Sept from Nicky and Lucy - age guessing

This is from Nicky, a new exchanger. The lettering is outlined and filled in. I'm impressed with the attention to detail. There will be an envelope coming up - also in blackletter - from Lucy who is at the same address as Nicky. I'm guessing that it's a mother/daughter. Or maybe sister's?

Here they are together. This is from Lucy. They are both *empty* envelope people. I never know if people read the blog. Amy and I have emailed about my *thing* for estimating people's ages based on their penmanship. Amy calls it a *party trick.* 

It's getting harder for me to guess a person's age based on their penmanship. In the past, people with Palmer style writing were from the greatest generation and the baby boomers wrote in the Zaner-Bloser style. If a person did not have one of those two styles they were automatically a GenX. Now that there have been two generations without cursive - it's getting harder to do my age-guessing trick. Lucy's on the bottom looks more like a GenX and Nicky looks more like a  millennial or GenZ. Maybe they'll let us know how good my guess is. 

 

Sept from Patty - DOD videos

 

Here is another Sponge Bob stamp. Patty enclosed a note saying that she thought the envelope was a mess because she had taken her envelopes on a road trip - and did not have adequate lighting. I don't see any problems at all. In fact - I think it is a stellar design - I like the lettering, the layout, the details. I like everything about it --- so there. I'm even impressed with how it didn't get muddy. It's so easy for things to get muddy on colored envelopes. Light blue is probably the most forgiving. I assure you - those white highlights were an essential part of making this such a successful design.

***

Here is a video from 2008 about the Day of the Dead event in Des Moines. If you skip forward to the 8 minute mark - you can see younger-Jean talking about the ofrenda that referenced the aztec connection to Day of the Dead celebrations. 

Link to video from 2008

The 2008 video was made by Vince and it was the first video he made and edited. He is a retired law enforcement officer and has been making yearly videos since 2008. I agreed to be interviewed this year. I was stunned at how creaky my voice has gotten. I show up at 16:36. 

LINK to 2025 video

I'm working on photos and a narrative that will help us wrap up DOD and it will all be done by the time I run all the October envelopes that arrived. And then we will move on to randomness. 

Sept from Riley - stress free donating

This is from Riley. Note the tall skinny name? It's sad to see the aggressive scribbling on the stamp. The pattern on the front is an imprint from the back of the envelope - which gives me a good idea if I decide to go with the idea of letting the previous incoming envelopes inspire my next outgoing envelopes. There would be endless ways to create designs on envelopes by putting things inside. What's the name for that technique where you transfer an image by coloring over something that is not flat. Trying to remember what that is called is going to drive me completely crazy. I do not have time to research. Hopefully someone will know - and leave a comment or email me. I'm still preoccupied with the ofrenda - it is still Sun 10/26

 ***

As I write this add-on it is the Tuesday before the Thursday installation. There are only a few last minute details. 

I am waiting for the paint to dry on the back and bottom of the skull so I can do the teeth. 

I wonder what I am forgetting.

I wonder what will go wrong.

The best part of these volunteer projects is there is much less stress when there is no payment for services. Not that I would do a sloppy or careless job on donated work. I still redo things that don't please me - but there is no stress about whether the *client* will be satisfied - because there is no client. I guess the museum is the client - and they've been OKing things all along.

 

Sept from Christy - calligraphic skull

 

Christy did one of those variation of name-stacking that I've mentioned as a possibility for my future envelopes. Have I already mentioned my idea to take all the incoming envelopes from one month and use them for the inspiration for the outgoing on the next month? Whatever people send me is what I return. I like that idea a lot...

***

This was a post written a while ago - and it's redundant - but, I'll leave it - and if you are busy - just skip this.

Day of the Dead was an aztec ritual that the Catholic missionaries co-mingled with their all-saints day - as they proceeded with their *mission.* And here we are, in current times - where people who make a living off holidays - have been promoting halloween with gusto - and have tied in DOD. I will not digress into a discussion of commercialization of holidays. You can Google DOD if you are curious.

My point is this - in the world of DOD/halloween - the design aesthetic is now - anything goes - and my calligraphic embellishment probably won't look too out of place. 

While the honoree for next year is not officially announced - it will probably be the most adorable little lady who was on the very first committee - when the DOD event was launched - and worked tirelessly for decades.

*** Update -- when the team of artists who worked on the flowers and nichos arrived at the museum to view the finished ofrenda - they were all impressed with how it turned out - and they all said that they would be delighted to participate again. That was  gratifying. Previously, I had been concerned that some of my friends might be ghosting me after this whole project. 

Sept from Lynne - garage door incident

Lynne sent this from Philadelphia - and she used one of my all-time favorite stamps. It's very fun how the eagle on the postmark looks like it is just about to land on the stamp. Dreamy dark blue ink continues to be a favorite.

The next three or four posts might be dismal - because I just have to get them filled before my trip to Chicago. Maybe I'll load photos and come back and fill in blurbs later. 

***

There have not been very many catastrophes during my project. I had only two very minor encounters with the hot glue gun. And then there was that time Big Bertha fell off the upper tier - and that's a story for another day.

The three tiers of the ofrenda stack up to almost 8 feet tall - so the 2 foot skull goes on top of that. I had to set up something so I could view the skull from below and figure out where to include the doodles. The highest place in the house was the garage - so I made a stack - which was still 15-inches shorter than where it will actually be.

Then the designer texted me that he had paint to deliver - and that he was standing outside my garage door - so I hit the garage door opener - and the garage door ran into the skull. Luckily - there was no damage. But after big Bertha's big fall - I didn't even panic when the door hit the skull. 

 

Sept from Nanski

 

This just in:

LINK to the new USPS stamp designs for 2026 

As always - there are some fabulous stamps coming up - and then one that is *what-were-they-thinking?*

Nanski gave the Hipster style a try. She did a great job of tying it in with the stamp. Referring to me as a quiet hero is adorable. I'm not sure I'd say it is heroic to spread creativity. I have always thought that creative expression is the antidote to anything and everything that is troublesome, painful or problematic. So, maybe there is just a touch of hero in there. But, to me, I was just drawn to art-stuff - and that, in turn, connected me with art-people. And by art-people - I include the craft-people. And the chefs and gardeners and athletes and musicians - and anyone who connects with the *thing* that they feel compelled to do. 

Just jabbering.

It's 6:11 am - Sun Oct 26. It looks like today is the day that I will be able to close up the sweatshop for good and then take Mon-Tues-Wed off - to just regroup - before the installation of the ofrenda.

***

Real time report: While there were a few last minute things on Mon-Tue-Wed - it was not overwhelming and I did feel very rested by Thursday - at 7:30 am when we started the delivery of the nichos to the museum. 

Sept from Jacqueline - Tape tower

Here's the next design from Jacqueline. I put Nancy (my sister-in-law) on the list for Sept because there were several last minute sign-ups after I had the lists made. This one is so cute - those extra pear stamps are a welcome addition. The red and green has me thinking of ways to morph this into something that goes with the holiday stamps. Jacqueline uses really nice watercolor paper - and boy does that make a difference - so nice.

This post will pop up on my travel day - to Chicago. So, I need to get at least one more week of posts scheduled. My plan is to do the ofrenda report while I am in Chicago. I'll leave a little space here - in case there's something to add.

***

Here is one of the towers of tape. This is in the non-garage studio that I set up in the guest bedroom. It's 18" tall. There is another tower of tape in the garage studio that is more than 20" tall. I hope I combine them for one dramatic photo of how much tape was involved.  

***

Guess I can squeeze this in.

That's a yard stick propped in front of all the tape.

I wasn't sure I could get the two rolls that are in dispensers to balance on top.

Ta-da. Near the top is a roll of Tyvek tape. That stuff is super sticky. It's expensive - but if you ever need a super sticky tape - that's the one. I'm not a fan of the brand name being printed on it - but when you're the stickiest tape available to the public - I guess you get to flaunt it. The dark roll near the bottom is Gorilla tape. It's pretty good - but very thick. Tyvek tape is very thin. And then there is the blue tape - 3M painters tape. It's excellent for doing temporary holding of paper. It holds very well - but seldom damages the paper. I think it is a cousin of the Post-It adhesive.

Sept from Amy - Tree of Life

 

Amy said she used an idea off my August envelope. I like the how she expanded the idea and it would be fun to do 5 or 10 variations on this theme. Since I have to get both my Nov and Dec mailing done and in the mail - maybe this will be one of the ideas.

I posted this sneak peek previously - so, I'll just edit this post and add the inspiration tree.

A tree is not a nicho. But I've always wanted to make a tree of life - so I jumped on the opportunity.

I printed out an image of the inspiration tree to the size that we wanted it to be and had my sister-in-law follow the outline. We were both so tired of adhesives that didn't stick - so I told her to just staple the railroad board strips. 

The inspiration tree of life was probably made out of clay and was colorfully painted. Of course, mine was going to be monochromatic because I thought each side of the ofrenda needed at least one nicho that was neutral compared to the over-the-top colors of all the others.

The top of the inspiration tree had a sun - and I had run out of time to come up with a sun on my own - so I snagged this sun off an envelope from Rachael. I didn't cut up the envelope, I reprinted it off the photo on the blog and then printed it in black and white. I even left the postmark.

There are going to be more egg cartons down the trunk. And I changed the outer circle on the sun to gold paper. And yes - that is a deli container full of rocks for the base. I'm committed to making things out of the most humble of ingredients. My dream is/was to make another one of these out of cereal boxes to inspire kids to make their own. I'm not sure that's going to happen.

This was step one.

Nancy probably spent an hour stapling all the black strips together. Then I knew that we needed to figure out the trunk support and the base - so I splurged and went to the hardware store and spent $1.29 on a  hunk of PVC pipe. The inspiration tree base looks like an upsidedown flower pot. Since I have no flower posts, I grabbed a deli container out of the recycling. We pondered things to weigh it down. Pennies seemed like a good idea until neither of us had enough. Nancy said, "Rocks. There are a lot of rocks where I live." Bingo. Nancy returned the following day with a container full of rocks. She thought we'd be covering the container - and gave me a *look* when I said - "Nope - it will be more inspirational if we let it be scrappy."

It was droopy so we added more staples.

Sept from Hadley - Part 2 - apologies

This fun envelope came from Hadley who remembered that a while back I had invited people to address me as Blue Jean. I've always liked ransom note lettering. Is that an official name for cutting letters out and gluing them onto paper? 

I Googled *ransom note lettering* and someone has a tool that will do it for you. There are 17 options with the tool - so I might not get anything else done today. 

LINK to the website of the tool

And it has 17 additional setting - dangerous rabbit hole.

***

Yesterday, I said I would finish up the horror story of MrW picking up a book of stamps that was on my desk. If you are expecting a full blown rant about him, you're in for a surprise. I'm the one who is off my rocker. I don't know if there are tests to determine exactly how *disturbed* I am. All I know is that I felt like a complete looney-tune after I snatched the book of stamps out of his hand - and went and found a stamp I didn't care for. Maybe I can plead temporary insanity. It is Sunday the 26th as I write this. I'm looking forward to sharing whatever good stories come out of the installation of the ofrenda.

But - I have to fill up a couple weeks of posts - so - thank you for your patience.

***

My mouth is askew.

Yes - I did throw a disguise together with the intention of going to the big crowded event (on Sunday) to eavesdrop on comments from the viewers. I had a friend that wanted to go along. After I heard all the comments from the artists who worked on the nichos (on Saturday) I didn't need to hear comments from strangers. So I told my friend the stories that went with the various nichos - and we left right as the event was starting. There will be a few more stories on the blog - and then we go back to envelopes.

Why did I wear a disguise? I insisted on anonymity when I agreed to be on the team. Because I retired from both for-hire as well as volunteer work - when I had the head injury four years ago - and I still do not attend any social events - I didn't want people seeing me out and about - and I did not want my name in any of the publicity or press about the event. I did agree to be interviewed - and will share that video when it is posted online.

Sept from Irene - MrW and the stamps - Part 1

Irene stacked the two names on top of each other which is one of those ideas that has endless opportunities for variations. Maybe in 2026 I'll spend more time exploring variations. Irene always includes a card - and this one is another example where it would be fun to see how many variations *we* could come up with.

***

As you may recall, there was a concerning event where MrWilson made an unkind remark about blue - Something even more unsettling happened on October 20th. I will give him the benefit of the doubt because we have been through an unprecedented series of events. He's endured living with me through Big Projects - but the ofrenda far surpasses any previous BPs.

Here's what happened: He tracked me down and was holding a book of stamps. The newest holiday stamps. He asked if it was OK to use one. "Where did you get those?" I asked. "They were on your desk." I snatched them back and headed to the cabinet where the *family stamps* are stored. "Are all the stamps gone?" I asked. "Yes," was the reply.

We headed to my desk, replaced the holiday stamps - and I dug through my folder of other stamps to find one I didn't like. I chose a Lichtenstein stamp and said, "Here, I don't like this one." He assured me that the envelope was headed to some evil empire company that I don't like - I don't even remember which one - which seems odd - because I thought he paid bills online - but maybe not.

I could have let all this go - but here comes the concerning, unsettling part:

He said, "Should I just go buy some generic stamps?"

I'll just let that sink in and we'll finish this up tomorrow.

***

Real time post - here is a close up of the big skull at the top of the ofrenda. I invited all the helpers to stop in on Saturday and it could not have been a happier or more fulfilling event - to see everyone take it all in. 

I left the teeth until the last. On the first attempt - I started in the middle and by the time I finished half of the upper row of teeth - I had 11 teeth. Ooops. Paint it white and start over.

 

Here it is with 11 teeth.

Here it is without the black outline. Some of my helpers liked it better without the black outline. The lead designer called the shots - and I think fulfilling his vision was the right thing to do.

This post pops up on the day of the actual Day of the Dead event where a couple thousand people show up at the museum.

Does anyone think I am going to sneak over in a disguise and listen to comments? 

Sept from Maggie

 

Oh, that Maggie. She wields a mean brush. What an odd expression. It's now 6 PM as I ponder the plan to write 4 more blurbs. I usually don't write much on the first of the month - other than to say - time to sign up for the November exchange.

We've had quite a few new people sign up. One of them has not sent her September envelope. It's rare that a new person doesn't send anything. I emailed a reminder and did not hear back. If this happens again - I might have to change my policy of *just sign up.* I might ask people to introduce themselves and assure me that they will get 5 envelopes done within a month. 

***

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

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

Send your sign-up 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 October 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

If you are new to the exchange - here are some helpful details:

https://pushingtheenvelopes.blogspot.com/p/rules-of-exchangement.html

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.