Surprise Mail...

 Don't you just love to go to your mail box and find a wonderful surprise?  No, I don't mean the spider that scares you who is just trying to get warm inside a safe place.  Certainly not the bills that come way too often!  I am speaking of a package from a friend who sends you something out of the blue.  I love it!

 This is wrapped so cleverly in a sewing pattern tissue.  With a fabric strip tied in twine and a cute little stamped card.  I am totally intrigued...

 There was also a handmade card with a stamped bird design.  Beautiful.  Thoughtful.  Serene.

 I open to find a bundle of joyful fabric pieces.  All random sizes and prints.  Hmmm...

Here you can see the array of fabrics.  What a fun bundle this is.  Thank you Cory Dogwood.  You are the best blog pal a girl ever had.  Please visit Cory at her blog and see what she is up to.  Maybe I will need to find out how she makes her "ticker tape" quilts and use these fabrics to make one for myself. 
Even though Cory has a residence just a few miles from me and we must be shopping at the exact same local crafting store (Ben Franklin) I have never met her and yet we have been blog pals for two years.  I rather like the mystique of being a blog pal...kind of like years ago when I had a pen pal I never met. 
I adore your card and sweet bundle of fabric joy Cory Dogwood and I thank you sincerely. 
My ideas are beginning to churn on what I will do with all of these pieces.  What would each of you create?
Happy week to all...our weather is quite chilly and yet the sun is shining.  Rain is forecasted for the long holiday weekend.  Skiers will be headed up to the resorts and I will be staying home, warm and cozy sipping tea or cocoa.  Maybe stitching something...beading something...gluing papers...

Snail Mail...

 A short while ago one of the blogging community favorites posted about snail mail.  I adore Lori Anderson and her blog so I got busy.  I had been brewing an idea in my head but this was finally time to act.  I got out the canvas and cut out a snail.  Then I got some lace and began my design.  I sewed the lace into a gather and then handstitched it to the canvas snail base.  Got out my Derwent Inktense colored pencils and put some facial features and color to the body. 

 I signed the back and off my little snail went in the mail.  All the way to Lori.  She was very pleased.

I actually made three of my little snails.  I just find them super cute.  Two of them are still home with me.  They haven't decided where to travel.  You know it takes them a while to get anywhere.  Slow and steady.  That is also how my brain works...slow and steady.  Yes, I have been told I am too literal but hey, snail mail in this case really did fit. 
I hope you are filled with lots of inspiration and time to create your art. 
September is surrendering to Fall and the days are less light and the temps are cooling down and the leaves are truly falling...

Goodbye April...

April is always a very busy month with the hope of winter ending and Spring arriving, lots of family and friends birthdays and this year the Letter Writing Month challenge I joined.
The photo above shows the wonderful amount of snail mail I have received this month. We each were paired with a "blog pal" and the criteria of sending at least one snail mail item to that person. Well, the list included 32 participants and we could also send to any one or all of the list. You know me...I sent to every person on the list at least once. Some of them more than once. And my blog pal several times. I was so lucky as my blog pal sent me lots of wonderful mail. Each so very clever and handmade which is just what I love.
Thank you each and every one for such a fun month of snail mail.
I also took this month and sent mail to some of my friends and blogland friends. I thought it would be the right time to remember so many people who mean so much to my daily living.
I am awaiting one more piece of mail from my blog pal because she gave me a hint that she made me something and I am so excited to see what it is.
So as this is the last day of April we say goodbye and put this very busy month to rest for another year.
When was the last time you handwrote a letter or handmade a card and mailed it to someone?

Snail Mail Fun...

April is National Letter and Card writing month and I am part of a great group of people who are swapping snail mail . I did seven of these cards and envelopes last evening. I have been at the local post office every day to confirm my mailings. My envelopes have been too small by as little as 1/8" and too bumpy which I admit the buttons were but flat ribbon? So some serious excess postage fees for me and my mailings but hey...I am committed and must send what I made for my swaps.
This photo also shows a page of postage stamps I purchased that are very artistic and oversized. They are the standard 44 cent and titled Abstract Expressionists. I think they are perfect for creative handmade and fun snail mail.
Now for the fun of what I have received...

Very sweet handmade card from New York.

Handmade and this photo does not do justice to the lovely squares of handmade paper.

An adorable pocket card with a very sweet tag. The colors are bright and cheery.

A fabric postcard that was hand screened and hand made.

And I love this card that shows a row of houses and a VW bug in San Francisco.

Funny thing about all my mail I have received is that where it is coming from the postage rates are very reasonable and obviously not worried about "bumps" like buttons or envelopes that are under-sized. Go figure! Maybe I should drive (yes the gas would be cheaper than the postage) to another post office to use regular postage that more than makes sense.

All in all this has been a lot of fun to receive surprise mail.

Well I must get back to my addressing and sending. I am only about 2/3 way through the list. I will admit I have been spending an outrageous amount of time with all of this mailing but I like to think of the ladies of previous days and the wonderful way they hand wrote letters in beautiful script and I think of life in simpler times. :o)

More cards...

I would like to acknowledge Fiskars and thank them for great customer service. I began to make some cards and discovered my Seagull corner punch was broken. Somehow the metal parts had broken and fell out in pieces which meant I could not use the corner punch for making my cards. Before I threw it in the trash I took a couple of pictures and thought I would email Fiskars to let them know. I got an email response right away and they said they would send me a new one in a few days. Well today I did get my new punch and it works and I am very happy. Just when I was thinking customer service is a lost art Fiskars comes through with excellent customer service. Thank you very much Fiskars.

As for receiving cards I have done that this week. My Blog Pal Cory sent me this very creative card she made using recycled cards. It is multi layered and has lots of interest to it. She tied on a tea bag for a relaxing cup of tea. On the envelope she hand drew some little flowers to mimic the tree in the picture. Well done Cory. I like it very much thank you.

My other card I received from my Blog Pal is this one with a silk flower on the recycled cards she uses. I truly love the flower and it will be finding a new spot off of this card onto another project very soon. Cory included a package of Cosmos seeds and I shall be so happy to plant these as I love the flowers with their wonderful shades of pinks. On this envelope she drew some little cosmos flowers in the corner to carry out the theme. Very clever.

I have been busy writing and sending my April cards and goodies so it has been very busy on the desk top here in the studio. I must say I even had fun at the post office trying to mail my cards. Two envelopes were 1/8" too short so I had to bring them home and re-package them. Of course they still cost 64 cents each but 1/8"...come on! Some of my cards had "bumps" in them so that was an extra fee on top of the extra fees. I told the clerk I was trying to make them as flat and light weight as possible. A couple of the burly guys standing in line behind me suggested I take the envelopes outside and they could drive over them a few times with their big diesel truck! A good laugh was had by all except the clerk. Every single item I was trying to mail had some issue and excess expense and by now the guys in line are teasing me about maybe I used the wrong color of ink...purple. I was able to mail all except the two shorties that lacked 1/8" each envelope. Of course my wallet is now empty. Fortunately for me I had a mission of mailing some fun cards to some people I have never met and hopefully they will get a good laugh out of them.

Are you sending any snail mail this month of April?

I still have a long list of addresses I will be sending to so I better get very busy.

April = Letter Writing Month...

April is Letter Writing month. For those of us who still get excited over snail mail this is a perfect opportunity to send and get mail. I know how frustrating and expensive mailing something can be at the post office. I have been constantly disappointed by postage rules I have never heard of. However, none of this will stop me from sending mail. So in the handmade theme of my life I have made some cards to send.
Very simply I took 3 pages of coordinating 12" x 12" scrapbook papers, 9 pre-folded cards with envelopes, glue stick, pencil, ruler, tape and my favorite heart punches. I lined the envelope flaps with printed paper, punched hearts to embellish the front of the envelopes and kept them very flat and smooth so the postal company "machines" can do their jobs without my having to pay the additional 20 cents for "handling". I am being optimistic on this as I have not mailed these yet. I may still get stung.

For the cards I merely cut and taped and glued papers to the fronts along with fun hearts and then embellished some of them with my Sharpie markers. Once again I am going with the flatest dimension possible. I am also trying to keep the overall weight very minimal. It should not cost me USA 44 cents plus 17 cents plus 20 cents to mail one simple card! That is 81 cents and what are they thinking? For my local recipients I can afford to drive it and hand deliver it myself...except that would spoil the fun of looking in the mailbox. :o)

On the back of each card I stamp my favorite little stamp I have owned for decades:

"When you care enough...you make it yourself!"

Happy letter writing this month and always.

Can't you just see fine ladies in their beautiful dresses sitting at their fancy writing desks actually writing letters and sending them across the country when it took weeks to deliver. Can you imagine using a quill and ink bottle? I am afraid I would spill the ink and make a huge mess.

To this day I still love a scripted letter from the days of yore. I appreciate those who do calligraphy as it is so beautiful and follows in the old traditions.
Hmmm...are you going to make some cards? Write some letters? Send some mail? I am.