Mailart 365 has moved

You can't tell from the scan, but Ginger is crystallized with embossing powder.

There are two in this series, and neither has been sent out yet. I made them hoping to use on Postcrossing for someone who likes dance, and mailart, but never pulled an address of anyone who met that criteria. And now I've semi-retired my Zmrzlina profile so someone else can claim top-sender in the US. I'll start Postcrossing again in earnest after the new year, but I'll use my PostMuse profile so Zmrzlina can slip out of the rankings list.

I'm still having fun with paint chips. I spend way too much time sneaking paint chips out of the hardware store.

There are two in this series, but I'm just posting one. I have lots and lots of catch-up posting to do and since the cards are very, very similar, I won't be posting each card in my series individually,

I have been making mailart every day, but just can't get to posting. I did scan most of my mailart soon after I made it so I could mail it, though. Just have to document it all on the blog now. It will be a slow process.

There are still cards from earlier in the year I haven't mailed. My main goal is to MAIL all 365 pieces of mailart before 1 December 2011. These two went as a Postcrossing card (which hasn't been registered yet and the recipient hasn't been online in a month ... so it will probably expire) in October and a thank you card for this Benjamin Franklin orphaned postcard.

It's a rarity for a Postcrossing user to request a handmade postcard, but finally someone did. I think this is the second one I've had requested out of 257 sent.

This one is now Postcrossing ID US-1223264 and heading to Finland. I've been having good luck pulling addresses of Postcrossing people who like mailart. I've also gotten a bit more active with Walltype, and found that there are more people there open to mailart. And, it is pretty certain that if you pull an address from Walltype, the user is active.

I think I could stamp paint chips forever and ever. I like the way the fruit stamps I have look when stamped with India Ink. This card is now Postcrossing ID US-1226575 and heading to Latvia.

I drew a Postcrossing address of a woman in Sweden who is open to handmade postcards. She likes hearts, so I decided to make a short series of food hearts and she is getting the first one.

In the UK (and maybe in other English speaking country) "math" often has a "s" on the end. I never quite understood the usage for that form of the word. Would "Do the Maths" work for this title?

This is Postcrossing US-1136407 and heading to Germany. I love when I pull an address of someone who is open to mailart.

And, for the record, I am not particularly fond of strawberries dipped in chocolate. I'm a bit of a chocolate snob (surprise, surprise) and most of the chocolate dipped strawberries I've had were not dipped in very good chocolate.

I I was shopping yesterday for notecards and looking in unusual places and happened upon a tasting party collection. I've got quite the soft spot for anything with the word "collection," which when added to tiny serving pieces is almost irresistible. This tasting party requires lots of tiny portions of food served in tiny glass and ceramic pieces. Think grown-up tea party. I started to plan a tasting party and forgot all about notecards. Mind you, I am the least likely person in the world to want to entertain. I just like the idea of having all those little tiny containers stuffed with pretty food.

So, I took a brochure and brought it home to make mailart. I figure I can live my tasting party vicariously with the help of some glue, scissors and a recycled calendar. I still like the idea of having all those tiny containers, but I'm going to resist. For a while anyway. Maybe this summer ....

This is Postcrossing card US-1055960, heading to Australia.

Originally I had planned to do "Y is for Yellow" and use all yellow food in a particular design that would be a tribute to my mom. I didn't put anything aside for yellow food when I organized my alphabet theme last month because I was certain I had plenty. But, when I went looking this morning, there wasn't a yellow to be found. No bananas. No lemons. No corn. No summer squash. No yellow food at all. So, I decided to go out and browse some tasty local food joints to see if inspiration would strike.

It was a comment on my Facebook page from Pamela that decided my Y for the day. I had posted a photo from a French bakery we visited for the first time and Pamela commented "yum."

Since I pulled a Postcrossing address of someone in Slovakia who is open to homemade, I went with an ice cream yum. Simple, but judging from the recipient's "Favourite" wall, that is what she likes. "Zmrzlina" means "ice cream" in Slovak. It is also my username on Postcrossing. I know it makes the card look like Z and not Y, but so be it. I couldn't resist putting "zmrzlina" on the front of the card.

Remember when mom used to get all dressed up and bake a cake to serve up with a big smile? Yeah, neither do I. But lots of fond reminiscing is about remembering a past that really didn't exist.

This card is heading out to a Postcrosser in South Africa. I love it when I pull an address of someone who loves handmade.

The vintage ginger label makes all sorts of claims about what it can aide. I'm sure such labeling would never be allowed today. I do always keep a supply of ginger chews in the car, though, because I like to read and write in the car (I'm always the passenger) and sometimes that upsets my stomach.

The big G on this card was originally very glittery. I like glitter, but the glitter on the G was way over the top. I scraped most of it off and painted the G to match the background. And I used rubber cement to glue it to the card. Rubber cement is my new favorite adhesive. I hope it holds well.

This is going as an official Postcrossing card to a young woman in Turkey who is a doctor. I think the label's claims will make her smile.

It's been a cold, wet week and I needed to play with bright colors. I've had the image of the girl in the flower dress for a long time and I'd like to own a dress like that ... long and lightweight with loose strands of flowers. I am way too old to carry off such a look, but sometimes I think I don't care.

I love all the postcard weaves I see on MailArt365 so I thought I'd try a partial weave, just the skirt into the lemon. I wish I had cut the skirt and lemon on a diagonal rather than straight across, but I like the idea of breaking into a weave. I tried a different version of that on this postcard I made for a Swap-Bot exchange.

This is Postcrossing US-984362 and on its way to Australia today. I was very lucky to pull the address of someone who encourages handmade yesterday!

Maxim, self-proclaimed Cupcake Pastor, had amassed quite a following among the hungry mid-day crowd.

This is going to dear nordbaer, a Postcrosser with whom I've shared a number of postcards smiles over the years. I tagged him in the Handmade Postcard Tag on Postcrossing forum yesterday.

One of my online usernames is Zmrzlina, which means "ice cream" in Slovak and Czech. I wrote about the origin of that nickname on my blog earlier this week.

I like how this card turned out, so I made another just like it. I'm going to hold onto this card until I get a handmade-friendly Postcrosser on my Zmrzlina profile.

Imagine my delight when my postcrosser requested something Tintin and I had nothing, then went out in the back lane to empty the rubbish and found these two Tintin cards in the lane!!!

It's hard to tell, but the jar is filled with chocolates. I cut the jar shape out of the top card and sandwiched a piece of clear plastic between the back card with the jar of candy and the top card. The top card was fun to make because I got to use about a third of my available fonts. I love fonts.

This card is numbered and ready to go, but it is waiting for an address. I'm going to send it on my granddaughter's Postcrossing account but need to wait until we pull an address for someone who is open to getting handmade. I won't send handmade if the profile specifically says "no handmade."

Updated 25 January 2011 to add that this card is going to Daawntje in Netherlands for the "Who Are You" tag game in the Postcrossing forum. I was hoping to send as an official card for my granddaughter, but haven't gotten an address where handmade is okay, so rather than let this hang around any longer, I decided to try the tag game.

Pity I smudged the ink..... off to a postcrosser in Iran.

Ok, not my strongest effort. Today is one of those days I knew would come when I only have two minutes to make something. Well, here it is a birthday card for a postcrosser in Portugal.

Imagine my delight when I requested a new person to send something to on Postcrossing and the random address came back in Portland Oregon!! I don't think I've told any of you that I am from Portland Oregon, USA and am just living here for a while here in Australia. Apologies if I misled anyone to thinking I was an Aussie. So, to celebrate Oregon I cut out the shape of the state and watercolored a picture of my house on it. We have some friends living in the house for us and next summer (north american summer, that is) we'll move back into it after five years away.

I finally pulled a Postcrossing address for someone who requests handmade so this card (US-930152) will go to MeganElizabeth in the UK. Cheeky of me to send tea theme to UK.

UPDATE: The card traveled for 10 days and has been very well received.