Not Your Run-of-the-Mill Post Office

Can you imagine checking your P.O. box here?  Or sending off your mail art and Postcrossing cards here? I received this card through Postcrossing.  It's from China and shows the General Post Office of Shanghai.  WOW.

Team Ginger Sure Can Run!

    

     Good thing I had a heads up from Pen Thief and LWA to keep a lookout for the Gingerbread Man because that he sure is making the rounds. 

     I spotted him at a 5K Run to benefit St. Jude's Children's Hospital.  But he wasn't alone this time.  He had teamed up with two of his cousins.  Just as I approached them, the race started and Team Ginger was out of the blocks in a hurry.  I heard the GB Man laugh and shout, "Run, run, as fast as you can.  You can't catch me.  I'm the Gingerbread Man."

     He was right.  I didn't catch him or either of his cousins.  But then, I probably couldn't catch them even if it was Februrary and they were drenched in molasses.

     This postcard sighting is off to Mrs. Schindler's Kindergarten Class at Nottingham Country Elementary of KATY, TX.  Hey, there, Limner...do you know this school, this kindergarten class, Mrs. Schindler?  If not, they must be close.

An Equation For Fun

Hmmm, that picture doesn't show up as well as I'd hoped.  So here they are one at a time.

Get your favorite pair of scissors.

Then gather your junk mail, you know, all those credit card offers, subscription renewal requests, and catalogs.  Next, snip out your address from a few.  Wasn't that nice of them to send you free address labels?  But, they're sort of plain.

So while you have those holiday catalogs and store ads from the Sunday paper handy, clip a few Christmas images.

Bring on the glue stick!

Adhere your address labels to the appropriate spots and you have holiday return labels for all your seasonal mail.  Aren't they cute!

Just the Way It Is

Yesterday's outgoing mail included these four envelopes all made from Hardees' bags.  The only time a bag from any fast food joint gets chucked around here is when food stains the bag.  Fries are usually the culprit.

Just Letting 'Er Rip

One day a couple of weeks ago I blew the dust out of my Photoshop program figuratively and out of my laptop literally and started making some address labels for my Postcrossing cards.  One of the prototype prelims morphed into the envelope you see above.  It's now on its way to a new correspondent in Canada.

This post is dedicated to Limner who had begun to fret a bit about my slackness online, but now she's over it.  She's catching fish faster than JC can throw 'em in the sack and trying out new recipes in her head and generally having a grand ole time.  I'm glad.

More Gecko Goodies

Ahhh, the Gecko. I just love this little guy. Thanks go out to Speck for sending me a nice selection of Gecko images for my project. I'm particularly fond of the one with the pencil and numbers. Must be the math geek in me sneaking out!

Two of My Favorite Words -- MAIL and ART

Just as I was getting used to loading my photos in reverse order so they would appear in the correct order, Blogger ups and fixes it in the new interface. 'Bout time. This post concerns my love of and never-ending search for two words: MAIL and ART. I prefer to cut them out of junk mail and magazines, but sometimes they are difficult to find. Then I have to resort to alternative measures. This first photo shows hand-drawn letters I clipped out of an ad for a man's shirt in the L.L.Bean catalog. I like to glue these words onto my letters, just in case there's any doubt. Sometimes my ART is brought into question.

One thing I know for sure is that it's a heck of a lot harder to find the word "MAIL" than it is to find the word "ART". That is, if one discounts the word on all those Business Reply Mail cards and envelopes. I use them sometimes and you can see a few in the photo above, but they are not a good size. All the rest I had to piece together ransom note style.

The word "ART" is much easier to spot. It hides in words like Kmart Smart, in magazine titles such as Smart Money. Even Martha Stewart helps the cause with art hiding in both her first and last names. And we all know how ubiquitous Martha is.

Then, check out all these instances of the word. I found all of them in a single school supply catalog.

Finally, with all this talk about mail art, I thought it only fitting to include a piece. This one adds to my MailArt 365 count. I'm woefully behind.

Mail from Michigan

Today I received my first letter from Kate and Sara Howarth, the sisters behind the 365 letters project. The letter traveled in style in one lovely handmade envelope. They included the Lake Huron postcard where they vacation every Labor Day weekend. Awesome mail, girls. Also, it's good to hear you are enjoying your snail mail hobby. Isn't it fun!

First Ever -- Zippered Envelope

Have you ever received mail in a zippered pouch? Thanks to Elle, I have! She sent me this neat "REST" eye mask when I was recovering from surgery. I'd never had one before until now and when I wear it, I feel like a movie staaaaaaaahhhh, daaahling.

A Busy August -- Part One

Here are the postcards I received via Postcrossing for the month of August. With back-to-school, continued recuperation from surgery, and the canning and freezing of garden produce, well, all that is kicking my can. Seriously. Perhaps I can catch my breath over the Labor Day weekend and come back and enter some captions for these cool cards. I apologize to the senders. Thanks so much for these bright spots in my hectic days.

Fun Pop-Up Mail

Miriam in Florida sent me this fun mail. It appears she used file folders to cover some sort of advertising mail. The theme is West Palm Beach. LOOK! Yikes, an alligator. BEFORE YOU LEAP! Great advice.











This shot shows the business pages of the card, the place where the fun stuff happens. The round target on the left side of the photo pops up as the card is opened.

























Here's the pop-up part that was cut out of the view in the last photo. The target's base is a CD I assume came affixed to the original mail.








The back cover shows one last pic of WPB, a water park. I want to go! Well, maybe not to the water park, but certainly to West Palm Beach.

Thanks for such fun in my mailbox, Miriam.

Green Theme Going On

Thanks to Garci for the all the Gecko images. I've got a little project going on, so if you happen to have some Geico Geckos you are not going to use in your own art, please send them along to me. I would love to have them and would try to reciprocate with items you might need.

Check out all the green on the back of this envelope. What fun. I especially love the S&H Green Stamps.

Humps Haven Gazeteer

Our very own Humps Haven Chapter of the International Union Of Mail Artists (IUOMA) met Thursday, June 23 at the home of Mrs. J. Thorndike Ripplecrest. "Nobody told me the meeting was at my house. A phone call would have been nice," Mrs. Ripplecrest said, shown above seated at her typewriter. "They descended on my house like a gang from the lunatic asylum." Some of those in attendance were Canai Sinhg, who serenaded the artists on his instrument, and our favorite twins, Milly and Tilly Sturmunddranghauser,daughters of our favorite local storage unit owners. When asked if their mail art turned out identical also, the twins answered in unison: "What do you think?" The Humps Haven Chapter meets monthly. New members are always welcome. Call Milly and Tilly at 123-4567 for more info, or as Milly and Tilly like to say, as one, "You can always send a request in the mail!" Their mailing address is c/o Stor-it, Hear? 365 Trout Squiggle Run, Humps Haven. Staff Photo by I.C. Hugh.

What a fun piece of mail from MABB (mailart365). Oh, in case you're wondering, that's supposed to be me Pensive Patty, in the lower left-hand corner by the file cabinet.

My Motto

Make your own graffiti here.

Get Well Mail

At first I thought the bird was chirping "Sweet". When I looked more closely, it was actually "Tweet". This "Sweet Tweet" is from Debra Robinson, one of Heidi's co-workers.


Check out this funny Cat in a Hat from Rachel Bouc.


This one just makes me smile. Kami and Debbie, two other teachers in the math department at school sent this cute, Cute, CUTE little froggie card.


Misty Davis sent me her treasured Stick "Singing in the Rain" card. Isn't it adorable! No one could blame her if she'd kept it, but I am honored to receive it. It serves double duty too by reminding me that one doesn't have to be one of the old masters to make art. The charm of this card lies in its simplicity, don't you think?


Becky left a paper trail from Pennsylvania to Crockett with this lovely vintage card. I'm a sucker for old-fashioned floral prints. Love it! She also included some fun stickers and ephemera which will soon be incorporated into some outgoing mail art pieces.


Doris and Bill Akers, my daughter-in-law Maranda's grandparents, sent a similarly styled card, chock full of prayers and cheery thoughts.


And, to wrap up this set, a mail art card from Rusty StoneZebra. Chocolate + Strawberry Ice Cream = A Cure for Many Ills.

Thanks to all for the get well sentiments. By George, I think they're working. If I missed a missive you might have sent, well, it's probably around here somewhere. My routines are all topsy turvy and I'm not yet firing on all cylinders. More mail posts to follow in the next few days and plenty of replies to keep me busy while I mend. Thanks again so much. It means more to me than you can know.

Now This Just Makes Me Sad

 

Could someone please tell me what happened to the photos of missing children? Aren't those pictures supposed to be on milk cartons? Isn't that a law or something? No? Well, it should be.

When did we become more concerned with finding words in a puzzle than finding missing children? That depressing milk carton looked right at home on my breakfast tray with its reconstituted egg substitute and soggy Rice Crunchies.

Not my idea of a fun day

Emergency appendectomy. OUCH!

Call Me Fishmail

The recent spate of fish-themed mailart over at mailart365 reminded me of this piece I had done and never posted. It surprised me to note that I scanned it almost exactly a year ago.

It was a fun piece to do and went to Carolee, one of the authors of Good Mail Day.

Rachel B Checks In

Rachel and I touched base a few months ago, but it seems my letter to her went missing. I'm so glad she got in touch again via this postcard. I've answered and she may expect a letter in her mailbox in a few days!