Snow White

Sent & Received mail from a Snow White Mail Art Swap

Received: A Buxom Lass

 I especially like how she used an apple as the O in Snow White.

Sent:

and the back, printed image colored with colored pencils.

Mail Lost in Cambridge :(

I lost this letter while walking around in Cambridge. I'm never putting mail in that outside pocket of my purse again. :-(

I can only hope that some kind soul will find it and pop it in a mailbox...

Bonnie, I'll write again, but please let me know if you get this!

New Swap-bot Swap

Hello all readers who are also USA swap-bot members!
I'm hosting a new swap: Postcards You Don't Like

Do you have postcards you don't like? Here's a chance to get rid of them and maybe even find them a home with someone who does like them! For this swap, to each partner send 3 postcards that you don't like. There are 2 partners so that will be 6 postcards total. This is completely senders choice, you don't have to choose according to the recipients preferences. However, please nothing graphic for this swap.
Send them unwritten in an envelope. Postcards can be normal (4-1/4 inches by 6 inches), or be over-sized (~4 3/4 in. by 6 1/2 in.) - over-sized requires a 44 cent stamp to be sent naked in the US.
Newbies welcome. No recent unexplained 1s or 3s.

Last day to sign up is Oct. 19th.


Hopefully this way I'll be able to get rid of some postcards I've had around for quite a while. And who knows, one man's trash is another man's treasure! Maybe I'll get something I'll like.  At least it won't be the same old thing I've been staring at...

Puzzled?

I sent a handmade puzzle to my friend Kijjit.

When you put all the pieces together in the right directions...

you get this:

 the packaging:

For some reason my taste buds think that ginger only belongs in gingerbread cookies, but Clay likes these.

Sorry for the blurry photos, I don't know why I was fighting with my camera.

Here is the previous letter to my foxy friend:

I bought a book about foxes for cheap and really enjoyed this anecdote about a playful fox.

It's a good thing that on the one day a week I don't get mail, there's football.
Any other football fans out there?
I'm into lots of different things.  It's interesting because I find that by liking football I have something to talk about with a whole genre of people who otherwise I wouldn't have much in common with.

Anyway, I did spend a nice amount of time today responding to letters as well as reorganizing my stationery stash.  I've moved my spring/summer stationery into the hallway cupboard and brought out my fall/Halloween cards into my desk drawer. 

I also looked through the collection of Christmas cards I've amassed.  It'll be fun to start using them pretty soon too! Oh holidays, holidays, lovely holidays.

Two boring outgoing checks... but I used the opportunity to tell the USPS how I felt about them!

Also, you may have seen a few of those horsey return address labels of mine before... well look at how many I have!!

300!

And I got them all for free!

A friend gave me a coupon for them from Staples. I was so excited. I went in and got to chose the design and everything.

I'm in my last year of my masters program here, so I may only be at this address until the end of next August... so it will be a challenge to see if I can use all of them up! Do you think I can do it?

Supplies Envy...

So CappucinoAndArtJournal is one of my favorite mail blogs. I love her style.  She recently has put up a notice for two mail art calls, one of her own and one of a friends.
Her mail art call is about mail art travel kits.  I recently participated in a swap-bot swap for mail art travel kits where you put one together for each of your two partners. I just realized that I haven't done a post about that yet!
Anyway, in her most recent post, CappucinoAndArtJournal linked to this travel kit... the travel kit of Jennie Hinchcliff, co-author of Good Mail Day (my favorite crafty book EVER) and all-around mail goddess. 
Man, I drooled over these photos of art and letter writing supplies.  And at the very end of the post, was this:

Ok, so I didn't know what it was either until I read about it.
It's a hand-held perforator!
Completely awesome!!
Ok, so yes I am a complete nerd about office supplies.
Whatever.

I have been wanting to make faux postage for the longest time, and the perforation was my stumbling block.

Recently the Letter Writers Alliance did a post on "Perforating at Home".
I'd heard about the sewing needle method before, but I left my sewing machine in Wisconsin (oh, I've missed it so) and I was not about to spend the time to do it by hand.

I had no idea that there were little handheld perforators like Jennie's! So as soon as I saw it I googled it and came up with this.

 Definitely not as cute as Jennie's ladybuggish one, but functional.  I caved and bought it. Including shipping (within the US) it came out to about $7.50.

I felt a little guilty because I made a huge stamp purchase not too long ago and I kind of felt like I'd already exceeded by mail budget, but Clay told me I shouldn't feel guilty. So I won't!
And I'm so excited about making some faux postage when it arrives! I'm not sure what exactly the perforations will look like, but it'll be fun to experiment.
I'm definitely going to try to make some Halloween faux postage since the stupid USPS doesn't make any real Halloween Postage! BOO to them! (heh heh- get it? Boo, Halloween)

Even MORE Halloween!!!

Today before I left work for the weekend I opened my desk drawer in my office and found this!!

 I have been BOO'D!

I love it! I share an office with several other teaching fellows and apparently they used to BOO people all month in October. I am going to have to get on this and make some fun BOO packages myself.  P.S. It was filled with yummy candy too!

Then I came home to a WONDERFUL mail day!!
Received this from Dana:

She included 3 awesome stickers from the National Book Festival in D.C.

AND I got the first mailing in the LWA's October RSVP mailing!!
Yes, I was one of those that shelled out for fun stuff in the mail.
By the way, I love the name of the group; RSVP stands for Royal Society of Ventursome Parcels! 

In the little orange suitcase were orange and black sequins! I'm excited about using those in a mail art project soon.

Because I love Halloween so much, one of my goals is to send all of my penpals a Halloween card or postcard this month.

Here are some great stickers I got from Trader Joe's.

I always ask for some stickers when I go and no one ever gives me a hard time about it.
One time a cashier even told me that she loved it when adults asked for stickers. :-D heeheehee

I ALSO received in the mail today my kit for brewing my first beer!!
I have a three day weekend so I'm hoping to start it this weekend.  Another post on that sometime soon!