Some People Go for the Pasta......

I though you all might want to tag along to one of the Roman flea markets we went to. We went to two, plus a postcard market, so stay tuned. Today I am letting all this old paper beauty mostly speak for itself.

It's Roma! Of course there are Prayer Cards....

This one vender was practically giving it away....be still my heart...

Lots of letters folded into envelopes with wax seals...

It truly amazes me you can buy papers written in 1858 for less than one euro....

And, there are priests....

Yes, I had to go through every one...wouldn't you?

Look at that cursive!
They really knew how to do it back in the day...

After all the thrills and excitement at the flea market it was definitely time to grab an Aperol Spritz on the go!
And, can you believe that? You can't get cocktails to go here in the USA.
I love Rome.

OK-- I went for the pasta too. And the all the food and churches and beauty and outdoor markets and desserts and museums...
There is another post coming....

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL

You Want Mail?

Quite a lot of people have been e-mailing and writing letters to me and asking about getting pen pals or how to get more involved in mail art.
So, I decided to write a post about it.

Everyone who reads this blog knows how much I love to get mail.
To get good mail you really have to send good mail.
I've been writing letters and corresponding with people all over the world for just about my whole life.
It takes some effort to get started and some people won't write back but just keep trying.

I know it's been said already, but people just don't save email like they do letters.
Look at these old beauties.
These letters weren't even sent to me but I love reading them.

And you don't get gorgeous stamps like these on emails.
But I know I am preaching to the choir.

If you are looking for mail artists and/or pen pals, get yourself over to Carolee's blog
right this minute and check out all the folks who are doing the same --

Make Every Day a Good Mail Day

It will take some effort to read through all those blog posts but I guarantee you will find people who love mail on there.
 I have gotten quite a number of wonderful correspondents from that post.
My suggestion is, write some letters! Don't just add your name to the post and ask people to write to you. 

Mail Art Received
If you are interested in mail art, you might try joining IUOMA -
International Union of Mail Artists or join up with the Mail Art365 group -- a great bunch of people who are committed to making and sending a mail art card every day for a year.

Mail Art 365

Another thing to try, how about writing letters (and asking questions) to members of your own family? Moms and Dads and grandparents would most likely be thrilled to get letters and if they write you back you will have a lovely stack of family history to save and share.
I treasure all my letters from my mom.
This envelope is from her -- every time I see that rubber stamp giving the finger I laugh. (I wish I had it)
You could say she was kind of anti-establishment. 

Try to make your mail interesting. Enclose some extras things inside the envelope - photos of your town, a great recipe, bookmarks....anything local and interesting to share. As you write and get to know people you can send them things you know would be interesting to them - a book or a movie review etc.

Another site to check out is

Send Something

There are some mail art blogs on the left side of this post and a special favorite of mine is
Make Every Day A Red Letter Day. Go over and click!
 I hope you all know know about Jennie and Carolee's book --

Good Mail Day

You can look online and google "mail art" for ideas and stimulation, start your own mail art/letter writing group and meet up every couple of weeks or one a month to exchange ideas and write letters or
make art, check out Pininterest and search for mail art, join the

Letter Writers Alliance

read letter writing and mail art blogs, write a whole lot of letters, keep trying, check out mail art on FaceBook.

You can leave comments on this blog post if you are looking for others to write to -- you can leave your name and address (if you are OK with that) and write something about yourself or an email address and maybe some new mail art connections will be made right here!


If you have any ideas about getting mail, please add them to the comments!
I bet there are some more really good ideas out there that I've missed. Remember, Cappuccino and Art Journal is also on FaceBook and I post "extras" on there - links and photos - so check it out.
******
Let's make every day A GOOD MAIL DAY!


Updated News
Some nice comments from Missive Maven
Missive Maven

and another link to this post on
Good Mail

Old Letters

  
 Write someone a letter today.