Picture This Holiday

'Tis the Season!Our family holiday card from years ago...

Some Christmas pinup girls...

Charo, to add a little Spanish spice to your holiday....via Chateau Thombeau

And two postcards I recently sent out to Postcrossers!

Run, Forrest, Run!

Today, I'm simply posting a link to another blog that I follow. Gesine (pronounced Gezina; I love her name) Bullock-Prado is a culinary artist, specializing in pastries and sweets. She has a famous sister that she doesn't talk about (Sandra Bullock). She recently blogged about running a marathon in honor of their mother, who died of cancer. The pictures of the racers are great! There is also a picture of our Vice President Biden's wife, Jill.

My friend Anne Marie's daughter-in-law also did a mini-marathon in Tucson recently, for the same cause. How admirable!

Click here for Gesine's post: Confections of a Closet Master Baker

Still here!

I'm still here, with no excuse for lags between blogs. Perhaps I shall try to blog more frequently but shorter postings, like my new pen friend, Pamela. She posts interesting topics with great pictures, and is also a mail artist:I've been lax about scanning my incoming/outgoing mail art but here is one of the envelopes I made from a comic book:I have most of my Christmas shopping done already since I like to buy gifts all year long and stash them away. One of my favorite things to do during the holidays is wrapping presents; I think I'll post some pictures of those. I have our holiday cards on order but decorating not started yet. Purchased a holiday CD this weekend by Enya called "And Winter Came."One of the blogs I follow, Love Pink, is written by Libby in London and she loves to post pictures of her city:A Christmas Tree made of stuffed panda bears! Our Arizona weather has been mild and mostly sunny (perfect, actually) but I am a little jealous of the snow that is falling in the U.K. My mom, sister, niece and I all go to some holiday event every year and last week we went to the Phoenix Zoo's "Zoo Lights," which is a magical display of millions of holiday lights, and a very popular annual attraction. We've been many times before but it's always fun to put on our jackets and gloves, grab a cup of hot cocoa and wander around the zoo at nighttime to enjoy the lights and holiday music.

Auntie, Mail, and a Pinata

Picture-heavy post today. I love spending time with my niece, especially when she's on break from school. We went to a Japanese anime exhibit at the Arizona Museum for Youth (AMY). Initially we went to the wrong museum (Mesa Art Museum - MAC), so we enjoyed the neat architecture there. The copper squares on the steps were so shiny and practically blinded us in the sunlight.
We love to make cupcakes together and here is our latest - a FISHBOWL CUPCAKE.Here is some of my recent outgoing mail art:

I added the models from vintage sewing patterns to these two envelopes; I think they're groovy and mod! Do you like?I brought a pinata over to Ernesto's parents' house for the nieces/nephews/grandkids. All the candy is just a warm-up for upcoming Halloween. (ha ha)

Autumn has arrived

Hello from sunny but not-as-hot Arizona! Finally, we have the slider and windows open in the evenings and mornings. We even had some much-needed rain. You see many of these sage bushes around the city and when the temperature and humidity hit at just the right point, the purple flowers explode on the bush. I do have one in my yard and it's never bloomed really robust, so I took this photo at the neighbor's yard:I know, not the typical orange/yellow/red fall color you expect to see in October!

My mailing statistics for September were: 44 outgoing postcards, 3 outgoing letters, 29 incoming postcards and 4 incoming letters. I do have a small pile of correspondence to attend to. Here's an outgoing envelope for a Canadian postcrosser. I used a clear plastic bag and a piece of blue cardboard to stabilize the envelope; then taped all the ephemera to the cardboard so it showed through the envelope. I took a chance that she liked blue. She was very happy upon receipt!
Recently I took a couple of short trips to Colorado, first on the Western Slope and then to Denver. Here's a pretty doe we spotted resting in Aurora:Coincidentally, one of my school friends was in Denver at the same time (she lives in Edmonton, Canada). So we met for breakfast. And we we dressed very similar! I've known Gayle for over 30 years, and we call each other "G." Gayle on L, Garci on R.

Postcard with Artistamp

I recently received a traveling postcard from Elle Mental in North Carolina, which originated from Su at Tanglecrafts in England. Once received, you are to put your Artistamp on it and send it on to the next person. I am not revealing who the postcard has been mailed to but surely you will see it posted on her blog!

The term artistamp or artist's stamp refers to a postage stamp-like artform used to depict or commemorate any subject its creator chooses. Artistamps are a form of "Cinderella stamps" in that they are not valid for postage, but they differ from forgeries or bogus stamps in that typically the creator has no intent to fool postal authorities or stamp collectors.

If you are interested in participating in this project, you can read about it here. I was a bit surprised to receive the postcard and although I am having fun creating mail art, I've never done an artistamp before.

August Stats

Quick post this afternoon. I kept track of my incoming/outgoing mail for August 2010:
Outgoing postcards - 34
Outgoing letters - 7
Incoming postcards - 41
Incoming letters - 8
I'm active on postcrossing and I do a lot of direct swaps, so that's why the postcard # is so high.
Can't believe 1/3 of the month of September is already gone...I've been working in Amarillo, TX for three weeks so I lose track of time. In fact, I just got home, so must unpack and settle in. Ciao!