Recent incoming

from Laura, quite close to where I grew up!

from my good friend from grad school

such cute kitty stickers!

and this was one of the awesome things I got in the Elevated Envelope swap!

Elevated Envelopes- Malicious Surprise

I finally joined in on the Elevated Envelope this time around for a "Malicious Surprise".  Halloween is almost my favorite holiday, so I was really excited. This is what I made:

For the special something inside I made artistamps using a skeleton stamp Clay gave me, a typewriter, a sewing machine for perforation, and washi tape.

I put one strip in a glassine envelope with a few other stickers.

here's the front of the card

and the inside--- I made a stencil of the tree and another of the crows, then used guache paint to fill them in. The crows are slightly purply.

then you add a crow!

and stuff it all in a black envelope

YAY!

There was a nice coincidence with the theme "murder of crows".  After I had started these I read a book from the library called Wildwood. I picked it up because it was just such a beautiful book. And then I read the inside flap. It was written by Colin Meloy who is in the band The Decemberists (a band that I like) and illustrated beautifully by his wife, Carson Ellis. Where is the coincidence? At the beginning of the book the protagonist's younger brother is kidnapped by a murder of crows!!  This event is the beginning of an adventure into the "Impassable Wilderness" to rescue her brother.