The Magic Mailbox: Postcards & Ephemera

Yesterday was an good mail day!

Teresa Robinson and I decided to do a postcard exchange and this is the one she sent to me. She's been working on an index card a day for some time now. You can see some of them here.

I love how the message is so serendipidous. I'm going to hang it on my inspiration board behind my desk so I can read it often! I like the part about being of service (the foundation of my life) and becoming "an evergrowing channel for the light". I've talked about luminaries several times here on my blog. It's a theme that comes up over and over in my life.

This was the stamp on the envelope Teresa sent. I am a fan of unusually shaped postage. I'll be keeping this! I'm going to peel it off carefully and put it in my journal.

The second piece of mail was a package from Jessica. A couple weeks ago, Janice of Papier Valise and Janine of Uppercase Magazine hosted a Paper Stampede in Calgary, Alberta. I emailed Jessica to tell her about it (talk about enabling!) and the lucky duck went. There were all kinds of amazing goodies to be had and she very generously sent me some of her purchases! Have a look see:

Fabric ribbons with numbers & x's and o's, a  matchbook style package of 5c hardware store tags, a foxy "Got Craft" button for my button collection, bird book pages...

...a copy of Wordbasket from 1978 (they always have the most amusing ads), a packet of 90 joss papers...

..charming letter press postcards...

...Canadiana postcards...

...two packets chock full of emphemeral goodness...

(the reverse of both packets)

I was absolutely delighted to find vintage medical labels, which I collect inside, along with some really cool film canister labels! There was so much amazing stuff to add to my journals.

And then there was this: a Canadian Land Inventory map from 1971, the year I was born. I have an affinity for old maps, especially those from Canada. I opened it up to find this:

The colours are actually more vibrant than they appear in this photo. I was delighted! I have several ideas of what I'd like to use this for. I'm going to colour copy it-it's just too amazing to cut up!

Thank you sweet friends for such a great mail day! I loved everything and can't wait to play in the studio over the long weekend. Your timing was perfect!

Magic Mailbox: Petite Box Swap

Goodies have been arriving in the magic mailbox again-the returns from the Petite Box Swap. This one was From my partner Nicole. (I realize I photographed it upside down, after the fact. Whoops!) Anyway, it was crammed full of fun goodies.

Nicole sent wonderful ephemera, washi tape, fibres and buttons for me to play with. I think some of it will become a part of my latest ROD journal. I loved everything she sent.

Remember this box I made for swap hostess Heather? Well somehow the envelope I sent it in arrived at her home EMPTY. ARGH!! Yes indeed, somehow the contents were "lost" in transit. What I think happened is that someone got sticky fingers. I was so annoyed, but I didn't want Heather to be empty handed, so I made another box for her.

This is box #2 for Heather. I made the paper from cuttings taken from art magazines and stitching them together on my sewing machine. I added some hand dyed silk ribbon and a vintage flower button. I love the way it worked out and I am pleased with a new way of recycling and repurposing my old magazines. The magazines aren't cheap, so finding new ways of using them makes me feel like I am getting my money's worth. I also make envelopes out of them.

This is a the back of the box. It was worth the do-over I think.

While I was working on box #2, Heather's box for me showed up. Isn't this adorable? I actually saw these type of mushrooms in the wild last October while I was on my 20th Anniversary trip. The tops were as large as my husband's hand. They were very fairytale.

Look at all the yummy red and aqua goodies inside! MMM! So inspiring! I am thinking I might want to make an ROD just working with this colour pallet. That could be fun.

There's one more box in transit that I'm waiting for. This was alot of fun and I will definitely do it again. If you want to see more boxes, there's a Flickr group with tons of photos.

Altered File Folders

One great thing about using Google Reader is that it keeps me stocked up on eyecandy all day long. I have my browser set with the Google Reader as the dashboard, so whenever I open the browser, I have a pile of updated art blog links waiting for me.

One of those blogs belongs to Roben-Marie, whom I met via MaryAnn Moss' ROD class. Roben is always busy creating something new and lately, I've been watching as she keeps posting altered file folders to her blog. It looked like fun, so I emailed her and asked if she'd be up to swapping. She said yes.

So all these little photos are of small sections of the file folder I made yesterday. I love taking the camera and using the macro feature to zoom in on small sections of a larger piece. It gives you a different perspective of your work.

Remember that Tim Holtz tissue tape I mentioned in my last post? Well I tried it out on the file folder and as you can see, it blends seamlessly. The adhesion is excellent, even over Caren D'Arche water soluble pastels, gesso, matte medium and acrylics.


I also added a colour copy of an ATC I made some time ago and another on the front of a cone flower that I took in our garden. I like to colour copy my art so I can use the images over and over again in different ways.


I also plunked the folder down and randomly stitched all over it with my sewing machine, which was fun.

I added some white pen as well. Thing is, I am STILL on a quest for a good white pen that will WORK over top of a variety of mediums. I've tried all kinds of white gel pens and two types of Sakura pens-a gelly type one and then a permapaque. ALL of them are a dismal failure. They will write for about 2 seconds and then give up the ghost. (As evidenced by what you see above.) Either the tip gets gummed up (even when the piece I am writing on is dry) or they just refuse to work. I store them correctly and everything. They'll write on paper, but never on my work, no matter how new they are *sigh*

If anyone knows of a foolproof white pen, please let know! I would love to get my hands on a Sharpie white poster paint marker too, but so far haven't seen them for sale here in Canada.

I love the colour of this section.

Aren't the shapes of these numbers great? That was a $2 stamp from Daiso!

So here's the back of the whole thing...

And the front. (The yellow Post-it notes are covering up our addresses.)
I've filled it with all kinds of ephemera and stapled it shut so when Roben gets it, she can just remove the staples and reuse the folder. I stitched around the outside, which I think finishes it nicely.

It was alot of fun and a great exercise if you're not feeling particularly creative. You can just slap some paper down and go for it-there's really no wrong way of doing it and you can add whatever you want-paints, stamps, ephemera. It's a good way to use up scraps left from other projects.

I still have a couple more issues of Manual Dexterity Issue #1 left. I plan to list the remaining copies on my Etsy over the weekend, so if you want a copy, please email me soon! Purchasing info is here.

Faye, a Tattered Edge reader had this to say:

"I received my copy of the Manual Dexterity Zine today and it is to love! I've been on the run and just had time to look quickly at each page. I'll go back later and enjoy it all. Thanks so much for making it available and I hope you do the same with #2."

and then later emailed back with:

"I've had time now to read every word and enjoy your beautiful art and am looking forward to the next one."

Thanks Faye! I am so pleased you're enjoying it! Issue #2 is in the works and should be available for purchase in late August/early September. I'll be announcing it here, so keep your eyes peeled!

All Hail The Magic Mail Box!

So this cool envie just arrived from my friend Maria Lamb.

I knew it would hold something really good, I just didn't know what!
Finding art in my magic mail box is very happy-making.

Inside was a handmade book. This is the cover, made from a vintage pattern. (I *love* old sewing ephemera!)

Inside the cover, she'd sew envelopes she'd made from old wallpaper samples.

Inside each envelope, she'd tucked a whole pile of wonderful ephemera. The orange book you see here is a notebook from the Farmers' Fertilizer Works. The inside cover cracks me up. It says:

"Everybody should carry something about his person giving his name and address and stating whom he desires to have notified in case of serious accident."

Then it has a line for the name and address and then "in case of serious accident to me" and a line below that to list who you'd like to have called.

Here's the contents of the next envelope. Vintage postcards, a stamp save card, bingo card and a bunch of wee pieces of ephemera in a glassine envelope.

And still more art fodder!

Maria also included some of her art-some ATCs, some postcards, (she does the most wonderful dog portraits!) her business card...

...and a colouring book with line drawings she made. FUN!

THANK YOU Maria! That was a wonderful surprise! I look forward to using all this amazing stuff in my projects!