Mail Art Monday: Arrivals

The other day I stumbled on two nearly finished envelopes for Jessica and Carol when I was trying to clean my studio and decided to finish them up and send them off. I was happy to hear that they arrived this week and happier that I can revive the Mail Art Monday posts.

Jessica received my mail art package the very same day I placed an order with her Etsy shop for some Christmas gifts. Jessica's last few mail art packages for me have been so amazingly generous and beautiful that I decided to dig deep into my personal stash of tidbits that I had marked as keepers. The three vintage wildlife stamps had nature's my friend written all over it as did the barn owl card. The Lone Ranger card was part of a really awesome paper promo I snagged while I was a full time designer. I also included a frog card, a mini envelope to house the stamps, initial letraset stickers, a grasshopper illustration, a bookmark and an India stamp doodle.

Check out the rest of Jessica's mail art adventures this week on her blog.

Carol Whitley sent me such an epic package I had some anxiety putting together something she might like in return. I opted for a selection of items that told a little bit about me, my taste and humour as well as a few items I thought would appeal to her. My favourite piece is the original 'ahoy' illustration. It's a pencil drawing of a boat over water and text stamps. The water is from my cork stamps and the 'ahoy' is from my carved erasers. I also made a polka dot polka sheet, a stamp enlargement doodle and a bookmark. I included handmade letraset initial stickers, fuzzy initials, star stickers, vintage stamps in a mini envelope, a feather silhouette and a frog card. I packed it all up in a custom envelope made with a page from my design magazine and a letter in a card from Anika.

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Sketchbook Project: Knives

Well, maybe it wasn't half but this is my forum so I'm allowed to exaggerate. It was a fair chunk of change and I balked at the price. Now they are one of the best tools in my kitchen.

For this illustration I used the cut outs from the flaps on the previous page and drew some of our knives. I put a pink and grey pattern in the background and used the look of a receipt for the text.

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Sketchbook Project: Layers

As I've discovered over the years, the ones with the hard, crusty shell often need the most love.

I used the heart cut outs from the other spread to help with the theme of this spread. A light wash of watercolour then a few sheets of origami paper were layered. Held in place with glue and kept in position with a circular cut.

Peeling back the first layer to find another sheet of origami paper.

The last layer was delicate rice paper and you get a hint of the illustration.

An anatomical heart to go with the symbolic hearts.

Using my red and black pens to create a small anatomical heart.

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Sketchbook Project: Love Lessons

Seems like a no-brainer, but it takes some of us a while to finally get it. 



I used a red and black pen and made small heart cut outs. In this close up you can see the green origami paper on the next spread.

Mail Art Monday: The Epic Version

I had no idea that skipping a week of my mail art posts would trigger the arrival of a large amount of packages thus creating such an epically long post. I've kept the writing brief and the photos interesting. Sit back with some tea and enjoy a peek at the lovely mail I received and my friends received from me.

INCOMING

Rhya sent me her most recent and adorable zine. The bunny zine with pages of sweet bunny antics including hopping, sleeping and partying.

Katie has been very busy lately, which can be a good thing, especially if it's with good work. She found a slice of time to pull together a sweet package which included macrame clippings, a crochet doilie, a neat magnet, some vintage fabric and another round of our button swap.

Kye sent me a special package after one for my daughter arrived. The envelope was adorned with the best ship stamps and the contents were equally impressive. There were many envelopes within envelopes which made me feel as though I was treasure hunting. Inside included postcards, vintage book pages, original art, and a pair of twig pencils.

Anna seems to be outdoing herself with each package she sends. My jaw hit the floor when I saw this gorgeous nautical themed specimen box. As well as this amazing treasure, Anna sent many vintage book pages, cards and clippings, stamps, handmade compass stickers and three typed notes.

OUTGOING

I've been creating a bunch of mini envelopes for my mail art recipients and Anika received four beauties. Each one contained a few interesting bits including vintage stamps, snow punches doxie stickers and a watercolour and pen disc.

I also included a phlox silhouette, a couple of original sketches, paper ephemera and a copy of an old sketchbook drawing.

I was relieved to hear that Emily shares my quirky sense of humour and enjoyed the 'hugging' skunks on her envelope. Inside she found several mini envelopes with stamps, stickers and a watercolour disc, as well as a snowflake and 'ahoy' stamp sheet, and a copy of a drawing from an old sketchbook.

Dana received an original watercolour that was painted from a picture she had sent me from her beautiful garden. I also sent along a phlox silhouette, a scissor stamp sheet, an 'ahoy' sheet and a 'der tweeten' clipping tag. Inside two mini envelopes I included a few paper flowers and stickers.

I was so sad to hear that my last package to Michelle seems to have been lost along the way. I was a little apprehensive about sending this package as I found the perfect vintage Russian stamps and quirky bear clipping. Thankfully it arrived along with a raindrop stamp sheet, flower print and a sketchbook print.

After about three months and two returned envelopes, Ezerd's envelope finally busted through her invisibility shield (which was preventing her post-person from finding her house). Perhaps it took me finally remembering to take pictures of the contents that put luck in my favour on my third try. Whatever it was, she finally got to see the first fancy envelope, space stickers, the "Urinetown" and space rocker clipping and my blarg card.

... J

Painting Cards: Part 3

The last set of cards was for my parents. Their anniversary and my Dad's birthday are a few days apart so I painted a lure (one of my Dad's favourite hobbies is fishing) and a ship (Ma and Pa Saylor must also embrace my nautical obsession).

Pencil lines.

A sweep of blue in the background.

Most of the colour in and starting the outline.

Viola! One fishing lure.

I've been looking for a good excuse to use Jessica's ship book as a reference for a painting. This was the perfect opportunity!

Pencil lines and light blue background done.

A bit of the ship done and a corner of my palette and laptop.

Finished! The water was my favourite part.

I was so happy to hear that my parents loved them. I made some high quality scans of these before sending them off s a few of my mail art friends may find a print in their mailbox over the coming months.

... J

Mail Art Monday: Surprise Gifts and Fast Slugs

I started my week off by cleaning and organizing my mail art. I made special folders containing letters, stickers, stamps, items to reuse (like paper & clippings) and items I'd like to put into a journal or frame. This gave me a fresh outlook on the packages I put together this week and more room to spread out and appreciate the goodies that arrived in my postbox.

INCOMING

The incredibly kind Kye Sangha sent my daughter her own little mail art package with a sweet bunny card, a vintage Hallowe'en tag, a butterfly necklace and a googley-eye love doodle.

The stamps are adorable and I've trimmed them and set them aside for her own little collection. This arrival is timed perfectly as her birthday is just around the corner and her grandmother gave her her very first jewelry box. Kye can expect a kid thank you doodle card in the mail in the coming weeks.

My first package from Carol Whitley arrived and literally blew me away. The package, adorned with ship stamps and an illustrated anchor was packed with an incredible amount of stickers, tags, cards, envelopes, pretty paper, postcards, original art, a feather, postcards, magnets and markers.

I think I will colour in the insects and post one in each of my daughter's rooms so they can share my incredible mail art spoiling.


OUTGOING

The slow moving slug on Russelle Adams' envelope didn't slow it down and it arrived in excellent time. I tucked in some more horse images, a few galaxy clippings and a funny tag, stamps, fuzzy initials, four doodle pages and a frond silhouette.

I'm taking a small mail break from posting about mail art. Next post will likely be on October 17th (I still cannot believe September has come and gone).

... J