Rubber Road Aventures Paper Arts & Mixed Media Design Team

   I am a Mixed Media Artist registered with the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma where my family originated.  I am an Arizona native and reside in Phoenix with 4 canine kids and Skipper, a Macaw exotic bird. I was born in Phoenix in 1951, yet, also, raised in the backwoods of Prescott National Forest area of Prescott, AZ. I may be a big city girl, but my heart is always in the rural country where I will eventually reside one day.  I have one grown daughter, Mona, age 34, who shares the love of art processes. I have traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada.
    I am a professional designer/writer/poet and have highly enjoyed presenting my published works with other on-line magazines in the past. My tips have been published in Vamp Stamp News. In addition, I teach a variety of private classes and workshops in the arts.
   Growing up, I was always involved in art and music. My background in music focused on playing the piano since the age of 8. My favorite art mediums have been colored pencils, acrylic or watercolor paint, and rubber stamps as far back as I can remember. Throughout the years, I have been involved with current craft trends. Later on in life, I spent 6 years as an Art Director for the Boys & Girls Club, which was a rewarding experience.   I have owned and operated an Arts & Crafts retail store as well. Art has definitely been the #1 love in my life!
   In art endeavors, I am basically self~taught. Being hearing impaired, I study art processes by books or experimenting and sketching out novel ideas on my own. Being inventive, I like creating new art techniques and designs.  As for my background, I earned a degree in art later on in life, a teaching certificate in ceramics, and 2 advanced diplomas in the floral industry. My other artistic delights include Decorative Painting on a variety of surfaces (if it doesn’t move…paint it!), beadery & jewelry, altered art, collage, ceramics, polymer clay, fiber art, and occasionally wood burning or leather crafts. All these categories blend well with the rubber stamping processes. In addition, I demonstrate a passion for product testing and conducting product reviews. I have a home studio and another room called the Beading Parlor.  A professional size ceramic kiln and related items are part of the art scenario.

I invite you to join us on any of my Yahoo Groups co-owned with Bea Rosenleaf, my partner in art grime. You will find fun & adventure on the RubberRoad, an international companion group to this magazine sharing projects & techniques. TacArtScans is another fun group for sharing art ideas using TAC rubber stamps & supplies. MerryMakers is a Christmas Group for creating ornaments, holiday projects, cards, recipes, and pressies year-round. Christmas is my favorite time of the year, and I love to design Christmas Ornies almost 24/7. This has been a tradition for me since my teens.

With dedication to the art industry, I am extremely pleased to present to you:

Bea Rosenleaf
Publisher/Webmaster/Designer
Rubber Road Adventures

    Seems like my whole life I've been a crafter of some sort! My mother and grandmother taught me to sew and crochet at a young age. Both my parents were artistic and I grew up learning about art in one form or another. As I grew up, I added more and more crafts to my repertoire, never really knowing where I would go with them. While raising my family I never had time for crafts.
    My big return to crafts was when I bought a new sewing machine with built in embroidery capabilities. A whole new world opened up to me and I found myself designing and making my own patterns and designs. That led to learning how to quilt. I fell in love with color and found that coordinating colors for quilts was both a challenge and a very satisfying past time. Oddly enough, that led to thinking about adding paint to fabric with a stamp, from that point there was no turning back on the possibilities that opened up to me. And that all led to the creation of my business Running Bare Designs.
    I work with all types of stamps and mediums to create my artwork. I am currently exploring how I can include my photography into my artwork. I hope to be able to share that with you!
    Every technique I have learned has been through self-exploration and research on the world wide web. I love to play with color, mixed media and every technique I can find! I have found, through my love of crafting and learning, that teaching the skills I acquire is the most rewarding of all things I do.
    I was so thrilled when Elizabeth asked me to join Rubber Road Adventures as Designer, Webmaster and Co-Publisher. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be doing something like this! What a ride this is going to be! Thanks for including me, Elizabeth, and giving me the opportunity to spread my wings and soar to new heights. I hope you all will join me in the adventure!

Stephanie Loomis

I am an accidental artist.

My drawings were never fit for classroom walls. I got a “C” in 7th grade ceramics (don’t ask how ugly was my ashtray.) I did tweak out a good grade in metal shop (and I still have the brass candle holder I made there!) I skipped art entirely in high school, and in college gave up on graphic arts and opted for journalism.
Photography was always fun, but a good photograph wasn’t art, was it?
So, how is it that I come to call myself an artist?
It began sometime in the mid 90s when I attended a rubber stamp party. This was early enough in the industry that this particular home party based company actually offered foam mounted stamps. I bought a couple of stamp sets and promptly forgot about them. I mean, how much could one do with a couple of stamps? The stamps languished while I had children (three girls), started teaching high school (English and Theatre Arts), and generally put thoughts of “art” out of my head. I still dabbled in photography, winning awards at the county fair, and baking, which is an art unto itself.
In 2001 I rediscovered stamping, which led to a realization that the images were a beginning—not an ending to art. Over the next years I experimented with all kinds of media (except drawing—I still can’t draw!) I love to explore all kinds of expressive art. Mixed media, rubber stamping, card-making, canvas work, jewelry crafting, and photography all blend together to make me the accidental artist that I am.

Away from the studio, I am passionate about my family, my greyhounds (and greyhound rescue), music, and teaching. Church is a central part of my life, and I enjoy tennis and walking and just BEING. Life is good, and I am blessed.