Did you know that sending mail art creates smiles?

It really does, try it today.

Challenge: Nautical/By The Sea

PITT pens

Giving old cards a new look 

This card is older, but I am currently going through my stash and making envelopes for them too. I can't send out blank envelopes any longer. 

It just won't do.

People need to communicate, why not do it by mail?

Mail art as performance art

 "Mail art requires an actual physical interaction between the receiver/consumer and the artists’ work.  In many cases, this interaction takes the form of opening an envelope, where both the envelope and the contents are the art, but so is the act of opening the envelope.  In this way, the art transgresses from purely visual/physical art to performance/interactive art.  The act of receiving art in the mail expels the distance between art and life, bringing the experience of art straight into the recipient’s home." 
The Consecrated Eminence 

With that in mind, I created both a card and the envelope to relate to the event that I shared with the persons receiving it...which was a party. This was a lot of fun to create, drawing something that encompassed both their hospitality from the party to their generosity of giving me a gift. Looking back, I wish I had drawn the necklace around her neck...oh well, it's too late now.

 It also reflects ( hopefully with a sense of humor ) my joy in the necklace that they gave me from one of their many travels.

"Mail art is fun and easy (who doesn’t like  surprises?), but it’s also meaningful – it facilitates a direct connection between the person who made the object and person who receives it." 
The Consecrated Eminence

I think it turned out real cute and I must say I am enjoying drawing little snippets like this. Mail art and card making are fun activities, I hope you enjoyed mine.

more Halloween envelope art

Hand drawn envelope art with PITT pens, stamped with Envelope Sentiments and colored in with Paper Crafter crayons.

Simon Says: Create A Scene

One of my favorite cards, I just love the fact that retail always lets us know when the next holiday is around the corner. There should never be any excuses to not getting your shopping done early and on time...there are reminders everywhere like Christmas is next folks before your pumpkin is even carved, lol

A bit classier Halloween card, or maybe just for the person who doesn't appreciate the bright orange associated with Halloween.

The next time you decide to take the time to mail a card to anyone special in your life, try sending it in a personalized envelope made especially for them. Whoever receives it will not only love it to bits but it will be something for that person to cherish and hold on to their whole life.

Artistic snail mail

Artistic snail mail harkens back to those olden times when you had something better than bills in your mailbox, and who doesn't appreciate getting a card?
The most important step is to actually mail it...send it out into the world. 

The background of the envelope is made from my Gel Press® plate using distress paints. I also learned something, PITT pens will blend and smooth out the Paper Crafters crayons. YAY!! I colored in my smiley face with the Paper Crafters crayons and not liking the rough surface I decided to go over it with my dried out PITT pen, and wow, look how smooth it made the crayon. Needless to say I am very pleased.

 Make something arty...on an envelope.  Then slap a stamp on there and drop it into a mailbox. You'll brighten someones' day if you do!

The video for making the Smile card can be found HERE!

Mermaid envelope art

My mermaid this month for the facebook group called 12 Months of Mermaids is envelope art, something I am sure you know I am fond of if you read my blog on a regular basis. 

 I had to block out the addresses but I wanted you to get the gist of how cool it looks to incorporate spaces in your art to write in. Well, at least I think so!

I played around with my Paper Crafter crayons, they say you can sharpen them but I haven't figured out how to do that since they twist open...yep, they keep twisting when you sharpen them too..lol And of course I used my PITT pens.

Since this card is inspired by my friend Jamie, I had to include a crab in it, they seem to love her and always let her catch them when she is at the beach.

From the last vacation that Jamie I took together down at Panama Beach Fl.

The power of a postage stamp is strong: such a simple object has the ability 

to connect others no matter how much land/ocean divides them...Sending 

mail, even something as simple as a letter, 

can truly brightens someone's day.

“There is nothing better than getting mail that isn’t junk.”

There's something so intimate about receiving a tangible letter or a card.

♥ We keep letters and cards....we treasure them. ♥

 Think about this:

Every single thing we say, think and feel, is being documented in social media with absolutely no foundation for preservation.  By choosing to put everything into text, email, Facebook, twitter, snap chat, etc… there will be absolutely no record of our relationships. No history of friendships, love, heartbreak, loss, gain....nothing to show for our lives or to tell the story to the next generations of our family. And that is a very sad thing.

Put pen to paper and tell someone how you feel about them. Spread love, encouragement, support and put some plain old good vibes out into the world.

stamps, gel prints and doodles...oh my!

Look at this background on the envelope art. Wowzers, thats really cool and a bit scary! LOVE my 5x7" Gel Press® plate and distress paints, I think I've said this a couple hundred times now but I am in serious infatuation with this combination!

And then there is the cartoonist in me ( that's what I wanted to become when I grew up, not a doctor, or an astronaut...a cartoonist! ) so I get my fix by drawing fun characters instead: using PITT pens, Paper Craft crayons, and Tombow markers. 

...or by adding small doodle people and stuff along with stamps like I did here with the Tumbleweed house stamp set.

Revamping

re·vamp

verb

gerund or present participle: revamping

rēˈvamp/

1. give new and improved form, structure, or appearance to.

I am currently pulling out my old Halloween cards from last year and revamping them a little before making any new ones. Sometimes I see mistakes that I missed and maybe that's why they didn't sell? Maybe the people saw what I missed, in this case there was a little tiny glue shine around the edge of the moon, so I took out my gelato and PITT pen and made some intentional moon glow instead!

I also made some envelope art...using my awesome 5x7" Gel Press® plate and some distress paints. Seriously cannot get enough of this combination!

I love sprays, I really do but sometimes it's so darn hard to control the amount or the direction of the spray blast. In this case it was spray drips, 2 of them as you can see in the photo on the left....and maybe that's why it didn't sell....maybe it looks unintentionally messy which is never a good thing...sooooo...I made them into 2 tiny little jack-o'lanterns instead, PITT pen to the rescue again!

and..some envelope art to go with this one too! A little Jack doodle using my PITT pen and a little stamping and I have an adorable spooktackular envelope!

Now on to revamp some more cards!

penguin love

Oh my beachy stars, this stamp set; Summer Grumplings ( even the name is adorable! ) is sooooo cute!!

Simon Says: Photo Inspiration

 To get a truly flat card, but with loads of dimension; I made masks of the sun, penguin stamps and an umbrella which I drew. I laid them down on my 3x5" Gel Press® plate in reverse and then applied my distress paint on the plate and "stamped" it onto the front of the card. Then it was super easy to go back in with my DMC PITT pens and color everything.

Totally crushing on this size plate for my card making! It rocks!

Wait until you see the envelope art I made to go with this card.

Come back tomorrow!

More mail art

Entering my beach themed mail art in

Simon Says: Photo Inspiration

 I love when I have a stamp set that I use over and over, and over, and this Paper Smooches Surf and Turf set is one of those. I adore this little crab and love to have him holding signs. And speaking of something I use so much that it just stays on a designated acrylic block of it's own is this little happy mail art called Envelope Sentiments.

and then another coordinating envelope...

I just love mail art, don't you? I mean wouldn't you love finding art among your boring bills and junk mail? Wouldn't it make you smile, well, think about that and make someone smile!

More mail art

Entering my beach themed mail art in

Simon Says: Photo Inspiration

 I love when I have a stamp set that I use over and over, and over, and this Paper Smooches Surf and Turf set is one of those. I adore this little crab and love to have him holding signs. And speaking of something I use so much that it just stays on a designated acrylic block of it's own is this little happy mail art called Envelope Sentiments.

and then another coordinating envelope...

I just love mail art, don't you? I mean wouldn't you love finding art among your boring bills and junk mail? Wouldn't it make you smile, well, think about that and make someone smile!

Hey Gill-friend!

How ya doing?

( best said line from Joey from Friends! )

I miss that show, I think I need to have a Friends marathon on Netflix, whose bringing the wine...chocolate?

This is my latest installment of the Sundays with Sandee video, enjoy!

Make your own fireworks

Motivation is literally the desire to do things. It's the difference between waking up before dawn to pound the pavement and lazing around the house all day. It's the crucial element in setting and attaining goals—and research shows you can influence your own levels of motivation and self-control. So figure out what you want, power through the pain period, and start being who you want to be.

So go on, make your own fireworks!

I can't get enough of this combination, distress paints on my Gel Press™ plate. The way the Distress paints move around is extremely addicting to watch.

Go on, ohhh and ahhh over this background just like you would if you were outside on the 4th of July watching fireworks. 

So who is the best at making their own light show? Fireflies or if you are from the south, we call them little darlings lightening bugs down here! What’s more magical than a firefly light show on a warm summer night? I used some of my PITT pens to color them in and a Micron to outline my drawing for emphasis. 

They are bioluminescent, meaning that they can produce their own light. So I add some stickles to help their little light shimmer and shine! Then cut it out so I could adhere it to the front of my card.

To help the firefly stand out from the background ( I mean, we all want to stand out, right? ) I outlined him with a white Signo...my favorite go to pen of all time.

An interesting fact I learned about fireflies...only the ones along the east coast light up...now I wonder why that is?

entering my card in

Simon Says: Add Some Shimmer

Huge thanks

I have fallen in love with using Distress Paints on my Gel Press™ plate. ( Thanks Anna for reminding me about this technique! ) There is something so mesmerizing about watching the paint move on it...now who says watching paint dry is boring? Well, not me I say! lol
I also am crushing on this 3x5" size plate, just perfect for printing directly onto my card face.

The most important thing to remember is to not place too much paint on it to get this effect. This is the first pull from the Gel Press™ plate.

Next I stamped my whale and sentiment ( Paper Smooches - Surf and Turf stamp set ) on a separate piece of white cardstock and then cut them out to adhere to the front of the card. I colored them in with my trusty PITT pens.

I will have a video up on my Youtube channel this Sunday under Sunday's with Sandee, hop over and subscribe now so you won't miss it.

Go on now, I'll wait for you right here :)

entering my card in 

Simon Says: Animal Magic