Now I know how it feels!

I am so excited! Not only did I receive my first piece of art mail, which is so CUTE but I also got a personal watercolor card designed just for me! My friend painted my little guinea pig Daisy Mae and she just made me smile from ear to ear!! It really does make your heart go pitter patter from the moment you get your mail out of the box and thumb through the bills to see something like this! Snail mail art really does make you feel special!

This is the card I am pulling out of my stash to create an envelope for today. I love that I used my hand made paper to stamp the sun, tree and bird on, it's a wonderful texture. I love making my own handmade paper with my Arnold Grummer Paper Making kits. The stamps are by Susan K. Weckesser and so is the background paper.

Here they are together as a set, hope it makes someone smile like I did today when I got my card from Jean!

Don't forget to send in your snail mail art for the show.

This is the reason why I hoard my art supplies

Using Distress Paints on my Gel Press plate® still remains one of my most fun techniques as of today. I had those distress paints sitting around since he first came out with them in 2013 ( some aren't even opened ) because, really, they didn't do anything for me, and I was first in line to buy every color he had!

... and now....well now I can't get enough of them.

 And this is why I am afraid to throw away any art supplies and hoard them all...sigh....it just reinforces my need to keep everything because you never know when you will need it or maybe learn how to use it correctly! 

To make the mask 

1. Stamp or draw your lines for the address

2. Draw your image around the lines using the stamp to guide you

3. then cut it out

or

scan and copy the stamped image and enlarge it!

Once I make my masks I can keep them forever and store them in the package along with my stamps so they are handy.

 I made this card a couple of weeks ago and you can find the video to using Distress Paints and your Gel Press® plate HERE. 

Feel free to give me a "thumbs up" and subscribe all you want...lol...

I love making mail art, it's fun to create something that will spread smiles!

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.

Hey GEL friend

OK, so I couldn't resist the pun about a pun :)

My new obsession is making mail art (  It is not considered an art movement per se, but it can be said to be a genre. ) and I have discovered that the 5x7 Gel Press® plate is perfect for my envelopes so I can make matching mono-printed envies! Stoked!

Challenge: Nautical/By The Sea

one of my favorite stamp sets

Surf and Turf

colored in with my favorite

PITT pens

I'm up over on the Gel Press blog today with a step out tutorial showing how I made my envelope

and if you missed the video to the making of the matching card, you can find it HERE.

10 REASONS TO send mail

1. To write to a kid to teach them how fun it is to receive a letter. Ask for them to write back so that they can have fun sending one too.
2. To send a friend a recipe
3.  To decorate the envelope ( my personal favorite! )
4. To practice your penmanship, play with letterforms, and have fun expressing yourself on the page!
5. To congratulate someone on an achievement big or small
6.  To send a letter from your pet to a friend’s pet.
7.  To send a letter in multiple parts - like a serial podcast or tv show where they have to wait for the next episode
8. To send a cheer up message– a note to a friend who has had a tough go of it lately.
9.  To write a letter with checkbox questions that can be filled out and returned.
10.  To save the US Postal Service

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.

Smiles on delivery

First off I must say that this post is extremely good at the do and don'ts of mail art. If you are planning on making some then it's worth the read.

I thought I would share some of my mail art that I made for a couple of my friends.

First off, this card goes to a friend of mine who altered one of Daisy Maes' ( my pet guinea pig ) sleeping quarters, Well, she use to sleep in it until she grew too big and could only poke her head inside so he made it into a tunnel and she loves to run in and out now. I let her chew on the card for a personal guinea pig touch and she was only too happy to oblige. The envelope is supposed to be a cow flying a kite aka as a stamp...not sure if it works...lol

Simon Says: Create A Scene

If cows could talk stamp

Then I had a prize to get out to Jean that was LONG overdue!! So I had to make it extra special! The picture of the dog actually came on the box, I just painted around it to wipe out the company information, didn't want her to think she was getting dog treats! But I loved the dachshund so he got to stay and I added a caption.

 I did paint the "snail" mail though with some neon lights paints from DecoArt...they did pretty well except for the yellow which didn't show up against the black, but it still turned out cute. I love the fact that the post office person went out of their way not to disturb the art when applying the postage, it made me smile to see how careful they were being with it.

Did you know?
Mail art (also known as postal art and correspondence art) is a populist artistic movement centered on sending small scale works through the postal service. It initially developed out of the Fluxus movement in the 1950s and 60s, though it has since developed into a global movement that continues to the present.  Mail art is considered art once it is dispatched. 

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!

It's never failure if you learn something

With all the new technology of today, the golden age of handwritten letters may be past.  But receiving a card is still a treat, and whether it's handwritten, printed, or typed, it's still the best thing to get in your mailbox at the end of the day.

Now there is a lot going on here ( in a behind the scenes sort of way )...I used hot colors to depict the sun and heat and cool colors for the effect the ice cream has. So the sun, sun spots and ground...all in hot colors. Even the ground is melting like ice cream would be doing on a hot day.

The little cow is all in cool colors due to his eating the ice cream and it's chilling him out and that is melting down to the ground and cooling off the area around him too. Just love the way that the H20's blend together and even mixed together to create the green.

I don't think we ever intend to make mistakes in order to learn something new...it just happens...to the best of us! I failed miserably at a new technique I was trying which was stamping with my ColourArte H20's. I watched this video made by Leslie and thought I would give it a try but I set myself up for failure by using the wrong kind of stamp. However I did learn that by dipping a needle into the H20's I could draw the small lines that I needed to define and reline.

 And of course I had to create a little envelope art to go along with my card.

  Entering in ColourArte's monthly challenge - Sherbert

“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.

Why Smile?

Sundays with Sandee video for making the envelope art

is HERE

Smiling can make you happy (even when you're not).

Smiling can make others happy.

Smiling makes you more attractive.

Smiling can help you de-stress.

Smiling can help you land a job.

Smiling can lead to laughter.

Smiling just feels good.

Isn't it time you turn that frown upside down?

Sparkpeople.com

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!

my cutie patootie card!

I knew...I just knew I was going to get a little carried away with the envelope art for this one so I actually started with my Envelope Sentiment stamp and drew the car around it. I just had so much fun making this beach car for my penguin, he is waving hi and singing to the music...hmm..maybe I should add some music notes? What do you think?

entering this cutie patootie in

Simon Says: Photo Inspiration

And here he is with his coordinating card ♥

Now wouldn't this combination just make you smile all day if you got this in the mail?

Ooops...just notice his umbrella doesn't match, lol

Oh well, that's what I get for getting so excited and not slowing down and paying attention to the details!

And this set will be winging it's way to Yvonne in Canada :)
What's Up Gnomey? stamp set

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!