Mail Call

Hello from scorching hot Arizona! We've basically been hermits here in the house this weekend as it's too darn hot to go out anywhere (115F/46C yesterday). So we caught up on some TV programs and I wrote a few letters and postcards. I'm a bit behind on posting about mail...this went out a week or two ago:
I made the Robert Pattinson envelope from an old calendar to send some Eclipse postcards to a postcrosser. Three envelopes I decorated, starting at the top left, included an Italian theme, miscellaneous and a sports theme (Houston Astros baseball sticker and Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game stub).

My latest letter to Bianca in Oz was with a YELLOW theme, mailed in a clear sheet and thus everything was showing through. I plastered it with yellow stamps and included a recipe as seen on the back, written on a vintage yellow card. I like to use red when I send to her since it's her favorite color but I went with yellow this time!Above is what I worked on this weekend; lots of Postcrossing postcards but
also to some friends/penpals in Colorado, Illinois and New Mexico.At the top, the mail art envelope theme was simply by color in browns/tans and I also used a lot of vintage book text (English, French, Spanish) to decorate. The postcards, L to R, are S'Mores cupcakes that I made recently (sitting on a vintage cake stand), a vintage sewing pattern that I scanned and made into a photo postcard (groovy hairstyles!), a vintage children's book from my bookshelf, scanned and made into a photo postcard for a postcrosser, and a postcard of the lovely actress Carole Lombard. She was married to Clark Gable and tragically died at a young age in an airplane accident.This comic just cracks me up!

Charmed, I'm Sure

Inspired by the blog post from 1950's Atomic Ranch House, I am showing you two charm bracelets: I acquired this bracelet at an estate sale so I don't know much about it, nor have I ever seen one like this. It's heavy, chunky and vintage. The far left charm says, "Millie Vangorden," the next charm is like a pot or urn with a screw top that I can't open, the third charm is a cigarette lighter (marked Golden Wheel Lighter) on the bottom and the final charm is of course, a fleur-de-lis.
The second one is my personal silver charm bracelet that I used to wear a lot but not anymore; it definitely has a lot of my life history but my life has changed a lot since I've acquired the charms, so maybe I just need to remove the "out of date" pieces. Anyway, here's more detail:Going left to right, the "Z" charm stands for Catherine Zeta-Jones, one of my favorite actresses, given to me my my dear friend Marcia. The next one is a vintage charm for my high school, then a Celtic cross (some of my family ancestry is Welsh), a vintage charm that says, "Giovanni," USA charm and one with my name. That one is sentimental for me since it was on a bracelet from my childhood, given to me by my father.Next up: A Chianti wine bottle, a charm with the fleur-de-lis (both these were purchased in Firenze, Italy! The back of the fleur-de-lis has the Medici family crest), a diploma for my college graduation, a four-leaf clover, and the Cape Hatteras lighthouse (a favorite holiday destination).The heart charm is from my mommy, a cross, a "Big Sister" charm from my little sister, snorkel fin and tube, a crown, cat sitting on a crystal ball, cowboy boot and two kitties, which depicted the cats that I had but my ex got them in the divorce! Charm bracelets are interesting because they're conversational. People like to look at the charms and why you have them on your wrist!

Picture Happy

POSTCROSSING:
This retro advertising postcard that I sent to a gal in Finland is proving to be quite popular with Postcrossers. On your postcrossing account, you can select "favorite" postcards and this one has been "favorited" 30 times! I'm getting a lot of requests to exchange postcards and of course they want this one but I don't have any left!

I made this postcard entirely of used Japanese
postage stamps. It's another postcrossers favorite!Here are some of the best postcards I've received lately:

Red motorcycle from Finland.

Gorgeous original artwork (watercolored) by Claudia from Italy.

Vintage motorcycle from Thailand.

THE ENVELOPE PROJECT:
I finally spotted my envelope on Flicker photos as being received by "Meet me at Mike's" and my envie should be posted with the rest of the lot!

Someone sent in an envelope that had the address
EMBROIDERED ~ how clever and beautiful. (Julie, is it yours?)

HOT IN PHOENIX:

It's definitely not my favorite time of year to be at home because Arizona summers are hotttttttttttt; we are doing everything we can to keep cool! Sleeping with three fans at night (ceiling fan plus one on each side of the bed), only parking the car in shade, drinking iced tea, lemonade, water and gatorade, escaping to cooler destinations like Northern Arizona, eating cool treats like popsicles and these Icee treats:My favorite summer meal is EASY pasta: After cooking the pasta, add fresh
buffalo mozzarella cheese, garlic, salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil and lots of fresh basil. It tastes like Italy. Here's a picture from Martha Stewart Living:

Finally, to prove to you how hot it is here (110F-115F = 73C-76C),
E found this green plastic army man toy embedded in the hot concrete
this week while he was working. The poor guy is melting!

The Traveling Journal

I signed up to be a part of a "traveling journal" hosted by Miss Bianca in November 2009 and have been patiently awaiting my turn to receive it, view it and add to it. Journal #4038 will ultimately travel around the world to about a dozen people. I'm the sixth person to receive it and it was started in Australia, traveled to the Philippines, New Jersey, Canada, with a wasted stop in Pennsylvania (the person kept the journal for a long time and finally decided not to participate) and then finally to me. The theme is LETTER WRITING, and I've been saving bits of ephemera and stamps and stuff to create my pages. Now for the reveal:My first page features an "I LOVE Post" postcard designed by the talented graphic art student in Britain, who goes by Postcard Jim. I have mail-themed postage stamps from Maldives and Ghana (who just knocked the USA out the World Cup competition). At the top R, I pasted a page from an old book of postage stamps, which illustrates where to use a zip code.
Page two has some illustrated envelopes and a paragraph written by a talented American artist named Susan Branch. I couldn't have said it better! There are three postmarked blue bird stamps from China; I just really liked the postmark. There is Tweety Bird and Sylvester the Cat in the bottom R corner, which are two of our well-known American cartoon characters, perched on top of a mailbox. I have several of my favorite U.S. postage stamps on this page, all featuring a mail theme, and an applicable statement from a fortune cookie.
The large envelope on the top was from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, sent to a Nebraskan farmer in 1923. Directly underneath it is the great postmark from the last Christmas holiday season ~ the Phoenix postmark (2009) was cartoon character Kermit the Frog, wearing a holiday cap! I love it! I saved it from the envelope that my mom sent our Christmas card in. The postage stamp on the L is from Maldives and features the chipmunk cartoon characters Chip and Dale, carrying a letter.
My final page features a "First Day of Issue" envelope with United Nations stamps, postmarked 1964 (A significant year for me). Inside are three surprises for all the future recipients of the journal to see! I have decorated the rest of the page with miscellaneous postage stamps and stickers. So much fun to participate in this! The journal is going to Virginia, USA next.

The Envelope Project

The envelope project is being conducted by a store in Victoria, Australia and they are posting all the envelopes they are receiving up until July 24th. You can view it on their blog or in their storefront window. When you participate in this mailing, you are to put something inside, like stickers or a card, or anything really, and one lucky person will get the contents of ALL THE ENVELOPES sent in! Click on the envie below for the link:



Here's my contribution: I used a "window" envelope so you could see some of the items from the outside. I went with a Latino art theme, and sent some stickers, postcards, used stamps, a page from a vintage book in Spanish and a cigar band label. You were to put your name on the back of the envelope, and I actually used over 30 different address labels to decorate the back of the envie! It was covered. I used old school label tape for the address.

Things I am digging

I love World Cup soccer! Every match is pretty exciting.

A very clean and dust-free house!

The Jacaranda trees just finished their annual blooming (I love the purple flowers). That's the tree in our backyard.



Walking with Mum in our lovely local parks (Tumbleweed and Veteran's Oasis), usually with the borrowed dog (Gizmo).













A perfect omelet with basil from the garden and vidalia onion.

Ernesto's bronze stag (a birthday gift).













Currently harvesting/eating from the garden: Basil, tomatoes and cucumber.














Ducklings in the pond out back.









Things from this morning's walk: A mama and her four baby quail (no photo ~ seriously, those guys move way too fast to snap a pic), really neat cacti, woodpeckers at work, some tacky patio decor.


















Lemonade with mint. It tastes like summer in a glass.

Estate sale finds: Tons of stamps (used and unused), vintage metal deer marked "Germany" for E's Christmas stocking, label maker tape (old school kind), large amber vase from Italy.

Three fans blowing in our bedroom at night.

Taking the niece to a Phoenix Mercury game (professional women's basketball) and Mum saw us on TV (we were in the second row). Look for Emmi's yellow shirt to the right of the basket.

Currently

Current Books: My Life in Paris, by Julia Child and If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name by Heather Lende
Current Playlist: Sade, “Soldier of Love”
Current Guilty Pleasure: eBay and watching movies on my iTouch when I travel
Current Color: Bronze
Current Drink: Really cold iced tea
Current Food: Grilled chicken breast, salad with some ingredients from our garden
Current Favorite Show: Hoarders and cake shows
Current Wishlist: Italy
Current Needs: Vacation and new lamp for livingroom
Current Triumphs: Finished watching season 15 of ER and our garden
Current Bane of my Existence: Weather is not nice anywhere (heat, humidity or rain)
Current Celebrity Crush: John Stamos and Goran Visjnic
Current Indulgence: Fresh watermelon
Current Blessing: Home at last
Current Slang: “Good Night, Irene!” Note: I have no idea why I say this; it just sounds better than “Oh my goodness!”
Current Outfit: Boxers and a tank top
Current Excitement: Motorcycle trip to Colorado is coming up
Current Mood: Mellow and content
Current Link: http://www.regretsy.com/

Thanks for this idea, Julie!