Mad About Making Booklets

Doesn't this just look delicious?
Airmail? Postal colors?Airmail washi clips? a lovely jumble of colors?
I'm mad about making little booklets.....

Here they are all spread out...which ones should I keep and which ones should I give away?
Hard to decide.
I usually want to keep everything I make but my higher self manages to rise above that and I do share.

Some inside pages -- I used security papers, mailing envelopes, postal forms,
red vellum, colored paper from Scrap .....

...and some pages from a postal history catalog I had sitting around...It is really fun to put these booklets together using ephemera you have sitting around.

I'm just an open book....

I have already popped a bunch of booklets into various envelopes and sent them on their way...

PIE booklet
This one is for Karen who just loves to make (and eat) pie.

Inside the pie booklet....(I wish Karen would mail me a pie).

A vintage Vancouver, BC postcard became a little booklet for someone who lives there...

National Postal Museum postcards are folded in half to make some postally themed booklets..

Here's another...

I re-used some postal forms that had been left for me...missed delivery, etc

These two lovely (?) Senoritas went to KSP and MW...the covers are postcard from a vintage Mexican Postcards show here in SF. Couldn't let those ladies go to waste, could I?

Inside pages...

To make the booklets: Pick up interesting postcards of various sizes in your travels around your town.
Fold them in half, measure and cut pages  to fit inside. Staple together on the spine.
Decorate with labels and rubber stamps. And there you are!

I like making them in themes, as you can see -- postal, pie making, etc
I think it would be wonderful to make them using ephemera about where you live. I'm going to make a San Francisco booklet.
And I'd love to get booklets from wherever you live so if anyone wants to send me any feel free to do it!

OUTGOING MAIL
I had a lot of outgoing mail this week as always....but I am running out of room today so I'll just show you these.

If you follow Cappuccino And Art using Google reader, remember it is shutting down very soon.
I switched my blog reading to Feedly.

So, are you inspired to cut and staple? I hope so -- it is a lot of fun.
I have been working on lots more projects -- and I'll show you some of them next post.

Making Postal ATC's too -- anyone want to trade?

They Let Me Out of the Studio

Sometimes you just need to take a break.....and go "thrifting"....
or, in this case, to SCRAP.
I wandered around for a while and didn't think it was going to be a good day for treasures at Scrap but I was so wrong.
Found these old gold foil lettersets -- I had these when I was a kid.

Rolls of stickers called out to me -- love those big, red bordered postal stickers...
and this book was on the FREE shelf.
Yes, I think I would like it. In fact, I would have paid for it -- but don't tell.

I mean, just look at these pages, can you picture handmade envelopes?

Mail art?
I think so........let the tearing begin...

And I got a pack of air mail envelopes and when I opened it at home there were LAX notecards inside too.

Letters!! Numbers!! Stick on!! Bring them on. (I should have bought more to share).

Another FREE find. I almost passed this pack by until I realized.....

.....the giant tags were not printed and they came with matching envelopes and ribbons...
Mail art purposes? Yes, I think so..

These folders were also free and since I am obsessed with making little booklets I figure these will work fine as covers (when I re-decorate them). You'll see.
Next post I will show you all the little booklets I've been making and mailing out.

The whole bag full  of stuff was $10.

OUTGOING
I've been busy making mail art too -- here is a little Show & Tell.

OUTGOING
Snail mail! (Snail Mail artistamps made by Mike Dickau.) He very generously sent me a sheet
and when I saw this foodie article on escargot I had to put two and two together. The woman working at the Post Office thought the snail mail was great and she hand-cancelled all the stamps for me. Even the artistamps. Let's hear it for cool postal workers!

OUTGOING
I still love vellum. (In fact, these vellum envelopes are from  another trip to SCRAP a while ago)

Little booklet
Sneak preview of one of the booklets. Next time I will show you a whole bunch of them.
I'm obsessed.
Cutting, pasting, tearing, folding -- can't think of anything much better to do.

What's everybody out there working on?
Oh, and I have an idea for a swap too. Next time.

Send good mail -- Get good mail

Life As I Know It

Outgoing Mail -- Popcorn!
I didn't send the jar of popcorn but I did send popcorn mail to a movie loving pal.

OUTGOING MAIL
A box of treats for a very special person and a bunch of handmade postcards. I was pleased with the way the typewriter postcard came out.

The Studio -- yes, it is a mess. Storing large sheets of paper and book tape isn't easy...
I had to drag everything out to decide what papers and tape to use to make the album for my Turkey/Italy photos....

I decided on these -- you like them? Upper left is the book fabric and the red flowers are for the cover
and inside is the other design. The two papers reminded me of both Italy and Istanbul. Both places has similar motif in papers and fabric.

Ready to start cutting -- gulp! You all know the rule, measure twice, cut once....

All finished -- except for drilling the holes for the screws to hold the whole thing together.
And then I get to start pasting ALL those photos into the album.
There has been a whole lot of photo editing going on around here.

After that rather large project, i opted for a smaller one. I had a little booklet sitting around that I altered to make a little NYC booklet. I'm trying to use all the ephemera from all my travels and make things!

I'll show you just a few pages from the little book.....

I love maps....

NYC Booklet
Always so much to do there...

I used to go to Chock Full o' Nuts way back in the day...and sit at the counter and have coffee and grilled corn muffins. We called it "Chock Full" and nary a Starbucks was in sight. Or even heard of.....

OUTGOING MAIL
Worked in my studio a long time on Sunday and got quite a few things done and ready to mail out...

OUTGOING MAIL
Loving those old yearbook pages. No, they are not mine....a little before my time.

OUTGOING MAIL
Altered an old folding postcard I had been saving for a friend who is from - you guess it - Riverside California.

OUTGOING
But the inside looks a bit different now -- I took out the postcards and collaged inside and tucked in a little booklet I made and a letter in a tiny red envelope.
I hope he likes it.

In fact, I have really been on a roll making lots of various little themed booklets to send out.
I'll show you next time!
It's been fun working on albums and booklets and collages and mail but
I am on jury duty this week so I don't know how much I will get done.
It depends on if I get hauled in to the courthouse.

What's everybody else working on these lovely Spring days?