Mail Art Meet-Up

First mail art meet-up of the new year and a brand new artistamp in my passport!

Nothing beats a nice Sunday afternoon hanging out with the mail art crowd -- doing some cutting & pasting, some  (ok, a lot) socializing and seeing some fabulous show & tell.

The fabulous Miss Red Letter Day created the atristamp and was very dedicated in sticking them in all our passports.
I'm sure you all know about her blog but just in case someone out there reading this hasn't seen it, be sure to click that link.  She is the best! She posts when her upcoming classes are
and the SF Correspondence dates -- I'm just sayin' -- in case you are going to make a trip to SF -- you are welcome to join in the mail art fun.

We like to bring some Show and Tell to each meeting for eye candy and inspiration -- Tofu brought this fabulous piece made by Tough City Writer Adrienne Mason.
The fabulous book of collages was passed around the room and appreciated by all.
The photo doesn't do it justice. An accordion book with collages on each page -- beautiful!

Another incredible piece of work by JW of San Francisco -- an entire book of hand-stamped pages -- was a gift for one of our co-op members, SW.
Now THAT is what I'd call a birthday gift. Really wonderful. 

GinaVisione brought her pen case and let us test out her very fun (cheap) fountain pen collection.
Of course I found one I want. She also told us about the website
Jet Pens
where she buys them. Check it out -- a great resource for cheap fountains.

Of course, I brought my supplies -- address book, datebook, etc -- it is hard for me to sit still without doing anything.....

We had a special guest -- a woman who works at a post office -- she is one of the good postal workers! She answered some questions for us and brought a whole stack of the USPS templates for figuring out postage. I have been asking for one of these for years.
What a treat.

I managed to make a couple of collage postcards while I was hanging out....there is always something I can find to tear up.
I was so relaxed I forgot to take photos of the swap table and the snack table! But I did partake of both.
Of course, you know me.

And in December (doesn't that seem like a long time ago?) the SF Correspondence Co-Op had our Holiday Party -- a good time was had by all.

We all brought a few pieces of mail art received and hung them up for a pop-up mail art show.

And of course, we made things. This year we made holiday cards for  kids. We are going to make valentines too....

Russian Mailman

So, a mail art meet-up is a great way to end the year and start the year -- Portland is getting it's very own mail art group. Why don't you all think about starting up a group in your town?
Trust me -- it is a whole lot of fun and you meet lovely people.
I'm hoping to get up to PDX sometime before too long to check out the group of there.
And maybe I'll see some of you at a San Francisco Correspondence Co-Op meeting in 2015.
I don't know what the Russian mailman has to do with any of this but I just like him.
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I'm working on a couple of zines and playing catch-up with all the mail I owe and plotting my outing to the Vintage Paper Fair next weekend.
What's going on in your mail art work?

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL