Book Report: Good Mail Day

As a long time letter writer and upcycler of funky paper bits, I was drawn to this book about creating your own envelopes & post cards. The book is chock full of photos for inspiration and how-to information.

Here's what I created after reading it:

Collage is one of the quickest ways I've found to fall back into the habit of creating.  Don't think too hard. Simply gather bits that fascinate you and start gluing them down.  I used Yes! paste to glue bits down, then sealed the envelopes's surface with acrylic matte medium.

I collaged bits onto an 11"x18" piece of lightweight paper. You could use anything -- an old paper bag for instance.  After everything dried, I cut out an envelope from a template I made out of a standard greeting card envelope.  The book provides a template for the smaller (polka dot) envelope design.

This is a fun way to turn trash to art.  I hope you try it!

Happy Creating! 

A Blast from the Past

 
 I was digging through my printmaking supplies, looking for old Valentine's Day designs when I found this oversized postcard that I made in 2005.

I designed the art, then carved it into a linoleum block print. I printed up a batch of these on a variety of papers to make Valentine's cards for family and friends.

 I didn't have to travel to get the heart-shaped postmark. 

I shipped a batch of Valentine's cards in a manila envelope to the Postmaster of Valentines Virginia 23887 with a note requesting that they postmark and mail the cards from their town.  I included this postcard to myself so I could have a copy of the festive postmark.

You can still do this trick to get your Valentines postmarked with a heart.  Here are some cities to try:

Postmaster,  23 Manning Drive, Valentines, Virginia  23887

Postmaster, 239 N. Hall St., Valentine NE 69201-9998

Postmaster, 311 California Avenue, Valentine, TX 79854

For more information, check out the US Postal Service's Valentine's postmark information page:

https://about.usps.com/who/profile/history/valentine-post-office-names.htm

Wishing you a cozy, creative Valentine-making session!