A Passel of Post -- Part 2

This one is going out to a new potential pen friend. The collaged clippings are from a junk mail catalog.

Given the volume of mail she must receive, I don't know how Bianca keeps up with it all. But she does, and her letters are always so much fun.

Speaking of Bianca, she included this lovely brown/black envelope for me in her last letter. I added the dice and addressed it, but it was too small to include a couple of extras I wanted to send Tillie. So it all got repackaged into a clear vinyl envelope I made from the pouch my colored pencils came in. That should hold up well on the trip to New Zealand and may keep the customs officials from having to open it as well.

Here's a cut-out from a fishing magazine that I altered a bit.

Three quick notes on real stationery cards. Hallmark Expressions, no less. But you probably know me well enough by now to realize I didn't pay full price. They were in the batch from the surplus store. I love that place!

Here's another envelope made from that Belgium calendar. Photos of houses are among my favorites.

This one I mailed last week sometime and has already been received.

The three photos above show the fronts of two cards and one of the backs. These are the first greeting cards I've seen that don't have an envelope. They were in a batch of cards I picked up at the government surplus store.

I got some of those sample idea cards in the junk mail and instead of tossing them into the trash, I tossed them into this letter to Amanda.

Yikes! Watch out for this one.

A Passel of Post -- Part 1

Now there's a word you don't hear every day. Passel. Perfectly good word; passel. Apparently, passel originates from the word parcel, so it's doubly appropriate, 'cause I got a passel of parcels and postcards to post.

Let's see. Postcards, first. These 5 postcards (actually, I sent out 8, but some were duplicates) are all for fellow Postcrossers.

It finally dawned on me that I had some outgoing Postcrossing cards en route that should've arrived by now, so I logged in to check on them. I had 5 cards traveling and all had been traveling for the same number of days -- 41. Uh oh. Oh yeah, those alarm bells went off and I began searching. Sure enough, I found them on my dining room table buried at the bottom of one of many crap piles. So, I apologize, I guess to myself, because these folks don't know they're supposed to be waiting on mail. Anyway, the Highland County sheep are outgoing cards, US-636131 and US-636134.

These three of the Highland Inn in Monterey, VA are US-636133, US-636135, and US-636136.

The Eastern Bluebird, my favorite little birdie. Despite the fact, or maybe because, they are so persnickety about their nesting spots. US-738547 goes to Julia in the Russian Federation.

This one would make a nice 4th of July card. Note to self: hold that thought. And the winner is......Anna of Ukraine. Postcrossing ID: US-738557

Lastly, this one, US-738561, goes to Sarah in Sydney, Australia. This is another postcard I picked up in Monterey. If I ever knew who the statue depicts, I've since forgotten.

This one goes out to my daughter Heidi who sent me a couple of postcards while vacationing at Myrtle Beach.


This mail art goes out to a newly found pen friend. This card has an alias; aka Flotsam & Jetsam #27.

Crap Pie

Normally, I would title this post Flotsam & Jetsam 25, 26. But that just doesn't grab one's attention quite as well, now does it?

Here are two more of those subscription reply cards. These were for CRAPPIE (a kind of fish) magazine. Yuck. Who wants Crap Pie?

WOW!!! THAT'S A LOW PRICE!!!

My daughter Heidi had her eyes peeled and snapped up this bargain for me at the annual Country Club Yard Sale. She knows what makes me happy. Well, both my daughters do. Sharon, in St. Louis, has some things for me as well. I'll pick them up when I fly out there next month.

Can you believe it? Ten, count them, ten cards (with envelopes, not shown) for 10 cents! There were originally twenty of them, but who cares. SCORE!

More Out The Door

Purple and green...my two favorite colors. I love this envelope.

Sorry for the long delay, Lizbeth. I do treasure your letters.

Another CAUTION envie made from an AUCTION flyer.
Snip, snip, rearrange, glue, glue. All done.

Nadiah holds the distinction of having the longest address of any of my correspondents. When I find out why it's so long, I'll let you know.

This is my first letter to Paige, a new follower of Just Letter Rip. Welcome!

Just kidding, Aaron. But I couldn't resist.

Annie signed up for the Good Mail Day "Call for Scribblers," so I scribbled.

See your zip in this last batch??? Yeah, I admit it. I got in a hurry trying to beat the mail carrier to the box. I won.

Flotsam & Jetsam 22, 23, 24

Here are three Flotsam & Jetsam cards I mailed out yesterday. They all use those postage paid reply cards as the base. All three are collaged from magazine and catalog clippings.

I'm A Letter-Writing Envelope-Making Fool

Fast food bags make great envelopes and I find myself skipping the fries because they are so likely to leave grease spots on the bag. Who knew mail art could be healthy for your diet! This one from McDonald's is one of my all-time faves.

This one is made from a page from a paper sampler my friend Treva gave me. The name of the company slips my mind, but it is based in Rochester, NY. The black bear envelope last post came from the same sample book.


These two above, to Jennie and Carolee, are two more envelopes I made from the Belgium calendar I picked up at a thrift store. These envelopes were fun to make and the paper is quite sturdy so they should hold up well in their cross-country trek.

And, lastly, this one heads out to Nebraska and is a repurposed envie from the junk mail stash.

Red Flag Up

The red flag is up on my mailbox. Please stop, Mr. Postman, and pick up these letters for my friends.

First up is a letter to Sally in one of my handmade envelopes.


The NEA is notorious for sending solicitations by mail. Jamie receives one of their repurposed envelopes.

Love those decorative tapes, but hate the price? Make your own as I did on Cat Wrangler's envie.

PJ states she will send one of her drawings to anyone who writes. I'm excited and can't wait to see what she sends me. I always envy people who draw well.

Misha gets a Gumby & Friends fold and mail.

Katie's letter is written on Glamour Girl stationery. "Real" stationery is becoming quite the rarity for me. I find myself using more and more recycled/repurposed junk mail and the like.

Here's my entry for Meet Me At Mike's Envelope Project. Wow. Can you believe one super lucky person will win EVERYTHING?

Brian's envelope is made from the cover of a calendar of buildings in Belgium.

More later this week. It's good to be back.

The Reports Of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated

Hello Everyone. (if I have any readers left after my 3-month hiatus!)

I'd forgotten how overwhelmed I always get in the Springtime, with after school remediation prior to state-mandated testing, then the stressful testing, post test remediation, retesting, end of six weeks grades, semester, and yearly grades. Whew.
At last, the school year is over. Yesterday was our final day. Yippee! Now, back to our regularly scheduled mail blog.

First off, I'm not going to try to document the months of mail I missed. I didn't send out as much, but I didn't completely quit either. So, I'm just going to jump in where I am as of now.

Over at Good Mail Day they have a "Call for Scribblers, Mail Artists, and Pen Friends." Do you fit any one, two, or perhaps all three of those? Then, head on over and sign up to send and receive some cool mail.

Yesterday I received my first two items from that list and guess what? They were from Jennie and Carolee; can you tell I am super excited about that?



Jennie Hinchcliff sent this mail art postcard. Drat. I just noticed I forgot to peel that little postal bar code strip off.


Not to be outdone, Carolee sent these photos from the 70s. They have peel-off strips on the back so you can attach them. She also included a couple of Good Mail Day Special Delivery stamps. How cool is that!