Outgoing

Some semi-recent outgoing mail. I'm having some trouble getting my pictures from my phone to  upload on my computer, so none of my recent outgoing is on here. Trying to get that fixed!
So this is March/April.

I loved this piece! I knew I had to make mail out of that colorful Jelly Belly bag after I ate the contents. Although it did seem a bit cruel to send someone the bag with no Jelly Bellies in it.

 I have several fold-and-sends with cute little animals on them. They are a bit hard to use because they don't close up all the way, just fold in thirds... so I can only send them when I don't plan to write much, which is not frequently! :) When someone asks me a question on a postcard, the question takes up one line, but the answers are always much longer if they're going to be interesting.

 I've had this postcard for 6 years! I bought it in Boston from the artist at a craft fair thing. Love it.

I haven't been decorating my envelopes as much recently. I'm trying to use up my notecard stockpile pretty conscientiously, and many of the notecards have pretty envelopes already, so I just kind of roll with it. But a couple days ago I made an honest to goodness mail art envelope and it felt great. Fun to collage and cut and paste again. :)

Outgoing

Some outgoing mail:

An envelope made from my pile of book dust jackets (given away by my library!):
A Ferris wheel and a banana split make a pretty good summer day... except that I am scared of heights and don't like bananas.

Security envelope with some drawings that I found in an abandoned notebook:

I just love that sticker. Are they groundhogs? Nutria? I have no idea.

These two are from a little while ago...
I think this was sent in March when the weather turned cold again and it snowed after a couple weeks of super warm weather. I was trying to embrace it.
In the background are our new curtains!!! 

Mail and Moomin: Places to find peace

Hey there everybody! 

I've been upset and angry at developments from the White House these days, and though I'm trying to keep up with everything that's going on, I also need to step back and find peace and enjoyment in life to keep my head and not get bogged down or hopeless.

 For me, making mail is part of that peace.

In January I kept making snowy wintry mail, which in some ways feels unseasonal. It's like, Christmas is over, I'm ready for spring!

We did have some really unseasonably warm days here too. On the day of the Women's March (we had 5,000 people show up in our town!) it was like 60 degrees!

But it's gotten cold again, and there were flurries on and off all day yesterday. I'm really rather grateful for it, as the mud was getting intolerable. We had to put Hubble in the bath to wash off his paws every time he had to go outside. 

 So I've kept on with winter, sending the last of my beautiful quilt cards that I love so much, and using snowy scenes from all the children's book dust jackets that my library was giving away.

Here's a fun Christmas gift from my sister-in-law:

 A handmade solar system coffee coozy! I love it!

And here's that monstrous pup:

 He was sleeping like this, I don't know how he kept his legs that straight while asleep. 

And bar art from trivia night:

And another place I'm finding peace and happiness these days: Moomins!

 

I'd heard of Moomins before but had never read a book until now. I am two chapters in and I just love it so much. It's like a Scandinavian Winnie the Pooh. It's funny and cute and peaceful and a little bit weird.

I highly recommend it!

1/4th of a social, and cousin mail

Here I am, watching the LWA social a day late, before being interrupted 30 minutes into it. No worries, just means I get to stretch out the fun even more. 

I'm using up some of my Ink Drop samples from Goulet Pens. I haven't ordered anything from them in ages, but I still get their newsletter, and they've discontinued their Ink Drop subscription. It's completely understandable. The amount of samples they were sending out is staggering! I'm just happy that they have so much business.

Semi-recently received from my cousin Aaron.

 I love his drawings.

And a reply:

Outgoing

To my friend from childhood, who shared my love of horses:

An Arthur Rackham calendar envelope:

 This blue floral washi tape was a gift from my mom and it's really neat because it's fabric! I really like how stretchy it is, and it also seems much more sturdy than regular washi tape. The only downside (which isn't a huge deal) is that it doesn't take well to having things glued or stuck on top of it.

Stamp selvage on a letter to Erica.

Outgoing mail

Some outgoing mail:

For Christmas I received a fat book of origami paper. You can see four sheets of it in the above photo. I'm using it for writing paper, because I'm not very good at origami! I think that's what the giver intended it for anyway. :) I love choosing several papers in the same color scheme to write a letter on. I frequently start a letter using a notecard or occasionally a postcard, and then continue with more sheets of paper. Do you do this as well? What kind of paper do you use? I've bought a lot of graph paper in different patterns from the I.D.E.A. store and I frequently use that.

This paper underneath the "Hello" was wrapping paper that I'm reusing for stationery. My mother-in-law always has the best selection of wrapping paper! She gets those books of it where you tear out the pages. Have you seen those? Lots of beautiful ornate patterns.

Envelope from a Weimaraner calender and the left triangular piece of paper is from my old Arthur Rackham calendar. I just love his work. I'm using up every scrap from that calendar!

Incoming

lovely bright circle mail from Taradactyl

 I just love this stamp of one of South Africa's national parks. Beautiful! I just bought a sheet of the new U.S. National Parks, which are absolutely wonderful! The one of Assateague is my favorite, of course, since I grew up about 30 minutes away. My second favorite is the painting of Bandelier National Monument.

More bright mail! This time from Donovan Beeson of the L.W.A. This envelope is made of vellum, or a vellum-like material and when the sun shines through it or on it, it gets even brighter, almost neon.

And a lovely letter from Hannah, who lives super close to me! It's fun talking about the places around town that we go to.

Incoming mail

Incoming!

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Some postcards:

from my mama, who enjoys photography and making her own cards and postcards

She said this reminds her of her mother who was a formidable game player. 

from my friend Caitlin, who went to New Orleans to run a 5k with her family! She saw two alligators while she was there!

Some letters: