Today is the final post chronicling late February & most of March’s mail: outgoing part 2. I’ll start with my mail art for Barbara Wanhill (@2catsandapencil). Her quirky twitter name inspired me to make a little custom moleskine, and it was sent along with a bee eater pocket mirror and paper ephemera.Jeannine Saylor‘s (@saylor_made) reply envelope began with an adorable bee notebook that I thrifted. Add in some maps, gardening ephemera, a sexy model dude et VOILA!Dana Davis (@dzynmkr) collects bottle caps; lucky for her my beau drinks unique brews often. I spent several months collecting specific caps, and to my pleasant surprise, she recognizes only 1 of the 10! Vintage alcohol ads & stars were sent with the caps.I’m surprised the Zine Queen Marissa Falco (@czarcastic) is still friends with me, after taking nearly 4 months to reply to her!!! I was waiting to finish ANY of the 5 zines I’ve had on my brain or partially in progress. I recently completed my two sketchbook project zines and thus sent her the very first 2 copies as soon as they were cut, folded and stapled. I was playing around one night in the studio altering postcards, and a super epic mixed media collage emerged. Although I was tempted to keep it on my studio wall, it seemed like the perfect postcard that Rhya Tamasauskas (@rhyat) would truly appreciate.My ABC/123 pen pal Amanda Nicole White (@amanda_ink) got package #3 from me this week. Three epic outer-space items, a trio of bats, and a pile of 3-themed items were sealed into the “part 3: the rendezvous” envelope decorated with airmail tape & stamps.The beautiful Caren Gibb has been super upset about the deer cull going on in Invermere, BC right now (and rightfully so!). I sent her a few antlered friends and two of my new sketchbook project zines to cheer her up. My UK pen pal Anna Jane Searle (@annajanesearle) found a bird chirping her name and address on a large white envelope this week. Inside was a wonderful storybook about pet owls as well as many map, nautical and DIY craft clippings. I sent it with a gorgeous $8 grizzly bear stamp. Check out Anna’s blog post about it to see a beautiful shot of the bear.Crystal Plett (@thehouseofheart) is not only a lover of lions, but she has recently been collecting and trying tons of recipes. These 3 vintage cookbooks ought to make her smile.Another feather and bird loving gal like me, Carol Whitley (@imsilverfeather) was sent one of my screenprinted / handmade envelope plastered with vintage postage stamps was stuffed with tons of fun paper ephemera and craft feathers.And last but certainly not least is a gentleman emblazoned handmade envelope that was sent to Sarah Churchill (@scjammycustard) filled with whiskey treats, a lego card and an envelope informing her of some of my favorites.I hope you had fun with these past four posts that featured the piles of letters and mail art I’ve sent & received. Another set of postal pleasures posts can be expected in just a few weeks time, as I leave for a week-long sunny vacation in just two days, and will inevitably be away from postbox and mail art duties for a few more weekends.
As promised, today’s post chronicles the rest of the mail art envelopes that showed up in my postbox this past month. I’ll kick things off with an envelope decorated with philatelic kings and queens came from Dana Davis (@dzynmkr). She gifted me typewriter & animal clippings along with temporary tattoos.Incredible bird of prey stamps accompanied Carol Whitley‘s (@imsilverfeather) reply. She gifted me paper treats and three incredible vintage postcards that I absolutely adore.Bonnie Jean (@postmuse) sent me 2 thank you postcards for my participation in her Orphan Postcard Project where I adopted several postcards. You should participate if you like snail mail… if you missed this post or this post about the project, check em out.My Montreal maiden, miss Crystal Plett (@thehouseofheart) sent me a beautiful package with a gorgeous exterior. Inside were plenty of treats and a handwritten, heartfelt letter.An amazing talent, miss Brooke Weeber (@thelittlecanoe) sent oodles of epic & awesome goodies from her shop plus an original watercolour, postcards and a sweet wee note.Nicole Palmer is a new pen pal who contacted me on Etsy. Shortly afterwards, a stamp plastered envelope showed up, filled with a note book, long letter and nature themed fun.I am so proud to have a pen pal in Malaysia: the beautiful Bree Ong. She writes letters in the smallest printing and she never disappoints with her cute stationery and stamps.This Queen stamp on Jaime Madellena‘s (@sendmoremail) recent letter made my jaw drop. Canada Post is issuing 4 stamps to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee & I can’t wait to get my hands on some! And how about Jaime’s adorable owl stationery?Miss Michelle Ashton (@mizhenka) called me her bear dealer the other day. I would say that the feeling is mutual! Her recent envelope to me was filled with bears and other fun.And that’s that!!! You are now up to date on all of my incoming mail. Outgoing treats will be chronicled tomorrow & Thursday, so stay tuned to see what kind of crazy things I sent through the postal system recently.
I hadn’t sent much mail art while I was away from home and upon my return, the official tally of people I owed was 23! Uh, scary. I”ve been hard at work replying and am now down to owing only 8. While some are still flying across oceans or sitting in sorting boxes, other newly created replies have indeed already arrived plus a few letters that were sent during my travels. Here is the bonus edition of mail art mania: outgoing lettersWhile away, I sent my Johnny several love letters, including this one. There’s something extra sweet about taking the time to write a letter, even though we were skyping and texting almost everyday. The letters must have made John fall even harder in love with me, because a few days after my return home, he proposed to me!!!! Other people who I hold dear in my heart and enjoy writing to, are my grandparents. My one grandmother has lived in Ottawa her whole life, so we have been pen-pal-ing since I was a little girl. My other set of grandparents are super close to me, as they used to live across the street from me while I was in grade school! Since they moved back East many years ago, I have done my best to write them a letter every month or so to send them some love and keep them up to date with my on-goings. The first MAIL ART package I made upon my return home was for Crystal Plett (@thehouseofheart). As a fellow canuck, it felt right to gift her the original graphite drawing (sorry it’s wrapped in glassine in the photo) that I did for my Tim Horton’s tribute print for the Luxury Of print exchange. Along with it a wee note, a C flash card, an envelope (recycled from kye sangha) with stickers, circle card & a classic tri-fold expense notebook, all sent inside a hand-made envelope from a page of a Where’s Waldo book.My first letter to Brooke Weeber (@thelittlecanoe) arrived this week and it was in an envelope I created as a demo for the kids at my snail mail surprises workshop with a cariboo calling out her address. Inside, a fantastic book page featuring illustrated characters with seriously epic facial hair, a little drawing about her twitter name “little canoe,” a note, stickers, stamps and an A/P of a Cross Bearing Ram Moleskine! Can’t wait to see what she sends back, I have long been a fan of her super unique illustrative style. Nick Ooysten, my bestie, got the raddest PEACHES envelope (she’s one of our fave electronic goddesses). Adhered with green washi tape, a serious peaches stares out at nick’s address, a fake peaches stamp to the right of her, and on the back is a full size picture of peaches dressed in one of her insanely outlandish outfits. Inside: leather moustache, “low blow” pog, winnie the pooh flash cards, a note on glittery leopard pattern paper and other ephemera & stamps in the oh-so-grotesque, yet somehow still cute “sweety pie’s fart army” envelope. My reply to Kimi Kobashi (@kimikobashi) came together easily, as she expressed a new found love for bisons! I gifted her one of my roaring bisons from the Animal Calls series and also included a decorative stamp, article and fun fact sheet about the furry mammals. Along with the bison treats, I also send roadtrip stickers, a moose card with a note inside, “creative hands” spine cover (because kimi’s got some of those) and a small paperback book that I found a thrift shop. The illustrations feature animals out apple picking – two things that made me think of kimi: cute creatures and a teacher’s favorite fruit! Ashley Gaia (@gaiaprints)’s envelope came together quickly as well, as I had been keeping a few things aside for her the past little while. As always many bird themed treats made their way in there: birdy stickers, a letter written on a photo of peacock plumage, an illustration of penguins swimming and a book about cockatiels. Found ephemera included a sea turtle photo, film side of a polaroid transfer of palm trees, a set of free willy 2 pogs and an animal skull diagram. La piece du resistance? A photo print of a digital collage that I made for her called “The Spirit of the Fox.” Jennifer Woodfine is a good friend of mine from Junior High School. She is the kindest and most generous person who is the owner of the most infectious laugh on the planet! I miss her dearly! A few years after grad, she lived in the UK and has now been back in Vancouver for 2+ years. I finally acquired her address the other day, and wrote her a little something in the hopes of adding another beloved pen pal to my list. After receiving her last package, I found out Sarah Churchill (@scjammycustard)has an undying love for rodents and finds them particularly cute, so I decorated a sukie leaf envelope with a few cute rodents and she found it in her postbox today. Inside were some more rodent items including a found book page and national geographic page. Stickers, fabric maple leaf and other fun found objects.I wrote to Jaime Madellena (@sendmoremail) on some handmade stationery that I also created as a demo example in my snail mail workshop for kids. Something I love about my trades with Jaime is that they are much more like having a traditional penpal; we can both always expect a lovely letter from one another. Sometimes little trinkets like drawings or teabags will sneak into an envelope, but a handwritten letter is always a treat in itself, so I hope she enjoyed my updates, DIY stationery and small ephemera. And thus we mark the end of a fantastic 3 days of mail art MANIA! But fret not, I’ve put together a dozen special envelopes that are currently making their way to the addressees. Plus I’m hoping I get lucky in the mail art department next week; I’ve only had 2/10 successful trips to the postbox since being home in the Cariboo, but luckily my stockpile from the 6 weeks that I was away (featured in mail mania part 1 & mail mania part 2) has me happily distracted from the current slow flow of letters. As always thanks for reading! Your comments and feedback are always welcome!