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!