Today, I’ve got a few more of my outgoing mail art packages that were stamped, sealed and send with love to pen pals last month. I received some lovely postcards and a few letters this week, so THANKS if you have written to me. Here’s what I recently popped in a postbox:
sent with ♥ to Sumi Senthi:
sent with ♥ to Jill Griffin:
sent with ♥ to Nicole Palmer:
sent with ♥ to Christine Tay:
sent with ♥ to Alexis Ly:
sent with ♥ to Jessica Mayne:
sent with ♥ to Katie Rhoodes:
Two weeks worth of mail have now arrived here in Castlegar, including letters forwarded from 100 Mile House. Sadly I haven’t had any time to be a proper pen pal who diligently writes back, but yesterday I finally came across the three boxes marked as Mail Art Supplies; I see some snail mail making in my near future. Thank you my pen pals, for making me feel at home with all of these thoughtful letters and parcels! 
First to arrive, very Harry Potter-esque, was an owl postcard with ♥ from Marcus Jackson (@luckyjackpress) 
A lovely house warming gift (written by my secret boyfriend Chuck Hughes) and a silly card with ♥ from my sister Alison Martin (@mrsalimartin) & Andy Martin.
Mojito inspired mail art parcel, complete with incredible PAPER straws, with ♥ from Barbara Wanhill (@2catsandapencil) 
An adorable handmade address change postcard with ♥ from Jessica Mack (@brownpaperbunny) 
A request that was happily obliged: a giant pile of half full tags so that I can continue my positivity adventures in my new town, with ♥ from Sarah Hutchinson Burke (@thesecondmagpie) 
The best postcard, which is tottaly quotable by the way, with ♥ from Adea Cheung (@billywould)
The most wonderful pile of bird ephemera, including a letter folded into an origami bird, with ♥ from Sumi Senthi (@sumiart) 
A zine trade with ♥ from Valentina Keslowe 
A pile of animal treats, I especially love the vintage birds, with ♥ from Nicole Palmer 
Indian recipes complete with ziplocked spices, mad libs, payment for a secret order from my etsy shop and other fun follies with ♥ from Jessica Mayne 
Pretty pink package with fantastic vintage photos and adorable children’s drawings with ♥ from Tessa Brown (@talulabblogger) 
For the move and the new house, a special Chinese good luck totem with ♥ from Kathy Dahl
Six pen pal found treats in their post boxes this past week. One letter in particular had been waiting for it’s addressee to return home from his european trip: Robert Sae-Heng (@mrrubbertoes), found a handmade envelope with typewritten addresses and rad Canadian postage stamps, including the Walrus (his fave animal). I sent him a “how to tie a bow tie” instruction page, a bartending octopus (cuz rob slings drinks part time), a sick spray paint sticker, vintage walrus tea card, walrus flash card and an awesome drawing I did for him inspired by his nickname. It took me a few tries to get it to look right, but essentially the idea was to have rubber toes spelling mister rubber toes.
Jill Griffin (@jillgriffinart) found a classic airmail envelope covered in vintage aviation postage stamps. Inside were helpful post-its, plenty of collected paper ephemera including quotes, artwork, magazine clippings and flash cards. I also tore out a page from my martha stewart wedding magazine with cool ideas about alternative ways to use washi, since she has a new found love for the Japanese tape. 
I handmade an envelope for Sumi Senthi (@sumiart) out of a paper that reminded me of old parchment. I closed it shut with my wax seal from Venice Italy, but sadly the red accent went missing during it’s travels through the postal system. Luckily the contents made it intact: a who’s hoo zine, NMF postcard, stickers, telephone themed flash cards, a calendar to get organized with and a wee little watercolour painting of a cartoon bird.
Pagrum Boon, said she loves cookies and collects vintage airmail stickers. It was a no brainer to copy one of my mom’s best cookie recipes and send it with a big pile of various airmail stickers. I also jazzed up moleskine with one of my vinyl stickers to gift to her, along with a wee note on a postcard and some customized typewriter triplicate poetry.
Lisa Grabbenstetter‘s (@magneticcrow) twitter bio says that she can not function properly without birds or trees, thus inspiring the themed of my recent mail art post to her. Stamps, paper ephemera, postcards, stickers, rubbings and other tree & bird items were collected to fill an envelope with a swan on the front. I selected only tree or bird postage stamps to send it with too! 
The last pen pal who enjoyed mail art from me was ACAD friend Su Yin Strang, who found a plethora of cute Sukie woodland post-its, a free willy pog and a sappy friendship quote. The piece du resistance however was this monster freak postcard, on the back of which I described his made up life story… Su said it was “fridge-worthy.”
I’m excited to see what postal pleasures arrive at their destinations next week! Plus I’ll be making envelopes for some of my owed replies later this week, once my art house 2012 sketchbook project is finished.
