A Whole Lot of Mail (101 Card Campaign)

Isn't this a good spot to read all your birthday mail? My 101 year old father-in-law thinks it is.
And, boy, did he get a lot of great mail to celebrate his birthday during the month of October.
You guys are GREAT. Thank you all so much, everyone who contributed.
He says he got 130 cards in all....from all over the country and the world.

Virgo in Russian sent him a great big envelope with three terrific birthday cards written in Cyrillic .
How cool is that?
I am a little jealous.....

And Virgo included one with Congratulations from President Putin...
I am still laughing over that one...

JB also got a fire fighter hat mailed just like what you see in the photo, He was amazed,
Also a message in a bottle all the way from Finland and avocado socks from someone special in SF.

This was on the bottom of the fire fighters hat -- now that is pretty wonderful birthday mail, don't you think?

Fire Fighter postage stamps from Germany....

Pretty great Dori Singh mail.

There was a very strong fire fighter theme running through the mail and both JB and I want to send out a big thank you to the fire fighters who sent him mail.

Miss Polly from Portland kept it going...
And a shout-out to the Portland Correspondence Co-op for sending out some mail art to him.

Some excellent Canadian postage stamps with a great postmark from Adrienne...

And the card she made was even better.......(I love this one).

Tallie picked up the avocado theme....

I am coveting this Russian postage stamp...

There was so much fabulous mail that I didn't even have time to look at it all while I was visiting him so I took it home to SF so I could fully inspect it..(don't worry, I am sending it back to him).

Got out my trusty punch and some binder rings and set to work putting all his cards on a couple of rings so he can hang them up and flip through them when he feels like it.

Looking pretty good!
I can tell you he got a whole lot more cards for his birthday than I ever did....

JB and I want to thank you ALL who sent him birthday mail. I wish I could send each and every one of you a thank you but I just don't have it in me to send out 130 thank-you's....so I hope this blog post will do to thank everyone -- the folks in Canada, Germany, Finland, Russian, Poland went above and beyond and all of you who made him collages and mail art -- it is so very appreciated.Thank you to both the San Francisco Correspondence Co-op and the Portland Correspondence Co-op.
He told me he is kind of sad now that he isn't getting mail anymore and he wishes he "would mail mail like that all the time".  (We all would like that, wouldn't we?).
If you didn't send him a card and are inspired to after seeing all this cool mail, his address is:

JBF
1575 E WASHINGTON APT 530
PASADENA  CA
91104

And, speaking of thank you's, your many comments on my last blog post are very much appreciated.
If I always got that many comments I would be a very happy camper. At least now I do know people are actually out there reading my blog. I always love to hear from you about what you like (or don't like), if you want to see more or less of something or just a hello and telling me what you are making on your work table. It was terrific to get so much feedback from my question "Is Blogging dead?".
From all your responses it seems as though it isn't.

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL

(and please keep those comments coming)

Travel Journal On Location

At the ready -- wine, Spanish peanuts, mineral water, glue stick,  travel kit (made by Dori) and journal....

I managed to make a few postcard size collages too.....

I picked up some charms like Fatima's Hand in the souk and I'm adding those to the journal pages too....

Some bits of posters torn from walls...

Working with my morning coffee....

Some papers picked up from the alleys in the medina in Fes.

I also found these spools of silk thread just lying in the alleys....so pretty, don't you think? And unusual to find something like that discarded...

Also from the streets of Fes....
(I was told the proper spelling is FES not FEZ -- that people thought it looked cooler using the Z rather than the S...I don't know if that is true but I am trying to spell it the way the locals do...)

We are on the go so much on our travels that it wasn't always easy to fit in the time to work on the journal...but I did pretty much keep it up -- in the morning with coffee, the afternoon with tea and cookies or at night with a glass of wine.

I just try to get my writing done about each day and leave space to add in photographs, paper ephemera, stamps etc
Part of the fun for me is continuing to work on my travel journal when I get back home. Kind of prolongs the trip....

On a rooftop in Sevilla..
This was about my favorite spot to work on my journal...sitting outside on a roof in Seville overlooking the city. A lovely warm afternoon -- with gathering clouds and a heavy downpour of rain later that evening.

A lot of you know my great love for Paris and France and I just have to say how terribly sad I am for the horror that happened very recently in Paris.
My heart goes out to the families of all the people who were killed or injured there.
This is not a political blog but I must say how sad it is there is so much war and ugliness in the world. All over the world, not just in France.
IMAGINE PEACE

So, I will continue to work on catching up on my mail and finishing up the travel journal and I will hold Paris in my heart.
Next I'm off to see that frisky 101 year old in Pasadena and check out all the birthday greetings he got from all of you -- he says there are 130 cards there!
I will photograph them....and work on more blog posts of Spanish post offices and the finished journal.

What's everybody else doing this Sunday afternoon?

Making (Things and a Special Request)

Any parents out there who remember reading that book IF You Give A Moose A Muffin? (Or maybe it was a mouse?)
Well....I kinda feel like that moose (or mouse)....I had a book of old photos, some vintage sheet music I found for free and some brown Kraft card stock all sitting on my work table....

(A friend gave me the photo album)

And all of a sudden I was tearing and pasting and painting and collaging to my heart's content.
I should have been doing a long list of other things but there you go.
I have been having a lot of stress in my life lately and tearing and pasting always helps.

Some inked out the face in this photo and wrote "too fat" on it....hummmm

I could tell this was the same MOM holding the tiny baby in that photo on the left and then later with her daughter much more grown up -- it's all in the hair-do!
Don't you wonder what happened to them?

Sisters?

I had to dab in some color on some because the photos were so faded you couldn't see what was there. I knew she was holding a baby!

So, now I have a sweet little stack of collaged photo cards to send out....using stress wisely!

You like collage? You've got to get this book. Trust me....No, this is not a money-making blog (God knows) and no, Amazon doesn't pay me....but I am loving this book.

Here you go -- maybe your library has it? Melinda Tidwell (an artist I love) is  in here.
And the woman who wrote the book loves using old, discarded books in her collages.Oh yes--Ido too.

Here's a photo that's not getting torn up on my watch! This little cutie is......

....turning 101 years old in October! Can you imagine? He is JB, my lovely father-in-law and Pasadena's oldest fire fighter (retired, of course). I have started a 101 Card Campaign for his birthday month of October andI've been asking all my mail art friends to send him a card -- any time in October.
It can be plain or fancy. Bought or handmade. I'm hoping to give him 101 birthday wishes and cheer up his mailbox all monthlong.
Here's a chance to make a very old guy happy.

Here's mine.
He's getting homemade cookies too. (Good thing he doesn't read the blog).

JBF
1575 E. Washington - APT 530
Pasadena, CA 91104
USA

Are you in? Please let me know if you are. I'm trying to keep tabs on how close we are to 101 cards.
Lots of lovely folks on the blog's FaceBook page have already said yes so we are well on the way.

So, back to tearing.....I guess it is better than doing some other things to relieve stress....and at least I have something to show for it.

SEND AN OLD GUY A CARD -- 101 Card Campaign needs you!