Locked Down but Not Locked Out

Who is that sassy girl?
I love this envelope made by my pal Missy Millie....seeing her in my mailbox really cheered me up, especially since I can't really go out.....
She had the wrong zip code so it took a while to get to me but get to me it did...

Well, this was sure a surprise....life as we know it isn't the same....San Francisco is  locked down and rumor has it, things may get worse. So far I have only gone out for food and I am going stir crazy, even with the multitude of projects I have to work on....
So, what am I doing?

Drinking a lot of tea. I love the Smith Tea Company in Portland and treated myself to a new box. This is turmeric tea and pretty good. Just look at that tea bag -- so pretty. You KNOW I will have to do something with that tea bag....I love their Meadow Tea too....I'm just sayin' incase you are browsing their website for some tea you might like....

Besides drinking tea (and some wine) I have been reading books. I don't like to recommend books because we all have wildly different tastes in books (& movies...I hated Parasite and everyone else loved it) but I really, really enjoyed this book. And, you might too. And if you're really lucky, your library may be opened so you can get it from the library. It is a feel good-book and I need to feel better!

Happily I have a BIG stash of arty/crafty/mixed media/textile books and I have had ample time to sit and page through them and get ideas for projects. I hope you have some good books in your stash too.

This charming sewn folder was inside the Sassy Girl envelope (above).

All the way from OZ and my birthday buddy Vizma.
(Happy Birthday Aries pal!)

A delightful birthday surprise from my Portland buddy Miss Polly. My birthday is next week but what the heck....I opened it early. The PDXCC has their own pencil cases!
I really think the SF Correspondence Co-Op needs our own too.

I actually SET UP my unused sewing machine and I tried stitching on paper but the thread jammed. Or something. Now I am VERY cranky and I can't even ask anyone to come over and help me.
Damn.

When the walls start closing in, at least I can go out on my deck for some fresh air and some Meyer lemons....

And, I can go out in the garden and smell the jasmine vines. They are all blooming like crazy and small so good. I also have been watching the little buds come to life. Nature is such a balm.

This plant is old and has lots of beautiful flowers.....

Lilacs!!!
My favorite flowers and I actually have some blooming. They don't seem to do well here in San Francisco but my old lilac bush squeezes out a few every year right around my birthday.
I have lots of projects -- altered books, gelli printing, hand sewing and embroidery, etc -- but I only seem to want to sit and read. I guess I am trying to get used to the new and hopefully temporary reality.
I love Instagram and have been trolling through IG for inspiration. There is some wonderful art on there and lots of good mail ideas. You can sign up and make your account totally locked up (like SF!) and private but then you can see some great stuff. I can recommend some beautiful feeds if there is any interest.

So, I was thinking....
Maybe we could ALL make something "together"? want to try? I was thinking  Altered Altoid Tins or maybe Pocket Books....
Do you all have an Altoid tin? Some double stick tape? Gel Medium?
Want to play?
Clear those cookies and comment below if you do and I will try to set something up. It would be kind of fun to all work on the same basic project....I wish you could all come over but we know that can't happen right now.

Tell me what you think. And, tell me how you are all doing out there...How are YOU coping with things? Are you all under the Shelter In Place rule??
Stay safe and take care of yourselves.
And do something nice for someone else.

Remember,
ART SAVES LIVES

Natural Dye

At a flea market in Berlin...All I could think about when I saw these was
RUST DYEING,
Sadly, I couldn't get this stuff home....but I can dream...

But I am tea dyeing. You all have probably already been doing it but I am late to game. Better late than never, right? It is super easy and nice and mindless....sometimes that's nice.
I just add a bunch of tea bags to very hot water in a old darkroom tray I have and add paper.
That's pretty much it. Leave it in till it looks nice and dyed and vintagey. Just be careful taking it out because wet paper years very easily.
I put it on top of granite counters in my laundry room and blot it with paper towel (or a cloth) and let it dry. It gets kind of bumpy, which I like but if you prefer flat, put it under very heavy books when it is dry. And, there you go.

Yep, that's right....the tea bags make nice splotches on the papers....I love the randomness of tea dyeing....

Of Course! Bien Sur!
These are my initials so it's my tea dyeing tea of choice.

That's right...FREE from ScrapSF. Boring white paper.....
UNTILL....

it comes out of the tea bath looking quite different and much cooler. And you can throw in all kinds of papers....I have tags and library pockets and index cards all happily soaking as we speak.

Yes, that's a great stack of paper but what will I do with it, you ask.
Well......

It makes a really nice substrate for collages.....

Also, a nice background to photograph things like ATCs on...or you could fold the sheets of papers in half and make signatures for a book.

(You know me, I cannot leave a postcard or a card alone....I have to customize...)

The backs of the postcards in case you were wondering...

Making a little folder for a pal...

Look at this gorgeous mail from @papertalking on Instagram.
She lives in The Netherlands and just sent me some wonderful mail. Now, I've got to get creative and think of what to send her back.

Another altered Cavallini card going out.

I've got some ATC postcards going out too. I'm busy, ok. Places to go. people to see. And, paper to play with! (and dye)
What about you? Is it summer where you are? We don't have hot weather here in San Francisco but the sun has been shining and I love our cool natural air conditioning.
We don't pools or beaches or swimming in SF.
But we have a lot of fun anyway.
Hope you do too.
SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL

And To All A Good Night!

You've been wondering what I've been doing? Well, I know some of you have because I've been getting emails. You might want to grab a cup of tea...or coffee...or wine because this one is going to be long.

"The Holidays".....you know how busy it is and I don't even do that much....I did take a day off to play tourist in my own town. San Francisco is a great place to do that. Isn't the Palace hotel pretty?

And Chinatown....always a favorite spot of mine. I have been roaming around the streets and alleys there for years but I had never been to this place. I passed it by lots of ties thinking it was a tourist trap and it kind of is BUT it just looks so cool...
The Far East Cafe on Grant Avenue

And I can recommend the wonton/noodles/BBQ pork soup for sure.

Another favorite spot to hang out is my studio. One of my happiest places to be and there is always so much to do there...
and, I like company too, so come on in.

My pal Margarete brought me some great boxes of stamps and I spent quite a lot of time happily sorting them and playing with them...

I wrapped quite a few presents in my studio too...

And I made a bunch of Christmas accordion fold books but having gotten into the holiday spirit too late I still have them all. But the good news is they are all ready for NEXT Christmas. If I can remember where I put them.
I just don't get in the mood for Xmas till about a week before. As I was making things I was thinking what a good blog post it would be to show you but by then it was too late...
DOES THAT HAPPEN TO YOU?

I worked on finishing up my NYC travel journal. I had fun making tabs and then sticking stamps on them..

Don't they look cool? Well, I think so...

I made a very small, almost square altered book for a good friend  who loves Japan.

Also busy making envelopes and sending out some good mail.

Yes, another lunch out - this one in Japantown. 

Spend some nice time by my pretty Christmas tree....read a lot of books, baked a lot of cookies and made pies, took packages to the post office, worked, cooked, went to our mail art group's Xmas party.....
OK, SO here's what I want to know from YOU --
What would you like to see on the blog? What interests you? Just Art? Food? San Francisco?
I need to know if there is enough interest to continue and what you'd like to see more/less of.
And, c'mon  -- you can post anonymous comments easily - I know because I get A LOT of spam comments. You can do it!
Let's start the new year together.

In the meantime, if you are looking for me, I'm having a cocktail.

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for a Very Happy 2109!
SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL

GET GOOD MAIL

Dori Singh Mail (skippydori on IG)
As promised, here is some of my wonderful incoming mail. I love everything I get from my pal Dori....

Patti Martin (mysticartbypatti on IG)
Patti sends me all kinds of wonderful mail. She made me a BOOK this time....

...and all the pages are beautifully collaged....if I made this I'd want to keep it!

She included this postcard that I had sent her...so very fun to see it inside the book.

Adrienne Mason
Check out her great blog and collage adventure here
A wonderful collage and postcard from my pal Adrienne really cheered my mail box.

Christie JZ
Another cool handmade book arrived in the post from Christie...

And she also re-cycled some mail I sent to her, like this orange envelope. I loved getting it back.

Of course there is usually a postal theme in what I get since all my mail art pals know how I love mail.

Michele C (mbcano1 on IG)
Michele sent me a cool.....(I'm not entirely sure what to call it)....postal folder made of envelopes.
Just my type.

See? Very cool.

Tammy W (PaperTams on IG)
Tammy sent a little booklet with surprises inside.

Two rolo cards from PaperTams for my Rolo Art File.

Michelle G (@HoldDear on IG)
From the amazing Michelle Geller an airmail fantasy.....this was really a good mail day!!!

Virgo
From Virgo and Russia with Love
I love trading mail with Virgo in Russia. And this mail only took two weeks to get to me. That is fast. Sometimes mail from him has taken five weeks and I am a very impatient Aries so I don't like that.

Margarete (Margarete.Miller on IG)
From another special pal -- my first mail from Slovakia! She spent five weeks in Europe and sent mail from Slovakia and Vienna.....lucky me! But I'd be even luckier if I was there with her.

Even with all these numerous photos I haven't been able to include all the great mail I've gotten but each piece is very wonderful to receive and thanks to you all.
And, remember
SEND GOOD MAIL --  GET GOOD MAIL

What are you waiting for??????