When Can I Go Back?

All I can say is, if you like mail art, go to Portland.
I had way too much fun and I am dreaming of my next trip to PDX.
Letter Writing Social at Noun.
Champagne, cupcakes, mail art pals, rubber stamps. What's not to love?
And a late night happy hour at Nostrana afterwards.
See anyone you know?

The gang's all here!
(Maybe you better a cappuccino because this is a long post)

PDX Scrap
It wouldn't be a trip to PDX without a trip to Scrap. In fact, there were TWO trips to Scrap.
I scored some great rubber stamps, including those bird stamps.
It's Portland -- Put A Bird on It!!

Another tradition is a day at Uptown Stamp Show picking out fabulous 10-cent postage stamps from all over the world and 25-cent well-traveled envelopes. I found a bunch of vintage Berlin envelopes/stamps for my next travel journal.
(BIG thank you to Niko!)

Coffee and coffee shops abound in PDX....and, well, my blog does have cappuccino in the name...
There was an entitie isle of coffees at the New Seasons Market near my AirBnB.

POK POK
Yes, it is as good as they say. And want to avoid the wait? Just get it to-go!

My PDX peeps kept me RUNNING but I did manage to squeeze in some time to tear up a few things.....I am working on my PDX travel journal now that I am back home.

And......I invited myself over to Michelle Geller's beautiful studio. I hope you follow her Instagram 
feed @HoldDear.
SWOON.

Michelle's studio was wonderful but I was really going crazy looking at her incredible handmade altered books. So much inspiration and beauty.

Lunch at Michelle's. That cake!

TRINKET
Yes, I am still eating. And, isn't Trinket the cutest name? Put this one on your not-touristry list.
(IT pays to be pals with the locals)

OF COURSE we had to cram ourselves into the photo booth at CARGO. (You will want to go there too). I love how crazed we look......but then...we are kinda crazed....

SMITH TEA
This was a lovely afternoon spent  drinking tea, writing the FREE postcards at Smith Tea and dropping them into the white mailbox -- the nice folks at Smith Tea put a stamp on them and mail them for free. Can you believe it?
And I loved the trains roaring by as we wrote...

Lunch at Noraneko

I got a nice AirBnB and was really comfortable. I stayed home one night with Thai take-out and relaxed....(and gave my pals a break too)

Wonderful lunch at Maurice

Lunch at Vivienne -- a Breakfast salad -- TOO yummy!

The Hollywood Farmers Market
There is a Hollywood in PDX -- who knew?And a wonderful farmers market.

All the comforts of home.....

I brought little booklets for all my pals....you can't go empty handed...
(you all know how to make these?)

Flying into SFO
My flight home only had 47 people on it - we each got our own row! And I saw the most wonderful views flying into SFO. That green in the lower right is Golden Gate Park. So cool.

BIG BIG thank you to my wonderful PDX Pals -- Karen, Polly, JJ, Michelle, Dre, Sugene, Tammy, Niko, Cori
And, if you are going to Portland, here's your list of fun things to do!

Now, I've got to go work on my PDX book.
See you!
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Oh The Places I Go!!

Time for another art trip to Portland, Or. And I am having fun driving myself crazy...er...I mean, getting ready....
Of course I have to make things. Much more fun than figuring out the clothes to pack.

I need a travel journal....
This will do. I like green and I am going to the Uptown Stamp Show to forage through  postage stamps. But, it is kind of plain, don't you think?
SEE the last trip to Uptown Stamp Show here

Hummmmmm
This is better and Portland IS The City of Roses....

I really want this Cavallini paper to line the inside covers but no one in San Francisco seems to have it, And online shipping costs as much as the sheet of paper so I hope I will find it in Portland.

A little stamp action on the cover....

Altered Book From Previous PDX Trip here

And, I needed a tin to carry some art supplies. I am going to a letter writing social at
NOUN.
You can check it out right here

So, here is my book, ready to toss in my carry-on and work on  in PDX. I am hoping I can talk my PDX pals to work on a page to add to my book too....

Isn't this fun? I was browsing the Back-to-School supplies (would you expect any less?) and spotted these cool pocket dividers and I thought I could do something with them....
I cut them down and added them to my book and I can tuck in business cards and ephemera inside.

I prepped a few pages...

I think I will add a photo to this page later on.

My newly made tin is all packed up and ready to go.  My
HAVING A GREAT TIME
WISH YOU WERE HERE
rubber stamp comes in handy at a time like this.

I really don't bring much -- my altered book and tin plus double stick tape, glue sticks, washi tape on a ring and postcard backs.
I am pretty sure my PDX pals will share their art supplies with me if I am good.

And my address book, of course!
You CAN put addresses on your cell phone but I'm analog. 

So, here you go -- all packed up and ready to go. But clothes? Not so much...
This is the fun part of packing.
So, Karen and JJ and Miss Polly and Michelle -- get ready because I am coming!
See you all very soon.
And, I'll see the rest of you in the mail or back here at the blog when I get back.
Don't forget to check my IG photos @PamelaArtsinSF in the meantime.

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PDG Visits the PDXCC

It took a while, but I finally made it to a PDXCC (Portland Correspondence Co-Op) meeting -- our sister mail art group started a bit more than two years ago by Niko Courtelis.
On all those shelves you see? Zines! Imagine that.

Here are Miss Polly and Niko giving some highlights of the evening's meeting...

Typewriters!
They have typewriters at every meeting....how cool is that? (And, BTW, I noticed that there are A LOT of typewriters in Portland).

JJAlltheWay is giving this one a workout.

Really.....what can I say about this beauty? Except I really wanted to take it home with me.

I brought a few things along for show-and-tell....

...including all six of my SFCC artistamp passports...

And -- lucky me -- Niko had a Will Call passport waiting for  me to finally pick it up.
Passport dated January 2015
Picked up April 2017

Artistamps by Niko
Check out his artwork here
Philatelic Atrocities

Of course, if you read my blog, you now I cannot leave things alone so I had to do a bit of altering in my new PDXCC passport....I added photos I took at the meeting and some of the artistamps Niko made...

That's a photo of me and Sugene, wonderful maker of zines, who I was happy to finally get to meet.

The AFTERPARTY!
Nostrama in PDX has a happy hour starting at 9PM. My kind of happy hour. So, after the PDXCC meeting we trooped over for cocktails and some pizza and salad....

Things up there in PDX are really just too much fun....I'm thinking that I have to go back. Soon. Very soon.
You are all forewarned PDX Peeps!

One of Niko's Philatelic Atrocities -- If you want to see more, you can buy his book
right here at Kat Ran Press
I'm lucky enough to have a collage and the book and recommend both.
And now -- I am off to a San Francisco Correspondence Meeting -- yup, two mail art meetings within  two weeks. Not bad.
If you don't have a mail art group where you are I suggest starting one up.....
you won't be sorry.

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