JAN from Jeanette - rubber cement

Jeannette might be surprised to know that I came very close to using this envelope yesterday -  as the Happy 16th Birthday to the blog envelope. I am not a perpetually perky person. I'd say I'm a solid 50/50. I like it that way. I'm fine with perky people and if anyone wants to go back and read the 6,000+ comments that people have left on the blog, you'll find one exchanger who said that they were a Pollyanna type person. I think I remember who it was who left the comment. 

If you are the person who remembers leaving a Pollyanna comment - let me know. You are still exchanging - so that narrows it down to about 20 people. If I hear from that person, I'll let all y'all know.

Where am I going with this? Maybe just acknowledging that whatever people are experiencing or feeling, I can probably relate to it. A lot of my envelopes lean into the flowers and generally upbeat stuff. But, I really like this envelope. Maybe I'll get serious on some of my envelopes. Somewhere on the blog I think there is an envelope featuring the top row of the keyboard with giant symbols for swearing. But, I think they are all colorful and fun. Can Jean go dark? Hmmmm - something to ponder.

Jeannette gets an A+ on choosing the right paper and adhesive. It's stuck! Clover K left a comment suggesting rubber cement a while back. I meant to pass that tip along. Rubber cement is not archival. It will discolor your paper. But, if you are on board with ephemeral - then rubber cement is your friend. 

Also - it works best if you apply it to both surfaces and let it dry - and then position the piece to be adhered. Then you need a rubber cement *pick-up* to rub away the excess. Then you need to open the window to come down from the high you will get from breathing the fumes. 

Rubber cement thinner is an essential in the world of noxious chemicals that we sometimes allow ourselves to use. It's probably hard to find these days.  Thanks, Clover, for reminding me about rubber cement.

Here's one picking up masking fluid which is used by watercolorists to mask off and retain white space on the paper.

 

JAN from Irene - 16th Blog B'day

Ooops - if you saw a March sign-up post yesterday - that was an erroneous posting.

Irene's card and envelope in January is perfect for today - imagine that the card says Happy Birthday - because today is the 16th birthday of the blog. There are over 6,700 posts and nearly that many comments. What a wonderful place this is for me. I hope I am not getting too mushy too often - but I really do enjoy how some of us exchange mail. Some of us just lurk. Some of us roll our eyes. Some of us have questions. 

I was thinking of having a live stream where I went online and invited people to ask me questions. That would be about the same as me trying to hang glide or maybe try that DIY brain surgery that I've heard is a thing.

Live streaming is a hard NO - however - I am perfectly happy to answer questions. You may leave them in the comments -or- if you prefer - just send them to my email - PTEnvelopes-at-aol-dot-com.  There might be some prizes involved.

Thanks, Irene for the perfect mailing to post on this celebratory day.

 

JAN from Renee

Oooops - if you saw the March sign-up for a few minutes - that was an erroneous posting.

Renee is fairly new to the exchange. I really like her layout and can see myself appropriating it. And I like that she enclosed her inspiration image. her old man winter reminds me of the suns I did on my Jan envelopes. I did another set of sun images for my Feb exchange envelopes because I thought the ones I did in Jan were fun. So far, the Feb ones are looking a little wacky. I hope I find a style of lettering that saves them. It was surprising that I was able to make green suns work. 

 

JAN from Mary - Celtic-esque lettering

Mary still had (has) some Goodnight Moon stamps. I love that little mouse. While I had more misses than hits with my GM ideas - I ended up liking the stamps and now that mine are all gone - I know I'll miss them. Good on ya, Mary with the big bold address. Do people hear the Australian accent when I write good on ya?

I'm staying about a month ahead on loading my blog posts and very happy with the Style/Tool Project. The only snag I have hit is that I don't have a name for that style that is not runes - and I wrote that I was going to do runes. Then I looked at them and thought - nobody would ever want to do runes. 

Then I wrote all the January names in Runes - in pencil - to see if they grabbed me. They did. Now I like them a lot more than I thought I would. But, that doesn't mean I can make them pretty - or do something that will lure others into trying runes.

***

Later - I found the exemplar and it says *New Celtic* - and this topic will come up again.

Searching for a font I already have that I would like to find the source for just leads me to more fonts.  I'll post this one that is new to me and include the source. Then, I'll use it on my Feb envelopes and when I get around to posting them I can reference this link.

https://creativemarket.com/BuchandBee/7485330-Viking-font-alphabet-letters

Who designed this? Buch&Bee. I did a search - but all I found was someone who has over 11,000 images for sale and has been selling for 16 years. I wonder what it's like to be young and interested in graphic design. It seems like the universe is saturated with digital images. Maybe the pendulum is ready to swing back to ink and paint and various tools.

LINK to more Buch&Bee.   If you feel like scrolling, there are more alphabets.

 

Jan/Dec from Ava

 

Ava was on the December list. A little bit late is fine. I have no idea if Ava reads the blog. While the idea is very fun, I'm not sure the scanners can read the address. Lots of us like a non-traditional choice of colors. While it might look like washi tape - it is not. It's printed on the envelope - or - she might have done the whole thing by hand which is admirable. It would have taken a long time. I can see that the black was layered on last. I just can't tell if that is actual colored pencil or marker or something - or it was run through a printer. I guess I need to get a loupe if I want to figure it out. The only way I know to *test* to see if something is done by hand is to use something to lift the medium which I would rather not do. It used to weird me out the way people would lick their finger and run it over something to see if it was *real* and they'd say "Dang" because they had smudged it. <eye rolling>

Someone who was on Ava's list let me know that it took. 4 weeks for her envelope to arrive. I'm guessing it was the hard to read address.

***

Here is a sweet little story from Jerzy Gregorek. I hardly ever observe holidays - but since this popped up right when I found myself at Feb 14 - I'll put it in.

 Aniela (his wife) and I have been married for 38 years, and we still have lots to talk about. We also have a tradition. At noon, we stop working and prepare ourselves for our date. After taking showers and dressing in our favorite clothes, we head to our favorite local restaurant. As soon as we walk in, the entire staff welcomes us with a smile and we head to our favorite table, guided by the chatting host. He offers a menu and a bottle of sparking water while Aniela reads the menu. She chooses a different lunch each time, but I stay with the same appetizer (French fries) and a double vodka for my entree with a plate of veggies on the side. I love our dates. Nothing is better than sitting with your wife after 42 years of being together and still enjoying the moment.

***

French fries, a double vodka and a plate of veggies. That's interesting. I have forgotten who Jerzy is. I was going to write more, but was interrupted and I'm not in the mood to start looking for information. I have eight new envelopes to post. 

JAN from Christi - Birds

This is from Christi. It's 8x10ish - and needed extra stamps. I love how she chose an assortment from the 250th USPS anniversary - and the placement. Then she made a scan of the upper stamp, enlarged it and adhered it to the envelope. She used the right kind of adhesive. It stood up to the processing machines - but if you look closely, you can see where the paper peeled off. Those machines are aggressive.

Owl peeking out

Doors closed

Inside was an adorable little card with her original artwork. The little doors on the front open to reveal a little owl. I watched a very interesting interview of a falconer. He brought a falcon, an eagle and an owl.  Apparently, people are drawn to owls because unlike most birds who have their eyes on the sides of their heads - owl eyes are on the front. Making eye contact with both eyes must feel more familiar. We think they are wise. Sadly, he reported that owls are not wise. They are not the brightest of the birds. I forgot if he said who is the brightest so I did a search:

The title of "smartest raptor" often goes to the Striated Caracara, a unique falcon from the Falkland Islands known for crow-like problem-solving, tool use, and curiosity, though Harris Hawks are also highly intelligent for their cooperative hunting. Parrots, crows and magpies are the smartest of the non-raptors.

Of course when humans are evaluating the intellectual prowess of animals, we are comparing them to our own accomplishments which - to me - is somewhat biased. My vote for *smartest* would go to the bower birds who build elaborate art projects. Google *bower birds* if you've never heard of them - and maybe click on Images.

 

Re-Run, musing & chore avoidance

 

This is for my accountability squad. I can't remember if that is the name I gave to those readers who are going to help me stay on track.

I must confess - on a Saturday morning - at 8 am - I am just sitting here - avoiding my chores. At first I was exploring ways of posting fonts on the blog. That'a a worthwhile use of my time. But, it led me to Pinterest and then I remembered my old game where I put *mail art* in the search function and scroll down to see which envelope from my blog pops up first.

This is the first one - and I had to save it and write a blog post so that I remember to appropriate this idea. I have some of these stamps and I need a good idea to use them. There are so few that I can't work them into a series. 

If you have time and you want to roll your eyes at the way I fill blog posts - you may check out what I wrote about this envelope from Kathleen R - back in 2020. I do not remember who Kathleen is - There was a Kathleen Rea Hieser who exchanged for a while. What ever happened to her? 

Shallow regrets that I did not keep a master list of every single exchanger. This is the first use of the term *shallow regrets* and I rather like it.

https://pushingtheenvelopes.blogspot.com/2020/05/from-kathleenh.html

JAN to JeanR and Kate

Somehow, these two names were hiding and I thought I was done with this style after I did Juliana's - and then discovered I had two more. I was pretty happy to have two more chances to do something I loved. These came close to being the January winners - but, I spelled Jean's name wrong 

and Kate's has too much white space. I added white around the hearts and some dots and forgot to take another photo. I wish I had put some kind of border around the edge of the envelope. And that I is too short. Maybe if the name had been larger....or if I had a larger marker..... it looks sooooo unfinished. Grrrrrrr

Although, I have an idea for those circle stamps....

so much second guessing...

I do know, for sure, that doing a bunch of these really led me in a direction that I enjoyed. The old historical styles do not lend themselves to being bouncy and contemporary. Or do they.

Nobody knows. It's personal taste.

Bottom line...

I like the idea of just one or maybe two styles per month and then a variety of tools....

It's Jan 9th as I write this.

Maybe I should start on some suns.....

***
Now it is Jan 27th and I am proof reading.

Four days to get my Feb envelopes done - yikes - the time flies. 

Why didn't I start my suns on the 9th?
Grrrrrrr

 

JAN to Gavin and Juliana

Gavin's isn't the winner. I was OK with the colors. But the flourishing is a little clunky.

I thought I was down to the very last envelope and I thought, "There is no way that this style would work with a brush marker. I looked through my stack of interesting antique paper products that I need to part with and found the yellow envelope with an invitation. Then I saw the stamp. Bingo.

I knew that Juliana was a good recipient for this experiment. She, too, experiments and often encloses comments about how things went. I enclosed a note telling her that she'd need to read the blog for my commentary. I wanted to get the envelopes in the mail.

I was surprised how well the brush marker worked with this style.  The only problem is that the two vertical strokes on the N should be parallel. But, I think it is bouncy and fun and has lots of potential.

The yellow antique envelope was in my stash of leftovers from the days that most of my jobs were coming from a stationery store. It's a leftover from a custom order from Lallie, which was a high-end brand of invitations. They were very contemporary and it was sad when they went out of business.  I'm glad I did a search. They must have switched from catalogues in stationery stores to an online business. It's not Lallie.com - if you do a search for Lallie - it takes you here:

https://www.stationeryworks.com  It looks like they absorbed Checkerboard which was another high end company. The new company has not maintained the aesthetic of the original companies - but that is to be expected as new people are going to be younger and what I thought was stylish in the 90s and the 00s is way out of style. 

Who sends actual invitations to cocktail parties these days? Maybe people in the south - and a smattering of people in Nantucket - but I bet they are few and far between. 

It was nostalgic for me to see this invitation again. I had forgotten that I actually know the guests of honor.  [story below]

Here is the copy - in case it's not legible in the photo

mingle

chat

nibble

flirt

relax

catch up

giggle

gossip

meet

sip

munch

show off

dance

toast

celebrate

laugh

party

with us

saturday

night

4/22/06

7-11 pm

suites of 800

locust street

des moines

wedding shower

for

eve

&

adam

hosted by

jane & john doe

I know I have already told this story on the blog, but I can't find it - so I'll retell it and add a label in case I ever need it again which I probably won't but I would like to put off my chores just a little bit longer.

I renamed the bride and groom - Eve & Adam above - so I'll just stick with those names. Adam's mom had me address the invitations to the rehearsal dinner. I can't remember when I met Eve, but she hired me to paint a really nice contemporary quote on the wall in their front hallway. She sent her husband off with the kids for a couple hours while I painted. When they returned, Adam said something nice about my work and then he said, "My penmanship is so bad that there is no way it could be fixed." 

"I accept that challenge," was my reply. Adam's mom offered to babysit while Adam and Eve came to my studio for a penmanship lesson. It only took one lesson and he caught the bug. Eve told me later that he was a little bit *too obsessed* with his penmanship practice.

Later, I found out that the people he worked with were very impressed with his improved penmanship. His family owns the nicest jewelry store in Des Moines and all the job tickets were written by hand. So Adam's poor penmanship had been the cause of a few issues with some of the jobs. You can imagine how frantic people get if a diamond or treasured heirloom is misplaced.

I was very proud of him and glad to know that there was a practical benefit to improving one's penmanship. It was fun to find the invitation and send it along as I continue in my hoard reduction.

JAN to Irene and Patty

I've already predicted that this quest to explore styles and tools will be frustrated by color and stamp choices. These two stamps are not orphans - but, I knew I had to stir things up by finding some new colors and tools. The baby bobcat stamp has little leaves and was supposed to go on Irene's but I accidentally used a fox.

The placement of the flowers is off but I liked the colors. It's not the winner this month but it was heading in a good direction. These two are good to compare if you are looking at how to treat elements. A person with two 5-letter names is going to need something different from a ShortName/LongName person.

The style is growing on me. I do not expect it to grow on anyone else. The only way things grow on you is if you have to do at least 17 and preferably 20. That forces you to figure out something.

 

JAN to Jeannette, Rachael, Nicky and Renee

 

These are the first four suns I drew using alcohol markers. I liked how they turned out -  but I did not have a stamp in mind. As hard as it is to part with the round stamps, I am working really hard on getting over the hoarding of stamps. These are cute. So, I'm happy with them.

The disappointing part is that I didn't get very creative with the style and various tools. I had a stern talk with myself and eventually I loosened up a bit. 

I had so much fun making the suns that I started a spreadsheet so that those of you who did not get a sun in January will probably get one in February.

The font on Rachael's is a different one. I found 3 fonts on one page of unknown origin and none of hem have a name. I won't be able to post the page because I don't want to get in trouble for publishing something that is not in the public domain. Maybe some day I can redraw them in a way that is different enough. What is that percentage that something has to be different enough to escape being *pirated* ?

I got bouncy with Renee. I wonder if she thought I was just inept or if it looks intentional.

The rest of the Dec envelopes.

 <sigh>

Somehow these Dec envelopes decided to hide from me. Or I had some looney idea that I could divide the Dec envelopes into two groups. Apologies - you'll just have to put up with this as I forge ahead with the master plan. 

The postmark on these two (above and below) says Atlanta - so I will deduce that it is from Renee - but I could be wrong. 

As previously mentioned, I have so many exchangers from the southeastern states that I get them all mixed up. The stack of *early Dec* mail is somewhere - but, if I stop to look for it - I'll forget what I am doing here.

Below, from Seattle - it must be Kate - but I thought I already posted Kate's. Maybe I have November and December mixed up. Maybe I already posted this.

Below - I think is from Jessica - did I already post this?

And here are some innards without envelopes.

This has to be JeanR.

The cute coffee or hot chocolate card is from St Louis - so that narrows it down to Nicky or Lucy.

I do feel some baby steps of progress in how I photograph and blog - maybe someday some actual progress will appear.

JAN to Nanski and Lucy

 

I need to come up with a word to describe ideas that were tried that are less pleasing than other ideas in the series. The mission for 2026 was to choose one style and then try a bunch of different tools. How well did I adhere to my plan?

It should have surprised no-one that I fell off the wagon with those 8 script envelopes that I did when Morgan's envelope arrived.

Prior to Morgan's envelope, I had a plan to do some suns and coordinate them with orphan stamps. I had these two stamps and it seemed like a good idea. I started the envelopes in the middle of December and figured it would be easy to fill in the names and addresses.

I did four different ones - prior to doing these - that I liked a lot. I was not happy with these - but, if I started re-doing envelopes until I liked every single one of them - I would be at my desk all day every day.

The style I chose for January is something that somebody called Celtic. I have no idea if that's a good name. I was also going to try runes - but they are 100% straight lines - so this one drew me in with its random curvy strokes.

Here is a fun link to something called Celtic rune - LINK to a font  I can't imagine having fun with this. Or can I? That's an interesting challenge - to take something that is off-putting and figure out a way to make it likable. 

A Google search for *Celtic runes* yields a wonderful rabbit hole. But, I have not found a name for whatever the style is that I chose for January. More tomorrow.

***
Eventually I found. my exemplar - and it was called - New Celtic - but, I can't post it because I can't find the origin. Maybe I will..... at a later date.

JAN to Jessica, Amy, Janet and Judi

Jessica's is basically the same as the 5 that ran yesterday.

Because I have quite a few fox stamps saved up for Amy - I was happy to pull out some different colors and was pretty happy with this one. When I realized that there was no way to extend the X - I fussed for a moment and then realized that it was a perfect opportunity to put in a bordered stamp - so that saved the day.

Bordering stamps is something we see on Janet's envelopes quite often. I added confetti.

I was thinking I was nicely warmed up and first-time exchanger, Judi, would get something wonderful. Unfortunately, she has too many letters in her last name. The whole thing got overworked as I tried to doo-dad it into a better place.

It takes me a while to get comfortable with names. If Judi sticks with the exchange, I can see me referencing past envelopes I've done for Irene Blumenthal who also has 10 letters in her last name. Of course there is the queen of long names - Jessica Schwessinger. I'm not complaining about long names - I like figuring out ideas that work for the various lengths. I read recently that sometimes there is more enjoyment when the task is difficult. 

Thank you Morgan for the good idea. I had fun. If anyone uses this idea, send us a picture please and thank you.

 

Jan to Lisa, Phillip, Lynne & Mary - Morgan's outline

This was the first attempt to do a spin-off of Morgan's envelope. The marker I used on Lisa's outline is too fine and I only did one warm up which wasn't enough - the spacing is way off. 

I've had 5 or 6 new people sign up in Nov/Dec/Jan and I keep getting them mixed up. I think I already posted Morgan's envelope but I will add it here for reference. 

Oh - I see by the postmark that she's in the St. Louis Consortium. I might need a different name for that consortium because I think they have lured other people who live elsewhere into the fold. 

I am low on red markers - and the dark red on Lisa's was lucky to find that leftover Lichtenstein stamp.

Then I wisely started looking at stamps and coordinating markers as I started the January envelopes.

Both Finnbadger and Lynne have the double N - and double letters are tricky. I wish I had done a loop on the b. For anyone who had Phillip on their list - Phillip goes way back to the origin of the exchange. It's one of my favorite stories. Finnbadger is his alter ego or nom duh pen. OK - I was thinking spell check would help me out on that - but I guess we are on the outs.

Mary's is one of my favorites. She has the right number of letters, a good assortment of letters and those colors are pleasing to my eye because I can handle minimalism and neutral palettes. 

***

Finnbadger left a comment yesterday that the very clever card was his own design. He took the photo and wrote the caption. Thanks for letting us know.

 

Dec from Juliana and Phillip

This is exactly the kind of card I would choose for myself. Juliana and I must be kindred spirits - at least we are when it comes to mail.

I keep forgetting to ask Juliana if she has taken calligraphy classes, gone to workshops or conferences - or takes online classes. If she is self-taught, I'm impressed.

Below is the card from Phillip - and I love it so much. Phillip goes waaaay back with the exchange and it is well established that on the sense-of-humor scale - we click.

I didn't post the envelope since it was not an exchange envelope - but, he did sign up for the January exchange so I am looking forward to seeing what he sent. Anyone with a lot of time to kill could do a search for [Phillip] or [Finnbadger] and find all kinds of good stuff.