J'aime les Cartes Postales - - Oh yes I do!

I have a thing about France. And postcards. And French postcards.

J'aime les Cartes Postals
I love the backs of them, the fronts of them, the vintage ones and the new ones....

The French really knew (know?) how to cancel stamps. There are often two, or even three, cancellations on each card.
(And, by the way, I could REALLY use some French mail artists to trade with if anyone in France is reading this).

And did I mention the handwriting?
The most beautiful cursive writing....

And they really know how to SQUEEZE a whole lot of cursive writing onto each little card...

Why don't we have lovely little paper bags made especially for postcards?

And look at this -- is it early mail art? Some little French kid drew on this card. Looks like a drawing of a kid riding a dog???

I also notice the hotels and tourist spots back in the day had had special stamps too....

I get endless pleasure out of my French postcards....besides admiring the postmarks and stamps and cancellations...I use them for art projects too. I found out you can get two ATC cards from each postcard. I love using them for ATC's and including some of the markings on the card into the ATC.

I spent all day last Sunday making Postal theme ATC's using French postcards as the starts...

So fun -- I got 25 ATC's -- and I'm still at it.
Want to see them all?
Let me know if you do.

Oui, it is kind of frightening, isn't it? But I work best with all my stuff out where I can see it...
I'll clean up...really I will...(someday).

I've always loved these rows of trees you see all over France...

Here's a photograph I took of French trees....same ones as the vintage postcard?

This is me in another life.
Oh yes it is!
I wonder I will come back as next time? Got to be something postal.
So, I hope you enjoyed the ode to postcards.
And, if you're going on vacation, I hope you will mail some postcards out and make some mailboxes happy.
Or, even if you are staying put, you can still pop a postcard in the mail and try to squeeze as much cursive writing on the back as those French people did...

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL

Red, White and not so Blue

I am thinking
red, white and blue this weekend.
Of course, I always like airmail stripes and envelopes.

Here is the USA many postal related things
(stamps, airmail envelopes, stickers)
are red, white & blue.

Old Glory appears on lots of stamps. I made a bunch of stamp cards with these but didn't get around to mailing them out. There's always next year....

Give a listen to Van Morrison singing "(It's Almost) Independence Day". He wrote the song while living here in the Bay Area (San Anselmo) and he wrote about some local places. 
I love that song.

Some old air mail letters in my collection.

Stickers

These little beauties were made by Donovan Beeson

Donovan's Etsy Shop

Check out her shop. I don't think these stickers are still available but she makes
all kinds of wonderful postal things.

Vintage labels and stickers from back in the day.

OK, this is French -- but it is red, white and blue. The Tri-Color shares it's colors with
our flag. The French also share a July Independence Day
and everybody knows I am a francophile so there you go.

If you're flying or driving or walking or biking, be safe and have a great
4th of July Weekend.
Have some fun.

This is a re-post from another 4th of July. (2011) Just came across it and loved the red, white & blue so much I thought I would re-post for the holiday weekend.
We are looking forward to our usual chilly, foggy Independence Day tomorrow here in San Francisco. We don't get heat and humidity and BBQ.
I am tossing a brisket in the slow cooker with BBQ sauce and hot links and taking a long walk from house down Market Street to the Ferry Building.
Maybe lunch and a swing through Chinatown.
Independence Day SF style.
And what are you all doing?
Whatever it is -- have a wonderful day!

Write a letter.

Get a letter.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!

Bits & Bobs

So many people have generously given or mailed me bits of ephemera....a lot of it was sitting on my work table and I challenged myself to use it for mail art....
I had 8x8 decorative paper squares, plain library pockets, pieces of paper from India, some stickers..
(thanks to Harriet, JU, Connie, Monica and Jessica for the ephemera)

First thing I watercolored on the library pockets -- they were just a little too plain...and  after that I rubber stamped on them..

I had some library catalog cards too so I sponged watercolors and stamped those too and typed some lists on them..you gotta put something in those pockets!

I like making little bundles of things to mail off...

I folded up that 8x8 paper into little folders and put letters inside. Tucked them into the library pockets.
I'd like to get this in the mail, wouldn't you?

I tucked everything into envelopes I made from paper I got at the Co-Op's swap table and off it goes to cheer up some mailboxes.

I confess - I had to keep this little cutie for myself. I love the colors and the roses and I think it would be perfect to tuck some stamps into and put in my bag.....

And now I've got to get back to making things....see you....

A Fine Saturday

There were stamps for the passports....

and projects to work on...

Three different people brought artistamps
(thanks you guys!)

There a swap table with plenty of ephemera to make things right on the spot.

There was Show and Tell
(Andria-- see your little booklet inside that cool envelope you made? Everyone loved it!)
Andria's tutorial for coin envelope book here
Here is that link for all of you who asked me -- How Did she Do It????

More artistamps for the SF Correspondence Co-op passports -- you can never have too many.

There was laughing and talking and fun.

And there was a huddle....what do you think they are all looking at?

and photographing?

One of our co-op members was gifted this fabulous  mail art themed tote made from a FedEx Tevek envelope with some cancelled stamps and labels sewn on.
We were all overcome with envy and PLH is lucky she made it out of there with that bag still on her person.
But -- if YOU can sew -- and I can't -- you too can whip up one of these bags for yourself and perhaps one for me as well. I'm just sayin'.
What a fun idea.

Another view of the tote bag. The USPS also has free tevek bags but I suggest you actually use one to mail so you then you can re-purpose it into a bag.

A fine way to spend a Saturday afternoon in the city.
After our mail art meeting we went upstairs in the library to see a very fine calligraphy show.

Bottom piece (left) by Co-op member Dorothy Yuki -- a multi-talented woman.

A little calligraphy mail art? I think so!
After that some of went next door to the Asian Art Museum to see the show 28 Chinese.
We figure you can never have too much fun.

So, what did I do with the paper ephemera I took from the swap table? Why, I made mail art, of course!

So that was Saturday.

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL

A Day

A day that starts off with a perfect peach and a good read and some strong coffee has potential....

(This picture is going to make you crazy, I know)

I decided to go to Scrap. I haven't been in months, not being happy with the pricing some of the clerks do.
But today was a real good day.
This is my favorite find. I am a sucker for labels like this.

I found a bunch of these cool  rubber stamps...

And the usual good assortment of postcards and cards....

And vintage buttons -- just because they looked cool. They aren't mail art but I like them.

FREE!
And, in the free section, I got seven (yes, seven) 2015 Asian calendars. I love them for tearing up for collage. Plus, heck -- they still have six months left in 2015 on them.
And, I'm going to share and bring a few the SF Correspondence Co-Op swap table on Saturday afternoon.

After Scrap, I took a nice walk in the sunshine and stopped in at this very fun show. If you are local, swing by. You'll enjoy it.

This piece caught my eye...(of course).

And, if you're not local, here are a few more pieces you can see right here on my blog.
Matchbook art.

You can check out this link to see more about the show -
Strike Away

After Scrap and the match box show I dropped off some mail at the post office....

When my mail came today, I got nothing, nada, nula. Very bad and depressing.
But I did get this book. I hadn't even heard about it until two days ago. Somehow I thought it would be too cutesy for my taste but it is actually quite charming.

I love how the pages on the side of the book look like air mail stripes.

I think you guys might like this one.

Now, I'm just going to sit down and look through my new book.

So---what did you guys do today?
Or, what are you going to do when you have time? Or, maybe, what did you do all weekend?
I'd like to know.

Lucky for me, my work is freelance so I can squeeze in little outings between jobs.

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL
(Which hasn't been working too well for me lately. I'm just saying.)