Sept from Susan - Happy Tears

This bird - coordinating with the stamp is so cheerful. Those stamps deserve to be reissued. I wonder if we know how the voting is going for the reissuing of stamp promotion that the USPS is running. <Pause while I check> The voting has ended. The winner will be announced at the 2026 World Stamp Expo and will be on sale in May of 2026.

***

Here's a good story from the ofrenda. One of the 4 old-timers (which includes me) who were invited to create the 25th anniversary ofrenda is a person I have known for over 25 years. She worked at the museum and was the person who managed/coordinated events. She is not a reserved person and I realized that it would be better for me if she saw the nichos ahead of time. I told her point-blank - "If the first time you view them is when I bring them for the installation, you'll spend too much time gushing and that will not be a good use of our time."

She was happy to be invited to see them. At first - there was gushing - and then when she got to the 6th one - she started crying. I was taken aback. Obviously, they were happy tears - but I just wasn't expecting that level of non-reserved-ness. I was glad that my intuition told me to have her come and see them ahead of time. 

The nichos are sooooo roughly made - and for me - each one is a rough draft. I'd love to do each one a second time and resolve all the kinks and technical difficulties -- but it was gratifying to see that they conveyed the essence of each ofrenda - and that she was very touched - because she had fond memories of all the work she had put into the event during the years that she worked at the museum.

*** I finished up my part of the installation around noon - and the rest of the crew finished by 3 pm.

one shot of the lobby - for scale - and the side with the face of the skull.

More photo to come.

 

Sept from Cindy

This is another autumnal design - from Cindy in North Carolina. She enclosed a note saying that the envelope was made from paper on which she had been trying anthotype - which I had to look up. She said this one was with turmeric. 

An anthotype is an image created using photosensitive material from plants under the influence of light. An emulsion is made from crushed flower petals or any other light-sensitive plant, fruit or vegetable. A sheet of paper is covered with the emulsion, and then it is dried. Some leaves, a transparent photo positive or other material is placed on the paper; and then it is exposed to direct full sunlight until the image part not covered by the material is bleached out by the sun rays.

 Something else to put in the *maybe never* folder - or perhaps it could go in the *do with grandkids* folder.

Yesterday I asked if anyone wondered why I would be blurb writing at 5:30 PM. I have been spending so much time on the nichos for the ofrenda that I had not been doing any of the shopping for food, etc. MrWilson has been filling in. It was so weird being out in the world - and now that I am at home on a Friday - my body is telling me to just take a break. I might do just one more - because my own writing is putting me to sleep.

***

8 am - I delivered the 2-ft skull for the top of the ofrenda at 7:30.

Too bad the photo is so blurry - there will be a photo tomorrow of the completed ofrenda. Then, sadly - you might have to listen to me jabber about each individual nicho. There are so many valuable design lessons. 

Sept from Leslie - Tree of Life

 

Leslie used what she said was an OLD practice sheet. She cut an opening for the address which is an excellent idea. Trying to cut an opening in an already existing envelope would be tricky. By making your own envelopes - it's super easy to make an opening and then adhere paper to flip side. It's a brilliant idea. She's calling this her ABCs of Autumn -or- Autumnal ABCs. By the time we are reading this will it feel like autumn? So far, it looks like autumn - but feels like summer. Very hot. Still running air-conditioning. 

Leslie added autumnal words - football, fall, gourds, hayride, kindness, leaves, maize, tricks, treats, raking. She included one of her blackout poems which is delightful - and should inspire us to give blackout poem writing a try. It's on my to-do list. Also on my to-do list - find all the lists and consolidate them. Good idea. Also an idea that is filed in the *maybe never* folder - which is still a place I enjoy exploring. Sometimes I pull an idea out and let it breathe fresh air and give it hope.

Can anyone tell that it is 5:30 PM - not a time of day that I ever write blog-blurbs. So, what's up?

***

Real time report. The nichos were finished on Monday. I switched to a different tree of life inspiration and instead of disguising that it is made out of scraps - we just let it be super scrappy - and we love it. There will be a more detailed post about it later.

There will be a photo of a departed person in each of the egg cartons - and some more photos (in egg cartons) on the trunk. I think I already schedule this picture in a future post. I better check on that.

Sept from Jacqueline.

 

This is from new exchanger, Jacqueline, who signed up again in October. I'm intrigued with her penmanship on the note she enclosed. If I get another note from her, I might post it or I guess I could post the one that came in September. Charlotte's Web is such a nice book. It's one of the first books I remember reading that gave me that feeling that comes with a really good book...the feeling that the book is so good it will be impossible to find another book that will be as good. That still happens

*** below was written about a week ago.

It's 4:30 PM and I put in a long day at the sweat shop. That's what I call the space where the 24 nichos are being assembled. I finally started the very last one which is the Tree of Life. The goal is to make it out of all the scraps from the other nichos - but have it look like something better than a heap of scraps. My sister-in-law has been helping a lot and she expressed serious doubts that we could pull this off. Her task was to cut all the leftovers into 1" strips. 

Here is the inspiration tree.

Below is the one I would have made if I had time.

Sept from Meg

 

Meg sent this from Australia. It's a very good idea if you have decorative papers and some kind of adhesive that will keep the paper attached to the envelope as it makes its way around the world.

Yesterday's post indicated that I would alternate my outgoing envelopes with the incoming Sept envelopes. That is not going to happen. We will be viewing incoming mail for a few days and I will be firing off really short posts because of the deadline. Maybe I can feature some wacky photos of the project  that I shoot from time to time.

It is 6:44 AM- so I am really late getting to the sweat shop. I can always come back to blurb writing when I take breaks. People keep thinking that I must be getting really sick of the whole project. Oddly, it has turned into a whole *thing* - I keep thinking of ways to build better nichos. I was not expecting to succumb to a new obsession - but that appears to have happened. Not to mention, I am interested in building another giant skull and keeping it white. But, it cost $35 to print out the paper and that's probably more than I want to spend on something for which I have no use.

***

The previous blurb was written a couple weeks ago. Today (Sunday) I realize that if I want a white skull, all I have to do is paint over the unfortunate design that was pre-determined.

Oct to Leslie

Blogger is not awake yet. It's 5:44 am and I have 15 minutes until I head out to the sweat shop to work on my ofrenda. The blog has become a diary of sorts. Or maybe that's what it's always been. 

Since we have completed the 10 candy and halloween themed envelopes for October - we are going to switch to the Christi Payne style that I have been meaning to try for many years. I found Christi's blog a long time ago when she lived on the west coast - and she is now on the east coast. You could do a search for *Christi* and find quite a few posts. 

Her signature style is a loose versal. I tried many variations and it would be redundant to post all of them in a row - so I will alternate with the Sept envelopes that I received. I hope Christi is OK with me appropriating her style. Technically, she appropriated it from monks....that's how handwriting works. It's the only art form that is based on a lot of copying. If I am way off base here - feel free to correct me.

Leslie's is the only one that has filigree work around the letter - and I think the L is the only letter that qualifies as a versal. I don't know what to call the others. 

I wrote all 15 names first - then went back and filled in spooky details - like spiders. 

How many times do you think I dropped the spider onto the wrong letter? Every single time? Fifty percent of the time? That's all I have for a cliffhanger today.

***

Today (10-26) I am explaining that the blurb below was written a few weeks ago. Today will be the last day that anyone has to work in the sweatshop. The way I write things ahead of time - and then jump back in and edit and add is confusing.

*

Here is a photo of my sweat shop. Yesterday was perfect fall weather and I worked all day with the door open. It's south facing. Patty stopped by with the last batch of flowers. This is at the end of the day when it is maxed out. I tidy up every morning - and sometimes again in the middle of the day. 

The smartest thing I ever did was give up my car and put the old carpet from the bedrooms in the garage so I have a carpeted workspace where I don't have to worry about spills. Then my son bought a second car so now I have a car that I don't have to maintain - that's parked in the driveway which I'm sure does not please MrWilson - but after sharing a car with me for a few years - maybe he's OK with it.

Rats, I digressed and now it is 6:01 - so I only got one blog post loaded in 15 minutes. 

Oct to Juliana

 This is the tenth and last of what I called the candy series - although it's not just candy and on this one I had totally given up on the actual font. I did, however - think that there might be a way to use the broad tip of the alcohol markers and then do something fun. So - this one was just the name without details waiting in the stack of unfinished envelopes. I switched to an entirely different style - and then I remembered Ed Emberley - that's his skeleton dancing on the J - also his cat on the U and his bat on the first A. 

I think this concept has some possibilities. I lucked out that I had an OK stamp. In the future - it might be really hard to come up with a good stamp to go with this style. 

It's only 9:30 pm - so that was 7 posts in 30 minutes. That's pretty fast. Apologies that they have not been interesting - but - if I actually do real time updates on the ofrenda project - maybe the last week of blog posts in October will be entertaining. 

Oct to Hadley and Patty

Did anyone wonder about that unusual gray background on the October exchange envelopes? It's the floor of the Ash Creek USPS station. I've mentioned Davonte a few time - my postal clerk at the main post office. Last time I was there, I asked for him and they said he'd be at Ash Creek for a couple months. So, when I headed out on errands with my stack of mail, I was going to be right by that station and stopped in. He liked the stack of halloween mail and chose the red cancel for some and the black cancel for others. There is a new hand cancel design that has three very bold black lines. Maybe there's a way to design something fun that utilizes the black bars.

No comment on these two. I only did one more attempt with this font before I ditched it. Hopefully I will toss the exemplar. I know I have other fonts with little pictures that are much better. Maybe there are some letters that are worth saving. 

***

Real time update on my big project.

I started at 6AM - inserting and securing a sturdy cardboard tube through the skull so it will *stand* on top of the ofrenda. Sounds easy - but it took all morning. My first 3 attempts to decoupage the 2-foot skull were complete disasters. No amount of prepping would resolve the paper cockling - which is the word for the way paper wrinkles up when it gets wet. So I did a test patch, covering the paper with masking tape - and then primed it with regular acrylic primer for painting doors and windows. That worked. It took 4 hours to cover the skull with masking tape. 

The nose is crooked but imperfection is our middle name. I had to build that contraption to hold it in a vertical position.

 

Oct to Lynne and Christy

The cute halloween font that I found that I thought would be fun had one letter that looked like this. It's probably too much to do a whole name with that style. When I got to the S in Christy, the thought of putting the hair on an S caused me to just stop before I did something dreadful. I set this one aside for a while. I wish I has just done the red S and then gone back to the green letters.

 

Oct to Kate and JeanR

It seems like candy corn would be easy but it isn't. I really struggled with these and the names by themselves were dismal. Then I thought of adding the other candy. I did Kate's first and should have done some warm ups on scratch paper. Jean's is a little better. The envelopes are a fake parchment pattern and very off-white.  They're leftover from something. In the past, they have been very nice with walnut ink. 

Writing at 9 pm is not a good idea. Oh - wait - there's something I keep forgetting to mention. I'd been noticing the page view counter on the blog and seeing that it was going to hit 3 million in a few months at the rate it was going - and then *wham* - one day it was at 3 million. I think that's crazy. There must be a glitch in the system.

There was a crazy spike in views for all of September - and now it looks like it's back to normal. 

 

Oct to Amy

I don't think I have ever written blog posts at 9 pm. We're in uncharted waters. I have an idea that I have written about previously so this might be a repeat. I did all 25 exchange envelopes in one day. Although I had started 10 of them a few days before the sign-up. I considered skipping the Oct exchange and then I saw a very fun halloween font and it looked like one that would be fun. 

Once again, I did Amy's first - and it takes me a while to loosen up. I used my ancient Dotta-riffic markers for the M&Ms. The chocolate bars should be darker. Or maybe they are milk chocolate. 

Maybe I can get the first 10 posted with short blurbs and then later this month I can do some real time add-ons. 

 

Oct to Irene

 My first Oct envelope is to Irene. There is some foreshadowing of things to come. I forgot to turn the green *I* into a Frankenstein. Did Frankenstein's story happen during Halloween? Or did he just get lumped into the holiday because there is an element of creepiness to his story?

Even though this is pretty simple - I like it a lot. Even though the *e* is not very convincing as a skull, I'm OK with it. Even though that pumpkin is anemic - it's OK, too. The candy could have been better. Maybe the only letter that is just fine is the R and yet - it didn't get to be anything.

And what's with that stamp? Well, to be honest - the fact that it is lettering made up of little pictures and colorful is why I figured it would be fine with this design. Plus - I did something that has never happened in the history of the exchange. Twenty-five people signed up and I started the envelopes around 9 am. I hardly ever do 25 envelopes in one day. Maybe that's happened. But, I always set them aside and do the return addresses and find something to put inside (usually just blank paper) on the following day.

But this time - I disciplined myself and finished every single one. I even redid one that was dreadful. I credit the ofrenda project with giving me a whole new level of discipline. It's one of the scariest deadlines I have ever faced --- and I'm not really afraid - I'm close enough to having something that's *good enough* - but there are little details that are calling to me. 

***

Here's a wonderful add-on. A woman (Debra Rapoport) who loves cardboard as much as I do.

The link should take you to a video on another IG account. https://www.instagram.com/p/DP-Sr2qCURr/

And this link goes to Debra's IG https://www.instagram.com/debrarapoport/

The nichos are almost done - and it feels like I need to make a lot more after my 2 weeks in Chicago. 

Oct to Nanski -- post offices

In a couple days, I will be jabbering about the October exchange envelopes that I did. I was going to post them in the order that I did them -and then I discovered that I had missed Oct 19 - so I back-tracked - which becomes *fore-shadowing.* 

This was the last of the candy series. I meant to do the whole name - but was interrupted after the N and by the time I came back, I realized that I am in a *git 'er done* mode - in all areas of my life. So Nanski's went out the door with some quirky script and quirky manuscript - two of my favorite ways to write.

***

Here are 10 charming post offices to admire - if you are interested in post offices. 

LINK to 10 post offices

Oct to Alex and Ben

This is mail for my grandkids. It's been a long time since I picked up a pointed brush marker. Whenever I do, I recall that pointed brush was the tool that drove me into my addiction. Since my routine is to combine my Nov and Dec mailings - I think I will do pointed brush on the inner envelope this year. The pointed brush markers are not waterproof so that's a good reason to use them on the inner.

As I write this on Oct 7th, we can deduce that I had a wave of panic when I realized that I only had 11 posts scheduled. I thought I had filled up October. So - yesterday when I said I was going to stop jabbering about the ofrenda - that was written a couple weeks ago - and now - on top of the monumental task of building 24 nichos - I have to fill up October. I think I edited the blurb that said I was going to stop talking about the ofrenda.

The only envelopes I have photographed are the ones I mailed yesterday - I can jabber about them - but the posts for the the next couple weeks might be short. 

 

Sept to Meg

 This one might have been the last one I did in Sept. Technically, it is another Hipster style - after I said we were done with Hipster - but - it's so different. I tend to leave the international addresses to the end and then either I have a great idea or I've used up my creative juices. 

I deeply regret the wimpy red. I kept thinking it would turn into mud if there was too much layering. 

If the title of this post starts with (NEEDS MORE) - that means that I know this is short but I have to go work on the ofrenda. It is 6:10 am and I have been trying to get started each day by 6 am - and depending on how things go - I might not get back to this to add anything. 

*** 

Here is some more - 

Yesterday (Oct 15th, I invited the art museum employee who is tasked with running the Day of the Dead event to pop in for a private viewing of the nichos - since most of them are nearly done. I am happy to report that she was delighted with what she saw - so Janet and Patty should be reassured that all their contributions will be a big hit.

Sept from Christi

 

If I had time, I would do a search to see how many times I have said that I am going to try my version of Christi's versals. After I say that, I direct you to her blog where she posts pages from her sketch book/journals. I have a link to it on my blog and while she does not post very often, I always look forward to seeing what's new in her journal. 

Christi was one of the people who responded to my poll asking if I should skip the October exchange due to my ofrenda project. As I write this - it is only a day after the poll ran in the blog and I mostly heard from people my age who nudged me towards taking the time off. 

A younger person suggested that I leave myself off the list and just send a response envelope to anyone who sends me an envelope. That's a good idea and I've wondered what the response to that would be. I think there was one month where I did not put myself on the all the lists and that's always an option.

The whole crux of the matter is this: is taking time to make envelopes a chore or is it an antidote to the complications and overload of daily life?

It is only Sept 23 - so I have a week to decide what I am going to do. My instinct tells me that I will use up those square orange vellum envelopes that are in the stash because I'll feel so good that I am dealing with the hoard. (Real time update: those orange envelopes were gone. I think I used them up in 24 or 23)

Question for Christi - what's the largest you have ever done that style? I have a feeling I am going to give it a whirl and use a much bolder pen/marker - and see what it looks like LARGE. Do you ever do it in other colors? It seems like you stick to red - which goes along with the historical aspect.

Sept to Mia

Surprise! These are the assembly line flowers - done well after I did the first batch and this is a one off - but I like it a lot. I love the colors I found. Sadly - I am all out of those stamps - and only had two - so I stuck that lady on there --- thinking her colors were close enough. She was not happy with the situation - but - I let it go  --- it's crunch time on that ofrenda. This is the longest crunch time I have ever been through. I guess my daughter's wedding was a longer set of crunches --- but that's different. 
 

Sept to Chuck and Amy

 

Chucks was fun to do. Maybe I will assembly line that idea for October. It takes a while to take that many caps off - it seems like doing several envelopes at one time would make it worth the time it takes to remove and replace caps.

Apologies to Amy for a ho-hummer. My lists are always alphabetical by first name - so I often do Amy's before I am fully warmed up. I do like the little details of the comb and the brush and the bowl full of mush. Or rather I like the idea -  the first name should have been a lot bigger - 

Sept to Lynne and Jessica

I wish I had done a better job on the little detail of the houses from the stamp - that I added just above the last name. I like the little moons. My favorite part is the border around the stamp. Janet does a lot of nice stamp borders - and I try them - but they are always a little off - until this one - which is so pleasing. I hope I remember to use it again.

Seems like Jessica's envelope needed something else. It would have been so nice to have done the same thing I did on Lynne's - but I did Jessica's first and had not had my brainstorm yet. And -yes- I spelled her name wrong. It takes a lot of work to alternate colors - so - getting the letters in the right order can be a challenge.....

 

August to Gracie, Hadley and Patty and Maggie and Cindy

Gracie is another new exchanger. The letters in her name worked out really well. But, I'm not a fan of the slant. The slant conflicts with all the up-right-ness of the image on the stamp. It's fun to have an exchanger in Ames. I love to address to Ames, Iowa -- short and sweet - but - not that fun if it's one of those looooong street names. Ames has one of the longest street names I've ever seen:

George Washington Carver Avenue.

He was a student at Iowa State University in Ames. The street is on the outskirts of the town - so not too many homes got stuck with it as an address. 

These are the last two of the assembly line flower designs that I did. I ran out of flower stamps and used the blue stamp convention stamp on Patty's. I added more blue to her envelope. I love those stamps.

There were actually two different sets of these assembly line designs.... I should do a variation on this with all blue. There are days when I think I could be one of those *blue* people - with a wardrobe and home that has tons of blue.... but probably not as long as Mr Wilson and I cohabitate. He made a very snarky comment about something that was blue - and while I just let it go - it has stuck with me in a way that causes me to wonder - how can I live with someone who says something like that about blue? He's fine with blue clothing - but why would he attack blue in another context? It's unsettling.

Oh, I guess I can run all of them....I was going to skip the last few assembly line flowery envelopes.

 

Sept to Nanski and Mary

Here's another one that's just like all the others only it has a different stamp.

Below is a detail from the envelope I did for Mary.

I spent soooo much time on the border and then kept adding things that had something wrong with them - and kept thinking that it would eventually be cute - and it never got to the level of so many problems that it turned cute. My last ditch effort was to put myself in pencil, peeking through the curtain - but that's not as cute as some of my pencil sketches. Or maybe it is. It's hard to be objective about self-portraits. That it is so poorly drawn is probably an appropriate way to portray myself. The deeply regret comment is the only cute thing on the envelope. We have Rachael to thank for that. 

I couldn't even remember to leave room to write *this hot mess is for* - grrrrr - I had to squeeze in the *is for*

I probably shouldn't point out a problem that is probably not that noticeable. I colored in the three scallops on the east coast of the envelope - then I switched to the straight edge all the way around - which caused stripes. Grrrr at myself. And the frame around the stamp is dreadful. It should have been scalloped. And I need to stop with the templates.

 

Sept to Janet -- the poll results (if I remember)

I couldn't decide which photo to use - I thought the scalloped edge on the envelope looked like the blade-things on the back of dinosaurs - so I did a better version on a piece of paper and put it in the envelope. My September envelopes were not as good as August - I enjoyed doing them. I'm concerned that October's envelopes will be awful. Maybe I should take the month off. I hardly ever do that --- I wish I had thought to run a poll. Maybe I will  go back and add that to the blog.

Yes - I will do that - and then hopefully - I'll remember to come back and post the results of the poll here.

***

I had quite a few people encouraging me to take the month off because they are so appreciative of all the time I spend running the blog and the exchange. I went back and forth - and then - when the 4th rolled around - and I had made up the lists - I was in need of a day off from the ofrenda. Plus, I had stumbled across a fun halloween inspired font - so I figured I could throw something together. It was fun to do them and I'm glad I took a day off. 
 

Sept to Susan, Riley and Christy

I should have put some gold sparkles on Susan's. This is a tiny gold envelope and I should just use all those envelopes on the nichos. I could cut them up and make flowers. I have both 5x7 as well as 3.5x5 - and they do not take ink well. I need to be rid of them. 

Once upon a time, I put out a call for random paper stuff. I do not know why in the world I would have done that - but I did. People sent me a bunch of fun stuff. Susan sent the red bordered envelopes. I've enjoyed using them. Somehow they did not all stay together - so every once in a while I run into one more --- these might be the last two -- or maybe not.

 

Sept to Jacqueline (ofrenda update)

Jacqueline also received an envelope that looked like it was from Nancy, but it was from me. After I saw the envelope that Nancy received - I felt like Jacqueline might be disappointed in these - her's is spectacular. But - I make it clear that this exchange is open to all skill levels - so if you only want to exchange with uber-talented scribes -- you'll have to find a different group --- and while there are some exchanges that are specifically for serious scribes - I've never known any of them to be monthly - and for sure - none of them have been running for 10 years straight --- I have to check - the blog is 15 years old. I always forget when the exchange went to monthly. It's been quite a while.

No add on - I'm leaving space to do some updating on the ofrenda.

***

Hahaha. There will be no update today. There will be a few later in the month. 

All I can do for now is do a quick proof read before the posts pop up to maybe catch typos.

 

Sept to Lucy

Three of the new people signed up at the very last minute - after the lists were all made - I had used up the names of people who offer to be on two lists - so I needed one more person to be on one more list. I put my sister-in-law's name on the list - and then I did a second envelope to those people. If Lucy is reading this - I did the envelope that looks like it is from Nancy.

That Ben-Day dot pattern is a little wacky - but LUCY is a very good name to go with this idea.