more magical incoming mail

Still trying to get caught up with sharing my incoming snail mail treats! Even more so, now that my 30 or so outgoing replies to the following envelopes have recently reached their addressees. Today I’ll share half of what I have left in my unchronicled incoming pile, and tomorrow I will show you the rest. I have had an awesome weekend: feeling tons of creative freedom since taking the plunge, organizing and cleaning EVERYTHING so that I don’t have mess or chores cluttering my mind, and spending lots of overdue quality time with some friends and family. Here’s some pretty postal treasures that hope inject a little creativity into your long weekend.  with ♥ from Christine Tay with ♥ from Katie Rhoodes with ♥ from Nicole Palmer with ♥ from Alexis Ly with ♥ from Jessica Mayne with ♥ from Zie Campbell with ♥ from Amanda McNair with ♥ from Jenny Cutnam with ♥ from Cheetarah

C is for mail art

After receiving countless envelopes from the duo Nick Oostyen & Olivia Delorme, a card from Kathy Dahl, Canada geese in Jeannine Saylor’s envelope, a letter from Cheetarah and a completely C themed envelope from Amanda White, it is clear that this week’s incoming mail art post is brought to you by the letter C! I’ll start with the outrageously fat envelope that arrived from Amanda Nicole White (@amanda_ink). We are trading ABC & 123 mail art and this is my third envelope from her. As always she gifted me more goodies than I could have ever imagined – all inspired by the letter C! A gorgeous panting of our country Canada covered the envelope which held: Canadian Tire Money, Congrats on our engagement, C inspired altered book pages, Cassiopeia constellation relief print, canoe chine-colle etching, copper for etching, paper crane, vintage Canadian postage stamps, a clipping from the Canada’s Centenial about Canadian spirit, a home made Canadian Crossword, a condom, chocolate chip recipe, C-word pinback buttons, a map of the Canadian Pacific Railway, a poem called the Carrion Crow and the most heartwarming letter. CRAZY!!! Mail showed up from one of my C named pen pals: Cheetarah (@missthundercat), who made an awesome envelope covered in bird illustrations, big bold letters and some colourful postage stamps. She gifted me several fun postcards (my favorite of which is the swap-bot airmail face), and wrote a nice message on the back of one. She also made me a mini book and sent some fun stickers and collected worldwide postage stamps. Canadian gal Jeannine Saylor (@saylor_made) sent me a reply filled with fun paper ephemera including a copy of a watercolour painting and a little clipping which was C-themed: a cartoon about Canada Geese. Other goodies included a nice letter, a paper garland, and a shot of Matthew with a note written on his chest thanking me for all of the “70′s man hunks” searches on her blog due to some sexy postcards I’ve sent her way. Kathy had already gifted me this gem last week and was headed to the Bahamas for a relaxing trip. However I found this cute card covered in puppy stickers on Friday; I guess Kathy’s flight got delayed, so she spent the 3 hours in the airport writing letters to pen pals! FUN. I hope she made it to the beautiful beaches without any more hiccups.Finally Nick Oostyen & Olivia Delorme (@o_delorme) continue to send me mail art, even though I owe them a reply. I found a bunch of envelopes from them this week: a handmade googly eyed farm animal envelope and card. A wee postcard, with a hilarious and sexy photo on the back, congratulating John and I on our engagement. And finally a postcard with tied up pocket attached. Inside the pocket were mini art clippings and an altered vote for pedro pin (possibly for Gerry Taft of Invermere??? Who knows). I wonder if a theme will emerge with next week’s incoming mail!? Wouldn’t that be cool? Outgoing mail that was received last week will be documented onto the blog tomorrow.

busy postboxes

The talented Luke Waller (@lucaxun) sent me an orange envelope decorated with my name & address in his gorgeous script writing. Inside was a lovely note, some post-cards that were barely mis-printed by moo (they are still SO gorgeous anyway) and a copy of his amazing color zine ‘Frolicsome’ with the most intricate and detailed drawings (a lot of which are on the postcards). Beautiful and incredibly textural work Luke! Kira Walker (@gali_gal) has helped prove to me that correspondence across the pond can be quicker than we think! I wrote her a letter and blogged about it just last week, and already I have received her reply. Inside the classic blue airmail envelope was a beautiful patterned chiffon sac containing a lovely letter and a cute box from some japanese candy. Katriona Chapman (@katchapman) was out of control with this generous package! I’m honestly surprised the envelope didn’t self-implode from awesomeness, or get trapped somewhere because it was so fat! I don’t even know where to start, but I suppose I’ll just list every incredible thing inside: Photos from her garden & town, her own & her some of her UK friends illustrations, awesome paper, bird and sexy fashion hunk ephemera, stickers, pinback button badges, magnets, tiny doll, fabric flower, cards and more! WOW.As for treats that I put together for others, the first to discover an envelope this week was Dana Davis (@dzynmkr). Honestly, I’m relieved to hear it arrived, as it had nearly been a month and I was starting to worry. Perhaps the tardy arrival is fitting after all because inside was an altered book page all about fall and the season turning (I had originally made this as a demo for a workshop I co-taught just 2 months ago). Along with the book page was a 1970′s tobogan ad, a couple postcards including one from the Williams Lake Stampede, a molecular bear trial proof, a gorgeous owl cut-out and a funny notecard.  Jessica Mack (@brownpaperbunny)’s package had to be fairly elaborate consider how much she spoiled me last time. I started collecting items for her while on my 6 week trip in the Columbia Valley, and one of my favorite things that I’d found was a tea tin with a tea-sipping koala on the front (I hid a whoopie cushion inside of it for boring tea parties). Other Aussie themed treats included a wooden koala puzzle and a kangaroo flash card and there was also a hand-made envelope filled with tons of rad bunny ephemera. Katie Whittington (@aspetalsfall) was the recipient of a lovely little garden themed envelope which was sent in & addressed with a classic airmail stationery. Inside was loads of vintage garden adds, stickers, book pages, magazine cut outs, stamps, a note and a gorgeous pressed flower with yellow and purple!  Sumi Senthi (@sumiart) also had a classic airmail envelope arrive on her doorstep. Hers was filled with tiny treasures: 1970′s hunting mag classified ads, library checkout stubs, vintage map & airmail stickers, wickedly illustrated foreign playing card, a tiny original drawing on rice paper of a whale, a magazine page that reads “what’s all the fuss is about flannel sheets!” (haha) and some awesome 3D robot / space ship stickers. Tessa Brown (@talulabblogger) began reading my blog, really enjoyed the mail art posts, then contacted me to exchange. She writes a blog about fashion, so I did my best to put together some fun “fashion” themed goodies for her first ever package from yours truly. A handmade envelope held a postcard from Helen Vine, a wee letter, one of my business cards and stickers of bow ties, shoes, hair accessories, make-up and fashionistas in hats. Tim Conley (@aproposzine) finally got an envelope I had sent back in JUNE!!! He moved to a new address and I swear his old landlord was holding his mail hostage. Relieved that it arrived, I hoped he’d enjoy the a/p print from the luxury of _ edition , some hilariously named paint samples, a note decorated with a little owl, stickers that spell apropos zine and items that I hoped would be of use in his busy collage-induced practice.Valeria Poropat (@valeriadraws) said she was crying from my envelopes – I hope that they were tears of joy! Valeria is so sweet, so she definitely deserves getting treated once and a while. I stared by splurging on a GORGEOUS $8 BEAR stamp (sorry didn’t have my camera at the post office). Inside was one of my original shaped etchings, a photo print of an altered book page, a postcard of the town I’m living in (which was oddly printed in ITALY!), 3 red rose tea cards with yellow birds on them all, 4 mini samples of washi tape and other tiny trinkets and treasures. After sealing and sending the envelope, I forgot the include a who? HOO! zine that I had promised her months ago, so I sent it in a seperate envelope… somehow the two arrived together, how adorable. I made Cheetarah (@missthundercat) a beautiful hand-made bird envelope and plastered it with all sorts of lovely vintage stamps. Inside there was two original drawings on rice paper: one done in graphite of a human skeleton and the other was a bird in flight done in ink. An amazing bald eagle postcard, stamps, stickers and also some fun ephemera!
Furthermore, this week in the mail, my sister and brother-in-law sent John and I the most lovely engagement present and Anika Starmer (@aisforanika) discovered our awesome collaborative project in her post box. With all of these fun things making their way around the globe, who can say snail mail is boring!?