Just for fun & cuteness!

Happy Holidays to those who receive these and some others in-advance :-)

Thought I'd keep it simple today. The postcrossing description said "wants animal or homemade", and the card is going to Russia.

Postcard ID: GB-191315

An add and pass dated 2007 from Eric Langolff...

Mystery Envelope



Half of whats inside:

I joined a Swap-Bot exchange coordinated by FarStarr where we send piece of mailart on folded cardstock, and the recipient flips opens the cardstock and sends back his/her own mailart on the other side. These are sent as postcards, no envelopes, so on the other side of the fold is the message and address.

My partner did a lovely Christmas collage using lots of Santa images. I don't celebrate Christmas, but I do like Santa images, and wanted to stay with the same cute, winter theme.

I do have lots of snowmen and snowflake inspiration, though. Winter is the only time of year you will ever see country cute in our house. I had a fun time creating this Snowman Tea Party. However, these snowmen won't meet the same end as Frosty because this is iced tea.

I added a scan of the postcard below but it doesn't really scan well ... too fat. I really need to get a better scanner. I've been reading up and think I know what I'll buy when I have a job again.

This postcard is 5x7 (13cm x1 8cm) and very dimensional. I'm a wee bit afraid to take it to the post office for mailing. They are not going to like the sticking up bits, or the fiberfill "snow." I used the handy Shaped Based Pricing Template a kind postal worker gave me and the card has to go package rate.

I've been particularly enjoying the debates that have sprung up about mailart on the site and on surrounding sites lately., such as this short post by Crisispanty.

As I have stated before, I believe that art is when someone uses their skill to actively add value to something, so I thought I'd put up a little mail mischief.

The idea of this piece was to show that value had already been added to a piece before it was sent.

In summer, I brought this postcard with me along on a paragliding trip, and stuck it up on a barbed wire fence, with the intention of sending the piece out with 2 holes in it, showing it had been loved.

I sent one similar piece off and it delighted the postcrosser who received it, so I was going to put this card up just as it was. That would have started debate, and I would have held the position that not adding anything to the piece other than 2 holes from a barbed wire fence was art enough.

As it turned out, I couldn't bring myself to do it. The card still needed something else. So half an hour later, here's the completed piece, something that I feel is worthy of mailart 365.

Does that invalidate my idea of art as added value? Does art really have to constitute something hugely visually appealing?

This piece is going to a mailartist called Cross Ryu, who is a breathtakingly good artist. We have 2 artworks up of this Korean gem and both me and Elena count Cross as one of our favourite artists. Sadly Cross hasn't been heard from for nearly a year. I hope to wake Cross out of his/her mail-artistic slumber, as the mailart world is missing a great talent if Cross isn't buying stamps

Yep, more daffodils.

Making mail art is getting addictive. I love browsing everyones art. My fellow 365 bloggers are all inspiring. I feel like I am getting to know everyone through their posts. Thank you all for making me feel welcome.

#19A "When making just one isn't enough"

psmith: Pretty self-explanatory!

How often has a color earned a footnote in history? Pink received its place on Nov. 22, 1963.

Boo Cartledge, 365 / 20. A totally different look.  This one didn't live up to its full potential, but I love the strip of gems; and I like the red and turquoise and the bit of lace.  Perhaps a stamp would have improved it or, better yet, a picture of the Loch Ness monster or the aliens in "Aliens." It's too prissy and not prissy enough. A dreadful state of affairs. Sent to Janet Heritage.

I'm pretty sure this is a problem reserved only for mailartists. When my friends and colleagues find out that I send lots and lots of post, I got offered all the postcards that they had picked up over the years "and never got around to sending"

The reasons people have postcards and not send them I'm sure are plentiful, but often I get postcards that people have not sent for the simple reason that they are shite.

These 2 cards fall into that category. I bet Glenn was just pleased to not have these embarrassments littering his house any more.



The original postcard was a line of condoms hanging from a washing line, with days of the week and the cheerful and frankly nauseatingly poor humoured "Having a great week in London"

Why the hell did he ever buy such tat I have to wonder. Everyone to their own I guess.

I decided to do a little censoring of that particularly tasteless gag but wanted to keep a bit of tongue in cheek humour there, hence this piece. Decided to add 2 for today as I wanted these embarrassing cards out of my collection as quickly as possible.

"warm"

psmith: I've read a lot of post-apocalyptic literature. It's one of my favorite genres. Yes, I know, that's another indication of the need for psychiatric help! Oh, well!

I was giving the drawing another go and thought I'd try to take on the human form again. I decided to build it up from the structure, hence the skeleton. Once I laid down the skeleton, I felt the whole piece needed a little something more, so I added the bone, as if it had fallen out of the skeleton, and the other rubber stamps just fell into place.

psmith - Altered photograph.

I just bought a pack of glitter glue at the dollar store, so I thought I would try them out over foil.

Mystery Envelope



Half of whats inside:

I love playing with paper fashion, which is sad because I have absolutely no fashion sense. If not for my significant other's sensibility, I would actually wear something like Cheese Couture. He is constantly saving me from ridiculous fashion purchases.

This will go to Becky, who has a fairly new letter-writing blog called Leaving a Paper Trail.

John street, TO

Posted from Blogium for iPhone

I like browsing everyone's mailart, and seeing that several folk have THEMES! What a concept. There is the bunny theme, the daffodil theme, skull theme, and many others.

I don't have a theme. :-(

And is this a metaphor for life? Daniel Pink says that everyone should be able to make a sentence about their life. Something that sums it up nice and tight, like "Mother Teresa helped the poor", or "Abe Lincoln saved the nation and freed the slaves."

My life doesn't have a sentence. :-(

Maybe that's because my mailart doesn't have a theme? Well, that's just how it is. Maybe I will spot a theme within the mayhem (or several themes). Anyway, bunnies and daffodils have already been chosen, so I think I'll try a Yambus theme. A Yambus is a versatile vehicle that I invented while doodling at Harvard Business School. It can go any direction, uses no fossil fuel, and is made of yams.

Come to think of it. Maybe that's my sentence: "Sue invented the Yambus."

The End.

Darn. I just found this great Christmas napkin and it's too late to send Christmas cards to the northern hemisphere. Just have to keep it Aussie.

Boo Cartledge.  365 / 19.  Another holiday bunny.  This time I angled the card so you could get a sense of the puffiness of the bunny's eye.  I think this is the one I sent to Richard Canard, with a note requesting that he fluff up the bunny's eyes on arrival.  I use bubble wrap and envelopes for postcards like this that I'm sure will lose their adornments in transit. Sent to Richard Canard.
By the way, I was surprised when I placed the labels on this posting that "bunny" had not yet been used.  I've already posted several bunnies, and I'm sure a few others are out there.  Going back to add that label to my relevant posts.

psmith: Lighthearted today!

 A card made for an old professor of mine... story pictures of what my dad and I are up to...

"Proctor Staubs gives her first end of term examination.  Meanwhile... Doctor Staubs survives in apocalyptic snow-covered Wisconsin with Mattie the maniac cattle dog."

Dec.  18, 2010

I know I should go back to my quilling but this collages are so easy and fun to do... I don't think I can rest until all the clear stamp wrappers are gone :)

I'm back! Please excuse my absence, friends. I disappeared for a while as I had a bad case of awful laziness. Forgive me, please. I will begin now. Here is a piece I did today. They were originally supposed to be two separate works, but I decided to combine them.




Thanks for being awesome and inspiring, everyone! I'm trying to stay responsible. I gotta keep motivated. GRR.

I had fun with the new stamp I carved. You will be seeing a lot of it.






Click for stamp carving instructions.







I also finally made my french memory board!
Click for instructions.

Digital collage about the effect of the Holocaust on the children.

Pretty Kitty.   18 of 365.  By the way,  I adore polka dots.   Sent to Nancy Stetson.

Dual layer collage w/erased elements. Sort of a spooky feeling, but then so are most of my dreams!

"health and peace"

"flora"