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??????

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

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL

Good Things from the Mail Box

Don't you just LOVE getting mail?
I know I do. It is often a highlight of my day. But when there is NO mail.....well.....let's just say I get very crabby.
Lately my mail box hasn't been as happy as it sometimes is....
BUT
I have gotten a few beauties to share with you.

From the lovely MISS MILLICENT this cool envelope arrived recently. A red security envelope folded inside out and stitched together -- oh!
And some roses sewn on to complete whole postal beauty.

See that stitching? Miss Millicent is a whiz with a sewing machine....

DORI SINGH MAIL
Anything I get from Dori I love.....two terrific envelopes with Rolo cards inside....

DORI SINGH MAIL
These two came in another envelope.....The colors on them are more beautiful than in the photo.
My Rolodex fie is getting fat and happy.
Everything Dori makes is wonderful. Thanks, pal!

Susanna Lakner  (Planet Susannia)-- wonderful collage artist from Germany added these two beauties to my Rolodex Art Project. And a rumor has it I just might be meeting her here in San Francisco next month.

Susanna Lakner
The flip side of them....

Margarete Minar
A new member of the SF Correspondence co-op and new pal sent me three Rolodex cards tucked inside this charming little pocket....

And, these two from Margarete have stamps on them -- of course! You can check out her blog on my sidebar.

Barcode Barb
Another co-op member sent me these two Rolo cards -- with a money theme -- so cool.
Barb has been into making books and various themes with a money/banking theme and when I saw those coin stamps at ScrapSF I knew I had to get them for her...

Erica Lang
Now this was fun -- Erica contacted me and asked if I would do a swap of Rolodex Art with her -- why not? And she sent me these three lovelies for the trade.
I love the couch with the stamp "paintings" above it and the real feather glued on --
thank you Erica!

Delwen Tatton
And just today -- from Australia -- this lovely mail arrived and I got to squeeze in one last photo to show you. I love those cartoon woman with the mail comments....and those great Aussie postmarks.

I have had some pretty pathetic no mail days but when I do get mail it is
GOOD MAIL
so thanks to all of you lovelies who keep sending me such delightful mail and cheer up my mail box -- because I am kinda like those kids at the top of the post waiting to see what the mail man will bring.

I have other things to report on. Stamp bundles. Library Book Sale. Co-op meeting. Altered Passport Project.

But that's for another time.

Get any good mail lately?

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL

Come over and I'll Show You How to Make Something....

Lately I've been trying to straighten things up around my studio. Problems are that I like to have everything on display and I also seem to work better when ephemera is out all over and I can look at it and get random ideas.
I love those little stamp bundles (above). I wonder who has the patience to put the stamps in bundles like that? Not me.

There is a special spot for my wonderful Dori Singh mail.....

Mail boxes and mail art - oh my!

Tickets always come in handy for various projects and they are nice to look at too.

I like pretty tin boxes for storage. These beauties are from France (cookie boxes).

Recently added to the vintage wooden ruler collection. Thank you to Scrap.

Hummm....I better get these plastic boxes of stamps off the floor....

$1 at the book sale -- could you resist?

Airmail envelopes and some vintage stationery from Scrap.

See that china bowl with the gold rim? If you are relatively new to the blog you might not  know I received it in the mail. Unwrapped and covered with stamps and my address written on it in Sharpie. Found on my front step - delivered by the USPS.
Coolest mail art ever.

So, you want to see how to make that booklet with no glue or staples?
Here's how I do it:

Tear five pages out of a discarded book. Or, just any five pieces of paper you have (all the same size).

Fold them in half like this.....

Cut ONE of the sheets of paper like this.

See? You cut a slot in the middle of the fold..

Then cut the FOUR remaining sheets like this -- little notches at the top and bottom of the fold.

This is totally easy to do but difficult to take a photo of....You roll the paper with the slots (one at a time) and insert thru the cut in that first sheet and then line up the folds...
then you just tuck the notched part in and the top and bottom...easy really...

I'm just pushing the paper through the slot and when the middle folds line up the top and bottom will just hook in...

And viola! A little booklet you can decorate and send out in the mail.

Go ahead and try it -- it is really easy. Or, just come on over to my studio and I'll show you.
I love company and making things with friends. I hope these instructions are clear enough for you guys to make the books. 
(Shout-out to Monica for showing me how to do it)

You could use three - or five - or seven pages, I think....I make little books and filled them with vintage postage stamps and rubber stamps and tiny collages...

So, let me know how you do, OK?
Have fun!

MAKE SOMETHING EVERY DAY!