Mailart 365 has moved

I can't believe it's been a whole year since I started this project!  Here are the last of my MailArt365 pieces, all sent in the last weeks of December, 2012.

359/365, envelope decorated with Emerson quote stamp, catalog cut-out, and decorative packaging tape. Sent to Kristy in Indiana.



360/365, handmade envelope from a stock photography book of nature photos, with coordinating vintage postage. Sent to Jenna in North Carolina.



361/365, handmade envelope from a stock photography book of nature photos, with coordinating vintage postage, decorative tape, and gold foil letters.  Sent to Carolee in San Francisco.



362/365, envelope decorated with label selvage, catalog cut-out, and addressed with stencils.  Sent to Annie in San Francisco with vintage Christmas postage. 




Lastly, some birthday envelopes for some special ladies.

363/365, handmade envelope from an outdated museum brochure.  Sent to Jen in New York.



364/365, handmade envelope from a USA Philatelic magazine. Sent to eco-loving Liz in Ohio.



And last, but not least, 365/365. Handmade envelope from the pages of USA Philatelic. Page full of people with a person on the coordinating postage.  Sent to Bridget in New Mexico.

338/365, envelope decorated with red label, silver star sticker, catalog cut-out, silver paint pen, decorative packaging tape, Emerson quote stamp, and stamped silver stars. Sent to the Wentling family in Virginia.



339/365, envelope decorated with a cut-out from post office's Christmas mailing brochure, the matching postage stamp, date stamp, stamp selvage, decorative tape, Emerson quote stamp, and gold envelope seal. Sent to Liz and Kim in Washington state.



340/365, envelope decorated with catalog cut-out, red label, date stamp, decorative packaging tape, and Emerson quote stamp.  Sent to the Stuchlik family in Colorado.



341/365, envelope decorated with red label, catalog cut-outs, date stamp, decorative packaging tape, and Emerson quote stamp. Sent to Jon and Melissa in Denver.



342/365, envelope decorated with catalog cut-out, blue label, blue star sticker, decorative tape, gold envelope seal, silver star stamps, and Emerson quote stamp. Sent to Jill and her family in Georgia.



343/365, envelope decorated with green label, decorative packaging tape, Emerson quote stamp, washi tape, foil sticker selvage, silver star stamps, and catalog cut-out. Sent to Kate in Virginia.



344/365, envelope decorated with blue label, "hello" stamp, gold envelope seal, decorative tape, Emerson quote stamp, catalog cut-out, and vintage Christmas postage. Sent to Ana in Missouri.

331/365, envelope decorated with catalog cut-out, Emerson quote stamp, silver stamped stars, green label, and decorative packaging tape. Sent to Patchen in Baltimore.



332/365, envelope decorated with catalog cut-out and Emerson quote stamp. Sent to Matt in Missouri.



333/365, envelope decorated with green label, decorative packaging tape, gold star sticker, catalog cut-out, and Emerson quote stamp. Sent to Bethany and Yong in South Carolina.



334/365, envelope decorated with washi tape, red label, gold star sticker, gold envelope seal, date stamp, Emerson quote stamp, catalog cut-out, and decorative packaging tape. Sent to Meaghan and Em in Virginia.



335/365, envelope decorated with catalog cut-out, red label, date stamp, Emerson quote stamp, and decorative packaging tape. Sent to Lauren and Jeremy in Florida.



336/365, envelope decorated with green label, Emerson quote stamp, decorative packaging tape, silver heart stamp, and catalog cut-out.  Sent to Heidi in Virginia.



337/365, envelope decorated with "hello" stamp in silver, green label, Emerson quote stamp, and star sticker selvage. Sent to Kim in DC.

307/365, envelope decorated with catalog cut-outs, decorative packaging tape, washi tape, date stamper, label, and Emerson quote stamp. Sent to Steve in Incline Village.



308/365, envelope decorated with catalog cut-outs, decorative packaging tape, date stamper, label, and Emerson quote stamp. Sent to Janell in Colorado.



309/365, envelope handmade from old stock photography book. Sent to Cindy in Washington state.



310/365, envelope decorated with date stamper, catalog cut-out, and Emerson quote stamp. Sent to my mom in Florida.



311/365, envelope decorated with green label, Emerson quote stamp, foil stars, stars stamped in silver, washi tape, and a gold envelope seal. Sent to my uncle in New York.  (Don't worry; I'm allowed to call him a dork.)



312/365, envelope decorated with blue foil star, "hello" stamp in silver, decorative tape, gold foil envelope seal, and catalog cut-outs.  Sent to Jaime and Geoff in DC.




313/365, envelope decorated with catalog cut-out, decorative packaging tape, date stamper, and Emerson quote stamp. Sent to Loretta in Virginia.



314/365, envelope decorated with catalog cut-out, decorative packaging tape, date stamper, and Emerson quote stamp.  Sent to Jen in North Carolina.

Were any other American mail-senders dissatisfied with the new Santa and Sleigh stamps? I couldn't stand the white border that went around all four of the designs as a whole, but only around two sides of each stamp when used individually. It looked odd on any envelope that wasn't the exact same white as the border, so I used up what I had of them and ordered the Eid stamps for the rest of my holiday mail. Festive and pretty with sparkly gold ink. I think it was a good decision.

299/365, envelope decorated with catalog page, label, and date stamp. Sent to Kelly and Steve in DC.



300/365, envelope decorated with catalog page image, Emerson quote stamp, gold star, green label, and star stamp. Sent to the Allen-Kings of Seattle.



301/365, envelope decorated with catalog page cut-out, Emerson quote stamp, and date stamper. Sent to the Allens in Colorado.



302/365, envelope decorated with catalog page cut-outs, "hello" stamp, Emerson quote stamp, blue label, gold foil sticker, decorative tape, and blue star sticker (along with the weirdly-bordered sleigh stamp). Sent to the London Beards of DC.



303/365, envelope decorated with catalog cut-out, dater stamp, circle sticker, and blue foil star sticker. Sent to the Berrys in Arizona.



304/365, envelope decorated with red label, date stamper, decorative packaging tape, Emerson quote stamp, and catalog cut-out. Sent to Melaine and Mike in Maryland.



305/365, envelope decorated with date stamper, red label, and catalog cut-out. Sent to the Browns in Colorado.



306/365, envelope decorated with date stamper, Emerson quote stamp, catalog cut-out, red labels, and decorative packaging tape. Sent to Brent and Michelle in Denver.

236-241/365, oversized business cards found on vacation in Philly (about 3 by 4.5 inches, I think), transformed into miniature postcards. Since the USPS's mailing guidelines require a minimum size of 3.5 x 5 inches, this was a bit of an experiment. All the postcards arrived safely at their destinations, though. The one pictured was sent to Bethany in South Carolina.


242/365, a simply-decorated envelope with a print of a vintage photo, Sharpie, and a vinyl sticker. Sent to Jessica in Greensboro, NC.


243/365, another simple envelope with a bee sticker, Sharpie, and a vinyl sticker I'd been hoarding for years. Sent to Bonnie Jeanne in Pittsburgh.


244/365, simple envelope with washi tape, correspondence sticker, filing labels, vinyl sticker, and a foil star. Sent to Brian in DC.

It's just occurred to me that in Plot 1 at the Real exhibition, the artist Su Blackwell is exhibiting. I've seen Su's work in Kingston's Rose Theatre, where she developed the set for The Snow Queen, so I thought I'd make a postcard for her with a cut out tree. You can push this out and it stands up. I doubt she'll be very impressed, but it's a nice gesture.

In fact, to be honest, from what I've seen so far of the so called "Real Network" I doubt that they'll even put the card in her plot. So far they've been really slow updating pictures on the site, and plots 1-50 should all have at least one object in them as I've sent them all a postcard, but the site still shows many empty plots. Clearly it would have been embarrassing for the plot owners to have only one postcard from another plot in them, but is it really more embarrassing than having nothing at all? The first postcard I sent to Su isn't in her plot.

It seems that Real have been censoring the posts that come in or (I hope) just misallocating them. I know for one that they put a post intended for plot 25 in my plot, and was only moved because I noticed they had put it in the wrong plot and I know the guy who owns plot 25. I think that they're actually scared of the idea of a network, the idea of people sending post from one to another, and have been blocking post, so in truth this post is not just about writing to Su, but it's another test of the system.

The Real network had the potential to be a really good idea, but has underwhelmed as it's more like Sina_weibo than Twitter, and has thus become a poor example of why one should use Real networks over the virtual.

Where my REAL wall has always reflected the best of virtual social networks in reality, Real seems happy to reflect the more mundane aspects of Real life and has hobbled itself by including the worst parts of virtual social network in reality instead.

208/365, a quickie decorated envelope of ephemera for SuburbanPenPal in California.  Deco tape, stamp selvage, graph paper, and assorted stickers.



209 & 210/365, some confetti and faux calligraphy in vellum envelopes for two different celebratory events headed out to Kim in DC and Annie in San Francisco.  There's extra confetti in Kim's because it's got some strong cursing underneath, and I didn't want some mail handler to decide it was indecent and cover everything up on me. :)

203/365, as promised yesterday.  Handmade envelope from an old ledger book, collaged map bits, Martha Stewart label, dot and foil star stickers, and vintage postage.  Sent to PostMuse in Pittsburgh.


205/365, a handmade envelope from someone's old college notebook, museum handout, vintage label, receipt, vellum flyer, filing labels, stickers, vintage postage.  Sent to Donovan in Chicago.


206/365, handmade envelope from a foreign language booklet (I believe Chinese; picked it up in Vancouver's Chinatown, anyway).  Sent to Bethany in South Carolina with carefully placed postage.



207/365, a postcard made from the best kind of Pop-Tarts ever, which are reserved for special occasions.  Sent to Danamarie in Baltimore, because she appreciates them as much as I do.