Quick Mail Post

Two incoming, two outgoing.  All interesting.

Here is a postcard of a painting by John Constable in 1821 of a river near Suffolk, England.  The story behind the card is that it is from the National Portrait Gallery in Trafalgar Square in London; my penfriend Gemma popped in the gift shop while running an errand for work and posted this to me!  Thanks, Gemma, and I won't tell your boss.

The talented Elle from North Carolina sent me this handmade creation, which includes an awesome handmade stamp!  Thank you, postal service, for not canceling this one.   

I sent a long overdue and rather patriotic letter to Miss Bianca in Tasmania.  The envelope was fashioned from a record album cover that I found at a thrift store.  I just noticed that Bianca changed the header on her blog -- beautiful!

For this mask-shaped postcard that went to a Postcrosser, I used a flyer that was advertising a Mardi Gras party in downtown Chandler.  I attached an adhesive postcard backing and it made quite an interesting shaped postcard!

I hope your mailbox is happy this week!

Help Japan

Hi everyone!  Great news -- I heard from my friend in Japan and she is safe and sound.  Her brother and his family in Tokyo are OK as well but she said they were not able to have eggs and milk in the days following the earthquake and tsunami.  I have been wondering how to help and which organization to use, and I read a blog posting by one of my favorite authors, Cara Lockwood, who said:

Help Japan!

Hi guys,
Anyone who's been watching the coverage of the earthquake and nuclear troubles in Japan know how devastating it's been for that country. I still have ties to Japan - my dad's grandparents immigrated from the land of the rising sun. I still have distant cousins living there.

I've donated to the Red Cross already, but anybody who emails (cara@caralockwood.com) or tweets me a receipt of their own donation (of absolutely any amount) at www.redcross.org, I'll enter you to win one of five signed copies of Dixieland Sushi.

I don't yet know the odds, but last time I held a contest, they were really good (meaning you enter, you had a one in three chance of winning!).

Good luck - and remember, it's for a good cause.
Cara 

 

Her website is:  www.caralockwood.com

My favorite book by Cara is "Pink Slip Party," which is a hilarious, must-read for anyone who has been laid off from their job.  It helped me through a sad time in 2004 when I was laid off!   

I've just sent my donation in to the American Red Cross. 

Mail Call

I'm back to a "normal" work schedule, Monday through Friday, except for the fact that I travel out on Monday mornings and back home on Friday evenings.  Being gone for five days in a row means I come home to a few magazines, junk mail, bill statements, maybe something I've ordered, postcards and usually some great mail correspondence!  Here is what was waiting for me last Friday:

I think I got 12 postcards, three letters, and some etsy stuff.  More groovy mail art from Pamela (who used a Chinese food menu for her envelope!):

I got the BEST royal postcard from Mary in the U.K. -- Prince William and his future bride, Kate Middleton!  It made me very happy, since I didn't receive a wedding invitation.

My penfriend in Finland, Ann-Catrin, writes the most interesting letters that I always look forward to, and I wanted to show you her envelope, which gives me a recent weather report from her area (including a C to F chart in the lower left corner, so I could really see how freezing cold it is there):

The back of the envelope has a newspaper story and photo of ships stuck in the ice and she translated it for me!  This is true mail art...so clever.

I received original, handmade stickers from Felicity Lingle, who has an awesome name, don't you think?  I enjoy her blog so I thought I'd write her a letter and she will receive Frida Kahlo with yellow stamps and details:

 Another goodie I found on etsy were these old bank checks from the 1920's:

Click on the picture for more info.  And here's the first envelope I made with one of the checks:

I'm waiting impatiently to hear from my dear friend Kazuko, who is in Japan.  She lives in the Southwest part of the country, so hopefully she has been safe from all the destruction that hit the North.  私はあなたを愛しています

Heaps of Postcards

Pretty much everyone that knows me knows I love postcards.  I've been sending postcards to friends and family for many, many years.  I mail out postcards while on vacation, and I send silly or outrageous postcards, for absolutely no reason, too.  Sometimes it's fun to sign with a fake name (like a celebrity).  I used to send postcards fairly regularly to my grandmother, from destinations where I was working...often not exciting or glamorous places (like Lincoln, Nebraska) but my mom said my grandma LOVED to get mail from me, no matter where it came from.  Now that I've joined Postcrossing, I'm always on the lookout for original and unique postcards.  Some people of course, request the typical tourist postcard but I prefer selecting a card that is more personable whenever possible.  

I also have an obsession with shopping on etsy, but that's a story for another time.  I have found a number of talented artists and photographers who produce postcards, so here's a roundup of my most recent purchases.   

(Click the picture for information on the seller)

I adore Leila's Day of the Dead art.  So beautiful, colorful, original.  Prints, paintings, 

decorative pieces -- she is making new pieces all the time.  A Day of the Dead Hello Kitty!

 Julie of LaPapierre is a mighty talented Canadian artist.  She specializes in stationery packs and is becoming very popular with adding fresh designs to her shop, as well as marketing herself very creatively.  The "Punk Pin-Up" is one of my favorite items!

Claudia, is the artist behind NextLola, creates colorful illustrated postcards, stickers and notebooks featuring her animals.  The illustrations are adorable!  She was recently featured on the Postcrossing blog.  If you didn't have a chance to read her story, you can see it here.

I got four letters and a thank you card posted on Monday before I left on a business trip.  Mail went to Ukraine, Germany, San Francisco, England, and New Mexico.

 The back of the envelope for Carolee; all Italian-themed, from the card to my return address label.

 Green and gold for Julie.

Happy Mailbox and Veg

Wow, my mailbox has been happy lately!  I've received great letters from Postcrossing friends Manuela in Germany, Anna-Danute in Moscow and a new correspondent, Tatiana, also in Moscow.  Tatiana tells me she doesn't like when these dolls are called Babusha, because it means "Grandma."  so now I have to learn to call them "Matryoshka" dolls!

I received this colorful illustrated VW from Felicity Lingle, in a paper sack upcycled into an envelope, with spaceship stamps.  Love it - thanks, Felicity!

I've also received a lovely letter from Gemma in England, who enclosed some of her awesome illustrated prints, which will soon be for sale!  Claudia of NextLola's Zoo sent me some clever vintage stationery with her lovely letter.

I was so excited to find out I was one of the very lucky recipients of the box of paper goodness from Carolee at "Make Every Day a Good Mail Day."  Winners just paid postage for a Priority Mail medium box that was STUFFED full.  Inside was stationery, handmade journals, 50+ postcards, 50+ envelopes, tons of stickers, four rubber stampers, bits and bobs of paper, tags and unused U.S. postage stamps, and a vintage headcount number counter thingy, which you can see in the picture (grey metal box with red buttons).  I have no idea what I will do with it, but it's one of those things that looks cool just sitting on your desk.  Thanks so much, Carolee -- I can't wait to incorporate much of this into my correspondence.


I have been extremely lucky with blog giveaways (I can't seem to hit a winning lottery, though) -- my haul from the past year or so includes a couple of books, a pin, a shirt, an envelope of Bianca's ephemera goodies, an envelope of Sugene's ephemera goodies, a handmade illustrated print, some food containers, and a vintage jar.  Whew!  So, I am putting together a giveaway of my own because that's what us bloggers enjoy doing.  And I'm not going to regift all of the aforementioned stuff ~ I have been choosing some great goodies for the package.  Stay tuned.

Here are some shot of some of my outgoing mail:

The deer envie is reused; my honey got a bumper sticker from the Coues Whitetail Deer society, and I knew the envelope would be perfect for my penpal in Finland.  This is the back of the envelope; I used a large vintage elk sticker to cover our address.

Last but not least, we went to the Chandler's Farmer Market, which is downtown on Thursdays, and here is the gorgeous produce we brought home.  I had never seen orange beets before!  The small oranges are blood oranges.  Isn't this colorful?