Send Good Mail

Send Good Mail -- Get Good Mail
So, I've been sending and I've been getting (next post). My PDX pal Michelle (@HoldDear on IG) and I wanted to trade mail and Michelle suggested an air mail theme....
I can do that.
I sent her an altered Altoid tin and a vintage air mail rubber stamp....

I put some cards on a ring and wound some air mail washi tape to share with her...

And, of course, I decorated a card to go along for the ride...

All tied up with some air mail stripe ribbon. She has received it by now so I can show you the pictures.

Some funny faces for another Michele (@mbcano1 on IG).

My pal Susanna posted about the mail I sent her and
you can see it right here
And, my other pal, Virgo in the Russian Republic also posted the mail I sent him and 
you can see that right here

Fun making envelopes
The top one envelope was made from a Logan airport map of the Boston transit system -- with some baggage claim washi tape to further the theme.
And the lobsters and corn are for a pal in Cape Cod who is torturing me with photos of all the lobster and corn she's been having.

Another air mail theme -- the stamps anyway -- went off to the wonderful collage artist Cuan Miles.

I sent Cuan a little pile of collages.

Summery beachy envelope on the bottom...even though it isn't summery and beachy here.

This is what happens when you find a book all about French kings in a little free library.....

For my special Aries pal Vizma in Australia.

A little thank you mail..

I like little folders where I can tuck things inside the pockets.
So, there you have it -- some of my out-going mail.....now I am hoping since I sent good mail I get good mail...
Even though I send some mail out almost every day, I am always scrambling to keep up and I have a lot of people to still respond to.

Next post -- INCOMING!
SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL

No Actual Mail Was Harmed in Making This Post

What do you do when you get a bunch of pretty boring vintage envelopes and a box of vintage stamps from the post office?
Well, you PLAY, of course!

See those plain white envelopes on the bottom of this shot? No fancy cursive, no beautiful stamps.....

You have to admit these mono printed envelopes look a lot better than those plain white ones.....
don't you?

I just printed over the whole darn thing, stamps and all....I am happy with them.

Some I just went to town with my Post Office vintage rubber stamps. Too much fun. I just love playing post office...got everything out, including my favorite faux cancellation stamps..

I think the eclipse inspired that envelope up top. I just settle on some kind of vague theme and add postage stamps and rubber stamps and just have fun.

I think the theme on these two was green and brown....

I left the original postmarks (of course) and added my SF faux postmark..I love BLOOMER Wis. and had to add a flower rubber stamp to go with that cool postmark..

And Krakow, Wis.???? Who knew? I have been to Krakow, Poland but not Krakow, Wis. And, look at that shaky handwriting....

What would Melba think of her mail?

Thanks to my friend Margarete for sharing the post office stamps with me. So much fun to play with....

Next I may have to play office. Who wants to come on over and play with me?

When I am finished playing around I fill the altered envelopes with ephemera and a letter and slip it into a vellum envelope and send it out into the world....(that one in the back is in vellum...)
I have been pretty useless now for the last few days. San Francisco has had a record-breaking heat wave with temperatures of 103" and 106" and it has been miserable here. This is a City that is cool and gray. We wear leather jackets and boots all "summer". We don't actually have summer. And then BOOM a horrible heat wave.
I hid out in my studio and stamped things. And waited it out.
The fog always returns...

So, the Vintage Paper Fair is next weekend. I'm just sayin', in case you are looking for me. I will be there for sure....
maybe I will find some more old envelopes to alter.
What would YOU do with those envelopes?

SEND GOOD MAIL --  GET GOOD MAIL

And One Thing Leads to Another

Rubber Stamps from SF Scrap. Somebody stop me!

I admit it...I have a rubber stamp problem and Scrap isn't helping...

The $1book sales aren't helping my studio space either. I have SWORN OFF going. But I was at the farmers market and ...well...I had to walk by on my way to the streetcar and I just took a little look.....ok, I bought ONE book but only one and I went right home and tore it right up. Now I have 25 beautiful Chinese drawings which are perfect to use in my Chinatown Altered Book project.
One thing leads to another...

The World of Stamps is a page for my altered book .....

My pal Dori needs more pages for the book I made for her and she likes joss papers so I played around a bit one night...

And, here is what I ended up with -- like it? I hope Dori does. I actually liked it and wanted to keep it for my book. But good behavior won.

Chinese inspired book pages made me think of Chinese food....and if you like it, SF is the place to be (unless you're in China).

The clouds parted one day and I tried out a little cyanotype printing. I have some ideas for that too....if we get summer sunshine any time soon. It was 55 degrees here the other day. In July.
We really are different here in SF.

Card for my pal The Artful ReCrafter. She recently got a beautiful old six burner (yes, gas) stove and this ad made me think of her. I'm sure she'll want to make that lovely hot dog casserole.

Re-purposed card made by mail art friend Judi K. She cut up and re-worked an envelope I sent to her and sent back this card to me. I love it, especially how she cut that slit in the mail slot and stuck the little card in it. This was such fun to receive.

The Rolodex Project
The cards are coming in and I am loving each and every one. These two from the talented Connie Rose. 

HEADS
For some reason I am obsessed with cutting out all these heads from my old French and Spanish dictionaries. I can't stop. I have an Altoid tin stuffed with heads.
Why? I don't know but I am quite sure I will think of something to do with them.
Any ideas? What would you do?
I've been clearing -- and cleaning -- my studio. It was time. Those $1 books really add up. I put boxes of books out front on the sidewalk but i still have enough to fill up a brand new bookcase my sweetie installed for me.
Then, I started cleaning out the closet. 
Right now you'd never know how hard I've been working but things often get worse before they get better, right?
I hope so.
I'm getting tired of cleaning and I want to play.

When I'm done you can all come on over and we'll have an art party!

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL

You Know Where I Am

If it's Sunday....I'm usually in my studio....and very happily so.
Not always, but a lot of the time...including today...

And, I am on a playing-with-paints binge. A very fun and non-fattening binge.
I can't stop.
And I don't even want to stop. Everything sitting around my studio is fair game.

Oh yes -- rubber stamping is fun too.....right on top of the paint. But I have to wait for the paints to dry...and that is a good lesson for me...
patience..not usually one of my many (ahem) virtues....

See what I mean? I started playing with some old photos ..... wait till you see all of them! Very cool. That's for another post..

Hummm....I think this envelope looks much better now. Don't you?

Library/Book Lover ATC

FANCY
You know what I say -- Why send it plain if you can send it fancy?
Well, yesterday I found this vintage FANCY stamp in my travels....perfect for my mail.
The stamp was in a group being sold from a Sonoma apple farm -- they had Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Medium, Jumbo....I wanted them all but settled for fancy...I may not be too patient but i do have self control.

Waiting for the paint to dry, I am playing with some stamp heads...

Tags and folders....

These could be bookmarks or gift tags.

Back to School
This was one the back of an old photo -- Don't Forget Your Schoolmates.
Sweet.

So that's it, folks. Not a lot to share. Just playing with paint and ink and rubber stamps.

What are you doing?

I have been so lucky to have received some lovely ephemera in the mail lately from my wonderful blog readers. I am working on a post showing what I got and what I did with it..
and (don't tell anyone) I think I will do a give-away too.
So, stay tuned.

SEND FANCY MAIL -- GET FANCY MAIL