FEB from IRENE

Irene's happy place is with her nibs and ink - as well as a pointed brush (or brush marker) and probably one of those wedge brushes. 

I'm writing this on March 11. I have my March envelopes done and will be heading to the post office as soon as I finish my noon coffee. Surfing around IG and Pinterest is a good combo with the coffee. The first thing to pop up on IG were some beautiful shots of Irene's March envelopes followed by a seriously Oh.My.Gosh posting - on Irene's IG - about some attempted climbing followed by falling and breaking a rib. I checked in with Irene - and she's doing well.

***

OK - it's a month later as I write this. I think we can all have a group learning experience. Let's not attempt to climb on things if we are old enough to have grandkids. If you are too young to have grandkids - then continue to enjoy your climbing years. 

Periodically I remind people in the grandparental age group to be vigilant with any kind of a fall where a person hits their head. It's always better to have a quick scan of your head to make sure there is no internal bleeding. I could give you several examples - but, my memory has been affected by my own bonk on the head - and I wasn't attempting to climb on anything. I was just making coffee.

 

FEB from Sharen - Smithsonian Conference on Stuff

 

I have corresponded with several people about different styles and I'm pretty sure Sharen said that she had done a lot of copperplate - and was interested in trying Spencerian. I hope I have that right. I think your Spencerian is looking good, Sharen.  All you people who send me real nibs-and-ink work remind me how pretty it is...and maybe one of these days I'll get my nibs and ink out. Better yet, I will retire that broken record comment and find someone who wants my nibs and ink - or bottles of dried up ink.

***

This is a fun tidbit about how the staff at the Smithsonian observes April Fool's Day. This is the caption to the photo that I found at the Smithsonian's Flickr account.

Because a faux conference needs a real poster: The "Salt" edition of the Conference on Stuff

For most of the year, the museum staff are serious and committed public servants, toiling away on behalf of our many publics and the collections. That is, until April Fool's Day, when we loosen our ties for a bit of silliness with the Conference on Stuff. In years past, we have presented modest, tongue-in-cheek, but earnest impressions of academic symposia on such stuffy topics as Jell-O, beans, pie, corn, and marshmallows. This year, our worthy subject is Salt, selected after an extensive literature and pantry search and semi-serious deliberation.

***

I wonder how hard it is to get a job at the Smithsonian. Maybe the part where you'd need to live in the DC area reduces the number of interested parties. 

Shout out to the exchangers who live in the DC area. I might be asking the three of you to tell us if you are local pals - or is it a coincidence that we have new exchangers - one from Chevy Chase and two from Bethesda. 

FEB from Susan - April exchange sign-up

Susan sent these very pretty watercolor hearts in February. Notice the nice wide spacing on the lettering. I counted the little hearts - groups of three + one more because that space needed one more and nobody wants to just follow a recipe when they know how to make it better. I'm writing this on March 1st and there was a valentine themed exchange envelope in the mail today. It was postmarked Feb 11. Hearts are pretty enough to be an appropriate theme all year long. 

Time to sign up for the April exchange. Such a pretty month.

Today through April 4th is the window to sign-up. Lists are sent on the 5th.

If you participated in the March exchange - just shoot me an email that says: SIGN ME UP - you do not need to retype your address and info.

Send to PTEnvelopes-at-aol-dot-com

Let me know if it is your [Birthday] month or if you are willing to be on [2 Lists].

If you were not on a March list - or if you only sign up occasionally - or are a new exchanger - please send your information in the following format:

Jane Doe

123 Oak Street

Ames, IA 50010

janedoe@aol.com

[Birthday]  [2 Lists]  -- if those items apply

Send to PTEnvelopes-at-aol-dot-com

Thank you.

LINK to additional details about how the exchanges work

 

Out of order - MAR to Amy

Yes - this post was 4 hours late showing up today - grrrr at myself.

In addition to being out of order, this is an outlier. I needed to use up the last microscopic stamp. There's not much to say about it. It's surprising that I do not take advantage of Amy's highly unique name - each name with only 3 letters. Endless opportunities. Plus I have those fox stamps that I adore. Maybe next month.

Amy sent me this very fun link:

https://twistedsifter.com/2013/07/grandfathers-love-letter-envelopes-art-to-wife/?amp=1

It was fun to click on the [About] tab and find out about Twisted Sifter. I assumed they were sifting rather than surfing.  I am currently sifting the actual stuff at my house and spending less time online - so, if Amy finds other fun things - she can alert me and I'll share  with you.

Here's just one image from the article. The lighting on the photo is dark - also *locked* - so I was not able to brighten it up. It's a fun idea that looks like it would be scanner friendly.

 

Out of order MAR - to Paula

Before we start today's post, I have a response to *Anonymous* who left a comment yesterday on the post about the short story, Uncle Fremmis. I agree completely with what they said about the first part not being interesting. It was an essential part of the story, the first time I read it. Obviously - it is essential. Since I already love the guy - I don't need to re-read the part that sets the stage for his marvelous accomplishments later on. Thank you, Anonymous. I scrolled back and edited my post.

Something similar to this popped up on an envelope to Patty that was wonky because I didn't have guidelines. The guidelines helped - but the lines are too labored. I like to see some motion in the stokes. I'm going to try again and I will also see about having all the letters touch to avoid the inconsistency in the letter spacing. 

In the never ending attempt to create a system, this space has been filled after I pulled the original post and used it to correct my lapse - which was waking up to an empty blog on March 11..... which is when I am writing this post. 

I only have 6 envelopes left to do for March and I think I will explore possibilities using this style. Wish me luck. All the March envelopes explored ways to segment off the envelope to leave a pleasing amount of space for the bar code and to have a clear address for the scanners.

It's very confusing to write posts - in the present tense - and then come back later with editing - and make comments in the past tense. So confusing.

Calendar alert..... in 2 days we will have completed 25% of 2025. 

JAN from Liz (correct me if I'm wrong)

I'm pretty sure this is from Liz. That never ending quest for a system for keeping the incoming mail in order has not ended - and because it is never-ending - I'm thinking I should stop making any references to the matter. Or.....would that leave me with nothing to talk about?

I could ponder the meaning behind the king and queen. Since Liz is a newer exchanger, I do not have a feel for what kind of work she does. I can tell you this, her Feb envelope is much different. It is an abstract design and it fills the entire envelope and it is layered and it's sitting on my desk, beckoning me to do something similar.

The king and queen look like they were done with alcohol markers - so they are not beckoning me. I've been toying with the idea of taking one entire month - and the design on each envelope that is received will be the inspiration for what I send. It seems like a fun idea - but - it will crash and burn if I start working on envelopes without having a stamp and coordinating markers and ink.

I'm slow to learn some of the most essential lessons - but I think I've got that one etched into my noggin.

 

JAN from Kate and Mary's snowmen

 Kate went with the button alphabet - designed by Peter Thornton who lives in Tennessee. 

If you would like to see more, including the full alphabet - here you go: LINK to button alphabet posts

***

Back in February when I ran the photos of early snowmen, Mary sent these photos and said it was OK for me to share them. They are really fun. I hope I can remember to build some of these next year. I'm not going to do it in my yard - I'm going to go over and put one in my son's yard while he is at work.

Thanks for sending, Mary. 

JAN from Meg

 Meg sent this from Australia - the back was also nicely decorated and she included a pretty bookmark. That white is super opaque. If you have a minute, Meg, maybe shoot me an email and let me know how you applied the white - so I can share it with the readers. Maybe those are Posca pens - which I heard about from my granddaughter.

***

Well this is weird. There is some clicking in my ear. I hope it stops. I was so determined to curtail my surfing and now I have to go Google - clicking in the ear.

Whew - it is often not serious and can resolve on its own.

Now I have to work on getting a new phone - my current one has been getting into beeping mode for no reason. It just keeps *alerting* me --to nothing. Then it will *ring* one ring only - and then stop.

Onward.

JAN from Riley - Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo

 

This is from Riley and it is her first time exchanging with us. Exuberant. Riley is clearly inspired by the stamp.

***

Has anyone else heard of this organization? I have no idea how I discovered this - especially since I'm currently restricted from surfing.

The International Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo, Incorporated is a fraternal and service organization with members in the forest products industry. Hoo-Hoo has members in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and South Africa.

That is the first line from the Wiki information. The organization has a website with tons of information if anyone needs to do a deep dive. I feel like I am a kindred spirit - since they are all about products made of wood - and paper is one of the basic building blocks of my entire life.

As much as I love paper, I guess I feel a bit guilty about the consumption of trees. 

LINK to the Wiki page

LINK to. Hoo Hoo organization website

Hoo hoo is synonymous with lumberman.

Concatenated was new to me - and I found this:

Did you just link together several memories of your brother to form one longer story for his wedding toast? If so, you concatenated without knowing it! That’s because concatenate means to link things together to form a series or chain.

From Janet to Chuck and Rachael

 This is a super fun idea that I intend to steal. You have to really work to find the name Chuck Myrick. I recommend looking for the Myrick first - as it is the lower black line.

I just recently learned some things about my photos. They are all in the cloud. I did not know that. I thought they were on my phone and that I had to move them to my laptop. I suppose that sounds like I just discovered that I have a left shoe and a right shoe. 

So, I am trying to load the photos directly from the cloud. I can't find the tool to copy and paste a portion of the address so that I can block out the street address. I did find a *smudge tool* - so maybe I will have to adapt to a change. If anyone can tell me how to go into the photos in the cloud and select a portion of the image to copy and paste to use to cover up addresses - please shoot me an email. 

Here is another one that is much easier to see the name. You can also see why I prefer to copy and paste the city/state/zip and use it to cover up the street address. Putting those clunky rectangles over the address is clunky.

If it's any help - when I can do the copy&paste thing - I do it in the Preview app.

Spoiler alert. I have finished all the April posts and I continue to whine about this issue. Apologies in advance. 

FEB (JAN) from Finnbadger/Phillip

I said the February envelopes would start today - and technically this one is from the January exchange.
 

Phillip, AKA Finnbadger, and I go way back. He was one of the charter members of the exchange. His very first envelopes were handmade and came from a stash of 100 envelopes that he had made - without having a plan for what he was going to do with them. The *forces* that connect random people who are inhabiting the planet, connected us. Eventually he branched out in several directions. Envelope exchanging has been on the back burner, but he's signed up for two months in a row, so that's a good sign. He is one of the few people who made it onto my list of blogs that I follow. After I got to 5, I stopped. No particular reason - I just felt like it was one of those sidetracks that would tempt me into spending too much time keeping up with others instead of working on ideas to share and envelopes of my own.

I could tell this was made from a calendar and emailed him for details. He sent images of the other envelopes that he made for the exchange.

The way the texture is done on this walrus is soooo cool. All the images are cool and it's nice to see them as a collection

Here is a link to the artist. I wonder how Quvianaqtuk is pronounced. He is Inuit. These images feel just right as I write this on a day when everyone is wildly excited about how warm it is --- and it is 11°  - we've been in single digits for quite a while.

https://inuitartists.com/collection/quvianaqtuk-pudlat/

https://www.inuitartfoundation.org/profiles/artist/Quvianaqtuk-Pudlat

Tabulating

 

This is a test to see which kind of address blocking I prefer. Long ago, I used pens or pencils to cover up the addresses when doing the photographs. Then I switched to the top version - copying the city/state/ZIP and. covering the street. The bottom version is a lot faster - but, it's so distracting. Grrrrrr.

As previously mentioned, I am taking a break from surfing. However, I know that when I do surf, this is the image that I see the most often. There is an admin tab on the blog with a nifty graph that shows how many page views each page has gotten. For the longest time, this image was clearly the top image - which has been previously mentioned.

It first ran on Nov 30, 2016 and the top envelope is from Lynne and the bottom is from Rachael. It has been viewed 37,944 times.

Recently, I checked the blog stats and there were some HUGE spikes. I have not looked at all of them, but here is the one that has the new top-dog status with 95,531 - that's a lotta views. I would not rank this one very high on my wow-scale. It's fun - but it's a style I toss off without much planning and it could have been a lot better. I sure wonder why it's been so popular. 

My apologies for this being a nerdy post with nothing to say about design - but, you just have to put up with me. 

For newer people - who may wonder who that Wilma is - that was the mom who put up with me for 64 years. If you do a search for *Wilma* on the blog, you'll see a bunch more sent to her. Also search Flintstone. I put her name as Wilma Flintstone one month and those envelopes didn't pop up on the *Wilma* search - and there are some fun ones.

This was the sign at Wilma's senior living apartment - next to the mail boxes. My son confirms from his  stint at delivering mail that seniors can get pretty rambunctious when the mail carrier arrives. 

FEB to Chuck and Lynne from Mary + JeanW to Chuck

 Mary sent this to Chuck for his birthday. Below is what I sent. I like Mary's a lot better. I have more of the  stamps that I used on Chuck's envelope - but I think I can figure out something better. They would fit in nicely when I am working on that grid idea that is supposed to give us a work-around to easily scanned addresses on red or dark colored envelopes.

One more from Mary sent in the February exchange. I guess it could have been with the valentine's themed envelopes...it has hearts - but hearts are not really seasonal. It's fun how she worked the flower on the stamp into the wreath. 

***

Remember when I was complaining about that absurdly dull signage at the Duh Moines airport with the big map that had 12 dots - indicating Iowa's customers. I forgot I had taken this photo in Chicago - an example of attractive signage at an airport.

In case you think I overstate things - see for yourself.

And I question that line where they say *America's leading agricultural export*

Even though I am taking a break from surfing, this wasn't surfing, it was research. I know everyone wants to know -- do we export more soy beans or more corn.

The definitive answer is:

it is so close to 50/50 that you will not find a definitive answer. 

So that just makes the soy beaners look like over staters.

Corn and soy beans are clearly the number one export - when combined.

I hope nobody is reading this far because it is a 100% caffeine induced curiosity trip we are on.

If anyone got this far and is a farmer - can you tell me if the people who raise crops in Iowa rotate their crops between corn and soy beans - which is why the two crops are 50-50?

Never mind. I took a quick 30 seconds to find the answer:

Corn and soybeans are commonly rotated on many farming operations, as they have different growth habits, nutrient needs, and pest and disease pressures. Rotating these two crops can help to improve soil health, reduce pest and disease pressure, and increase yields.

FEB - Mary's valentines

 

This is my favorite of the valentine group and I feel some appropriating coming up. Although, the success of this one hinges on that subtle off-white background and I think Mary uses alcohol markers and I don't have alcohol markers - so I might not be able to do this. At least I analyzed and spotted a potential stumbling block. 

And then there are the proportions - I'd be inclined to run the design closer to the left and right edge - but, I have a funny feeling that that would throw it off. It has a folk art feel and sometimes you need things to be less regimented. That delicate balance.

The Keith Haring stamp was very popular in February. I bought some but have not used any of them yet.

And these two are so cute. I am going steal the cupcake idea - and am Grrrrrrr-ing that I have only a couple of those stamps left. I can see sooooooo many ways to use the idea - with all those adorable little images on the stamps. The one Mary used had a piece of cake - but she wisely chose to do cupcakes. Soooo cute..... 

And I like the.  random sprinkles that are not evenly distributed.  Another one of those balance things where you just never know which way to go - and there will never be any rules on how many dots and where to put them.

FEB - Mary's exchange envelopes

Mary sent me photos of her February envelopes. Some people do the same design for everyone. Mary does her designs ahead of time and then fills in the names and addresses. 

The one below, to Troy, cracked me up. I know Mary and I are old enough to remember all the westerns from when we were kids. I'm pretty sure Troy is younger - maybe from the era when smoking was banned from TV. [3/20 - I just saw an IG post this morning referencing the end of cigarette ads on TV and it was 1971.]

And monsters - who doesn't love a fun cartoon monster? I still have quite a few of these stamps left. They are so versatile.

 

Tomorrow we'll see more.

FEB to Mary

Grrrrr- at the S. After doing a rough idea of how it would fit with a white pencil, I stumbled on the S. This might be the very last of the brown envelopes. But, I have some blacks and navy blues - so - I might revisit this concept as I think it has potential. 

I'm on a mission to find really good ways to put clear addresses into designs. The designs have to have some flexibility to allow for those longer addresses. If I were to re-do this one, I'd have more grid lines. That white edge on the stamp could fit into a white box. It would be a bonus to have smooth white lines on all four sides of the stamp.

As much as I love stamps that come in booklets, the way the stamps have inconsistent borders can create issues. Not big issues. Just those minor issues that you have to ignore - but secretly, you really want to fix them. Some of you are scratching your heads and might not understand what I am talking about. Others are nodding - and they know exactly what I mean.

Onward.

FEB to Grace - Checkerboard Madness

This is one more variation on the Checkerboard Madness. I found a set of Pigma Micron markers that were still in the package. A couple of the squares aren't the right marker - they are a bolder size. And then I goofed up by using orange on the hearts that touch the first D in Edmands. It's a minor mistake, but annoying. I did not have a plan for the two extra squares on the top row - and was happy when I thought of the hearts. Clearly, I was racing to get it done. On this one I did check the clock and it was at least 45 minutes on the envelope and probably closer to an hour. 

I did learn that I am less likely to make mistakes if I do one square at a time. But, maybe that only works when I switch up the colors. 

I just remembered that Rachael had mentioned where she found the inspiration for her envelope - so here's what she wrote: "The concept isn't original with me -- I guess I found it on Pinterest and traced it to a French calligrapher's IG called zanafors.  He in turn was inspired by Denise Lach, but I couldn't find anything similar on her site."

***

I'm taking time off from surfing and add-ons - so, if you want to dive into this style - you'll have to do your own searching.

 

FEB to Maggie --JAN to Liz

From time to time I turn an envelope into a place to jabber. I guess it's more like a postcard. This one points out the reasoning behind why it's not even trying to be beautiful. Thank you to (?) the person who sent that sticker. I have a few more - so there might be more of these. In theory, I could have done a beautiful name. Maybe there is a way to remind myself that I have some beautiful styles that I could use if I could only remember them when I need them. Is it time to slog through my entire stack of styles and try each of them? 

The brown one to Liz was something I did in a hurry when I thought I had forgotten to do her January envelope because I did not have a photo. But, then her January envelope arrived and she sent me a photo. It looks pretty road-weary. 

 

FEB to Rachael

 This is the only other name I have done with the Thomas Danbo lettering. It was a no brainer to do Rachael with *Thomas* already done for me. I kept looking at Lynne's and wondering what else to do when I remembered Janet's tried and true design element - a border for the stamp. I LOVED the practice one - and then thought the stamp would look better in the vertical orientation.

WRONG.   Grrrrrrrrrrr.

Here's my practice border. This is part of the note to Rachael I tucked into the envelope. I might have to do a few. more of these. I like the bold black strokes on the Keith Haring stamp but I don't think his style goes with the trollish-ness of Danbo's lettering. 

We need troll stamps.

A search for trolls offered these two. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE if they issued stamps with all the Trolls characters. That movie