Mar 30 ready to send

One of the things I like about mail art, is that any art form can be used. Several years ago it was "hot" to use fashion images from Vogue, Bazaar, Elle, Marie Claire etc. I had pulled a bunch of images out and had them in a file - abandoned and forgotten. Well, I found them again so decided to use them on post cards. Here are some of the ones I did this week.

Mar 30, a good mail day.

Five! Yes, I said FIVE postal art pieces came in today's mail. The watercolor floral is from the very talented Roberta. You can see more of her work here. Waves of Light is from Norma S in Florida. I wish you could see the details better online because she did some really interesting embellishing techniques. Coming in from art pals in Sacramento, a Lois Lane card from Wendy and a flying pig from Susanne. The post office took special care of the card sent by Nancy C from Pittsburgh, PA. Even though she had carefully placed it into a plastic sleeve, they one-upped her and put it in a big plastic bag. Thanks for these special treasures.

Another digital post card for Spring

This little girl's image is one of the first ones I used when I started doing altered art. She is still a favorite.

We are having a bright sunny day today, but there are puffy clouds starting to build up. It's been heavenly to do some gardening and the warmth of the sun is just what we all needed. I hope you see signs of Spring wherever you are.

To see my garden today, click here.

Spring digital post card

Ink running low in printer, so these are going out online. That wonderful fabric background is an apron I scanned.

More post cards ready to send

I tore up a calendar for background papers and wanted to send healing prayers to some ailing friends, so made a group of post cards for them. Here are a few pics.

Button Necklace

Years ago I bought a necklace made of buttons strung together and finished off with macrame and clasp. I've worn it many times and people always are asking me about it. I loaned it to Bobbi, as she intends to make one of her own. Today I opened the cabinet with my button jars and decided to do one myself. I used small glass beads between the buttons to separate them. I didn't feel like doing macrame, and I wanted it to be as light weight as possible, so just tied it onto a ribbon. Here it is.

This is an old button box I bought at a yard sale for $1 a few years back. Marilyn called after going there and said I might want to check it out. This was the only thing I bought. It came from the home of a hoarder who had passed away leaving a house full of "stuff". Her grown family was trying to get rid of everything! It was kind of weird to be surrounded by so much stuff. Kind of a wake up call - this is before the Hoarder programs came on TV. I knew I'd use a lot of the buttons and thought I'd alter the box some time, but it has a certain old charm so it's safe for the moment.

altered book - Steampunk

Here are a few pics of the new Altered Book. It was started as a place to tip in cards from a Steampunk swap put on by Red Dog Scott. You can see some of them here. Either the name of the artist is on it, or I penciled the name next to it.

Great face

I just scanned in this image of Artic Explorer Robert E. Peary. I think I'l be using it for some post cards soon. I love his weatherbeaten, frozen features.

Incoming mail - a bonus day

I received a fun altered post card from pal Sally, a packet of vintage ephemera from pal Pat S. - thanks gals. The mail box also contained some post cards I purchased on Ebay. And a post card came in from Amador Flower Farm with California poppies on it. It arrived on a gloomy grey blustery day reminding me that it IS spring.

Altering a book

I'm working on the Steampunk altered book again, since the rain isn't about to stop and I"m stuck inside I have time to really dig in. Among the things I consider iconic for Steampunk are goggles. When we were kids, my brother had an aviator cap and I loved that hat. I think he must have had goggles too. Now in my altered book I'm putting goggles on everything. I carved a couple rubber stamps to make them and they add a bit of humor to the book. I"l be taking pics soon and posting. In the meantime no more postcards will be leaving here for awhile. This is consuming all my art time.

Today's in box

Here are two post cards that showed up on this rainy day. Certainly brightened my day. thanks Bobbi and Pat S. Both California friends.

Look what I found

Carroll in Menlo Park sends post cards with really interesting postage stamps. Ones I lust after. Where does one buy these things? Not at the post office. Not at the US Postal service web site where I can buy other stamps. I had to shop at EBAY for these. The postal Museum ones are unused so I can mail them off. Or I may just want to hold on to them.

Stamp carving in odd moments

It is fun to have a medium in which you can pick it up and work on it for only a few minutes, and end up with something you can use again and again. That's why I like carving stamps. Here are the latest. I really like carving faces, not pretty ones, but ones with character, with stories to tell. I can't draw a decent face but I can carve. Go figure. Batter Up is the name I'm giving the series with te baseball players. They look a bit more like cave men - but I know the difference. LOL And Waves is a new series. Sort of Van Gogh like images. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I carve with small box cutters. The ones with the snap off blades. Rubber dulls them fairly quickly, and the lines get scraggly if I don't change them. If you are doing this, please be careful. Protect your hands and your eyes .

Old mail art

Here are a couple pieces from several years ago. I thought you might like to see them. These were from Sus T in NJ and Jane B in Arizona.

Off to the post office

I mailed 38 post cards yesterday. I worked on two series, plus some individual ones. One series used pages from a 1943 autograph book given to me by an artist friend. The other series was done with fabrics I recently purchased at local quilt shop.

What's in the mailbox today?

More goodies. Post cards: smiling dog queen from friend Nansha in Oakdale, Follow the Number Florida humor from Norma , St. Pat's card from Trina in Elk Grove, and Daring divas by Susanne in Sacramento. Then, a big surprise, "Stitch Alchemy by Kelli Perkins from my SIL Kris in Morgan Hill. I am going to look through it page by page, cause flipping through it just whet my appetite for more. Thanks all. Here are the pics.

Postal from Pamela

This came in the mail today from Pamela. She's really caught the bug to make cards again, and I love each and every one of them that make it to my mailbox.

Mail Art arrives

Three new pieces came in the mail today. The Middlebourg one is from Carroll Woods, Venice is from Suzanne Ventura and the Inventory card is from Fast Eyes. Thanks pals. These are wonderful.

Ready to post

I did these in the last few days and they are already stamped and addressed - ready to go out in the world. One is the collaborative return to Punwit.

Water color post cards

Here are a couple I made a few years back. These were done on Strathmore post card blanks, with water color pencil.

Buried treasures

While digging through more things in the studio, I found some post cards I had received from others back in 2004 . So, here are a few old ones. The wrinkled one and the one with the gold silhuette are from Jackie. The South Carolina is from Emily and the vintage one (from this year) is from Pat S. in Sacramento.