You're Going to Want to See This......

Want to make some books?
My friend Margarete showed me how to make this.....

and she can show you too......

I had such fun working on this I knew I had to share.....
Margarete taught us how to make these at an SF Correspondence meeting.
And then she came over to my studio to play!

I love it when my friends come over to my studio and play. And I really love it when they arrive with show-and-tell.
Just look at these wonderful FAT and happy altered books.
I couldn't want to get my hands on them -- want to see inside?

My friend Margarete made them all -- and I now you are going to want to know more. Lucky for you, she has a blog and she does tutorials on YouTube!
Here are her YouTube tutorials
You can see how she makes these beauties.....

I love all the different papers and textures she puts in for pages....

This is her RED book -- and it is charmingly small -- just about postcard size. And I gave her the  vintage red roses to include inside.....I'm just saying...

Of course, my favorite pages were the postal pages with vintage stamps and glassine envelopes and pages from old stamp albums.

Check out the cool pockets she makes.....

She also made a whole book from a Priority Envelope she received and the entire theme was postal....

Here's another spread with two kinds of pockets on either side....

Check out her blog too
The little red journal is featured on there right now.

And here is Margarete herself.....I didn't make her work the whole afternoon.....I had some show and tell too and we we walked down the street for lunch.
The day flew by!
That's what happens with art and friends.
Please let her know I sent you if you visit her blog and/or YouTube videos, OK?
It's nice to pass the word about artist friends and I now you (out there in cyberspace) told me you wanted to see more tutorials so here you go!

Now, get busy and watch what she does and go make a book!

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL

Making

Good Morning
Greetings from windy, rainy, cold San Francisco. I'm loving it. Perfect time to stay inside and work at my studio work table.
After coffee and breakfast and admiring some vintage flower postcards.....

It may be messy but it is where I am happy making things for hours and hours.
I've been busy at this table trying to catch up with my outgoing mail.
But, we never really catch up, do we?

On January 1 I started my Rolodex Card a Day project and so far so good. Of course, it is only January 22 so I have a long way to go...but I am enjoying it..I have posted more photos of them on IG. And we all know I have endless amounts of paper ephemera to work with...

INCOMING
I have had some lovely incoming mail so there is a lot to catch up on...

I decided to "reprint" some of my older zines and send them to my newer mail art correspondents.

And, being me, I had to make little folders to put the zines in.....I do love a good presentation.

OUTGOING to Cuan in South Africa

OUTGOING to Virgo in Russia

Collages for Virgo

It always feels good to have a stack of outgoing mail.....

Rolo cards for Michele C

....tucked into a little folder....

The start of a mail art book.....more about this later....

PROJECTS: Mail Art book, a Rolodex Card a Day, Altered Passports,  Collages

It is raining AGAIN but that ought to keep me busy for a while....you think?
What are you all working on?
Remember, ART SAVES LIVES

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January Doings

January in San Francisco has been cold, dark and very wet. I love it! We need the rain and it is a good excuse to hang out in my studio and play.
I noticed there are a lot stamps in the studio and that got me thinking...well...about stamps.

These vintage Chinese beauties were included in a big batch of ephemera a friend gave me. I think I'm going to have a great year making collages and Rolodex cards and books and altered passports  with all the old paper....I can't wait. But, for right now, I am just enjoying looking at these.

I started noticing a lot of stamps on sheets of paper -- like these.

And like these......

 I got to thinking, it would be fun to sort some of my bags of stamps and stick them in a moleskin....
I find sorting stamps very calming.

I had sooooo many piles going.....I sorted by colors and subject.  And I stuck them in and didn't look back.
The book will be fun to flip through.

Handmade book by Christie J
This little beauty just showed up in the mail unexpectedly one day and what a delight.

Here's a look inside...

and, here's another......
Thank you, Christie! Love it.
(@christie_jz on IG)

More Good Mail
This arrived on another day from Dawn C. Also a handmade book filled with postal goodness and pages to write in.
Dawn knew I've been having some difficult times and thought I needed some cheering up.
How thoughtful!

Cheer me up it certainly did!

Thanks so very much, Dawn. I just love random acts of kindness , especially those sent through the mail.

And, speaking of random acts of kindness, a new Instagram pal, knew I have been looking for these Reader Digest covers to use for altered books and she just sent me a bunch.
I love them and I can't wait to get started making books.
Thanks, @sakameg (on IG)

Any of you make any resolutions? Art ones?

I have a list going.........
I'll tell you all soon. Happy 2017. Make all the art you can!

Things I Made

It is a cold, dark and rainy day in the new year now (which I love) and Santa has delivered all his presents -- and mine too -- so I can show you some things I made for  some pals (other than those altered Altoid tins).
I got some great Cavallini paper at the sale and I especially loved the typewriter keys paper.
(You know how I love typewriters)
So, I folded some of my large origami six pocket folders and then I "lined" the unprinted parts of the folder with pages from the Gregg Typing book.

A whole lot of my special mail art pals also like typewriters so I decided to whip out a few....they are so handy to have with six pockets for stashing papers and ephemera.

In the same theme, a little Gregg shorthand/typing HS class collage  went in to one of those pockets of one of the folders.

Pages for Dori's Altered Book
I got busy and made some more pages for my pal Dori to add to the altered book I made her last  year....and I had to put them in something so they slipped perfectly into the pockets of an origami folder...

I used a vintage envelope to make a pocket on this page and put in a stamp collaged postcard.

I also scored sheets of postage stamp papers at Cavallini and made a few stamp folders too.
You KNOW my friends like stamps.
And, I used pages from an old stamp album as liners over the plain paper sections....
You can never have too many postage stamps!

Here's an open folder -- what treasures did I tuck inside? Vintage stationery? Vintage cards?

A typewriter origami folder with a sheet of vintage Photography stamps tucked inside for Monica the Artful Recrafter (who, in another life, was and still is a professional photographer).

A Mail Art Pouch for my pal The Artful Recrafter! An oversize, heavy canvas one  -- pretty cool.
Before you ask, I found it on Amazon....it is larger than it looks in this photo...

These six pocket folders are so fun to make -- and so useful.If you don't have access to the wonderful Cavallini sale to get the papers cheap, you can use large maps or maybe brown, heavy Kraft paper that you rubber stamp....
Where there's a will there's a way.
I sure hope my friends liked the presents.

So, there you have it -- Altoid Altoid tins (previous post), large origami folders, mail art pouches, vintage postage....I love a handmade Christmas....
and my friends do too. I received some of the most wonderful and amazing handmade Holiday gifts from my incredibly talented friends. I'll show you some in a post soon.
I love a Handmade Holiday.
What did you make this year? I could use some more ideas of things to make for next year so do tell.

I am starting off the New Year in my studio -- I started the 2017 Rolodex Card a Day project and I've been working on my planners and having a good time tearing and pasting...
Hope you are able to do some of the same.
Happy 2017!!!! SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL!!!!