An Expired Postcrossing Card That Worries Me

Mail sometimes does go astray. Sometimes a postcrosser forgets to register a postcard. Things happen. I understand that. Usually an expired Postcrossing card, one that has been traveling more than 60 days, doesn't bother me much. The one shown above does.

It was sent out on March 6th and it returned to me this week. So, it isn't lost. I know exactly where it is and exactly where it has been. If you look at the photo closely, you may be able to make out the postmark.

Nagareyama...

JAPAN

Now you see why it's worrisome. A postcard returned to sender appears to be an isolated, almost insignificant event. However, the ramifications of what that returned postcard could indicate are troubling. I rechecked the profile of the user...a young 32-year-old woman with a husband and a 1-yr-old daughter. She wants to see the aurora borealis. Some of her favorite things are dogs, coffee, spring, and stamps. She was last seen on Postcrossing over two months ago.

Aya, I hope you and your family are safe. I hope the reason you haven't been online is that your electric service has been disrupted, or that you've relocated to a shelter or to stay with family or friends. I'm concerned, but won't think the unthinkable.

Kailey Teaches Nana

In my last post, I talked about Kailey's Mail Art pictured above and mentioned there are lessons to be learned from this 3-yr-old. Well, here they are.

#1 Work quickly. From start to finish, this little mail art project took maybe a total of 3 minutes. Probably less.

#2 Work intuitively. When I handed her the plain, white 4 x 6 inch piece of
cardstock to use for her base, she immediately ripped it into two pieces. No boundaries for Kailey's mail art.

#3 Work with what you have. It didn't bother Kailey that the materials I gave her were things I didn't really care about. She was happy to work with the items I'd put in her very own box of treasures. No extra items needed, no trips to Michael's, no specialty orders required. She worked with what was available.

#4 Don't worry about what others think. I can say quite confidently Kailey didn't give a second thought to what others might think of her work.

#5 Think outside the box. What box? The 4 x 6 in base card didn't box little Kailey in. Her art didn't have to fit within those confines. Notice both the heart sticker embellishment and the main image extend outside what was left of the original 4 x 6 in box.

#6 Be happy. When I asked her who she was going to send her mail art to, Kailey looked at me and said, "To you, Nana. I need a stamp." So I helped her write Nana on the back side (dots to trace), and then let her choose whatever stamp she wanted from my REAL postage. She chose one and enjoyed licking and placing the vintage stamp. Then she solemnly placed it into my mailbox and raised the flag. We each have mailboxes where we correspond. Her mailbox is Cinderella-themed, while mine is a more sedate blue box with white spatters (thrift store finds).

Are there any lessons you can learn from Kailey??????

Crockett's Got Talent

Yep, that's right. Crockett's got talent. No, I'm not talking about me and my attempts at mail and journal art. Crockett's got talent when Kailey, my 3-yr-old granddaughter comes over.

During her last visit, she asked what I was making and I said, "Mail art."
She replied, "I want to make mail art, too."

So I handed her a blank white 4 in x 6 in card to use as the base for her art. She immediately ripped it into two pieces and began looking through my box of already cut images for one to "blue" down with her own bluestick. (G's are hard to say when you're 3)

She chose the Max Headroom photo, used her very own scissors to whack off the lower right corner (obviously it didn't belong there), blued it down, and finished off with the heart sticker embellishment.

There are lessons to be learned here. More on this mail art later.