The first two cards are in the April/May 2006 issue of The Rubber Stamper magazine. This was my 2nd time submitting cards to them and they finally found a few they liked.  Yay!  I'm quite excited, to say the least.  I thought I would share these cards with others.

They were published in their editorial section, along with some comments of mine as to why none of my cards use eyelets, brads, corner punches and other popular methods (I don't have the strength in my hands due to tendonitis).  I also said I don't like using what I call froo-froo on my cards as I feel they detract from the main image (ribbons, bows and stuff like that) and how many of my friends that had seen their magazine felt the same way.

This is the card I sent out this past Christmas.  The image is of three Siamese cats (it's called Wise Siamese), which is a take off of the 3 Wise Men.  Each has a gift dangling from their mouths - a mouse, a bird and a fish.  I colored in the headgear, collars and gifts with the same Gelly Roll pens used in the NW card. The image is stamped on a cream color cardstock and then layered onto a dark grey paper. And then that paper is attached to a lighter grey cardstock, at an angle.  (The paper has sparkles in it, which show up in the photos as a pebbly look, plus it was enclosed in a clear plastic protective envelope, which probably reflects some light back to the viewer.)

I decided to send them that Xmas card, as of all the cards I've sent out over the years, that was the one that has generated the most comments from the recipients.  When I was trying to decide how to put it together, I decided to go with non-traditional Xmas colors and focused on the grey color of the mouse.  I was thrilled they decided to publish that card, although I thought they would use it closer to Xmas, if they used it at all.  So, I was very surprised to see it in the editorial section.

This card shows an image of downtown Seattle, along with the now destroyed Kingdome (this is an older stamp of mine) and rhodies in the foreground.  I had colored in the Kingdome and a seagull with a grey gel pen and the rhodies with a pinkish/purple color and the centers with purple gel pens.  And leaves in green, of course.  I cut out that image and attached it to the card with sticky photo corners that I had colored in with a purple marker. 

Following are cards that were submitted at the same time.  Some of them were kept by the magazine for further consideration on being published. I don't know if they'll be published or not.  I'll list which cards they held back.

The Big Cats (top right), where I colored in everything but the cats
Egyptian (lower left)
Heron (lower right); the inside of the image is filled with different animals and images. Great fun to color in, but this time around I "spot lighted" one area by stamping it with a different colored ink and then coloring in the sun. The background is a very lacy, open patterned mulberry paper.

Update:  In the October issue of The Rubber Stamper the Egyptian themed card was published on page 89, in their Cards from Readers section!  Naturally I was quite thrilled over it.  Months ago they had asked how I made the card, so every issue that came would be quickly flipped through to see if it had been published.  Yay!

The top two cards were held back.
The one on the left, with the zebras surprised me.  I don't know if they will publish it as it might look weird in their camera. The blue lines in the zebra image come from this paper where the lines are really close together, running up and down.  A piece of plastic film that has ridges on it make the blue lines move as you move the card around. It's very hard to describe, but if you got one of these cards from me, you'll know what I mean.  The sticker on the bottom is a puffy sticker of a zebra mare and foal.  I do not know where I got them and if anyone sees them for sale, grab all of them and tell me how much I owe ya!  Yeah, I want more!
The card next to it is the one I call Dancing Horses.  They have an upcoming color theme of black and lavender, so I thought I would give it a try. I've always loved this image and I thought it looked very elegant in this color combination.

They didn't like these kitty card enough to hold them back (well, the Xmas one was published!).  Dirk thinks the humor of the top left wasn't up to their standards (showing a cat in the cat box).  The Siamese one next to it uses part of a decorative napkin, which I thought made it very unique.
Oh well, I like 'em and that's what counts the most, right?  Right!

They held back the Haunted House card, which is one I made years ago. 
The Orca is designed by the same gal that did the Heron image above.  In this card I colored in all of the images inside.  I like coloring in the images, so her stamps are great fun to play with.

Unfortunately The Rubber Stamper magazine has gone out of business. They were bought by another company and some of their articles were incorporated into another magazine that has crafting stuff in there that I have absolutely no interest in.  Needless to say, this avid stamper is majorly disappointed and then some.  I got a refund for the remainder of my subscription and applied it to another magazine.  Which still doesn't compare in quality and subject matter as TRS.

updated 1/18/08