stuff" to play with. All the new images are on their own page for the time being - at the end of the month they'll be moved to their proper categories. To see the newest images go Here.

Happy Birthday to Me ......

2008-08-20T16:32:00.017-06:00

Well, today is my birthday, I was born on August 20th sometime around 11 am. I wonder if being a late morning baby means I'm more productive at that time of day. Or if those born after midnight tend to be night owls? Which controls those tendencies, nature or nurture? or has neither got anything to do with it? Anyway, I'm not one to get real philosophical about birthday's. I just thought I'd share what my husband gave me. The photo above shows 2 shots of the same bear. The one on the left is wearing a mask, the one on the right shows the mask removed. The bears face (mask) comes off to reveal it's true identity. I thought it was funny, really clever & so cute. I'm not much of one for "cute" but I have a soft spot for teddy bears & most stuffed animals. As a kid, I remember the stuffed animals had more of an attraction for me than dolls. I honestly can't remember if I had any dolls. I wonder if anyone has ever done a study comparing the favorite toys children gravitate towards to their personalities as adults. Might explain why I've always had so many cats.

Here's a couple more my husband has given me over the past couple of years.

This one is the Love bandit, he's got a bouquet of red roses in his hand.

And this poor fellow is the Love Alert guy, as you can see, he has a bandaged head, a cast on his leg & a crutch. It seems I now have a collection of these guys. Not to mention the 3 or 4 others I have tucked away in a big plastic box. My secret is out, I have a thing for stuffed animals. When I'm an old lady, I'll probably take them all out of their hiding places at last & talk to them in my dotage... along with my cats.

All 3 bears are from the Vermont Teddy Bear company. They've got something for just about everybody.

happy birthday to me....

B is for Boo - Halloween book by Lynne Tears

2008-08-18T14:54:00.008-06:00

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

2008-08-14T11:17:00.005-06:00

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

2008-08-01T12:57:00.029-06:00

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...

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

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

2008-07-29T18:46:00.005-06:00

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!

Speaking of shrines

2008-07-18T14:43:00.008-06:00

Not quite a true assemblage piece using found objects as per "the group" but I thought I'd post it anyhow since shrines were mentioned. Actually the main part of the shrine is from an old cabinet someone thought I'd might be able to use. I ended up having to rebuild it a little but it was definately the jumping off point for this. This is somewhere around 20w x 26h x 4"d & is meant to hang on the wall. I used ribbon, vintage plastic flower beads, silk flowers, plastic garland, wood, polymer clay, rubber stamps & paint. Below is a view from the side.

The Last Supper

2008-07-01T07:14:00.019-06:00

This is for a theme show at Mariposa Gallery in Albuquerque. The theme is The Last Supper & the title for this is "The Last Supper for the Society of Mystics & Magicians" This is the 1st collage/assemblage style piece I've ever brought them. For the past 15 or so years, it's always been my mixed-media boxes that I've shown. (If you're curious about my boxes, you can check them out at my website, MadRatStudio. I don't have every box I've ever made there, just the ones I had on hand when I made the website. You can also see some of them by reading my older posts.)

So, I'm excited & a little anxious about it's reception, but I have to admit, I really like the way this has come out. I've been working on it just about all month, though the last 3 weeks have been the most intense, working on it between trying to run my business, having to stop to eat, sleep, mow the grass, appointments, etc. You know, all those pesky things that get in the way of doing what you really wanna be doing.

I had a little bit of a scare the night before I had to take it to the gallery. After I rubbed a clear coat on the frame, it wasn't drying as I expected & it was a little tacky to the touch. So after letting it sit for about 4 hours I went over the sides with extremely fine wet sandpaper then rubbed it well with a soft t-shirt. I think that did the trick. Whew, figure I'd do something dumb like that at the last minute.

This is a little bit of a side view which shows the reflections on the plexi behind the men. The finished piece has glass in front of the curtains but I photographed this without it so I didn't have to deal with the reflections. The overall size is approx 15 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 3 1/4" deep.

This is truly a mixed-media project, the image of the windows in the back is from an Annunciation painting that I altered on my computer, I also printed the diagrams on transparency film that are floating behind the men. The men & fish (on the plates) are printed images that I glued to wood than cut out on my scroll saw. I then painted the edges so they'd look more 3-d. I built the table from wood scraps. The curtains are painted masonite & on the floor I used one of my stamps for the pattern. The table cloth is very thin fabric that I painted several coats of gesso & modeling paste on so it would hold the shape, then did some transfers on it to mirror the ones behind the men.

The only "found" items I used are the scalloped pieces of rusty metal that was just what I needed to give the tops of the curtains a finished look, I had just enough. The other bit is hard to see but I cut a piece of rusty metal, stamped it with some esoteric text, embossed it with gold than aged it & attached it to the span between the curtains. To finish it off, the front of the frame was covered with a printed image of metal work scallops, which I cut out with my scroll saw & painted over the rest.

And the winners are...

2008-06-28T08:45:00.023-06:00

First off, I'd like to say thanks to everybody that participated. I finally got a chance to see what people have been doing with the rubber stamps I carry. Up until now no one's ever sent me any artwork other than the occasional stamped envelope contaning an order, (not that I'm complaining about that, I love orders & mail art is icing on the cake) So, Thank you all very much! Now without any further ado, (& providing my internet conection continues to work) here are the prize winners,

Lynne T. takes first place with her colorful Seaside Excursion Tag

Jen W. takes 2nd place with her altered pin, showing that stamps can be used on much more than just paper.

Alice B. takes 3 place with her pretty tag of Imperial Alice.

I had a hard time deciding 3 place so I'm giving an Honorble Mention to Sherry S. for her collage using the Alice in Wonderland images.

The rest of the entries follow, click on the images to see them better as some of them have details that get lost from a distance.

The tag on the left is Lynne T.'s 2nd entry & the 2 cards on the right are from Linn P.

The altered postcard on the left is from Larry R. & the 2 on the right are from Pamela B.

The top card is from Roberta S. & the one right above is from Molly V.

I have to say I think everyone had very clever compositions. I'll be posting them all on my website in the gallery section, though it might take me a little while to do that. In the mean time, I'll be contacting everyone separately to hand out prizes & coupons. Thanks again everybody!

MadRat Mania Challenge Entry

2008-06-20T18:37:00.003-06:00

"Dream" Tag art by Alice B.

Imperial Alice stamp found on the Alice in Wonderland Page. This has been the most popular Alice stamp of the group, I believe I've only got 1 left in stock. If ya gotta have one, ya better hurry, it might be a little while before I get more in.

More MadRat Mania Entries & New News

2008-06-20T08:40:00.021-06:00

"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.

More MadRat Mania Entries

2008-06-09T21:04:00.015-06:00

"Dream"

Dreams of cupcakes & crowns and flowers & flight! Sent in by Sherry S. She used Crowned Alice & the White Rabbit from the Alice in Wonderland section of MadRat Rubber. Find out more about what she used in this piece & see more of her work @ Esprit*d'Art. Thanks Sherry!

I received this card in the mail from Linn P. She used my Owls stamp found in the Animals & Halloween pages of MadRatRubber. Thanks Linn!

Scroll Pin by Jen Worden. She used my Frog Skeleton stamp, not sure how she did this but be sure to visit her web, she's got some great challenges. There's a couple that I've been meaning to do but haven't found the time yet. She just posted some really cool etched pieces, (one of which used my Perch Skeleton stamp). I've been dying to try some etching for ages. Hopefully I'll get be some etching supplies (and time) before too much longer. Thanks Jen!

And now for something completely different!

These are headlines that my husband came across on the web, we got a good laugh off them so I'd thought I'd share.

Include Your Children When Baking Cookies
Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Experts Say

Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers

Drunks Get Nine Months in Violin Case

Iraqi Head Seeks Arms

Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus?

Prostitutes Appeal to Pope

Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over

British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands

Teacher Strikes Idle Kids

Clinton Wins Budget; More Lies Ahead

Plane Too Close to Ground, Crash Probe Told

Miners Refuse to Work After Death

Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant

Stolen Painting Found by Tree

Two Sisters Reunited after 18 Years in Checkout Counter

War Dims Hope for Peace

If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last a While

Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide

Man Struck by Lightning Faces Battery Charge

New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group

Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Space

Kids Make Nutritious Snacks

Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half

Typhoon Rips through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead

Our remodel is coming along just fine, this weekend we got the new floor put in & attached the new baseboards. Today we changed out the ugly beige outlet & switches & installed the new toilet. We're back to being a 2 potty family, Yaa! If you want to see our progress go here.

New MadRat Mania entries & other thoughts

2008-06-04T16:16:00.015-06:00

"Vacation Photo #4" by Molly V.

Heh heh, Molly has the kind of humor I appreciate! She used MadRat Rubber's Skeleton doll & Perch skeleton, both can be found in the Skeleton section of the website. Thanks Molly!

These 2 tags are by Lynne T., be sure to check out her website, MoonlightJourney to see more of her work. She used Seaside Excursion, Skeleton fingers & Rest in peace (in Latin) on the left tag & Momento Mori (remember death in Latin), Skull w/sparklers & Bat silhouette on the right tag. All of the can be found in the Halloween section @ MadRatRubber. Thanks Lynne!

There's still time to enter your artwork for the MadRat Mania Challenge, if you don't have any MadRat Rubber stamps, you can still get some in time to get creative. You don't have to mail any art in, just submit it via email. Check the "Mania" link above to get all the details.

New tiny people assortments are now back in stock, as are the hand magnifiers, with more interesting stuff to come. I plan on altering one of the magnifiers as soon as I can find some free time.

My life has been full to the gills with remodeling the house & trying to take care of the rubber business, not to mention the yard work. Unfortunately, my husband has health problems so most of the physical work is up to me. He does the electrical stuff, hangs the towel racks & helps with hanging the cabinets, I cut the wood, repair the walls, paint etc., etc. etc. Luckily, he keeps me fed, takes care of the laundry & does the dishes. So far we've pretty much finished one bathroom & are on to the next. If you're interested in this sort of thing, you can check out our progress here. I set this page up so my family back in Louisiana can see what kinda progress we've been making.

New Collage

2008-05-29T12:58:00.015-06:00

"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.

MadRat Mania Challenge Entry

2008-05-28T18:26:00.007-06:00

Another entry from Pam using Seaside Excursion & the Dodo from the Alice in Wonderland section. Thanks Pam!

There's still time to get involved with the MadRat Mania Challenge, follow the link to get all the details.

Update on MadRat Mania Challenge

2008-05-21T15:21:00.040-06:00

"Juggling Dormice"

MadRat Mania Challenge entry by Pamela Blais. She used the left & right Dormouse stamps from the Alice in Wonderland page & the Flower Rope border on the Banners, Borders & Frames page. Thanks Pamela!

Well, folks, entries in my 1st ever challenge have been kinda sparse so I thought I'd open it up to projects using any MadRat Rubber stamps images & extend the deadline till June 20th, the Summer Solstice.

Here's a recap of the challenge,

This is an open challenge, all that I require is;

1.You must use at least 1 if not more, of any stamp from MadRatRubber

2. You must agree to let me use a photo of your entry on my Blog, (you are here) & in my MadRat Rubber Gallery. All copyrights/ownership of artwork remain with the creators and I can't be held responsible for any unauthorized copying or distribution of your images from either of my sites. Ya put stuff on the web & there's no controlling it! Submitting an entry into the challenge is your consent!

3. Entry must be received by June 20th 2008, I don’t know about the rest of you but I like to have a little time to work on my projects!

Style, subject matter & media are totally open. I just want to see what you can do with my stamps! Feel free to combine your project with other challenges, if you do the Gothic Arch challenge, use some of my stamps & enter it on my blog, working on an altered book? Send in a photo of the finished page where you’ve used my stamps. Like to stamp on fabric or in clay? Send me a photo of the finished piece; I don’t care what you make just as long as it incorporates at least one MadRat Rubber stamp.

4. You do not have to send in your artwork, just make sure you send a good photo, if you have a blog, post your entry on your blog, let me know it’s there & I’ll come copy & paste it onto my blog, (with a link back to your blog). If you don’t have a blog, email your photo or point me to your online photo account. No more than 2 entries per person. If you enter something early on & decide you want to enter something else instead, let me know & I'll remove the previous entry & add the new one. I'll post all entries on my blog so everybody can see the final results.

If you need a little inspiration or something to spark some ideas, check out the Projects, Inspiration & Challenges section on the right hand column of my blog.

And Yes, there will be prizes!

1st place $50.00 in rubber credit
2nd place $35.00 in rubber credit
3rd place $20.00 in rubber credit

Prizes are rubber credits @ MadRatRubber, meaning you’ll have a credit on the books for your prize amount, to be applied towards the purchase of rubber stamps. Shipping cost will be the responsibility of the winner.

For those of you who haven't any MadRat Rubber stamps or would like to use some of the new images, there's still plenty of time to place an order & recieve them in time to get creative. All of the new images are noted on the website with links from the home page to the sections where the New images can be found.

Most orders are shipped Priority, but for orders of um rubber only or other small non breakable items, feel free to request 1st class shipping to save on postage. I ship orders pretty quick so make sure you either leave a note in the message section at check out or email me separately after you place your order & I'll refund the difference via Paypal.

Other News

2 new sections have been recently added, I now have a Grab Bag page, for those of you who like a little serendipity in your life (and art). 5 different selections are available & you'll save up to 50% off regular prices. The 2nd section is Ephemera where I've added some vintage tickets & labels. (here's a sample)

I've re-stocked the magnifiers and added some other interesting item's for your creative endeavors, some of which are, Milagro's, some cool plastic people in various sizes, 2 faced beads, new buttons, ribbons,charms etc., etc., so if you haven't been by for a while, stop by & check it out.

Birthday Club

Now, if you're still reading this, I've decided to start a Birthday Club. If you'd like to join, just email your birthday information in to me and I'll send you a coupon when your birth month rolls around, if it's April 10 the coupon will be good for the whole month of April. This way you can get yourself a present & save a little dough in the bargain.

Love Squared Art Doll Project

2008-05-15T18:24:00.010-06:00

For those of you who are familiar with the Pink Artist Doll Project, here's a little update. The doll was finished & sent in to the Art Doll Quarterly to be photographed. Donations are being accepted to raise money for breast cancer research. A $10 donation puts your name twice into the pot & the drawing will be held. in Oct. To find out more about it visit, Girl Gone Thread Wild

I'm very pleased to say one of my squares ended up on the skirt. Mine is the one under the big red heart, (with the pink circle & the small red heart in the middle). You can see it better here. This was the first blog project I've participated in. I certainly plan to do more when I can squeeze out some free time. The 2nd photo is of the complete doll. Please visit Girl Gone Thread Wild to read all about it & make a donation to a good cause.

MadRat Rubber Mania Challenge

2008-05-12T17:05:00.012-06:00

Here's the 1st entry for the MadRatRubber Mania Challenge. Larry Reynolds sent this via email. He's used my new Flower Rope Border & the Dormouse collaged onto an old vintage French postcard. The mouse looks as if he's trying to get the good citizens of Paris to listen to him.
The stamps can be found on the pages that they're linked to. Thanks Larry.

The deadline for entries is May 30th, I thought that would give everyone who'd like to participate a chance to make some art. I know how hard it is sometimes to squeeze in some creative time so I may extend the deadline depending on how many entries I receive.

For the details, see the MadRat RubberMania Challenge post.

Tag Art by Lynne Tears

2008-05-11T10:58:00.006-06:00

Tag Art

3 tags sent to me by Lynne Tears using some MadRatRubber stamps. The far left incorporates part of my Headstone along with 3 other stamps from another company. The middle uses my skeleton fingers, Requiescat in Pace (which means rest in peace in Latin) & Seaside Excursion The last tag uses one of my favorites, Skull with Sparklers, as well as Momento Mori (remember death in Latin) & a small bat. All of the images can be found in the Halloween section of the MadRatRubber. To see more of Lynne's work visit her website, MoonLightJourney.

Thank you Lynne!

Grab Bags added to MadRatRubber

2008-05-09T11:16:00.005-06:00

Like surprises? Have a hard time making decisions? Try a Grab Bag!

Grab bags are now available at MadRatRubber, they have their own special page where I'll post them as they become available. Currently I have 5 different deals to choose from and no 2 have the same images, buy all 5 & get all different images buy 2 of the same bag & you'll end up with duplicates. The bags are made up of overstock images & you'll save at least 50% off the regular price. A great deal for someone who like surprises or who likes to be challenged by the unexpected.

While your browsing around the web site remember to check out the new images, all are cleverly marked New in blue. Usage of these new images are just about the only requirement for the MadRat Rubber Mania Challenge. I'm hosting this challenge in hopes that my customers will share their creations with me & the rest of the world. Prizes will be awarded so let me see what ya got!

RubberStampChat Virtual Convention

2008-04-28T16:11:00.009-06:00

Wow, I've been pretty busy for the past 3 weeks & it doesn't look like things will be easing up any time soon. The new rubber has come in & orders have gone out, that kept me busy for several days. Before that we started re-doing our bathroom, ripped out the old crappy toilet, heh, heh, the old vanity & the floor. I've since put down concrete board & am ready to start painting. In between the house stuff, I'll be adding some new sections & products to the website.

It's been so long since I've "blogged" I thought I'd pop over here to mention RubberStampChat's One Year Anniversary Virtual Convention. If you're unfamiliar with RSC, it's a forum created by Amy of Beeswax Rubber Stamps. She welcomes both stampers & rubber stamp business's. It's a good place to browse through galleries & ask questions about products & techniques. Right now there are 20 companies with various sales going on to celebrate the one year anniversary, most of the sales ends tonight so ya better hurry up & check it out. (I've already done my shopping)

For those of you who might want to participate in my MadRat Mania Challenge, this will be your last chance to pick up some of my new stamp images while they're on sale (15% off all rubber & a couple of the new images are close to being sold out!) All the new stamps are marked "New" & there are links on the MadRatRubber home page to the pages where the new images can be found. I also have some grab bags on sale as well, they have their own page. If ya like surpises check them out here, Grab Bags. Remember, It ends tonight at Midnight pacific time.

So, go check it out.

First ever MadRatRubber Mania challenge!

2008-04-07T13:45:00.018-06:00

I’ve been wanting to do something like this for a while now, so I thought it would be a good time to launch my very 1st challenge in conjunction with the release of 49 new images. The sale on these images ends on April 10th, so if you haven’t checked out the sale page yet & you want to participate in the challenge, you’ve got to go buy some stamps! You can always purchase them after the sale ends but ya might as well get’m on sale! Once I have the new images put into their proper categories on the web site, I’ll have the new stuff marked so you’ll know which ones apply to the challenge once the sale ends.

Here are the details,

This is an open challenge, all that I require is;

1.You must use at least 1 if not more, of my New images, (which means you have to have purchased the stamps from MadRatRubber)

2. You must agree to let me use a photo of your entry on my blog & in my MadRat Rubber Gallery. All copyrights/ownership of artwork remain with the creators and I can't be held responsible for any unauthorized copying or distribution of your images from either of my sites. Ya put stuff on the web & there's no controlling it! Submitting an entry into the challenge is your consent!

3. Entry must be received by May 30th 2008, yeah, I know, that’s along way off but the new rubber won’t be ready for mailing out until the last full week of April. And I don’t know about the rest of you but I like to have a little time to work on my projects!

Style, subject matter & media are totally open. I just want to see what you can do with my stamps! Feel free to combine your project with other challenges, if you do the Gothic Arch challenge, use some of my stamps & enter it here, working on an altered book? Send in a photo of the finished page where you’ve used my stamps. Like to stamp on fabric or in clay? Send me a photo of the finished piece; I don’t care what you make just as long as it incorporates at least one of my New stamp images purchased at MadRatRubber!

You do not have to send in your artwork, just make sure you send a good photo, if you have a blog, post your entry on your blog, let me know it’s there & I’ll come copy & paste it onto my blog, (with a link back to your blog). If you don’t have a blog, email your photo or point me to your online photo account. No more than 2 entries per person. If you enter something early on & decide you want to enter something else instead, let me know & I'll remove the previous entry & add the new one. I'll post all entries on this blog so everybody can participate in the Popular Vote Category. No anonymous voters, everyone will need to sign in with names, blog &/or contact info. I will be the sole judge for the 1st, 2nd & 3rd place prizes.
After the May 30th deadline, I'll open the popular vote for 2 weeks before announcing the prizes.

And Yes, here will be prizes!

1st place $50.00 in rubber credit
2nd place $35.00 in rubber credit
3rd place $20.00 in rubber credit
& the Popular Vote winner gets $25.00 rubber credits

Prizes are rubber credits @ MadRatRubber, meaning you’ll have a credit on the books for your prize amount, to be applied towards the purchase of rubber stamps. Shipping cost will be the responsibility of the winner.

I reserve the right to have complete control over this challenge, heh heh. I have no idea what kind of response I'll get to this so it may be extended if not enough people participate or I may have to move the deadline up if I get totally swamped!

Check out the sale now..

More website additions...

2008-03-30T16:22:00.016-06:00

More cool editions to MadRatRubber!

I found these great plastic people in three sizes & been having all kinds of ideas as to what to do with them. The very top photo is several of the tiny ones put into a small watch parts vial. They are about 3/4" tall and are about as detailed as the ones directly above. I like the idea of putting several in a jar to add to an asemblage. If one has really good eyesight they can be painted to look even more realistic.

The seated woman in photo #2 belongs to the larger group, she's the only one who gets to sit down. I've got three other styles of women & 2 styles of men. The standing figures are approx. 3" tall. These would be much easier to paint although I'd probably paint them either white or black then put a wash of color (either light or dark) to bring out the details. Course it all depends on the concepts you're workin on.

The group photo right above, are the mid size folks. The tallest are approx, 1 1/2" tall. These would be great added to just about any project. I could see them sewn to fabric pieces, attached to cards, embedded in gesso & added to paintings, altered books, etc. I haven't had a chance to play with them yet but when I do I'll post some photos.

These are all listed on the Glass, Acrylic & Plastics Page. I've also listed a bunch more Milagro sets on the Metals page but I've only got 2 or 3 of the doll part sets available so if you're interested, better get 'em while ya can.

While you're there, if you haven't checked out my Introductory Pre-Sale on the 49 new images, now's the time to do it. You'll save 25% off the new images but that special deal ends April 4th! You can reach that page from the links on the home page or from the link above.

New items for the website

2008-03-27T17:03:00.006-06:00

Just added some Milagro sets in the Metals section of MadRatRubber.
These have limited availability, especially the sets with the doll parts. There's only 1 of each set pictured. I'll be listing more, but if you see one you like ya better get it while you can.

My Pre-Sale is still going on, (see previuos post) if you're shopping the new images on the pre-sale page, feel free to buy some milagros, (or anything else) while you're there, just remember everything will ship out at the same time if on the same invoice. See the Pre-sale page for details.

Special Introductory Pre-Order Sale

2008-03-22T15:35:00.013-06:00

Whew! I just finished posting my Special Introductory Pre-Order Sale on my website, MadRatRubber.

I've been working on several new plates of images for the past several weeks, well, really it's been much longer than that, & I finally got them off to the engravers a couple days ago. The new images are, Alice in Wonderland, High Contrast Portraits, Vintage Signs and Decorative Borders & Frames.

I've had several Alice in Wonderland images for some time now, the gryphon, the dodo, the unicorn man & Alice holding the cake so I decided to round up the group so to speak and give them a category all their own. I hope to have the new section ready by the time the sale ends so I can put them in their proper place. The other 2 groups are high contrast images of people from old photographs & fine art paintings & Vintage Signs from my own photographs. 3 large ornate frames plus a number of borders brings the total of new images to 49.

The advantages of a pre-order sale are, you get to save 25% off the new rubber & I get a good idea of how many plates I need to order ahead of time. The down side is, ya have to wait a little while before ya get your rubber fix! But you know the saying, "good things come to those who wait", and for your paitience, I'll add a little lagniappe.

For those of you who haven't been by the website lately (or at all for that matter!) MadRatRubber's not just for rubber stamps. I've been adding a variety of items to my inventory for the past several years 'cause if most of you guys are like me, ya dabble in more than one medium and even like to mix'em up a bit. So swing by and wander around a bit, ya might find just what you need for that project you've been working on.

Space assemblages part II

2008-03-06T11:40:00.011-07:00

Distance

One Zero One

The Sun the Moon & the Stars

This is the 2nd group of 3 from the series. The one right above has a piece of plexi with the image of the columns stamped on it. There's about a 1/4" of space underneath so the image cast a little bit of a shadow behind it in the right lighting.
I've got one more in the works and will post it once it's finished.

Space assemblage project

2008-03-02T14:06:00.013-07:00

Rocket Man

Lost in Space

Major Tom

These are 3 pieces out of a series of 7 that I've been working on for the past year or so. I'm hoping to have the 7th one finished before too much longer. These aren't completely finished as they still need to be put under glass & framed. They're all shadow boxes approx. 2 " deep (tho some are a little deeper), which isn't easy to tell from the photos. The "Lost in Space" actually has two levels of depth to it. The assemblage arts yahoo group I belong to, recently had a series of conversations about how to refer to their artwork, needless to say I found it very interesting as I had been wondering that myself since these pieces are part collage, part painting & part assemblage. So I guess I came to the conclusion that I'd call them assemblages, since they are somewhat 3 dimensional. As another kinda qwinkydink, the new challenge for the group is to create, "a tribute to the future of the past", I'm not sure these quite fit but I think they're sure in the ball park.

The Pink Artist Project

2008-02-27T13:34:00.037-07:00

I've been working on these 2 squares for, "The Pink Artist" community art doll project for the last 2 or 3 weeks and just finished them up today. In a little bit, they'll be on their way to Monica @ Girl Gone Thread Wild. This is a project to raise money & awareness for breast cancer. The squares will be used in a skirt for an art doll, then auctioned off with the proceeds going to the Susan G Komen Foundation. My Mom beat breast cancer about 27 years ago so my squares are dedicated to her & my new niece Lily. I hope by the time she's old enough to have breasts, breast cancer will be a thing of the past. If you're unfamiliar with the project follow her link to learn all about it and see what the other participants have been making.

Fabric is not my usual forte, but I've always had a thing for it and occasionally do a little sewing. I've been working on a stuffed fish lately & if I ever get around to finishing it I'll post it for y'all to see. Since I've been working on these I've been getting lots of other ideas about what kind of projects I could do that incorporate fabric & thread.

This is the envelope that's carrying my squares to their destination. Thanks Monica.

If anyone out there's interested in Mail Art, check out the links, under Mail Art, (to the right & down a bit). I found the links courtesy of Jen Worden, she had a posting about Dale Roberts on her website, he's organizing a Mail Art show & the deadline is Sept. I plan on sending in something myself.

If anyone out there knows of any other Mail Art projects, I'd love to hear about them.

I've got mail..

2008-02-22T16:25:00.026-07:00

I decided to do some mail art for the winners of my OWOH drawing. It's something I've wanted to do since I saw an exhibit at the Albuquerque museum. They had a traveling show of mail art that, if I remember correctly, the Smithsonian Museum sponsored. I was wowed by the variety of work. I did 3 envelopes for the winners, 1 for Lisa O. who sponsored the "event" & a forth one for a Small Studio Productions mail art contest that I found out about through one of the yahoo groups I belong to. The 1 st one goes to Jo James of TheCartBeforeTheHorse, I blurred out or removed the address for privacy's sake. I used Basic Grey paper and stamps from MaVinci's Reliquary, Sunday Int & of course my own company,MadRatRubber.

The 2nd envelope goes to Merc @ FindingJimmie

The 3 rd envelope goes to Caryl @ CarylsRealm
The 4th envelope goes to Lisa O. of the OWOH event as thanks for organizing the whole shebang.

The 5th envelope is my entry into the"Empty Mail Box Contest", hope it gets there in time. And I hope they all get to their destinations in one piece!

This just in....

2008-02-15T18:30:00.009-07:00

3 new Ric Rac trims have just been added to the Ribbon page at MadRatRubber & are also available in my Etsy store.

Legends & Folklore of Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T11:34:00.007-07:00

We went out for breakfast this morning and there was an interesting article in the paper with some details of the legends and folklore of Valentine's Day. I think this would be great fodder for future Valentine's Day projects. I’ll paraphrase ….

As with most holidays there seems to be a variety of opinions as to the origin of this particular day. Some say it originated from a Saint Valentine who died on Feb 14th A.D. 269, which happened to be the same day that had been devoted to love lotteries. It's said that he left a note for the jailer’s daughter (whom he had affections for) and signed it, "From your Valentine". Apparently 227 years later, in A.D. 496 Pope Gelasius set aside Feb. 14th to honor St. Valentine.

It’s said that in ancient Rome, Feb 14th was a holiday to honor Juno, the Goddess of women and marriage. The following day, the 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia. Back in those days, boys and girls were kept strictly separated and the custom was to draw names on the eve of the Feast of Lupercalia. The girl’s names were written on strips of paper and placed in a jar and the young men would pick out a name. The pair would be partnered for the duration of the festival & if all went well they might have eventually married. This was probably the basis of the love lotteries mentioned earlier.

Other versions are that St. Valentine performed secret marriages against the wishes of Emperor Claudius II who had ordered an end to marriages because married men were reluctant to join his army. He was found out and jailed for defying the Emperor.

Now, here’s a few folk stories or traditions about how one might find the love of their lives.
In Wales, wooden love spoons were carved & given as gifts on Feb. 14th. Hearts, keys & keyholes were favorite symbols used as decorations on the spoons, meaning, "you unlock my heart".

The expression, "wear your heart on your sleeve" comes from a custom in the middle ages. Young men & women would draw names from a bowl (do you see a pattern here?) to see who their valentines would be. They would then wear the name on their sleeves for a week for all the world to see. So, "to wear your heart on your sleeve" means the world can easily see what you’re feeling.

Some people used to believe that if a woman saw a Robin flying overhead on Valentine’s Day, it meant she would marry a sailor, if she saw a sparrow, she would marry a poor man and be very happy. A goldfinch would mean she’d marry money! (Birds are another great source of symbolism)

This is one I actually remember from my childhood, twisting the stem of an apple while thinking of the names that one might want to marry. According to folklore, whichever name was thought of when the stem came off, was the one you would marry.

Pick a dandelion that has gone to seed & blow the seeds into the wind. The number of seeds left on the stem will indicate the number of children you’d have. Not sure what that has to do with finding true love. And apparently that had absolutely nothing to do with me, I use to blow those seed heads all the time and have got not one child to show for it, unless I count my cats. I’ve had quite a few of those. (My husband absolutely hates it when I blow the seeds on a dandelion, all he sees are more weeds, I see poetry.)

Cut an apple in half and count the seeds for the number of children in your future, again, what’s love got to do with it?

And lastly, there’s a custom that originated from a popular English belief that birds chose their mates on Feb 14th, so Valentine’s Day is called "the Birds Wedding Day" in parts of Sussex.
Ok, that’s all I’ve got for now. I don’t know how reliable all the info is as I’m only relying on the local rags article. I’ll have to do a little research on my own.

Have a nice Birds Wedding Day!

And the winners are...

2008-02-14T11:33:00.005-07:00

And the winners are… Jo James of TheCartBeforetheHorse & Merc of FindingJimMacinko & just for the hell of it I picked a 3rd name to recieve a surprise stamp, Caryl of CarylsRealm.

And for the rest of you...

I’d like to extend an invitation for everyone who dropped by for the OWOH Giveaway to visit MadRatRubber.com & save 15% off your first purchase. Think of it as a small consolation prize. Since not everyone could win the stamp giveaways, here’s your chance to pick ‘em up & save a little moola to boot! While you’re here, be sure to sign up for blog updates via email using the form in the right hand column. Once I get all my ducks in a row, I’d like to start offering challenges/contests for all who might be interested. So sign up & stay tuned…. Oh & the OWOH coupon is good till February 29th, all you need to do is mention OWOH (at check out or in a separate email) & I’ll take 15% off the subtotal of your first purchase & refund the difference via Paypal. Thanks to everyone who stopped by, I’ve now got a list of blogs a mile long to wander through!

Happy Valentines!

2008-02-13T15:18:00.003-07:00

Thought I'd post another photo of stamping outside the box.... literally. The stamped bits are under the cats feet, inside the framed areas at the bottom & the symbols on the donut circle pieces. All are stamps pressed into polymer clay, probably sculpy but could also be premo.
The actual box size is 4 x 4 x 8 ½ but add in the lids width & height & it’s more like 6 x 6 x 12 ¾”. For more info or to purchase this box visit MadRatStudio.Etsy

MadRat Rubber Introduction

2008-02-07T13:28:00.002-07:00

Thought I'd spend a few minutes on a brief introduction to my rubber stamp company, MadRatRubber. I started my little company 4 years ago (in May). Most of the images I have are vintage, I have a preference for images that are a little offbeat or quirky and I find that the artist of 75 + years ago had a knack for producing images that have a certain edge to them. An inherant quirkiness. One of my favorite artists is Sir John Tenniel whose best known works are illustrations for Alice in Wonderland. (I currently have a few of those images available & will be adding more soon.) But he also did lots of political cartoons and I've been adapting some of them as stamps. I have eclectic tastes and am always looking for images in a variety of subjects like science, nature, mythology, alphabets, architecture & design, etc., hell, it's probably easier to list styles or subjects I don't like. (I don't have many "cute" stamps, not that I have anything against cute, it's just I don't have much call to use 'em.) I try to select images that I can imagine someone using for any purpose whether it be for cards, altered books, collages, etc. My own work is with boxes, collage & assemblage so I lean towards images that I would use in those pursuits. I've also got a real desire to use stamps in paintings. I haven't done so as yet, (time is at such a premium lately.) but some day....

Anyway, MadRatRubber has grown from just offering unmounted stamps to now having wood mounted stamps available as well as collage sheets, mounting supplies, papers, ribbons, brass charms, etc. I love materials of all kinds so I've been adding a wide variety of them to my inventory. I think I can honestly say, I've got a little bit of something for just about everybody.

Right now I'm busy getting more images ready to be made into stamps and hope to have them ready in the next month or so. If you'd like to be kept up to date on new images, new inventory, sales, etc. Drop by MadRatRubber & join my mailing list or email me your address & I'll add it myself. (You could also add it to the comments section.) Hopefully, before too long, I'll be able to figure out how to add something to the blog that will allow folks to add their email to my list directly.

Here's an example of the uses I've found for some of the inventory I sell. The heart is a wood form, available in several shapes, The small heart in the opening is from a mold I made of my Target Heart Stamp, the head is from my Ladies Heads collage sheet, the arrows & bee from my Metals page, the rest is stuff I had in my studio. (hat from ArtChix & Heart Lock from SkyBluePink) For more info or to purchase "Fool for Love" visit MadRatStudio.Etsy

Now, back to work....

Options for mounting rubber stamps

2008-02-03T14:20:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are unfamiliar with why rubber stamps are sold as unmounted (um) here's a little tutorial on why this is & several options for mounting and using um stamps.

To begin with, rubber stamps usually came as wood mounted. But at some point, someone came up with the idea of offering them as unmounted. There are 3 main reasons for doing so.

First, um stamps can usually be bought for 1/2 the price of mounted. This is because it saves the seller the time, trouble & expense of having to mount them themselves. This is especially true for the smaller companies. (like me) And of course buying them at half the cost of mounted saves money & allows you/me, etc. to buy more stamps.

Second, using systems like EZ Mount, allows us to see where we're stamping (thru the clear acrylic mounts) so we can more accurately place our images. (a big plus)

Third, it's much easier to store lots of stamps without the added bulk of the wood mounts, as you only need a limited number of mounts because you can mount & remove the static cling mounted stamps over and over.

Them's the basics.
I'll now go into 3 ways of mounting stamps.

Wood mounting requires,
1. a wood mount, usually maple.
2. mounting foam, (I personally use the self stick kind, sticky on both sides)
3. a rubber stamp.

Peel off the white liner and stick the rubber stamp (image side up) to the foam. Then trim the excess foam from around the stamp. Requires a really sharp pair of scissors, or a scroll saw.

Peel off the brown liner paper and center it on the wood mount. It's best to index the wood first (indexing is stamping the image onto the wood as a reference) To do this you'll need to temporarily mount the stamp to something in order to stamp on the wood. Heh Heh, kind of a Catch-22, ya need to mount the stamp to index the stamp, ya need to mount. go figure ;-)

Pros & Cons of wood mounted.

Pro - they look cool, ready when ya need them & they can be stacked like building blocks.

Con - they take up more space and stamping with them requires finely tuned guesswork.

EZ Mount Static Cling Mounting, needs..

1. EZ Mount static cling foam. Sticky on one side static cling on the other. Liner paper on both sides.
2. clear acrylic mounts. Don't have to be "EZ" mounts, any thick plexi will work, even glass.
3. a rubber stamp

Same instructions as before, stick stamp (image side up) to adhesive side of EZ mount foam, trim to edge of stamp.

To use, peel off liner paper covering static cling side and stick to acrylic mount, press to make sure it sticks.

Pros & Cons of Static Cling

Pros - ya can see where your stamping, takes up less storage room & ya only need a handful of mounts for many different stamps.

Cons - if you don't take really good care of your stamps, the static cling side won't work so well. It also helps to keep your acrylic mounts clean & scratch free. I haven't tried it yet but I'd guess stamps that have lost their cling could be soaked in an adhesive release to remove the foam, then

replace it with fresh static cling foam.

You might want to experiment on a stamp you no longer use to see how the rubber will react to the adhesive release. Seems like I might've read somewhere that you could put it in the microwave for a short time to get the sticky foam to let go. (I wouldn't recommend doing this if you've already soaked it in adhesive release, you might start a fire!) Haven't tried this one either.

Ok, now for the quickest & easiest. You'll need an arcylic block & double stick tape. I use Scotch Removable Double Stick Tape

All that's required is to put a piece of tape on an acrylic block, slap a stamp to it & go. The tape holds the stamp well enough to use and removes cleanly when done. This particular tape, works very well, holds the stamp yet comes off cleanly when I need to replace it. You may need to stamp on a padded surface so the image prints well, (I used this system to print the G's in the photo above, with the paper on a smooth hard surface, worked just fine)

Pros & Cons

Pros - cheap, clean & easy. This is a good option if you're new to the "um stamp world" it's inexpensive to play with.

Cons - can't really think of any. Well, except for one. If you slap the tape on too carelessly, like hanging out past the rubber, you might distort your view of where you're stamping since the tape is not optically clear like the acrylic block.

That's it, I believe this is my longest post up to date. Hope I answered any questions you might have had. If not, feel free to ask in the comment section.

One World One Heart Giveaway

2008-02-02T17:53:00.000-07:00

What IS ONE World-ONE Heart?

It is a blog-wide giveaway event. The original idea behind this was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way. Last years event had nearly 100 participants and many connections were made because of it......friendships that are still going strong.

I came across this event in one of the yahoo groups I belong to and thought it would be a great idea for a fledgling blooger like moi! A great way to introduce my blog to "the world". Since I have a small rubber stamp company I thought I'd give away 2 prizes, the first is my Gothic Alphabet Set. It's upper & lower case & numbers 0-9 & Unmounted. (for reference, the caps are a 1/2 inch tall) The photo below is a sample of the capitol letters.

The second is my Glyph Set, also unmounted, a set of 12 mysterious symbols based on earlier forms of writing. The height on these is approx. 3/4".

To qualify for the drawing all you have to do is leave a comment to This post. Make sure you leave either an email or a blog so I can notify the winners. Drawing will close at Midnight in New Mexico on Feb 13. Winners will be notified via email on the 14th. Be sure to check out all the other blogs participating at
One World One Heart Event

Mermaid Box

2008-01-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

This is the second box for the Bathing Beauty show, it's the "Mermaid Box". I used the mermaid tail & renaissance head stamps from MadRatRubber. The wave stamp is the same one used on the other box. I stamped the figures on masonite then cut them out with my scrollsaw. The figure in the frame is actually floating on the painted background. The blue wavy texture is corregated paper. I have a stamp from 100 proof press that would create a similar pattern on polmer clay but the paper works great. The fish are attached by nails so they do move a little when the box is moved.. The sand below is stucco modeling paste with real shells embedded in it. For more info or to purchase this box visit MadRatStudio.Etsy.

2008-01-27T16:22:00.000-07:00

This is one of the first boxes I used a rubber stamp image on other than as a means of adding texture. The woman is from Sunday International. The other stamps I used are the wave pattern border pressed into polymer clay & a small paramecium stamp that I sell at MadRatRubber, (the pattern on the bathing suit) The title of the box is "Paradise" and is one of 2 I did for a "Bathing Beauty" show at the gallery where I show my work. For more info or to purchase this box visit MadRatStudio@Etsy

As the Crow Flies

2008-01-25T17:12:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the inaugural launch of my blog. After much consideration and at least one false start, I've decided to try my hand at blogging. I haven't mapped out this little adventure so I'm not quite sure where I'm going with it. I'm going to "play it by ear", (a phrase I often heard as a child)

So, I think a brief introduction is in order,
I live with my husband & 5 cats in a small town in central New Mexico. I have a BFA from long ago that I've never really done anything with. I worked as a custom picture framer since I left the fertile, creative grounds of collage, working on my artwork when time &/or money permitted. When I got married a couple of years ago, I quit my job to move to a small town where my husband was employed. I'd often thought about having my own little business so I would have the time to pursue my creative urges. And with the help of my trusty computer, I built my first website MadRat Studio.

MadRat Studio is a catch all for my various creative endeavors. Photography was my first love but I quickly found I was also drawn to painting, woodworking, jewelry and collage. I also have a thing for fabrics & try my hand at sewing every now and again. I guess when I get right down to it I just really love various materials. (I've collected stuff for years with the intent of making something with it) Once I had my "art" site set up, I turned my attentions to starting a web based business that I could run from home. I combined my love of art with my interest in collecting and came up with WildDesertHare, a small gallery of functional & decorative arts. I don't get the kind of traffic I'd hoped for so I haven't been able to really develop it as well as I'd have liked. My budget can be described as shoestring, at best.

I was surfing the net when I rediscovered rubber stamps. I had an eureka moment when I realized I could use stamps to create multiple images on the boxes I make. I also discovered all the really creative things people where doing with them. There was a whole bunch of folks out there using stamps. I did a little research & decided to start my own little company, MadRatRubber. Most of the images I carry are vintage and a little quirky, others are from my own drawings but I've had little time to do many original images so far. I've since expanded my inventory to include anything I can see being used to create art. I also expanded my web presence by adding 2 shops, MadRatStudio.Etsy & MadRatMiscellanea.Etsy. The former is where my artwork can be bought & the later is where I sell materials for the mixed-media artist.

Well ok, I guess that's a start, until next time....