Why mail art?

Why not? 

It's fun and relaxing to do and it's can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. There aren't many rules, just make sure the address to the person it is being sent to is easily read and that there is room for a stamp. Basically, that's pretty much it; your imagination can do the rest.

Simon Says: Things With Wings

stamps :

Surf and Turf

envelope sentiment

You can find the video I made creating my envelope art over HERE!

Again, working with an existing card from my stash to make the coordinating envelope.

Go ahead and make some mail art and don't forget the open call for the "All about me" mail art show.

Sundays with Sandee and Daisy Mae

Last week over at Simon Stamps they asked to see your pet, and this is the picture I took of little Miss Daisy Mae, I thought it was cute enough that it inspired me to paint her for my weekly Sundays with Sandee video.

You will see in the video that she added her own distressed look to the watercolor paper by chewing on the edge during taping.

And this is my final result, between chasing her around the desk, trying to keep the barricade I created from falling over on her (because she was trying to get around it!) and defending my art supplies, I think it turned out pretty well!! lol

You can watch all the chaos here.

I also got THE CUTEST STAMP SET...can you tell I really, really like it?

It's called If cows could talk, and if they could, they would tell you how cute they are! Plus you get a coordinating die which I love! I used a scrap of monoprint to cut him out. The background is made from my Gel Press® plate and Distress paints, looks like I'll be doing this technique like forever! 

 This is my card I made to enter in 

Simon Says: Anything Goes

And for fun, I created a matching envelope for him. I used the same technique for the background ( and if you're interested in it, you can watch a short video tutorial here ) and, then I painted a barn. The barn is where you would write the address to the person it is going to which is why it's a white barn. :)

or should I say I write barn? lol

Don't they look cute together?

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!

Sundays with Sandee

Boy the week sure does fly by fast, doesn't it? And the week-ends are gone in a blink of an eye! I sometimes just wonder where the time went and did I get as much done as I could? Do you ever think about that?

This is a sign re-make. I sold the other Tea sign a year ago, so I revisited it but this time it has more mixed media elements and my own handwriting. 

Although I like how the sign turned out, I think the handwriting should have been a stronger element. It's hard to think bigger and bolder when you feel weak in that area. I can compare it to putting a party dress on when you are overweight...the confidence isn't there, and it shows.

You can see the older tea sign here, I still followed the basic design, but there are differences in how I approached some things, and new tools that I used. 

( Sold )

Basically I am trying to stay away from using sticker letters and to employ my own handwriting. That is my main focus with me currently. I love this book by Joanne Sharpe and find loads of inspiration in it. You can get it in the Frosted Design store and work on your lettering too!

 I hope that you can find the time to hop over to the Frosted Designs blog and check out my video and maybe, leave me a comment. ♥ Plus if you play along with me and enter your project over on the Frosted Designs Face Book page then you have a chance some free graphics with a random drawing. You can enter once a week, so that's 4 chances for the month of May!

The first prize will be a wonderful pack of printables to use on your journal pages or other mixed media projects by Freda F Printables!

and the second place winner will get a $15.00 gift certificate to After Midnight Designs!

Sundays with Sandee

Wonky handwriting is my favorite, I like it almost as much as I like saying the word wonky! Yeah, I know, I'm nuts, but that's why you love me! lol

 entering my card in:

Moxie Fab's Hip on Handwriting challenge

I love how spray inks used with a water brush really look like water colors.

There is something on my card that has to do with Joanne Sharpe's current homework which is p. 57....get your book and play along!

I am really enjoying using these little images which I fussy cut from Midnight Designs graphics, play along with Sundays with Sandee and show us your work over on the Face Book page for a chance to win!

This is a sneak peak for tomorrow's post that I am doing for Deco Art paints, I used my handwriting and their fabulous multi surface paints! Can you guess what it's painted on?

Visit Sundays with Sandee over on the Frosted Designs page to see the video on my "wonky" lettering! 

Sundays with Sandee

Do you love your lettering?

I admit that a year ago, I did not. I began seeking out others who could help me, like Joanne Sharpe, and if you need some inspiration, then she has a fabulous book to get you inspired.

Everyone knows that I sell my signs and I have been lucky to have some success with it, but lately I have started selling signs that use my own handwriting, and that really puts a smile on my face. Here are a couple of my wall hangings that recently sold where I used my own whimsical lettering style:

So, if you don't like your lettering then please join me every Sunday for some lettering practice, 

writing is an art style, 

the only thing you have to do, 

to get better at it...

is to practice!

Here is my latest wall hanging, I am sure you know the drill by now. If you want to see the video for creating this, then please hop over to the Frosted Design's blog and while you are there, you can leave me a comment...hint, hint...lol

I'd love to enter all my hand written signs into the Moxie Fab World's

Handwriting Challenge

but this is my newest one so I will enter "Advice from a mountain."

Sundays with Sandee - getting inky!

Hope you hop on over to Frosted Designs blog, I have a some great tips on using those Tim Holtz Distress Marker plus 2 ways to use your stencils!

And wait for it....an awesome way to use that Distress Marker spritzer, with NO MARKERS! HA!

See ya over there?

Sundays with Sandee - “Emails are a poke, but letters are a caress."

As etiquette guru Letitia Baldridge advises, "nothing is more pleasant than receiving a beautiful letter", maybe we should extend that quote to include envelopes too!

In researching the decline of the written letter I came across this interesting tidbit which just made me smile, wouldn't the aristocrats would roll over in their graves if they knew about e-mail, texting and twittering?

"The decline of letter-writing far predates the Internet. “For many it started in 1840, with the first adhesive stamp,” Garfield writes. “The snobbish and well-to-do believed cheap postage would lead to the equivalent cheapening of an art form best left to the professionals.” In 1919, the Yale Review lamented that “the art of writing letters has been lost,” with blame cast on the telephone, the typewriter, the telegraph, even the train — for delivering letters too promptly."

I hope you pop over to the Frosted Designs blog and visit me there, maybe you will be inspired to...

celebrate letter-writing

Write a friend today or maybe an elderly relative a note, make a hand made card for them and embellish the envelope, who knows, you might make their day.