Just in Case!

I really enjoy gift giving. I like birthdays and surprising my friends for no reason.
I'm not a fan of Christmas these days. It starts too early and I think it is too commercial.
I usually get in the holiday spirit a week before December 25th and by then it is too late to make things for my friends.
If you like to make things and get started early -- here are a few ideas for you.

Mail Art Address Book
My pal Miss Polly recently had a birthday and I figured she likes paper about as much as  I do.
I mean, we COULD have all our addresses on our iPhones but really, what fun is that?
My address book has everyone I have ever traded with ..... some folks there was only one trade and others have gone on for years. It is a nice record to have. I put little notes by each name like the date I started mailing to them, their birthday, things they collect...

Just buy an address book -- at a Dollar Store or a place like Scrap or anywhere you can find one -- and cover it with cool paper. You can add some washi tape....

....and rubber stamps on some of the pages....

I punched a hole in the back cover and added that pretty ribbon to tie a bow around the address book...

And, I added a library pocket to keep some postage stamps in. If you can't find an address book, you could make one from a plain notebook by adding tabs and rubber stamping the ABC's on them...

Another nice little gift is a six pocket origami folder. They are easy to whip up but you need a BIG piece of paper to make a nice size one. I use those Cavallini posters to make mine. Or use a nice big map.

After you fold it up (in about five minutes) the fun part is filling all the pockets with little paper treasures..
You can see how to make the origami pocket
RIGHT HERE

Little booklets are fun to make and fun to give...

I love to re-cover everything -- these are some of my datebooks from the dollar store. I cover one every year with pretty papers and save them since they are like little diaries. I buy plain notebooks and cover them with maps to places I'm traveling too....I always have a notebook in my bag.
I bet your friends would like things like this too.

Remember my coin booklet tutorial?
I love making them. This little series is a holiday one and the the little pockets are filled with vintage Christmas seals. Who wouldn't like that? You could put vintage postage inside too.
Or, make a little booklet for a friend with some small $5 gift cards in the sleeves for coffee at different coffee shops....

See? Vintage seals in tiny glassine envelopes.....

After making the booklets the fun part is filling them up..
Coin Booklet tutorial is
RIGHT HERE
Well, look at the post -- you will have to click the link within the post to find the tutorial -- but you can do it.

So, don't say I didn't give you a head's up -- if you're into the whole holiday thing you better get busy. But the nice thing is, if you aren't, these little ideas can work for birthdays or random acts of mail art kindness.
I did make one other cool thing but shhhhhhhh I can't show you till AFTER December 25.
That project will be for the new year.
Celebrating the new year is always fun too.

So, what do you think? Are you going to make things?

SEND GOOD MAIL
GET GOOD MAIL

Mail Art Address Book

I made myself a mail-art only address book.
I give little workshops in my studio on how to make altered books,
photo albums, scrapbooks, etc.
For the address book, I used a very ugly and inexpensive address
book (think Dollar Store).
First thing, paint the spine a color that will coordinate with the paper you want to use.

Cut some cool paper down to cover the front and back covers
of the book.

As I always tell my students, if you can wrap a present,
you can wrap a book.

After glueing the front and the inside covers, cover each section you used with
a sheet of waxed paper and put a bunch of heavy books
on top (preferably overnight) to press.

Ta da! The book is almost finished.

Here's the really fun part - get out your stickers, dots, labels,
cancelled stamps and rubber stamps and decorate inside the book.

I am trying to show a little restraint and not get too carried away
decorating my pages.
I have found having an address book for mail art only very helpful. Some
folks don't put their return addresses on mail and I hated having to go back
and sort through a bunch of old envelopes to find an address.
And, the book is also a record of everyone I have written to,
a mail diary.

Some of today's outgoing!
Got my first mail ever from Sri Lanka and one of these is going
out to Sara.

Mail -- sweet, isn't it?

Hope you enjoy the tour of covering an address book.
I am thinking I will have a give-away when I hit
101 followers and give one away.

Thanks to all of you who have sent me mail the last couple of weeks. My "Incoming" shot
wasn't too good so I left it off but I loved everything
that came to my mailbox.

Happy Mail Day.