mail art mania – PART 1

As you know I had a hectic and productive 6 weeks of summer away from home – and although I was thrilled to come home to a gorgeous pile of mail, the sheer amount of it made me nervous for the tedious tasks of blogging and replying. However I need to take the plunge or the stack will just keep growing. So without further ado, I’m sharing half of the lovely things my friends sent off to my postbox this past month. Tomorrow’s post will have the rest and on Friday I will let you peek at some things that I’ve sent off lately.Nothing like starting a blog post with a bit of late 1970′s smut. My hilarious pal Amanda McNair sent me a copy of a 1979 playboy magazine. The ladies are luscious of course, but the real gems are the ridiculous adverts with bad computer effects for things like ray ban sunglasses, jeeps, and whiskey. She wrote on a card that was quite funny also, emblazoned with a pattern & thick font reading “FROM ME” on the front. Too good. Jill Griffin (aka @jillgriffinart)’s parcel arrived in a postal safety bag, but I think all is there. To be honest, apart from the tea bag, it all may have arrived anyway as each panel was written as if it were a postcard: both mine & Jill’s addresses along with a stamp are on hand made postcards from a Where’s Waldo book. The entire piece is an instructional guide to brewing the perfect pot of tea: something I need to indulge in far more often. Rhya Tamasauskas (@Rhyat) made me the cutest little mini diorama with a bunny, carrot & cloud. While at my cabin, away from my postbox I had seen a similar version of him on Jeannine Saylor‘s blog and had my eyes turning a bit green –  but there is no longer any need for the jealousy. The best part about the package though was the fact that Rhya is still “working on (my) next mail art installment.” WHAT? Luckily I sent a little mini something back to her recently, so that her postbox still gets some cuteness arriving. Kye Sangha (@Kyesangha) did what she does best and spoiled me as always with her kind words and generous piles of paper goods. Hard to chose favorites amongst such a bonny pile, but there were a few things I especially appreciated in particular: first of all the cool postage stamps (which I am always a sucker for), lovely vintage sheet music on gorgeously thin paper, old book illustrations printed in orange blue and brown, a quirky card that I recently wrote to my grandparents in, a rad mini envelope made from a cartoon page and finally some sexy couple scratch game cards for Johnny and I. Dana Davis (@dzynmkr) sent her first collection of goodies to me in a bright & bold hand-made envelope, and she definitely included quite a variety of ephemera & originals: A set of 4 mixed media pieces themed around flowers and made with books, buttons and either watercolour or ink, a fun note about how to be an artist, slides of her past work, rubber stamps, awesome beer caps with a bike on them, a pencil, a cermaic coffee coin, a fortune, buttons and a collection of patterned paper. Someone who I’m currently supposed to be sending mail to, (@thehouseofheart) Crystal Plett, decided to send a small package to me anyway, because her last creation fell apart during its journey and lost a few super cute stickers. Along with the replacement stickers she sent a recipe for her granny’s apple juice and some creative postcards wrapped inside a unique handmade envelope. So thoughtful! Ashley Gaia (@gaiaprints) sent along some birdly-cheer, as always, with an envelope adorned with a HUGE, sparkly bird sticker, another feather from her parrot and a bird card with a friendly note scrawled inside. Along with it was some gama-go stationery, tons of SUPER DUPER RAD stickers (including some nature ones about being green & loving your bike), random scrapbook papers and some original drawings and a thick oval shaped piece of hand-made paper that is orange. Aren’t I a lucky girl?! So spoiled in snail mail. Tomorrow’s post will feature the other half of my bountiful pile of mail art from many more talented creatives. Hope you enjoyed getting a peek at the first few fantastic packages; it’s always nice to share with you.

mail art monsoon

Although the car I drove out here was stuffed to the max, I somehow forgot to pack my pop-up canopy for farmers markets and for the Tour of the Arts next weekend. I felt like such an idiot, but luckily Johnny got home on the 16th, so he was able to ship it to me. The only TRUE bonus that came out of this situation was the fact that he was able to add 2 weeks worth of mail art in along with it. What a spoiling, let me tell you!!! It started off with three awesome postcards from Kathy Dahl, Marcus Jackson (@luckyjackpress) & Carol Whitley (@imsilverfeather). Adorable wildlife, maps and plenty of cute stickers… honestly, what’s not to love? The backs are all inscribed with thoughtful messages from these three wonderful friends; the perfect appetizer for the mail feast that was to come. The first envelope I dove into was from Jessica Mack (@brownpaperbunny) which seemed to have no bottom. The treats just kept coming and coming. Some of the gems amidst it all: teddy bear patch, original drawing she made for her blog about getting mail art from me, money to do lists, a glow-in-the-dark casette drawing, temporary tattoos, “jess” / initial themed treats, a photo of her mother amongst the books of her second-hand store, silly stationery and more. However one of my favorite pieces was definitely a secret message written on paper that disolved in water! Emily May Hopgood (@EmilyMayHopgood) sent a magnificent font adroned cardboard cover, thanking me for the owl zine (informing me that it was BANGIN’)! The text-laden cardboard housed two epic illustrated cards – one of which features a tourist couple that are just too good to be true while the other was adorned with two texture-laden kitties. The lovely Katie Whittington (@aspetalsfall) finally found time for a reply! She decorated an envelope with maps as mountains and filled it up with tea, moths, a letter, found/collected ephemera, a paper prayer flags, a fabric key, a beetle drawing and the item that stole my heart: a little clipping that reads “I am kind of a big deal on my blog.” Jaime Madallena (@sendmoremail) loved the wee drawing of mushrooms stamps I did for her (she even featured it on her lovely snail mail blog!) In return she sent me one of her sweet typewritten letters on some fantastic air mail stationery, and as always lovingly arranged beauty vintage stamps on the envelope. My favorite: a moose looking upstream. Sumi Senthi (@sumiart) sent me quite the epic first time package stuffed full of fun goodies. I can tell she reads my tweets and my mail art posts – she included a lot of treats that are right up my alley. First a personal hand written letter on a lovely sheer paper. Two postcards, one of which is hers (the rabbit), magazine clipping of knit taxidermy, stamps inside the cutest wee envelope, a pocket mirror (and case) with a birdy on the back plus home-made stickers made with old sheet music and a sticker machine. what? did I hear Sumi say STICKER MACHINE? gotta get me one of those! I sent a replacement envelope for the pink owl that lost its way, and I am happy to report that it made it, because I recently got a reply envelope from Miss Marissa Falco (@czarcastic). She gifted me yet another of her incredible zines ‘Miss Sequential #4″, this edition all about her mail adventures! She has such a great way with stories, and her matching illustrations make the zine truly the best! Along with it, a set of adorable owl stickers, a lovely note and found ephemera.  Michelle Ashton (@zbyshka) is always thanking me for sending her plenty of bear items, but I could honestly do the same thing to her. In this shipment: beach bear stickers, paddington bear pins, moon bear rescue sticker and a mini 3-D shirt-wearing bear “hoping for a better life in Canada” says Michelle. Non-bear items included a mini tourist guide to oslo and a postcard about a book called ‘better handwriting’. Mariana Lobao (@minawolf) made me wait months for a reply but it was worth the wait: she blew my mind completely!!! The painted deer envelope was enough to make start creating a fantastic reply, let alone the many things she generously gifted me: several original drawings/mixed media works, the most amazing zine “Sleeping Beasts,” epic 3-D Bear stickers, DIY or DIE zine, an altered photocopied owl page, a hand bound sketchbook and tons of collected ephemera. SUCH A WIN! A sweet reply came from Crystal Plett (@thehouseofheart) with a nice, long and personal letter, a holga photo print, found ephemera and a collection of lovely deer postcards. They were all wrapped up in a handmade envelope from a vintage map – however it was ripped on a few sides and in a safety postal bag, so I am hoping everything that was packaged arrived safely as intended. I recently sent Crystal a cheer me up postcard  because she was a little distraught prior to the mail strike, as her mailbox hadn’t been getting much action. So I fixed up a sexy little catalogue man postcard to perk her up. I heard it was happily received. The other lucky gal was Anna Jane Searle (@annajanesearle) who had sent me the most elaborate artwork in the mail: a hand drawn bear diorama assembled in a box covered in vintage maps. I knew I had to try extra hard to impress her, and judging by her blog post, I can tell she’s one happy camper. Packaged in an incredibly adorable envelope covered in animals was a glorious pile of treats! Phewph. We made it! What a victory!!! After a month of snail mail fails with the postal strike and a couple slow weeks at my pox box, it was nice to experience a mail monsoon.

outgoing

This week was so busy in mail art land… there was so much, I decided to split it into two blog posts. This one chronicles the outgoing mail art from me that arrived in my friend’s post boxes this past week. First up is Rhya Tamasauskas (aka @rhyat), who was more than deserving of some mail after the constant treats she’s been sending me. A 70′s party time postcard kicked it all off and was followed immediately by postcards from Norway and Williams Lake Stampede, a collection of wacky stickers (including sunglass wearing bananas), a copy of my latest zine, a bookmark, and the real gem of the bunch: a set of Hannah Montana magnets! Nick Ooysten got another injection of flare for his scotty burger uniform! I think he’s going to need a new hat soon, because I don’t know where he’s going to fit all of the awesome buttons and pins I keep sending him. These 3 beauties were found in at a thrift store down in Lac Le Hache. $0.75 each, a right steal & perfect for my dearly missed pal. Kirsty Ramsbottom (aka @dottynoggin) got her first injection of mail art amongst her flyers and bills this week. Of course, a fabulous who? HOO! zine with some awesome stickers, hilarious butterfly temporary tattoos, a sexy 70′s blue blouse-toting babe, an old scotch add with obscure illos and of course a postcard with a little note. I stuffed all of this fun into one of my hand made envelopes from an old DIY post. Serena Van Vranken (aka @almostmonday) must have a secret arrangement with the post office because my reply letter practically teleported itself to her! Or perhaps it was the extra wing power with the owl zine hiding within! Sent along with those adorable winged creatures were several cool graffiti tag stickers, some wee penguin and tree stickers, a classic llama page, a butterfly card & a quotefalls activity page in case she ever gets bored. All wrapped in yet another one of my DIY envelopes. After winning a t-shirt for the “secrets” contest, I had to send ezerd (aka @ezerd) a small thank you. She LOVED the 70′s ski-doo advert I sent in her last mail art package, so I thought I’d add to her collection with this next beauty. Starts with “Guts. That’s what it takes to get to the North Pole” HAHAHA and finishes off with “When you look at all the facts, ski-doo ’72, has more going for you.” Yes! Instant win. The fabulous Crystal Plett (aka @thehouseofheart)finally got her first envelope from me and I was so excited because this girl is a true sweetheart. She is exactly the type of pen pal I look for creative, unique and genuine! I was putting this package together shortly after the royal wedding, and so I sent her a handmade envelope with a church official and the queen reading off the addresses on the front. Inside was a typical pile of fun which included an owl zine, a round playing card, stickers, found objects, an etching of mine turned bookmark, a little note and a polaroid altered with drawing and collage. Marcus Jackson (aka @luckyjackpress) is a good friend from my BFA days and got my special reply envelope late this week. I’d been collecting a small lot of classic hunting ephemera for him as it often is a source of inspiration in his work. I also included both my zines upon his request and drew a cropped coyote portrait in ink on a sheet of cork, because it is his favorite animal. I stuffed it all (barely) into a classic airmail envelope, sealed it with washi tape and stamped his address on the front with bright red ink.  I’ve still got a few envelopes making their way to destinations… some in particular that I am growing impatient about. Am also working on new envelopes for recently added pen pals and also need to reply to five friends, so more mail art will be making it’s way out soon. I have heard rumours of a postal strike here in Canada next week, but I hope they get it all sorted out so it doesn’t impede the fun at anyone’s mailbox… including mine!