Mail Art

Mail Art

Mail art is so much a part of the person who is sending it.

I love drawing the flowers the most.





I have found that I really like to draw.

While I can draw some things fairly well, perhaps even accomplished.

Others are not so good, in fact they are pretty poor looking.

None the less, I enjoy it, and I figure. like crocheting, the more I draw, the better I will become.

I do very little journaling, so the drawing I like to do is usually on an envelop.
I get my ideas from many different pages. This is from the pages of a craft magazine.


The back of the envelop has pictures from another craft envelop.

I cannot name one person that has ever told me, they would rather get a plain white envelope, over a envelop that has some color to it.

Even those that work opening envelops would rather have a little bit added to the envelop, to break up the tediousness of the day.



Mail art is easy. If you just have a pen and an idea, go for it. I was in a hurry today getting the bills ready to mail and just basically doodled some art work




Mail art can be drawn or the envelop can be made of something different. I have used magazine pages, I plan on using a child's book, that is not in real good condition. I have sent and received ribbons on the outside of the envelop. I do not have any photos handy of the magazine pages I have sent.

However I love the part I can do myself, the art work. The drawing.



When I cannot sleep is usually when I do the most drawing and crocheting. So I get a lot done at night. Because I usually do not sleep well much nights.

I have tried to take photos of all the work I have sent out the door, but I get busy and want to focus on the tasks at hand and just end up sending the art work on.

Here is some someone sent to me. I think it is so beautiful.

This is the back side:

We do, at times, swap certain types or colors of mail art.
I have some spring art ready to be sent.
Here is another possibility for the spring swap:

I also have some red ready to be sent. I have finished two envelops for this swap, even though one is needed. I will probably send this one for the swap and the other envelop for something else. Front:
Back:



Here is number two of the red ones:



Some I have sent this week.

Sometimes I like to use only markers.


Other times I like to color only with the pencils.



But most of the time I like to use both and even crayons.


I also will do zentangle or plain old doodling.


I had been mulling over this idea for a long , long time. I finally got the courage to try it, and it took a few attempts to learn how to do it the correct way. That is pencil shaving art. This is my first try, that I have kept, the other one I did, I just had to toss in the waste bin. If you want to see some awesome art, look up pencil shaving art.


Others I have not sent and do not know when or who will get it.
Others I have done.




I hope I have inspired you to share in the fun and the thrill of mail art. If for no other reason, that someone must send better drawings that I do.

Trying to do this better

Bookmark on the page.

As you read this, you can see, that there are days my head is spinning and I get mixed up easily.


Well, life is so quickly passing.

I wanted to post some photos of some bookmarks I have made.

I have some photos from my old computer, but cannot find those.

So the ones I do have I can post.
I think bookmarks are nice things to make. They can be made quickly and personally. I have made them with beads and string , I have crocheted them, also crocheted when beads , I have used paper and cardboard , I have re-purposed junk mail making bookmarks .

The photos I have today are of crocheted bookmarks and re-purposed junk mail.

Another craft then I have been doing is re-purposing junk mail, I'm making them into notebooks.
I used other things besides junk mail to do this , used gift bags, magazines and books, buttons. and other things.
The photos for that are not ready and will take me a while like everything else I do.


Some of the yellow bookmarks I have crocheted are here.


Some of the greens are these:




This is the mix, so pink will be the next ones.



Here are some of the purples. I have more on the table waiting for the camera. They will have to wait a bit longer though.


Oh man the light makes the cloth look dingy.

One of the orange ones. Hubby, sweetie pie lost the one I made him, that matched the book we are studying for the Congregation Bible Study. Mine is with my book, so the photo of that is going to be later.




I free hand drew the ice wagon and did not know what to do with it. Since it was on a folded sheet of paper. (scrap, it was practice) I decided to add the crocheted cord and make a bookmark out of that.




These were made from recycled mail, mostly junk ,mail.


I honestly do not know which back goes to what bookmark and I lost two of the above bookmarks, so for now I will not know.

La-la, Hmm-hmm.

Wow what the last few months have brought to me.

A lot of differences and a lot of happiness.

I was blessed to be able to attend Pioneer Service School in August 2011.

That was the spiritual shot in the arm I needed.

I was able to come out of a depression I was sort of aware of and sort of not aware of.

Postcrossing is still a big part of my Internet life. I love being able to send and receive postcards from all over the world.

I have also been able to meet a lot of wonderfully kind folks over here at Swap-bot.

Swap-bot is a nifty sight where you can, once again, swap postcards with other from all over the world.


My collections are about to be huge.

I have many postcards, some sort of rare and some not so rare. I still cannot bring myself to pay over $5.00 for one card unless it is rare. In fact that amount is a card that is rare also. Usually I will not pay over $1.00, so I guess I am a low end collector.

My favorite cards are the ones made before the WWII era. Some up to the 1950's decade are nice also. I think of life and how it must have been back when the postcards were made or written.

I also wonder if the person that the card is sent to, still lives in the same place, are they still alive, or is the place they lived torn down and a 'new' joint built up. We do live in a country that tears down old and puts up new. I wish that would not be the case so often. The old style and workmanship will never be replaced in this old world.


I have also been designing crochet items. I love to make my own ideas. And then love to give them away.


Right now I need to take photos of two bookmarks I finished last week.

I do have some photos of other bookmarks I have finished a few weeks ago.

I think I can try and find them and perhaps post some of the photos on here.

Still winter, still cold

Well it got cold here. It was about the coldest I ever seen it here.

-16F and the wind chill way down there like near -50F,

Brrrr, that is spit and it freezes before it hits the sidewalk cold.

I have been looking for patterns to make for the baby.

On my quest, I have found so many wonderful designers that are so generous to let us ave the patterns at not cost, just respect the copyright.

For most of us, that is not hard, for the few that it seems they think they should get the glory or the money, it is sad.

I also saw a few years ago, two posters arguing over who designed a certain blanket first. Aha! I knew it was designed by someone else first, and it is printed in a book before the internet ever came into existence. First off, it could have been snagged from another pattern and re -sized. but nope I saw the original on a book I own.
When I find the book again, I will go to that site and put a note about it, then the argument can be settled.

Of course hundreds have taken that patterns an changed a stitch her and a color there and said they crated a new one.

Well perhaps. If this is so, since I have one with a certain number of parts, that I have never seen, then I created one also. WOW!

This is a month of working on my UFOs as well as baby things and a few things for my brand new niece wife of my old nephew. LOL he is old to me. about 22 years old now.

I also am thinking about creating some things for some other family members, but until I can get them done, I am not going to post.

I have found the Swap-bot.com site is awesome for getting nice and less easy to get postcards.

I have been not purchasing so much on Ebay also. I am kind of happy, It was going to be gettign out of hand, so now I have slowed down.

Perhaps today can be a day of looking for the things I collect and no longer have.

I never did get the things listed yet. I have had a some other things come up and oit has prevented me from doing that.

One day soon.

If I can get some housework done today, then on Monday, I can list.


Today I can send out two postcards, that I have no clue why they ever made them, they are of an ugly room. It is the ugliest postcard ever swap. I have so many of those it is a good reason to be able to share some.

One thing I hate about winter, is cold feet, it seems they stay cold, all winter.

I had a pair of wool socks I thought would be harsh to wear, but they were not, they were warm, warm and warm.

So I am on a wool sock hunt. I hate the mall, but I think I have to go to Dillards to get some.

I have a list as long as my arm of things to get finished this day. No fancy stuff here. today.