Catch Up!

Outgoing:
The LA Mail Art set
What can I say? I'm inspired by travel
and ephemera.

Outgoing

My studio
Mail Art  to-be-answered sitting on the couch
and a fabulous Sharon Beals nest photo on the floor
(don't ask)

A little display of some of my favorite incoming mail.

(More) Outgoing
Man, going away for a few days and then celebrating the long weekend (just past) with various parties
is really making me hustle to catch up on my correspondence.
Some of you may find little surprises inside.

And, speaking of "correspondence", the lovely
Miss Red Letter Day Jennie H has started a brand new
Correspondence Club here in SF. First meeting was last week
and way too much fun. Watch her Red Letter Day blog for details.

I'm always good for a random food photo (as you have most likely noticed).
This was at a great Memorial Day party hosted by some pals.

Thanks to all who sent incoming.
Always much appreciated. A little mail art arrived from Brazil and some
from Russia. So cool.

Keep those letters coming, people!

Happy start of summer.
Write some letters.

Just My Type!

Just my type -- saw lots of old typewriters in LA over the weekend.

Loved the look of the red and black ribbons
(even though I don't think that made the typewriters very happy).

Very stylish!

After the typewriters, a visit to the Getty Museum.
Really wonderful place to look at art, walk in the garden (here) and sit in the courtyards.
No mail art shows but lots of other great stuff to to look at.
And I love those trees.

Time for a drink?

Or maybe lunch?
I highly recommend El Pollo Loco and Zankou Chicken if you are in the
City of Angels.

Hummmmm......movie star maps.....might be good for mail art purposes.

And a Thai newspaper has possibilities.

An Amoeba bag carried home loads of paper mail art supplies.

Postcards, menus, maps, business cards...all kinds of good stuff to make
Los Angeles Mail Art .
I better get started right away.
(Too busy having fun to make mail art in LA but I did alter some
vintage postcards I found and mail them out).

And I rolled into SF and found all this mail waiting for me! Thanks to all the lovely
people who sent me mail.
Now I must get busy and work on sending mail back to you.

I have loads more Los Angeles photos I can share if any of you are interested in seeing more
so please let me know in your comments.

I tried to photograph some cool LA mailboxes but it is pretty difficult when you are driving all the time.

Send good mail -- Get good mail!

Mail Bag

Old letters -- aren't they wonderful?
Facebook and email and twitter cannot replace the loveliness
of real mail.

Par Avion

Taking it on the road -- the mailart kit
in my favorite color
chartreuse 

Inside are stamps, stickers, dater, some vintage postcards, scissors, tape, pens.

LaLa Land -- the land of cars and freeways and pink poodles and movie stars.
(And fabulous restaurants, great farmers markets, good pals)

Mail hasn't been as good as usual lately so I had to place a little Etsy order to cheer up my mailbox.

My wildly talented pal, Barbara Wyeth, makes incredible portraits  (I like to call them) of flowers.
I am so lucky to have gotten these in the mail.
(You can buy them at RedBubble.com)

Red Bubble

Here's a letter I got from the wonderful writer
MFK Fisher.

Some very cool incoming mail.

Two more arrived today.
Ok, so you don't feel too sorry for me.

Outgoing
from me!

OK, folks.
Thanks to the three new followers.
And thanks for mail received and comments posted.



Oh--and look at this--
Thanks Annie and Carolee


Good Mail Day

A Quick One

Went to the Printer's Fair last weekend here in SF and (of course) my
favorite table was the one graced by the lovely
Miss Red Letter Day herself.

I'm sure you all know her wonderful blog but if not just click the link below

Everyday Should Be A Red Letter Day

I spent most of my money right here - Jennie has all kinds of wonderful postal related
items.
This was my first time at the Printer's Fair and it won't be my last - there were all kinds
of wonderful handmade works -- letterpress, zines, ephemera, marbled papers, altered books.
Really wonderful to see so many talented people.

And here is Eli Noyes, the designer of the new and really wonderful set of
"Green Stamps".
As it turns out, he is a neighbor of mine and I photographed him for
the newspaper I work for.
Here he is holding a set of the stamps he designed.

Check out the article and photo by clicking below.

Artist Makes His Mark on Stamps

I noticed the Green stamps were sold out at our neighborhood post office.
I guess there was a run on them after people read our article.

Ok, folks.
Not the greatest week for Incoming. You all know my mailbox needs a lot
of mail to be happy.
Thanks to Bruno in Brasil,  Shilita, Millicent, Mim!
Photos next time.

Happy Mail Everyone!

Mail Art Address Book

I made myself a mail-art only address book.
I give little workshops in my studio on how to make altered books,
photo albums, scrapbooks, etc.
For the address book, I used a very ugly and inexpensive address
book (think Dollar Store).
First thing, paint the spine a color that will coordinate with the paper you want to use.

Cut some cool paper down to cover the front and back covers
of the book.

As I always tell my students, if you can wrap a present,
you can wrap a book.

After glueing the front and the inside covers, cover each section you used with
a sheet of waxed paper and put a bunch of heavy books
on top (preferably overnight) to press.

Ta da! The book is almost finished.

Here's the really fun part - get out your stickers, dots, labels,
cancelled stamps and rubber stamps and decorate inside the book.

I am trying to show a little restraint and not get too carried away
decorating my pages.
I have found having an address book for mail art only very helpful. Some
folks don't put their return addresses on mail and I hated having to go back
and sort through a bunch of old envelopes to find an address.
And, the book is also a record of everyone I have written to,
a mail diary.

Some of today's outgoing!
Got my first mail ever from Sri Lanka and one of these is going
out to Sara.

Mail -- sweet, isn't it?

Hope you enjoy the tour of covering an address book.
I am thinking I will have a give-away when I hit
101 followers and give one away.

Thanks to all of you who have sent me mail the last couple of weeks. My "Incoming" shot
wasn't too good so I left it off but I loved everything
that came to my mailbox.

Happy Mail Day.

This just in.....

Stranger things have happened
(I guess)
but this bowl from Superhero arrived on my front steps
without a single chip or scratch.

Click here to check out Superhero's project -

I'm a Superhero on IUOMA

A colorful envelope from Dos Fishes and that bowl again (I can't get over it). Sometimes the USPS outdoes itself -- and other times? Not so much.
I haven't received a letter mailed to me from Boston ten days ago and the envelope Mim sent me with French stamps inside never was delivered either. What gives?


(Right after I posted this, Mim emailed and said she wrote the wrong address on her envelope to me and she is re-sending. That clears up the mystery of one of the missing letters anyway.)

Typewriters all over town these days

A few going out from me....

Another typewriter spotted

Outgoing today - Fast Eyes is getting some fast eyes.......

A stop for some Vietnamese pho

Are these mailboxes colorful or just sad?
You decide.

Welcome and thanks to the new "Followers" and all of you have have been leaving comments and encouragement. Much appreciated.

Make some good mail today.