A Berlin Flea

This  is no time for slacking - there are treasures waiting out there - so get that cup of coffee and get going! The subway stop is right out there.

It was a long subway ride and outside of any touristy neighborhoods and it was COLD (trust me) and rainy but oh! it was totally worth it. And so much fun.

Alwas a good sign when things are casually tossed out on the table and not all fancied up...

Seeing all these cool old negatives made me wish I still had my darkroom.

Bring it on -- paper ephemera -- my favorite.

Vintage tins

I only bought ONE!

But I did get quite a few vintage postcards. I look for beautiful cursive writing and great cancellations on the backs.

Oh boy. Yes, boxes and albums of postage stamps. Kind of daunting to go through....

This flea market had quite a lot of food trucks -- and beer trucks -- but I have to say I've never seen a  Country Potatoes truck before.

You could get potato pancakes and wurst very cheap and it was delicious.

Do I speak German, you ask? Sadly, no. But I speak flea market -- I always bring a little notebook and pencil for the seller to write down the price and for me to bargain. Everybody bargained -- and, with a good attitude and friendly smile you will go far.

After freezing for a couple of hours we voted for cake. Wouldn't you?

And I could write about my experiences at the flea market -- and what I got -- in my travel journal that evening.
Are you wondering what treasures I found?
I'll show you next time.
Now I've got to think of projects to use them in. No hoarding. If I buy it, I've got to use it.
One thing I love about traveling is all the art material I have when I get home. I am always inspired to make things! ACT's, books, collages, zines.....and that is just what I've been doing.

Thanks for coming along with me to the flea market.
It was fun, wasn't it?

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I'm Going Dotty

Hello everyone!
OK, someone on Instagram started doing this and then I started doing this.
Monkey See, monkey do.
But it really is cheap entertainment.

And FUN!!!!

So here's what you do......get out some Staz-On ink pads and some markers...

Go to the Dollar Tree if you live in the USA and get a whole bunch of little packets of DOTS.
Or, have your lovely and generous friend and a new mama to Cora, Jessica send you a bunch of them.....(thanks Jessica!)

Get out some rubber stamps.....
I know you're going to ask.....so these are from Casey's in NYC and yes they do mail order. And they only charge $4 to ship and no, Casey's isn't giving me anything but I wish they would...

I even like the out-takes.
The only tricky part (at least for me) was getting the paper surrounding the DOTS off the sheets. I found if I took one dot off I could easily peel off the sheets and then put the dot back on...if that makes sense...

So, besides making about a million DOTS I am packing my mail art  and collage kit up and taking it on the road.
I love that.

I've already put one page in the travel journal and yes, I most certainly do need a vacation.
And I need lobster.
Boston here I come. Just please please don't snow.

I am gathering up ephemera and sticking it inside my travel moleskin.....collaging will be happening...

I wonder if I will see Denise?

Moleskin and address book -- check! Maybe I should bring some DOTS.

A MYSTERY
I put this on Instagram and I've got a whole bunch of cool people trying to figure this out....and so far, no one has..
I found a secret message under a stamp on a very old postcard (not dated). I think the postmark is Vienna.
Was it a secret message during the war? Or a message between lovers?

This is very old German script and no longer used -- and it is TINY. It was under a stamp after all.
The IG crowd hasn't solved it -- how about you????
Can anybody read this?
Because I sure would like to know....

And, another mystery, does anyone know what happened to LIMNER? Her blog
Oh! Write Me has been taken down and she just disappeared. I am worried.

OK, so get going on those dots. And help me out with the mysteries. And have a GOOD MAIL DAY! And leave me a comment, please -- I miss you.
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A Little of This and A Lot of Art

I've always got something going on here.......one day when it was too hot to do too much of anything I stayed in my studio and whipped out a postal zine...
always fun to do.

I made fifteen -- they take a while because I glued in real stamps and rubber stamped them -- I like to personalize them and not just xerox.
The first fifteen went out so fast I had to whip up a second set of 15....

Packed up the mail art kit and took a super-fast trip down to LA. I was down and back in the blink of an eye but I did manage to work on some LA-inspired pages for my own altered bookI love starting the day in a hotel room with breakfast and glue!

I have a thing for avocados!

There are so many fun spots in the LA area to eat (even if you do have to drive all over the place to get to them).
Avocado BLT at Tops.

Back home at the wonderfully messy work table -- I took out ALL the paper ephemera I dragged back from Spain and Morocco and I am determined to use it all up! I finished the travel journal about 98%, made a small collage book and an origami wallet that I filled with Spanish and Moroccan business cards....this is a well documented trip.

Some torn posters from the trip.....

I made some more pages to send to my special friend Dori to add to the altered book I made her for her birthday.
She is a little Texas gal, transplanted to CA, so here is a Texas page....

And, she likes tea.....

Altered book page for Dori

So, there you have it -- lots of things being made around here...

And, of course, some good mail going out too.

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My mail has been coming at 6 and 7PM!!!!

That is just too late in the day if you ask me. OK, no one did ask me but really....
It's another warm SF day today and I better go to the studio and make something.
It's a Maker's Sunday -- what are you all working on there days?
Have a good one!

Places to Go & People to See

Collaged NYC Postcards on windowsill
I try to visit my second home every year. This time I picked a doozy of a weather week to visit but, of course, it was all worth it.
Frigid cold, rain, slush, snow, winds.
I may not be as tough as a New Yorker but I'm still here to tell you about it.

The High Line
I have walked the High Line a few times before but this was definitely the coldest  (& shortest) walk. It ends - or starts - right at the new Whitney Museum and I highly recommend a visit to both.

Yellow Cabs
I have a thing about Yellow Cabs and I love seeing them out at all hours of the day and night.
But I take the subway.

The Ink Pad
You know I've got to make a stop at the Ink Pad every visit. I met my pal CeCe there on a bitterly cold morning.
I nearly froze to death taking this picture.
No kidding.

Among other things, the Ink Pad is a great place to pick up some NYC rubber stamps to decorate your postcards and travel journal.

Next up - Casey's Rubber Stamps. Also in the West Village. Just step down and into a very fun world of stamps.....

Out front is always a table with some stamps you play with.....I stamped some mail I had with me and a little travel notebook.....

Casey's has got a great selection o stamps too and don't forget to look thru the catalog they have there because they will make up any stamp you want from it right on the stop.

JAM Paper & Envelope
This was a new place for me that CeCe took me to and fun to browse the shelves. My find?
Some really great very large airmail envelopes
that you can get by clicking right here
(I wouldn't share this info with just anybody but you guys are special....)

But, you don't have to BUY things in NYC, there is plenty to pick up around town. I scour every Subway station for those cool Metro tickets to pick up. They are getting harder to find because New Yorkers are getting neater and also, as my NYC pal Harriet says, they cost a $1 now and they are reloadable. But I did find quite a few. And Subway posters. Yes, a few did find their way into my possession. (I only took them when there were multiple copies -- don't want to screw up the transit system)......menus, blue coffee cups....all kinds of things to tear up and stick....

I worked on my travel journal diligently every day.....(more about that soon).

City Bakery
I met Harriet at City Bakery where we had cappuccino and hot chocolate and treats and talked about mail art and NYC.....City Bakery was having a month of hot chocolate -- a good time for it when the temperatures were hovering around ZERO - and on the day we went it was Hot Fudge Hot Chocolate with a giant homemade marshmallow....

Harriet gave me a big bag of fabulous Russian candy -- she knew I had been wanting them so I could use the cool paper wrappings in collages...eating them is kinda fun too.

OUT my hotel window. I loved looking out there. But when it was snowing I didn't like it....See that little red door right across the street?????

Well, this is what we ran out and picked up from there and got cozy in our hotel room one night with Chinese food and a bottle of wine.
Sometimes you've just got to do what you've got to do.
We saw plays. We went to museums. We ate out. We even saw Hamilton the Broadway musical with the BUZZ. And the hip-hop.

Valentine's Day
And I found a sweet little Valentine on the desk one morning....

AT MOMA
HOY (Tomorrow) -- by Torres-Gracia 1919
I also liked seeing artists Henry Darger and John Houck
I spent a delightful few hours with Ester K Smith (How To Make Books) at MOMA looking at art.
A really good idea when it is is snowing.
Which it absolutely was.

Junior's
Why yes, I did go to Junior's. Twice, in fact. And I'm not sorry.  You just cannot get this in San Francisco.
And the cheesecake....

More outgoing collaged postcards

So, I was trying to post about the travel journal but I just had to share some of the NYC fun I had with you guys.
I didn't put links to everything since I have posted about the places on previous  trips but you can just google them if you are lucky enough to be taking a trip to the
BIG BAD CITY.
And a BIG thank you to my friends CeCe, Harriet and Esther who really added a lot to my travels but spending time with me and being such interesting and charming friends.
 I leave you with this ---

"We were happy to be in a city the beauty of which was unknown, uncozy and not on a small scale" -- William de Kooning on NYC

I am sorry I left because things have really been hitting the fan since I got home.....

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(and sometimes you just gotta hang on till things get better)
See you all soon!