June from Jackie

 

This is so pretty. I can't tell how Jackie did it. It looks like mixed media - not just watercolor. Maybe gouache. It doesn't look like it was done with a brush. I'd say that it was impressed with something - but each petal is a little different. 

It reminds me of some past envelopes with a large half-flower. I remember copying one that my friend Jan had done - or received. It took a lot of time but was so worth it. I still see it pinned on Pinterest quite often.  A half-flower design would be a good prompt if we ever did the thing where I toss out an idea to give people ideas so that we can enjoy all the variations. 

Would anyone do that? I don't think anyone would want to draw flowers in September. I wonder if I could remember to toss the idea out next summer. What kind of theme would people like in September? Leaves? Pencils? 

This layout would work for snowflakes. Should I toss it out in January? I'm curious to know if people would enjoy a theme. I don't think it would be popular. Should we find out?

July to Liz - Helena and her yarn

Ironically, Liz, who has been my inspiration to go wild and crazy ended up with a very orderly envelope. It was fun to find the right number of stamps and arrange them symmetrically. Liz has the short/long situation with her names. 

Not all of us are paper people. Some of us are yarn people. Here is an orderly yarn person who has had an impressive career.

LINK to Helena's website

I was going through my address book and found the name Helena Hernmarck in Ridgefield, CT. That's where Lynne and Maggie live. I wondered if there had been a third Ridgefield calligrapher. When I Googled her - this is what I found. Maybe Lynne or Maggie can remember another Helena.

I found the image below in the Portfolio section of her website. Knocked my socks off. That is a tapestry - she created the image out of yarn. At least I think she did..... maybe I read too fast. While I like this image - a lot of her work is colorful - so - you might want to surf through if you have time.

 

July to Kerry

 

I had this one all stamped - and the numbers filled in. Then I had to decide who might like something like this. As I finished up the July envelopes, I had not found a good design that was going to fit with Kerry's name - so she ended up with this one. I hope it wasn't a huge disappointment. Kerry is a newer exchanger and I'm not sure the new people have a feel for the way I fill the blog. I don't even know if Kerry reads the blog. Some people have been reading it for more than a decade. So the newer people might be perplexed by what shows up. Maybe the variety is fun. 

Tomorrow will be the last of the use-up-the-orphans - and the end of my July envelopes. I can usually get 14-15 days of posts out of my envelopes. Assuming all 20 of my incoming exchange envelopes show up, I'll be able to fill August.

July to Janet

 

When I started posting my July envelopes I mentioned that I was nearly done with using up my orphan stamps. This is a good example of what happens when some careful planning kills all the spontaneity. 

I drew the flames on the candles and if I had something I could have cut and adhered that had super sticky adhesive - that would have looked better because the stamps look like cut paper. I'm not sure I could ever do marker letters and make them as crisp as cut paper. The right kind of outlining can do a lot. Maybe it's the outlining that is off. 

Even though it is disappointing - at least I can show that I took the time to redo something that was dreadful. I thought I'd get a better effect if I did all the red strokes, then all the blue strokes, and so on. That's what I tried - but my spacing was way off. So I did a template to give me the order of the strokes and numbered them.

Maybe someday I can go back and look at all the candle letters I did when these stamps first came out. 

July to Samantha - Ai Weiwei

 

I guess there was one more that came after Grace's. Samantha exchanged quite a while ago - and I had pulled out a gray envelope from Rachael from a long time ago to give me an idea for white on gray. It's a lovely font - but I do not have a complete exemplar. All I have are the nine letters in my name. Completing the tree seemed like a good idea - but I'd only give it a B-.

***

Blogger is refusing to let me put the words flush left.

Grrrr

I have no idea if Ai Weiwei is on everyone's radar. He's been around for a while. If you're interested, go ahead and do a search. He's well known for sculpture and claims he has not made a drawing for 50 years. He was inspired by a tree.

It's a wonderful article and drawing. It made me want to go draw a tree.

https://www.designboom.com/art/ai-weiwei-drawing-50-years-dying-tree-circa-interview/?utm_source=designboom+daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ai+weiwei+on+why+a+dying+tree+inspired+his+first+drawing+in+more+than+50+years&utm_cat=articles

I also think it's interesting that his first name is Ai -- as in AI.  I'm pretty sure his name is pronounced *eye* but I could be wrong. I think his last name is pronounced *way-way*

OK - I checked - it is *eye way way* but there is a cadence to the way-way part.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWPY8imlO0w

You can see the image a lot better at the link.

July to Grace

 

Lots of colors and little zig-zags. Somehow - this one just worked. It was the last one I did with these stamps and while I might have worked out something I liked - I'm not sure I want to do the same thing again. All those different lengths of names would throw a monkey wrench into things. That pinkish color really works - but I don't think it shows up in all the stamps. 

Note to self: stop falling in love with those gorgeous sheets of stamps that look nice on the page, but when you start dividing them up - they are just too different to lend themselves to a good idea for multiples.

July to Irene

 

I started with the grid and Irene's last name - then it sat on my desk for a day or two. Finally I added the trees. The minute it was done I realized that it would have looked so much better with just one tree. The long last name was very nice to write. The stamps work so much better with more colors. Maybe there is hope that I come up with something that will be pleasing enough to do another 20 envelopes with these stamps. We can dream.

Tomorrow we get to see the best July envelope and find out who got it.

***

I printed out an image of the envelope and it's not a very good printer - but good enough to show how much better it would have been with just a tree and four red birds. I didn't try to make the R-E-N-E into birds - I just made letters and added legs. I'm not sure the idea is worth another try. Maybe....

July to Patty and Maggie

 

Dividing the space is helpful for me as a starting point. Then I reminded myself to pick up some random detail from the stamp and stop trying so hard to find images to repeat. There was no way I was going to draw those tiny people and be happy with my drawings. I outlined the letters and filled in with colored pencil. It's not spectacular but it's less dud-like than anything I'd done so far. Maybe another name would work - a name where the first and last name are roughly the same length.

It was a good idea until I left the I out of MAGGIE. I didn't take time to look, but I think I've had to do a bunch of layering on Maggie's envelopes to disguise the same mistake on previous envelopes. 

In some ways I like that little lower case (i) standing in the middle of the G. I had to put the I in parentheses because the computer will not allow a lower case I - or if it will, the secret keystroke is staying a secret.

***

Adding on -  a few days later.

I almost forgot that I had taken a photo of Patty's as it was evolving. It spent a little time looking like this. It's always bold (risky) to put a stamp on before I'm assured that it's going to work out. With Patty, I know she'll understand if I make a mess.

Here it is with a bit of drop shadow - but it's in the wrong place - which must have inspired me to try the red and blue stripes.

And then some white - and then the colored pencil. It's fun and loose - so I was inspired to do Maggie's which ended up a little too loose.

July to Jessica, Lynne and Nicky

 

This font doesn't go with the stamp but I had fun with it. The light blue colored pencil helped to coordinate the lettering and the stamp.

Nicky didn't get a RBG stamp last month -  so I gave this a try. That border is too big.

***

Random & very off-topic as I fill up the outgoing posts during my trip. 

My grandson needed some reassurance that there would be a complete recovery after breaking his forearm - both bones. Luckily he's a lefty and broke his right arm and did not have to have surgery - but it's still a learning experience to go through the process of casts and cast removal and the skin's response to the cast. It's not pretty when you get the cast off. 

Nanna's idea was to find out how long it takes for your body to grow an entire new layer of skin. My guess was 60 days. Ben's guess was 90 days. Here's what we found:

The outer layer of your skin (the epidermis) replaces itself entirely about every 28 to 40 days for most healthy adults. New cells are created at the deepest layer of the epidermis, slowly pushing up to the surface, dying, and shedding off to reveal fresh skin. [1, 2, 3]

This cellular turnover rate fluctuates based on a few distinct factors: [, 2]

Age: The cycle runs at top speed in your teens and 20s (about 28 days), but slows down as you get older, often taking 45 to 90 days for adults over 50. [1, 2]
Depth: While the epidermis continually regenerates, the deeper layer of skin (the dermis) does not renew itself in the same way, which is why deeper injuries and surgical scars are typically permanent

July to Juliana, Renee, Jeannette and Leslie

These were the first four I started for the July exchange. I thought the stamps would be nice with the gray envelopes and white is always nice on gray. it seemed like a good idea to get out the white gouache and the wedge brush. I didn't have anything in front of me which was a mistake. I need some examples of something I like when I have been away from brushes and gouache for so long.

I'll refrain from nit-picking at each one and just say that I like the August idea to use up these stamps a lot better. Not that they inspired a design idea. I just like a very wonky style of lettering that I found whilst surfing. 

 

July to Mary - wool skirts and quilts

 

I went completely rogue on this one and broke my own rule about being scanner friendly. There is no excuse for it. Perhaps I had my last fling with non-conformity on envelopes because it looks like I have used up nearly every orphan stamp that is not a Forever. That's been a goal for quite some time. The very last ones will pop up at the end of my July envelopes. I decided to use up my gray envelopes with the gorgeous USPS stamps that I have been saving. I love them - but did not come up with any good ideas for how to use them. 

My first idea was to get out some white watercolor and my wedge brush because Maggie, Lynne and Irene do beautiful flowers. Mine are so pitiful I would rather not post them but that's now how this works. We just putter at our desks and it all gets posted. A few things slip through the cracks, but that's an organizational issue.

***

I wonder if Mary has any fond memories of wool skirts. Even though I have an enduring bitterness towards the dress code that did not allow girls to wear pants to school in the 50s and 60s in Minnesota - I have fond memories of my wool skirts. Here is an exhibit of 632 vintage wool skirts.

https://www.instagram.com/commonloomstudio/

LINK to the exhibit of the 632 skirts in the collection

The original collector was the grandmother of the person who currently has the collection. Both are from Minnesota. I didn't spend a lot of time researching - it seems like there is a reference to cutting up the skirts and making rugs. That's a great idea. I've also seen wool cut into squares and made into wool quilts. You do not need batting - just two layers of wool.  

Not the colors I would choose - but you get the idea.

Slightly better colors. I like the red but I'd do the red in squares or diagonals.

July to Judi and Mia

Judi's does not have quite the same feel as JeanR's from yesterday. It might feel a little empty because the word BIRTHDAY is missing. I was more careful with the scalloped edges which seems to work. The border closest to the stamp is better.

Then I forgot to do the smaller border around the stamp on Mia's - so hers is feeling a little empty. The lettering is pretty rough. If I had more round stamps this would be a fun idea to keep working on.

Grr at myself for the sloppy penmanship on the address. No excuse other than the tight deadline to get things in the mail before I took off for Chicago. Grr that the colors on the stamp are so hard to match.

Grrr that I don't have more of these stamps. I'd like to do another HAPPY envelope with the name spelled out by the trail behind a bunch of bees. Each bee would make one letter in a name. Maybe I'll just try that with a non matching stamp....

 

July to JeanR and August sign-up

JeanR had a birthday in July. She has been getting a round stamp each month and the HAPPY stamp was the logical one to use for a birthday greeting. I didn't plan this out at all other than a quick set of circles done by penciling around a roll of masking tape. As usual, it was cute enough to send, but a little rough around the edges. 

I tried a couple more envelopes with the idea of the two overlapping circles. I even took time to dig out a compass. Perhaps it would be better if the two circles were slightly different sizes. Was it better? Would a second and third attempt be better because things tend to get better when I've done some practicing? Or did I lose all the freshness and spontaneity? We'll find out tomorrow. 

It's time to sign up for the August exchange.

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

If you participated in the July 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 July 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 - there are helpful details at this link:

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

June from Liz and Nicky - Winsor-Newton

 

Liz went wild with the collage in July. She did a good job of adhering everything to the envelope and making the address clear. 

Nicky, who's done mostly prints switched it up in June and did a very nice colored pencil fish. She also sent me a fun link from Winsor-Newton. See below.

LINK to Winsor-Newton

This is the blurb: To take part, receive a free campaign postcard pack with qualifying Winsor & Newton watercolour purchases. Available on winsornewton.com and at participating retailers this spring.

It looks like they are still offering the free postcards - which will be lovely watercolor paper. But it says *spring* so I'm not sure how long it will last. 

The part you might be interested in is where people uploaded their postcards with watercolor images. Apparently all the postcards are being collected in England.  I enjoyed reading about the history of Winsor-Newton since I have always used their brushes and gouache.

LINK to the gallery of postcards

June from Kate - leave a space

 

How many times do you think I looked at this before I saw that it is WISON - no L. It's a good thing Kate left out the L because it would have made the last line too long. Or perhaps she did it on purpose and intended for the IL to be a capital-I and a lower case l.

Remember when I wrote in Irene's blog post to put a pin in the technique of leaving a thin strip of white between the letters and the background? This is the one I knew was coming up. I could have jumped around and pulled this one to post with Irene's, but I am being vigilant about posting the envelopes in the random order in which they are photographed. 

In our toolbox of techniques - leaving a sliver of space or of another color is a tried and true technique used by many artists. It is one that I learned in college in painting classes. If you look at paintings that are mid-20th century and newer you will see a lot of slivers of colors. To me - it first appeared in. impressionism but there may be earlier examples. Now you see it everywhere. You do not see it in photo-realism. Perhaps this topic will pop up again - with examples.

It's a cousin to *underpainting* which is the technique where you do an entire painting in a monochrome color and then cover most of it up. It's so much better than painting on a white canvas. There are little bits and pieces of something else that peek through - but they are very subtle.

Now, I see that I have one June envelope left and tomorrow is the last day of the month. I also started the June envelopes on June 16th - so that makes a tidy half-month for the envelopes I send out -and- a half-month for the incoming envelopes. 

But there are a couple June envelopes that have not arrived. Maybe I will make the last day of each month a *catch-all* day.

June from Leslie and Kerry - design tips

 

Leslie noted the bleeding. Since I am not at home while writing blurbs, I am unable to refer to exactly what she said. As I recall she was not thrilled with the bleeding. It was probably an oops. The most common remedy for an oops is to make two more. When you have *something* happen three times, it becomes a design element.

I, for sure, am going to use Leslie's layout - with the two initials - inside shapes - stacked - leaving space for the address. 

I do not recall if I have appropriated anything from Kerry's envelopes. This one will be very versatile. 

The design tip I have is to make the outlines more squarish even though the lettering is roundish. I wonder how many outlining tips I could come up with?

I have three ideas to appropriate from the June envelopes. Janet's, Leslie's and Kerry's. I'm more than two weeks away from doing the August envelopes. But, this post will pop up right when I need the reminder. Perhaps I can come up with 20-25 outlining tips. I know I can. Does anyone want them? Maybe you don't like the idea but maybe it will grow on you.

June from Patty - butterfly garden

 

Patty emailed to tell me that her June envelope was returned and she thought she knew why and she would put it in another envelope and resend it. When it arrived, I agreed with her guess that the postal workers (or scanners) were not going to try to read the 420. She had made a very minor error and corrected it with layering and I should have photographed it the way it was. Instead, I grabbed my white gel pen and corrected it. I think Patty's correction should have gone through. It's a nice design. Those stamps offered so many options. 

***

My latest rabbit hole has been butterfly gardens. A huge chunk of my front yard needs something. It's been a berm of wood chips for two years. It's time to plan something. I did a test patch of clover since converting lawns to clover seems to be a trend. I was all in on the butterfly garden until I got to the part where including some water was suggested. That's probably more than I can sustain. Or maybe not. Perhaps I need something like that to make myself go outside every morning and get that direct sunlight that is also a trend. 

If any of the exchangers have milkweed in their yard, feel free to send some seeds in your exchange envelope.

Of course, the Dutch clover that I tested is not native to Iowa - but, I'm going to give it a chance to choke out the grass. I love this native clover - but it's not an alternative to a conventional lawn.  Part of me wants to see masses of this. I can buy one ounce of seeds (20,000) for $15.00. I wonder how many plants I would get.

June from Janet - Emily Brontë's penmanship

 

Janet's envelope is loaded with inspiration. How am I going to remember to return to this page when I start the August envelopes? I think the idea needs that stamp. I'm not sure I want to buy that stamp. I'm writing this on Monday, the 13th of July. The Barbie stamps have just been issued. I'm in Chicago. Should I try to go to a Chicago post office? There are two within walking distance but I have not been to either one. Maybe I will have an adventure. Maybe I should buy stamps that I am not drawn to. Decisions. Decisions.

***

This popped up when I searched Emily Dickinson's penmanship. It's Emily Brontë's penmanship.

This concludes my interest in the penmanship of people who wrote things by hand - for now. Who knows - maybe we will revisit penmanship. There are four posts to fill up before I can take a break. Hopefully there are some fun things to report if I walk to a post office.

June from Mia - Trash book

 

This is lovely and Mia was so nice to send proper flowers after I gave her a hard time for sending me dandelions. These look like heather and I've been reading up on heather. It would probably do well in my yard and pollinators love it - but it is not native to Iowa. It's from Europe. I have to decide if I'm going to restrict myself to 100% native. We'll put a pin in this discussion because we have something fun to talk about from Mia's neighborhood.

Libby, the app where I get my audio books from the library popped up with a new one that I could have for two weeks without being on a waiting list. Trash: a garbageman's story by Simon Paré-Poupart

FULL REVIEW of the book here

Here is an excerpt from the review.

A Montreal garbageman's sharp and funny memoir/exposé, in which he attempts to convince people to "stop imagining that your garbage magically disappears" . . .

Paré-Poupart’s story is atypical: he started working as a garbageman to pay for school, and after earning graduate degrees and working in more “respectable” fields, he is still on a truck — out of love for the physical rush, for his rough-and-tumble colleagues, and for an honesty and freedom that no other job has yet given him.

***

I enjoy books about various careers, so I enjoyed this one. 

June from Jessica - Emily Dickinson

 

These beach themed stamps have been popular. So far I haven't bought any - but I am not a beach person so I probably won't. I just bought the last sheet of an older Love stamps. So those will be coming up in August.

Emily Dickinson's penmanship caught my eye. There are a couple links. One is to the story about the recipe and the other is to a website with more examples of her penmanship. While I was never drawn to Emily's work, it was fun to read about the little books she made. If I ever run out of things to look at, I might delve into the books - but I can't imagine that happening. Delving into some of my old blog posts is always eye-opening. Recently I found a post that told of my grand plan for 2026 where the grand plan was to feature styles of writing and using a variety of tools. I still like the idea even though it has completely dropped off my radar. Maybe I can find a style for the August envelopes. 

The very wide spacing between the letters is curious. If you Google *Emily Dickinson penmanship* there are many examples and she had a variety of ways of writing. 

LINK to Emily's recipe

LINK to more about Emily

June from Kate - orderly + spontaneous

 

I let Kate know how much I enjoyed this envelope. After the inspiration from Amy and my wild version, Kate could see the error of my ways and did something that makes a lot of sense. She also mentioned that she's happier with rulers and measuring. 

I can't say that I have a preference for flinging things over orderly planning and execution. Often times, I'll plan something out and then it looks too stiff. I guess I am looking for something that has a nice, strong structure - but within that structure - things are spontaneous.

Here's a detail that I looked at that might not be on everyone's radar: Do all the spirals start and end in the same place? No they do not. Did Kate think about that? I suspect she did and I hope we hear from her. If all of the spirals had been in the same orientation, it would not have looked as good. Maybe I need to do two borders - to illustrate (or confirm) my prediction.

Now I am wishing I had set this up as a test to see if people could tell the difference. I love the idea and I would do it - but, I am sticking to my rule of writing the post, publishing it, and no going back for changes. Last minute edits are OK - but that's where we draw the line.

June from Mary

Mary lives fairly close to Lake Michigan. My parents lived close to Lake Superior for a while - so I have a fondness for the Great Lakes. I enjoyed my time in Toronto on the shores of Lake Ontario when my grandkids lived there. Although, it is a puny lake compared to Michigan and Superior. You can actually look out across Lake Erie and see the US. 

The stuffing in Mary's envelope had some very interesting information about the 10,000 shipwrecks at the bottom of the Great Lakes. Whoa. Who's been counting? 

Yesterday, when I was noting how unlikely it was that MrWilson would complete his *in case of death* list -- I thought of telling him that if he wanted to make a lot of money - he could take out a huge insurance policy on me. Then he could finish the list and show it to me. I would be so shocked to see that it was done - I would drop dead. And then he could collect the insurance.

I don't actually need the information. Anyone can figure things out if they need to. The whole topic goes back to the 1990s when I had 3 little kids and he was traveling a lot. It concerned me that if something happened to him, I would appreciate having a notebook with information and suggestions. I'd bring it up every five or ten years - and he'd reassure me that he would get it done. Forty+ years later -  not done. 

To be fair, I have a list of things that needed to be done before I had that first baby in 1980. There are some things that are still not done. So, all of this is just good natured joshing.

How do people named Josh feel about the word -joshing-?
 

June from JeanR

 

JeanR has a nicely coordinated card and envelope - collaged with the right kind of adhesive to go through the mail successfully. Keep in mind, it's local mail and we do not have the new aggressive machines. I wonder when we will get them.

Here's another idea for leaving a little something for the offspring after falling off one's perch. MrWilson told the kids that he is going to set up an ATM to handle the funds that are leftover after he's gone. Each kid will have to show up, once a year, and receive their dispersement. It would be a different amount each year - sometimes more - sometimes less. And they wouldn't know how long it would last. It's a clever idea but it's not going to happen.  I've been pestering MrWilson to leave a list of passwords, etc in case he falls off his perch before I fall off mine. He submitted a nice outline - without any actual information - asking if  he was missing any entries. It looked fine to me -- but, if he actually fills in all the actual information, I'll be very surprised. It reminds me of one more story.... for tomorrow.

June from Jeannette - leaving letters

This blurb is being written while I am out of town (a week ago) so I do not have the stack of mail to look at. I don't think there is any additional information about what the words on this envelope from Jeannette refer to. I Googled *Letter never sent - Wasn't even close* and Oh.My.Gosh - there are so many references to unsent letters. Websites, books, articles. It reminded me of how many unsent letters I currently have. If you need to surf today - try that search.

Computers are slippery slopes because they make writing letters so easy. For me, the most slippery of all the parts is the storage of the letters.  They are parked here and there with random names. I've written a couple blog posts about the kids in the book/movie Bridges of Madison County who found either letters or a diary after their mother died. Since the book came out in 1992 (when my kids were 12, 7.5 and 5) I have wanted to be sure I have something fun for them to discover and read after I'm gone. Once again, I will mention how I did not like the book at all and really disliked the movie -  even though I had enjoyed columns the author had written in our local newspaper. I feel sorry for him that the book destroyed his reputation.