MMSA mail art

Once again, I go away for a week (to central Oregon this time) and I come home to a stack of mail art!  This stack is mostly in response to the most recent swap at Mail Me Some Art (MMSA) hosted by the ever energetic Karen.  These cards are in response to the Get to Know You theme - here's who I got to know better:

top: Bonnie Jeanne from PA; bottom: Sherry H from AK

top: Chris M from parabolicmuse.blogspot.com; bottom: Jeanne K from KS

top: Andria  from ND, Andria-DrawingNear.blogspot; bottom: Corrine from MA, SparkleDaysStudio.com

this oversize heart from Ria C in ND (MallardTrailMail.blogspot) through IUOMA

for the fall themed MMSA swap I received  -  top: Carlene T from TN, TaylorMaide; bottom: 

Barbara D from NC

I really got a batch of great cards, didn't I?  Thanks to each and every one of you for brightening my day when I opened the mail box!

an artful day

Dan watched football all day so I was free to play in my art room!  I admit I did some computer work as well, but I felt artfully satisfied by the end of the day.

I made mail art - I've got quite a packet going to Karen for her MMSA (mail me some art) challenges this month.  There is a new theme for each week (postmarked by Saturday) so there's lots of time or themes to interest you.  She makes it super easy - you send her cards, she matches them up with other participants and mails them out! :)  Some of these go to her swaps and some to people I owe cards to.....

Then, I finished up a spread in my journal I'd been working on to remember our vacation.  I used some of my photos, some ephemera (tickets & stuff), paint and the usual fun stuff.  Here's how that turned out:

Folded the center 2 pages in half so the outer pages had to color coordinate -have finally realized this color combo is just not a fave - I keep trying it in various permutations and I rarely like the results.  I need to stick to brighter, more cool colors I think.

The two folded pages opened to the center -listing the places we visited and practiced some writing.

Added some maps, also folded to get them to fit.

The inside of the folded list pages changed color palette - like it better.

This was a fun way to include lots of pics, some ephemera, some comments so I remember the highlights of the trip.  Washi tape holds stacked photos in place so they don't take up as much room.

And finally, I added the next steps to my large canvas WIP.  I've shown the various layers I've worked on over the last few weeks, today I added blue stenciled letters, then circles, covered it all in matte medium and waited for it to dry.  Can't decide if I want to gesso it a bit before the next step or not so will live with it a day or two before moving on.....I'm mostly liking it - we'll see how it progresses compared to what's in my head.

Wanted an underlayment of some letters and teal.

Lots of gesso and white and gray paint.

Even more paint, then circles in 2 sizes and lots of shades of yellow/gold.

Circle detail - dictionary pages and music from Get Back by the Beatles.

Hope you all managed to fit some art in this weekend as well.

I'll be sharing this with Artists in Blogland.

random thoughts

In the US this is a long weekend and I'm hoping you're all taking good advantage of it.  I'm certainly starting to feel the change of the seasons - it's dark a little earlier, there's a slight nip to the air even when it's sunny, the evenings are quite cool.  Seems like summer just flew by.

Today is a housekeeping, random thoughts post..... (because if I'm in front of the computer, I don't have to do actual housekeeping! :)

I've received all 6 postcards from the Liberate Your Art swap hosted by Kat. This is the second year I've participated - she had almost 200 participants this year I think so it's really fun to see what sort of art postcards you might receive.  These are from (top left) Cathy in the UK (dear-emma.com), Kathy in AZ (uniqueknobbery.com), Deb in AK (dyingtobeyours.blogspot.com), Solande in the Netherlands (zwerfdieren.com), Kat in OR (kateyestudio.com), and Paula in VA (littlescrapsofmagic.typepad.com).

(ED to add)  This is such an easy swap to participate in - she walks you through each step and gives lots of time - basically the idea is to share a p/c of your art so you take a photo, make a p/c and send her 5 cards with postage.  She takes care of the rest.  There's a blog hop 9/13-16 to see what others sent/received so you might want to visit her site & check it out.  SHE'S MADE A VIDEO that includes 1 postcard from each of the 193 participants (from all over the world) and it's inspirational - definitely worth seeing!

During the rest of the year Kat shares tirelessly.  She's a photographer extraordinaire and shares tutorials and tips and inspiration.

I drove east of the mountains to Chelan and spent a couple days with my best friend - we got a jump start on our handmade Christmas cards.  It was so much fun to cut and glue paper, brainstorm ideas and just chat the day away.

We're in a major creative flurry here!

Just before I left I was out watering the flower pots on the deck and had to snap a couple of pics - the flowers are just SO gorgeous!

Now, I'm off to work on my large canvas....I've put it off for a week but no longer!  Hope you're all enjoying your weekend.

mail received

This has been a great mail week.  I was gone for a few days camping and upon my return the postcards from the International Swap hosted by Shannon at Musings on Realities have started coming in.  Just look at all this creativity!

 From Mim at IUOMA - she's a very regular creator and believes in using what's right at hand.  She got a new shredder and wanted to experiment with making art in little bitty strips.  Fun!

I couldn't read the city or email address, but it's from Kay with Shannon's swap.  Kay, I hope you see this so you know I received it.   I love the layered and layered collage pieces!

Julia in Las Vegas sent me this stunner.  Embossing, collaged torn red (handmade?) paper then dimension with the bits of raffia and that gorgeous heart that looks like it's made of clay but is actually paper.  Did you make it Julia?  It's SO pretty and arrived in perfect condition.

 Here's another beauty - this from Sherry in Alaska (no blog or email....so thanks Sherry!).  She used a grid index card that is colored in for the background, stitched around the edges and then all those flowers are colored, cut out and glued on only in the center so they each pinch up a bit for a great 3D affect!  Cool, right?  It came in a handmade envelope made of a newspaper page - love it!

Last, but not least, this collaged card arrived from Tammy in British Columbia, Canada.  Again, no contact info.  Sure wish folks would remember to add some sort of contact info so I could thank them.

I just love all the variety and attention paid to the postcards I'm receiving.  It's like Christmas!  I just might have to take another vacation soon so I can have the cards stack up! :)  Thanks so much to all of you and I'll be sending something in return to those that I can.  PLEASE be sure to add some way to stay in touch.....

I have lots more catching up to do after being gone for 5 days, so I'll gradually get caught up with my visits and my ICAD posts and whatever other challenges I can.  Looking forward to seeing what you've all done in my absence.......

new mail art site

Most of you know how much I enjoy sending and receiving snail mail, mail art, postcards or whatever form the mail art takes.  Karen over at I am Rushmore had taken on the organization of some mail swaps at Flutterbye but that site shut down so she bravely started a separate site just to host mail swaps.  (note to self:  be very sure to spell the right kind of male mail!)

If you'd like to participate in a postcard swap, ATC swaps, or whatever, check out the possibilities at Mail Me Some Art (great name, right?).  She's made it SUPER easy and Karen is so encouraging and inclusive.  She doesn't accept the concept of "I'm not good enough" or "I'm not an artist".  As she says,

It doesn't matter if you are a beginner.  It doesn't matter if you think your style isn't like other people's.  It doesn't matter if you don't think you're good enough.

YOU ARE PERFECT.

 YOU BELONG HERE.

So, what are you waiting for?

Click on over and read about it, make a postcard or two, and let's get swapping.  I hope to get one from you soon!

postcards mailed

Hooray - I finished my Inspiration Ave postcards for the swap and all 5 are in the mail in the morning, winging their way around the world (Australia, Germany, Canada, US).  I'm sure looking forward to getting mine starting any day now..... :)

No pictures just yet as I don't want to give away what they'll be receiving to those who might read my blog, so I'll share in a few days.  My envelopes look like this:

So if one of these shows up in your mailbox, it's from me! :)

postcard swap

Inspiration Avenue is hosting a postcard swap as their weekly theme - you can sign up by 4/29 and you have a whole month to mail out 5 postcards.  You don't have to publish your address; just the 5 people sending to you will get your address.  If you'd like to receive some delicious handmade mail, be sure and register!

Click through here to read all the details.