mail art bonanza

Well, home from vacation, relaxed and rejuvenated and what do I find?  A mailbox full of delightful mail!  This weekend will have to be about making return mail.....I realized I'm about a month behind!

I received some postcards - top one from Karen (even while on vacation, really?!), the middle two are the first ones from the Kat Sloma art card exchange and the bottom one from Tina (see more of her art at witt0071 on flickr).  I connected with Tina through MMSA - if you want to find mail art enthusiasts, that's a great place to start.

This group of envelopes, each filled with a note, a poem, a bookmark, a little collage material and one candy (!) are from the Elevated Envelope exchange.  The one with the drawing is from Israel, the red one from Tacoma (just down the street, sort of) and the candy one didn't have a return address, so I'm not sure where it's from.  Just a reminder - if you go to all the trouble to make a postcard or beautiful envelope or send me just anything, be sure to include return contact info so I can reciprocate!

Dan and I took tons of photos on the trip (to Vancouver Island, BC) - both for our memories and with an eye to selling them.  We came away with some really great images.  I bought a new camera - a small point and shoot instead of the big, multi lens DLSR that Dan likes to use. I have to say I just LOVE my new Panasonic Lumix camera. In some cases it took better images than the DLSR, with the added benefit that it fits in my pocket so it's easy to whip it out and capture a moment.  It does lots of things I haven't explored yet, but I can't wait to try them all.  I'll be sharing some of my fave pics soon.

AND, one of my most favorite parts of the trip was getting to meet, in person, both Jenn and Lorinda who both live on Vancouver Island!  I had lunch with each of these delightful ladies, and can I just say, it was a blast!  If you ever have the opportunity to meet someone you've met and enjoy through blogging, go for it - it's so worth it.  We chatted life and art and laughed and shared tips - it was SO much fun....just wish we had more time.  Thanks to both of you for making time for me and hanging out - it was great!